Symmetry

by T M Caruana

  The last member was Kora, the only female, however she compensated being in the minority with her immense wisdom and experience. She was like the most precious crystal. A glance at her soul through her amber eyes captured you in a moment of enchantment that no one wished to be released from. She was an angel with the power to transform your deepest feelings into her own and use the knowledge of your exploited heart to her own advantage. Even though she was the most beautiful woman ever seen, Samuel had suffered a history of disputes with her and kept as far away as he could.

  At the last Honorary Knight Order meeting the members had exchanged duties, which resulted in Samuel having to look for the map. This was the most difficult and dangerous task and had cost him his wife. He was relieved, therefore, finally to be able to call this mission complete after only seven years. Tarus’s uncooperative character had obviously and unfairly excluded him from the draw for the different duties and he solely had the responsibility to track the treasure: Susy. This was the only way he agreed to help. Given Tarus’s characteristics it was strange that he was given that assignment, but Samuel didn’t want to argue with Hunter who was also Susy’s closest relative in the group.

  The hall was full of passengers waiting for their suitcases and Samuel was glad that he had only a carry-on bag. He remembered the little kiosk on the right-hand side just before the exit to the buses, where seven years ago he had bought water and chewing gum. This time he bought a juice and a bag of peanuts that were banned nowadays on flights because of allergies.

  He went outside to the waiting area and sat down on a bench to wait for the bus to Malaga bus station. He tossed a handful of peanuts into his mouth and drank a little of the juice before the bus arrived. He stepped on board, paid and continued further back into the bus. The front seats were already occupied. The bus set off and Samuel got a clear view of the modern extension to the airport. It looked impressive, covered in tinted windows.

  It wasn’t long before Samuel arrived at the bus station where he walked up to till fourteen to buy a ticket to continue his trip to La Linea de la Concepción. It would take about three hours with all the stops to get there. The stops were always in the same places: Fuengirola, Marbella and Estepona before La Linea. The trip wasn’t yet finished at this point, as Samuel would need to cross the border to Gibraltar with the hope that his fake passport wouldn’t be spotted at immigration. Samuel wanted to remain anonymous. ‘The more invisible the better,’ he thought with irony and smiled, given his ability to make himself invisible. His final destination was the Eliott Hotel located just one street off the centre of Gibraltar’s Main Street.

  When Samuel arrived at the bus station, he began to walk towards the big majestic rock. It rose up from the southern tip of Europe and was dubbed one of Hercules’ Pillars that guarded the gateway to the Atlantic Ocean. What an inspiring sight the illuminated cliff face of the towering rock was, he thought in awe. Legend has it that in the shadows a soldier could be seen standing to attention and a woman cradling her child. However, he couldn’t see it from the bus station and so he briskly walked on. These parts of Spain weren’t quite safe to wander around when it got dark.

  Arriving at the border, his sore feet reminded him that the journey must soon come to an end. Samuel was nervous when passing through the border control, which would be carried out in two stages. Firstly, a member of the border police verified your passport, both on the Spanish and the British side, and secondly the customs officer on the British side checked if you had anything to declare for duty taxation. This meant that he had to go through various checks where he might be caught. However, he was pretty sure the attackers hadn’t followed him. He had taken precautions along the journey; changed course, passed through different doors and even changed his shirt at the men’s room in the airport.

  His heart started pounding inside his chest as he approached the Spanish policemen who were standing talking to each other. Samuel began to slow down his pace to avoid looking guilty, but eventually he had to pass them. The policemen didn’t even acknowledge that he was there. Had they even seen him? He was quite sure he hadn’t made himself invisible. He continued with the same expectation on the British side. Even they waved him through when they saw the front of his European passport. He could have been anyone and the passport could have belonged to a woman. Of the many things that were wrong with this world, this was one that Samuel wouldn’t complain about now. His luck continued when white taxis were lined up, waiting for customers just a few metres from the border. He jumped into the first available taxi and spoke his request loud and clear.

  “Eliott Hotel, please!”

  Upon arrival at the hotel Samuel paid the taxi driver and gave a small tip even though he didn’t deserve it. The man had been driving like a maniac, whilst talking on his phone in a mixture of English and Spanish and waving his arms around at the other motorists who got too close. Samuel quickly checked in. It had been a long day and a long journey. The paracetamol had long since stopped being effective and both his body and soul ached.

  In the hotel room he unpacked his pyjamas, but tossed it aside as it was too hot to wear them. Harriett always wanted him to be decent and he would never have complained in her presence. At this moment he wanted nothing more than to curl up and feel the cool, freshly laundered hotel sheets against his skin. It wasn’t long before he fell asleep.

  Samuel was abruptly woken by a knock on the door. His whole body froze with fear. Looking toward the digital alarm clock he noted that his sleep hadn’t lasted longer than thirty minutes. It couldn’t be any of the Order members. They would never jeopardise being seen together except at the agreed location. The meeting wasn’t until tomorrow night. This visit probably had no connection to the summoning.

  5

  UNEXPLAINED RESCUE

  Would I dare to breathe? Would I try to crawl out through the door they came from? To stay under the workbench still seemed the safest, but it would reach the point when I must get out. Frankly, I was terrified of what awaited me on the outside world. Father hadn’t yet discovered my escape; I would have felt his disappointment shoot straight through me. Why was I such a coward? Was the fear based on the uncertainty about my? I only hoped that my memory would hold. My memory failed me frequently and there were no patterns that suggested if it was caused by a problem with the short or long-term memory. It was selective, as if someone viewed me from above and chose which moments would give the most amusing outcome or perhaps it was like a random lottery. I had always remembered father, uncle and Vic, but not the nurses on the ward who must have known me for as long as my family. Some news reports on TV may stay with me for a year, others only hours. Days and dates were worse. It was as if numbers didn’t stick at all. Perhaps it was down to my photographic memory because sometimes I remembered faces, but not the names and sometimes the prick of the needles, but not the time they had been carried out.

  From under the desk, I could see the two men adjusting some dials and standing to watch with intense interest through the glass window into the small room.

  I heard my father say: “Do you believe me now Ben? Have I managed to prove my theory to you after so many years?”

  “Well, it suggests a certain success, I must say,” my uncle replied.

  Not understanding what on earth they were talking about, I carried on trying to form an escape plan, until the next comment broke into my thoughts.

  “I would never have thought that it would have taken four hundred years to see the first glimpses of hope,” muttered uncle, “and many have paid a high price for our greed,” he continued in the same low tone.

  “No, don’t start on this issue again, you are a scientist and you understand that sometimes a few have to suffer in order for the majority to prosper,” father explained with a disconcerting satisfaction, which I had never heard before and made me worry more about my mission.

  “What is missing in the formula? Could it be the speed at which Susy’s blood collides? Is the bl
ood not hot enough? Or has it to do with gravity?” he continued, debating more with himself it seemed than with uncle Ben.

  “Maybe the power stone is a contributing factor, and it has to be near the blood for it to be activated?”

  Now it was my uncle’s turn to speak.

  “Stupid, don’t you think I understand that! But you know very well that Samuel disappeared with the yellow stone as we returned to Earth through the black hole portal,” father said, slating off his brother to clarify that his suggestion was of no help.

  So they were still trying to find a cure for my disease, or what was the research they had accomplished? What effect from a stone was it that they wanted? And what did they mean when talking about returning to Earth’?

  As I listened, I realised that I now had an opportunity. They had turned their backs to the door leading to the outside, which was automatically slowly closing. Quickly, I made my way out. I wished I didn’t have to crawl on my knees. They felt sore and the floor was cold. The first metres were the hardest, but just a little bit further and the room was left behind. It was nice to get back on my feet. Yikes! A long corridor of stairs that led up to a closed door about twenty metres away! Stairs, they would make my knees just as sore as the cross-trainer in the gym and I wasn’t in the best shape. I felt the agony in every step and was delighted to reach the top.

  The door was locked, but fortunately could be opened from my side. As I closed the door behind me I noticed a sign that read, ‘Restricted Access’. I turned to view the room I had entered – it was massive, with wires, pipes and tubes, high up in the air that could be reached by a yellow metal staircase. It was clinically clean, with an array of buttons lit in green and red and a dull buzzing sound that could be distinguished from the cries I usually heard in my head. What I saw in front of me was one of the engine rooms to the Large Hadron Collider. That was an easy guess since Vic had told me about this place. What baffled me was the fact that I had thought it was located in another building. I was in a private hospital on CERN’s premises and would expect there to be other wards with other ill patients. Was I the only patient here? Was I even in a ward? Did the rest of the staff here even know I existed? It surely didn’t seem so. Looking at the ‘Restricted Access’ sign, it seemed like I had been a lab rat trapped for research. Okay, my illness might have made me useless, I would have thought that father could have found another use for me than this horrible fate.

  This realisation of my status increased my fear to another level and I knew I had to get out quickly and undetected. There was no one around and I looked for an emergency exit sign. Drafts of air stroked my cheek and there…there was a large double glass door with white text printed onto the reverse, ‘Entrance’. It was even better than an emergency exit and should lead me straight out to the front of the building.

  Considering the spaghetti sensation I had felt after climbing the stairs, my legs carried me surprisingly well across the floor, without stumbling. The doors opened automatically as I approached them and I walked outside and able to feel, for the first time in my life, fresh air. It felt like…as…I didn’t really know what, but it was wonderful. It was fresh, like when you open the refrigerator, though not with the smell of old food or onions. My lungs had probably never taken a deeper breath and they rejoiced in it. I wished that time would stop at this moment so I could embrace the soft breeze against my cheeks. But there wasn’t time and I had to run far away before my father discovered that I was missing.

  Turning away from the glass doors, I noticed the car park. Two white vans were parked in the closest possible spaces right in front of the building, on the other side of the railings with a large opening in the fence towards the road, just about visible in the evening gloom. It could be reached via a walkway along the building to my left. A high pitched sound suddenly shattered the silence. It was such a loud noise…it was the siren. Panicking people appeared in the brightly lit area behind the glass doors. My heart began to gallop, as they must have noticed my absence. I had never felt so scared yet excited at the same time. Would I only get this far? Would they catch me and take me back, or would I even return voluntarily? But people didn’t say I was stubborn for no reason. My fear made the path towards the fence seem a lot further now.

  My own dampened scream startled me when a figure from behind the corner of the building grabbed me around my stomach with a strong left arm and covered my mouth with a cloth. My feet left the ground, as the man was much taller than I. A stench of burnt leather and blood from his hand began to sting in my nose through the cloth. No chemicals appeared to be involved, only heat pressing on my skin. A horrifying gaze met my eyes when I looked up. We stood silent for seconds that seemed like minutes. His intense eyes looked deep into mine after putting put me back down on the ground. His eyes…they were…they were searching for something in mine. But what were they looking for, recognition…an acknowledgement? He moved his hand slowly from my mouth to his own with a gesture to indicate silence.

  “Get in the car,” he hissed between his teeth and nodded towards the car parked behind him, hidden along the side of the building. I felt that I should recognise this person, but I was too afraid to see a connection. He acted as if he had known me all his life, as if he thought I knew him. Was he one of the nurses from the ward? My memory couldn’t have been so cruel. If I had seen this perfect creature before I must have remembered him, or at least remembered the feeling my heart created as the warmth was burning holes in my chest.

  I stood paralysed by his appearance. It was stupid of me to stare and he must have noticed my astonishment. He grabbed hold of my hand when he had clearly understood that I was both amazed and confused by a stranger with such hostile body language, yet with a preserved beauty that made the Earth stand still. Again his grip affirmed that he had taken my hand many times before. The steady grip wasn’t too hard to be a forced grip or too soft to be the shyness of strangers who had just met. His hand was hot, near to scorching. My reflexes took control to retract my hand, which released me from his grip. He looked angrily at me as he went around the car to the driver’s side. “How do you want it? Are you in or out?”

  More words came hissing from the perfect white teeth. They came from a mouth that seemed to not have given many smiles, but if they happened, they would melt hearts. How could I trust someone I had just met and why would I want to go with him? No, it seemed strange. The gap in the fence was within reach, so I could probably make it. It was what everything was all about tonight. The man must have seen me looking toward the gap.

  “No, you are coming in the car, you have no choice, there’s no way I’m letting you out of my sight now. Choose. Jump in voluntarily or cause a scene that can put both you and me in danger,” he threatened.

  The stressed threat sounded softer and more pleading than his first commands even though he meant it to be robust and delivered with a nonchalant authority, as he had pulled his hands through the bushy bronze hair that had covered his eyes. I reflected on my choices. I seemed to have been left with two options: either I followed the stranger, or returned to the ward. The decision was made all the more quickly as the cool evening breeze was biting my skin. The temperature didn’t at all seem to bother the stranger as he wore just a black t-shirt, but it made me act quickly.

  The car looked brand new, a black SUV with tinted windows and was not exactly discreet enough for a car chase, which I guessed was what was probably about to take place. Not that I was an expert on cars, but it looked stable and fast. I would have been more scared if the last hour hadn’t had a positive impact on my health. I felt much stronger than usual. It must have been the adrenaline. The silver metal handle was cold against my hand when I opened the door to the passenger’s side.

  The moment the car drove around the corner towards the gates I could see father rushing out from the building’s entrance doors. The troubled eyes along with the stressed body language appeared in slow motion and all I could hear was my name screamed in panic
.

  “Susy, Susy…Susy, come back!”

  But it was more than a panic. There was something else in his voice, something I couldn’t put my finger on. Given that he was seeing his only daughter driven away in a car with a stranger, indicating that he might never see her again, I could have sworn he looked at me like a lost possession. I saw greed. ‘Susy, come back’, his voice echoed in my head as the guilt tore at my conscience. The mystical creature next to me drove the car so fast that it skidded on the gravel path through the gates, before I even had time to react to my father’s cries. There was silence in the car for several minutes whilst I watched buildings fly by outside the car windows. On the left-hand side was a large, round, ball-like building at the end of a long road lined with buildings on both sides; after it we made a right turn at a roundabout.

  “Are you alright?” the man asked.

  He was obviously trying to show compassion, but it sounded spoken out of duty.

  “I have no idea,” my voice barely whispered.

  A few hours ago I had seen Vic’s face peeking into my room at the ward, giving me a smile and now I was in a stranger’s car on my first ever time outside the research institute. To think of it, it was the first time I had been near a male of my own age, except for Vic, which could be either harmless or extremely dangerous. Was this how it felt to sit inches away from another man’s flesh and blood, or was this feeling due to him being the most beautiful creature I had ever beheld? His body was faultless. There wasn’t a male model that could measure up to him, neither in physique nor complexion and that’s considering that the models on TV weren’t even real. Well, of course they were real, but they had lighting that was set up at a favourable angle and stylists who took care of every detail. This man’s appearance was natural. The muscles were clearly visible through his tight t-shirt and there was no makeup on his face that I could detect. His hair…well, it was drenched in hair gel, but still had more than a supernatural perfection. His three-day stubble was sensual and even his arms manoeuvred the car with a confident precision. He projected a calm, secure control with superiority. “Yes, I’m fine,” I replied slightly louder to the same question so as to not seem inferior to him.