Eden's Ore - Secrets

by B.V. Bayly

  Chapter Thirteen

  The early morning sun cast it rays through the window near the top of the maintenance shaft. Gabriel sat frozen to one spot on the upper platforms. He was exhausted, his body freezing cold. His bare feet were black from dirt and completely numb. His mind had swirled all night with questions, and, combined with his paranoia, meant that Gabriel hadn’t gotten any sleep. But he had made it till morning. Now he just needed to get back to Adin’s. He clung to the steel railings on the platform as he pushed to stand up. His feet felt as if they were missing, and he was walking on stumps. He was so cold. Where was the ore’s heat when he needed it?

  He thumped his chest with his fist. “Sure, burn holes in my shirt, but you can’t even heat me up?” He focused on the ore in his mind. Just a little bit of heat, please.

  “What the …” Gabriel lost his breath. The rush of heat across his body was immediate. He could feel it spread under his skin, down his limbs and into his extremities. It had listened to him. Gabriel didn’t move; what had he just done?

  “Okay,” he said in a hushed voice. “Not too hot, just enough.”  A comfortable glow remained in his skin. He decided not to press his luck and rushed down the steel ladder and out into the street. The roads were already busy with traffic, and the sidewalks were full of people. Gabriel slipped into the crowd and kept pace with the pack as it headed down the street.

  After ten minutes of walking and crossing two streets, he realized he had no idea where he was going. As he waited to cross another street, he glanced at the man beside him. “Excuse me.”

  The man looked him up and down. He immediately reached into his expensive suit pocket and handed Gabriel a small plastic strip. “Should be enough on there for a coffee or something.” He broke off from Gabriel and crossed the street.

  Gabriel pocketed the charge strip and realized he stood out from the crowd of business folk, all headed for work. He turned to an older woman on the other side of him. She smiled briefly at him and looked away.

  “I just need some directions.” He hoped she would listen.

  She paused a moment and half-smiled. “Where to?” Her eyes flicked towards the light as it started to change.

  “Um, the apartments building – Iron particle?” He couldn’t remember the name.

  “The Ion Pinnacle Apartments?” She frowned at him. “The luxury apartments?”

  “My brother lives there.” He stared down at his feet. “I kinda had a bad night.”

  The crowd began to move as the light changed. The woman started to walk almost immediately, despite the fact she was still talking. “You’re just outside the downtown core. So, you’re still going to need to walk quite a ways.” Gabriel chased after her and listened closely, putting everything into his memory. “Follow this street for about twelve blocks. Then go left on Blake Street, keeping going until you cross 15th. It should be a couple of blocks north from there.”

  “North?” Gabriel stared at her.

  She shot him an annoyed glance and pointed to the left of them.

  “Right.” She sped away from him. “Thank you.” Gabriel slowed his pace. His feet were starting to hurt on the rough asphalt. Several blocks later, a street vendor sat near a corner of the main intersection. Her high tech cart was cooking up something, the robotic arms swung and moved before a layer of glass. It was almost mesmerizing to watch. Gabriel fumbled around in his pocket for the charge strip. The smell of the food set his mouth watering.

  “Hey, not sure what’s on this?” He handed the strip to the vendor.

  The woman didn’t seem to care about his attire. “Let me check – not much. Maybe a juice?”

  Gabriel half smiled. “It’s better than nothing.”

  She smiled at him. “Apple or orange?”

  “Orange would be great.” Gabriel’s lips were parched.

  “There you go.” She handed it to him and turned to help the next customer.

  Gabriel took his drink. He maneuvered his way out of the crowd of people and hoisted himself up onto a short granite wall surrounding a statue at the entrance of an office building. The slender glass bottle of juice was nice and cold. Gabriel twisted the top off and drank half of the liquid in a couple of gulps. It was good - a bit sweet, but refreshing. He set the bottle between his legs and leaned back off the wall, stretching out his torso and giving his feet a chance to rest in the air.

  “Hey!”

  Gabriel was knocked from behind. He fell forward onto the sidewalk, along with his juice. The glass shattered on the concrete. He twisted around. “What the hell!”

  A uniformed guard stood on the granite wall. “You ain’t supposed to be here.” He pressed a silver disc just behind his ear, about an inch in diameter. “I’ll call this in!”

  Gabriel lifted his hands, and slowly backed up. A sharp pain pierced the bottom of his foot. He grunted. “I don’t want any trouble.” He wasn’t sure what this was all about. Who the hell was this guy?

  “You know the rules – no vagrants, bums, punks or any trash around my building!” the guard shouted.

  “Fine, I’m leaving.” Gabriel limped back from the granite walk. A sharp pain stabbed through his foot with each step.

  “Good!” The guard pointed at him. “Don’t let me catch you here again.”

  “Asshole.”  Gabriel limped along with the crowd. He had barely made it  around the corner from the office building when he couldn’t take walking on his foot anymore. He hobbled over to the next building and leaned against the wall. He lifted his foot and peered at it. The entire bottom of it was covered in blood. “Damn it.” Gabriel could see the broken piece of glass jammed into his heel. He grunted as he jerked the piece out and dropped it onto the street.

  Great. He took a deep breath and sighed. This wasn’t going to heal anytime soon. He stared down at the cut. It needed stitches, for sure. A wink of light glimmered deep within the cut. What? Gabriel watched as it pooled under the skin. It glowed like pure white snow. Ten seconds later, it faded out. The pain in Gabriel’s foot was gone. He wiped at his skin with his thumb – the wound had vanished.

  Gabriel didn’t know what to think. He put his foot down and leaned on it. It was completely healed. He hopped up and down on the foot to make sure. He noticed a few people looking in his direction, and realized he must have looked foolish. He felt edgy around all the people so started to walk away, then began to jog down the street. What was that all about? He thought while he ran. The ore? His pace only increased.

  “Watch it! Slow down!” A random shout came from behind him.

  Gabriel halted immediately. He was already at the end of the block. What the hell was happening?

  Gabriel kept himself and his pace in check as he marched the rest of the ways to the Ion Pinnacle Apartments. He was different. His feet didn’t ache while he walked, he wasn’t cold. In fact, he wasn’t even tired from the dozen or more blocks he had just travelled. Now wasn’t the time to figure it out though. He needed to figure out a way to get into the underground parking. The guards weren’t going to just let him stroll through. Even if they did, TERA owned the apartments – and he didn’t want to be found by them. There had to be another way in. He began to circle the three massive towers that composed the apartments. Every entrance and exit was monitored by guards and cameras. He looped around behind the building that Adin lived in and ducked into the alleyway. It had no exit but led into the middle of the three towers. He followed the curve of the road until he noticed a short set of stairs leading down to a steel door. Why not try it? He hopped down the stairs and grasped the steel handle. The door didn’t move. Damn.

  “Come on!” He jiggled the door handle. “Just open up!” he growled. His arm flashed with heat as he jerked at the door.  With a screech of steel it popped open. Gabriel froze and stared down at the side of the door. The lock was broken. He stepped through the doorway and into the underground parking.