by Travis McBee
Mr. Roberts spared Will a sidelong glance and his face twisted briefly into his one sign of emotion, that pale malevolent grin.
“What I came in is,” he replied, “What we’re leaving in has yet to arrive,”
Will didn’t know the man well and hoped he never would, but he knew a tone of mockery when he heard one and chose not to allow Mr. Roberts the chance to use it again. So he stood by the lagoon quietly as he waited for something to happen. The wait was not a long one by anyone’s definition because merely thirty seconds later something did indeed happen.
If Will had not been looking idly at the stars that shone down from above he would have not have noticed as they began to wink out one by one. At first he thought it was a cloud but that hypothesis went away quickly as he realized the night was perfectly clear after the clouds had all turned into rain and poured themselves on the small town. The stars in the sky were beautifully clear except for a small patch that sat directly above Will. That small patch began to enlarge and soon dozens of stars that Will had been staring at moments before vanished smoothly while stars farther away from that black circle still shone brightly.
After a few moments the entire sky above Will was black, but not just from a lack of stars. As he watched a massive vehicle of glistening black metal slid smoothly from the sky and set itself over the lagoon as if it was a shadow cast by the lagoon onto the sky. The ship was perfectly circular from the bottom and Will could imagine that it was indeed a giant flying saucer like the lunatics that claimed to have been abducted by aliens always claimed. Even if that were true there was no beam of light that shone down to snatch them off the Earth and into the ship. Instead the ship continued to descend until it hovered calmly inches above the surface of the equally black water. The ship did indeed look every part the image that lunatics describe as flying saucers, it was perfectly circular with the edges nearly flat and rising like a hill to form a dome in the center. It would appear at a casual glance that the black water of the lagoon simply swelled upward to form a small hill of dark water.
A beam of light appeared on the smooth black surface of the ship as a seam began to form along the side. It was a door and seconds later Will saw a long ramp extend and touch gently down at the feet of Mr. Roberts who strode casually across it and into the monolith that had descended from the heavens. Will glanced behind him into the dark, water dripping trees of the Outback.
“Peace out Earth,” he whispered under his breath and turned and walked up the gangplank onto the ship.
When he walked through the door he found himself in a hallway that ran around the entire circumference of the flying saucer. He glanced to his right just in time to see the retreating back of Mr. Roberts disappearing from view. He turned to follow the man and broke into a quick trot to catch up with him. When Mr. Roberts heard the sudden quick beats of feet behind him he turned and stared severely at Will.
“What are you doing William?” He asked
Will stared at the man perplexed, “Following you,”
“Well stop following me and go to the students’ compartment,” he replied without emotion.
As soon as he finished speaking he turned and began to walk along the corridor again and within seconds was out of sight. Will turned around and walked the opposite way and began searching for the students’ compartment. This task would prove not to be an easy one since there were a plethora of doors and each one was labeled in a language that was obviously not English or anything from Earth for that matter.
He decided to try every door and this haphazard strategy caused him to peer into numerous compartments, none of which contained students. Finally after peering into rooms that contained exciting looking equipment, piles of luggage, and a small room that appeared to be a bathroom although there was no toilet, he found a door with large glistening labels sprawled across the surface. These labels were in a variety of languages and Will thought he could identify Chinese along with French, and Spanish. Tucked away near the bottom of the list were two words in English, “Student Compartment,” He smiled at the welcome sight of recognizable words and entered the room.
The Student Compartment was very well named. The small room was packed with people Will was willing to bet were students. They all appeared to be around Will’s age, but the similarities ended there, Will could see people of all of the races that Earth could offer mingled together. Some bore expressions of terror and uncertainty on their faces while others appeared to be completely at ease. The room was incredibly quiet and no words were offered to accompany the many eyes that darted to the door when Will pushed it open. The seats they were sitting in were arranged in a circle surrounding a white light that shone up from the floor and was the only illumination in the dim room. The circle was formed by fifteen metallic seats of which all but one were filled. Will walked slowly to the seat and sat down into it. He had expected it to be hard and uncomfortable but was delighted to find that it was both soft and supportive.
He glanced around the circle at the people that he assumed were his fellow students. Most of them had their eyes closed but a few of them returned his gaze with what appeared to be malice. Will stopped looking around at his companions after only a few seconds and closed his eyes himself. A new sensation had filled his heart. For the first time in Will’s life he felt like he was truly by himself. For the first time in his life, Will was lonely.
Chapter Six
A New Home
The journey to Bridgeworld was both uneventful and brief for Will. He had become accustomed to the large airlines that would have you sitting on the runway for almost an hour before finally trundling along a runway and into the air. So when he didn’t feel any movement for more than an hour he naturally assumed that they had not yet begun their voyage.
After what felt like an eternity after he had sat down into one of the seats that formed the ring around the circle of white light he felt a jolt. It wasn’t the mind numbing jolt that occurs when someone gets a full head of steam before plowing into you with a bumper car, but it was not the gentle jolt that races through your body after you return to the ground after jumping as high as you can into the air. The jolt was like that sudden bump that happens when a boat makes contact with the dock it is trying to tie up to, it was rough enough for one to notice but gentle enough so as not to cause alarm. Will assumed the jolt meant they were finally underway and felt excitement course through him at the idea that he was going into outer space.
Will didn’t have time to rejoice for long. A minute or so after the jolt had shook the ship the door behind him slid open and the unmistakable Mr. Roberts walked casually into the room. His face bore the same indifferent look but his wardrobe had changed dramatically. Instead of the trademark black suit and red tie he was now dressed in what appeared to be a silver jumpsuit. The jumpsuit was normal enough at first glance, It’s metallic sheen was punctuated with a small emblem of two planets connected by an thin arc of a line. The only remarkable thing about the suit was that Will could spot no zipper, buttons, or any other method that would allow the suit to open, it was as if it was the man’s skin instead of an article of clothing.
Mr. Roberts did not speak but began to hand out something to the fifteen students who sat in the circle of seats. When he placed one in Will’s outstretched palm Will leaned forward and examined it carefully. It was small, beige, and appeared to be a hearing aid like he often saw perched in the ears of the elderly. He glanced around at his fellow students and noticed most of them looking at the small device with the same perplexed expression that he wore. A few of the students did not look perplexed at all and Will noticed that it was the same ones that had looked utterly comfortable, if not bored, when he had first entered the room. They were taking the little devices and placing them into their ears as if there was nothing interesting about the small devices.
Will pushed his into his right ear and felt it grow warm for a second before seeming to disappear. He quickly reached his finger up and poked at where the s
mall device had seemingly vanished but his finger made contact with the hard plastic casing of the device. It was still there but had conformed perfectly to his ear so that it felt like it wasn’t there at all. As for what it did he still had no clue and glanced around the room to see his fellow students taking his lead and placing the miniscule devices into their ears.
Mr. Roberts watched calmly as the entire class fitted the little instruments into their ears and allowed his patented half smirk to adorn his face as he watched many of them stick fingers into their ears as Will had done to check if the strange little devices had actually disappeared. When he had seen that every device had vanished into an ear he walked casually into the white circle of light and spoke quietly in his accent free voice.
“Welcome boys and girls, to the Bridgeworld Academy. We have just landed in the hanger and momentarily I will lead you into the school itself,” he paused to allow the students to comprehend what he had said
We’re already here? But I didn’t feel the flight at all!
“The apparatus that I have given to all of you is called a Lingus. I am pleased to see that you have all figured out how to use it and I hope that you have also figured out what it does,”
A timid looking boy with sandy blonde hair and deep dimples set into his cheeks raised his hand.
“Yes Sean?” Mr. Roberts said calmly to the boy
“They translate what you say into our native language,” The boy said nervously at first but gaining confidence as he continued, “I hear you speaking French but your lips do not match the words,”
Will looked at the boy dumbfounded and realized that he was entirely correct. Will could hear English come clearly through his right ear and the Lingus when the boy spoke, but the wispy nasal tones of the French language had also managed to find their way in through his left ear. The remarkable thing about the Lingus was that it not only translated the words but it also filtered out the accent so that the boy’s English sounded as perfect as Mr. Roberts himself.
“Very good Sean,” Mr. Roberts replied to the boy, “Now as I was saying we have just arrived and will soon disembark from the school’s Terra Shuttle and make our way into the school itself. We will first stop in the repository where you will each be given a Micro and proper clothing,” He sneered at the clothes they wore as he finished his briefing which was an incredible amount of emotion for him to display in Will’s humble opinion.
“Now follow me,”
He turned and walked out of the circle of light and crossed the room in a few quick strides before exiting through the same door that he had entered. Will stood up with the rest of the students and found himself in the middle of a line that worked its way out the door and along the curving corridor that he had walked down while searching for the room he was now leaving. He followed the queue along the narrow corridor and finally out of the same door he had entered on.
The ramp did not lead into the dark trees of the Outback, instead Will found himself in an immense room that appeared to be a hanger. The flying saucer he had just traveled in appeared to be one of a kind, but other large crafts sat along the walls of the gigantic room. The other ships looked similar to aircraft with wings and tail fins but each one gleamed science fiction at him as if they didn’t really exist even though they sat right in front of his eyes. Will could also spot dozens of much smaller vehicles that were parked along one wall. Each one of these was about the size of a car but varied in shape. Some looked like flying saucers with a giant dome of glass that covered where the people would sit while others closely resembled the futuristic cars that drove around on Earth but without wheels.
Will had paused in his steps as he looked around at him and was bumped into from behind by a boy slightly smaller than him that had flaming red hair and a fine assortment of pimples across his already freckled face.
“Watch it Terry,” The boy shouted at him.
“The name's William, and sorry,” Will replied coldly to the boy using his formal name instead of his nick name.
The pimply faced freckled boy laughed at him and walked around him quickly so that Will had to follow his bobbing red head as he continued across the hanger towards the door that Mr. Roberts was heading for. Why’d he call me Terry? Will managed to think to himself before he walked through the door and into the new room.
The repository was an extremely small room compared to the monolithic size of the hanger. The air smelled clean but filtered, fake almost. The room was lined with metal shelves that had numerous objects on them, none of which Will could identify. A large metal counter was set against a wall on the far side, behind which sat a small antiquated woman wearing the same strange jumpsuit that Mr. Roberts sported. Behind the counter were more shelves, one of which was lined with what appeared to be dozens of sets of the jumpsuits. The shelf that sat just below it had a door that appeared to swing down to reveal its contents. The door was closed however and all Will could see was the glint of the overhead lighting on its dull metallic surface.
“Ladies please see Mrs. Tepper over there, gentlemen follow me,” Mr. Roberts said blandly already turning to walk towards a second rack lined with the silver jumpsuits that stood at the other side of the room.
The group split into two groups according to their gender and Will accompanied the boys to the shelf where Mr. Roberts stood waiting for them. As the boys arrived, Mr. Roberts would unceremoniously sling a bundle of the silver material into their arms and direct them through the door that stood open to his left. When Will took his place at the head of the dwindling line he had a jumpsuit thrust into his stomach by Mr. Roberts who paid no attention to Will or gave away any signs of recognition. This didn’t bother Will and he walked casually through the door and into what appeared to be a changing room. All around him the boys were taking off their Earthly garments and throwing them aside with complete disregard before squeezing into their jumpsuits.
Squeeze was the only term to describe how one put on the peculiar jumpsuits. They all appeared to be the same size and quite a bit too small for each of the boys. Will didn’t have a clue what to do at first along with most of the boys, but as with the Linguses before them, the boys who Will had come to the conclusion had not been completely ignorant of Bridgeworld, inadvertently showed the rest what to do. Will watched in fascination and general doubt as one of the boys stretched the neck until he managed to fit both of his feet through what had been a narrow hole second before. The boy didn’t seem to be pulling hard to get the suit to expand either, he was casually putting it on as if it was nothing more interesting or complex than a pair of blue jeans.
Will glanced down at his own gleaming silver garment and, after discarding the clothes he had been wearing, he began to stretch the neck out like he had seen the other boy do. The material stretched easily as if it was elastic but it was incredibly different from elastic. Instead of snapping back to its original shape the second Will let go it remained stretched out as if it were made of taffy but it retained its shape and didn’t droop at all. Will lifted his left foot and stuck it into the suit. His foot slid smoothly through the entire suit and he saw his foot reemerge from the end of the left leg of the silver outfit. He lifted his right leg and repeated the process before pulling the entire suit up to his neck and forcing his arms out through the holes designed for him. When he finished climbing into the suit he had expected it to be loose from the incredible stretching it had just gone through, instead the suit seemed to contract like a shrinky dink in an oven and Will found himself wearing what appeared to be a new skin of stunning silver. The material the suit was made of was nothing like Will had ever felt before, it screamed metallic at him because of the cool way it made contact with his skin but it was soft like cotton. His skin did not complain about the sudden addition of a close fitting layer like it usually did when clothes became a bit too clingy for his liking, instead he found that his skin could breath freely and his range of motion was as full as if he were parading around in the nude.
“
Okay boys,” Called out the calm voice of Mr. Roberts, “Come on back out and get your Micros,”
Will followed the procession back into the repository after slipping into this sneakers and found a line of girls streaming out of a similar door next to the desk. The girls formed a queue in front of the desk and the boys settled into place behind them. Mrs. Tepper appeared to be the polar opposite of Mr. Roberts. Her antiquated face, covered in deep lines, bore a constant smile as she cheerily helped the students who sidled up to her. She was handing them small devices that Will thought looked like cell phones and when Will gained the front position minutes later what she handed him did indeed look like one of the newest touch-screen phones available.
“Here you go dear, “ Mrs. Tepper said to Will in the trademarked old ladies voice as she handed Will the small gadget, “Do you know what this is?” she asked him.
“No Ma’am,” Will replied trying to speak quietly so others wouldn’t over hear him and judge him to be either ignorant or stupid.
She giggled lightly at his politeness before she answered him, “Well dear this is a Micro. It is probably the most important thing that you will possess while you’re here. It helps you communicate with others, serves as your textbooks, and even has a few fun games on it to keep you amused,”
“So it’s like a computer?” He asked not pausing to consider that she might not know what a computer was.
“More like a smart phone on steroids,” she replied giving Will a hearty wink to indicate that she was, in fact, well versed on terrestrial technology.
Will thanked Mrs. Tepper for the Micro and placed his thumb on her own Micro to seal a contract stating that he would take care of it. He then retreated to the milling group of students who had already received their Micros and began to examine his in earnest. It was a glistening metallic black like the flying saucer had been, but it was accented with a band of silver that strode proudly around the edge. At first glance he couldn’t tell which side was the front but after close examination he discovered that one side possessed more luster and seemed to have a thin coating of glass instead of the uniform inky black. That was the only clue he could find as to how to operate the Micro and he soon found himself searching over its entire surface for the faintest sign of a button.
