Chapter Two
An Earlier Time
Jenai loved to get
up early and see the stars, for they shined only briefly between dark
rise and light fall every morning. Sometimes the large orange
circular behemoth would make an appearance and occasionally the
spider galaxy could be seen fully with all of those spindly legs.
It was a strange
morning that she found Assistant Caretaker Chub wandering the dark
corridors while mumbling to himself. She could not make out what he
was saying to himself but since he seemed to be on some mission she
decided to follow him.
Jenai was careful
not to make a sound. She knew that if he did not look directly at her
and focus, Chub would not be able to see her. It was her special
talent, to be able to go unnoticed. Most of the children in the
facility had some sort of talent. It was suspected the others did
too, they just hadn’t been figured out yet.
Children were not
allowed down in these levels but Jenai liked to explore them. She had
found an entire library of undecipherable books once, unfortunately
she was never able to locate it again. Jenai was sure that Alabaster
could have deciphered the language, it was his special talent. It was
a mystery that may never be solved.
Jenai watched as
part of a wall became a shiny metal door and Chub pulled out of chain
of keys and carefully selected one of them. The doors swung open and
he entered, Jenai moved closer as the doors shut. Fortunately one of
them hadn’t closed all the way and she peered inside.
The room seemed
mostly empty and dark. She could see the shadow of the Assistant
Caretaker moving around inside but it was murky. Suddenly a large
circular spot on the floor lit up a brilliant blue and the room could
be seen. Whatever it was, it was the sole purpose of the room.
She saw Chub walk to
the edge of the blue pool and drop something inside. Then the chubby
young man with the dumb face seemed to wait. Then something emerged
from the pool and into the air where it was snatched by his hands. As
far as Jenai could determine this was some kind of message-sending
device.
Why not just use the
hyper like everyone else?
The blue light
vanished and a solid floor reappeared as the room became dark once
again. Jenai moved away to a corner in the corridor as the Assistant
Caretaker locked the door and walked away, when he was gone she
looked back and there was just wall there once again.
It was a mystery and
Jenai liked mysteries. She made a note to tell her friend Craig all
about this when they met at the water tanks later. In the meantime
she was supposed to hurry or she’d be late to Secondary
Mathtistics.
…
Craig listened to
her story without interrupting. His face had broken out in a smile as
the thought of solving a new mystery beckoned.
“Some kind of
communications? It does sound that way, but what if it was something
else? Maybe it was a trade?” Craig asked, “I wonder where the
other side went? Can people cross over?”
Jenai hadn’t
thought of that.
“That sounds
extremely dangerous, sending people through some kind of portal,”
she said, “When Chub arrived to help old man Martin, he came by
ship. If people could cross through with the portal, wouldn’t it be
faster and easier?”
Craig nodded,
“You’re right about that. Traveling by ship would be a waste if
the portal could be used to travel.”
“I guess that’s
why it’s a mystery.”
He smiled, “Tell
nobody else about this. Not until we’re finished finding out the
secret.”
Jenai nodded, she
was pleased. She liked solving mysteries, especially with Craig. She
liked Craig.
…
That night, at a
predetermined time, Jenai and Craig slipped out of their beds in
their respective dorms and met near the main water tanks. The cool
air was moving and it felt like standing in front of a cooling vent.
There were no stars of course, no matter how one strained looking
down off the platforms.
“How do you reckon
we can get inside the room?” she asked.
He smiled, “I know
a trick. I’ve seen one of those before. It’s sort of like your
talent, if you look at it and focus you’ll see the lever that makes
it visible,” Craig explained. Then he shrugged, “I have no idea
how it does that, but they do exist.”
Jenai was surprised
he had figured that out just from her description, “We’ll get
this all done too quick at that rate, Craig, slow down.”
He laughed, then he
told her “Let’s go have a look, it’s getting cold out here.”
Once inside they
descended until coming to the darker sections of the orphanage. They
nodded toward each other after looking around, not wanting to be
caught. Jenai led him deeper into the level and paused to consider
the path.
“Are you lost?”
Craig asked.
She scoffed, “Of
course not.”
He shrugged, “You
never found that library a second time.”
Jenai rolled her
eyes, would everyone always bring that up?
Then something
looked familiar and she strode toward it, Craig followed. This was
the right place but the door was already open and there were shadowy
figures in the room again. Craig pulled her aside and into a recessed
area of the corridor.
“We cannot get
caught!” Craig whispered, she nodded only feeling thrilled that his
mouth was right next to her ear as they huddled.
“I hear someone
talking, quiet,” she said.
It was old man
Martin, the Caretaker, he was talking to someone.
“I realize the
severity of the situation. I only ask that you consider this facility
neutral, we are not your enemy here,” the old man said. His shadow
was next to a smaller one that flickered across the wall of the tiny
portion of the room they could see.
They heard no
response but soon the Caretaker spoke again, “I am sure adequate
safeguards can be agreed upon, we can present all the proof you’d
like. This is a fully civilian facility, after all, I can guarantee
we are no threat to your society.”
The response they
heard was a distinct growl. Craig and Jenai looked at each other,
both wondering what kind of secret they had stumbled upon. Both
wondering if they would get caught.
“The children,
yes, they must stay in their beds, I understand,” the Caretaker
answered, “I think it a bit extreme that you would punish them so
harshly though.”
A whiny, even
threatening growl.
“If the term is
not negotiable, I will skip on to the next. I’m not sure what you
mean about a portal incidence, I assure you we would never use them
against your people. We are all civilians here...” then he shut up
as the other voice growled a response, “Yes, yes. I don’t
understand how such a modification would work, but if you say it is
real… I am not arguing with you. I would never dream, after all we
are guests on your planet.”
Craigs’ eyes were
huge saucers, his breathing quickened. This made Jenai more
frightened as well.
“If that is the
term we must operate by, then we shall do so. Goodnight,” Martin
said and they watched the smaller shadow move and grow bigger as it
approached the glowing blue pool on the floor. For a brief moment
they saw what had thrown the shadow. The four-legged alien was
covered in an outer exoskelton, almost dog-like.
Martin locked the
door and it became wall again and then the old man paused and looked
around before walking away. Jenai and Craig breathed again, relieved
to not have been spotted.
“What was that?”
Jenai asked.
“Diplomacy,”
Craig answered, “I don’t think it’s good news, but the
Caretaker seems to think whatever the terms were are the best we can
get.”
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