***
When Bradley heard a knock on the wall, he hoped that John had come to senses. Hearing John’s excited chatter made Bradley really concerned. It sounded like John was really hooked up on flying, and he was no longer concerned with the fact that this promoted their permanent imprisonment in this country. “Is he not concerned or has he chosen not to believe?” Bradley wondered. It might be true that they would be able to freely move around (and by the way, who says so?), but what good was it to move around freely in a prison cell? What they were really losing was freedom of choice to stay in this country and keep flying if they wanted to, or go back to their world should that be their choice. And John was now so conditioned by this flying that he was even advertising it to others so passionately! And what about Megan? Has she also been addicted to flying by now and lost all her reason? Truly, sitting in this room with no action was not helping the situation, but getting out at the expense of losing true freedom seemed to Bradley much worse.
“I’m convinced that flying is impossible,” he replied to John just to say something. He was not sure that at this point John would listen to his pleas to not fly in order to not get stuck in this country. Bradley was leaning towards the conviction that John no longer believed this anyway.
“It’s possible, it’s possible!” John shouted passionately. “I’m telling you, I just did it! I was even able to fly up there from the floor without having to use the ladder as a jumpstart”.
“I am very proud of you,” said Bradley sadly. “But I can’t.”
“All right, I’ll be back when I figure out how to get to you,” John replied. “Meanwhile, I’m going to try to find a way out of here. The Adventurous said that when I learn to fly, I’d get more freedom of movement, and the reason we got stuck in that corridor last time was because we didn’t know how to fly. So I’m hoping I won’t get stuck so badly this time.”
“Yeah, the Adventurous said, and you believed,” Bradley thought to himself, still feeling sad. “You have great intentions, but I’m afraid they will be crushed. I have to be the one who somehow finds the way out and gets everyone out of here before you guys pass your test!”
“Be careful,” he said out loud.
“I will!” replied John. “I have to go now! See you later!”
Bradley expected to hear the sound of steps, but he didn’t. “Of course, he flew up,” Bradley remembered. He was left in his room, now without his friend next door to talk to, and desperately started thinking of a way out.
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The World of the Unknowns: The Discovery. Page 12
