by Amy DuBoff
Raena didn’t have a good reply to that.
Jason shook his head with continued skepticism but followed them into the basement.
The group jogged down the carpeted stairs. Raena’s breath caught when she glimpsed the back wall of their rec room. Rather than the smooth wood paneling she had known for her whole life, there was now a doorway in the back left of the room. “No way!”
Jason inhaled sharply behind her as he saw the same thing. “Seriously, this has been here the whole time?”
“As I understand it,” Curtis replied. “They finished construction before you moved down here. I believe you were five or six months old then.”
None of this feels real. Raena took a deep breath and released it slowly, struggling to stay grounded as the layers of certainties within her life crumbled around her. She could no longer take anything for granted or trust in the assumptions that had been the foundation for her existence. I have telekinetic abilities and my family isn’t from this planet. Can this day get any weirder?
Inexplicably, Jason still seemed to be in denial about the whole situation. He was eyeing the door like he expected it to either disappear or for a jester to pop out and explain that it had all been an elaborate rouse.
“Let’s show you your new home,” Curtis said after Raena and her brother had paused in silent contemplation on the stairs.
“There’s no turning back now,” Raena said to Jason.
He nodded and came down the remaining steps.
Curtis gestured for them to pass through the hidden doorway and he brought up the rear closing the door behind him.
Raena peered into the strange space, finding it more dimly lit than the main room. The material finishes in the space were somehow foreign to her—a wood grain she’d never seen in other construction around town or in their family travels. Was this brought from offworld?
Still apprehensive but also curious, she headed down the stairs. The stairwell opened into a room that was eerily similar to her parents’ master bedroom upstairs, but the details enhanced the otherworldly vibe. The two closets looked normal enough at first glance, but when she inspected the contents from afar, she realized that all but one of the outfits hanging in the closet were identical to the Agents’ uniforms.
Further, there were what appeared to be touch-surface interfaces integrated into the walls. While the technology itself was common in her everyday life, it was clear that these devices were in a whole other league of advancement beyond anything she’d seen demoed at even industry-leading conventions. It was alien tech—the real stuff, not like over-the-top ridiculous contraptions she’d seen in movies, but genuine, functional devices that worked seamlessly with the user to augment life in the most incredible ways. Or so she imagined as she watched Curtis interface with something resembling a palm reader next to a doorway on the far wall.
With a low hiss, the door slid to the side, revealing another hidden room. Inside, her father was staring at a small electronic device in his hand while facing a metal archway that had narrow, glowing white conduits running along its surface in intricate patterns.
“What is that?” Jason asked.
Wil looked up from the device in his hand. “That’s the TSD arch. It’s sort of like a teleporter, except not.”
Raena gazed at the device with new wonder. “How does it work?”
“Uh…” her father searched for word. “Suffice to say it’s like a controlled corridor through subspace.”
“Cool,” Raena said with a grin.
He returned her smile. “Oh yeah.”
It was then that Raena noticed another man dressed as an Agent working at a podium to her left midway between the arch and entry doorway. He looked over Raena and Jason and then said something to Wil in a language that Raena didn’t recognize but it was still familiar, somehow, in its overall sound—almost like Latin.
Wil sighed in response to whatever the man had said and returned his attention momentarily to the device in his hand. He made an entry and then concentrated on the arch. A wave passed within the archway, leaving behind a barely visible shimmer within the opening, as though staring into a mirage.
“We’re going through that?” Jason asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I’ve recalibrated it so it should be safe for you,” Wil said in a tone that was certainly meant to assure them.
“How might it not be safe?” Raena asked, reading between his words.
Wil hesitated.
“It was designed for someone with full control of their abilities to go through,” Michael said on his friend’s behalf. “We can keep up the necessary shields, though. You’ll only be in subspace for a second.”
“I suppose it’s too late to call for a spaceship?” Jason said with a touch of apprehension in his tone.
“I’d never put you in danger,” their father replied. He turned to the friend who had yet to be introduced. “Ready, Ethan?”
The man nodded.
“I’ll go through as a test,” Curtis offered.
Wil nodded his consent. “See you on the other side.”
The Agent strode into the archway and disappeared as he made contact with the event horizon within the metal frame.
“Whoa,” Jason breathed.
Wil stood in silence for a few moments. In unison, he and the other Agents relaxed.
“He’s through,” Wil said, turning to his children. “Michael and I will go through with you.” He extended his hand to Raena.
She stepped forward and took it with her left. “What do we do?”
“Just step through. Hold your breath as you enter. It’ll be over before you know it,” her father said, wrapping his hand firmly around hers.
Behind her, Michael had taken Jason’s right hand and he had his left reaching out to her. She grabbed it.
“We have you from both sides, don’t worry,” Wil said. He stepped into the arch.
Raena was pulled through after him in an instant.
An electric tingle rippled over her as she passed through the threshold. Shifting blue-green light swirled around her—the most beautiful display she’d ever seen. As the light danced across the infinite sea, she was overcome with a sense of peace. She wanted to let go and give herself to the light, to experience everything it had to offer and be one with its eternal energy. Except, she was being held back by a vague sense of others around her. The grip on her sense of self slipped away as she sought to become one with the light.
Then, the light blinked out of existence. A cold wave washed over Raena’s skin as she stepped forward into an unfamiliar room, followed by Jason and Michael, then Ethan.
She took a gasping breath. “What was that?”
“Subspace,” her father replied. “You almost let go.”
“It was so beautiful,” she murmured.
“How do you ever leave?” Jason asked.
“We can’t survive in subspace,” Wil said matter-of-factly, his tone indicating that further explanation wasn’t warranted at the time.
With the topic closed, Raena took the opportunity to examine the room—her first glimpse of civilization beyond her home planet. Had she not known better, she would have thought it a nice hotel room in a sophisticated city. A padded leather couch occupied the center of the room, facing a broad screen on the wall that looked like a completely flat TV, almost indistinguishable from the painted surface were it not for the semi-glossy finish. In front of the couch, a coffee table with slightly scuffed corners and a tablet tossed on its surface made it apparent that the room was properly lived-in. She also noticed a door into a darkened bedroom and a work desk in the corner opposite the TSD arch. On various end tables and mounted to walls, she spotted pictures of herself and brother with their parents on Earth—mostly candid shots from family trips over the years. This is where they live when they aren’t on Earth.
Wil nodded when he noticed her taking in the details. “Yes, this is our home.”
“And we’re inside the moon right
now?” Raena asked.
“Yes.”
Jason crossed his arms. “We could be anywhere right now.”
Their father smiled. “Fine, then come see for yourself.”
CHAPTER 8
As Raena took in the living room of where her parents supposedly lived, she found herself agreeing with her brother that they could be anywhere. “I’d really like to see the surface of the moon if that’s really where we are.”
“In time,” Wil replied. “This is the Primus residential wing within Level 2 of TSS Headquarters. There are eleven Levels total, all of which are deep underground in the moon. I’ll take you on a tour as soon as you get cleared by Medical.”
“Do you want us to go with you?” Michael asked.
“I’d appreciate it if you stay with us for now, Michael, as another familiar face. Curtis and Ethan, you can go. Thank you for your help.”
“Think nothing of it,” Curtis said with a smile.
Ethan grinned and said something else in the same foreign language, to which Wil rolled his eyes.
“What’d he say?” Jason asked.
“Right!” Wil said, shaking his head. “Second order of business is you learning New Taran—it’s the galactic common language. Curtis took it upon himself to learn English when we decided to move, but very few others are fluent.”
“So we won’t be able to talk to anyone for quite a while…” Raena realized.
“No, we have a way to speed up your acquisition of the language, but we need to get the telepathic flashes in check before you can safely use the machine,” her father explained. “We’ve already delayed enough, come on.” He gestured them toward the front door.
“Take care. We’ll see you soon,” Curtis said and inclined his head to Raena and Jason.
Ethan flashed them a warm smile as he passed by to open the door.
The front door slid to the side. Beyond, a carpeted hallway nearly four meters wide was lined with sconces and small plants in illuminated, clear cylinders between other doorways. Stepping out into the hall, Raena saw that the same decor extended in both directions. Recesses with padded benches broke up the hall every five doorways. Mounted on the walls above the benches, pictures of nebulae caught Raena’s eye.
She walked up to the nearest picture outside her parents’ residence. From a distance, the image had looked like a photograph, but upon further inspection, it had a three-dimensional quality and appeared to be moving slightly. “Whoa.”
“That’s really cool,” Jason commented, coming up next to her.
“We call them holopaintings,” their father explained. “The art gallery tour will have to wait, though.” He headed down the hall to the right.
Raena tore her gaze away from the fascinating picture and followed him. As they went further down the hall, she began to hear voices and other sounds of activity. With proximity to the other people, Raena suddenly felt pressure in her head, similar to what she’d felt in school right before blacking out. She raised her hands to massage her temples.
Next to her, Jason did the same thing. “Argh, what is that?”
Their father frowned. “You’re hyper-sensitive to others with abilities right now.”
“We’re holding back around you, but they don’t know to do that,” Michael added.
“Hang on just a few more minutes,” Wil said, placing a reassuring hand on Raena’s back.
They made their way down the final stretch of hall, which opened into a round lobby area with a marble-like floor and wood paneled walls. People of various ages dressed in black, dark blue, sky blue, and light gray were talking amongst themselves and passing to and from openings to other corridors at intervals around the rounded space. Some were waiting in front of what looked to be elevator doors.
Wil noticed Raena taking in the sights. “This is the central column that connects the individual Levels,” he said. “The elevator shaft is the only way to access the separate rings. We’re about to head up to Level 1.” He activated a touchpanel next to the nearest elevator door.
A woman dressed in black was already waiting for the elevator. She bowed her head to Wil but snuck a glance at Raena and Jason, her eyes widening with surprise behind her tinted glasses. She murmured something to Wil in New Taran that was inflected like a question, and he gave a short reply. She nodded with apparent understanding as a light illuminated and the doors slid open with a slight hiss.
The five of them boarded in silence. The doors closed automatically and a white light pulsed next to the door. Seconds later, the doors opened into another lobby that was nearly identical to the previous one, but had some additional detail to the carved wood workings on the walls.
“This is Level 1,” Wil continued his explanation as they left the elevator and made their way toward the opposite corridor. “It’s the administrative center for Headquarters and also hosts the main medical facility.”
The destination corridor immediately terminated in a reception area. Everything in the space was sterile white in harsh contrast to the soft grays and natural tones elsewhere in the building.
Wil walked up to the desk and spoke with the attendant.
A moment later, an older woman with graying red hair wearing a white jacket and tinted glasses hurried around the corner. She paused as soon as she saw them. “Stars! I can’t believe you’re really here,” she said in English.
Their father smiled at her. “Believe me, the timing caught me by surprise, too.”
“I’m Irina,” she greeted as she came forward. “Let’s see if we can’t make you feel any better.”
Raena gave her a meek smile.
“You can trust her,” Wil said. “She delivered you. And me. And saved my life. Listen to her—she knows what she’s talking about.”
“Not that my patients listen to me half the time, present company especially,” Irina said with a little huff. “This way, please.” She strode back toward the heart of the medical office.
Raena and Jason followed her, with their father and Michael bringing up the rear.
Unlike the rest of Headquarters, which bore some resemblance to the architecture Raena knew on Earth, the medical facility was a whole other world that appeared to be hundreds of years in the future from her vantage. Private exam rooms lined the left wall, with transparent glass on the empty rooms and others tinted to opaque light gray. Beds in the empty rooms were just a thin frame that more resembled a poolside lounge chair than a hospital bed, though the surface was elevated on a waist-height pedestal. All vital monitoring equipment in the rooms was consolidated into a single interface above the head of the bed.
Irina stopped outside the first of two empty rooms next to each other. “Who’s first?”
“Raena,” Wil replied on their behalf. “She’s highly symptomatic.”
“It’s getting worse for me,” Jason revealed.
“All right,” Irina said. “Martin!” she called to a middle-aged man in a white jacket seated at a station along the right wall, then said something in New Taran.
The man immediately set aside his work and hurried toward them. He said something to Wil in New Taran, and Wil replied. The man nodded.
“Jason, this is Martin,” Wil said. “He’s one of the doctors here and he’s going to give you something to temporarily suppress your abilities while you acclimate.”
“Aren’t we supposed to, you know, be able to communicate with our doctors?” Jason asked.
“You’ll be able to soon enough,” Wil replied. “Michael can translate, if needed. But, I need to step out for a few minutes. Your mom has been messaging me nonstop since I told her what was going on. I need to check in.”
“Is she coming back here?” Raena questioned.
“She’s on her way,” Wil confirmed. “And she never would have traveled now, had we known you’d be going through this. Just let the doctors take care of you. You can trust them, I assure you.”
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Irina stated with a tone of ca
lm authority. “I’ll come see you as soon as I’m done with Raena,” she promised, looking to Jason.
He nodded his agreement, and Irina beckoned Raena into the nearest exam room.
“Come back soon,” Raena said to her father.
“I will.”
Raena took a deep breath as she sat down on the exam bed.
Irina slid the door closed behind her and glided her finger downward along the front glass wall, causing the glass to tint to light gray. She smiled at Raena. “So, your symptoms began this morning?”
“Yes,” Raena replied and gave a quick summary of the events.
“Sounds like quite an eventful day.” Irina made a note on her handheld. “And how are you feeling now?”
“Uh, confused?”
The doctor gave her a sympathetic nod. “That’s understandable. How about physically?”
“Well, my headache is back. I can deal with it, but I’m having trouble thinking straight.”
“You’re undergoing a major shift in brain chemistry at the moment. Even with the medications and therapies we have at our disposal, the transition is never easy. Plus, the stress of leaving home so suddenly will only make it worse.”
Raena looked down at the white tile floor. “Dad said we can’t talk to our friends about it.”
“It’s a difficult situation,” Irina said.
“But lie to everyone?”
Irina folded her hands in front of her. “I know this is a lot to process. But think of what you’ve seen here. If you tried to explain this to someone who hadn’t seen it for themselves, would they really believe you?”
“No,” Raena realized.
“It’s difficult, yes, but you’re among your people now. Friendships can come and go, but our little community here in the TSS will yield the best relationships you can ever hope to find. We’re one big family here.”
Raena shook her head slowly. “Everyone seems to know our dad.”
Irina nodded. “He’s famous in almost any circle you ask. But don’t concern yourself with that right now. Today is about you and finding your own identity.”
“I feel lost.”