by R. E. Weber
‘You mean I could be injured?’
‘Yes,’ said First Mentor.
‘Or even killed?’
‘Theo, I do not wish to alarm you. I just wanted to remind you that nothing in life is certain. There are risks if you stay on your own world too.’
Theo stood in silence, staring at the glowing column. It had all seemed so certain moments ago. He would leave Earth and that was that. Now, almost as an afterthought, Mist had told him that there were risks. What risks? What else was waiting his discovery? But then he thought about all the species that had joined the Affinity. They had all faced whatever risks there were and remained. He thought back to something Mist had said earlier. Free will is at the core of the Affinity’s values. Then he realised that nobody was forcing him to return. He could refuse and go back to his old life. It was his choice. And in any case there was something about the way it spoke to him that made him trust Mist. What it was, he wasn’t sure. But it was there none the less.
‘Well grandpa always used to say, if you’re afraid of life, you’ll never live.’
‘He sounded like a wise person’
‘He was,’ said Theo, stuttering slightly as he spoke.
‘Of course, my condolences for your recent loss,’ said First Mentor.
‘Thanks,’ said Theo after clearing his throat.
‘You are welcome.’
Theo turned towards the doorway and took a couple of steps forward. Then he paused for a moment and looked back at First Mentor.
‘Can I ask you one last question?’
‘Yes, of course.’
‘Joining the Affinity and this world you live in – is it worth it?’
‘It is a challenging path if you choose to accept,’ said First Mentor. ‘But yes, I believe you will find that it is worth it.’
‘That’s all I need to know,’ said Theo.
‘Goodbye, Theopolis James Logan. I hope we meet again.’
‘So do I,’ said Theo, smiling as he turned to walk through the doorway. ‘So do I.’
For a brief moment, the lights dimmed again as he left the Sensorium.
Chapter 8 – About Christmas
With scarcely a jolt, the pod landed on the school field, and it was only when the door zipped silently open and the cushioning walls peeled themselves back, that Theo even realised that he had landed. Looking out across the school field in the darkness, he took a deep breath. Then, holding onto the sides of the pod, he stepped carefully down to the ground.
Once he was sure that his wobbly legs had become accustomed to gravity again, he slowly made his way over to the footpath and looked around. As before, all the lights in the nearby houses were off, and only a faint glow from the distant horizon allowed him to see anything at all. The pod had, it seemed, induced another power cut so that it could arrive under cover of total darkness.
As he strained his eyes to find the footpath that led home, he heard a faint whoosh of air and span round to see that the pod had vanished just as quickly and silently as it had first appeared. As he looked up, he caught a glimpse of a distant flash from above the clouds, followed seconds later by a brief rumble of thunder. Then there was silence. It was almost as if his journey to Polisium had never happened.
Slowly, Theo began to feel his way along the fence in the darkness to guide himself home, but he had only walked a few meters when the lights along the footpath began to pop back on, closely followed by the lights in the houses. Now that he could see more clearly, he stopped and looked back at where the pod had been stuck in the ground. It wasn’t just roughly the same spot he had taken off from. It was exactly the same spot. He then glanced at his watch. 7pm, Sunday the 12th December. Had it really only been two days since he’d left Earth? To Theo, it had felt like forever.
As he walked along the path, he looked around him at the sleepy town lit up in the darkness. He knew it was all the same people following the same routine as always, with the only change being a brief power cut. But to Theo, everything had changed. Now he knew that this little town was just a tiny corner of a living, breathing universe, teaming with life. Intelligent Life! Being back somehow felt wrong as if he didn’t belong anymore, like it wasn’t even real. Like any moment he was going to wake up and find himself back on Polisium Prime. He stared along the footpath, which led towards his home. That was if indeed he could call it his home anymore. Still, he knew he had to return there for now so he could put things straight. And so, still feeling a little disorientated, he carried on down the path.
As he wandered deliberately slowly towards home, he began to wonder what had been happening while he’d been away. How had Jules explained to her father that she hadn’t gone to France with Theo after all? Did his auntie still believe his reason for leaving? Had Jules even rung his auntie to let her know that he had arrived? What was going to happen when he arrived home? And how would he ever explain to Jules what had happened? Indeed, should he even explain to her? He hadn’t actually been told not to tell anybody what he had seen, and First Mentor had seemed happy enough knowing that nobody would believe Theo if he had. So what should he say? After all, she was his best friend and he knew he could trust her with his life. But trusting her was one thing; convincing her was something else entirely. Whatever he was going to say, one thing was for sure; he couldn’t face seeing her tonight. He needed time to think and decide how to handle things. The best thing to do would be to just give her a quick call and let her know that he was home safe, and that he would explain everything in the morning. Yes, that was it. That was the best thing.
Nervously, he pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket, hit quick dial 1 and listened. But instead of ringing, it immediately went to voice mail. Theo waited nervously for the message to finish and then stuttered his reply. ‘H…hi, Jules. It’s me. Just to let you know, I’m back, safe and sound. I’ll explain everything to you tomorrow on the way to school. Bye.’ He clicked off the phone, a little relieved. Even though he had missed her, he was pleased she hadn’t answered. It had saved him a difficult conversation that he wasn’t ready for, and it had saved him lying to somebody who knew that he wasn’t a very good liar.
Even at his slow pace, it wasn’t long before he found himself on the narrow, badly pitted road he knew so well, hopping over the potholes in the darkness. Then, as he rounded the corner, he saw the familiar cottages with their neat front gardens. There were no lights on at all in the Kingsley’s house, which told him that they were probably out. That was good. But as he looked at his own house, he could see that the lounge light was blazing away. His auntie was probably sat on the sofa having guzzled several glasses of wine. Maybe she’d fallen asleep in front of the TV as she often did. But then maybe she was wide-awake, waiting for his safe return. Slowly, he walked up to the door and took a deep breath, readying himself for a good telling off for not ringing her earlier. Then, nervously, he put his key in the lock and twisted.
*
Theo awoke early the next day with the sunlight streaming in through his bedroom window, and sat bolt upright, immediately feeling wide-awake and alert. He could hear the distant chatter of the radio downstairs and the clank of cutlery and plates as his auntie laid the breakfast table. It had been a surprise the night before when he had arrived home. His auntie had met him at the door very matter of factly, taken his bag upstairs and then five minutes later had dinner waiting on the table, even though she’d had no idea what time he was due home. There had been surprisingly few questions about his trip, and she had just excused it by telling him that no doubt he must have been tired and wanted an early night, and that he could tell her all about it in the morning. He hadn’t argued. She had, after all, made all his excuses for him. So he had just faked a couple of yawns after dinner and then gone up to bed early. But it had taken him hours to get to sleep. There had been so much on his mind, preparing his explanations for Jules, not to mention thinking about the decision he had to make, which was perhaps the biggest of his life. Everything would c
hange, literally everything. It was perhaps the biggest life changing decision that anyone, anywhere on Earth, had ever made. And he had to make it alone.
Quickly, he washed and dressed himself and then trotted downstairs. His auntie was in the kitchen as usual.
‘Morning, Theo,’ she said in an uncharacteristically chirpy voice. ‘Are you hungry?’
‘Yeh, I am actually,’ he replied, unable to hide his surprise at her friendly greeting.
‘Oh, of course,’ said his auntie, ‘it’s all that nouvelle cuisine stuff over there, isn’t it? Neat little piles of not a lot. How about a nice fry up? That’ll get you going.’
It wasn’t his usual breakfast, because that would have been toast, with perhaps cornflakes if he was in the mood. But suddenly, this morning, it seemed like a very good idea.
‘Yes please,’ he said, grinning.
‘One egg or two?’
‘Erm two please, auntie.’
‘By the way, I forgot to mention last night. Jules isn’t well. She’s got the flu. I don’t think she’ll be going into school with you today. Better make your own way in.’
‘Erm yeh,’ replied Theo, not knowing what else to say. He very much doubted that she had the flu; she had after all been perfectly fine, without a hint of a sniffle, when they had parted a few days before. And besides, he had never known her have a cold or flu since they day they had met. So what was it really? A small part of him wondered if she might somehow have already guessed that he might be leaving and not be coming back, and so didn’t want to face him. After all, she seemed to have known that she wasn’t supposed to come with him on Friday – a fact which had proven to be correct because there had only been one pod. But then of course he didn’t believe in that sort of thing, all that I can feel what’s going to happen nonsense. It was women’s intuition at best. And codswallop at worst.
‘Oh, OK then,’ he continued ‘I’ll check on her later and see how she’s doing.’
‘You two haven’t fallen out, have you?’ said his auntie.
‘Why do you say that?’
‘Well she was going to France and then suddenly she wasn’t. I mean, I’m not nagging. I just wanted to make sure you two were OK. You need to hang onto your friends.’
Theo turned round to look at his auntie, even more surprised. He hadn’t really thought about it much the previous night, as he’d just been pleased to be home without twenty questions. But this morning she was still being nice. I’m not nagging she’d said. Now that was a first. Had somebody spoken to her and told her to go easy on him? Or had something else happened?
Then a brief thought flashed through his mind and he smiled to himself. He then peered under the table as if searching for something he’d dropped, making sure that his auntie saw him.
‘Lost something, Theo?’ said his auntie.
‘Oh not me,’ replied Theo with a big grin across his face. ‘I was just looking to see if I could see any wires or springs or anything.’
‘Wires and springs? Why’s that?’
‘Well I just wanted to see if you’d short-circuited or something. Cooked breakfasts, happy smiling faces, approving of my friends. Whatever next?’
‘Oh Theo, I always liked Jules,’ she replied, slightly irritated. ‘I just thought you might be, you know, better off hanging around with boys your own age. But it’s your choice who you mix with. You’re a grown up now. Soon you’ll be leaving….’ Her voice stuttered to halt and she turned away, wiping a tear away from one eye.
‘What wrong, auntie?’
‘Oh nothing. I just… you know. I know you’re going to leave soon. Why would you want to stay here with your daft auntie when you’ve found your mother? There’s a whole other life waiting over there in France. Why would you want to stay here in wet rainy England?’
Theo’s eyes popped wide open, even more surprised now. ‘Don’t tell me you’re going to miss our arguments?’
His auntie didn’t say anything and instead just smiled weakly back at him.
‘Anyway,’ said Theo, ‘I might not be going yet. I haven’t decided.’
‘But you will though, won’t you? I know it.’
Theo didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to lie. He knew there was every chance that he would be leaving and never see her again. And although he’d never imagined that he would ever feel like this, he realised that he would actually miss her a little. But of course he would never tell her that.
‘Don’t worry, auntie,’ he replied, ‘I am sure we can argue by letter.’
‘Or by email.’
‘Yeh, if you ever learn how to use it.’
And for the first time in what seemed like forever, Theo and his auntie actually smiled at each other.
*
He finally met with Jules a couple of mornings later, having decided to stay away for a while just in case she had really been ill; instead choosing to keep in touch by text. After all, he didn’t want to be carrying a dose of human flu back to Polisium with him and accidentally wipe out their entire civilisation with his human germs that they had no resistance to.
He had left for school as usual on Wednesday morning, and as he opened the door he saw Jules standing at the garden gate with her usual beaming smile. He had missed that smile.
‘The wanderer returns,’ said Jules, grinning at him as he trudged up to the gate.
‘How ya doing J?’ said Theo, trying to act like nothing had happened.
‘Feeling a lot better now,’ said Jules.
‘So you really did have the flu then, you weren’t just avoiding me?’
‘No way. I couldn’t keep up the pretence with mum and Dad. And besides, how could I miss all that lovely school work by pretending to be ill?’
They hugged briefly at the gate and then trotted off down the muddy lane towards school.
‘So what’s new then, T?’
‘Oh, you know, everything,’ replied Theo.
‘Nice ring,’ said Jules, staring down at his hand.
‘Erm yeh,’ said Theo nervously. ‘I picked it up on the way home. I made out to auntie that it was a present from mum. Thought it would make it more convincing.’
‘So I take it she bought the excuse then?’
‘Well seems to have, you know. But she’s been really, well, nice to me since I got back.’
‘There’s a first time for everything I suppose.’
‘Exactly,’ said Theo, ‘It is the first time.’
‘Are you sure she hasn’t been replaced by a robot while you’ve been away?’
‘Ha,’ said Theo, ‘don’t you mean replaced by a human being? She was a robot to start with – nagging chip and all.’
They continued to chat excitedly all the way to school. Jules told him how, when her dad had picked her up, he hadn’t had much to say and hadn’t even sounded surprised when she’d not gone to France. And then, when she’d been ill in bed, how his auntie had popped round to make sure she was OK, which again wasn’t like her. And when Jules had asked her why, all she had said was ‘Well Theo would’ve wanted me to keep an eye on you, wouldn’t he?’
Jules and Theo continued to talk. Indeed, they discussed almost everything about the weekend. Everything except where he had been. Theo wasn’t going to bring up the subject, and part of him didn’t really want to talk about it. But then part of him was curious why she hadn’t asked him, so much so that when they did finally reach the school gate, uncharacteristically early, he gently grabbed her arm before they parted to stop her rushing away.
‘Hey mate, don’t go yet.’
‘Why, what’s up?’
‘Don’t you want to know, Jules?’
‘Know what?’
‘Where I went at the weekend?’
She turned to look him in the eye and then reached out to touch his face.
‘I know that if you could tell me you would, wouldn’t you?’
‘What makes you say that?’ said Theo, wondering if she knew more than she was letting o
n.
‘Theo, everything we went through, all those clues, the trail of breadcrumbs. I always said, didn’t I? It was meant for you. For your eyes only.’
‘Yeh, I suppose you did,’ said Theo, almost disappointed.
‘But I do have one question though.’
‘Yeh, go on?’
‘Are you leaving, you know, for good?’
‘You’re the second person to ask me that today.’
‘Yeh, but are you?’
‘Truth is, I don’t know.’
‘Will you do me one favour?’
‘Yeh sure, what’s that?’
‘Once you decide….’
‘Yeh, I’ll tell you first.’
‘No I mean, just be straight with me. Tell me whether you’re planning to come back or not. Don’t lie to me to make me feel better. If you’re going for the long term, tell me. If you don’t know, say you don’t know. Don’t tell me what I want to hear and don’t leave me wondering. I need to know if you’re going to be around.’
‘Always the truth,’ said Theo.
‘If you’re lying, I’ll...’
‘You’ll what?’
‘I’ll kick your….’
‘Door down…’ interrupted Theo.
‘And then some,’ said Jules with a sly grin.
Theo smiled back at Jules. Then he turned towards the school gate, ready to leave.
‘Hold on a mo,’ said Jules.
‘Now what?’ said Theo, turning back to face her.
‘I do have one question. This place you went to? Was it everything you hoped it would be?’
‘More,’ said Theo. ‘So much more.’
‘That’s all I need to know then,’ said Jules.
‘Erm yeh,’ said Theo, not really knowing how to take her reply.
‘Oh, by the way,’ said Jules, quickly changing the subject, ‘I’ve got something to tell you later. About Christmas.’
Christmas? He’d forgotten all about it. It hadn’t crossed his mind once until she’d mentioned it. He checked the date on his watch. It was less than two weeks away.
‘What about Christmas?’ Theo yelled back at Jules as she galloped away. But he didn’t get a reply.
