by Phil Maxey
“Originally I did. We have an outpost in Kentucky.” The whole story was too complicated for her to recite right now and she was hoping there wouldn’t be too many questions.
The general looked confused. “The creatures own the surface world, I still don’t see how you both made it here.”
“Have you picked up any messages from the Austin Camp? Have you been following what has happened since you came down here?” Said Abbey trying to shift the conversation away from how some humans were now different.
Mitchell moved away from the table. “Most of the outposts we were monitoring went dark some weeks back. Although we did pick up messages that they were under attack from a gang of some sort?”
“The Hell fire gang. Eventually they were more of an army…” Abbey wasn’t sure how to broach the subject of the Cascaders. There didn’t seem to be a way to avoid mentioning them. “Umm…have you heard how the Cascade has affected humans?”
The general smiled. “So that’s how you got this far.” She looked between Abbey and Burt. “Which one of you is a Cascader, or are you both?”
Burt snorted.
The general’s eyes rested on Abbey. “So you’re one then?”
Abbey’s eyes darted around the room looking for the nearest exit.
Mitchell laughed. “Calm yourself young lady. You’re not the only Cascader in this room, I’m one as well.”
Abbey felt a combination of relief and surprise at he same time. “So…why haven’t—”
“Haven’t we tried controlling those things above us?”
Abbey nodded.
“When we learned that some of us had that ability, we tried.” The general sighed. “And we lost people. Maybe down south you had the chance to learn how to use your newfound gifts, but up here there were so many E.L.F’s and so many different species, that…well we couldn’t learn quick enough. Eventually I decided to cut our losses and stay down here. At least until we had an handle on how to better use our abilities.”
A young soldier walked up to Burt and Abbey with two mugs of steaming coffee.
“I thought you would appreciate a hot drink,” said the general.
Burt almost lunged, he moved forward so quick. “That I do.” Abbey took hers as well.
“So now we know what we all are. How about you tell me why you’re here?”
“My parents,” said Abbey. As the words left her mouth, she realized how small and petty her quest to come to Boston must sound to those in a position of power.
The general looked to her right at a young female officer at a workstation. “Fowler, bring up the database of everyone in the bunker network.” The young girl started typing. “What’s your surname?” Said the general to Abbey.
“Reisner,” said Abbey. She felt a strange kind of tingling which was not connected to her being a Cascader, this was excitement, an emotion she had not felt for a long while.
“There are five Reisner's in the database general,” said the officer.
“First names?” Said the general.
“Asa and Betsy,” replied Abbey.
The officer scrolled her screen a little. “No, ma’am there is no one here of that name.”
“What about the ‘other’ database?” Said the general.
“Other?” Said Abbey not wanting an answer.
“Everyone that came into the camp above us was registered. If they entered, we will know.”
“Umm…”
“What is it lieutenant?”
“There is an Asa and Betsy Reisner, shown as entering the camp on the twelfth of September. They were housed, but that is all there is on them…”
Abbey knew what it meant, and tried to feel behind her for a chair, without any luck.
“I’m sorry, if—”
The rest of the general’s words were lost in a swirl of lights, then darkness and her coffee mug fell to the floor.
CHAPTER 10
“Two hundred,” said Zach out of breath. Maybe age was finally taking its toil on him, for his usual exercise route was proving more difficult on the third day. He moved forward from his sit up position and gathered his feet below him, kneeling. The top part of his fatigues had long since become a towel and he grabbed it, wiping his neck and forehead.
He went to get up but instead remained fixed to the floor. He knew he could get up, but a part of him just didn’t want too. What’s the point?
“No!” He pushed himself off the floor, stood and started boxing the air around him, being part of some make-believe fight. In his mind he saw the ropes of the ring, and the faces of people sitting in seats around him. Some cheering and some not. He ducked and bobbed, then gave an uppercut to his invisible opponent. “Ha! You’re not getting up from that one!”
He then felt weak and staggered over to the far wall. The one he had designated his sleeping area. Landing against it harder than he wanted, he allowed himself to slide down it, until he was back on the floor.
The idea of being back in a prison cell was so absurd to him, that once they left theirs in New Mexico, he would have bet his life on not being incarcerated again, but here he was.
The floor was full of blood, reflecting the walls around him. “What the—” He scrambled to stand, but his feet just slid in the crimson liquid causing it to splash over him. “No, this can’t be real…” His arms and legs slid left and right over the smooth red milky substance that was now even deeper. He looked in panic as the pool of blood was rising. Managing to get to his feet, he walked across to the pipe, splashing the blood as he went. “Hey, there’s a leak in here!” He shouted while banging on the wall with his fist.
He felt the warm sticky substance lapping around his thighs. He looked down at the ripples and waves that ran across its surface, then turned and started hitting the wall again, this time harder. “Hey! Anyone out there!”
“Why did you leave us daddy?”
He froze not wanting to turn around. Then he felt a soft tug at his vest.
“Why did you let him kill us Zach?”
This voice was older. His wife. He pressed his nose up against the cold wall. No, it’s not real. I have to escape. I’m drowning. I’m—
“Zach!”
Fiona knelt next to him. His knees were up against his chest and he was rocking back and forth. She gently put her hand on his.
“Zach it’s me Fiona, I’m here.”
Slowly he lifted his head from his chest, his eyes wide and sorrowful. “They all died, Fiona. My family.” He looked around him. “The blood, its gone…” He then looked directly a her. “Are you real?”
She patted his hand. “I’m real.”
“How—” He then noticed the tall slim being some yards away, just where one of the cell walls used to he. “What is that!” He started to scramble backwards along the wall, stopping only when he reached the corner.
“It’s okay! That’s Klept, he’s with us.”
“What the hell is he! An E.L.F?”
“Honestly I have no idea, but he helped me find you. Can you stand? Because we need to leave and get Raj.”
Zach blinked for a moment like a lost child. Then shook his head. “Umm, yeah…” He slowly got to his feet. “Where are we?”
“We’re in some kind of detention center, oh and I think we’re in space.”
He looked at her without reacting. “Right. You got any idea where Raj is?” He said looking past Klept at the endless rows of floating gray black boxes.
“I think so. Klept found you. I think he knows we’re together and he’s pointing me to all of you.”
“Why’s he helping?” Zach staggered forward with some help from Fiona.
“I helped him escape his cell. But I think he has people here as well.”
Zach stood on the edge of the floor and looked down, then left then right. Everywhere he looked it looked the same. An infinity of cubes.
Fiona stood next to him, helping him steady himself. “You got your shit together?”
He nodde
d. “Where to.”
CHAPTER 11
Abbey opened her eyes to a dimly lit ceiling, with pipes running across it. She turned her head. There were other single beds either side of her, all empty. She looked around to see if there was anyone in the room with her, and went to pick herself off the pillow when a tiny voice at the back of her mind reminded her that her parents are almost certainly not alive anymore and that everything she had gone through to get to Boston had been for nothing.
She let her head fall back onto the pillow.
It makes no sense. Why did the thing in my dreams show me my parents, and my grandparents, and why were they in Boston?
“Why!” She shouted into the air.
There was a noise outside a door tens of yards to her left and a woman wearing civilian clothes came bursting through them and up to Abbey’s bed. Before Abbey could talk the woman grabbed her wrist and looked at the watch on her other hand. “How you feeling? Did you just shout?”
Abbey sighed. “I’m fine. I think I passed out, sorry I don’t mean to be a strain on whatever you do here.”
The woman let Abbey’s hand go. “Your pulse is strong.” She then put her hand on her forehead. “Any headache?”
“No.”
“Rest here for another hour, then you’ll be free to go. I’m Marina.”
“You’re the doctor here?”
“Umm more a nurse.”
“If you start to feel faint again, just shout out.” She went to walk away, when the sound of talking came from beyond the same door, and it opened with two people entering. The taller of which, was a man in his forties, who approached the bed.
Abbey thought she heard Marina swear in Spanish under her breath.
“And how is our Cascader patient Marina?”
“She appears to be well, doctor.”
“I’m doctor Bryce Hall, chief medical practitioner of our little underground paradise. I understand you passed out when you heard some bad news?” Abbey went to talk but he continued. “Unfortunately bad news is the only news we have nowadays. We all must learn to accept the new world that we find ourselves in.”
Abbey nodded tamely.
“So you’re a Cascader?”
Abbey felt this is what he really wanted to talk about.
“I am.”
“And you have used your abilities getting to us?” He briefly looked at the nurse. “You can go now Marina.”
She frowned then left.
“Yes, many times.”
Bryce looked at the younger man behind him. “Perry here has a questionnaire that we would like you to fill in. Please take as long as you want.” He smiled. “There are no right or wrong answers. It’s all just data to us.”
The younger be-speckled man, stepped forward and placed a piece of paper with pencil on to the bottom of the bed.
“I do hope you decide to stay a while with us, I’m sure there is a lot we can learn from each other.” And with that the doctor turned and walked away with his assistant in tow.
Abbey sighed. If her parents were gone, then what was the point of her being away from Zach? She shook her head. Images of her parents moved into and out of her mind, each one more painful that the last.
She numbed her mind, leaned over and grabbed the A4 piece of paper and started reading.
* * * * *
“What are they doing?” Said Zach to Fiona as they both watched Klept and the other similar being, slide their long limbs over each other.
“I’ve met this alien a few hours ago. Guess what? I’m not an expert,” said Fiona.
The four of them were floating near another cell with a large tear in one of its walls, which the new version of Klept just emerged from.
The sounds that passed between the aliens were different to what Fiona had heard before, these were more soft and continuous.
“Klept?”
He looked around at Fiona and nodded. He then looked back at his compatriot and uttered more of his unknown language. The other Klept seemed to acknowledge.
Klept then turned and pointed to the distance and he and his friend pushed off and started to float away.
“Guess we follow,” said Zach, pushing away from the wall behind.
Countless rows of cells flowed by, as the two aliens gave themselves an added nudge each time they came close to a wall, increasing their speed. Fiona and Zach tried doing the same, but the beings in front of them were a lot more adapt at their zero gravity surroundings.
“They’re getting away from us,” said Fiona. “We need to go faster.” She and Zach pushed harder with each new contact, but the creatures ahead of them were still pulling away.
Just when it looked like the two humans had been forgotten about, Klept and the other alien could be seen to have stopped, close to what looked like a large wall.
Fiona and Zach grabbed hold of each new passing cell to slow their velocities, as what was next to the aliens slowly came more into view.
“Whoa…” said Fiona, coming slowly to a halt and grabbing hold of a nearby pipe. In front of her and stretching in all directions with no discernible edge was a dark wall, completely covered in small thin channels, which pulses of light intermittently navigated along.
“Is this the outside wall?” Said Zach to Klept.
Klept briefly looked at him, then in a sudden movement, thrust his long spindle like fingers into a hole in the side of the other aliens head, who’s eyes then rolled back in its skull.
Zach and Fiona both pulled themselves away from this insane act.
“What the fuck…” Said Fiona.
“I apologize for how this must look,” said Klept, his hand still stuck in his partner’s head.
“You talk English?!” Exclaimed Fiona.
“I do now. I am linking my mind to my colleagues. Combining our neurons to increase our processing power. I had to do this to be able to communicate.”
“Is he okay?” Said Fiona looking at the quivering face of the other being.
“For now, but we can only keep this link for a short time. As I—”
“Where are we? How do we get back to our planet? And where’s our other friend?” Said Zach.
“From what I could gather back at the main node, we are in orbit around your planet. Getting back to your planet might prove difficult and your friend is no longer in this facility.”
“What? Where is he then? Who took us?” Said Zach. Fiona placed her hand gently on his arm, and he seemed to relax slightly.
“The beings that took all o—” The Alien with Klept’s hand in his head shivered. “—The closest translation to your language would be the Hulathen. They took you because that is what they do, once they have started terraforming a planet. I believe that is what happened on your planet. There was no further information on where your friend is. I am sorry.” Klept’s eyes flickered. “I can no longer take anymore questions as I have to soon break the link. Please pay attention. In order for you to return to your planet, you must be on a transporter craft, which is scheduled to return. But to do so, you must share the same space with what you call E.L.F’s. That will mask your presence to the Hulathen.”
“We won’t survive being crammed in with an E.L.F,” said Fiona.
“We can’t leave Raj!” Said Zach at the same time.
“Not all of the creatures you regard as evolved life forms are predatory. We simply—”
The alien next to Klept began to violently shake. He pulled his hand from his head, and the alien collapsed in his long arms.
Zach turned to Fiona. “We can’t just leave Raj here, in one of these cells!” He then turned back to Klept. “There must be a way to find him?”
Klept looked back at Zach with a blank expression, while holding up his friend.
Zach shook his head then looked back at Fiona. “We need to find a way…”
Fiona sighed and put her hand on Zach’s shoulder. “Look around Zach, there’s nothing we can do for him. If we have a chance to get off of this bucke
t, Raj would expect us to take it. And don’t underestimate him, he’s the one with all the brains remember.” She smiled.
They both turned, noticing that Klept had left his friend and was now subtly touching the wall in front of him, a similar action to what Fiona had witnessed him perform before. Some of the pulses of light that streamed across the surface, darted left and right, while others grew in intensity. Klept then turned and pointed over their shoulders.
They slowly turned. One of the cells nearby had become transparent like before. Inside was an large egg like form, with veins running over its surface. Klept made noises and pointed again at the cell.
“I think that’s our ride home,” said Fiona. She went to push off and float towards the cell, when she stopped, instead turning and moved gently towards Klept. She held her hand out, palm open.
Klept looked at her hand and then his own, and slowly extended it until their palms touched. Fiona smiled and she was sure Klept was doing the same. He then said something which sounded like “Loyo.”
“Umm Loyo,” said Fiona. She then turned and with Zach drifted the ten or so yards to the wall of the cell, which they held onto. They looked back at Klept who tapped on the wall in front of him again, and Zach’s and Fiona’s fingers fell through where the hard wall was.
“Wall’s gone,” said Zach, swiveling himself onto the floor of the cell. As soon as he was inside he felt the weight of gravity bare down on him again. Fiona joined him and they both had a brief view of Klept, until the wall in front of them became opaque, and the world outside the cell was gone.
They both turned and looked at the three-foot long clam shell like thing on the floor, and walked tentatively either side of it.
“Let’s hope it’s sleeping,” said Zach then backed off. “How long you think until this box of ours is picked up.”
Fiona knelt, then sat on the floor with her back to the wall looking at the thing on the far side of the cell. She took the talon out of her belt and laid it across her lap. “Who knows. Might as well get comfortable.”
CHAPTER 12
