by RMGilmour
One of my hands fluttered to my face, in an attempt to touch his, still resting upon my cheek. But he pulled his hand from my face and quickly turned it around to recapture mine. He then urged me onward, down the remaining stairs.
“Wait,” I stopped, once we’d reached the bottom. He was from Earth, but the others… “What, um, language do they speak? How will I understand them?”
He chuckled, “If you want to understand them, you will.”
“They speak English?”
“I couldn’t say.” His answer reminded me of Jordan’s response when we’d discussed the language thing. “If they did, it would be no surprise, many things are the same or similar. But if they didn’t, the machine would give us the ability to understand each other seamlessly, as though there was no language barrier.”
“How?”
“It gives us all we want, if we want it.”
I could feel the how question forming again, but instead I closed my mouth. I didn’t want to take any more in, I just wanted to get through the night.
As he gently pulled me along, I couldn’t help but gape at the wide, pure white courtyard that separated the cavern wall from the forest in the center. I followed the wash of white from the floor up the walls, marveling at the design of their dwellings. Some areas were smooth all the way up and other areas were set back, as though cut away in an uneven step up to the ceiling. It appeared they’d used the natural, irregular shape of the cavern walls and laid their shining surface over it. Everything was pure white and pristine, as though it went through a daily polishing. And climbing high around the cavern walls were many windows, indicating inner buildings, or rooms.
I stopped, pulling Grid backwards, forcing him to stop with me, and I gasped at the beauty of the underground city they’d built.
“You’re not in Kansas anymore,” he said, reaching up to close my mouth. “Wait, well, maybe you are, just in a different dimension.”
I looked at him for only a second then lost control of my senses, laughing until the tears spilled down my cheeks and sweet pain cramped around my ribs.
“Better now?” he asked, when I managed to gain control of myself.
I had no idea why I found his remark so funny. Perhaps it was the heartwarming Earthly reference fixed within the framework of disbelief at where I actually was.
“Thank you,” I told him, as the laughter settled. I realized I had been so tightly strung that I was bound to crack sooner or later. “I needed that. Better than screaming.”
“Actually, I think most of the residents here probably would have understood the screaming a whole lot more.”
I couldn’t tell if he was trying to be funny or if he was serious, but the laughter bubbled up once more and I needed to work extra hard to get it under control.
“Where are we going?” I asked, as he pulled me along the polished courtyard.
“You look like you could use something to eat,” he responded.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
His expression changed to the sort of upside down smile-frown my grandmother used to give me when I became too perspicuous. I was grateful that he didn’t also pat me on the head.
I let it go. He hadn’t hurt me, or led me astray so far… so far as I knew, and I let him lead me where he would. Though I realized we were the only ones in the courtyard.
“I thought you said other people lived here.”
“I did.”
“And they are?”
“Either eating, resting, or hunting.”
“H-hunting,” I didn’t expect that. “Hunting what exactly and where? Here in this forest?” I asked, looking toward the trees, expecting at any moment to see arrows flying our way.
“No, silly,” he said to me.
His words spiked through my mind, reminding me of Jordan again. He’d called me silly once. I missed his voice in my head, and then realized that if we were here together I may not ever have that again. But in its place, I would gladly have his voice in my ear.
And while lost in my memory, I hadn’t heard a word Grid had spoken.
“What?”
“The Rathe…” he repeated slowly. “Are hunters. They’re not supposed to be up there at night, but that’s when most of their prey comes out.” He looked at me with raised eyebrows, no doubt wondering if I had heard that time.
“Outside?” I asked, pointing back up the stairs.
“Yes.”
“Why aren’t they supposed to be outside at night?”
“That’s going to take some explaining and you have enough to digest as it is,” he mumbled, pulling me along.
He was right. I didn’t want answers, not yet. With all of their security and their underground city, I felt an underlying sense of danger that I wasn’t ready to confront.
We soon came to an arched entranceway that opened up to a large room filled with people. Many were eating, and seated at long tables that filled the hall, while others were standing and talking. But as Grid led me around the outer edges of the tables, I was stunned by the size of some of the men. They were extraordinarily large. Most stood several feet above me with muscles that would put Mr. Universe to shame.
They were dressed in black, with a lot of exposed skin. Black markings, like tattoos swirled up their arms, and wound around their shoulders and necks. It was then that I noticed the faint, white lines in between; scars that ran across their limbs and their faces. They had to be the Heart warriors. Though they were surprisingly quiet, not speaking much. But they were beautiful like Greek Gods, especially the women that sat with them. They weren’t muscle bound like the men, but I had no doubt that any one of them would have no trouble breaking me in half.
Others, not quite so tall, leaner but still well-muscled and somewhat vociferous, seemed to dominate the center of the room. Their clothing was simple, brown pants and shirts, though most of the men wore vests that exposed their tanned chests and arms.
Grid turned to me as I stared from one group to the next, and I felt his hand close my mouth once more, laughing at me as he did so, and confirming my initial assessment of who was who.
However, as I stared around the room, I noticed many of them were looking back at me, but not out of curiosity. Some even nodded and smiled as though they already knew me.
I didn’t feel up to analyzing their stares, and so I brushed my fingers through my hair, gently pulling it around my face, and focused upon Grid’s back.
He soon stopped before a broad array of food in white, shiny trays that were spread upon a counter cut into the wall. There were several such counters around the room, each holding an abundance of food and liquid. I guessed from the tone of the Rathe that not all of the liquid was wholesome, and I hoped Grid had plans to lead me in that general direction.
He withdrew from within a cut-away shelf, two plates, handing one to me, and then guided me to the closest counter.
“Everything is good,” he told me, as I watched him pile food upon his plate. White stuff that looked and smelled a little like mashed potatoes, sliced meat whose scent I couldn’t determine, and an array of other multi-colored vegetables. One tray definitely held green beans, of that I was sure.
I was about to begin making my own selections from the food, when a cool hand grasped my arm and gently pulled me away.
“Don’t eat that,” she said. I turned around and looked up, but barely had time to actually see her. “Come with me,” and she led me toward another counter.
However, this counter lacked a back wall and as I peered behind I could see several people, smiling and joking as they prepared food.
“Haize, there’s nothing wrong with this food,” Grid complained, following us.
“This is real food,” she said, stopping in front of the counter.
It didn’t look better, but it certainly smelt better. I couldn’t figure out what the difference was though.
“What’s wrong with his food?”
I asked her.
“It’s generated. This is real,” Haize said, turning toward me. Her cheeks were crisscrossed with several scars, smaller and finer than mine.
She grabbed my chin and turned my face so she could get a better look. My chest contracted as I cringed away from her stare, until finally, thankfully, she released me. Though I couldn’t look back at her.
“Nice,” she said. My ears could have been fooling me, but it sounded like she was impressed. “What did you fight?”
I looked back up at her, and her eyes were shining as she continued to stare at my cheek. She seemed to covet what I wished to be rid of.
“Um, a plate glass window,” I stammered, not knowing how else to describe it in as few words as possible. And I knew she’d be disappointed as I spoke the words. But instead, she roared with laughter.
“At least, you won,” she said, piling food upon my plate. “Enjoy.”
“Lydia, this is Haize,” Grid smiled. “Come on,” he said, as he followed Haize to her table.
“Is she from Heart?” I whispered to him.
“Yes,” he whispered back.
“I thought you said they were sensitive about… certain things?”
“They are,” he laughed. “But not Haize, she stitches them back up.”
As the three of us sat at the end of one long table, I noticed there were still many stares coming my way, and I tried my best to ignore them. Some of them had many more scars than I did, and I had no reason to be so self-conscious about it around them.
I also couldn’t help but notice Grid’s use of the word stitches, present tense, and I wondered why they would still need stitching. But I pushed that question away for another time, and instead focused upon the food in front of me.
It was both strange and familiar. I couldn’t name any of the specific flavors, but they were similar to what I was used to. And I didn’t want to ask what type of meat it was that I was eating, probably best not to know, but it was tender and savory.
I looked across at Grid’s food, that he had almost finished devouring, and wondered again what the difference was.
“What is generated food?”
“It’s fake,” came another voice, as he sat with us.
“It’s not fake,” contended Grid.
“It’s not grown as nature intended,” the other man said. He was bigger than Grid, but not as bulky as the Heart warrior men, and I guessed he was from Rathe. “It’s produced out of thin air. Not natural.”
“It’s not produced out of thin air, and at the cellular level all food’s the same, whether it’s grown or programmed to appear. It’s all made of the same basic stuff.”
“So you say,” the man laughed.
“Lydia, this is Aleric,” Grid said, turning back to me.
“Hello,” I tried to smile.
“You should join us outside some time. Get out in the real sunshine and the real fresh air. Meet people,” he grinned.
I hoped he wasn’t inviting me to hunt with them, but other than that, his offer sounded appealing. If it took me closer to the mirror wall and Jordan, then I would go without hesitation.
“Sure,” I replied, and as I did I noticed he also was looking at my eyes. I was not used to that, and I began to feel as though I was going to fit in well.
Haize leaned across the table to me, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “Feel like screaming yet?”
“I think she already took care of that outside,” Grid winked at me.
7
A New Life
“What’s wrong?” Haize asked me, after I’d spent several minutes pushing the vegetables around my plate. “You don’t like it?”
I couldn’t finish my food. Not because it didn’t taste good, but because I was surrounded by people and I was not uncomfortable. I didn’t want this feeling to be just a side effect of the shocking realization at where I was; I wanted it to last.
But what I really needed was some of what Aleric was drinking and a pillow, preferably in that order.
“I’m not that hungry,” I admitted, staring at Aleric’s cup, then up at him.
He chuckled, then poured a cup for me from the container he had on the table before him.
“Go slow,” he said, sliding it toward me.
As I lifted it to my lips the smell hit me, bitter and sour at once and I knew it was going to be strong. When it first hit my tongue I couldn’t taste it, but as it rolled down my throat I thought I’d swallowed liquid fire.
At first, I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t want to breathe. I had no idea what the addition of air would do, no doubt fan the flames. But instead, as I necessarily sucked in my breath, I found the air had a cooling effect. The warm liquid then traveled down into my stomach, and spread throughout my limbs before touching my brain. The numbing sensation was most welcome.
“Sayonara, Shady Lane,” I whispered to myself, and I could still scream if I wanted to.
I looked up only to see the three of them staring back at me. I expected them to burst into laughter at my reaction, but instead Haize seemed to congratulate me.
“She’s still upright,” she said to Aleric, and it was then that I could hear them laughing. I didn’t care. It was my first night in a different dimension. I was entitled to get drunk.
“Where am I sleeping?” I asked Grid, deciding it would be best to get there while I could still walk. I had no idea how long the numbing effect would last, or if it would continue to get stronger, as it seemed it already was.
“With me,” he smirked.
“No,” I answered, waving my pointer finger at him.
But he only laughed, “I have a spare room you can stay in, until we find you something permanent.”
“Permanent,” I said nodding. “It is a way one ticket isn’t it.”
He sighed, and helped me stand. I turned to wave at my new friends, and they grinned back at me as Grid pulled me along.
I was too tired to even try to remember the way we were walking, and I didn’t really care, so long as I could sleep soon. But there were stairs. Too many upward stairs, until finally he led me to a small room containing a wide, comfortable looking bed.
“Sit,” Grid commanded, and I obeyed, planting myself on the edge of the bed while he took off my shoes.
He swung my legs up into the bed, then pulled the covers over me. I was asleep within the second. And once more dreamed of nothing.
When I awoke it was dark in the room, and I thought for a moment I’d dreamed the whole experience and was back in my own bed. However, the mattress wasn’t as soft and the covers smelled different, and I knew that the bed was not mine, but the headache and the nausea most definitely were. I rolled over to see a tiny light upon a table that stood against the opposite wall. Though the light wasn’t bright enough to provide any kind of illumination to anything other than what was directly below it.
I pulled myself out of bed, thankful that I was still fully clothed, and walked to the table where a note lay directly beneath the light. Beside the note was a capped tube filled with blue liquid. I leaned over and squinted to read the note under the light.
First, drink the liquid. Trust me.
I could almost hear him laughing as I picked up the tube, uncapped it, and swallowed the fluid. It had a smooth blueberry flavor, and within moments the nausea was gone, and the headache substantially decreasing by the second. I continued to read.
The door is behind you and to your left. There’s no door handle to speak of, but if you feel across the surface of the wall, you’ll notice the texture changes. The newly textured surface will be the doorway. You’ll know it when you feel it. Slide your hand across the doorway from left to right, and it will open. If you turn left, you’ll come to another doorway across the hall, this will be the bathroom. I had it designed to be close to what I was used to with a few minor upgrades, though hopefully, there won’t be too many changes in bathrooms between when I was on E
arth and now. When you’re done, come back down the hallway to the room at the end.
His handwriting was smooth, flowing cursive; the sort of perfect handwriting no one used anymore. It had become an endangered art.
I placed my hand upon the letter, feeling its soft texture. It was paper. I picked it up, raising it to my face and inhaled its scent. Definitely ink. I smiled. At least there were some small things I wouldn’t be without.
I slipped on my boots and followed his instructions, easily finding the doorway. The texture of the wall was smooth, while the doorway was notched, and it slid open upon my command.
The bathroom was also exactly where Grid stated it would be, and when I opened the door, it resembled the sort of bathroom I was used to, mostly. A shower over a bathtub, a sink with a mirror, a toilet. All with fixtures that appeared to work in much the same manner, but some also with notes attached. The note stuck to the toilet read, “It’s self-cleaning… in every way!” I hoped he meant no housework.
Attached to the wall nearest the door were shelves that held towels, white only of course. And on the wall nearest the shower was a small door with another note stuck to it.
“Place your clothes inside, and they’ll be clean by the time you’re ready for them.”
“Neat-o,” I said in response to his note. At least I’d have my clothes cleaned every day, but I hoped that finding new clothing wasn’t going to be a challenge. And I realized there were numerous small details such as this, that I needed to start thinking about.
When done, I left the room and followed the hallway down to the end. It opened up to a room with almost half of the opposite exterior wall gone, providing a spectacular view of the valley below. It was as enormous as I remembered thinking it was, when I first entered the Colony. But I could not bring myself to go near the edge, to peer further down.