Insight Kindling

by Chess Desalls

  “Is that so?” asked Valcas, interrupting my thoughts. “Is young Benjamin Raymond also useful in combat? We can’t afford another liability.”

  I looked up at Valcas and frowned. He had to be hinting at me, liability primo. And he was right. I had no fighting experience, nor did I want to learn. But I felt compelled to say something on Ray’s behalf.

  “Mom, Ray looks like someone I can trust. He sounds smart, too. A brain can be a powerful weapon.”

  Mom smiled at me as Valcas huffed in exasperation. I raised an eyebrow at him. He looked uncomfortable, but I wasn’t sure why.

  “YOU CALLED Ivory a Chauffeur,” I said to Mom. “What is Ray?”

  “A useless child with a propensity for computer games and who does well on tests, so it would seem,” grumbled Valcas. “Ms. Winston, unless there’s a better explanation for why this boy should accompany us, I must continue to voice my misgivings.”

  Dark brown eyes flickered back and forth between me and Valcas. Eventually they rested on me.

  “A brain is a useful weapon,” Mom said. “Ray is a newly certified Detail Technician. He doesn’t operate vehicles like Ivory, but he’s highly skilled at memorizing names, places, facial features and even conversations.”

  Mom pressed another button. “Pay close attention.”

  I stared at the white wall, watching. A young woman stood before a mirror in a white wedding gown, surrounded by six bridesmaids and the mother of the bride-to-be. The recording ran for approximately fifteen minutes, enough time for me to grow bored with the female banter and emotion, the tears, praises and criticisms of each dress tried on and discarded. Eventually, the view of the screen shifted slightly to reveal a thin blond youth sitting in a corner, watching the entire scene.

  The recording flickered briefly and then began again with Ray seated at a desk facing the camera. His face and shoulders were relaxed, but his dark blue eyes were alert.

  Mom’s voice sounded through the speakers, although she did not appear on-screen. “Ray, thank you for being with us here today. The examination won’t last long. You will receive a single instruction.”

  Ray pressed his elbows on the desktop and then rested his chin on clasped hands.

  “Let’s begin,” Mom said. “Earlier you observed a bridal fitting at the Clubhouse Plaza. Please tell me everything you remember from that event.”

  Ray placed his hands on the desktop, slouched slightly in his seat, and then looked intently into the camera.

  “The room,” he said, “was octagonal in shape, with two mirrors looking out of each light blue wall—hex code ADD8E6—a strange color for a fitting room in a bridal shop.”

  I blinked and looked over at Valcas. “He doesn’t sound that young,” I said. Ray’s voice was deep and gritty. It reminded me of the raspy voice of a musician singing a rock ballad.

  Valcas shrugged and shook his head.

  I turned my attention back to Ray, who had moved on to describing what sounded like the carpeting. “Wall-to-wall Pearl frieze—FDEEF4, specked with Sand—C2B280. The bride-to-be, Ashley, had golden-brown skin—not hex code EAC117 Golden Brown, but something more like Copper.” He narrowed his eyes and nodded. “B87333.”

  Ray went on to describe Ashley’s dark hair, height, and approximate weight, as well as a variety of mannerisms that sounded about right, but that I doubted I would have recalled on my own had he not just reminded me of them. Then he detailed the appearances and mannerisms of each of the bridesmaids, the mother of the bride-to-be and the overwhelmed bridal attendant.

  I nodded along with Ray as he spoke. His descriptions were spot-on. His ability to remember names and faces was amazing.

  Ray paused. Then, to my further amazement, he listed—with careful precision—every single dress the bride modeled that day, including the style, material, exact shade and texture. I sunk in my seat. Even though I was impressed by Ray’s talent, I had to admit that his descriptions were getting boring, like a narration of specifications from a catalog.

  Just as I was beginning to wonder whether Ray was more robot-calculator than person, he smiled, reminding me of how he’d appeared earlier that morning in the Hearing Chamber.

  “Personally,” he said, “I thought the fifth dress—the fishtailed one with the brocade lace overlay in FEFCFF Milk White—looked best.”

  I grinned and tried to smother a chuckle with a cough. The last thing I needed was Valcas thinking that I was laughing at Ray. I’d already decided that I liked Ray. The more I learned about him, the more I wanted him to be part of our search team. And, the more I wondered what his infraction could have been.

  Ray cleared his throat and asked for a glass of water. While we waited for backstage Mom to accommodate him, I checked my watch, a TSTA gift I’d received along with my assignment. Fifteen minutes had gone by.

  I ran my fingers along the letters engraved around the watch face. Above the time, it said Everywhere. Below, Everywhen. It was a beautiful piece of jewelry, but the watch face was digital and operated like a Smartphone. That bothered me, of course, self-proclaimed anti-tech that I was…or at least used to be. Meeting Valcas and Edgar, and learning how to use the travel glasses, had changed everything.

  A finger swipe to the left changed the time zone. There were time zones for all of the major cities on Earth, the world where I grew up—places like New York City, London, Dubai and Tokyo. What interested me more were the places I’d never heard of, from worlds I’d never seen before: Quantaa, Alvendine and Cloptush, to name a few. I wondered whether there was a special time zone for the Halls’ White Tower. When I tapped the center of the watch face, the screen flickered and then displayed Inter-world Central Time. I wasn’t sure how useful it would be, but I was grateful to have the watch. I hoped it would help keep me from getting lost.

  I looked back up at the projection where Ray was now sipping from a glass of water. He tilted his head back and drained the rest of the glass with a huge gulp, then wiped his lips with the back of his hand. “Thanks,” he said as he stared at the empty glass.

  Valcas shifted in his seat and lightly tapped the table with his fingers.

  Ray looked up from his empty glass and directed his attention back to the camera, his dark blue eyes searching through it and beyond. He took a deep breath, and then, in a voice less raspy, weirdly feminine, and much perkier than his own deep baritone, he said, “Let me get you set up in here. You, Missus Gorgeous Mother of the Bride-to-Be, please sit down right here, and I’ll take your coat. Ashley is in the dressing room with Kayla. Please, everyone else, rest here while I bring back additional styles so that we can find The One.”

  My jaw dropped.

  For the next fifteen minutes, Ray recited every single word spoken by everyone who had been in and out of the fitting room—Ashley, Ashley’s mom, Kayla and the other bridesmaids, and Anna, the perky attendant. He imitated the inflections and phrasing of each of the women perfectly.

  From time to time I stole a glance at Valcas, wondering whether he was impressed now. He watched without any additional fidgeting or objections. As per his usual, his face was blank, showing no sign of emotion.

  Mom looked at me and smiled.

  When Ray finished his reenactment, he looked back down at the glass that he still held in his hand. He closed his eyelids halfway, set down the glass and placed his hand over his mouth, smothering a yawn. He stretched out his arms, making fists over his head.

  “Thank you, Ms. Winston. That’s all I remember.”

  “Thank you, Ray. Your examination is complete. I will now turn off the camera.”

  The screen went blank.

  Mom clicked off the projector and turned to Valcas with a questioning look.

  “Where is Ray from?” I asked.

  “He’s like us. He’s from Earth.”

  “Well then, impressive,” Valcas said. “The boy has an extraordinary ability to recall and reenact events that he has just witnessed. Bravo.” Valcas frowned, clearly still not co
nvinced that Ray would be a suitable companion.

  Mom smiled. “Yes, that alone certainly would be impressive. But, Ray had not just witnessed the event. I recorded him at the bridal fitting a year and a half prior to the examination.”

  THE BREVITY of my visit with Mom made me feel sad, the same way it did each time she’d left for long periods of time after we’d moved in with Uncle Al. This time, however, I would be leaving her. Our search team of four was settled, despite Valcas’ reservations about Ray. Soon it would be time to go.

  At Mom’s request, the TSTA had sent for Ivory and Ray and asked if they would consider accepting our assignment—my assignment—instead of whatever arbitrary missions had been chosen for them. Per Mom, both readily agreed—Ivory presumably because of her past connection with Valcas; and Ray, Mom said, because he had been impressed with me. I couldn’t understand why, though. I’d felt like a fumbling idiot at the hearing. I wondered how somebody with Ray’s talent could possibly be impressed with me.

  I would formally meet Ivory and Ray that evening. The plan was to meet one another, stay overnight in guest rooms at TSTA Headquarters, and then leave first thing the next morning for training. As for where we would be going, or what type of training it would be, I hadn’t the faintest clue.

  I SAT in the cafeteria and looked around as nearby tables began filling with people, some of whom I recognized as my fellow-accused from earlier that day. Now, I assumed, we were all not just guilty as charged, but convicted. I fidgeted, alone at the table where I sat, waiting for my team members to show up.

  Ray entered the cafeteria first. He spotted me immediately and walked over to the table I’d claimed. I stood to greet him. Standing, Ray was nearly as tall as Valcas, but thinner in build. He bent down slightly to shake my hand.

  “Nice to finally meet you, Calla,” he said. “Your mom has told me a lot about you.”

  If Ray was taken aback by my diluted eyes, he didn’t show it. He looked at me intently, with his eyes wide open, unblinking. His gaze would have been scary if it had been coming from someone less approachable. There was nothing threatening about Ray. He looked like the boy next door—laid-back, open and friendly.

  “No doubt you could tell me exactly what Mom told you about me,” I said. “Valcas and I just finished watching your examination of the bridal fitting. I don’t know how you did that, but I can’t stop thinking about it. It was impressive.”

  Ray flushed slightly and ran a palm through his hair. “Thank you,” he mumbled.

  “Way to go, smart guy,” a female voice chimed in from somewhere close behind me.

  I recognized the voice, but that didn’t keep me from jumping. Before I could turn around to confirm where it came from, a fist and a flash of snow-white hair jerked past me.

  The fist landed lightly on Ray’s upper arm. “Let’s get some protein-fortified grub for that awesome brain inside of that cute baby-face head of yours.”

  I laughed. She turned to me and winked. And that was how I officially met Ivory.

  TSTA FOOD was bland but filling. We started without Valcas, having written him off as a no-show after twenty minutes had passed. As we ate, Ivory explained the rarity of Ray’s talents, particularly for an Earth-born. Actually, Ivory held up most of the conversation while Ray and I chewed our food. She was rough and hardened on the outside, but wow could she open up and talk, especially now that she wasn’t in front of Commissioner Reese.

  When Ivory was done thoroughly embarrassing Ray, she entertained us by explaining how shocking others found it when they learned that white was her true hair color, even though she was only twenty-six years old.

  “I drive time-travel vehicles for a living and that shocks them! Did they miss the eyelashes? Anyway, you two are staring now. I’ll get to the point. The world where I grew up only has two hair colors, white and black.”

  I smiled, wondering whether Ray was recording Ivory’s discourse with his über-eidetic memory. I looked over at him from time to time, especially when Ivory said something funny—which was often—only to find Ray already looking at me. Each time I caught his eye, he looked away, embarrassed.

  I found Ray’s lack of arrogance endearing, adorable even. He didn’t say much, but he appeared to be observing a lot, recording with his eyes and brain without a zobascope or a pair of travel glasses.

  Eventually Ivory stopped talking long enough to eat. She did so quickly. The human television transformed into a human vacuum, not stopping until every single crumb of dinner disappeared from her plate. She sighed contentedly and looked around. Her eyes focused on something. Then they glowed with recognition. She chuckled darkly.

  I followed Ivory’s gaze, curious to see what she found. “Oh,” I muttered to myself. She’d found a who, not a what.

  “Why are you sitting all the way over there?” Ivory called out. Her lips drew into a tight smile. She sounded annoyed. “Still taken to brooding, Valcas?”

  Her comment should have made me laugh, or at least crack a smile, but I did neither because I was annoyed too. I hadn’t seen Valcas enter the cafeteria, and instead of greeting us when he came in, he’d completely ignored us—the team that was technically assembled to complete his original mission to find my father. Then he’d gone and sat somewhere else.

  Likely pressured by six eyes worth of stares from our table, Valcas rose from his chair and slowly made his way toward us.

  “Ivory.” He nodded.

  Valcas took no notice of Ray. If he happened to glance my way, I couldn’t tell due to his dark glasses. Then, without uttering a second word, he turned toward the cafeteria door and began walking.

  I caught a glimpse of Ivory as a scowl flickered across her face, before transforming into a look of bemusement. White lashes outlined narrowed eyes that followed Valcas.

  I frowned, feeling slighted on Ray’s behalf.

  Ray said nothing, but he watched closely as Valcas walked away.

  ASSUMING THAT everyone was to be left alone to rest for the evening, I retired to my designated room and got ready for bed. The TSTA bedroom was small and sparsely furnished, but cool and comfortable. A twin bed was pressed up along the wall with a heavy metal bed stand propped next to it. Across the room sat a chest of drawers with a television perched on top.

  I turned a dial on the television, wondering what kind of shows the TSTA would broadcast. The screen flickered, turned blank and then flickered again. Children in black and gold robes appeared onscreen, standing in rows, three lines deep. Their lips moved, but I couldn’t hear anything they were saying. I found another dial and turned it. Nothing. I twisted a third dial. After a brief crackle, I could hear a low humming and a percussive beat. I raised the volume. The children were singing, but I didn’t understand a single word. I wasn’t sure whether the language was human.

  I turned the first dial again and flipped through a couple more channels to find more children and more music, none of it understandable to my English-only ears. Weirder yet was that on all the channels, the children wore the same black and gold robes. I wondered if that meant the children were all singing the same language and were from the same world.

  Yawning, I turned the first dial backward until the screen went blank. I abandoned the television in favor of something more productive: searching through the travel glasses.

  I pulled the travel glasses out of my backpack and turned them in my hands. The glasses were filled with Valcas’ memories—his recordings—as well as a small portion of my own. I still hadn’t been able to find any particular order to the events, places and people recorded, though.

  I fluffed a couple of pillows on my bed and propped myself up against them. Then I relaxed and searched for recordings of Ray and Ivory.

  All I could conjure up were a couple of snapshots of a younger Ivory with long, white hair flowing over military garb. She smiled sweetly, but her eyes flashed something vicious. I grinned. I knew exactly how she felt about getting her picture taken, whether done via camera or rec
ording. Ray was nowhere to be found among Valcas’ memories.

  Finding nothing else of use to prepare for tomorrow’s journey, I randomly browsed the recordings captured in the travel glasses, letting them show me whatever snippets they would allow me to see. The more I relaxed, the more vividly the recordings revealed themselves.

  The glasses stalled on a picture of an ocean backlit by a sunset. Golden waves lapped glinting grains of sand. I could hear the whisper of the waves as they rose and fell. How nice, I thought. I wondered where and when Valcas had recorded the scene. Better yet, I wondered why.

  Just as I was about to doze, I heard a knock at the door, followed by a familiar voice.

  “Calla, may I come in?”

  I shot up out of bed, removed my glasses and placed them on the bed stand. I looked at my watch. It was 12:32 a.m., EST, Earth time. Not that that gave me any idea what time it was here at TSTA Headquarters. I tapped the watch face as I walked toward the door, trying to find Inter-world Central Time.

  The voice at the door belonged to Valcas. What could he possibly want at this hour?

  I opened the door and stood in the doorway. “No, you can’t come in. What is it?”

  Valcas stood in the hallway wearing a dark T-shirt and black lounge pants. He cleared his throat as he looked me up and down, standing there in my pajamas, a cotton nightdress Enta had made for me back at her homestead. I crossed my arms.

  “Of course, sorry,” he said. “I want to borrow your travel glasses. The backup pair I’m wearing has a malfunction with respect to some of the data that I downloaded from your pair.”