1 Ceres

by Takemoto, D. J.

  “Look, Dirk…that space has been changed. I mean the dust is different there. Someone moved something over here more recently. That is, unless even the dust doesn’t move in this room,” Eve said, pointing to a set of books over in the corner in an area marked, Land Usage Agreements.

  “Let me see what’s here. You’re right! These books have been recently moved. The space here is cleaner than the others, and a book is out of place. There’s an open space here. But why would someone be interested in land usage. I mean, we only have what land we have under the dome.” “Maybe they put a missing book or file folder back in the wrong place on purpose…so no one else would find it. I mean if you were looking for something on Robin Lightfighter, you would never look on a shelf marked Land Usage. Let me see what else is here,” she whispered, reaching over to grab the first file. It was large, and contained many loose pages, and even some pictures.

  “What was that?” Dirk asked, looking down at the floor. “What?” “Something dropped out when you opened the folder. It fell on the floor. Let me get it.” Dirk crawled under the table and searched the floor, finally having to pull up a piece of the moldy old carpet to retrieve the torn paper. He also found a single strand of auburn red hair. He only knew one person who had auburn red hair…Eve. So Dirk guessed it had belonged to someone from a past time…or someone related to Eve; it had probably been there under the carpet since the last time someone had cleaned up the room. From the looks of things, that could have been centuries ago.

  “It’s auburn hair. No one has auburn red hair…except you. I heard once it was common…in the ancient times,” Dirk said, holding up the strand of human hair. It was strange, Eve thought, carefully holding the strand of long red hair, so similar to hers, and yet from someone obviously long gone to recycle. As she touched it, she imagined she heard those same strange buzzing voices in her head; like the voices in her dreams from the past. But the words were foreign. She reached up to touch her head, feeling slightly dizzy.

  “Are you alright? You faded out on me for a second. Maybe you hit your head harder than you thought, Eve,” Dirk said, sounding concerned. He was now sitting next to her, and Eve had no recollection of how he had gotten from the shelf to her side. Dirk had his arm around her, they were sitting on one of the moldy red velvet chairs, and Eve had absolutely no recollection of how they had arrived at sitting on the chairs. She rubbed her head, trying to focus.

  “I’m okay now. It was one of those dream things again. It’s weird; I’ve never had them while awake. Maybe I did hit my head too hard,” Eve said, rubbing her head. “You should have someone at the medical clinic take a look. They still have a functional mechanical that can see inside your skull. I forgot what they call it. And here…take this. This strand of hair could help us get inside that door. It’s a long shot, but maybe it’s one of those biosamples,” Dirk whispered.

  “The person must be an ancient. What if it’s a piece of Robin Lightfighter’s hair? That would be incredible if we had a piece of his hair,” Eve said, probably too loud, because she heard Mrs. Oddfellow shushing them from the other room. “Her…her hair…Robin Lightfighter was a woman. I know the statue is of a man, but they got it wrong, or they lied,” Dirk now whispered. “What do you mean?” Eve asked. Her dreams had been of a woman!

  “Robin Lightfighter was a woman, and she had one green eye and one blue one, and she had auburn red hair…just like yours.” “How did you discover that?” Eve asked. “I found that out last week when I was finishing my last level thesis paper on the ancients. The information was in a book over in the historical section of the archives, in The Ancients and Their Genetic Profiles. It was locked, but I picked the lock. It was a strange book; I didn’t understand it all, but it did describe Robin Lightfighter and her unusual appearance in great detail,” Dirk finished.

  “Did you add that to your thesis?” “Of course not. I couldn’t add that to my report, or our teacher would get in trouble for allowing me restricted access…and I did pick the lock,” Dirk replied. “So do you think this is a piece of his, I mean her hair. That would be a real break! If it is, do you think we could use it as a biosample like Miggly talked about when he failed to open that door?” Eve asked, hopefully. “Now that would be too good to be true!” Dirk said. Eve carefully put the strand of hair into her shirt pocket.

  “We’ll see if it allows us entry into the back door. We can go there later tonight. But I think we should continue to look for more information to find out about that ΩD stone. That voice did say you could insert a biosample, or the stone; that strand of hair may not work,” Dirk explained, moving to another shelf of older, real paper books.

  “Plus, we have to find the password and access codes if another month goes by, and I think I know where they might be listed…or at least a copy,” Dirk mumbled, moving two more aisles over to a shelf marked Ancestral Lineage. The glassed-in shelf was locked, but Dirk removed his trusty lock pick set and quickly opened the shelf door, removing a single book with Volume One etched on the black leather cover. He opened the book and began to examine its contents.

  “This book also has a description of Robin Lightfighter. She was the original founder of our city. At least that’s what they tell us, and it’s what this book says.” Dirk and Eve sat down on the sofa and carefully read from a large ancient book. It was still bound in black leather with a latch on the side. Eve looked on, as he opened a page to a drawing of a beautiful woman, dressed in a black, tight-fitting outfit, and wearing some strange and matching high boots on her feet. She had a shock gun on her belt exactly like the two guns Eve now had hidden in her pack….the two she’d taken from the storage bunker.

  Eve remembered the look on Stanley’s face when he’d lied to Miggly for her. He knew they were not used to deliver oil to the steam engines. He did that all the time with push guns. She would eventually have to tell him what they were. She’d taken the two guns instinctively, hoping they could protect her and Dirk from those things Miggly had spoken of.

  “She’s so beautiful,” Eve commented, examining the picture of Robin Lightfighter. “I wonder where she came from. Do you suppose there were others like her? Look at her beautiful eyes.” Eve and Dirk examined the fading color photograph of a woman who looked strangely familiar. And then it came to her! Except for the eyes, the woman looked like an older version of herself! She wondered if Dirk had noticed.

  “According to the book, we are all related to her or to the other original one hundred settlers who came here about five-hundred years ago. It could be a reason why she looks so much like you, Eve. Though she is not as pretty,” Dirk answered her, winking. He had noticed. “The book says there were originally one thousand people who came here to mine coal and iron ore,” Dirk explained, reading from the book. “Apparently they left when something awful happened on our home world,” he added.

  “Why did they leave…what happened?” Eve asked. “It doesn’t say. But, I guess they thought they’d be stranded here and would not be able to get back home. I suppose the original one-hundred founders were those who decided to stay, but it doesn’t say for sure,” Dirk explained, holding the picture of Robin Lightfighter in front of Eve. The resemblance was unnerving. Eve was glad the rulers had made a fake statue of a man, or everyone would notice the resemblance, and stare at her.

  “I wonder if it describes what’s in the Boardroom Building, or where we came from before,” Eve mumbled, carefully fingering the pages of the ancient and fragile book. She noted it also contained a small folder inside one of the pages near the middle. “Look here, inside this folder; it’s a map. But there’s a big piece missing from the middle. It looks like a map of the decay zone out near the dome by that door. But then there’s a giant piece ripped out from the middle, and then it continues over near where the town park starts,” Eve said, laying the map out on the oak table.

  “Look, the map has a shape drawn on it, like what we saw on one of those mosaic tiles near that back door. It looked like thi
s,” Dirk said, pointing to a small section at the bottom right. Eve sucked in her breath; it was the ΩD symbol, again…just like in her dreams! “I remember seeing the symbol. This is important, Dirk. It’s what Miggly and Blakeley were talking about…it’s the symbol for the ΩD stone…the omega dee stone…they called it,” Eve whispered. She instinctively glanced around the room to see if anyone was listening. But of course, the room was empty except for the two of them.

  “We need to take a trip out to the decay zone tonight. We have to examine those mosaic tiles again. Can you get away? Will you be able to sneak out without you mother knowing?” Dirk asked, still fixated on her bruised face. She knew he felt terrible about it. Someone might think he’d hit her, and Eve knew he’d rather die out in the void than do that. Eve had to prevent him from beating up Rene’s former mate after he’d hit her. Dirk hated bullies.

  “Yes, Mother gave us a private room downstairs with a separate door. It will be ours after tomorrow, once we are married,” Eve blurted out, and then blushed at the thought. She lowered her winter hat over her face. Dirk put a hand to her chin, raised her face, and kissed her long on the mouth. “Can’t wait,” he said after, smiling into her bruised face. “Can you get away?” Eve asked. “I can get away at any time.” Dirk’s family had stopped checking on him when he had turned sixteen.

  Eve grabbed the book and started to put it and the file back on the shelf, then changed her mind at the last minute, and shoved it, map and all, into her pack. She did not intend to steal the ancient texts, only to examine them more carefully when she had the time…especially the picture of Robin Lightfighter, and the map, of course. After she had slipped the file and book gently into her hemp-woven pack, she bound the pack tightly with a piece of rope, then checked the single strand of auburn hair in her inner shirt pocket.

  “I need to go home now to help mother with the chores. Knock on the back door of the shop tonight at ten o’clock. I’ll be ready,” she said. “Bring the book and files with you…and the strand of hair,” Dirk replied. They stood, and wiped some of the dust around so no one else would see the area had been touched. After they exited the room of ancient collections, the door clicked softly behind them, locking the entry.

  “I hope you found what you were looking for and good luck with your school assignment,” Mrs. Oddfellow told them as they left.

  ●

  Dirk left Eve at her back door, after squeezing her hand and telling her to put some cold water and ointment on her face. He turned to wave before climbing through the hole in the fence, and disappeared across the park to return home to do his own chores. His chores were much more laborious than hers, because his father ran a small metal repair and blacksmith shop in back of their home.

  Dirk had been helping his father in the family blacksmith shop since he was seven years of age. It brought in more coins than both of his parent’s city jobs, together. But he knew he would still have to report to his assigned job because their city needed workers at official city jobs. But even though Dirk was now officially a Lower Level Supply Assessor, he still had to help his father for two or three hours each day and on weekends. The extra hours of work, he knew, kept his younger sister and family from starving. “Rationing is getting cruel,” he thought as he approached his door.

  Dirk walked in the back door and handed some day-old morning buns he’d bought at the bakery to his mother, kissed his sister, stepped into a smock, walked out back to the shop, and took up his hammer to continue the repair of a metal wheel he’d begun to work on the day before. It was monotonous work, thankfully, so he could think about his impending night trip into the decay zone. As he worked, he wondered at the strong resemblance between his Eve and Robin Lightfighter, and remembered when he had first met his Eve.

  Dirk dragged his feet all the way to the town hall, his father, mother, and infant sister leading the way. He hated what would come. He was twelve years old, and today the official would hand he and his father a slip of paper with a single name on it…his future and forever partner.

  “Stop dawdling, Dirk. This should be a happy day. I remember when I was twelve and read your mother’s name on that slip of paper.” Dirk’s father smiled at his mother and squeezed her shoulder. She was holding Dirk’s six-month-old sister, Sara. “Yes, sir,” Dirk remembered answering, though his thoughts were on someone else, on a girl who he had known since forever.

  Dirk remembered the first time he had spotted Eve; she was in line with her parents, as was he, signing up for first level. He could not have missed her with that beautiful red auburn hair. He’d never seen hair that color so asked his mother about it. “It’s an ancient color that returns to the population every so often.” “What’s her name” “She’s from the Overhearder family. I believe they call her Eve. Now don’t you go getting interesting in her, Dirk. She probably won’t be paired with you,” his mother had warned. “Why not?” a six-year-old Dirk asked. “Because with that hair, I imagine she’ll be selected for someone richer, if they get a good gene match.” Dirk spent the rest of the day signing up for level one, meeting his new teacher, and examining his assigned desk. Eve was in the first row, while he was several rows in back.

  It seemed to remain that way for their first three years of school, Eve in the first row next to Harold Everweather, the blond rich kid, and Dirk several rows behind, staring at the back of Eve’s head, while carrying on an imaginary conversation with her. It was not until they’d reached level four that he’d gotten up the courage to say hello to Eve. She was in the school play area, about to throw a ball for her volleyball team. Dirk noted she was already taller than all the other girls, so had been selected for net front.

  He also noticed Harold hovering nearby. Harold always seemed to be hanging around near Eve, but Dirk could not tell from her expression if she liked the attention, hated it, or did not care. On that day, Eve had walked by close enough so that it would have been impolite not to say hello…she had, and he responded hi. But that was it because his tongue got stuck someplace deep down in his throat and he’d started to cough. He remembered she had looked at him like he would maybe make her sick.

  Dirk had heard Harold brag that Eve would almost certainly be selected as his mate. And because his family was upper managerial level, Dirk also knew Eve’s family would be delighted. They could use the money. Dirk knew that from overhearing his own parents speculating on the partner selections, and because he had never seen Eve or anyone in her family wearing anything expensive blue.

  Dirk remembered he had watched the volleyball game for half an hour before leaving the playground for his home. He thought she was so beautiful, so athletic, smart, and that she was tall enough to look him straight in the face…if he ever got that close to her. But he dare not try, because his mother constantly reminded him she was most likely out of his reach…that she would be selected for Harold. His mother encouraged him to notice nice, plain Alicia Spoon, the daughter of a nice middle management family. Alicia was short, pale, and had what he thought was dull brown hair. Plus, she always looked up at him when he entered the classroom, smiling that friendly but way too hopeful smile. And she was not athletic or adventurous like Eve.

  So now, as Dirk approached his twelfth year, he became despondent at the thought of a match with Alicia and not Eve. As he’d followed his family to the town hall, he remembered the one evening several months before he turned ten, Dirk left school a bit early to run an errand for his father. He had permission of course; he had to pick up some small things for their blacksmith shop from the Craftsman District. That was another source of humiliation for Dirk. While Harold came to school in an immaculate and new brown school uniform, Dirk’s was always slightly dirty from his blacksmith work, and his hands were always smudged with oily stains from the tools in his father’s shop.

  He usually kept his hands in his pockets while near Eve, hoping she would not notice how badly he compared to Harold. On that particular day, he had taken a shortcut through the town park
, out past the manicured area and into the tall brush near the few trees of their city. He loved to walk there and imagine what it must have been like on their home world. Dirk had already been sneaking into the archives even then, using a lock pick set he’d found at the market. No one knew what it was until someone named Hugh Endley explained it was used by thieves to pick locks.

  Dirk remembered asking what a lock was. They no longer had them for their houses and no one in their city would dare take up thievery and risk the ride. Hugh bought Dirk the set, explaining that some things in the archives were locked, and they contained some very interesting information, and that he’d noticed Dirk sneaking in by the back door many times. Well, Dirk was afraid Hugh would turn him in, but the huge man only laughed and told him to be sure to relock those doors and cabinets before he left, and not to show the lock pick set to anyone.

  On his way to the Craftsman District that day, Dirk took a shortcut over to the back door of the archives to check on a book he’d been reading. He would never risk removing a book so had to return from time to time to read each. As he approached the door he heard voices, yelling angry voices…and one in particular he knew. That voice was etched into his heart. It was Eve and she was yelling at someone. Dirk slowed his pace and edged his way to a fence. He squatted down and hid so they would not see him. He remembered Eve yelling, “Don’t you ever touch me again. I can’t stand you and if you are selected as my mate, I’ll walk into the void. I’d rather die than be your partner.” Dirk didn’t hear what the other person said. But as he stomped off in a huff, to close to where Dirk was hiding, he saw it was Harold.

  Dirk waited for several minutes until Eve stopped crying. He saw she was not sad, but furious. She stood with her feet apart, hands balled into fists, and cried with rage. After she’d stopped crying Dirk stood, and walked by, like he’d just arrived. He remembered her saying, “Did you just get here?” “Uh…yes, I mean no…I mean I saw everything.” Dirk had never been able to lie when faced with those piercing jade green eyes. “My name is Dirk.” It was all he could manage to say. He stood with his hands in his pockets so she would not notice his grease-stained hands. “I know who you are. Why don’t you ever talk to me? Do you hate me or something?” “No…I mean…I’m…” “What?” “Nothing; You want to see the Craftsmen District with me?” “Sure, I’m Eve Overhearder,” she’d said, extending he hand. It would be rude not to shake hands so he quickly extended his right hand, hoping she would not notice the blacksmith effect. Then she said something he would never forget. “Your hands are beautiful. Sometimes when you aren’t looking, I look at your hands because they remind me of an art painting.”