TORRENT.
The Torrent pours through the tunnel at a terrifying velocity, emitting a thunderous roar that can be heard in most parts of the island. On the northern side, the flowing water bursts out into the rock-filled open sea in a great foaming sluice of ice-cold water.
Within a couple of years Annadac had become the destination of choice for thrill-seekers, as it remains today. Every year, in the three months of the highest tides, these people board rafts or don inflatable jackets, allowing themselves to be thrust excitingly and dangerously through the Torrent. Although the Annadac Seigniory imposes a number of safety regulations, every year brings an inevitable death toll.
Yo herself is not known to have ridden the Torrent. She left Annadac soon after the first of the spring tides, and is thought to have returned to her home island only once more, to attend the funeral of her father.
Out of season Annadac is a quiet island, dependent on farming and fishing, and offers few facilities for the casual tourist. Because of the proximity of Annadac to Sudmaieure, many of the young soldiers who become deserters pass through the island on their way north. However, there are strict havenic laws and most of the soldiers do not stay long. Ordinary visitors to the island will be unaware of them.
For those who intend to visit Annadac for the sport, the peak period is also the most expensive, and is usually fully booked by regular users. However, good torrenting is possible in the first two weeks of summer, the weather is warmer and the prices are lower. The authorities have ruled that visitors must carry full insurance and a cash deposit is demanded in case funeral arrangements become necessary. No vaccinations are required, but random medical checks are performed on all who use the Torrent. Some operators offer inclusive tours.
Currency: Aubracian talent; Muriseayan thaler.
Aubrac Grande
or
Aubrac Chain
The AUBRAC CHAIN is unusual in the Dream Archipelago, in that it has no discernible patois name, but instead is named after the scientist who discovered the true nature of the islands. His name was JAEM AUBRAC, an entomologist at Tumo University, who had taken on the field trip to replace an indisposed colleague. Aubrac left unfinished a laboratory research project on which he had been working, believing that it would be only a matter of a few weeks before he returned.
When Aubrac and his team of four young assistants arrived at the chain of thirty-five islands they and the operational staff set up a working base camp on one of the islands (then unnamed). It was not until some time later that they began to realize the island they had chosen was completely uninhabited.
Aubrac’s journal records the discovery in what seems now to be an unexcited way, considering the reason for it that he later established. At first the team made the assumption that there would be settlements somewhere, if not on that particular island then certainly on some of the other thirty-four islands. They also kept in mind past experiences of remote islands, where indigenous people had been frightened of the new arrivals and kept out of their way. However, the team gradually realized they must have stumbled across a genuinely uninhabited part of the Archipelago.
Later explorations were to establish that nowhere else in the huge group of islands was there any evidence of recent habitation.
For Aubrac, the new islands were an entomologist’s dream come true. Soon after he arrived he communicated to the head of his university department that his life’s work now lay ahead of him. This turned out to be literally true, as he was never again to leave the chain of islands.
The number of new species of insects catalogued by Aubrac is simply vast — more than one thousand were identified within a year of his starting work. Although he was to die at a relatively young age, Aubrac is recognized as the leading zoologist in his field. He was awarded a posthumous Inclair Laureateship for his work. There is a monument to him in Grande Aubrac Town, which in the modern age is the administrative capital of the group.
Aubrac’s name will be forever identified with one particular insect, not for its discovery as such but for most of the detailed research work that was to follow. The incident that began his research was an unfortunate contact by one of his assistants, a herpetologist named Hadima Thryme. She was accidentally infected by one of the insects. Aubrac describes in his journal what happened to this woman:
In the early evening Hadima wanted to observe her tree-snakes again, but no one else was free to accompany her. The snakes have a deadly venom, but Hadima knows what she is doing and she carries antidotes so I gave her permission to go alone. She said the snakes are always torpid in the evenings. She had been gone for less than half an hour when her emergency bleeper went off. I took the GP vehicle, and Dake [Dr D. L. Lei, the toxicologist on Aubrac’s team] and I drove at high speed to the site. We assumed of course that one of the snakes had bitten her.
Hadima was barely conscious when we found her, and obviously suffering intense pain. We examined her quickly but could not find any sign of a bite, even in the area of her right ankle — she was bent double, holding the ankle tightly. Dake Lei administered about 2ccs of anti-crotalic serum, effective against most haemotoxic or haemolytic reptile venoms. We then put her inside the vehicle and brought her back to the base as quickly as possible.
We began emergency medical procedures, with Antalya [Dr A. Benger, the team physician] taking charge, and Dake and I assisting.
Although by this time Hadima was only semi-conscious, she managed to convey to us that the bite was definitely in her ankle. Still we could find no puncture mark. The skin was slightly reddened, which we assumed was partly caused by the tight grip she had had on it. To be on the safe side, Antalya made an incision in that area, and a vacuum pump was pressed against it to try to evacuate any venom that remained. We applied a tourniquet above the knee. Antalya injected more serum, this time including anti-bothropic serum. Hadima kept resurfacing into consciousness, and screaming in agony. She complained that the left side of her body was giving pain. The electronic monitors revealed that her blood pressure and heart-rate were both dangerously high. She said the crown of her head was hurting as if a knife blade had been thrust into it from behind. Her right foreleg swelled up, and became darkly discoloured. This was an indication of haemolysis: the haemoglobin in her blood was breaking down. Antalya injected antivenin, in an attempt to halt it.
The swelling continued to spread. Blood was flowing rapidly from the incision on Hadima’s ankle and she complained that it was almost impossible to breathe, even with applied oxygen. In a moment of rationality, Hadima said she was certain a snake had not bitten her. She remembered brushing against a large black sphere on the ground, which she had thought was a seed pod. It was covered in short and bristly hairs.
This was familiar. I hurried to my office and collected some photographs taken a few days ago. I showed them to Hadima and although she was clearly slipping into semi-consciousness again, she instantly confirmed that it was one of those she had touched.
I knew then that she had been poisoned by an insect, rolled into a protective sphere. I have not yet had time to do anything more than simply note the presence of these large arthropods, and take the photographs. I have witnessed the defensive rolling several times. The insects are everywhere around us, and although in an entomological sense they are fascinating, we find them repulsive to look at and sense a bite or a sting from one of them would be at least unpleasant and possibly dangerous. We are all keeping a safe distance from them until I have a chance to investigate them properly. I am planning to capture a few in the near future and examine them properly. Fortunately, the insects seem to feel as wary of us as we are of them, and scuttle off if we surprise them. I am now certain Hadima must have brushed against one of them.
Her pulse started to vary wildly, from below 50 bpm to above 130 bpm. She voided her bladder incontinently and the liquid was highly coloured with blood. She complained again about the pain and appeared to be about to lose full consciousness. She was deathly pale and her entire body was covered in sweat. Antalya injected more stimulants, coagulants and antivenins into her. She made small incisions on Hadima’s arms and legs, to attempt to relieve the acute swelling. Blood, lymph and pale liquid gushed from these incisions. Her right leg was darkly discoloured for its entire length. Briefly, her pulse could not be detected and we carried out emergency resuscitation procedures. Further stimulants and coagulants went into her and although they increased the physical pain they
