by Ike Hamill
Ashley smashed the glass with the rock, took some snacks, and headed for the stairs.
Ashley had a stack of manuals on the table in front of her. Using her intuition, and the pictures next to the buttons, she had managed to get the doors open and the telescope pointed at the moon. She could see it through the viewfinder, but she hadn’t managed to activate any of the primary sensors.
The books were their own mystery. All written in the same strange language of the land, the only way that she could make sense of them was to find similar passages in different places and compare those to how she imagined the instrument might work.
Sleep overtook her as the moon moved out of view.
“Ashley?” Lisa asked.
She woke up with a snort and blinked rapidly as she tried to figure out where she was. Her hair was stuck to the side of her face. She had fallen asleep with her head on the table. Ashley arched her back to stretch it out.
“You guys made it,” Ashley said.
“Tim is still climbing,” Lisa said. “I’m going to take the cart down to pick him up.”
“There’s a cart?”
“Yes. There’s a little cart around the side of the observatory. It looks like it runs on that same syrup that the boat uses.”
“Oh?”
“Why don’t you move to the bed and get some real sleep?”
“I can’t,” Ashley said, smoothing her hand across the page of one of the manuals. “I have to figure this out.”
“You can’t do anything substantial until dark. Why not sleep now?”
Ashley blinked. Lisa had a point.
“There’s a cot in that office,” Lisa said, pointing. “Here, have one of these oatmeal bars first. They’re good.”
She held out a package from the vending machine. Ashley ate it fast and found the office with the cot as her head began to buzz with new energy. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
When she woke again, there were voices from the floor of the observatory.
“…and then this one matches here,” Lisa said.
Tim pushed one of the manuals to her and Lisa slid it next to one of the others.
“What are you doing?” Ashley asked.
“We think that we’ve found the documentation on the mechanical controls,” Tim said. “There are a few reference objects listed here, next to these pictures. Maybe they’re used for calibration or whatever? Anyway, look.”
Lisa showed her the list on one of the pages. It had pictures of the planets next to a photo of one of the control panels. She had seen it before.
“Of course,” Ashley said, putting it together. It was all starting to make sense to her as she slid into a chair and aligned the books. She flipped through the pages, making connections between the physical panels and the things they controlled. After piecing more of it together, she practically flew from the chair to go press a series of buttons. Overhead the motors began to move on their own. She figured out how to aim the thing automatically and track a planet across the sky. There was nothing to look at during the day, except maybe…
“Sun spots,” she said.
“Here,” Lisa said to her. Ashley let her press something into her hands. Ashley tilted her head and looked down at the hot sandwich.
“There are freezers. The food is still good,” Lisa said.
Ashley returned to her machines. Before long, she had the scope up and running, and the filters in place to observe the solar activity. Ashley had little to compare the images to except her memory. Tim realized what she was looking at and he pulled a journal from one of the shelves.
“Here,” he said. “Does this help?”
She had no idea how long she had been sitting there, staring at the measurements and images coming from the instruments. Her neck was stiff. Outside, the sun was starting to go down.
“You ready for a break?” Lisa asked her.
“Huh?” Ashley asked.
“Come on. We’re taking a break,” Lisa said.
She let Lisa take her hand and lead her away from the instruments. She followed down a hall, through a room she had never seen, and out onto a deck. It was a beautiful day outside—the sun was warm with a steady breeze from the north. The view was amazing. Ashley felt her eyes relax as she looked out at the horizon. Tim came out with a plate of sliced apples.
Ashley could hardly believe how sweet the fruit tasted.
“These were here?” she asked.
“No,” Tim said. “We found them down in the valley when we went to move the boat.”
“You moved the boat? How long have I been staring at that stuff?”
Lisa smiled. “All day. It didn’t take long to get back down there with the cart. That thing looks dainty, but nothing stops it.”
“This place has power,” Ashley said. “From the wind turbines?”
Lisa and Tim looked at each other.
“How did you know about those?”
“Didn’t you show them to me?” Ashley asked. The question left her mouth before she had a chance to realize how flawed it was. By the time they had followed her up the hill, she had been engrossed in the observatory. There hadn’t been a time when they had toured the local area, and Lisa and Tim hadn’t yet taken an opportunity to show her what they had found.
“The only thing we can figure is that time is warped here,” Tim said.
Lisa nodded. “We’re both remembering things that haven’t happened. Sometimes, it’s like you know what something is going to look like just before you move through a doorway. Other times, it comes in a flash what you will see later on in the day, or even tomorrow. We’re going to see the wind turbines tomorrow, as far as we can figure. I don’t know when we’ll show them to you.”
“So the sun spots…” Ashley whispered. “And the red spot on the moon. Did I show that yet?”
“No,” Lisa said.
“I remember though. You said… I guess you will say that the interference is what might be causing the electrical problems.”
“Back at the Outpost,” Tim said.
“Yeah,” Ashley said. “We have to go back.”
“No,” Tim said.
Ashley was startled by that.
Lisa leaned forward. “We still have to do the things that we already remember. We’re afraid that if we don’t, the things won’t happen.”
“It would be bad,” Tim said.
Ashley didn’t understand, but thought she might later. For a moment, she felt unmoored, like she was slipping down a smooth slope, toward the unknown. Her hands shot out to grab the armrests of her chair.
“Take a deep breath and close your eyes,” Lisa said. “You’re slipping, right?”
Ashley did as she was told. As soon as she felt anchored again, she said, “Yeah. How did you know?”
“It has been happening to all of us,” Lisa said. “Even Penny experiences it. You went through it a couple of times while you were working with the telescope, but you were too engrossed to consciously notice it.”
“We shouldn’t stay here any longer than necessary,” Ashley said.
Tim and Lisa both nodded. “We’re leaving in three days.”
“I better get back to work then. The moon will be up soon.”
“Exactly true,” Tim said.
Part Four:
Discovery
Chapter 77: Liam
“I have to get some sleep,” Liam said.
Mike nodded. Mike and Jeff were engrossed with one of the displays. They thought they had figured what one of the pages was trying to report. Liam wasn’t really following everything that they were saying. He could barely keep his eyes open.
“Okay,” Liam said. He stood and shuffled toward the door. It opened for him and he began to shuffle down the hallway.
“Whoa! Hey!” Mike shouted behind him.
Liam was tempted to keep going. Mike always yelled and screamed when he discovered something new to look at. Half the time, it didn’t even make sense.
When Liam turned around, he saw the problem. The control panel was shutting itself—folding back into the wall where it had come from. He should have known. Liam hid his smile as he came back into the room. As soon as he crossed the threshold, the panel halted. It was tilted down now, but the displays were still on.
“You might have to stay in here for this thing to keep working,” Mike said. “Maybe we can get you some blankets and pillows and we can set you up in one of the corners?”
“We could move a bed in here,” Jeff said.
“Hold on,” Liam said. He turned his attention to the wall.
“Open it,” he said. The panel unfolded itself again, popping back into place.
“Now, keep it open even when I leave.”
Mike looked skeptical. Jeff raised a finger, about to make a suggestion. Before he could, Liam backed out through the door. This time, the panel stayed open. Liam turned and began to shuffle again, waiting to see if he would be called back. Even though it would make him a prisoner, he almost wanted the panel to shut itself again.
Instead, he heard Mike say, “I guess it follows his orders.”
Liam smiled.
Down the passage and around the corner, he headed toward his quarters. A voice called to him from the cafeteria.
“Hey!” Liam turned and saw Jackson. He was laid out on one of the cafeteria tables. Merle was holding one of his hands. Ty was gripping and probing his other arm.
“Hi,” Liam said, shuffling over to them.
“Talk to me about something,” Jackson said, through clenched teeth.
“What?”
“I need something to distract me. Ty is about to kill me and my son is too freaked out to talk to me.”
“Oh,” Liam said. Ty pulled and Jackson’s face twisted in pain. A groan escaped from Jackson.
“We’re almost there,” Ty said. “You’re going to feel some pressure.”
“That’s what he always says,” Jackson said. “Tell me what happened in the control room.”
“Oh,” Liam said. He moved around some chairs to get closer to Jackson’s head. Dr. Matthew was mixing something in a bowl. Amy Lynne was tearing a sheet into strips.
“You remember that room that we found after the passages?” Liam asked.
“Where all the buttons are for the environmental systems?” Merle asked.
“Yeah,” Liam said. He turned back to Jackson. “Well, Robby thinks that the control room may have imprinted on us. So far, it only accepts commands from me. Maybe you guys would be able to do it as well—who knows. Anyway, we got all these displays to open that show the outside. That’s how Mike knew that you guys were waiting at the back hatch.”
“He mentioned something,” Jackson said. He squeezed his eyes shut with pain and one of his legs kicked. Merle gripped his father’s hand tight. The sound of a snap was followed by a muffled scream from Jackson. Merle had a hand over his father’s mouth.
“Dad, you’re going to upset the kids.”
Liam glanced around and didn’t see any kids.
“I think I got it, Doc,” Ty said. “You want to take a look?”
Dr. Matthew handed the bowl to Ty, so they could switch positions. After they nodded to each other, Ty put down the bowl and held Jackson’s arm steady while Dr. Matthew wrapped it.
Liam watched for a second and then yawned.
“I have to go get some sleep,” he said, turning to walk toward the hall. “I’ll see you later.”
“Wait,” Amy Lynne said.
She caught up with him in the doorway and walked alongside him.
“I’ll show you where we’re set up. We took over the back of one of the long residence rooms. Nobody else was down there, so it’s perfect.”
“I already have my stuff in a room,” Liam said. “I have a private one.”
“Is it big enough for all of us and the puppies?”
Liam stopped. “You brought the puppies?”
She tilted her head. “Of course. We stopped and got Denver, too. They’re all in our area. Some kids are watching the puppies for us until Jackson gets straightened out.”
He let her lead the way.
At the end of one of the barracks, the dividers had been extended from the sides to wall off the far end. They had six beds for their area. One seemed dedicated to Denver, who was stretched out on his side. Between two other beds, an area had been blocked off like a walled garden for the mother dog and her puppies. Liam smiled to see them again, and then laughed when the mother jumped on one of the beds so she could greet him by licking at his chin. He scratched her and then sat next to her so he could give her a hug.
Amy Lynne had her hands on her hips.
“She loves you. She has been pretty standoffish with most of us. She tolerates Jackson pretty well, but she loves you. You should take this bed, next to them.”
Liam looked down at the kids who were wrestling with the puppies.
“They’re not noisy at all,” Amy Lynne said. “Trust me, you’ll sleep like a baby.”
The dog put her paw on his leg and Liam pulled himself down to toward the pillow. As soon as he stretched out, the dog lay down beside him. It was just the way that Prince had used to sleep next to him, years and years before. Liam looked at her eyes, wondering if maybe she was some lost descendant of his old dog. His eyes were already starting to drift shut.
“You kids take those pups to the bathroom area before long, okay?” Amy Lynne asked. The kids nodded. “Good. We don’t want this area stinking of pee.”
Liam let his eyes close, wondering if maybe the puppies were too young for housebreaking. Amy Lynne would know. She had always been good with dogs. Liam considered himself to be a good caretaker, but he had never had much luck raising dogs. He never imposed enough structure to make them good citizens.
Before he finished the thought, he was asleep.
With his eyes still shut, Liam woke to a happy sound. The puppies were smacking and mewling, content to be nursing from their mother. He blinked until the world came into focus and saw that the lights were dimmed down in the room. The bed next to him was occupied. Merle and Denver had taken it over. Looking down past his feet, he saw Amy Lynne in the corner, an empty bed, and then Jackson laying on his back. Even asleep, Jackson looked miserable with pain.
Liam slipped from his bed, shushing the mother dog as she looked up from her duties.
The rest of the long room was empty. Beyond the dividers, the beds were made and the people had gone off to find things to do. Liam resolved to put himself on the same sleep schedule as everyone else. The door at the end slid aside when he approached and he waved to a couple who were walking by, carrying boxes.
It took him a moment to orient himself and figure out which direction he would find his old room.
On the way, he smelled something savory wafting out from the cafeteria and he wanted to stop to find out what it was. He kept moving because his mouth tasted terrible. Back in his original room, he had stashed all the clothes and supplies that Rebecca had found for him. He figured he could get cleaned up and changed, move his stuff down to his new location, and then enjoy breakfast with nothing to worry about.
He finally found his room, relying on his name tag next to the doorway to reassure him that he was at the right place. The room had seemed self-sufficient, private, and protected before. Now, it seemed a little lonely. He was excited by the idea that he would be living alongside Amy Lynne and Merle again. He was even more excited that Jackson would be there too. Before, when Amy Lynne and her little son had moved in with him, it had always bothered Liam that Jackson hadn’t been there. This new situation would be perfect.
The door slid shut behind him and Liam jumped.
The sight of it brought back the memory. For an instant, the day before, he had thought that he was trapped in the little room. In retrospect, the feeling had been somewhat comforting. More than once, he had imagined himself trapped in
a cave in, suffocating silently underground.
Liam remembered a song from when he had been a kid. He whispered the lyrics to himself as he sorted through the clothes and toiletries on his bed.
“The feel of the sun on my back,” he whispered, “makes me want to worry into the earth, taste the soft, dank dirt, and be alone with a rock.”
Corinna would know who sang the song. He resolved to remember to ask her.
While he went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and shower, the song lodged itself firmly in his head. The worst part was that he could barely remember the lyrics. The other worst part is that he knew the only way he would get it out of his head was to listen to the song completely. That would be impossible if he couldn’t figure out who sang the thing. And, now that he was underground in the bunker, it was probably impossible regardless.
He was all cleaned up and drying himself off with the towel that Rebecca had given him. The fan came on automatically, but there was still a little steam at the top of the mirror. He used his hand to wipe it away.
His face looked strange to him, but he was used to it. Whenever he got out of the shower, he was always surprised to find out that he was a full-grown man. Something about standing under the running water always made him feel like a little kid again. Somehow, the mere act of stepping out and drying himself off was enough to age him back to reality.
He needed a shave.
The water was dripping down from where he wiped it. Liam used his towel to swipe at it again. The display came on.
Liam was startled backwards by what he saw. Parts of the menu were now in English. His lips moved as he read the options to himself.
“Control, Cameras, Comfort, Commodities, Cerebrum. Why all the C-words?”
When he pressed the option for Cameras, he saw a naked person and pawed at the menu to change it. Just before the view switched, he realized that he was looking at himself from the side. The camera had been of his own bathroom. Once more, he had been thinking of himself as a child and he hadn’t recognized his own adult shape.