Zero-Point

by T J Trapp

  Erin could not help herself; she gasped in awe. They must have found a huge cave and built this inside, she thought to herself. No one could make anything this big. Not even elves. From out of the very air came the sound of music, different from any she had ever heard in Gott, but she did not see any musicians. An odd perfumed smell hung in the space, although she did not see any live plants or flowers. Thousands of people milled about in the big open space. She noticed that more than one person was looking at her curiously, and sensed that they thought her odd; she realized that no one else was dressed like her, or like Alec. This must be a big festival day that we have come to, she thought. Perhaps there will be booths with purveyors of clothing and we can meet with a tailor.

  Celeste gave her a sidelong glance. “This is our local mall,” she said. “Don’t they have malls where you come from?”

  In halting English, Erin replied, “We have nothing like this in Theland! They do not even have anything like this in Gott!”

  Erin could tell that Celeste sensed that she was uncomfortable in these new surroundings. Celeste grabbed her hand and patted it reassuringly.

  “Come one! We are in luck! There’s hardly anyone here today!”

  “It’s … so … big,” Erin said, trying not to stare too hard.

  “Big? Well, not really, Celeste answered. “The bigger malls seem to have gone the way of the dinosaurs – no one goes to an actual store anymore because everybody just webnet shops through their cells. But, because you don’t have anything, I thought it would be easier to just come here where you could really try on things. So! Let’s find us a clothing store!”

  “Let’s,” Erin answered weakly.

  “And a place where I can get a decent cell,” Alec said. “Or learn how to use this one.”

  Celeste took off at a rapid walk down one branch of the colored tile floor. Erin looked in amazement at the masses of things that seemed to be placed behind glass walls by purveyors: clothes, shoes, food, boxes, and bottles and racks of things that Erin could not identify.

  “Very clever. The tailors have displayed clothes they have already made to attract others into their shops,” Erin said.

  “Yeah, the stuff in the display windows always looks a little weird,” Celeste said. “But first, we’ll find a tech store for Dr. Holden.”

  She entered a smaller shop with oddly-blue panels of lights in the ceiling. Celeste walked up to a person standing behind a counter. Erin was surprised to see that he wore his hair in stiff purple spikes and had a shiny metal object impaled in his nose; the skin on his arms was covered in multi-colored runes. Is this what people on your home planet look like? she thought to Alec. I have never seen anyone like this. But he does not look like an elf.

  “Hey Frankie.” The young man looked at Celeste and smiled. “Frankie, this is Dr. Holden. From the Institute. He just got here to this country today, and needs some help with his cell. It doesn’t work like the one he’s used to.”

  Frankie smiled and extended his hand. “Sure, Doc, pleased to meet you.”

  “Frankie is a student at NAI and works here part time. He knows everything about cells; he can teach you how to use yours. Erin and I are going clothes shopping. When you get set up, Frankie can show you how to use your cell to meet up with us.”

  Celeste took Erin’s hand and they went to a large store with racks and racks of clothing.

  “I’ve never seen so many clothings,” Erin said. “Does this shop have things for everyone in the village?”

  “No,” said Celeste. “This is only one of a chain of many stores like this.” She led Erin through the store aisles to an area with plaster statues of fake women wearing brightly colored clothes and wire racks displaying even more clothes. “I love to go clothes shopping and don’t get to do it very often. This will be fun.”

  “How long will it take your tailors to make the clothings after we select styles?”

  “Tailors?” said Celeste. “No, we just get the stuff here. Our land is not as fancy as your land – we do not get things custom-made except for really expensive things.”

  “Your land is truly wonderful,” Erin said. She looked at the piles of clothes laid out on tables and hung on racks and rolled in neat rows on shelves. “I don’t know where to begin. Some of these things I have seen the villagers on the campus wear, but most of these things I have no idea what to do with.” She stared at a rack covered with bras in many colors, foam cups standing out proudly. “Those seem to want to compensate for what I lack.”

  Celeste laughed. “I’ll get us a clerk. That person over there. She works here and she will help us pick out clothes. I will show you what to do with everything.”

  By the time Alec arrived, he found three women giggling over piles of clothing and both Erin and Celeste wearing outfits different from the ones they had been wearing when they entered the mall. He smiled and shook his head in wonder. Trying on clothes must be a result of some trait hidden deep in the female genes.

  Alec wandered off to the men’s department. He efficiently picked out some clothes for himself without trying them on, as well as some extras, and gratefully changed out of his drone pajamas. By the time he returned to the ladies’ wear department, the pile of clothes stacked on the counter by the dressing rooms had not shrunk appreciably and Erin was carefully trying on every one of them. She does have an eye for what looks right together.

  Alec found a conveniently-placed chair near the dressing rooms and settled down to experiment with what he had learned about cell operations. Finally, Erin nodded in satisfaction. She was dressed in jeans, a fitted tee, a plaid flannel overshirt, and a puffy white down vest, topped by a long sheer scarf. Wool socks and a warm pair of walking boots completed her outfit. She could tell by the look on Alec’s face that he was pleased.

  “I now know more about yoga pants and sports bras and all kinds of leggings than I imagined could exist. Someone always handled clothes for me at home. I never knew what fun I was missing,” she said, beaming.

  Celeste had picked out almost as many clothes as Erin. “That was as much fun as anything I have done in a while,” Celeste said to Erin.

  The clerk happily filled several sacks with their purchases. “I put the … dress … that you were wearing in the bag along with the new items,” she said.

  “I put it all on my cell,” Celeste said to Alec. “We can settle up when you get your money transferred.”

  “Thanks,” Alec said. Wonder when that will be?

  ✽✽✽

  “Erin wants a sword,” Celeste said, looking at Erin and laughing. “I don’t know anything about swords, but there is a shooting place at the end of this mall. We can see what they have.” Celeste and Erin let Alec tote their many bags and they walked across the mall to a store marked ‘Shop-O-Guns.’

  Inside the store, Erin looked – first with alarm, then amazement – at rack after rack of death rods displayed on the walls. Celeste bent over a glass case and pointed at a little pistol.

  “You could get something like that. That’s what I always carry with me.”

  “You carry a death rod with you?” Erin asked in amazement.

  “Of course, everyone does,” Celeste answered casually. “I’ve got it with me now. Schools aren’t safe places, you know, so you have to be prepared to protect yourself.”

  Celeste motioned to one of the salesclerks. “My friend here would like to try out one of these. Could you please show her how to use it?” The salesclerk led them downstairs to a lower level of the store. Alec followed along, watching with interest.

  “This is the range where we practice,” Celeste explained.

  There were several narrow alleyways in the room. They went to a shorter alleyway and the salesperson handed Celeste a stubby pistol. Celeste pointed the death rod at a silhouette of a person and squeezed. The death rod flashed and snarled with a loud and angry sounding snap! that made Erin jump. Celeste looked at Alec. “I missed. I’m not very good. Do you want to try?”r />
  “Sure. I used to hunt on my grandfather’s place, but I haven’t shot a pistol for years.”

  Alec picked up the little pistol and shot it twice. Both times holes appeared in the target. “A long way from my aim, but at least on the silhouette. Your turn.”

  Erin was fascinated and frightened by the idea of handling a death rod, but the process turned out to be amazingly simple. The range supervisor explained how to hold the pistol and how it worked. Erin was surprised at the simplicity of operations. On Theland, a good sword fighter had to be physically-fit and mentally sharp, in addition to having long years of practice. Apparently the death rod did not require any of this.

  Erin learned that you fed the death rod special pellets and then tickled its tail when you wanted it to spit out a death pellet. She carefully squeezed the little tail, then flinched when the little gun spit out a death pellet and tried to jump out of her hand.

  Celeste giggled, “That is what mine does with me.”

  Erin looked at Celeste, annoyed at the laugh. On her second pull of the tail, she knew what to expect and made the stubby little gun behave. “Nice,” Celeste squealed. “you hit the target.”

  Erin could see a little hole in the middle of the silhouette.

  “I will try again,” she said. The next time, Erin sensed before she pulled the tail. She felt the lines. Just like she did when she fought with a sword or a spear, she felt for the rightness and slowly felt the rightness emerge around the death rod. She slowly pulled the tail.

  “Incredible,” said the range supervisor. “You hit the left eye of the silhouette. You say you’ve never shot a pistol before? Maybe it’s ‘beginner’s luck.’ Try again.”

  “This time it will be the right eye.” Erin sensed and felt the rightness of her aim. The pistol went off, and a little hole appeared in the right eye.

  “Now he needs two nose holes.” Erin shot again, and the first nose hole appeared. Erin sensed and squeezed the tail for the second hole, but when she tickled its tail, the little death rod just clicked. “Is the stubby little death rod tired already?” Erin asked, looking into its barrel.

  The range supervisor lunged towards her hand. “Don’t point it towards your face!” he cried. “Ever! Even when you think it is not loaded.” He retrieved the pistol from Erin. “It’s just out of ammunition,” he said. “Let me show you how to reload.” He showed Erin how to remove the spent husks and feed the little creature new pellets.

  “What do you think?” Celeste asked, looking first at Erin, then Alec.

  “I like little Stubby,” Erin said, smiling. “I never thought I would have a death rod of my own, but Stubby is special.” She had named the little creature, and it seemed much friendlier with a name.

  “What is the longer alleyway for? Over there?” asked Erin after they had finished feeding Stubby.

  “It is for rifle practice,” the range supervisor answered. “Rifles are accurate at a longer range than pistols. You would be lucky to even hit the target at the far end of the rifle range with this pistol, but it is easy with a good rifle. You can go in there and try it with the pistol to see the difference.”

  Erin took Stubby into the long alleyway and aimed at the distant target. She felt the rightness when she squeezed his tail, and she sensed a satisfied snap. A hole appeared in one of the eyes of the target.

  “Wow!” said the range supervisor. “That was some lucky shot!”

  “Enough fun for one day,” said Celeste. “It’s time to go.”

  Erin reluctantly left the shooting range. The little death rod was not as nice as a good sword, but it wasn’t as scary as she had feared. It was so much easier to use than a sword that it made fighting no longer a skill of well-trained champions, but more of a commodity accessible to all. She puzzled about that as they left the firing range.

  The three of them went back upstairs where Alec purchased the little pistol. The man handed Alec two boxes of 38-special ammunition. Alec opened one and showed the contents to Erin. She nodded. The contents were the kind of pellets that Stubby liked.

  “I saw some knives, but I didn’t notice any swords or spears. I would like a sword, and I also need a knife,” Erin said to the man behind the counter.

  He gave her a quizzical look. “You can find a knife here, but we don’t have any swords. There’s a medieval renaissance store on the other side of town – you might be able to find one there.” He led her to a glass case full of knives. Erin fumed over the knives for a long time. They all had good steel, but most of them were flimsy and would break in a real fight. She finally decided on a simple hunting knife with a sheath.

  “Okay, you’re all set now, right?” Celeste said. “Let’s get something to eat. You must be famished!”

  Alec smiled at her, and she smiled back. You two have the same smile, Erin noted, fondly.

  28 – A New World

  After leaving the mall, and another ride in the driverless car, Celeste left them at a hotel on the edge of campus.

  “I guess this is where Dr. Smidt will be having you stay,” she said. “This is a new hotel that the Institute built; it’s where Dr. Smidt and the other professors have their visiting faculty and guests stay. I’ve got to leave you now – but, if you want to stop by the office in the morning, I can give you a tour of the dark energy museum.”

  “Good night, then, and thank you for all your help,” Erin said, and instinctively gave the young woman a hug.

  The hotel looked huge to Erin, but after the visit to the mall, she was beginning to get used to the scale of the buildings on this world. A bored desk clerk stood behind a counter inside the front door.

  “May I help you?” he said with feigned enthusiasm.

  “You should have a reservation for us,” Alec said.

  “Name?”

  “Dr. Holden and Erin Thelander. For five nights.”

  The clerk looked at his screen. “I don’t seem to have anything by that name, Mr. Thelander. How do you spell that?” He looked up at Alec.

  Erin stepped behind the counter and put her hand on the man’s shoulder.

  Alec shook his head in mock disbelief. “We just arrived in this country! We’ve encountered nothing but … issues … all day long! My assistant was supposed to double-check to make sure we had a reservation. We certainly should have a reservation! Something must be screwed up. Check again – see if you can fix it for me.”

  Erin sensed through her ring and let an image of the little red stone appear in her mind. She twisted the lines.

  “I am so sorry, Mr. Theander,” the clerk said. “Our error! It happens all the time.” He poked at his screen. “I don’t have any balcony rooms tonight, but I have a nice interior room on the seventh floor.”

  “Is that the best you can do?”

  “Well, the only other choice would be the honeymoon suite, on the top floor.”

  Erin twisted the lines even more. “It would be perfect for us,” she cooed.

  “That would be fine,” replied Alec.

  “Your cell, please.” Alec handed the clerk his cell; the man touched the cell to the screen and smiled. “Your room is ready for you. It is on the twentieth floor. Elevators are over there. Do you need help with your luggage?” He looked around for suitcases.

  “No, this will be fine,” Alec said and picked up the collection of mall shopping bags. Let’s go to our room, he thought to Erin.

  Where are the stairs? thought Erin to him, taking half of the shopping bags. How many steps will there be? Do we need to keep count as we go up? I need the exercise, so I will race you.

  Our room is on the twentieth floor! thought Alec.

  Twenty floors? How can that be? wondered Erin.

  We’ll take the elevator, not the stairs!

  What is that? Erin asked.

  Alec walked Erin across the hotel lobby to a metal wall panel and poked some runes inscribed on the wall. A little light blinked, and a chime sounded. Then the metal panel slid open.

 
Come on, Alec directed her, and pulled her into a little room. The door closed behind them and he pushed at more runes with his fingers.

  “What is this place?” Erin asked anxiously. “This room is too small to sleep very well. I would fit on the floor, beside our bags, but there is no bed – and you, my Wizard, I don’t see how you will fit.” Erin started to lay down, but the little room began to shake. She stared at Alec wide-eyed. Then the door opened, and they faced a narrow, carpeted hallway. Erin stood frozen to the spot.

  “Time to get out,” Alec said, nudging her out the door.

  “More wizard magic?”

  “Just an elevator. We are on our floor. Get out before the door closes.”

  Erin stepped out into the hallway and looked back at the elevator. It blinked and shut its door.

  “What happened? Why are we in a different place?”

  “The elevator. It takes us up.”

  Does it have ropes? thought Erin. Who is pulling us up? Do they have slaves? She decided that she had better follow Alec down the carpeted hall past the many many identical doors. He kept looking at his cell, and at runes by each door, until he stopped. Then he held his cell to the door and it made a click.

  “This is our room. The bridal suite. Welcome, my bride!”

  Erin did not know what to expect, but the room was not anything like the inns where they had stayed in the Grasslands or Gott. The bed was huge and soft – the bed by itself seemed larger than an entire inn room back home. Dimly-glowing lamps lit the cavernous space. There was a flowing hot spring in the room, bubbling and steaming with a pleasant aroma.

  Alec set the shopping bags down and wrapped his arms around Erin. “This will be the first night we have had together – where we have not had to worry about someone killing us – since we left Theland,” he said, and they shared a long kiss.

  ✽✽✽