by Ramy Vance
By the time she got untangled, she was panting and trying to catch her breath. She tossed the blankets back onto the bench and turned to find Jim staring at her through the glass. She smiled sheepishly, attempting to play it off as if she were doing something perfectly normal.
Jim had a picnic basket, a bottle of pop, and his adorable smile. He was also dressed very nicely in a collared shirt and paisley tie with tan chinos. He knocked politely. “Mind if I come in? We still have a date to finish.”
Alex walked up to the glass and tapped on it. “I’m quarantined if you hadn’t noticed. I don’t think you’re even allowed to be in the same building as me.”
Jim held a piece of paper up to the glass that read Free of Alien Disease. “I got quarantined too and got my all-clear,” Jim said. “Myrddin figures that if I’m clean, you probably are too. But just in case, we’re to stay on this level. I asked if I could tell you the good news and…well, um… So, you wanna finish our date?” He held out the blanket.
Alex spread her arms wide, motioning that there was more than enough space for Jim. The glass door slid open, and he stepped inside her prison. He looked around, nodding as he appraised the room. “I like what you’ve done with the place. It’s got a European flair to it.”
Alex playfully shoved the mech rider as she walked past him to sit on the bench. “Shut up. What did you bring, anyway?”
“Some snacks. Figured it had been a while since you’d eaten anything. They kinda forgot to feed me while I was locked up. You would have thought I got sent to prison or something.”
“You didn’t use the magic wall?”
Jim raised an incredulous eyebrow at Alex before she leaned over to the magical hole in the wall and took out a pulled pork sandwich. “No,” Jim exclaimed, his eyes wide. “I would have definitely used that if I’d known about it.”
Alex offered the sandwich to him.
“Yeah, it’s this new thing Myrddin was working on, I guess. It’s kinda freaky, but I don’t know, pretty convenient. But anyway, let’s take care of this food.”
The two dug into the assortment of snacks Jim brought, demolishing them quickly before turning to the magical hole in the wall. They thought of whatever they could to satisfy the hunger that had been awakened in both of them from grapes and apple slices.
As the two ate from the treasure trove of junk food they’d supplied themselves with, Jim noticed the Jung book on the floor. “I don’t know you were into Jungian psychology,” he mused.
Alex grabbed the book and threw it onto the pile of blankets behind her. She didn’t want to talk about her dreams. She’d just started to feel normal again. “Oh, that was the wall screwing up what I was looking for.”
“Oh? What were you looking for?”
Alex couldn’t think fast enough, caught in her badly thought-out lie. “Uh, I don’t know anything about Jung or psychology, but I was trying to find something about dreams. You know, like how to interpret them.”
“Gotcha. I only asked because my mom has tons of that stuff lying around. She’s a Jungian therapist. I’ve read a couple of his books just ‘cause they’re everywhere in the house, but I don’t understand most of it. The dream one is a little easier, though. It made some sense.”
“Do you ever have nightmares?”
Jim looked taken aback by the question. His brow furrowed. “Why do you want to know?”
Alex thought Jim’s response was odd. Usually he was fairly candid, but Alex noticed that he had thrown up a wall in a matter of seconds. “Is that a weird question?”
“A little bit. Most people ask what you dream about, not what you have nightmares about.”
“I didn’t ask what you had nightmares about. I wanted to know if you ever had any.”
Jim still looked uncomfortable, but he finally answered. “I didn’t use to have nightmares, even when I was a kid. But recently, yeah, I’ve been having them. Really bad ones, too. The weird thing is that when I wake up, I don’t think what I’m dreaming about is even remotely scary. It’s…I don’t know…like a…”
“Color. Is it a nightmare about a color?”
Jim glanced up from his food, his bottom lip trembling. He looked as if someone had told him how he was going to die; his face was pale. “How did you know?”
Alex tapped the side of her head. “Because I’ve been having the same dream almost every night. Just this green color.”
“Like from the meteor?”
“Exactly.”
Alex and Jim exchanged glances. How was this even possible? Jim was the first one to try to offer an explanation. “It must be from what we saw, you know,” he stammered. “That green stuff with the meteor was pretty weird.”
“It was more than weird, Jim.”
“People don’t have the same dreams.”
Alex didn’t know why she wasn’t convinced by what Jim was saying. Minutes ago, she’d been telling herself that her color dreams weren’t strange. Hearing Jim act like everything was okay was casting light on the situation’s unnaturalness.
Jim was still trying to explain away what they had both just realized. “We went through a traumatic experience together. Of course, we’re going to have similar dreams. People who fight in the same battles or war or whatever probably dream the same crap—the color red and everything.”
“I don’t think this is the same thing, Jim.”
Jim looked as if he were ready to run out of the room. His fear was palpable. He had the gaze of a small animal, something that realizes it is prey and its life is not its own. Whatever was going on deeply disturbed him. Alex could see it in his haunted eyes.
The silence stretching between them was broken by the crackling of the intercom and Alex’s dragon anchor roaring to life. “Alex, we need you in Bay Seven.”
“Bay Seven? We have a Bay Seven?”
There was an audible sigh. “Does no one go over the site maps anymore? It’s Level Seven, directly below where you are. Bring Jim as well.”
Alex sighed, irritated that she wasn’t going to get a moment to finish the conversation. “Well, you heard the man,” Alex muttered as she walked past Jim, who was still rooted to the spot, his eyes distant as if he were dreaming while standing. “Hey! Jim!” she shouted.
Jim snapped back to reality. “Sorry. Let’s go.”
Part of the docking bay had been converted to a quarantine area, and that was where the alien’s ship was. Myrddin and Roy were next to the ship with the technicians who were looking it over.
Roy waved Alex and Jim over when he saw them enter. “Glad to see you two didn’t catch any alien cooties,” he joked.
“Was there anything to catch?”
Roy mimed spiders running over his forearms as he nodded. “Oh, yeah, definitely. We picked up a handful of microbes that don’t exist in this reality. Luckily for us, they don’t seem to interact with our molecular structure. It would be like if you sneezed on an ant. Doesn’t do shit, you know?”
If there was something Alex knew nothing about, it was interdimensional physiology. “So, you brought us down here to check out the ship?” Alex asked, trying to bring the conversation back to something rooted in her world.
Myrddin, who was hunched over, asked, “Would you please come closer?”
Alex and Jim came over. “How different from the meteor you saw is this ship?”
It always came back to the foul thing that had rocketed through the sky and nearly destroyed the planet. Something like the Dark One had been inside. It had crept into Alex’s mind, and she knew now that it was responsible for her dreams. Even though they’d managed to destroy the meteor and the bit of the Dark One or whatever the hell it was inside it, something still lingered.
Or at least Alex thought something was lingering. She didn’t know what it could have been. The meteor had been destroyed. She’d blown it up herself.
Yet the color, the green shade—where did that come from, the color in her nightmares?
“Alex!”
Myrddin’s voice pulled Alex away from her thoughts. “They’re nothing alike,” she finally said. “This is a ship. The meteor was more like a living hive, and the whole thing felt like a hallucination. You remember my briefing about the child being in the mind of the hive. It was nothing like this.”
Myrddin stood up as he continued to study the ship. “That was what I thought. You didn’t mention any odd experiences when coming into contact with this ship,” he mused.
“What does that mean for us? And our alien friend?”
“For us? It means this didn’t come from the Dark One’s planet. His dimension but not his planet. For our friend? It means there are a lot more questions to be answered. You two are dismissed. Alex, I’d like you to stay one more night in quarantine, just to be safe. I’m not sure if Jollies’ molecular structure can handle this dimension’s radiation.”
Alex was more than happy to have another night of solitude. The conversation she’d had with Jim about their dreams had unsettled her. “Sure, no problem. Oh, I almost forgot!”
Alex hit her dragon anchor and pulled out the black rod that had separated her and Chine’s connection. “I got hit with one of these by a giant and it killed my connection with Chine. Thought you might want to take a look at this tech.”
Myrddin gave the rod a quick glance. “I’ll set you up with a communication device in your room. Contact Abby from Earth’s HQ and have her run tests on the rod. If this is tech the Dark One has, we need to neutralize it as soon as possible.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Alex saluted Roy and Myrddin before turning to leave. She caught a glimpse of Jim out of the corner of her eye. He was deep in thought, staring at the alien’s ship. As Alex turned around, she could have sworn she saw a flash of green light, but she couldn’t be certain.
Chapter Three
Back in quarantine, Alex pulled up the holoprojector installed in the wall while trying to remember what Abby looked like. They had only met once briefly. Team Boundless had been recruited at the last minute to help with a rescue mission Abby and the rest of the DGA, Dark Gate Angels, were working on.
When the mission was over, Abby and Alex had had a bit of time to talk, and once Alex realized Abby was a human teenager like her, they decided to stay in touch.
Now that Alex was calling Abby, she wished that they would be talking about something other than work, but a conversation was a conversation.
The holoprojector on the wall blinked as the call was being placed, then Abby’s face popped up on the screen. She was wearing a white coat and thick glasses, her short dreads sticking out at odd angles. Behind the glasses, there were large dark circles under her eyes, the sort you only get from long periods of time without sleep. “Hello?” she muttered
Alex waved at her and smiled brightly. “Hey, Abby, it’s me, Alex. From the dragonriders, remember?”
Abby pushed up her glasses and yawned widely before returning the smile. “Of course! How are you doing? I was thinking about calling you today, actually.”
“I’m not too bad. I’m sort of in quarantine right now for coming across an alien ship. I seemed to be clear of any interdimensional microbes, but Myrddin doesn’t want me mixing with the general population just in case.”
Abby didn’t seem fazed by the news that aliens existed. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Never a dull moment, saving Middang3ard.”
“It was my day off, too. I’ve been cooped up for two days.”
“Sounds terrible. I would have lost my mind by now. How are you keeping sane?”
Alex picked up her Jung book off of the floor. “A lot of reading. I’ve been getting visitors too. The quarantine isn’t too bad. At least I don’t have to worry about being sent on a mission while I’m here.”
“True, true.”
Alex held up the black rod she’d gotten from the giant. “Sorry, but I had to call on business. There’s something I need analyzed if you have time.”
Abby lowered her glasses and stared at the rod through the holoprojector. “No problem. Figured you were as busy as I am. Lemme see what I can do. Can you send it over?”
Alex wondered if she could. Myrddin didn’t seem to have thought it was a problem when he’d told Alex to share her discovery with Abby. “Maybe, ” Alex murmured as she tried to think of the right thing to concentrate on. She didn’t know how bases traded information or objects like this, so Alex focused on Abby getting the rod.
When Alex opened her eyes, the wall in front of her had contorted so that there was a glowing pad before her. Seemed simple enough. Alex placed the black rod on the pad, which turned light pink before transporting the rod. Then the pad sucked itself back in.
Abby turned around onscreen, looking over her shoulder. “Okay, looks like I got it. Anything you can tell me about it?”
Alex wrapped her feet in the blankets lying on the floor. “Not really. All I know is that a giant aimed it at me and it shut down all my gear. I couldn’t even hold onto my dragon.”
Abby held the black rod up to the screen. “I can see why that would have you worried. I’ll take a look at it and call you if I figure anything out. It was nice seeing you again.”
“Thanks for taking a look for me. And it was good to see you again.”
Abby waved quickly, and the video cut out. Back to her little room of isolation. She decided to read a bit more and see if there was something in the Jung book to help her. It was easier to understand, but most of the information was way above Alex’s head. There was nothing more boring than trying to educate yourself when you were trapped.
Alex decided to take a break. She leaned close to the wall, imagining a large iced soda and a cheeseburger with extra onions and pickles. The hole coughed the food up, and Alex sat down on the floor to eat while she wrote a letter to her parents.
Since arriving back from the last mission within the meteor, Alex hadn’t spoken with her folks much, not after reassuring them that she was alive and well. Finding time to write a letter with her class load and training was hard enough. That, coupled with not wanting to give her parents any cause to worry, was enough to put Alex off writing a letter. There was no way she was going to tell them she’d lost an arm.
That brought up the question of what they needed to know. Alex did not like thinking about communicating with her parents in that way. It felt dishonest, like a double life, but what other choice did she have? Her mom and dad weren’t military like Jim’s parents. They had been reluctant to let her come to Middang3ard to begin with. If they found out how much danger she was in, they’d probably demand that she come back home.
Could Alex even go home? The criteria for her service had never been explicitly stated. From what she could tell, everyone who had been helping Myrddin had been doing it for a long time, but it didn’t seem like he was keeping anyone here contractually.
Alex figured it was because people believed what they were doing mattered. The Dark One’s mind, or at least part of it, had been laid open to Alex. There was no way she could go back to living a regular life with that thing out there.
Once Alex started writing, the information her parents needed to know flowed out.
Dear Mom and Dad,
Sorry it’s taken me so long to write to you. I’ve been really busy. Like, you have no idea how busy. Anyway, I don’t want to bore you with all the military stuff, but here are some of the highlights.
So, you should know because I’m going to keep talking about it. Jim and I went on a date. Now, I don’t want to make a big deal out of it, but before you ask, Mom, it was soooooo magical. And before you ask, Dad, he was a perfect gentleman.
There were fairies and a picnic and everything. It was nice to hang out with another human. Not that I don’t like hanging out with everyone, but it gets a little lonely, not being able to talk about TV or junk like that sometimes. Look at me, right, talking to people about TV. Now that I can see, I watch TV. Who would have thought? Between you and me, I wasn’t missin
g much.
Other than that, things have been pretty exciting. I’m doing well in my studies, and the missions I’ve been on have all been successful. I have my own team and everything. Also, my roommate is amazing. She’s a pixie and a little spitfire. I think you both would love her. But anyway, let me know how you guys are doing? I know we can have visitors here if you ever want to see what my new home is like. Let me give you a heads up: it is very weird. Send me a chunky letter to read! Seriously.
I love you both so much,
Alex
She considered telling her dad about the alien but decided against it. Not now, not until they knew more about who or what the creature was.
Once Alex was done with the letter, she emailed it to her parents.
Alex checked the time. It was still pretty early in the evening, but the cheeseburger had put her in a food coma. Sleep was coming for her, regardless. She didn’t complain, though. The last few days had been exhausting, and she still didn’t feel like she’d gotten a decent night’s sleep.
And it was nice, not hearing Jollies’ snoring. Alex still didn’t understand how such a small pixie was able to produce so much noise.
Alex grabbed the pillows and blankets off the floor and tossed her leftovers into the wall’s hole. Then she cuddled up on the bench, snuggling her face into the pillow until she could hardly breathe and her face was hot.
That was how she drifted to sleep.
The earth was soft. Something was chirping, she didn’t know what. The inside of her mouth was as soft as velvet, learning itself, the back of her teeth soft and malleable.
Alex’s hands reached up out of the earth. She’d been buried but did not know by whom or where. It could have been anywhere, but it was a smell that woke her up, which sent her fingers searching above the fertile womb earth that now birthed her, confused and bowlegged.
Forward she went into the darkness, which was lacquered thick and heavy with the scent of flowers unseen and unknown. They were not from Earth. Alex could have identified them if they were from Earth.
