Chapter 2: Alejandro – Peruvian mountains – October
Since he had a few minutes to wait anyways, Alejandro decided to work on his English. Ever since his guardians had allowed him access to television two years ago on his 11th birthday, Alejandro had grown keener to learn this language, because, as they had explained to him, 'it is the language of technology'.
Alejandro respected that technology was important – it was certainly bound to be the key to helping him, for example – but Alejandro had discovered that English was a language of entertainment! At least, Alejandro reasoned it must be because most of the programs he watched in English were interesting to him – those in his native Spanish, less so.
He was learning other languages like French, and Mandarin, but didn't find too much of either available on television to assist him. Mandarin had the added problem of being a language in which inflection was very important. He found it hard to modulate his voice at the same time as having to remember what he was saying.
His guardian, Eva, had recently encouraged him to take up an Indian dialect, but neither he nor she could decide on one – there were so many. Eva had promised to research for a dialect that had the highest percentage of commonality. She said she would use the large computer she and Paul had access to at their laboratory to help her.
Due to his condition, Alejandro had never been inside their lab – never even been close – but he had a shrewd idea that this might soon change. Either that or he had been watching too many spy movies!
Anticipating Eva's arrival, Alejandro waited outside his dwelling positioned where he would see her coming. It was a cool morning, but then Alejandro had only ever known cool mornings due to living a few thousand feet above sea level. His other guardian, Paul, had taught him about Geography and that they lived in the Andean foothills near a place called Nazca.
While Alejandro enjoyed all of the subjects that his guardians taught him, science was his favourite, and Eva taught him that. He thought she was a great teacher because she was always kind and took the time to explain things. Alejandro thought that Paul was a good teacher too, but sometimes he seemed to have other things on his mind – probably my special condition.
Alejandro remained outside waiting for his programmable wristband to alert him that 9AM had arrived, and when it did, he stood up and walked towards where Eva always approached from, saw her doing so, and then ran out to greet her.
"Good morning, Alejandro," she said politely in Spanish, and then smiled.
"Good morning to you too, Eva," replied Alejandro in kind. Then he inquired, "How was your evening shift at work?"
"Uneventful, I'm afraid," she said, with a hint of tiredness.
Alejandro felt confident his guardians always did their best at work, and had heard this sort of response from both of them many times, and for as long as he could remember. Normally a little more curious than he was this morning, Alejandro reported, "I need to work on my science project – Paul said I needed to inform you before I leave. Most of the work is field work."
"Good, Alejandro," she began. "I appreciate your enthusiasm for education."
Fully aware of his clandestine plan, Alejandro lied, "There is an animal involved in the study that is only active in the mornings, and I need photographic material for the project."
While he did need the evidence, it was hardly critical that he conduct the activity in the morning.
Eva responded, "In that case, you have permission to conduct an outdoor field trip." Then she asked, "How long do you anticipate your work to require?"
"About an hour – less if I am fortunate."
Eva replied, "Very well, have you eaten your morning nutrients?"
"Yes," he replied, truthfully.
Reminding him that Paul would be at work by the time Alejandro had likely returned, Eva inquired, "Did you say goodbye to Paul for the day?"
Alejandro had done this, and answered, "Yes, I did."
Satisfied that he had followed routine, Eva smiled and concluded, "Very well, I will expect your return in one hour."
Alejandro did not need to feign his merriment as he began to skip, and then run, off. His digital camera snuggled up in its case and swinging from his neck as he went, Alejandro heard Eva shout one last piece of information, "Should you return very early, you might find Paul and I are conversing in our private chambers – and don't run so quickly – it is dangerous . . ."
He slowed to a stop as her voice faded out, and then he murmured what he was certain were her last words, "out there." Then he smiled a satisfied smile. He could not remember a feeling of such satisfaction that did not include the birthdays he could remember.
Eva and Paul had shown Alejandro a book called The Holy Bible and encouraged him to read from it regularly; thus, Alejandro had a sense of wrong and right beyond what his guardians had taught him. He only thought about it right now because he had just done something that the book explained was wrong: he lied.
What troubled Alejandro a lot was that he had conflicted feelings about it. How could something so incredibly easy to do be so wrong? He had just deceived his assuredly highly intelligent guardians and they had smiled at him in the usual way.
As he began removing the camera from its case, he attempted to answer his question. First, he pretended he had just met a stranger. This was easy to do because it was a constant fantasy of his. Everyone is a stranger except my guardians. He had seen a show that a television announcer had warned about beforehand, saying, 'this show is not recommended for children under 12 – parental guidance suggested.'
Just as he completed that thought, he remembered that he had forgotten after that show ended to look up the dictionary definition of 'parental'. What is the difference between a parent and a guardian? Returning to the imagined stranger, Alejandro recalled that during the show he had watched, one of the characters had pretended to be wealthy when he was in fact poor. The character had pretended so that he might impress a pretty, rich girl. Eventually, when the truth emerged, the girl accused the boy of 'lying'.
Suddenly, he remembered her complaint, 'but I trusted you'. That was the important part – without the invested trust, the girl would not have believed the boy to begin with, or would have investigated his claim.
Confident that his digital camera was in working order, Alejandro concluded that lying was not a practice to cultivate in future, because doing it would most likely end up in the sort of regret the boy – the stranger – experienced.
Then he started at the other end, and imagined trusting a stranger at the outset – the way the girl in the show had done. Alejandro quickly realized he had a very strong feeling about how he would feel in her position: he would be angry.
Knowing that if his deception were to be successful then he needed to hide, Alejandro began to move into position. He noted that his original skip, which had turned to a run, had since become an uncertain meander. Trying to shake off a feeling he was unfamiliar with, Alejandro wondered if it concerned what trust was about: the stronger it is between two people, then the easier it is for one to break.
Checking his wristband, Alejandro realized it was time to hide. He moved to position himself about 250 yards away from his home down an ancient glacial break. He would be hidden but capable of hearing footsteps. Perhaps most importantly, he had pre-measured Pol's gait size; thus, he even had a good idea of when his guardian would pass by – he became excited.
Alejandro knew he needed to count precisely to 27 after Paul passed by, in order for the surveillance plan to succeed. A few quiet minutes passed during which Alejandro struggled to maintain his excitement. Surveillance was not as fun as he had hoped it would be, and he resolved that next time he would bring a book.
Finally, Alejandro heard the light crunch of footsteps, and prepared for his game to start. He counted footsteps once he no longer heard Pol, and then began his 27-second countdown. Once that ended, Alejandro emerged from his hiding place, and began to follow Pol from a s
afe distance.
Incapable of maintaining their distance gap because of Pol's much greater height, Alejandro had factored in occasional running as a method of closing distance between the two. About a minute passed, and then Alejandro detected that the mountain's natural corner was about a hundred yards ahead.
When Paul turned the corner, Alejandro ran quickly to close the distance, but then walked the final 30 yards stealthily. Before he peeked around the corner, he activated the bypass of the wristband's signal. As a test, he neared the perimeter awaiting the warning beep. He did not hear a beep and so he ventured forth.
As memories of a previous painful shock filled his mind, he hesitated wondering if he had the courage to continue. Into his mind popped the memory of how this plan all started. It had begun with Alejandro watching television past his curfew.
At first, he had watched late-night musical performances. When they could fulfil his craving no longer, he progressed to cartoons that only aired in the evenings. Once he found this forbidden fruit's flavour unfavourable, Alejandro discovered the ultimate televised feast: spy movies!
Spy movie characters faked their identities and solved problems with subterfuge. Eventually, watching subversive activities inspired Alejandro to learn how to bypass his wristband's electronic signal. I need to bypass for long enough to pass the perimeter without receiving a shock. He had also learned how to adjust the wristband so that it would not alert anyone monitoring the system.
Drawing a deep enough breath to raise his shoulders, Alejandro spotted Paul shrinking from sight in the distance and another memory flashed before his eyes. Months ago, while tracking a bird he had previously not identified, he had suddenly found himself on a narrow natural path. Although he sensed the location was dangerous, the excitement of discovering a new creature overcame his fear.
As he had neared the bird, he raised his electronic camera and snapped a shot just as it took to flight. Contented with his success, Alejandro then had focused on where he was. The narrow path had led him onto a natural ledge about 3 X 4 feet around – its edge was a foot away and beyond it – well, it dropped!
Gingerly, he had inched back until he could lay flat on his front to peek over the edge. In doing this, he had discovered a drop of hundreds of feet! Carefully retracing his steps after that, Alejandro became concerned that his wristband had alerted him that he had passed the perimeter boundary.
However, his subsequent check of the wristband revealed it worked fine – Alejandro had discovered an unmonitored zone. He had found freedom! Well, he had found a 3 X 4 foot space to . . . not want to venture to again unless he wanted to risk death!
With Paul's head dropping from view, Alejandro recalled his tiny 3 X 4 rocky ledge and compared it to the sight in front of him. Alejandro could see a space before him that was a thousand times bigger than his ledge of freedom.
If his attempt at bypassing failed, he would receive a painful shock. Girding his courage, Alejandro bolted across the perimeter!
Nothing happened.
This time his freedom was . . . huge!
Paul was no longer in sight, however, and so Alejandro had to calm down and remember the first rule of pedestrian surveillance: the pursuer must remain inconspicuous without losing sight of the target. Alejandro began a light trot.
Fortunately, Paul reappeared moments later and for several minutes, Alejandro maintained a healthy distance between them. It was heart-thumping action at first, and then Alejandro discovered that this part of the foothills pretty much resembled what he'd previously experienced.
Trying to deny boredom had set in; Alejandro had almost given up pursuit. Suddenly, he saw Paul stop, so Alejandro stopped. He saw Paul turning left, so Alejandro ducked down! However, Paul didn't turn more than 45 degrees, and appeared to be standing in front of a rock facing. Strange.
His mouth dropping in awe, Alejandro watched as the rock face opened; Paul vanished into it; and then the rock face closed quickly behind him. Alejandro stood in his spot amazed. Suddenly, the chase was on again!
He ran to the rock face to examine it. After a minute of scrutiny, he decided that whoever created the opening was a master of deception because Alejandro found no trace of an entrance.
Suddenly, he remembered that in spy films, the spied upon often had surveillance equipment of their own designed to alert them of pursuers. He felt afraid and immediately began to run home.
He was afraid of detection because it could lead to confrontation. If Paul later confronted him about this, Alejandro feared his guardians might never trust him again. They might also strip him of privileges.
Fortunately, having spent his entire life at this height, Alejandro was comfortable running almost the entire way home. He stopped running about 100 yards from his dwelling. He remembered that he did have some homework to do and so he proceeded to do it. He still had plenty of time before his hour ended.
Paul and Eva certainly had a strange way of entering their laboratory. It reminded Alejandro of the cartoon character Batman and his cave. Batman used his cave as a research centre and kept it secret because he did not want people to know whom he really was and what he did there.
Alejandro decided this was a silly comparison because he was sure his guardians were just dedicated medical researchers trying to find a cure for his disease. Alejandro pulled out his camera and snapped a few shots of some bird eggs for his assignment.
Zarulium Chronicles I - Destination Nazca Page 2