Exotics #1: The Floating Menagerie

by De Kenyon

  They were standing next to the bottom half of a giant gray ball. The ball was covered with gray, rust-streaked braces that disappeared up into the dark ceiling.

  “Wow,” Rachael said.

  “Yeah, it’s a mess down here,” Sponge said. “But the only people who see it are—”

  Rachael jerked her arm away from Sponge and took off running. She ducked under a brace, ran around the giant ball, and found an aisle that ran along the side of the ship.

  “Aw, man,” Sponge yelled.

  She could hear him running behind her. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for; it wasn’t like she could throw herself off the side of the ship and swim home. One, there were sharks, and two, she didn’t know how far the ship was from land.

  She ducked into the space between two of the giant balls and started running in the opposite direction. She wanted to find a computer or some way to communicate with the outside world, so she could tell them where she and Raul were. Or maybe she would find Raul. At least she would cause her kidnappers trouble.

  Rachael found a door in a flat wall. There was only one flat wall that she had seen in the ship, and that was in the tall building she and the other kids had come out of. The infirmary should be in the building—the only other place to put it would be in the big domes, and Rachael didn’t think a doctor would want to try to carry a patient up and down those ladders.

  Rachael yanked on the door, expecting it to be locked, but the door flew open. Rachael dashed up the steps, taking them two at a time. When she got to the first landing, she jerked open the door and rushed into a short hallway. She opened the first door she came to.

  The man with the eyepatch was hitting a metal contraption with a wrench. He was saying bad words about a cylinder head on the engine. Rachael slammed the door shut again and headed up more stairs.

  Sponge was running up the stairs behind her now. The next set of stairs went up a long time before they reached another landing, and both Rachael and Sponge were panting.

  “Come on, kid, just surrender. This is too many stairs to run up, isn’t it?” Sponge said.

  “Nuh uh,” Rachael said. She put on a burst of speed, ran up another flight of steps, and reached the landing. She opened the first door she came to in the corridor and slammed it behind her, locking it.

  “Ahem,” a woman’s voice said.

  Rachael turned around slowly. Babra was sitting at a desk next to a computer. A woman with a white coat over her tan uniform and glasses with red frames was standing behind her.

  “Yes? Did you need something?” the woman asked.

  Babra turned red and quickly shut a black leather notebook. Aha, Rachael thought. There are secrets in that notebook. Rachael leaned to the side a little and saw that Babra was playing a game on the computer.

  The white coat looked like doctor’s coat, so Rachael made a guess. “Are you Dr. Menney?”

  “Yes.” The woman stared at her.

  “Can I see Raul?” Rachael asked.

  “No,” the woman said, and Rachael’s eyes started to fill up with tears. “He’s sedated right now. That means he’s asleep. He needs to heal.”

  “Where is he?” Rachael asked.

  The woman jerked her head toward another door inside the room. “In the infirmary. You can see him tomorrow, if you like. Tomorrow evening. Now scat, both of you. I have work to do.”

  Sponge pounded on the door. “Dr. Menney!”

  “Yes?”

  “Have you seen a little girl?”

  Babra squeaked and looked at Dr. Menney with big, round, puppy-dog eyes. Dr. Menney pointed her toward the door, and Babra got up.

  “The new girl? Yes, she’s right here.” Dr. Menney went back to her computer screen and started typing. “Well? Go out. They’ve found you.”

  Rachael unlocked the door slowly.

  “Go on, get out,” Dr. Menney said.

  “You promise I can see him tomorrow?” she asked.

  Dr. Menney didn’t look up. “Of course not. He might have a relapse. But if it’s all right with the captain, and your friend is up for it, then you may. I suggest you cooperate with the captain at least until then.”

  Rachael finished unlocking the door, and Sponge shoved his way into the room. “You!” he said.

  Rachael hung her head down like she was going to cry.

  “Don’t even pretend you’re sorry,” Sponge panted. “Ugh. I’m tired now.” He grabbed her arm—tighter this time—and said, “I should put a tracker on you.”

  “I have extra,” Dr. Menney said.

  “Gimme one. I’ll ask the captain if it’s okay after I get done with her,” Sponge said.

  “Why are you doing this?” Rachael asked. “Why are you helping the Shadow Dogs sell us into slavery?”

  “What?” Sponge exclaimed.

  Babra said, “We help kids!”

  “Selling kids into slavery?” Dr. Menney asked. “Where did you hear that?”

  But Rachael wouldn’t give Raul or Cassie away. “If you’re not slavers, then why are you putting trackers on us and locking us up?”

  “They monitor vital signs,” Dr. Menney said. “We have to make sure the change is stable.”

  “You kids can’t run around the ship loose, especially not the infected ones while they’re changing,” Sponge said. “It’s too dangerous. Well, except for Babra; she’s been here long enough to be trusted. She’s just here so the captain can keep an eye on her. She was living with her mom, but her mom kicked her out of her house when she found out the poor kid was an Exotic.”

  Babra burst into tears, and Dr. Menney gave him a dirty look. “Get out!” she yelled. Sponge grabbed Rachael by the shoulder and slammed the door behind him.

  Chapter 15

  “That’s enough running away.” Sponge picked up Rachael and carried her over his shoulder.

  He went up another flight of stairs, complaining about how much she weighed the entire time, then opened a door onto the deck and into the sunlight.

  “That’s it. You’re not going to see your buddy tomorrow,” he said.

  “You’re not the captain,” Rachael said, bouncing up and down on his shoulder.

  “I’ll tell on you,” Sponge said. “What am I saying? I sound just like a little kid.”

  “I feel sick,” Rachael said.

  “Go on, puke down my back,” Sponge said. “I don’t care, as long as you can’t make me run up those stairs again.”

  “Where are you taking me?” Rachael asked.

  “The Tiger’s Nest,” Sponge said.

  Rachael yelled, “Help! I’m being fed to tigers!”

  “Knock it off. You’re not being fed to tigers. That’s just the name of the place.” He carried her to the dome farthest away from the rectangular building on the end of the ship and put her down outside the door.

  A big pile of what looked like rock rose from the floor almost to the top of the dome. Sticks with white tape around them were stuck in the rocks all over next to baby trees. A path through the rocks led around a corner.

  Sponge shoved her through the doorway and onto the path. “Careful,” he said. “The safety rails haven’t been installed. The Gardener doesn’t want ‘em, says it messes up the look of the place.”

  Rachael got her balance back and looked down. There was nothing between the side of the path and the floor of the dome but baby trees and sharp, pointy rocks. The ship moved underneath her, and she swayed.

  Sponge grabbed her arm. “Hang on there, little buckaroo. Walk close to the mountain, okay?”

  Rachael stood close to the rocks beside her and walked down the trail.

  Around the corner was a tiny white building with a red and gold-colored curving roof—a pagoda. Flags were hung off the edges of the roof, but they weren’t moving, because there was no wind. The air was cold, and Rachael shivered.

  “Cool, huh?” Sponge asked.

  “I guess so.”

  “Mr. Hightower’s in there. Go in.
I’ll wait out here.”

  Rachael walked up to the door, which was barely big enough for her to walk through without ducking. Was Sponge too big to fit through the door?

  Rachael couldn’t see a door handle, so she pushed on the door, and it opened.

  The inside of the building was very dark and only a little warmer than it was in the dome. The windows were covered with carved wood panels, but the panels had no glass in them and weren’t doing any good in either letting in the sunshine or keeping out the cold.

  The room looked only half-finished, with red panels on part of the walls. In the back of the room was another door, and Rachael went inside.

  She found herself inside a tunnel. She rubbed the wall; it felt like cement, not rock. The tunnel was so dark that she didn’t dare let go of the door and shut out all her light.

  “Hello?” she called. There was no answer.

  She went back into the building and out the door. “Nobody there,” she told Sponge. “I guess we better go.”

  Then she felt a hand on her shoulder and nearly jumped out of her dirty slippers.

  “Miss?” a voice said.

  Rachael turned around ever so slowly.

  A man in a buttoned shirt and tan pants was standing behind her. He was taller than she was, but not by much. He had glasses that made his eyes look big and a shiny spot on top of his head. There was something about him that was just creepy, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. “Are you Miss Rachael?”

  She nodded.

  He beckoned toward her, one finger making a “come here” toward her. He led her through the door inside the building and down the tunnel, in complete darkness.

  Chapter 16

  Rachael kept one hand on the wall of the cave and one hand in front of her to keep from hitting her head on anything. The tunnel led around and around until she was almost dizzy, but at least it was warmer the further down she went.

  Finally, the man stopped in front of her, and she accidentally pushed into him with her hand. She heard something heavy moving, and saw a thin line of dim light that widened until Rachael was looking through a doorway into a huge cave. The man led her inside. Dim light came into the top of the cave, which must have reached to the top of the mountain.

  “Wow,” Rachael said.

  The man closed the door behind them.

  The walls of the cave were decorated with what looked like beautiful scribbles pushed into the walls with a giant paintbrush. Rachael turned around and around, trying to look at everything at once.

  “The Gardener’s work,” the man said. “Follow me.” The man led Rachael to the other side of the cave.

  “Who are you?” Rachael asked.

  The man said, “Isn’t that obvious?”

  “Um, Mr. Hightower?” Rachael guessed. “Why do you want to talk to me?”

  “I have some questions to ask you.”

  “Do you know where my mom is?”

  “I do,” the man said.

  “Where is she?”

  “I’m not going to tell you,” the man said. “Sit here, please.” He pointed at a folding chair sitting next to a table with a laptop and a flat box with a bunch of cords connected to it. Mr. Hightower sat on the chair at the other side of the desk and opened the laptop. A blue glow lit up his face from underneath. He touched a few buttons on the box.

  “Now,” he said. “Tell me what you know about the Animal Lovers’ Club.”

  “Nothing,” Rachael said. “It’s a club that my mom has at our house on Tuesdays.”

  “And do you know anyone named Armand?”

  “Our mond?”

  “Armand. It’s a man’s name. You know your mother’s password. What is it?”

  “Not that again,” Rachael said.

  “What do you know about the Exotics virus?”

  “Just what Raul told me. You get sick, and sometimes afterwards you become an Exotic.”

  “What do you know about magic?”

  “Magic?”

  “You don’t think people turn into talking animals just because they get sick, do you? Magic.”

  Rachael shook her head. It was hard to believe, but she had to admit it would be pretty hard to talk if you didn’t have lips.

  “Do you have strange dreams?” Mr. Hightower asked.

  “Sometimes,” Rachael said.

  “Describe one of them, please.”

  “I was in a toy fight with a bunch of kids at school. A giant toy made of blocks ate me, but I hung on to his uvula so he couldn’t swallow me. A bunch of my classmates were inside his stomach and wouldn’t come out. And then I woke up.”

  “Do you have dreams with any of these shapes in them?” Mr. Hightower waved at the walls.

  “No.”

  “Who do you think should rule the earth?”

  “My mom.”

  Mr. Hightower stared over the edge of the laptop at her, looking angry for the first time. “Why?” he demanded.

  “Um, because she’s nice? Because she’s my mom?”

  “Hm,” Mr. Hightower said, relaxing. “Last question. What is your mother’s password? Again, I already know that you know her password, so don’t pretend that you don’t know.”

  “I’m not going to tell you,” Rachael said.

  “Yes, you will,” the man said.

  Rachael knew how the rest of that argument went. “No, I won’t.”

  “Yes, you will,” the man said. “I can tell that you don’t understand what’s going on, that your mother hasn’t told you very much. In fact, I’m surprised that you know her password. She may have several passwords, but this will, at least, take us further than we were before. Your mother knows some very dangerous people, Rachael, and she’s likely to get herself killed if you don’t help her.”

  Rachael didn’t dare say anything, not knowing what would help her mother and what would hurt her.

  “And if you don’t tell me,” Mr. Hightower said, “I’ll have the man called Tapeworm beat up your friend Raul again.”

  “No!” Rachael yelled.

  Chapter 17

  “Hm…you love your friend more than you love your mother,” Mr. Hightower said. “That’s interesting.”

  “I do not!” Rachael said.

  “You didn’t yell when I told you your mother was in danger,” he pointed out.

  Rachael crossed her arms over her stomach and glared at him. He could say whatever he wanted to, but she loved her mom, and he couldn’t trick her about that. But her mom was a grown-up, and she could take care of herself. She hoped.

  “And, by the way, don’t try to run away again. Or I will have Raul beaten up again. I’m sure Tapeworm would enjoy it.”

  “Whatever,” Rachael said. She stared at the swirls of paint on the walls so she wouldn’t have to look at Mr. Hightower’s terrible, boring face in the light of his computer screen.

  “It might kill the boy if Tapeworm gets hold of him again,” Mr. Hightower said.

  “Whatever.”

  “It’ll be all your fault.”

  “No, it won’t!” Rachael yelled. “You’re just a big bully.”

  The air in the cave wasn’t as cold as it was outside, but it was still pretty cold, and she started to shiver.

  Mr. Hightower paused for a few seconds, then started typing away on his computer. Rachael didn’t think for a second that he was giving up.

  “You might think that the Exotics virus was something that just happened,” Mr. Hightower said, still typing. “But it isn’t. It takes magic to turn a human being into an animal.”

  “Are you an Exotic?” Rachael asked.

  “Does it matter? Catching the Exotics virus is only half of what has to happen in order to turn a human into an Exotic. The other half is a magic ritual. That means that someone is turning humans into Exotics on purpose.”

  What was he trying to do now, make her change sides? To betray her mother and Raul? Did he think she was stupid or what? She didn’t want to listen to him, but sh
e couldn’t help herself.

  “This magician, whoever he or she is, is evil. We know that. But we don’t know who this person is or what they are trying to achieve. We are trying to find this person and stop them from changing humans into Exotics, and we’re trying to find a cure for the humans who are already Exotics. It might sound like a romantic adventure to you, but trust me, it isn’t.

  “People who turn into Exotics start slowly turning crazy. They start thinking like animals and stop thinking like humans. They forget everyone they love—”

  “My mother loves me,” Rachael interrupted. “You talk and talk and try to convince me to tell you my mom’s secrets. But it’s just stupid. If you’re going to hurt my mom, then hurt her. If you’re going to have Tapeworm beat up Raul, then tell him. But stop trying to tell me stuff I know isn’t true. It’s so stupid. I don’t care if you think that being mean to people is going to save the world. But I know that my mom loves me, so whatever.”

  “All right.” He reached down to his belt and pulled out something that looked like a walkie talkie, a box with an antenna on it. He pushed a button and said, “Tapeworm. This is Hightower.”

  After a few seconds, a voice came out of the speaker. “This is Tapeworm. Over.”

  “Meet me in the infirmary. Now.”

  “Roger. Over.”

  Mr. Hightower put the walkie talkie back on his belt. “Either you’ll tell me your mother’s password or you won’t. But don’t lie to me.”

  “Or what?” Rachael said.

  “Or I’ll have Tapeworm beat you up until you admit you’re lying.” Mr. Hightower closed his laptop, walked around the desk, and stood next to Rachael’s chair. She didn’t look at him, and she didn’t move. She even held her breath, she was so scared.

  Mr. Hightower said, “I’m going to the infirmary to watch Tapeworm hurt your friend now. You may come with me or not, as you choose.” Then he left, heading toward another door in the cave wall and unlocking it.

  Rachael stared at the ceiling until her eyes filled with tears. Then she followed him.

  The door led into the belly of the ship, the same place she’d tried to escape from Sponge. Mr. Hightower was walking down the long hallway. She caught up to him, walking just behind him. He stopped at the door at the bottom of the main building to look at her, but she turned her face away.

  He led her inside, up the stairs, and into Dr. Menney’s office. Dr. Menney was at her desk, arguing with Tapeworm.

  “Get out,” she said.