by T J Trapp
The ‘House of Servitude,’ she thought to Alec. That’s the place the clutchmen wanted to take me, when I first arrived on your world and they thought I was one of them. And the name of the place where we found Daniel’s sister.
“Wow,” said Daniel, and clicked off the holo.
Another reason to leave here and return to the safety of our home, she thought to Alec. Can’t you finish your transporter any faster?
Alec looked at her helplessly.
✽✽✽
Celeste had been quiet while they watched the video feeds. Erin looked at her. “Something is bothering you?”
“With the creatures and the people that seem to be out to get me, I don’t seem to have much choice but to stay here with you. But I have a problem.”
“And what kind of a problem is that?” asked Erin.
Celeste hesitated and then continued, “Your place is very nice, and all, but – you don’t have a hair dryer and my hair is a mess. And these clothes that the cook found – it was really nice of her, and they’re okay for a couple of days, but they really don’t match and they look like old-people clothes. And you know, I need some other of my personal stuff. You know – those kind of things. Would it be safe for me to go back to my place and pick up my stuff? I know Uncle Al said I shouldn’t stay there, but would it hurt to just pop in for a few minutes?”
Erin hesitated for a few seconds before replying. “It does carry some risk. The elves will be looking for you. However, they probably would not have someone watching your apartment all of the time. I would not be afraid to do it myself, but the risk is high.” She looked at Alec, then back at Celeste. “The decision is yours, my dear, as to whether your things are worth the risk of being caught.”
“Okay then,” said Celeste brightly. “I would like my hairdryer and my spare cell charger and some decent clothes and my other shoes. That would make me feel much better about being here. Can you show me how to … port?”
“Oh no!” said Alec. “It’s half-way across the country back to your apartment! And you cannot operate the portals! You cannot go alone.”
“Oh,” said Celeste, her face falling.
“But we will get you there,” Erin said reassuringly, looking at Alec.
“I can’t take you – I need to fix that oscillation today,” Alec said. “Daniel, can you take her? It requires a portal trip to the shop, and then a drive to the Institute.”
“I could do that, boss, but are you going to need my help with the oscillation problem?”
“I am going to work on adjusting the collector today. I can do that without you being here,” Alec answered.
Daniel looked reluctant but agreed. “Okay. I guess I can take her. I always like seeing NAI. We can port back to the shop and then use the business car to drive to the Institute and her apartment. We should be back late tonight.”
“Let’s do it then,” Celeste said with enthusiasm.
“Take your medallion, Daniel, and make sure you both are wearing rings, just in case,” Alec cautioned. “And amulets. Here, wear these, too.” He handed them each a diffuser amulet.
✽✽✽
They stepped on the portal in the barn behind the ranch house, and Daniel focused. The light dimmed, went black, and returned. They were in the back room of the shop.
“We can use the shop driverless, but I need to tell Frederick that we are taking it.”
They walked through the shop and into the front office. Frederick was in his office.
“Frederick, have you met Celeste? She is a relative of the boss. I need to borrow the car and take her out to the Institute. We should be back later today or this evening.”
“Good to meet you,” Frederick said, nodding to Celeste. “I see the family resemblance to Mr. Thelander.” He turned to Daniel. “Sure. You know the cell activation code. Just make sure it’s in the charging cradle when you return. Someone forgot to charge it the other day.”
“Could not have been me,” Daniel answered with a grin, and waved as he headed towards the parking lot.
Celeste looked at Daniel and whispered, “I can sense that what you said is not true – did you forget?”
Daniel looked at her, “You are just like the boss-lady. Can’t even get away with a little fib without everyone knowing!”
They got in the driverless and Daniel activated the vehicle and programed it to their destination. The driverless left the parking lot and entered the main highway.
Celeste watched the traffic for a few minutes before she spoke. “It looks so normal, but it feels much more sinister than it used to feel. Uncle Al used to babble on about the elves and their herd beasts. I thought he was just making the stuff up. Now that I have seen the elves, and one of the monsters really is roaming around, it feels different.
“Your uncle sounds like he has watched too many of those three-in-the-morning cell programs about aliens,” Daniel said.
Celeste ignored the comment and continued. “Uncle Al claims the elves control the state police and the local community protection groups. He said that the elves control the top people in the government, and those people will not make any decisions unless the elves approve.”
“But don’t the real people know? Can’t they tell that things are going downhill?”
“I’m just telling you what Uncle says,” Celeste said. “He says that most of the people in high positions don’t even realize the elves exist or that they are being controlled. They think they are doing things for the greater good of society, I guess. I personally think that most everyone in government, and the police, are honest and trying to do the right thing, and probably most of them have no idea that the people at the top are being steered in the wrong direction. The people who do see that something evil is going on seem to be powerless to stop them, or else they just disappear.”
“Disappear?”
“Yes, that’s what Uncle said. He warned me. He said that if the elves want someone, they use the police to find and arrest them. Then the elf agents show up and claim the person in the name of some federal agency, and take them away. Then they are never seen again. Uncle Al told me to keep my head down and don’t make a fuss. That’s went I went out and bought my pistol.”
Daniel nodded. “I hear you. I saw how my sister was treated when she was captured. I don’t know what would have happened if the boss hadn’t intervened. Becky is still recovering from the bands that they put on her.” He sighed. “I don’t know where the people who did that come from, but they are doing horrible things.”
“Uncle claims that the elves originally came from a different world.”
“‘Different world?’ Really? Your uncle sounds like he got all of this from watching too many of those old movies. Remember that old movie about the UFOs visiting the earth and landing in the desert? In the movie, the government was in cahoots with the aliens and hid them out West somewhere.”
Celeste looked annoyed. “I didn’t see that movie and I was just telling you what my uncle said. You don’t have to make fun of me.”
“I knew a guy in school who kept spouting off about aliens,” Daniel continued. “He was nuts. ‘Aliens.’ But – how would they get here? Wouldn’t people notice if a bunch of UFOs landed?”
“Uncle Al claims that Earth was first settled by elves who transported people in from another universe – not with UFOs – and that people don’t notice elves because they look just like regular people.”
“Your ‘Uncle Al’ sure told you a lot of stuff.”
“Yes, sometimes it’s like he’s trying to teach me a history lesson – he repeats this stuff over and over, and drills me on it.
“He says that the original elf site still exists, and they still use it. According to him, the elves brought in the first wild herds. That’s what the elves call us. We were planted somewhere in Turkey – I think he said ‘near Mount Ararat’ – I think Turkey is somewhere in Asia, but I’m not really sure. I’ve never been out of the US.”
“I know
where Turkey is. Your uncle seems like a real hoot. He said that elves brought people to Earth? That’s sure not what I learned in school!” Daniel laughed. “So ‘Uncle Al’ said that elves use transporters, like the one that the boss is developing.”
“That is what Uncle claims,” Celeste said, somewhat abashed. “I … I’ve never told anybody what he said, except you, just now. Maybe I shouldn’t have told you.”
They continued in silence for a few miles.
“Well, the boss is certainly into his project,” Daniel said, trying to change the subject. “He has so much knowledge about dark energy – and we will soon have his transporter running! When we start working, he becomes very engrossed – I tell him that he is lost in his good old days – no one knows that much about dark energy anymore.”
“What do you mean, ‘his good old days’?” Celeste asked. “Like when he used to work here at the Institute?”
“You know that the boss has been out of the country for a long time, but when he was here before he worked in dark energy physics. He occasionally tells me stories of working with the big dark energy concentrators. His stories are so detailed that they must be true, but I know from my science history classes that the last dark energy concentrator was shut down not long after I was born.” Daniel hesitated, then said in a confidential tone, “I think the boss is a lot older than he looks.” Then Daniel realized, with a start, who he was talking to. “But I’m sure that you know all of that, since you are related to him.”
“Why do you think we are related?” Celeste asked.
“Because, when we were stabilizing the concentrator last night, I asked him a couple of questions about you. He said that you two were related. About then, it got hectic, so he didn’t tell me anything else. I assumed it was some big family secret, and you were a lost daughter that was getting together with him. It happened with one of my cousins. She just met her biological father last year. And, you do sort of look like him.”
“I know who my father was, thank you,” Celeste said haughtily. “Dr. Alder was my father. And he was killed when I was little. But – I can sense that I am related to Alec. More like a lost brother, I’m thinking.” She stopped, still trying to sort things out. “But … but I guess that wouldn’t make any sense if he is as old as you say. My father was quite a bit older than my mother, I think, so maybe … But Alec said he knew my mother, and that would make him about the same age as my mother. That can’t be. He couldn’t be her age … I don’t know. It is so confusing.” She sputtered to a stop, then sighed. “I know that he knows more than he has told me about our relationship, and we haven’t had a chance to talk about it yet.”
✽✽✽
“Destination within two kilometers,” the car announced. “Please confirm destination.”
“Guess we’re about here,” Daniel said. “Can we park out front?”
Celeste checked for unfamiliar cars, and sensed for suspicious feelings like Erin had shown her. No one was visible – she could sense several people, but she did not sense anything suspicious.
“It should be okay to park out front,” she said.
The driverless pulled into an available space and they got out. Celeste looked around apprehensively and then led the way to her apartment. It looked messy as usual, but nothing appeared to have been disturbed.
“You can wait here in the living room. There may be some left-overs in the fridge – help yourself,” she said to Daniel. “I’ll just be a minute.” She disappeared into the bedroom and started stuffing clothes and toiletries into a couple of large duffels and her backpack.
“I’m wondering if I will need my school things,” she said as she came back into the front room. “I don’t know if I’ll be continuing here. Do you think I should take this jacket?”
“Um, sure,” Daniel said as he munched on a piece of cold chicken. “What are these?” he asked, pointing at two crystal flowers sitting on the mantle. “I mean, I know what they are. Just surprised that … a student ... would have them.”
“Well, they’re two crystal flowers – one was my mother’s, and the other one I just recently received a couple of months ago.”
“Very pretty,” Daniel said. “A matched pair. Both made of real diamond.”
Celeste stared at him. “Diamond? No. Why do you think that? I thought they were made out of glass.”
“Glass? No! The boss has been teaching me how to sense the dark energy signature of different materials. I’m sure that these are both single-crystal diamonds.” He touched one of the flowers. “May I pick them up? I’ll be careful, but if they’re diamond, they won’t break.”
“Sure,” Celeste said. “I want to take them with me.”
Daniel carefully picked up one flower, then the other, and examined them closely, sensing with his medallion. “They have the same characteristic dark energy signature, so they were made by the same person. Dark energy users are like artists. They each have a characteristic style that distinguishes each of them from everyone else. I can feel the pattern of swirls that were used to create these.” He turned them over. “The boss has been trying to teach me to make complex things like this, but I haven’t been able to get the hang of making big diamonds like these. He told me not to worry, because even in the old days, very few people could do it.”
“Here’s a box – pack them in there for me if you will. I can’t leave them here. There should be a dishtowel under the sink that you can use to pad them.” She eyed the first one. “That one was my mother’s. My uncle said that my father made it especially for my mother; but the other one is new. I put it up there because it matched, and they reflect the light from each other so nicely. See? The interplay between the two makes the light sparkle.”
Daniel watched the glistening reflections from the light as it shimmered through the two flowers. Then he again focused with his medallion to sense the swirls of the dark energy lines in the two flowers. “If these two weren’t made by the same person, it is amazing. I have never sensed anything that feels so similar.”
Daniel wrapped the two flowers and placed them in the box while Celeste took another look around her bedroom. He glanced around the small front room. “Do you want to take any of these old books?” he said, pointing to a little bookcase wedged under a window.
“Oh, I don’t know. Who reads books anymore? Those were Mom’s. I got them after my grandmother died. I brought them with me to college here because I didn’t have anywhere else to put them.”
Daniel sifted through the books. “You have quite a collection of strange books. You even have a copy of the first edition of a textbook by Dr. Holden, the dark energy wizard. ‘Dark Energy: The Call of the Future.’” He flipped the book open. “Here’s his signature, on the first page. It’s inscribed: ‘To Sarah.’ Who was ‘Sarah?’”
Celeste looked at him, startled. “That was my Mom. I’ve never looked at that book.” She reached for it. “What does it say?”
Daniel showed her the inscription, written on the flyleaf in fading black ink. “It says: ‘With all my love – I never could have done it without you,’ and it is signed ‘Alec.’ Who is ‘Alec?’” Daniel handed the book to Celeste, flipping the book over as he did. The picture of the author stared up at him from the back cover.
“My gosh! Look at this!”
Celeste took the book from Daniel and looked.
Daniel exclaimed, “That’s got to be Dr. Holden’s picture – but look! That photo is the spitting image of the boss! It looks a few years younger, but that is him! See here – he even has the same mole on the side of his chin.”
Celeste stared at the picture in fascination and then turned back to the inscription in the front. “I have no idea. Take the book with us.”
45 – Alder Hall
Everything fit into the car without any problems, even the box of books, and they got in the front seat. “Are you ready to head back? So far, no alien elves have hopped out of their UFOs,” Daniel quipped.
“That�
��s not funny,” Celeste replied.
“Sorry, sorry. I was just trying to make a joke.”
“Let’s drive by Alder Hall, and at least look. I am worried about Professor Smidt.” Celeste replied, ignoring the joke. “And I’d like to recover my pistol from my office, where I dropped it.”
“The boss warned us to be careful. Are you sure that you want to do that?”
“I haven’t sensed any danger yet, so it should be all right.” She hesitated. “Besides, there’s something else I want to get from my office – an old photo of my Mom and me that I have on my desk.” The driverless moved slowly down the road.
“How do we get there? The center part of campus doesn’t allow cars, so we’ll have to head to the visitor’s parking lot.”
The car parked itself in a nearly empty visitor lot and the two walked across the campus quadrangle to Alder Hall.
“I always go in this side door,” Celeste said. “It’s for employees.” Celeste unlocked the door with her cell. Inside, the lights were off and the hall seemed strangely quiet – no sounds were coming from anywhere in the building.
“This place is usually full of students taking classes at this time of day,” Celeste muttered to Daniel. “I wonder where everyone is?”
The door to Professor Smidt’s outer office complex was closed and locked, and through the glass panel they could see that the whole space was dark.
“That’s even odder,” said Celeste. “Everyone should be here now.”
