I lay on the rock for about an hour before sitting back up and taking stock. The water has receded further and the rock that the group is on has change from just above sea level to about a foot above it. Clearly the difference between maximum and minimum tide is vast in this area.

I gather the group and we move off of the rock and up into the costal forest. The rocks on the way are slick, but my group is sure footed and with a little guidance we make our way deep into the costal forest. Yet before we have gone far the forest ends letting out onto a wide open space. Fields stretch in all directions full of tall grass with large clumps of seeds at the top. It seems artificial, I suspect that this open space and long grasses serve some kind of purpose for the humans in Mundane.

Further away other patches of forest can be seen, but they are all small clumps surrounded by the open fields. To one side a small hill raises out of the field. Looking at it I am astonished to see that the visible soil is not brown like I have observed before, rather it is a rusty faded red. What a strange place where even the soil color seems foreign.

I reach a decision. We will keep moving until I am certain that we are no longer being pursued and then I shall try to determine what my orders are going forward. I gather the group and we continue forward simply moving away from the bay.

We keep moving for a day, occasionally crossing roads, doing our best to stick to wood land whenever possible. I stop to rest about every eight hours. It is far less mentally draining to have the Coptos move across flat fields rather than through shifting water. During one of the breaks the Violet tells me that the direction we are moving in is West, he can tell by the setting of the sun. That means that the direction we have come from is East. The Violet doesn’t know how to tell the difference between North and South, none of the thinkers in the group do.

Eventually after two days of travel we stop for a longer time. I have not seen any sign of pursuit. That doesn’t mean that we are free, but it does indicate that any danger is far behind us. I mentally reach out to the Violet.

Help me read more of the orders*

The Violet mentally nods and I feel his mental presence grow in my mind. Together we grasp the already read orders and pull more of the mental sting out of the tangled shifting ball of information lodged in my mind. After about two hours of careful work a good portion has been extracted. By softly mentally feeling along the string we can determine that what we have extracted seems to be a whole sting of information rather than a fragment. I decide this is a good stopping point for the time being and the Violet withdraws from my mind.

Carefully I convert the string of information into thought. The first bit is a continuation of orders in the form of a message.

Excellent job escaping, my creation, your Maker is proud of you. You will be living feral in coming times. The elaborate system that fed and created the Coptos under me has been destroyed by our enemies. Going forward you shall consider your group as a kind of long term resource gathering mission. Inclosed is some basic information on the world and where the best sources of meaning can be found for conversion into essence. Access the next set of orders once you have found a safe and prosperous place for your group in the world.

The rest of the information is more a set of images and basic instruction on meaning gathering. I had never been in charge of a resource gathering mission, that was for bronze eyed Blues or above. Still it seems an easy mission. From what I understand based on the information there are lots of places in the Other that meaning builds up. My Yellows are already specialized to detect small amounts of meaning when left to their own devices, the only reason we have not found any so far is from being constantly on the move.

The best way to find meaning would be to move towards more developed areas of the Other where humans have gathered in the Mundane. The key will be to find a good source on meaning that has not already been claimed by something in the Other that we cannot fight.

I mentally connect with the group again and we start to move. Yet now we are not simply headed West. Instead we move until we find a dirt road, then we turn and follow the road. It is time to find where the humans gather.