The Journey

by Arnav Koppala

  Y-Tick Y-Tock. Y-Tock Y-Tick. I have a stare down with a Kalamanian clock. This was out of the ordinary from what I used to when it came to electronics. Now, each of us were in our own different worlds. Yeah. We were all in our own worlds but in an entirely different universe. I look deeper into the clock as I see the tiny gears. I guess, you could call me Inspector Gadget.

  This was neat because the gears circling clockwise into other gears that were going counterclockwise. I examined closely and what I saw was the gears would stop for a split second and go the opposite way. Then when I would look closely again it would be going the right way. I look again, and I see faintly the shape of a Y right in the center of the clock. I wonder if I was the only one that noticed. Then when I look at it again, it was no longer there. Were my eyes deceiving me somehow?

  I close my eyes and let myself drift into the sound dimension. Everything was a sound. Scuffling ticking, ruffling, and even a small movement. I could hear and make an image out of it. How many dimensions were there? I liked being in the sound dimension. It was like a place of my own like a holographic headset but for once it was real. It was like everything was personified by having a reverberating sound to it.

  My feet slowly lift off from the ground and my body starts to drift in the air. It has been over a week now and I just could not get my mind off the explosion. Even though time had elapsed, it seemed like the explosion had just took place. Uncle Peter said it was natural. Natural? How could Uncle Peter even have the nerve enough to say this was natural? Is it natural, if you see a place that was nearly filled with people and all of a sudden it explodes? Is this something that is natural out here? I was beginning to think that Uncle Peter was somehow losing his own mind.

  Still Uncle Peter told me that we all teleported out of the outpost to a new outpost. Apparently, they needed to destroy the outpost to erase all and any evidence that we were here. This is what we call a supernova. You know, where a star explodes. But still, their homes were completely done away with. This was kind of a good thing that no one would know that we were there because that would be more bad news for us.

  I stop and ponder on exactly what I just said. I murmur to myself. I look at the explosion as a glass half full. I must be optimistic……well, that answers that question. I keep racking through my memories until I come across the sales person.

  As we were boarding the ship, I saw her take out this weird object and place it on the ship, then take it off as if she were scanning the systems, but that was not the strange part. Her eyes were—wait. They were hollow. We missed Sakuta again. If my memory serves me correctly, she might have had something to do with the explosion. She did seem intent and bent on getting us on the ship quickly. I do remember that.

  I rest up a bit more in this dimension and try to get my energy back. I hope all the others were trying to get every bit of rest they could as well. The sound dimension slowly healed my wounds from the battle in the training room. I just start to wrap things up when I hear this noise blaring out of the speakers. The alarm went off. Yzzzzzzztick Yzzzzzzztock.

  I scramble around trying to run out of my room when I realize that I was still in my dimension. I focus myself and concentrate. Plop! Thud plop. My butt hits the floor with a thud and I run out the door surprised. At least, I was not injured from hitting the ground like I did. I was unscathed from a drop on my rear end.

  I run down the hallways and hear a totally different set of running footsteps besides my own. I looked to see who it might be. Mathew was running too. I could tell something was off. There was a glint in his eyes that seemed to tell me there was something else. It was something more sinister happening and he saw a glimpse of it. It looked like he was running trying to get away from whatever it was. He was panting all out of breath like he was out of shape.

  We ran into the control room, but Uncle Peter was not checking the controls. He was sipping his coffee. I could see the steam rising from his cup. Each time he took another sip, the steam would rise higher. I did not understand at first. Again, there were those stack of papers again just sitting there next to Uncle Peter.

  Austin was just sitting there too reading a book. He had his face practically glued to the pages. What is happening? There is an alarm going off and nobody is doing anything. So, did the alarm back in my room trigger this or was what I was hearing when the sounded this alarm?

  Uncle Peter looks up and notices us and tries to talk to us only to hear nothing from his mouth. The only thing that came out of his mouth when he did try to talk was more steam. The alarm was so loud that I did not know if my eardrums were busted, because everything seemed so faint with my hearing. I guess, he caught on and motioned us over to him and we sat down. I did not even want to sit down. There were those papers looking at me.

  Supposedly, the alarms were not working because there was not anything happening that would be anything close to imminent danger or even just danger. I was not surprised. I felt something was going to go wrong and look what happens but this. I mean, it could not get worse; right? Sure, it could.

  There was this quick shaking like an earthquake. The jolt was uncontrollable. Before, I know it, I tried to grab ahold of anything I could to keep from being shaken. The only thing that I caught was the stack of papers and that was a huge mistake. Just then, the floor opened up and I was sliding down a chute. It reminded me of sliding down a dark slide. Immediately, I was in this peculiar bay. I look up and see in bold giant red letters. AIRLOCK. The giant doors sealed shut by red tape tore in half and I was ejected into space. I warped some air from the airlock around me. For now, I was safe, but the problem was that the spaceship was nowhere to be found.

  I did not realize the fact that we were going at hyper speed, so it was probably light years away by now. I start to stop panicking and start taking shorter breaths. I sucked a lot of oxygen from the ship, so I am good for a couple of hours, but it depends on how long I can hold my magic for. I try to stabilize myself. I did not even pay attention to the safety procedures that were given out when we boarded the ship in case something like this were to happen.

  I look all around me. I do not even know what is up or down. I start to turn, but I cannot, so I use the air to propel me around. I start to get dizzy from going around in circles. I was just oscillating in the air. I cannot find the ship. Oh, I know what would help me. I remember the beacon on my shirt.

  I instinctively reach for it, but it is not there. Then something sparkles in my eye. I see a sliver of light reflects onto my face as it fades and reappears continuously as it tumbles into the depths of space. I use some of my air and to grab the receiver as I move the air with the receiver slowly back. The air reunites with mine. I grab the receiver and search for the beacon.

  I click it, and I shoot a laser in one direction only. Shroom! As I try to move it, it does not move anywhere else. Yes. That must be where the ship is. The image sure does appear to be the ship. I try to find a way to catch up with it, but I cannot propel myself around fast enough. It was like a hopeless situation. This made me think of being on a tire swing with the revolving rotation.

  It would take loads of time for them to come, and I only have minutes of air. I needed to hurry up and something had to go right for me. I did not want to start gasping for air. I guess my calculations were off. I search deeper and deeper in my head for some answer. Boom, just like that as if the answer just appeared there it came to me. I know what I need to do. I took the remainder of my air and spun rapidly.

  For some reason, when I started spinning rapidly, I generated more oxygen for me. I compacted it all into one very tiny ball. I released it and bam, I started moving at hyper speed. I followed the red beacon trail. Oh, this was working. Yes. I come to a full stop when I see the ship. I then use the air I have and latch onto the ship.

  Now, the airlock is still open. I use all my strength and I land in the airlock. The airlock doors do not shut, so I use my air to seal it off. It was like taking that sealant for doors and wind
ows in the winter time to keep air out. Then I generate more oxygen for the air to stabilize and the pressure to return to normal. I sure hoped my lungs were okay from all this pressure. I quickly climb up the chute and land in the control room.

  Everyone is at the control hustling and bustling. I come up through the hole and everyone’s eyes were on me. Uncle Peter dropped his mug and everyone else is staring at me. Crash. It landed right on the floor and the liquid start to protrude everywhere. Looks like he liked his coffee black. Everyone better had watch their step. Glass and a coffee mixture was not a good combination. I looked with confusion.

  What was happening. I hear footsteps and I stare at a person that is me. He was coming down the hallway casually as if nothing happened. He stared at me, and I stare back at him. There was two of me. I did not have a twin. Who was this person? What was he doing on the ship? Then he disappeared and reappeared. He was like…a hologram. He did not see anything wrong, so he just walked away.

  They all stare at me asking what happened to me. I told them the truth and every bit and piece of it. I do not know why, but I ejected into space while the ship was going at hyper speed. I also told them that I unlocked a new ability and that I could generate oxygen myself. I even generated some right in front of their own eyes. It smelled good like cool refreshed air.

  Everything was back to normal until the light went out. The emergency lights kicked in. Something was not right. We all walked together because we are not going to split up to cover more ground. That is the exact opposite thing you have to do. We went down one hallway and started creeping towards every single room trying to find out if there was anything wrong with any of them.

  We all walk into the kitchen and stop in there thinking the same thing. It is time for lunch. We all sit down to have a nice lunch and we press this button and the refrigerator opens up and all these compartments start opening. There was no food except for an empty space with a keyboard attached at the bottom of it. I did not understand it at first but then I typed in a glass of water and then I hit enter.

  After that, the empty space went white and then there was a glass of water. That was cool. Let me not get too carried away here. I pulled out the glass of water bad mistake. After I set it onto the table, the empty space kept glowing as water rushed out of it. The last thing we needed was to have a flood after the explosion. It was not me. I did not do anything. I am not guilty for this mistake. It was not me. Wait why does everything bad happen to me? Can’t it happen to someone else? Pretty soon, everyone was going to start falsely accusing me of all the mishaps that keep taking place.

  No offense to anyone, but if you guys got kidnapped or got ejected into space, I would worry but at least I could have a break. The water was now at our waists. I could not do anything else but enclose the machine and compact it. Where was the valve that stopped this water from flowing like this? As soon as I completed that thought, the water stopped flowing, but there was still water at our feet.

  I use the air and walk out the door with a trail of water leading to the water filter station where I dumped it all in for it to be cleaned and ready for use. What I was experiencing was like watching a bad sitcom play out live from one bad scene to the next. Well, that was not a shocker. I knew bad was going to happen. I could really feel it. But when I finally come back, here is the problem…

  There they are Mathew and Cameron sitting behind the countertop with dishes in their hands held straight up against the violent food squirting machine which was set on .926481363428 because of course the machine started malfunctioning. The water and now food. It was spitting ice cream, and steak, and my favorite food, pizza.

  It was up to me again, but then Mathew used the horrible mess and shaped it into this weird ball. Then I searched the kitchen for a big enough pan to use, but I couldn’t find any, so I made a plate of air and created a spherical barricade of air around the glop around the hose. Uncle Peter worked technologically, while Austin for the essence of evil and extracted it. There was so much of it that it came out like a jet stream. But Austin took it all in and then he grabbed some water and a vial from his back pocket and put the water in it.

  He started to shake and the ground started vibrating. It was as if he was a waiting to go off. He knew he could not take it all in, but he did it anyway. He twisted the lid on the vial and then he blasted all the black energy into the vial as a purple glow filled the entire room. It was bad enough for the malfunctions to happen but now this.

  This was definitely Sakuta’s doing. The vial glowed instantly and it settled down and eventually stopped vibrating. Austin was going to slowly feed on his power and extract the darkness slowly and carefully so that the vial does not explode. At that moment, Austin knew what he needed to do. He switched to his dark vision and scanned for Sakuta’s signature when he looked at Uncle Peter something out of the ordinary happened. I could not tell but his face looked startled. “Are you—no, I am not!” Uncle Peter said. “I am unable to talk now.”

  The whole ship went haywire. It was chaotic, because so many things were going on all at once. I saw some small sparks igniting. The control wire started to fray. You could see the wires coil coming from the inside. The gravity did not work as it was supposed to. Fortunately, my brain seemed to recognize the situation and drop one of its secret. It was an ability program that launched into my mind as I unlocked a hidden ability. I know what you are thinking. Here goes another ability; right. Yes, indeed. The program of Gravity Terrain.

  Everyone started panicking but I quickly enabled my ability. Why is it that every single time something happens, people always freak out about it? I guess, we will never be able to properly answer that. Nonetheless, the ground seemed to vibrate as my body felt the pull and attached itself back to the ground. The ship however was not able to help with any of this.

  We all cowered against one another. The ship’s screens blared to life. Auto-Lock on Planet Vesco. Initiating thrusters to maximum power. Iminent impact on Planet Vesco in 30 seconds...29...28...27...26...25...

  I was afraid. I did not know what would happen. The ship lurched in space as the whole ships external layers stripped down panel by panel. Soon the outer protective layer was gone. There was no safety at all. All the software and machinery were now exposed to the cold emptiness of space. The ship heated up exponentially as the countdown quickened. “10...9...8...7…6…5…4…3...2...1...0. Brace for impact. Leaving us open in the hands of fate, the ship exploded. We saw our lives flash before our very eyes.

  The no sounded like it was repeating until I could hear it no longer. The next thing I knew I had this jumpy nervousness in my stomach. It was a feeling of uncertainty as—Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! I am freefalling in the atmosphere of this weird planet and I cannot see anyone because my eyes are closed. How fast am I freefalling? Was this what people felt like as they jumped out of a plane? The only difference between myself and them is that they had a harness device and somebody with them. I was completely on my own.

  I am out of breath as if someone has knocked the wind out of me just steadily falling. I really badly need to stop talking and start opening my eyes or doing some action because closing my eyes in fear of some object hitting my eyes and causing me blindness was a scenario that kept playing on repeat in my head and—stop! Breathe in and out; inhale and exhale. I was doing myself more harm than good. All the air from freefalling was taking everything out of me and I still could not see. It was more like me gasping trying to catch my breath.

  First, I need to calm down. Okay. Let me recollect my thoughts and try to gain an understanding of this. The first thought that came to my mind as I am continuing to freefall is, I am freefalling. I use my fire to stabilize myself. Yes, stabilization was in order. I was sure to hit something if I did not stop from falling soon.

  Finally, I get the courage I need. I shoot flames out of both my palms as a tingling sensation runs through my veins. My veins start to appear the more the flames shot through my palms. Still I am fal
ling. I try this again for the second time. Magic energy pours into my hands to convert into magical flames. The tingling that I first felt kept increasing. Still, more flames were needed. Trying so desperately to contain myself and hope for the best at last, I stop freefalling and I slowly open my eyes.

  As soon as I opened my eyes, I shut them again just so fearful of what I was going to see before me. I can handle this. I just stopped falling. I have it in me to do this now. I opened my eyes again and before me, the sky is a turquoise blue with a faint hue of viridian green. My sight could have very well been off, but the color of green had a bluish pigmentation to it. I look down below and see everybody that we had on earth and a lot more too.

  I look closer and before me I see, there was a jungle. I look again and there is a savanna. I close my eyes rubbing them and I look again, and I see a jungle, a city, a jungle, the arctic, and a jungle. Did I mention this place had a jungle because I love jungles? I look down below and I almost throw up. I jerk my head up so fast I sprain it making me completely regret my decision to look down.

  Why did I even look down to begin with? My heartrate is up. I can just tell it because my breathing was completely out of whack. Do not look down! Do not look down! The more I recited this to myself, the more I wanted to do the very thing I was telling myself not to do. Finally, at once, DO NOT LOOK DOWN!

  I kept those on loop as I slowly lowered myself to the ground trying my level best to not look down! It was hard for me to try to look up because of the strain that I had in my neck. It was a constant sharp pain of tension that was gripping each time. After several attempts, I look to the horizon and I descend from my current position trying to focus on anything else but looking down. I could feel the resistance between trying to look up and trying not to look beneath me.

  In the distance, I see a small red flare swim in the turquoise sky. I immediately start to fly towards it, but then the light starts to swim towards me. The hairs on my head tighten as I strain my eyes to see what seems to be a flying snake. Since when did snakes start flying after they crawled on the ground? I fly towards the side, trying to dodge the huge beast.