by L. E. Thomas
“I said move it, Stone,” Nubern called from the other side of the room where Bear and Skylar remained with confused expressions on their faces. He waved his arm. “We’ve got to go!”
Austin rubbed at his eyes as he followed the others. Nubern pushed through a door leading to a massive expanse. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of people moved in all directions. It looked like images he had seen of New York City. People dashed shoulder to shoulder as they scurried. Still dizzy, Austin looked at the floor as they moved. The glossy black surface showed no signs of wear even with the amount of foot traffic moving across it. Steel beams crossed the ceiling and circular security cameras were suspended a hundred feet above the floor. Colorful holograms hovering in midair displayed data, images from a news program, and sparkling star charts. Most of the people passing him had one-piece outfits in various colors similar to his Tizona uniform. All of the other uniforms had different emblems on their chest. Other people wore simple business attire as if this was part of the normal morning commute. Different languages chattered around him. He thought he recognized Spanish, maybe French, but the other languages were so odd, so exotic, he had never heard them before. Were they in some kind of airport?
A man dressed in a gray uniform pushed a cart beside him and muttered something in a language Austin didn’t understand, but his intent was universal: Get out of the way.
“Sorry,” Austin said.
As the man glared at him and passed, Austin glanced down at the cart. His jaw dropped. The man pushed a cart of cardboard boxes. The cart itself, however, was unlike anything he had ever seen. It glided across the floor, not on it. As far as he could tell, the cart had no wheels. Instead, it floated three feet off the shimmering floor.
“That cart has no wheels,” he said under his breath before hurrying to catch up with the others. He poked Skylar’s shoulder. “Hey, that cart has no wheels.”
“I saw it,” she shot back. “’What is this place?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t.” He gazed at the ceiling again, this time staring at the screen of the star chart.
“I don’t like this. How did we get here so fast? Nubern said it’s California.”
“Down here!” Nubern hurried through the crowd and led them down a wide staircase.
At the base of the staircase, more large pipes lined the pristine room. Bright, fluorescent lights mingled with the colors blinking from the conduits. The walls muffled the clamor of the mass of humanity that was moving through the room above. Nubern stood with his hands on his hips.
Austin watched other men and women in dark uniforms climb in and out of the various pipes. “Where are we, sir?”
“I told you: California.” Nubern gestured to the pipes. “Let’s go.”
Skylar’s hands trembled as she turned to look at Austin. Bear spoke and cut through the awkward silence.
“I don’t know about going into these pipes again.”
“They’re called tubes,” Nubern said.
“I don’t know if I like the idea of going into these tubes, sir.”
“Come on, big guy, you’re first.” Nubern offered him a silver piece of paper. “This gum will help.”
Bear unwrapped the gum and popped it into his mouth. He glanced at Austin and Skylar with a peculiar expression, as if he expected to be filled in on this elaborate prank. He trudged to the tube. Just like before, he folded his long legs, and they shut the hatch over him with a hiss. When they opened the tube, he was gone.
Skylar was next. Her shoulders slumped forward.
Nubern placed his hand on her elbow. “I promise you that everything is going to be okay. This will be your last tube transport for a while, all right? Come on, let’s go. We need you to go right now.”
Skylar nodded, her body shaking as she slipped into the tube. She locked eyes with Austin before Nubern shut the hatch. The room filled with a brief whine of electronics and machinery. The lights flickered.
And she was gone.
Nubern opened the hatch and faced Austin. “I’ll be right behind you,” he said, handing Austin a stick of gum.
“I don’t understand.”
“Very soon now, you will.”
“But what is all this? Does the school own all this?”
“Actually, we own and operate the school. You are at Base Prime North America.”
“Who owns it?”
Nubern pointed to the hatch. “Come find out.”
Austin slipped into the tube, static electricity tingling his skin, tickling the hairs on his arms. A loud hum surrounded him as he chewed on the gum.
Nubern looked down at him. “See you soon.”
The tingling sensation lingered. The second trip was longer than the first. Austin opened his eyes and then narrowed them to slivers as a green haze surrounded him. He stared at the emerald cloud fluctuating. The light stopped as if someone had shut off the power, and the hatch opened.
“Get out,” a voice boomed.
Austin’s eyes had not adjusted, and before he could respond, strong hands gripped his uniform at the shoulders and lifted him from the tube. His knees cracked against the end of the pipeline. The sound came through his ears as if he had cotton swabs stuffed inside. Everything seemed muted. He heard his own breathing in his head as if he were underwater and hooked to scuba gear. His eyes adjusted as men manhandled him across the room. A lower, cooler blue hue surrounded him. The guy who had yanked him from the tube was a beast, his muscles bulging beneath a dark gray uniform.
Skylar stood nearby and asked something he couldn’t hear. Her mouth moved again as she repeated the statement. He understood one word: “Okay?”
He pointed to his ears. “I can’t hear anything!”
Austin chewed the gum in large, deliberate movements, hoping his ears would pop. He opened his mouth like a fish sucking for air.
Pop!
The sounds crashed through his ears and rushed into his consciousness. Voices conversed from all directions beyond the walls of the current room, which housed six tubes lining the center of the chamber. Staff in solid uniforms of different colors moved through oval doors hidden in the dull white of the room. Alarms like a thousand cell phones created a chorus of activity. Cobalt blue track lighting outlined the dimensions of the ceiling and floor, creating a shade like a moonlit night.
His head pounded like a full-blown migraine and his stomach turned.
“You all right now?” she asked.
“I guess. Feel like I’ve been through a grinder. Where the hell are we now?”
She frowned. “I have no idea.”
Austin nodded at Bear, who swayed behind Skylar as if he had spent too much time in a bar. “What’s up with him?”
She glanced back. “He’s been a bit off since we got here. Wherever ‘here’ is.”
“I’m not sure I like this,” he said, leaning in closer. “What kind of a mission trip could this be? Is this for real?”
“I don’t believe for a second we were in California,” she whispered back, staring at the guy in gray.
“When they get out steak knives and ask us to stay for dinner, and Bear’s disappeared, I’m leaving.”
She stared at him. “Not funny.”
“Trying to lighten the mood. I feel like crap, and now I’m getting worried.”
“When we see Nubern, get some answers!”
He snorted. “Me? Why me?”
“Everyone knows he likes you. You guys talk a lot. Better you than me.”
The tube nearest him hissed and the muscled man in gray hurried over, checking a tablet in his right hand. “Incoming from Base Prime,” the man said in a deep voice.
He yanked back on the hatch.
“Welcome, Captain,” the man said as he offered a hand.
When Nubern sat up in the tube, Austin frowned. Captain?
“Thank you.” Nubern stood, nodding at the staff around the tubes. “Gentlemen.”
He marched toward the three recruits, his head held high,
and his hands clasped behind his back. He nodded to the three of them. “Welcome to Atlantis. If you’ll follow me, we have a great deal to do and a short time to do it.”
Austin paused. “Did you just say Atlantis?”
“I did. Follow me, please.”
Nubern spun on his heel and marched toward the featureless white wall. The barrier shimmered and dilated as he approached.
Skylar nudged Austin’s shoulder, and he took a few quick steps to catch up to Nubern.
“Excuse me, sir, but we have some questions.”
“I’m sure you do, Recruit, but now’s not the time.”
“But where are we?”
“I told you: Atlantis.”
Austin glared at him. “So the school owns Atlantis?”
“Nobody ‘owns’ Atlantis. It’s run by the military and funded by the government.”
They entered a long tunnel stretching to the left. The walls gleamed with a fresh coat of wax. Their footsteps and voices echoed while they walked. The oval door materialized shut behind them.
“The U.S. owns this?”
Nubern laughed, sending the cackling down the tunnel. “They would like to, but think bigger.”
“Is it corporate?” Bear asked.
“I think it would be better if we wait for the stories. Let’s just say we own a number of schools across the planet. You just happened to be from Tizona.”
Austin moved closer as he quickened his pace to keep up with Nubern. “Okay, if you’re not going to tell us about the place, at least explain the tubes.”
“What about them?”
“Why are we traveling in these tubes?”
“Because it is quicker, safer, and more discreet than air travel. Quite honestly, we don’t have time for all that.”
“Yeah, but how does it work?” Skylar asked.
Nubern cleared his throat. “Think of it as a fax machine only your body is the paper. The tubes simply break you down into particles and send you on your way.”
Austin felt his heart constrict. “Break you down? What does that mean?”
“Nothing to worry about. Relax. It is perfectly simple. We’ve been using them for centuries without a single accident.”
“Terrific.”
“It’s similar to the curvature drive but localized by the tubes.”
“Curvature drive? You mean like the Star Runners game?”
“Keep moving.”
The tunnel ended at another dilated door revealing a white room with glaring fluorescent lights above. Nubern gestured inside. “Time for a medical examination.”
“Medical examination? Again?” Austin sighed.
“You don’t want to enter a new environment unprepared. You have to do the same thing when you travel overseas, right? This is certainly no different. The doc will check on you and give you the green light for travel. No big deal.”
Three nurses clad in white, their faces masked, approached and led them each individually to a table. Austin stared into her chocolate-colored eyes. She squinted in what must have been a smile. She pulled out a silver tool which shimmered in the bright light of the sterile room and held his hand. The tool pierced his fingertip quickly, and she placed the tool in a receptacle nearby. She shone a light into his eyes.
Skylar stared at him from her table. Her expression transformed from worry to frustration, her eyebrows lowering. She pursed her lips as the nurse took a blood sample. He opened his mouth to say something to her, anything to make her feel better, but the nurse thrust a tongue depressor into his mouth.
“Almost done,” Nubern said, smiling as he folded his arms across his chest. “After this, we’ll head out. You came here for an education, an opportunity. Today, you embark on a new phase of your education. After today, you will never be the same. Do as your superiors command and you will be fine.”
Austin closed his eyes as the nurse pressed down on his tongue.
With the physical check complete, the three students followed Nubern away from the examination tables. An entire side of the white room dilated and moved away. Austin’s jaw dropped. The wall opened to a chamber as large as an indoor stadium with dozens of workstations sprinkled throughout the building. Hundreds of staff worked, typing or speaking into headsets. Some workstations boasted sleek monitors and computer equipment while others utilized technology Austin had never seen before. It looked like they had holograms floating over their desks. Various staff hurried around the room, making the place appear as busy as an anthill. High above the flurry of activity, hanging like a ghostly aura, loomed the blue orb of Earth. The holographic image rotated as thousands of points of light moved around the planet.
“From here, we monitor all activity on the planet,” Nubern said as they paused just past the doorway.
High above the holographic Earth was the dark, starless sky. Austin blinked. Wait a minute. He squinted into the night sky, wondering at the absence of stars. His eyes focused on three, no, four blue shapes moving across the sky. They grew in size and the colors shifted from blue to a soft red and back again.
“Those look like jelly fish,” Austin whispered.
The others leaned back to stare into the sky.
Nubern followed their gaze. “Ah, yes, they are. This is Earth Command, also known as Atlantis Command.” He slapped Austin on the shoulder. “Come on! We still have a schedule to keep.”
Nubern led them through the controlled chaos of the room. Dozens of languages buzzed around him. Most of the staff spoke into headsets, but some conversed in person.
Austin’s face warmed as Skylar squeezed his hand. He squeezed back, trying to show a sense of control and strength he didn’t really feel. As they walked under the giant hologram of the Earth, Skylar pulled him close.
“Does that mean we’re underwater?”
“I guess so.”
“What does that mean?”
“I have no idea.”
“I’m scared.”
“It’ll be all okay.” Austin smiled but wondered if she might be right.
“Sir?” he called. “Why did those guys call you captain?”
“That’s my rank.”
He frowned. “So we’re in the military?”
“Keep walking. We’ll answer your questions soon enough.”
Austin took another look at the bizarre creatures floating high above them, smiled, and continued following Nubern, who had stepped down a stairway leading to an elevator. Nubern pressed the button and entered when the doors opened, gesturing for them to follow.
As the doors shut on the activity in the room beyond, Austin swallowed and took a deep breath.
“I know you all must have questions, and I am sorry to keep you in the dark,” Nubern said. “Most of your questions will be answered at your next stop.”
The elevator droned.
“Sir, you’ve got to tell us why there are jellyfish floating above a giant hologram of Earth.”
“They aren’t floating. They’re swimming.”
The three students exchanged glances.
“What?” Bear asked.
Nubern turned. “They. Are. Swimming.” He studied them. “What’s wrong with all of you? The depth must be getting to you. You are the best and brightest. Figure it out.”
He turned around as the elevator doors slid open.
If the previous room with the hologram was pristine, this room was the exact opposite. With a ceiling several stories high and rafters linking steel catwalks in a dozen directions mixed with the chaos below, this area looked like the world’s messiest garage. Men yelled at one another over machinery so loud it hurt Austin’s ears. He recoiled from the barrage of sound as they stepped out of the elevator. Sparks from welding torches fell like fireflies on a summer evening. As they walked through the clutter, puddles of oil and other fluids stuck to the soles of their boots. Nubern, unable to speak loud enough to overcome the racket, pointed at tools and collections of liquids they should avoid as he led them from the open floor to
a narrower path, like an alley in a big city.
As he tried to avoid crashing into a pile of circuit boards and monitors, Austin noticed the mechanical taste of the air. A shower of sparks fell around them in the dimly lit path. They all looked up. Austin paused, causing Bear and Skylar to run into his back. Because they were the size of buildings, he hadn’t noticed before, but there were ships flanking their path. He kept walking without looking away. The ships were the largest he had ever seen. He glanced back at Skylar, who seemed to be studying this new revelation as well.
When they passed the front of the first ship, another was tucked in next to it. It felt like they were strolling along a city block between a construction site full of towering skyscrapers. There must be hundreds of men working down here. They had passed eleven ships before the area opened to provide more space. Nubern kept marching through the scene as if nothing could touch him. The farther they walked, the more the noise died down.
“Austin! Did you see that?”
“Yeah, what a mess.”
“No.” She pulled on the shoulder of his uniform and pointed him backward. “Did you see that?”
Austin stared at the collage of steel, sparks, and activity carrying on behind them. He shrugged but continued looking when Skylar nodded toward the ships. For the first time, he saw the ships from a distance. Tall as a building and as long as a city block, the end of the closest ship came together at a point like an oversized marker. They looked familiar, a little like…
He shot a glance at Skylar. She nodded. He turned back.
“A Legion freighter.”
She smacked him on the back. “All of them are.”
Bear caught up to them, his eyes wide like a child seeing presents on Christmas morning. “Did you guys see that?”
“Legion freighters,” Austin said softly. He had defended the Legion freighters during a thousand escort missions before on Star Runners, but that was a video game. “But...how?”
“Dunno, man.” He leaned in close and looked over his shoulder. “Do you think we’re on drugs?”
“You might be,” Austin said as he craned his neck to look past Bear’s large frame and gain a better view of the freighters. “I know I’m not and I still don’t believe it.” He squinted. The crews were working on Legion freighters. “Something has to explain all this,” he breathed. His pulse quickened. “It’s got to be some kind of dream, right?”
