The Escape Part 4

Chapter 7

"You know, there is a reason horses sleep standing up." I said to Chris and he asks "Why is that?", to which I reply "The ground is too lumpy to be comfortable.  I’m missing that bunk that they offered but had they gone through the bag, we’d be in a cage now."  Chris nods silently.  Difficult sleep is better than no sleep and we wake to find midday.  Taking a slow walk, we find some fruit trees in an orchard.  As we start to pluck a fruit, a voice says "That’s not yours to take.  If you wish to purchase fruit, you can do so at the office or we can have the authorities fetch you and they can feed you instead."  At a nearby pole, there is a "You are here" map with clear directions to the office.  As we enter the office, that same voice booms at us "Welcome!" and then, a large woman comes from behind a curtain and smiles at us.  "I love the way I can scare people with my voice in the orchards." she gleefully admits.  "So what can we get you?  Oh my, someone needs a bath more than fruit." she says as she approaches us and continues "Did you get caught in the fighting?" to which we reply "No.  We’ve been a bit lost for days, though.  I guess that’s obvious from our smell."   She hands us each a bag of healthy snacks and they taste like something on which we slept.

She takes a moment to consider and then, makes a call.  She returns and asks "Do you know how to work picking fruit?  I’m guessing not but you can learn, yes?"  We both nod with a nervous smile.  "Oh, don’t worry, you’ll get it soon enough.  After picking, we’ll let you use the laundry and bath, as we would any other workers."  So, a dusty man arrives at the back door and we’re told to follow his instructions and he’ll make sure we do okay.  We ride on a small transport quite a way and we arrive at some trees with ladders beneath them.  "Pick everything in this section until the horn sounds and put it all on the conveyor carefully." he says.  "At that time, I’ll return and you can return to the office, clean up, and eat." he continues.

I’m thinking that my arms are breaking they’ve been extended up into the trees so long.  I can’t remember a time keeping them above me for more than a few minutes.  We’re doing okay, I guess, and we’ve cleared a few trees but I’m thinking that they will be expecting more.  We hear the horn and a loud voice saying "You can stop now.  I can smell you from here." with a huge laugh.  The dusty man returns and we ride the transport back to the office.  Serendipity greets us at the door and she leads us to a building just steps away.  She shows us the laundry and the bath and instructs us how to use things.  She seems to linger a bit but closes the door as much as it can be closed.  As we disrobe, it feels as though she’s still there and we hear a rather large sigh.  I think she doesn’t do anything small.  We look to the door a bit and wave and she giggles.

Clean again, we stop in the office and give Serendipity a few hugs and she seems satisfied.  She points us in the direction of a restaurant and we leave quite tired and still hungry.  The restaurant is grand.  That’s the only way to describe it.  Coming from a smaller town, we’re not accustomed to such a place.  They are all about manners and procedure but they treat us as if we belong and explain how things work.  We’ve not much money but apparently, someone has already handled our payment.  "There is no need to worry.  We were told by the orchard staff that they would pay for whatever you wanted to eat." the manager tells us.  We try to stick to familiar items but the staff helps us decide a few more extravagant dishes.  I’m not sure whether it was the hunger, the work, or the food itself that was more delicious than any other food ever.  As we were ready to leave, they sent us to a nearby hotel, and once again, it was available to us at no charge.

The hotel was amazing and we stayed on the 13th floor and could see quite a distance.  There seemed to be a lot of bright lights and explosions.  The Sekidonian communicator beeped and we answered.  They had found my father’s location but it was moving between the town with the jewel power source and off-world.  They suggested we rest and activate the remote translocator in the morning.  As we finish, Chris hugs me and tells me how happy he is for me.  I am more reserved in my emotion and he hugs me again, even tighter and says "It will be okay.  You’ll see.  It’ll be just like it used to be." and I let out a whimper because I knew his parents weren’t coming back.  He can see how uncomfortable I am and he opens his shirt and says "alien pleasure".  I fake a grin and he hugs me again.  "I’m so glad you’re here with me, Chris.  I missed you so much, buddy." I whisper as I cling to him tightly.

Chapter 8

Morning comes and I am realizing that I was lying next to him and he seemed to have a smile of contentment on his face.  It was almost as he was glad to have someone close, he’d been alone for so long.  Considering the possibilities, I might be in his situation very soon.  I wake him and we ready ourselves, eat, and travel to a quiet location to activate the translocator.  The Sekidonians are greeting us emotionlessly, as if there was more trouble.  We were led to a conference room and a high-ranking officer enters the room.  Everyone stood at attention until he was seated.  He looked at us and said "You’re wanted by all sides.  You’ve met three sides already but the people holding your father are a fourth faction that are manipulating every circumstance with knowledge beyond anything we have.  Your work with us has helped immensely but we are unable to devise a method to retrieve your father."  "Sir" I say "You have the ability to place us almost anywhere.  Can you put me in his location?  More than that, can you provide me information about these people?"  He looks quite desperate at the moment and asks me "Do you know of the Book of Ages?", to which I reply "Yes, and no.  The people in the town with the jewel spoke of it as they were going to use it and us."  He seems unaware of the town or the people but he says "They’re using the book to examine time and manipulate encounters with other species.  We haven’t really determined who they are because they have a large dampening field in place." and Chris mentions that the map wasn’t working and I mention that my mental abilities didn’t seem to affect the population.  Gloom spread over the room like storm clouds.

He’s made a quick call and some scientists have entered the room.  We’re discussing what Chris and I saw and, as limited as my knowledge was, we’ve created a working theory to challenge the dampening field.  Their power was apparently based on the refraction of light into isolated wavelengths and being able to channel certain wavelengths into a wave guide amplifier.  Destroying the jewel itself might not be enough, but creating an overload would ruin any stored energy, as well.  Despite my total understanding, I knew one thing was clear.  I am returning to that town and it feels like a one way trip already.  The scientists will work on a device that could be powered by the energy within the dampening field by running diagnostic routines of the mapping device that had been partially functional within the field.  I’m suggesting to him that Chris be kept with them while I return and that we take a ship above the dampening field so that I might gauge any thoughts streaming in or out of the town.  He agrees with me, as well as wishing me good luck.  Chris seems angry in a way I’ve never seen.

"You’re abandoning me?!?" he’s yelling as we’re walking down the corridor and continues "How can you leave me here?"  I turn to him and say "Chris, I’m keeping you safe.  I want to see you when I return.  I don’t want to lose you ever again.  These people will care for you and I’ll bear the responsibility and danger for the whole mission.  If you would be there and be hurt, I wouldn’t be able to finish things properly because I’d want to get you to safety."  He continues to fume for a few minutes and finally says "I can understand it but I don’t like it.  What if you’re hurt and can’t return?  What if you die and I’m completely alone again?  You can’t guarantee anything, no matter your intentions." and I answer "You’re right that I can’t guarantee anything but I’ve already seen my success.  It will have been done and I took care of it on my own and returned.  Do your best to be patient."

The next day, we’re hovering high above the dampening field in a Sekidonian vessel to test the modifications to the sensors.  Things are better but the penetration is not 100 %.  The scans are interfering with the field and I’m able to sense quite a bit.  I can hear what their scientists are doing to modify the field and I’m relaying the information to the Sekidonians.  The changes made on both sides cause a rather large overload and the ship is damaged.  However, as we’re leaving, I can interface with the jewel and see much more of their science, plus with what I can understand, I’ve just crippled their power supply and they are defenseless.  The admiral has just contacted ground troops and they have converged on the town.  They’ve been met with little resistance as the residents, as old as most are, have turned to dust.  According to reports, a few ships have appeared and are attempting to attack the ground forces but the jewel has been removed and translocated.  All the scans have not revealed my dad’s location, though.  It’s a victory but it’s bittersweet for me.

As the vessel has been taken to a repair facility, we wait far above our planet and it affords a view that maybe no Wistandian has ever known.  The orange-colored plant life, the red oceans, and the blue land make for a glorious sight.  Being so far away, I feel at one with Wistandia in a way I never had.  Chris hugs me and softly says "I’m glad you didn’t have to go, even though your father’s not been found yet.  What are you able to do with your mind now, or is the better question, what can you not do with your mind since we’ve been encountering all these aliens?"  I shake my head and bang it against the window.  As we stand silently, an escort takes us to be translocated to another ship that’s fully functional.  As we enter the translocator room, the admiral joins us saying "We still have much to discuss."