Chapter 10
The First Shift Together
I
Henry, and his mother went to pick up a universal translator from the bookstore, and Amica grinned inwardly as she found herself checking out his backside as he walked away. He was a good-looking man for a human, she wondered if he would consider going out with an alien. She hadn’t been out on a date in almost a century, and even then it was with someone that her mother had set her up with. Amica loved her mother very much, and she was perfectly willing to date within her species, but had not met an acceptable candidate.
She checked in a few more clients then looked down at her pad, and saw the next gate opening was getting closer, and Henry had not returned. She secretly hoped he would have to open the gate bare handed the way he had earlier, she had asked him not to, but there was something exhilarating about the raw display of talent, and power Henry had displayed. She had tried to see Henry as a friend that was younger and needed to be looked after, but it was difficult to see him that way when he demonstrated feats of such physical power. Most of the energy that opened the gate came from the keeper, not the gate. He was coming into his own, and she was beginning to see him as an equal, despite the length of his life.
She was looking forward to beginning her own training, and really seeing after all of these years what she could do. Henry had said she would be able to open the golden gates. It didn’t really bother her that Henry used his developing ability to see things on her, even though she had told him it did. She was just afraid he would see the way she felt about him before she knew herself, discovering her feelings was something that she preferred to do over time, and not in some flash of knowledge that came from the object of her feelings.
She checked in the last client on her list, and looked down to her pad, she had 6 minutes until Henry needed to have the gate open; she looked down the hallway, and smiled as she saw him hurrying this way. She did not understand why Henry did not have lots of friends, he was nice, he had a good sense of humor, he was a good listener and he was smart.
“It’s just about time you showed up,” she said teasing Henry when he walked up.
“I’m sorry it took a while for mom to get her bearings, and get the universal translator set up for her. My mother is a nurse; she spends all day working with sophisticated medical technology, but she needs help to work the living room TV. So it was a toss up which side she was gonna come down on,” Henry said. She could tell that he was flustered about taking so long to get back; she was impressed by how seriously he took his job.
Henry went directly to the gate control computer, and began the process of opening the gate. She could hear the low thrum of electricity as it powered up shifting in frequency modulation to match the location coordinates that Henry had entered into the computer. After a few minutes the gate was aligned, and Henry walked over, placed his hands on the gate, as she watched, the green metal inlay that formed the out line of the door began to glow. As she watched Henry she thought of the only other natural she had ever known, her father. He had been a wonderful man, she had never met anyone who knew him who had not missed him, and respected his opinion as a keeper. She remembered a time before her planet fell; it was one of the few memories that remained clear to her of that time. Her father had taken her to work with him. She had spent all day watching him fix, different gates around the surface of her world. They traveled together by gateway, going to different stations throughout her planet that had a gate in need of repair. She would never forget it, in every station her father took her to the gift shop, and she got to choose something that represented the people who lived in that area of her world.
That was the first time she had laid her hand on an operating gate. At the end of the day she snuck up behind her father while he was opening the gate home. He had been tired and had not noticed her. She had wanted to pretend to open a gate like her father. She remembered placing her tiny little hands on the gate, it had seemed so utterly enormous to her. Her father had talked to her all day about what he was doing as he worked. As she closed her eyes the way he did she saw the orb he had talked about. She felt a trickle of energy pulse through her tiny body as the coppery beam of light hit her chest. She had felt filled to capacity with the tiny bit of energy she held. She remembered what her father had said about channeling the energy into the gate, and pushed as much as she could into the gate. The copper outline of the door already glowed with light from her father, but to her mind she thought it got a little brighter and she smiled.
She went to pull her hands from the gate to move out of the way, she had watched her father open the gates before, and knew he would need to pull the gate open now. She went to move out of his way, but he had noticed her and took her hands in his, and placed them on the gate handle, and together they pulled the gate open. When the gate was open he picked her up, walked through the gateway quickly, and pulled it closed behind them. He placed her hands on the handle again, and whispered into her ear to clear her mind. Then he asked her to picture the gate closed, and dark. She did as he asked; as soon as she did the gate fell dark. She remembered feeling so tired; she sat down on her but next to the gate.
Her father scooped her up in his arms she felt so sleepy, and warm in his arms as he squeezed her to his chest. She remembered being confused by the look on her father’s face as she fell asleep, she felt so bad for falling asleep on him at work. When she woke up she had tried to apologize to him for falling asleep. He was not upset, and just held her in a tight hug. Latter he made her promise that she would never touch a gate like that again. As she got older she realized that she had accidentally become connected to the gate with her dad. She had actually channeled a portion of the energy that had opened, and maintained the gate. She was lucky that it had been a copper gate that required very little energy to open, or her mind would have been washed away on the currents of the gate’s energy. Although looking back she understood that it had been a dangerous situation, but everything had turned out fine. It was one of her most cherished memories of her father. They had shared something that very few people ever shared, they had touched the universe together. It made her sad, that she did not know what had happened to him.
“Amica, the gate is open. Are all clients checked in and ready for transport?” Henry asked breaking her reverie.
“What?” she said.
“I said the gate’s open, are we ready. Are you okay; you look, I don’t know, like something is off. I didn’t use the natural thing, I could just see it in on your face, I know we haven’t known each other very long, but…” Henry said. Amica smiled to herself a little he was trying so hard to comfort her, he wanted to say that they were friends, but he was shy. That was so cute.
“It’s okay Henry, I consider you a friend too. How about we move these clients,” she said. Henry led the clients through the gate, and she checked off each one as they walked through the gateway, when all of them had been accounted for she walked through the gateway to inform Henry. They did not have anyone coming back through the gate, and walked back to their post.
II
They opened two more gates with out any incidents, or problems. Amica found that she was strangely looking forward to seeing Henry’s mother again.
“Henry before we go pick up your mom there was something I wanted to tell you, I wanted to wait till our shift was over. I didn’t want you opening gates upset,” Amica said. She had spent the better part of her afternoon trying to figure out how to bring up the subject. This was her only chance to do it before keeper training started tomorrow.
“Roberts didn’t just put me in keeper classes with you to help you adjust. She was worried I would ask you to go off with me, and look for my father, so she told me that if I promised not to ask you, she would put me in the keeper training program. I though you should know,” she said. Henry looked at her with hurt on his face.
“So you are only pretending to be my frie
nd so you can get into keeper training, is that what you are trying to tell me,” Henry asked. He did not sound angry, he sounded disappointed, and sad which was even worse. She realized she needed to fix this before their relationship was damaged beyond repair, and because she wanted to keep him as a friend.
“No, that didn’t come out right, can we sit down, and talk. I feel like everyone that walks by is looking at us,” she said gesturing to an empty departure area. Henry thankfully nodded his head; at least he was willing to hear her out she thought. They walked over to a seating area, and sat down on two chairs near the end of an empty row.
“Roberts was worried about you getting into trouble so she called me in to her office, she said she wanted me to look after you, said she would even put me in the training program so I could help you settle in to your place in our universe. I promised right away, cause I liked you. I thought we had fun together, and I looked forward to spending more time getting to know you. I’m sorry. I do consider you a friend, and I don’t want to put you in danger. The deal seemed like a win for everyone,” Amica said. Henry sat for a minute absorbing everything she had told him, she was still not sure how he was going to react until he spoke.
“I like you Amica, but if there is anything else you are hiding from me now would be a good time to tell me,” he said. She may be hiding some of her feelings from Henry, but that was only because she had not sorted them out yet.
“I’m not hiding anything else I promise, and I was serious when I said I consider you my friend. You maybe the first real friend I have made in a long time,” she said. “I’m tired, what do you say we go check in with Ms. Roberts to get the details for our training tomorrow, find your mom,” she said. She held her breath, waiting to see if the storm had passed. His face broke into a smile. It was a smile that Amica was quickly beginning to think of as her smile. He had several different smiles, one when he was opening a gate, and felt the thrill of the universe at his fingertips. Another for when he was learning some new tidbit, but this one seemed to be reserved for her. When he looked at her his smile widened just ever so much, and his eyes brightened just the slightest. Whenever he had pulled that smile out today her heart had beat a little bit faster.
“That sounds great,” he said standing. “Do you know anything about how training will work,” Henry asked.
“I don’t, the only thing my father would ever say was that it was the hardest thing he had ever done. He said that he had a friendship that made the time special,” she said. She realized that friend was probably Ms. Roberts; she wondered what had been between the two of them. Her mother didn’t like to talk much about her dad, and she especially didn’t like to talk about his time in keeper training before they met.
“What time are we supposed to meet Roberts again?” Henry asked looking at the time display on his tablet.
“She said to stop by after our shift, we were originally supposed to start training today, but I guess your dad called, and asked if you could bring your mom today. So she changed the schedule, should we go see when they’re going to throw us to the wolves,” she said with a laugh.
“Yeah, and then I’m going to take mom out to dinner, would you like to come?” Henry asked standing, and reaching down to help her stand up. She was glad he wanted her to eat with them.
“Sounds great, do you think she will want to eat in the station, or go somewhere else?” she asked. They began to walk towards Roberts’s office.
“I don’t know, I guess we will find out in a few minutes,” he said. They walked through the hall talking about the different kinds of people they had seen today.
III
They knocked on Ms. Roberts door, and waited. While they were waiting Uktu’s door was open, and she was packing up her stuff to go home. She helped Henry checked his tablet to confirm the deposit of his pay check, then they made small talk about their plans for the evening while they waited. After about five minutes the door swung open, and Roberts stood before them. She did not look entirely happy with them.
“Come in please, and sit down,” Roberts said in her crisp professional voice. Amica always had a hard time reading this woman, but she was pretty sure she was in trouble.
“So I understand you two had a very interesting day, would you like to tell me about it,” Roberts said. Amica was not exactly sure why she was upset, and figured the best bet would be to play dumb.
“I thought we had a pretty good day, Ms. Roberts. We moved all of our clients right on schedule,” Amica said cheerily.
“So it’s not true that Henry opened a level 5 golden gate barehanded today nearly collapsing the gate with an overdraw in the process?” Roberts asked. Although Amica felt from the tone of voice in which Roberts asked, it was clear she already knew the answer.
“I’m sorry Ms. Roberts,” Henry said, “It was my fault, I took too long getting to the gate, and the computer would have taken too long to align the gate. I thought I could do it faster with out the computer, and although I got the customers to their destination on time, I appreciate that if something had gone wrong, people’s lives could have been disrupted. I know that you have entrusted me with a lot of responsibility, and I will not let you down again. In the future, I will be sure to arrive in a more timely manner,” Henry said. Amica listened to him talk impressed with his level of maturity, especially when you considered there were a lot of things going on this afternoon that had contributed to his tardiness. He had not tried to make any excuses; he simply apologized, and promised to be more responsible with his choices. She saw a lot of his mother in his personality.
“I appreciate that this was your second day Henry, and I will warn you to be more careful with your talent, especially when working around the level five gates, bad things can happen to a keeper who loses focus during an opening, you could hurt yourself, or others. You were very lucky today, if you had channeled that much energy through other gates in this station they would have melted around you,” Roberts said.
“Yes ma’am,” Henry said.
“And that goes double for you miss,” Roberts said turning her head to look at Amica. “You both start training tomorrow. The last thing your father said to your mother, and I was to make sure you were taken care of. I see that you are respectful, polite, and you always do a good job. Your mother has done a very good job so far, and I will not let something happen to you on my watch,” Roberts said leaning forward in her chair and placing her hands on the desk in front of here. “Is that clear, to both of you?” she said.
Amica could hear only the slightest agitation in Roberts’s voice, which meant that she must indeed be upset to let her professional tone of voice slip even the littlest bit.
“Yes ma’am,” The two of them said at the same time. They looked at each other, and smiled, not because they thought what she had to say was funny, but that they had responded at the same time.
“Tomorrow in your lockers, the two of you will find new uniforms for training. You are also to bring your communication tablets. Present yourself at the Chicago Terminal’s North Gate. The gate will open for you at precisely 5 minutes to 4, and will close precisely at one minute after. If the gate closes, and you are not at the training facility you will not receive training. Is this fact clear to you? Your instructor will be standing by, I would not recommend being late, your instructor does not have my pleasant disposition,” Roberts said. Amica was surprised to see that Roberts actually smiled when she said that last part. Amica however found her skin trying to crawl off her body at the thought of a person scarier than Roberts.
“Do you have any questions?” Roberts asked.
“No ma’am,” the two of them said almost on top of each other. They got up to leave her office, and had almost reached the door when Roberts spoke one last time.
“I have recommended the both of you for this program, I have faith that the both of you will represent yourself, and this station in a manner that will make us proud, good
luck,” Roberts said. After speaking she went back to whatever work she had at her desk, and Amica, and Henry found their way out into the main hall of the terminal. It was evening. As they hit the main terminal Henry stopped, and looked up through the glass ceiling. The sky was full of a thousand stars, and planets that were similar to those of his home, but had just enough differences to make him look with wonder. There was a ringed planet close enough that they could clearly see the rings shimmering in the night sky. Amica smiled to herself at his wonder. The thing about Henry she thought she liked the most was the way he looked at everything he saw with acceptance, and wonder. He was not like some humans she had known over the years. Many believed so strongly they were alone in the universe; they had a hard time seeing the universe as it was. Henry was not that way at all. He approached everything with an open mind, as if to say wow that was unexpected, but then he would turn to you, and say how cool was that. As a natural he had the ability to see the glue that held the universe together, and yet he still found wonder in the simplest things like the sight of a different planet in the sky.
“So how are we supposed to find your mom?” Amica asked.
“We were supposed to meet here at the information booth, about 5 minutes ago, so she should be here somewhere,” Henry said craning his neck to look for her in the thin crowd of people. “You go that way and I’ll go this way,” Henry said heading around the information desk. Amica almost looked past Henry’s mom standing about three feet away from her, she was wearing a new pair of glasses presumably the language translator that Henry had purchased for her.
“Mrs. T,” Amica shouted with a wave. Mrs. T saw her, and waved back, then began weaving her way casually through the crowd as if she had been walking through crowds of aliens her whole life. It really was a remarkable thing Amica thought to herself. This must be where Henry got his calm disposition. She walked up, a stylish pair of black glasses with oval lenses graced her appearance, and the glasses had an earpiece that tucked into the wearer’s ear. The only other new addition to her wardrobe was a round pendant about an inch across hung on a silver wheat chain. The pendant was gold in color, and hung around her neck. When Amica looked closely, she saw that it was a fine engraving of the golden orb with the letters ITS carved in relief over the top of it, Amica realized that this pendant was the speaker for the universal translator. Henry really had spared no expense to buy this for his family, once again she found herself admiring his generosity of spirit, this set probably cost most of the credits he had in his account.
“Henry really bought a beautiful translator, may I,” Amica said indicating the pendant. His mother nodded leaning a little so Amica could lift the pendant closer to her self. She admired the fine links of the sterling silver chain. The pendant was only slightly thicker than it should have been because of the resonating disk hidden with in it.
“It worked wonderful, it was so interesting to see all the different shops, and conversations that were happening all around me. So many languages, a person could spend hours here just watching different species come, and go. It makes you really think about how narrow-minded humans can be; to think this morning I thought we were alone in the universe. Where’s Henry?” Mrs. T asked.
“We split up to walk around the information counter, he should be here any second,” Amica said looking around to see if she could see him.
“How did the rest of your day go?” Mrs. T asked.
“It went really well, we got the information about starting out training classes tomorrow, so we are both very excited about that, did you think about where you wanted to go for dinner?” Amica asked.
“I saw a lot of really interesting foods upstairs, but nothing that really spoke to me. Would you mind if we just went somewhere in town, I would love the opportunity to just get to know more about what you, and Henry do with out all of the amazing distractions,” Mrs. T said. Just then Henry walked over to them. He gave his mother a big hug.
“Mom, how was your evening did you have fun?” Henry asked.
“Yes, I had a great time. I waited until you two were done to eat, and it wasn’t because the sight of some of the food made me sick to my stomach either, I promise,” Mrs. T said with a laugh. How about we go back to the locker room and get you two out of those uniforms, and then we’ll call your father, and sister. We can see what they are doing for dinner, and maybe bring home some carry out,” Mrs. T said. Amica felt as if Henry’s mother had adopted her, just naturally planning her into the events of the evening. It was a very nice feeling. She loved her mother very much, they had gotten along very well with just the two of them, but there was something to be said about being surrounded by friendly people.
IV
An hour, and a half latter, Amica found herself seated with Henry’s family in the back of a little Chinese restaurant. Henry’s father, and sister had not eaten either when Mrs. T had called, so Henry had suggested dinner out at the Golden Palace. He had even offered to pay. His mother had protested at first, telling him to keep his money. I think in the end Mrs. T could see that Henry really wanted to do this for her, and gave in.
Before dinner, Henry’s family had been full of questions about her time on Earth, and her family. She had not been sure how to discuss the issue of her father, but Henry had stepped in saying that her father had been lost in the tragedy that brought her to Earth. He had said it in a tone that had implied it was a tender subject, and although Amica could see they all had more questions they gladly changed the subject to how she, and her mother had blended in for so long.
“It was harder in the past,” Amica said. “People moved around less, and the cities were smaller, so after awhile people would notice that we aged very slowly, and before people could ask questions we would have to move along. My mother worked for the gate system, she was not a keeper like Henry, but she did repairs, and maintenance work for the ITS so we always had to live near cities with gates. Because of the exchange rate we always had money, so every few years we would hop through a gate to a new city, and start over,” Amica said.
“So there have always been gates on Earth?” Mrs. T asked.
“I’m not sure when the first gate appeared on Earth honestly, but there were only a few when my mother, and I arrived around a thousand years or so now, in fact the Chicago terminal is fairly new, it was moved out of the city after the great Chicago fire. I think they moved it in 1873, they built it out here so they could bring supplies in to help rebuild the city; even then Chicago was an import place. I wish you could have seen it during the Columbian Exposition, it really was a thing to behold,” Amica said. The food came, and the talk turned to other things.
Amica sat next to Henry enjoying the company of his family, she had never been to this particular restaurant before, she was actually surprised the food was so good looking out at the rest of the restaurant. The carpet looked good in the dark, but looked thread bare near the edges of the light pools, and the wallpaper was starting to peel in some places. She had to admit that it was the best food she had ever eaten, it was probably the only thing that kept the place afloat. It was some of the most fun she had in a while.
Shelly loved Amica’s coat. Which had thrilled Amica. The coat, which had started as a Kensington by Burberry, had been a custom order, and was one of her most prized possessions. She, and Shelly spent a portion of the evening talking about clothes, and she told Shelly about the time she had spent with the people at Burberry creating her coat. Amica loved the opportunity to talk about it with some one who loved fashion like Henry’s sister. They had custom created the lining, and the scarf for her, altering the red they used to a paler rose pink that would match her skin tone. Henry’s sister picked endlessly on Henry’s wardrobe, calling him hopelessly addicted to the same look. Henry had shot her a dirty look when she mentioned his clothes, but either Shelly had not seen it, or she had pretended not to. She made Amica promise that the two of them would take Henry shopping now t
hat he had some money, and buy him some clothes that showed off how handsome he was.
Amica looked down at her watch, decided to head home, and check in with her mother before bed. She wanted to talk to her about her upcoming keeper training, she had wanted to talk to her before, but she had been out of town on a job. She was supposed to be home tonight, and Amica wanted to be home when she got there to greet her. Although people where still eating, and having a good time she excused herself, explaining about her mom coming home from an out of town job, and wanting to be there when she arrived. Henry’s family was very gracious about her early departure, telling her how much they enjoyed her company.
“Any time your mom is out of town, and you feel lonely you are welcome to come by our house,” Mrs. T said standing, and giving Amica a hug good bye as they prepared to leave.
“Don’t forget you promised to help me make Henry buy some new clothes,” Shelly said again as a parting shot.
“I won’t forget,” Amica said. Henry walked her to her car.
“I’m glad you came to dinner, this was fun, I hope you enjoyed the food. I know the place isn’t much to look at, but the food is great,” Henry said.
“It was great, and I agree it is the food that matters in the end,” Amica said. “Hey I was thinking I would pick you up at school tomorrow, we could run through a drive in, and get some food before we change for training” she said.
“That would be great,” Henry replied.
“ Great, where should I park?” she asked.
“There’s a visitor parking on the west side of the building near the Main entrance, my mom parked there today, that should work fine. I get out at three, is that still okay with you?” he asked.
“Yeah, you did really good today Henry. I was very impressed, you have a lot of talent, I am excited to see what we can do as a team in training tomorrow,” she said. He gave her a hug.
“Thanks, I never would have made it through the last two days with out you,” Henry said as he hugged her. She could feel his breath as he spoke on her ear. She felt really comfortable in his arms, and held him close for a moment before giving him a kiss on his cheek.
“You would have been fine, but it is nice of you to say,” she said stepping back, and holding his elbows for a moment longer not quite ready to break contact yet. She looked into his eyes, and fought the urge to kiss him on the lips, and decided this was a good moment to make her exit, before she did something to ruin their friendship.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, 3 o’clock,” Amica said then she got in her car, and pulled away.
The Gate Keeper Page 10