by Elle Scott
‘What's wrong? Are you OK?’ I ask concerned.
She sighs and gives me a brief smile, then with a single shake of her head she breathes out; ‘No… I've just, it's something… I'm tired, but it's not this.’ She motions around us and pauses to look down, almost defeated.
‘What? You're scaring me!’ I grab her shoulders and look at her face, forcing her to make eye contact.
A hand touches my back and I spin around in fright. I should have known from his touch who it was. Xander. I give a sigh of relief.
‘Are you girls alright? We didn't realise how far behind you were!’
‘Got a drink?’ Viv chirps all of a sudden, ‘I’m so, so thirsty here,’ she adds.
She stands there with this blithesome look on her face, she's full of life again and full of sass. Back to her usual self.
Xander swings his backpack around and searches for a drink. I glance at Viv, as if to say “What's going on?” I'm searching for an answer, waiting for a reason, anything. She was only thirsty? Really? Viv smiles at me, snatches the drink from Xander and walks on ahead spilling liquid down her chin as she gulps down the water.
I watch Viv with confusion for a while, contemplating what could have made her so anxious one moment and normal the next. She was acting like she had something huge to tell me, not like she wanted a drink. My gaze is interrupted as I sense eyes bearing deeply into the back of my matted light-brown hair.
I turn to face him; his blue eyes burn right through me and my heart skips a beat. They are like two bright blue illuminated LED lights. Oh my God, I bet I look like such a mess!
‘How do you like the Amazon?’ He grins holding out a bottle for me.
‘I’ll put it this way,’ I say as I take the drink and wipe hair off my face, ‘I can’t believe I thought Nunavut was harsh.’
As I sip and let the fresh water hug my throat, I feel a gentle stroke down my arm. His touch sends shivers through my spine, in the best possible way.
‘It's up this way about thirty metres,’ he points in the direction Viv disappeared into.
We walk side by side for only twenty metres but it feels like we've been in silence for eternity. As we push through the inhumane forest and absorb the unmerciful heat; all I can think about is grabbing him and telling him how infinitely amazing he is.
‘I should warn you, it's um, a bit different than normal,’ he simultaneously breaks the quiet and my thought process.
Xander holds a branch aside for me and I step out onto the rocks of a river bed and join the rest of our team. So, this is why there is so much water and mud around. Concrete debris of a man-made dam laps in the sludge around the bottom of a…
‘It’s massive huh?’ Xander interrupts my thoughts again.
I open my mouth to reply but the taste of burning bark stings my throat.
Directly above us blackened branches hang and simmer as though they are recovering from a forest fire. The gap in the tree-scape streams sunlight onto an object the size of a caravan. It’s spherical, dark grey with shimmers of red. Beautiful.
I lift my camera and look through the viewfinder, I need to zoom out as far as my lens goes to fit the whole scene in. I take a step to the side to get a better angle, a rock shifts under me and my foot sinks half a metre into the sludge. I curse under my breath as I look around to see if anyone saw me. Most of them are preoccupied but Ross is smiling and looking directly at me.
‘Are you alright?’ He manages to say without bursting into full blown laughter. Ross is one of those kids who went to University while others their age were just starting High School. I hardly ever know what he is talking about, but his intentions are always honourable.
I smile back with a screwed-up nose, ‘Fine!’
He fixes his glasses and kneels down in front of his energy-monitoring equipment, cords and radars and laptops. I capture the moment on my camera; from his short messed up hair, to the band-aids on almost all of his fingers.
I move my camera to Eli who stands beside Ross. His eyes are alight with anticipation. At twenty-one he’s the oldest of us all, but he’s really just a big kid. I have no idea how he managed to get a degree in environmental science. He senses my lens and pouts as he flicks invisible hair over his shoulder.
‘I'll contact Base, maybe they have some suggestions on how to get this lump out of here,’ Miles pulls his phone out. He stands in muddy water that circles his hips, which means he must be in a really deep section because he is six foot four. This morning Eli pranked us all by putting our boots on top of our lockers, and we could only get them back by answering a riddle. I didn’t even get to hear what the riddle was before Miles reached his lanky arms up and retrieved my boots for me. He’s always looking out for me. I lift my camera up, Miles smiles and winks just as I take a photo.
‘We should see what it does!’ Eli blurts.
‘Don’t be ridiculous, you know the rules of extraction,’ Viv says, her eyes a cross between frustration and concern.
‘Just let me get my E.A ready,’ Ross clambers with his Electrostatic Analyser to get a read on the object.
‘Let’s just wait for Ross to do his thing, we need to be cautious with everything we do,’ Xander commands and we all slow down. He possesses the kind of leadership that puts everyone in line; everyone except Eli that is, who chews on his bottom lip and breathes through his flared nostrils, like he's having an inner conversation with himself whether to obey Xander or not.
Eli starts walking around the over-sized marble like he's studying it. He takes a step closer. The splattering of red throughout it starts to shine a little brighter and instead of backing away, Eli's head tilts in child-like wonderment. I can tell from the look in his eyes he won't be able to help himself.
‘Eli be careful!’ I plead, knowing all too well I could never stop him from doing what he wants to do. He ignores me and takes another impulsive step closer. He's about six metres away from it now.
A red glow shines even brighter again, it actually seems like there are sparks coming out of it. A low buzz vibrates. He takes another step closer.
‘ELIJAH!’ Viv screams.
The buzzing becomes a loud hum, and like a solar flare, particles of fire start to emit from the surface. All the tiny shimmers of red gather their energy and dart out as one fierce lightning bolt in Eli's direction.
‘MOVE!’ Miles yells, dropping his phone into the muddy abyss. He lunges himself forward, wrapping his arms around Eli's legs forcing him to buckle at the knees.
The red bolt strikes out and emphatically hits a tree behind them. Miles and Eli clamber away together and we all stand in silence, watching and waiting. Frozen.
The struck tree makes a loud cracking sound that jump-starts everyone's natural instincts.
‘TEN METRE RULE!’ Xander yells, ‘NOW!’
The whole team rushes to where he is and we stand together in shock.
‘Ten metres guys,’ he says calming himself down. ‘We must always keep ten metres away from an unknown object!’
The tree crashes to the ground, smoke rising from its buckled and burned limbs. Ten metres away, red returns to grey as it was before, as if it didn't just try to kill our friend.
‘Static?’ Ross suggests.
‘Times one hundred!’ Eli says breathlessly patting Miles on the back.
~~~
We return to the Base at six, with enough time to get ready for dinner. I want to eat but cleanliness gets the better of me. I peel my sticky uniform off and turn the shower on. I let the water wash over the leaves and dirt and sludge, and things I don’t really want to know were even on me. I still can’t get myself to call this place home, even though technically it is. Where we sleep, where we eat, where we train. From the outside, it looks like a regular country airport in Regional State Victoria. It has a control tower, a hanger, and a small terminal—all surrounded by a prison grade four metre barbed-wire fence you wouldn't dare risk climbing. If it wasn't for the three or four helicopters on t
he tarmac, you could swear it was desolate and out of service.
When I first arrived here ten months ago, I assumed we were catching a flight to somewhere remote and secluded. That was until I stepped into the control tower and was led into an elevator that went—down! The elevator doors opened inside an expansive underground edifice called the Square; a foyer on steroids. Circling up and around are two floors, each with encompassing walkways that surround and look down to the Square. Each floor has its purpose. The ground floor is our living floor - to the left are the bathrooms and bedrooms for the Explorers, like me and my team; the back wall leads to the food hall; and the right-side hallways lead to the bedrooms and bathrooms of the Scientists. The first floor is the working floor, filled with labs and offices. The second floor is what we call the “life-saving” floor. It has anything we could potentially need to survive whilst living in this underground hole. A large Recreation Hall takes up the whole east wing, lounge suites, televisions, eight ball tables, you name it. On the west side is the gymnasium, swimming pool and tennis court. The middle section at the back, called the Containment Room, boasts all the objects we have found on our missions. We call them orbs. Spherical and other-worldly. These are what our missions are for. We find them all over the Earth; armed with a radar which lets us know when and where one will appear. The first orb we ever found as a unit was a metal grey static orb, the size of a basketball, as the name suggests it was full of static electricity. The other orbs are slightly smaller in size and are both equally a mind-blowing phenomenon to everyone. The egg orb can create a protective force field and the portal orb can transport the person holding it anywhere they have been before. They all look like they could almost host a whole galaxy of their own inside. If I stand far enough back in the Square and look up, I can see them all shimmering down, igniting a storm of wonder and possibility. The sight is to an adult what glow in the dark stars are to a child.
Even though the Containment Room was empty the first time I set foot in the Base, I was still in awe standing alongside one hundred or so other people gathered in the Square. A leaflet in the North Beach Gazette simply said: “Adventurous spirits needed. Photographers and Researchers apply. No time wasters.” Underneath the writing was a stamp of a Greek goddess and the words “Palladium Enterprises.” Below the stamp was the quote: May you ALWAYS do what you're afraid to do—Ralph Waldo Emerson.
It doesn't make much sense, even now, but at the time it screamed like a bright neon sign for me. That exact quote has hung in our living room for as long as I can remember.
Back then, I felt restless often and despised the monotony my life had been for those last few years of High School. I needed something more. I was always a firm believer in going to University and finishing a degree, my goal was to become a travelling documentary photographer, to stare at our glorious earth and document the beautiful things she has created. I kept telling myself that I would be at that stage of my life before I knew it. Yet still, a deep wanting beckoned. I'm still unsure whether it was the thirst for something new, or if it was to simply get away from the stench my mother left behind - the soul sucking foulness of her memory that lingered in every inch of our home.
I applied on a whim and before I knew it, I was a small fish in the large Square surrounded by over a hundred other bodies wondering what the hell we were doing there. Professor Ladlow stood tall and commanding on a small platform at the back of the room, ‘It's a secret you know? The work that we do, our job descriptions aren't even classified in working class society, because that is exactly what it is—classified. Welcome to Palladium Enterprises everyone!’ Professor Ladlow began his address and raised his arms with pride, a sporadic cry of wahoo's and whoop's broke out. The electricity in the place was unparalleled to anything I'd ever felt before; I couldn't help but be wrapped up in the hype. Ladlow let his arms drop and looked sideways at a man who seemed like a younger version of himself, Miles. He cleared his throat into the microphone, his mere presence hushing even the loudest among us, ‘Most of you here know the work we do and the new project we're about to embark on. But for those of you who are new and don’t know, let me tell you a little about what we stand for here. Twenty years ago, one of our scientists discovered an egg orb and brought it here for study. We discovered these orbs were appearing all over the world, so we created a tool to track the orbs. We began retrieving, testing, and studying the orbs. At the beginning one would appear every year or so. Over time, the time frame between appearances has significantly lessened. So much so, that we are projecting a massive amount of them to appear over the year. This is the new project: to create teams to track and recover orbs as fast as they appear. Now I reiterate, this work is classified. Once you are assigned to your teams you won't be leaving until the project and your contracts are up in one year. I implore you, new personnel, if you have any doubts about being a part of something so incredibly life changing… world changing, please leave now. You are joining an already dynamic team of leading researchers, scientists, astronomer's, and sentinels. If you feel you aren't up to the task of keeping what we do here a secret, then once I call your name, turn around, enter the elevator and never return.’ I shuffle on my feet trying to eye anyone who may be as nervous as I am. Chatter erupts as the hoard of people standing in front of him begin to whisper to each other with wide eyes.
‘It's fine, you'll be fine.’ A boy who looked no older than seventeen stood beside me and smiled.
He was about five foot eleven with dark brown short spiky hair, his black rimmed glasses sat perfectly on his freckled face. Ross.
Ladlow raised his eyebrows as if displeased by the commotion and a colleague passed him a piece of paper. ‘There will be four units all consisting of six members each. Two scientists, a navigator, a record keeper, a psychologist and an environmental specialist. Once I read out your names please gather in front of my lectern. Team A to D, stand left to right,’ he waved his hand in front of him like a flight attendant motions to the emergency exits. ‘We will give you each a map to your rooms and the whole facility. Take the next two days to acquaint yourselves and nominate a Captain for your team. OK. Team Alpha: Miles Ladlow, Elijah Wilhelm, Eleanora Ray, Vivian Dhawan, Alexander Abramson, Ross Dowd…’
I cringed, Eleanora, no one had called me that since my mother left. I stepped forward at the same time as Ross and our legs crash together with force.
‘Oh sorry,’ he said. ‘Um, was that you?’
‘Eleanora… Nora!’ I replied.
‘Follow me,’ he offered, before pushing his way through the crowd.
Even now, as accustomed as I am to where we are and what we do, I can still remember the feeling like it was only minutes ago. My heart raced so fast that my head felt light. I knew that with each slow hesitant step which I took towards the lectern the harder I'd cement the fate underneath my feet. There was no turning back. I took my place in front and to the left of the lectern with Ross. Another boy around the same height as Ross threw his hand on Ross' shoulder and shook him with joy.
‘This is Nora,’ Ross said pointing his thumb at me over his shoulder. The boy peered around Ross and his deep blue eyes widened when he spotted me.
There was no denying he was gorgeous. From his dark brown hair to his entrancing eyes, from the stubble on his prominent jawline all the way down to his sculpted shoulders. Xander. He pushed through Ross and reached his hand out to me.
‘Hi,’ he said as his mouth turned into a lopsided smirk.
Miles stepped forward away from his father and jumped on Xander's back ripping our hands apart.
‘YES!’ He declared before looking straight at me. ‘Hey!’
‘Hi,’ I smiled not knowing where to stand or who to look at. Clearly flustered.
Eli and Viv were next to introduce themselves.
‘Hi, Eli, fresh meat,’ Eli said.
‘Me too,’ Viv and I said at the same time.
After Professor Ladlow named all the teams, he continued; ‘for thos
e of you who know and those of you who don't know, over the last twenty years, numerous orbs have been appearing all over the country. We have been studying these phenomena for all those years and now anticipate their arrival on a much more frequent basis. Which is why we're putting these teams together with you, my dear hand-picked brilliant friends! Your job is to find and retrieve these orbs that will begin appearing in multitude in two days’ time. You must do this with great stealth and care. I repeat that we are a classified section. In simple terms, no one must know what we are doing here; and it is our utmost priority that we find all orbs before any civilian.’
I swallowed hard yet I could barely taste a trickle of saliva in my mouth. In contrast my hands where clammy and perspiration began forming in all the unwanted crevices of my body. Excitement, awe, and fear rose up through me like water on the boil. And now? Now it's another day and another retrieval mission, soon followed by another dinner in a food hall—which just so happens to reside in a secret subterranean building hiding underneath the remains of an unused airfield. That's all.
TWO
Nora
The hot shower rains its temperance over me, I'm in heaven right here. I fold my arms and rest them on the tiled wall, my head follows them as the water streams over my shoulders and down my back; a soft massage that I completely need. I watch the water splash and spit on the base around my feet, little glistening beads of exhaustion are washed away one by one.
As I turn the taps off, I hear it—the unmistakable bellow of Eli’s voice accompanied with the constant pound of his fist to the door.
I peer my head around the slightly open bathroom door. Behind the door, I stand in nothing but a towel with my waterlogged long hair weighing down onto it.
‘The buffet is open. It's full of pasta and five different sauces!’ Miles beams behind Eli.
‘FIVE! Did you hear that? I wonder what the extra one is?’ Eli gasps. ‘Is it pesto? Oh, god let it be pesto!’
