Episode Three

   Nefario Chill rose from the throne and stretched his arms with fingers interlocked. Two bony knuckles cracked.
   "Down" he said. His voice was sibilant in the green gloom. The dais began to move downwards. After five minutes the dais floated out of the stone tunnel into a vast circular chamber hovered in the centre.
Arched openings ringed the chamber.
   "My rooms" he said. The dais moved across to one of the openings. Nefario Chill remained upright and perfectly balanced.
   He stepped off the dais. A heavy red curtain fell across the opening behind him. He stood in a green lit marble antechamber with fluted columns leading to a graceful vaulted ceiling. His steps resounded off the walls as he strode to a door at the opposite end of the room.
   He stepped into a room full of sunlight and winced. It was an elegant sitting room with a wide glass window looking out across the rainforest. High piles of cumulonimbus clouds moved in the near distance, softly sculptural in the morning light.
   One of the Polis' marvels was that it appeared to be a grey monolith yet in truth it was spotted with windows.
   He passed quickly through the sitting room to a curtained doorway. The fabric rippled aside to let him pass, then fell back into place.
   He walked through a stone tunnel whose walls were like glass. His steps echoed as he made his way to the end of the passage then he entered a round room with no windows.
    Blue light shone from a large globe sitting on a plinth set upon a round table in the centre of the room. Additional green light came from the hanging globes, making the room feel like an underwater grotto. A bench ran the entire circumference of the room with work stations, laboratory equipment, electronic consoles and screens, books, drawings, specimens preserved in fluid.
   "Good morning Nefario"
   "Good morning Polis"
   The voice emanated from the glowing blue globe. It contained an opaque fluid, swirling behind the glass.
   "The Blessing went well" said Polis. It was a statement of fact.
   "I suppose so" said Nefario
   "Disgruntled?" asked Polis
   "Bored" replied Nefario
   "The workers were awestruck for the most part" said Polis
   "For the most part?" questioned Chill
   "There was a female who showed evidence of disquiet"
   "There are usually a few fearful ones"
   "No, this female showed active dislike, little awe, veiled rebellion"
   "Show me" said Nefario moving towards the blue globe. An image of the workers wavered into view across its smooth surface. She had been standing towards the back of the group. The image sharpened and drew close to the girl's face. Nefario Chill watched the micro expressions flow over her face. He realised with indignation that her look of distaste reflected the times she was looking towards the dais where he himself had been seated. She was looking at him.
   "This is unusual" he said
   "You are disturbed Lord Chill" Nefario did not comment. Assent showed weakness, denial was pointless. Polis did not suspect he was disturbed, Polis knew.
   "Which locality was this group from?" he asked
   "Chamalon" replied Polis "They have already been transported back"
   "Make a note of this incident" said Nefario Chill. He needed to consider the matter privately.
   "How is production today?" he asked
   "Five localities are due to deliver today. Three districts have delivered the requisite skeins. One has delivered ninety three percent of its due skeins. One has yet to deliver."
   "See to it" said Lord Chill.

Episode Two

   Aditi stared at the green forest canopy below. She was relieved to be away from the great stone room and outside. She did not like the Polis, though she could see her friend Heru was impressed by it. He was looking back towards the monolith and when their eyes met, his were full of wonder.
   As it had slowly risen when they were brought here, the vast stone terrace was now descending away from the hall doors, down the side of the Polis.
   Her fellows marveled at the way the terrace slid smoothly down the building's side, but Aditi turned away to watch the jungle canopy rising to meet them, longing to be off the Polis and under its green protection again.
   "Did you see the gold on Lord Chill's throne? Aditi? Ah..." Heru shook his hand disgustedly at her and turned away. He could tell what she was thinking and that she persisted in her stubborn refusal to share his life long fascination with the Polis, despite the wonders they had seen inside.  It was an old argument between them, as old as their friendship, which had begun as two grubby urchins at play beside the village's main hut.
   There was a loud thud and she glanced up to see the great arched doorway had closed. Only it's outline remained to break the wall of stone.
   She remembered, with a shudder, that figure upon the throne. His skin had looked pale and waxen in the gloom of the hall. Lord Chill had seemed to her as pitiless and unfeeling as the stone of his castle.
   Yet Aditi was wrong in that.
   Nefario Chill was keen of feeling, quick to perceive and a master of masks.
   And his castle could think.

Episode One

   "I serve the Queen. The Queen is my bread. The Queen is my milk and my solace." The chant of a thousand voices rose to Nefario Chill upon his gilded throne. He quelled his disdain and bowed his head. He waved a hand across the crowd, a gesture of acknowledgment and dismissal. Guards directed the crowd out through the stone archway at the end of the great hall.
   He was a lone cold figure, a dark smudge against the grey stone, high upon a dais.
   The workers retreated out of the gloom into brilliant sunlight upon the wide terrace. Below them a vast jungle canopy, a lush, humid domain teeming with life spreading beyond the limits of vision. They would only see this view once in their lifetimes.
   This was that moment, the day they entered into the Queen's service,  standing before Lord Chill to receive his blessing at the beginning of their working life.
   They were juveniles all. Small in stature as was all their race. Burnished brown skin, black or brown of hair. Strong and healthy, all eyes wide at the spectacle of seeing their forest world spread out before them from the pinnacle of Lord Chill's towering structure, known as The Polis.
   Lord Chill stayed upon the throne until the hall was empty. The great doors swung to a close and the glass globes hanging high above filled  with luminescent jelly, casting a greenish pall over the scene. The distasteful monthly ritual was complete. He could resume his preferred activities.