by R. E. Weber
He rose from his desk and listened through his bedroom door, which was slightly ajar. There was no sound downstairs. That was good because it meant that his auntie was still round at the Kingsley’s. Leaving the door slightly ajar, he went back to his bed and sat down. For what seemed like an age, he stared at the ring. He knew exactly what to do to send the message. But it all seemed so final. He knew that as soon as he pressed his thumb into the depression in the centre, that would be it. There would be no way back. But then he’d made his decision. He was leaving. This was it.
Shaking, he held out his left hand in front of him and then carefully pressed his right thumb into the depression and held it there, as he had been instructed, for ten seconds. Then he released it.
For a few seconds, nothing happened, and he was just about to try again when suddenly it began to feel warm and glow. Then a tiny point of intense white light appeared about ten centimetres above the ring and he heard a familiar voice.
‘Good evening,’ said the voice.
‘Erm, hello, First Mentor,’ replied Theo.
‘Thank you for activating the instructor.’
‘Instructor?’ said Theo.
‘The device you are wearing is known as an instructor. It is programmed to advise you in the procedural matters relating to your return to Polisium in order to begin your Orientation. It can answer almost any question which you may ask of it, with regard to these matters only.’
‘So you’re saying it’s not really you then? It’s just a program of some sort?’
‘It is a pre-programmed instruction device,’ said the voice. ‘The communication interface is a limited facsimile of First Mentor.’
‘OK,’ said Theo, not entirely sure what it had meant.
‘Before we proceed further, can you please now verify for the record that you do wish to return to Polisium to commence with your Orientation. And can you also verify that you understand that if you accept, you will remain within the Affinity indefinitely, unless we decide otherwise?’
‘Yes,’ replied Theo firmly, without pausing to think.
‘Good,’ said the voice. ‘In which case, here are your instructions for returning to us. On Saturday the seventh of January, two transportation pods will return to the same location as for your previous journey. You should return to this site by 21:00 hrs, alone. You are permitted to bring with you, a small selection of belongings, the weight of which should not exceed 50 kilograms and overall size of which should not exceed that of your own body. As all your physical and educational needs will be attended to, any belongings that you bring should consist of purely personal items that will enhance your emotional well-being.’
‘What does that mean exactly?’
‘Any images you may wish to adorn your quarters with, any personal keepsakes with which you have an emotional attachment, any reading material which you may consider important, and any entertainment devices which will assist with your relaxation.’
‘So photos, books and an MP3 player then?’
‘Yes, they would be permissible.’
‘Is there anything I can’t bring?’
‘You should not attempt to bring any weapons or living creatures with you. They would not be appropriate.’
‘No danger of that, I haven’t got either.’
‘In between now and the time of your collection, you should deal with any personal matters that need to be attended to. Once you return to Polisium, no further communication will be possible with your world. It is preferred that you do not divulge details of your assignment to any persons that you know, unless this becomes unavoidable. Do you understand all this?’
‘Yeh, I think so.’
‘Good.’
‘Is that it then? Is that everything I need to know?’
‘Unless you have any further questions before the instructor is disabled, then yes.’
‘Disabled?’
‘Once this conversation is concluded, this instructor will cease to function. You should then immediately remove the device, wait until it self-annihilates and then dispose of the remains.’
‘You mean self-destructs?’
‘Correct.’
‘But what happens if I wait for the pods and they don’t come? How can I communicate with you then?’
‘Unless any persons are detected within the vicinity of the landing site, your transportation will arrive on schedule. If there are any persons present who might witness your departure, the transportation pods will wait until they have left the area before landing. If this is the case, you should wait also.’
‘OK, got you. No witnesses,’ said Theo.
‘Correct,’ replied the voice.
‘Do you have any further questions, Theopolis James Logan?’
‘Erm no, I don’t think so.’
‘You must be certain that you have answers to all your questions. Are you certain of this?’
‘OK then, no. I don’t have any more questions.’
‘In which case, can you please remove the instructor from your hand and place on a flat surface. You should then stand at least one meter away and wait for ten seconds.’
Theo looked around the room for somewhere flat. The windowsill. He walked over to it, carefully placed the ring down and then stood back, and almost immediately it began to glow and pulse with a faint orange light. In between the pulses, he noticed that it was getting steadily darker. Then several cracks appeared across its surface and the glowing ceased. Then the instructor, now blackened and cracked, simply crumbled into a small pile of ash. Theo grabbed a pencil, gently prodded the powdery remains and then examined the tip. It didn’t seem to be burnt in any way. He touched it lightly with the tip of his finger. It was cold and dead. It had self-annihilated.
Theo looked at the small cardboard calendar on his computer desk. There was just over a week to go. He picked up the calendar and with a pencil circled Saturday the 7th January and wrote 9pm just above it. Then he tapped the same date and time into his mobile phone organiser. That was that. He had seven days to say goodbye to everything he knew.
*
Theo had barely slept on the night of the sixth of January, knowing that the following day would be his last at the cottage, the last time he would ever see his auntie and probably the last time he would stand on the surface of the planet Earth. The previous night, he had met with Jules to say his final goodbye, and it had been tough. She had insisted that she did not want to be there to see him off, and had just given him a brief hug, almost like she’d expected him to come back the following week. But the truth was that she had not been able to bear the parting, and had just made it as short as possible, so Theo didn’t get the chance to see how upset she was. But later, after they had parted and she’d gone to bed, she had cried for over an hour before finally falling asleep on a damp pillow.
Theo had to admit that he’d been a little disappointed at their brief goodbye. But then he knew he had no right to expect otherwise. After all, he was leaving her, not the other way round. And of course he too had shed a few tears before falling asleep. He had visualised the scene in his mind as he left, with Jules and his auntie hugging him on his doorstep before waving him off in a taxi. It was a dream, a sweet dream. But something told him that it wasn’t really going to be like that.
Of course, his auntie had protested at the short notice he’d given her before leaving. Seven days had been nowhere near long enough to make all the arrangements that were needed. But Theo had calmly told her that there was no choice and he was going, so she hadn’t tried to argue with him any further.
And now, on the morning of the seventh, he felt tired and sick to his stomach. He’d expected to feel excited, but all he felt was sad and more than a little scared. His auntie, of course, had no idea what was about to happen and had prepared breakfast as always for him: toast with a glass of orange juice. She’d asked him if he’d wanted a cooked breakfast, but he’d refused because his stomach was so knotted up. He could barely even eat the to
ast on his plate, let alone, eggs, bacon, sausages and beans.
‘You won’t get any of this over in France,’ she said after he’d turned down her offer of cooked breakfast. But Theo had barely even heard her, let alone replied. Instead, he just munched slowly on his toast, deep in thought. Had he remembered everything he needed? He hoped so. He’d decided to keep his belongings down to a minimum, just a handful of photographs of his parents, Jules, his granddad and the cottage. Then there were a few of his favourite books including the one Jules had given him for Christmas, which he hadn’t even started, his grandfather’s box, and finally his fully charged MP3 player with every record in his collection programmed in.
‘Have you got everything you need?’ said his auntie, interrupting his thoughts.
‘Erm yeh,’ replied Theo without really thinking about it.
‘Passport, tickets, underwear, shoes, money, deodorant, toothbrush?’
‘Sorted,’ replied Theo absent-mindedly.
‘Did you make a note of my email address?’
‘Yeh, got it.’
‘And you will drop me a line every so often, just to let me know you’re OK, won’t you?’
‘Yeh, of course,’ said Theo, remembering that he had given Jules his email password and asked her to send the occasional email saying, ‘The Weather is lovely, Mum’s really cool, wish you were here.’ He’d excused it to Jules by telling her that he would be living in another time zone – which strictly speaking wasn’t actually a lie – and so didn’t want to get up in the middle of the night just to make it look like he was really living in France. How convincing it would be, he wasn’t sure. After all, what if his aunt tried to ring him at his mum’s, or even worse, wanted to visit? But then what could he do? He couldn’t worry about it anymore. They’d never been that close and he doubted that she’d really miss him much once he’d been away for a few weeks. And in any case, Jules would do her best to convince her that all was well. He knew he could trust her to do a good job. She would never let him down.
*
Half an hour later, the taxi had arrived outside the front door, and Theo knew that the moment had finally arrived.
‘It’s here, Theo,’ shouted his auntie as she peered out of the window. ‘Are you sure you’ve got everything?’
‘Oh stop fussing, will you. I’ve already told you.’
‘Same old grumpy drawers,’ said his auntie smiling, with a little tear in the corner of her eye.
‘Same old nagging robot,’ said Theo, with pretty much the same expression.
Theo rose from the sofa and turned to face his aunt. ‘Thanks,’ he said, reaching out to shake her hand.
‘For what?’
‘Oh, you know, putting up with me.’
‘It was no trouble,’ she sniffed as she shook his outstretched hand, holding it so tightly that she almost cut off the blood flow to his fingers.
‘OK, you can let go now auntie,’ said Theo as he stared down at his hand, which was already turning white.
‘Oh yeh, sorry,’ she said, quickly releasing it.
Theo smiled briefly at his tearful auntie. Then he turned, walked towards to front door, picked up his bags and marched out towards the waiting taxi. The driver took the bags from him and put them in the boot, and then he held up his hand at Theo’s auntie who was now standing on the doorstep. ‘Mrs Sheriden’ he said, smiling politely, before climbing back into the taxi.
The driver started the engine, and slowly the taxi began to crawl away, crunching the gravel lightly as it went. Theo pulled the seatbelt over himself and clicked it into place. Then he looked back towards the cottage. At least half his dream was true because his auntie was there, waving back at him. But Theo knew there was one person – the most important person – that was missing. He glanced up towards Jules’ bedroom, looked at her empty window and sighed.
But then, just as the taxi rolled off the gravel onto the badly pitted tree lined road, a solitary figure with long blonde hair appeared at the window, staring back at him. As he watched, the figure pressed its hand up against the window and seemed to smile. Theo repeated the same gesture, and smiled back at Jules as the taxi rounded the corner and trundled away.
Wiping a tear from his eye, Theo turned round and looked down the road ahead as the taxi sped off towards the local town. Then he thought about all the things, which he’d packed but didn’t need, but had taken anyway to fool his auntie that he really was off to France. And he wondered where he might be able to dump them so they wouldn’t be found.
Chapter 10 – Attack On Ch’Dath
As the transport pod approached Polisium Prime, Theo had the distinct impression that things were not quite as they’d been when he’d left three weeks earlier. For a start, there seemed to be more ships in and around the station than he’d noticed on his first visit. And he wasn’t sure whether it was his imagination or not, but they all seemed to be moving as if with a greater purpose. Then, as he disembarked and made his way towards what he had decided to call the arrivals hall – the wide empty room where he had first met Orientator – he noticed that there were many more Polisians present than on his first visit, when it had seemed positively deserted. And as Theo and the dozens of other beings filed quietly off their transports, he noticed that they were being watched carefully by the Polisians, some of whom seemed to be clutching some sort of rod or baton – like riot police back on Earth, ready stop any troublemakers in their tracks. Looking at them made Theo feel uneasy. Something had clearly happened in his absence. Something worrying.
As Theo approached the entrance to the arrivals hall, he noticed that a long, slow moving queue had formed in front of the entrance, and that the beings in the queue were only being let through one at a time. It reminded Theo a little of airport passport control back on Earth. Not wanting to look out of place, Theo quickly moved himself to the back of the shuffling queue and tried his best to blend in, even though he guessed that he probably stuck out like a sore thumb.
As he watched the shuffling line of creatures in front of him, he could just about make out the front of the queue to see what was happening. There were two Polisians facing the queue, standing either side of the doorway. One by one, each being from the front would approach the two Polisians and stand still in front of them. Then one of the Polisians would step forward, clutching its baton, and pass it up and down the front, sides and back of the being until it had been swept over every part of its body. Then the same process would be repeated by the second Polisian. Once complete, it would roll its eyes and the exit would appear. The being would then walk through into the arrivals hall, with the doorway closing again immediately behind.
Theo was already feeling uneasy when he reached the front of the queue and, realising that he must have looked nervous, took a deep breath to calm himself. Then he copied what he had seen the other beings do by stepping forward and standing perfectly still in front of the two Polisians.
One of the Polisians stepped forward and looked Theo up and down.
‘Dethla,’ it said sternly, before pointing to a spot about half a meter in front of him. Clearly, he had been standing in the wrong spot, even though they hadn’t bothered to mark it on the floor.
Theo stepped forward and then stood as rigid and still as he possibly could, while the Polisian moved its baton up and down his front, back and sides. As the baton moved, it uttered a low hum, and his skin underneath began tingling, even though it wasn’t actually touching him. Suddenly, Theo began to feel even more nervous. Was it his imagination or did it seem to be taking longer than it had done with the other beings? Almost immediately, tiny beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead and inwardly he began to panic. That was it; he was in real trouble. Any moment now, they were probably going to stop scanning and drag him out of the queue into a small room for interrogation. Theo held his breath, trying to control the rising panic. He kept telling himself he had nothing to hide and hadn’t done anything wrong; at least not that he was aware of.<
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Moments later, there was a short bleep and the Polisian withdrew its baton and stepped back. Then the other Polisian stepped forward and repeated the same procedure while Theo continued to hold his breath. After what seemed like forever, he heard the second baton bleep and then the Polisian stepped back. ‘Pathla,’ it said abruptly and then rolled its eyes. To Theo’s relief, the doorway opened in front of him. Without waiting for the Polisians to gesture, he stepped through. As soon as the doorway closed behind him, he let his breath out slowly and wiped away the beads of sweat from his forehead. It had been a nerve-wracking experience that he hoped he wouldn’t have to repeat.
Looking around arrivals hall, Theo wasn’t too surprised to see that it too was now buzzing with activity. There were several doorways all around him, opening and closing as a slow but constant stream of creatures passed through. Again, there were more Polisians standing in the hall, carefully watching each of the arrivals as they passed through. As Theo stood alone in the middle of the room waiting for whoever was supposed to be meeting him, he got the distinct impression that they were watching him more closely than they were the rest of the visitors. But then maybe they were. He might well have been the first human they had ever seen.
To Theo’s relief, about a minute later, Orientator arrived. He handed Theo a translator and then, without delay, instructed him to follow. Then he turned and led Theo quickly away.
‘Hello Orientator, how are you?’ said Theo breathlessly as he raced after Orientator, who seemed to be walking even quicker than usual.
‘I am in acceptable well-being,’ said Orientator without looking at him.
‘I was wondering, has something happened while I’ve been away?’
‘In your absence, there has been an incident.’
‘Really, what?’ said Theo.
‘This will be explained to you soon,’ said Orientator.
Theo was about to try and question him further, but then thought better of it. In the short time he had known Orientator, he had come to realise that whenever Orientator ended a conversation, it wasn’t wise to try and start it again. So instead, he followed silently, with the nagging feeling that, somehow, life in the Affinity was going to be more eventful than he had ever imagined.
