Prisoners of Perfection - An Epic Fantasy by Tom Lichtenberg and Johnny Lichtenberg
Page 6
Chapter Six
"Do you think they drownded?" Squee asked.
"Drowned," Gowdy corrected for what might have been the millionth time. Squee was not interested in retention.
"I don't think so," Soma said, picking up Scratch and giving him a good scratching behind the ears. The rat had stayed with them the entire time, straying for a time into the marshland but reappearing shortly after the new fire had been lit, and the smoke reached his nose.
"I think they live in the water," she added.
"But what are they?" Squee wanted to know.
"Must be mutants," Gowdy concluded.
"Like us?" Soma asked.
"Maybe, but different," he told her. "I wouldn't put anything past those humans. God only knows the mischief they've been up to since they locked us away. It's a wonder the planet's even still here! Last thing I remember they were cooking it up, burning everything in sight just to keep all their little motors running. Couldn't get along without burning."
"Maybe that's still true," Soma said, stepping closer to the fire inside the hut. "Did you see how it just turned itself on?"
"I'm wondering why they're hiding those bundles under the beach."
"Think we should take some with us?"
"Nah. I'd leave it. But we can camp out here for the night, I think."
The children needed no more encouraging, but plopped themselves right down on the sand near the warmth and promptly dozed off. Gowdy remained awake for a time, gazing out over the ocean and wondering. The strange mer-people had frightened him nearly as much as he had frightened them, he thought. What if it was all gone, everything he'd ever known? What if nothing was the same?
"At least they spoke English," he comforted himself, as if that one link would suffice to justify the retribution he had in mind, and anyone who spoke it was eligible to take responsibility for everything they had suffered.
In the morning, they gathered some more of the red berries, and pulled out some satisfactory tubers from beneath the streams as well. The day had dawned warm already, especially by the fire which was amazingly long-lasting, the smallish sticks hardly burnt through at all, and since they had nothing in which to carry water, they drank to fill their bellies, and then proceeded north along the coastline. Gowdy had anticipated more little structures like the fire hut, but they did not encounter any, and the long day turned into a colder night, and then another's day march after that. On the evening of that second day, they finally came across something more promising.
From the distance it seemed like it must be a mirage, a gigantic pink castle floating above the waves around a gentle bend of the beach. Soma and Squee made a bet with each other that the building wasn't really there, and true to form raced off in pursuit, leaving Gowdy and the rat behind. They didn't stop a hundred yards ahead, as the old man expected, but kept going, until they reached it. Then they rushed back to inform Gowdy of their discovery. Soma was more out of breath so it was Squee who reported.
"It's a Grand Resort," he said, "Soma says so. There was a sign and she read it."
"Grand Hyatt Nomador," Soma wheezed, catching her breath.
"Grand Hyatt?" Gowdy could not believe it. "What about the people? Tell me about the people."
The kids glanced at each other and frowned in disappointment.
"We didn't see anybody," Squee admitted
"Of course we didn't look much," Soma brightened. "Come on and see," and she tugged at Gowdy's arm but he didn't need the encouragement. His old legs youthened enough to pick up the pace, and soon they were all together at the entrance of the great hotel.
The lobby was deserted, and completely quiet except for the occasional screeching of a bright red parrot who sat on a perch by a small marble pond. The stone floors were refreshing cool on their feet, and the luxurious surroundings made them all feel a bit strange. To one side, a long wooden desk shone with polish, while throughout the floor huge pillars held up a ceiling more than a hundred feet high, carved with images of angels and gods and exotic creatures. The walls were black-streaked marble and comfortable white lounge chairs were strategically arranged to afford the best views out the back of the room out onto the ocean. Everything was immaculately clean. Gowdy felt rooted to the floor at the entrance trying to take it all in. He had been in such a hotel, once upon a time. It must have been, he couldn't have calculated, possibly hundreds of years before, or maybe it was only decades. There was no way to know. He knew the year of his imprisonment, but not the year it was now. It occurred to him to hunt for clues, paper or computer, but he saw nothing like that. The desks were clear as were all the little tables arranged near the seats.
Eventually, the three began to move around, inspecting the place more closely. Squee naturally was interested most in the parrot, whom he tried to talk to but who did not correspond except with a squawk. Soma ran to every corner and peered down carpeted hallways, but didn't want to leave the general area by herself. Gowdy looked into the offices in search of any kind of text but found, again, not a trace of information. He rejoined the children by the parrot and was about to announce the next phase of the plan he had in mind, when he became aware of a whirring noise above him, and looked up to see a sort of disc hovering in the air a few feet above them. It was gray and metallic looking with a bubble in the middle and what appeared to be grooves like little windows all along the edges. Startled, Gowdy realized the thing looked exactly like old images of a flying saucer, only it was no more than a foot in diameter and a few inches in height.
The saucer shifted laterally and moved quite rapidly, zooming above each of their heads in succession and making a short, subtle clicking noise each time, and then it was gone, as quickly as it had appeared. None of them could see which direction it went.
"Poof!" Squee exclaimed.
"What do you think?" Soma asked in a concerned tone.
"Spies," Gowdy pronounced with confidence. "Surveillance. Enemies." He seemed almost cheered by the notion.
"Now they know we're here," he continued, "it'll be their move. But we can act in the meantime. I suggest we stick together, though."
"Me, too," Soma nodded.
"Sure," Squee pitched in agreeably.
"Then lead on," Gowdy instructed Soma, who turned and led them down what she felt was the most promising hallway, one that wrapped around the perimeter of the building to the right of where they were, carpeted but under an arcade, exposed to the sea on the outside. They passed a series of metal doors on their right, which Gowdy informed them were called 'elevators' and were something they should look into later. Then they passed a large dining area fronted by a palm-laden stream which ran clear and swiftly beside white table-clothed tables with unlit candles upon them. After that the hallway turned to the left, and the doors they went by had numbers beside them, and smooth metal handles.
"These are the guest rooms," Gowdy told them. "Inside we'll find comfortable beds and other nice things," but Squee, tugging at the handles, complained they could never get in.
"We'll find a way," Gowdy said. "The thing to look for is people. Once we find them, well, then we will."
And yet there was no one. They climbed up stairs and walked down more halls, exploring not only the main building but the smaller ones off to the side. Out in the back there were pools and waterfalls and slides, all very well kept, all looking fresh and inviting, but no one was in them, not in the hot tubs, not in the ocean, not in the restaurants, not in the shops which they saw full of clothing and gadgets and items for every occasion. The hotel was a ghost town. All they did see were more of the small flying saucers, darting in and out of view every so often, and keeping well out of reach above their heads.