by PJ Haarsma
I couldn’t imagine what those threats were, but I had learned long ago to never doubt anything on the rings.
“I want to help, Tang, but I have to do it out there,” I said, and pointed up. “I never want my sister or my friends to end up broken like this. I can’t imagine that my parents would have brought us here if there was even the chance this might happen.”
“I’m afraid there is not much you can do from out there, but in time I will understand,” Tang replied. “Come. Toll is waiting.”
More food vendors lined the street that led back to the water portal. We stopped when one alien asked Tang for a moment of his time. A nearby vendor was graciously offering up sacks of toonbas, and I thought of my sister.
“Would you mind if I took some for my sister, Tang?” I asked, but he was busy in conversation.
He won’t mind, I thought, and accepted a pouch of the treats from the vendor. I tucked them inside my vest. I knew Ketheria would love them.
Toll was waiting for us at the water portal. Tang looked at the Samiran, and then hung his head. They must have spoken of this arrangement before. They were simply waiting for the right time. It made me feel uncomfortable knowing that they had planned this meeting. Was everything an elaborate scheme? Showing me the lights, telling me how to bypass the security? Even the story about my father?
“There is one more thing,” Tang said, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small, transparent digi. He tapped the silicon sheet and a picture blinked on the screen. I recognized Toll. The man sitting on top of him looked familiar, too.
It couldn’t be.
I looked at Toll and then at Tang. He closed his eyes. “Yes, it is,” he said.
My father?
I stared at the picture again. The man sat on top of Toll the same way I did. He was a big man, bigger even than Charlie, with thick, dark hair and massive shoulders. He looked human, very human, even with the Space Jumper’s belt around his waist and the helmet resting on his lap. I couldn’t help but stare at the photo.
“Is this really him? Is this my dad?”
There was a photo of my father in the files on the Renaissance, but it was only a headshot — a rank-and-file photo file for the ship’s records, nothing more. Even though this digi was small, it showed what my father must have been like. I stared at his eyes and the slight grin on his face. My father looked strong and fearless to me.
“I’m afraid that digi must stay here,” Toll said.
“You will not be able to explain where you got it,” Tang added.
I looked at both of them. But what about Ketheria? She deserved to see this, too. “I want to show my sister,” I protested.
“I’m sorry,” Tang said knowingly.
“We must go now,” Toll said. “The others will begin to worry.”
My fingers would not release the digi. I concentrated on it. I wanted to burn the image into my brain. I looked at my father sitting atop Toll as if they were friends, good friends. Odran was wrong. I was right to trust Toll. I handed the photo back to Tang.
“Thank you,” I told him. “But now I have a million more questions.”
“Good,” Tang said. “Then I know I will see you again, my new friend.”
“You will.”
I climbed back onto Toll in a daze. I finished pulling on the protective suit, and Toll slipped into the water. Before I went under, I got one more look at the city.
I sprinted down the stairs of the cooling tank. I knew I couldn’t tell a soul about Toll Town — I couldn’t even tell Ketheria about the digi I’d seen of our father — but the excitement of knowing what I’d seen kept my feet moving all the way back to the dormitory.
No one noticed me enter. Most were huddled in groups with their backs to me.
I saw Theodore. “What’s going on?” I asked.
“I told them they shouldn’t do it,” he replied.
“Do what?”
“Play with the food.”
“Don’t let him get away!” another kid shouted as a small alien sprang up and tore across the dormitory floor. It was pink with at least eight arms or legs, but no eyes. Two long tentacles sprouted from one end of the thing and were flickering about in the air.
“What is that?” I asked.
“That’s what we feed to the Samirans,” Theodore said.
“Not anymore,” someone else replied.
“But that was on the work order,” I said. “If Odran finds out . . .”
“Switzer said that as long you can talk to that big fish, we don’t have to do our chores,” another kid said.
“Well, Switzer’s not in charge,” I snapped, reaching down for the alien as it scrambled past. It wriggled from my grasp, ran up my arm, and socked me in the chin. “Ow!”
“That’s nothing,” Theodore said.
“We have to put them back,” I said. “Come on — help me get them back to wherever they’re supposed to go.”
The other kids were laughing at me as I tried to round up the creatures. They were fast! I was never going to catch them by myself. I looked around for Max’s help, but she wasn’t there. Neither was Ketheria.
“Where’s Ketheria?”
“She’s with Max,” he said. “Switzer and Dalton gave out a bunch more orders and then they left. Max waited a bit before she took off after them.”
“She didn’t take a rope with her, did she?”
“Yes, how did you know?”
“Theodore!”
He jumped off his sleeper and then straightened out his sheet — twice. Then he mumbled “You don’t think she would have —”
“And by herself,” I yelled. “Why didn’t you go with her?”
“I had chores to do,” he argued, looking around at all the mess.
“You didn’t want to go down that hole again,” I said, and Theodore stared at his feet.
“What about Ketheria?” I asked.
“I think Max needed some help with the —”
“Come on!” I said, and grabbed Theodore by the vest. I pointed at one of the boys. “Round those things up and put them back where they came from.”
“No,” he said.
I had no reply. I wasn’t going to beg. I heard another kid snicker.
“What are you going to do? Zap me with the enabler, too?” he taunted me.
Still I had no reply. I stood there staring at the kid. Is this how it starts? I wondered. First we refuse to work, then the Citizens start to punish us — we grow resentful and then end up in Toll Town?
“No, I’m not,” I said. “But Odran will.”
I dragged Theodore out of the room and through the building faster than a light drive. It took me a little time to get my bearings, but I finally found the stairs that led down to the tunnels.
“Maybe they didn’t go there this time,” Theodore said, but I knew he was only trying to get out of going down to the tunnels.
“Just stay close,” I told him.
I charged down the stairs, each step lighting up as I went. I chose the center tunnel, still running. I couldn’t believe Max would take Ketheria. Was she crazy? What did she think Switzer had found down there? Max’s curiosity really got the best of her sometimes, I thought. I only hoped Switzer wasn’t trying to escape. Not with my sister.
“Ketheria!”
When I found them, my sister and Max were tying the rope to a metal grate over the open tunnel. There was no sign of Switzer or Dalton.
“What are you doing, Max?” I snapped.
“Hey guys, good timing,” she said.
“Good timing? Are you crazy, taking Ketheria down there?” I said.
The girls looked at each other.
“Why are you acting so weird?” Max said.
“Me?” I wasn’t acting weird.
“Yeah. What’s wrong?” Ketheria said.
“It’s dangerous; that’s what’s wrong. Theodore’s right this time, guys,” I argued.
“Then help us,” my sister said.
>
Both of the girls just looked at me.
“No one’s gonna get hurt,” Max tried to assure me. “Besides, this is the most interesting thing I’ve done since we’ve been here. You get to work with the Samirans, but we’re basically waiting around doing nothing except getting beaten up by Toll’s dinner.”
I looked at Max. I wanted to tell them about Toll Town, about the alien with the skin and how the families were broken apart. I wanted to warn them somehow so they wouldn’t do this, not this way.
But I didn’t.
“All right,” I said. “But I go first.”
“No, you don’t,” Max protested. “After me.”
“Then me,” Ketheria chimed in.
“I’ll wait up here,” Theodore said. “And keep the light on.”
I stood next to Max. “Whew! You guys reek.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Max said as she held up a portable light. “Here, hold this. Ketheria got it from Odran’s room.”
I looked at my sister. “Now you’re stealing?”
“It’s not stealing if you bring it back,” she replied.
“Ready?” Max said.
“What do we do?” I asked.
“Tie onto the grate with the rope, leaving enough rope in case you slip. Then lean out and grab the chain,” Max told us.
“In case you slip? You’re nuts,” Theodore exclaimed. Ketheria was already tying up.
“I want to know what those two found,” Max said.
We did what Max said, but she couldn’t reach the chain. Max stretched out as far as she could, but it was no use.
So Max jumped.
“Max!” I screamed.
As her feet left the edge of the hole, my mind flashed to the escaping alien jumping for the cable under the crystal flier. He missed the first time and so did Max. She caught the chain but could not hold tight. She slipped down the chain and the darkness swallowed her up.
“Max!” Theodore yelled.
The chain jerked and then held still.
“I’m all right,” she yelled back.
Ketheria shone the light on her. Max had managed to jam her foot in one of the rings that ran the length of each chain. She clung to the chain just below our feet.
“Be careful,” she warned us. “It’s a little slippery.”
“I can see that,” I said.
“You’re insane,” Theodore told her. “I’m staying right here.”
“Suit yourself. Here, catch.” Max grabbed another chain, gave it a yank, and flung it toward Ketheria. She caught it on the first try.
“How are you going to get off the chain now?” Theodore said. I think he was hoping Max hadn’t thought of that.
“Easy,” Max replied, and she tied the rope from the metal grate to her chain. She used it to pull herself back to the edge.
“Oh,” Theodore muttered.
Once we were on the chains, we looked at Theodore, still standing at the edge of the tunnel.
“We’ll be back in a bit,” I told him.
“Maybe longer,” Max added, and took the light from Ketheria.
“What’s longer than a bit?” Theodore said. “Wait — I’m coming, too.” And he tied off.
Once all four of us were secure, I carefully lowered myself down the tunnel. As we moved deeper, the crystal light cut into the grimy, tiled walls, following us from the main tunnel. Chunks of garbage were stuck in grates that punctured the walls, and there was a thin coat of slime on everything.
The air grew increasingly damp the deeper we went. We moved down the chain through a layer of mist just like the thin clouds that were at the center of Orbis 2. There was no bottom in sight.
“Let’s go back,” Theodore complained. “There’s nothing down here.”
“No, look,” Max said, and shone the light on another, larger, opening in the tunnel right below her.
Ketheria clambered back up her chain.
“There’s nothing. Don’t be scared,” Max yelled after her.
“No, wait,” Ketheria said. “Do you hear that?”
We hung motionless in the air, but no one heard anything.
“There. Shine the light there,” Ketheria said, pointing to a hole in the tunnel that was once covered by a grate. The grate now dangled from a single bolt.
Max shone the light into the hole. There was something there. I could see it squirming under the garbage and debris.
“Nugget!” Ketheria screamed. “I knew you were here.”
It happened very quickly. When Nugget heard Ketheria’s voice, he lifted his head from under the trash and shielded the light with his big, clumsy hands. Once he saw Ketheria, Nugget sprang toward her and launched himself from within the hole. There was no doubt that he would make it; I was only concerned that Ketheria wouldn’t be able to hold on once Nugget grabbed her.
“Hold tight, Ketheria!” I shouted.
Grunting under the impact of the heavy load, she beamed and yelled, “I’ve got him.”
My sister wrestled one arm through the metal ring in the chain and used the other to hold on to Nugget. He was as big as she was now but far more muscular.
“Kechera, Kechera, Kechera!” Nugget repeated over and over.
“He remembers me,” she said, glowing.
“What do we do now?” Theodore said, staring at the alien.
“We keep going,” Max replied, and pushed deeper down the tunnel.
“Ketheria can’t carry him,” I told her.
“It’s OK, Nugget; you’re safe now,” my sister whispered. “You can stay with us forever.”
I wasn’t sure if Odran would agree with Ketheria’s hospitality.
“Nugget, catch,” Theodore said as he swung a chain toward him.
It bounced off Nugget and clanked back and forth. Nugget reached out and grabbed it.
“See? He knows what to do. C’mon, Nugget — we’re exploring. Come with us,” Ketheria said.
The little alien hesitated until he saw all of us doing the same thing. Gone from his eyes was the meanness I had seen when he used to order us around Weegin’s World. Weegin must have abandoned him — or worse, Weegin was dead.
“Wait,” Nugget barked. He turned back to the hole. “Inal!”
“What’s he saying?” Theodore said.
“I don’t know,” I replied.
“There is someone with Nugget,” Ketheria said.
A small creature with fierce blue eyes and patches of white whiskers poked out from under the same spot where Nugget had been hiding.
“Friends, Inal,” Nugget said.
“I don’t remember being Nugget’s friend,” Theodore said.
Inal was the same size as Nugget and had feet like hands. The alien was wrapped in a soiled rag, but his Guarantor’s skin was still visible. Inal was a knudnik.
He looked at us cautiously without saying a word, then he asked, “Do you have food?”
“No, we don’t. I’m sorry,” I told the alien.
“Do you know where any is?”
“Come with us,” Ketheria offered. “We’ll get you some food.”
“Food!” Nugget yelped. “I want food.”
“I don’t know if this is a good idea, JT,” Theodore complained.
I thought the same thing. Inal had obviously escaped from his Guarantor. Someone must being looking for him. I just didn’t know what he was doing with Nugget.
“I found another tunnel!” Max shouted. She was three meters below us, swinging wildly on her chain. I looked at Inal.
“Come with us, Inal. We’ll find you some food,” I said.
“And how do we get over there, Max?” Theodore shouted down the tunnel to her.
“Like this.” Max swung on her chain slowly, picking up momentum as she neared the hole. Ketheria did the same.
“Be careful!” I warned.
Max grabbed a grate above the tunnel and let go of the chain, dangling above the opening, and over the huge hole below us. With a swing and a jer
k, she landed on the edge of the opening — the very edge. She waved her arms to steady herself and then safely slipped inside.
“Come on — swing over, Ketheria. I’ll grab you.”
“You are crazy,” Theodore told her.
“I’m here, aren’t I?” she said, proud of what she was doing. She caught Ketheria’s chain on the first attempt and helped Ketheria into the tunnel. It was just like the one we left, a hundred meters above us.
“Push Nugget’s chain,” Ketheria ordered Theodore. The alien leaped at Ketheria well before he should have.
“Nugget!”
He knocked Ketheria flat on her back, but he was safe. Inal was much more graceful than Nugget. He leaped from the hold and shimmied down the chain all in one motion.
“I don’t think that was the first time he’s done that,” Theodore whispered, but Inal still heard him.
“I am a female. Can you not tell?”
Actually I couldn’t, but I didn’t say anything. Instead, Theodore and I followed Inal into the opening, and soon we were all heading down another tunnel. This one sloped upward, but the light that had followed us in the other tunnel did not turn on. Max shone her light along the tunnel walls. Scratched onto the walls were circular symbols and spirals. Some drawings looked like waves, while others looked like the markings I’d seen on the faces of Nagools.
“Someone’s been here,” Max said.
“I’ve never seen stuff like this before,” Theodore said.
I had, on the walls in Toll Town. Circles and sketches made by those waiting — bored or burdened with the desire to leave their mark before they left. I wondered if the same aliens hiding in Toll Town had made these.
The tunnel sloped down and then turned to the right. More debris and junk littered the ground, and now the circle drawings completely covered the walls. The tunnel ended with three more choices, just like before.
“Which way do we go?” Theodore asked, and we all looked at Ketheria.
“Why are you looking at me?” she asked.
Nugget yanked on Ketheria arms and pointed to the tunnel on the left. “I’m hungry!” He charged down the tunnel, dragging Ketheria with him.
“Er, nice to have him back, isn’t it?” Max said.
