The Promise of the Orb

by Marshall Cobb

  Peter looked up at the door as he wedged his foot into the slightly larger opening he had created in his shoe. They did not make doors like this anymore—if they ever did. It was at least three inches thick, of dried out, but still strong wood. Bands of metal held the wood together. The bands, which were now dark with time, were held in place by large bolts which looked like they had been hammered into the door. A large ring, probably a knocker, sat squarely in the upper half of the door. Around the ring was a faded-out painting of a roaring lion. Beneath this hefty ensemble another chunk of rope hung out the hole where a knob should have been.

  Peter grunted in acknowledgment of his ability to stay asleep and Irene bent down to give him his other, now unknotted shoe. As Peter squeezed that one on, Matt appeared in the doorway.

  “Finally awake, huh?”

  Matt came in and put his arm around Irene. His freckles fairly beamed as he pulled her in close. She leaned back absently and pecked him on the cheek. Peter hoped that they too had found the toothbrushes and toothpaste. Matt kissed her back, and Peter understood that these two would not care either way.

  Peter got the other shoe on, stood up and brushed himself off the best he could. He had heard the expression “third wheel” before but now, watching Irene and Matt trying to out-hug and out-kiss each other, he truly understood what it meant.

  “Where is my brother?”

  Irene delicately extracted herself from Matt’s embrace, though Matt resisted. “Out there somewhere,” she explained, gesturing at the daylight. “He went exploring with Jenny. They should be back soon because their shift to watch over you starts in…” she checked her watch, “20 minutes.”

  Peter nodded, and the three of them stood staring at each other. It was obvious Peter had interrupted something, but it was not like he could now disappear. Or could he? As his mind spun trying to figure out a graceful way out of this situation, a question occurred to him.

  “Where did you get that dress, Irene? I didn’t see a closet or anything inside.”

  “Oh, this?” Her long fingers gracefully pulled at the edge of the yellow dress, expanding it before letting it fall back into place. “I found it in an abandoned store a couple of blocks over. There was a note from Orb saying we should take what we needed.”

  Peter bit his lip and tried to envision a way in which Orb could write a note. “The note was signed ‘Orb’?”

  Irene laughed. “No, it just said please take what you need. It was in English, so we figured it must have come from Orb somehow.”

  Peter let that sink in, while also pondering Matt’s wrinkled shirt and dirty jeans – the same thing he had been wearing when they left his room. “Is it only women’s clothes?”

  “No,” Irene said, lightly smacking Matt on the shoulder. “They have lots of cool clothes. Someone just doesn’t want to try any on.”

  The topic of clothing appeared to be the one spot where Irene’s wishes were not Matt’s commands. Matt only smiled at Irene, shrugged and said, “Eh.”

  Peter had now truly run out of things to say.

  “I think I’ll go take a look around.” He reached down to pick up his dirty soda bottle, trying to hold the top, which was quite a bit cleaner than the sides.

  “Oh, okay. We’ll go with you,” said Irene. Matt’s face fell.

  “That’s okay,” said Peter. “Orb said that we’d be safe here. I just want to walk around a little.”

  “That’s great!” Matt volunteered, happily agreeing with this approach. “We’ll stay here and wait just in case Eli and Jenny come back.”

  Irene looked dubious of this plan, but then Matt pulled her back to him and she was all smiles once again. “Oh, okay. Please don’t go too far, and yell out if you need us.”

  Peter wanted to remind her that Orb had put him, Peter, in charge, but as she turned her back on him and began kissing Matt in earnest again, it did not feel like the time to remind her of that fact. Peter walked past them, out into the beating sunlight.

  ***

  The abandoned town was a maze of small streets and alleyways. Peter stepped carefully, trying to avoid the many holes in the stone streets.

  What an odd place, Peter thought as he stared at yet another building slowly collapsing in on itself. To have an entire town empty in this day and age when the planet is bursting at the seams with crowded cities.

  Peter continued along, struggling to catch his breath. He knew it wasn’t true, but it seemed like every street he walked went almost straight up at an angle only a goat could love. The sun continued to beat down upon him. He understood why all the stones around him looked as if they had been cooked until they turned white.

  Rounding another corner, he saw a welcome sight—a street that ran downhill. He smiled and started to follow this new, easier path when it occurred to him that any steps he took heading downhill now just meant that many more steps uphill to return. He stood in the middle of the empty, stone road wrestling with this decision when he was startled by a voice.

  “Hello? Are you lost?”

  Peter spun, trying to find the owner of the voice, then noticed a small man sticking his head out of the large front door of a church. The church was one of the largest structures Peter had seen in the town and was in much better shape than the rest of the crumbling buildings. Peter was surprised that he had not noticed it when he turned the corner but attributed this lapse to his fascination with the downhill street.

  The man waited patiently for Peter to respond. He could only see the man’s bald head, which sat above a face with the largest mustache Peter had ever seen. The tips of the gray mustache had been squeezed into points which stuck out well beyond the man’s cheeks. The rest of his body was hidden by the stone wall of the church.

  Peter walked across the steeply downward-sloping street, silently congratulating himself for not venturing down, and continued to stare at the man. The man watched silently, his only movement a brief puff of air that shocked the front of his mustache.

  “Hi, no, I’m not lost,” Peter managed as he came to a stop in front of the church.

  Another blast of air rocked the mustache. The man weighed Peter’s response, then asked, “Where are you staying? Where is your family?”

  Peter was generally inclined to give others the benefit of the doubt. They often had salesmen show up at their farm. Peter talked to them until Eli or Big Ed shooed them away. It was, therefore, not that unusual for Peter to be talking to a small man with a giant mustache hiding behind a wall. That being said, Peter was not in a position to be answering a lot of questions. He decided to go with a version of the truth.

  “We’re staying on the other side of town,” Peter replied as he pointed behind him. Peter hoped that this level of detail would suffice.

  The small man winced as if Peter’s evasive answer had caused him physical pain. “You’re too late for Cerro Quemado, not that you look the part, and you’re too early for the feast day of Saint Francis. Why are you here?”

  Peter had no idea what the man was talking about, but decided he did not need to. Why was this guy asking him all these questions? Peter decided to head back to meet the others and leave this man, and his questions, to fend for themselves.

  “Have a nice day,” Peter called out as he spun back around and began walking back across the street.

  Peter was halfway across the street, a little proud of himself for shutting down the questions and moving on, when the man called out, “Don’t you want to understand what you are really doing here, Master Peter, or have you been blinded by the things you’ve been promised?”

  Peter stopped mid-step, then spun around to face the man, who continued in a low voice, “I cannot leave this church, Peter, but if you come in we might be able to answer each other’s questions.”

  Underneath the giant mustache the man appeared to smile, and Peter felt himself begin to take a step toward the church. The spell, however, was broken by a loud cry of, “There you are, Peter! You had us worried!”


  Peter turned back around and saw Eli and Jenny walking rapidly toward him. “Maybe,” Eli bellowed, “those who have had themselves drained by an Orb to help power a trip halfway across the world should go back to bed and rest a little before they walk across town?”

  Eli and Jenny, wearing clothes that seemed more appropriate for a nineteenth-century Mexican formal dinner, almost skipped their last couple of steps. Eli uncharacteristically ruffled Peter’s hair while Jenny pressed the back of her hand against Peter’s forehead. “He feels okay now,” Jenny said as she turned to Eli.

  Peter stared at Eli’s white shirt (puffy with several layers around the chest and shoulders), wide black belt, brown pants and worn black boots.

  Eli saw Peter staring and offered, “There’s a store full of this stuff if you want some different clothes. Jenny picked these out for me.”

  Jenny, wearing a white blouse that fell off her shoulders and a blue, billowing skirt, smiled at Eli and touched him lightly on his puffy shoulder. Peter once again felt ill in the presence of young love.

  “Yeah, I heard. I think I’m ok for now.”

  “Are you sure?” Jenny asked sweetly, with a tone that suggested she did not agree.

  Peter just smiled in return.

  Eli, whose good mood could only be explained by the presence of Jenny, smiled again. “Okay, let’s get back to Matt and Irene. All this walking has made me hungry.”

  Peter nodded and fell in with them. He stole one more glance back at the door of the church, but it was closed and the man with the mustache was nowhere to be seen.

  ***

  The scene back at the abandoned building they temporarily called home was jovial. Matt and Irene had dug into another of the coolers and were taking turns feeding each other chunks of cheese and pieces of fruit.

  “Save some of that for the rest of us,” growled Eli.

  Matt laughed, his mouth stuffed with cheese, “Ter i pleny. Do’t wery!”

  Irene joined in giggling and Eli began sniffing at the various hunks of cheese that had been unpacked. Jenny picked up a pear, rubbed it against her peasant blouse, and took a big bite. The laughing and giggling was broken up only by loud bites and smacking noises.

  Peter, who had yet to touch the food, stared at the teenagers. He was annoyed—very annoyed. These teenagers, even serious Jenny, were acting as if they were on a vacation. He felt a little like the old man at the church, full of unresolved questions.

  He stood watching them for another minute; certain that at some point somebody would come up for air and notice his glare. He was wrong. His annoyance now full-blown anger. He cleared his throat and then yelled, “Have all of you forgotten how we got here, and where we are supposed to go? Do you not know what this means? This is not a party!”

  Jenny stopped chewing, then swallowed the food already in her mouth and hid the rest of the pear behind her back. The others followed suit.

  Peter glared at them, his hands somewhat comically on his hips. “We’re here because Orb brought us. That means Orb is truly the powerful alien he has claimed to be. I don’t know about everything else he has told us, but I do know that I was hurt badly by one of the guardians we are supposed to defeat. This is not the time for,” he waved his hands in the direction of the food, “a picnic!”

  He then intuitively used a professional speaking trick of looking each of the teenagers in the eye until they nervously broke contact.

  “I’m sorry, Peter, you’re right,” said Jenny.

  The others, even Eli, then mumbled their version of an apology. Peter, now embarrassed by his outburst and their reaction, looked down and saw that his hands were on his hips. He quickly removed them and tried to nonchalantly stick his right hand in his back pocket. That also felt strange, so he removed his hand from his pocket and stood with his hands at his sides, which felt no more normal than anything else.

  Everyone else felt awkward too. No one liked being shown up by a little kid. Eli, who prided himself on being more serious and trustworthy than his brother, dropped his eyes to stare at the dirt floor for a few moments. After finding no answers there, Eli decided that shame was not going to help the situation. What was going to help was working together to finish whatever challenges awaited them. Eli lifted his head and stared at Peter. The tingling they had both felt previously returned and they slipped into the mental embrace where each shared the other’s thoughts.

  Eli was surprised to find Peter’s thoughts dwelling on the small man with the mustache at the church. He probed within Peter’s mind to find out more.

  Why didn’t you tell us about him?

  I wasn’t even sure what I saw. I was afraid that my mind was playing tricks on me.

  He spoke in English?

  I think so.

  We’re in the middle of Mexico. Are you sure he spoke out loud—or did he do what Orb does, what we’re doing, and talk directly to your mind?

  I don’t know. I think I should go back though. He claims to know things. I, we need to find out anything we can that might help us.

  Are you sure we can trust him? What if he’s a guardian of Cube?

  I don’t know why, but I don’t think so.

  I’ll come with you.

  “No,” Peter said aloud and, just like that, their mental link was broken.

  “No?” Eli responded angrily as everyone else tried to figure out what the Davidson boys were arguing about.

  Peter did not know why, but he felt that Eli would not be welcome. He was too obnoxious—too Eli—for the little man. Peter had also decided that in the event something happened to him Eli would take over as the leader. He could not, however, say this to the others without likely hurting someone’s feelings. Jenny in particular, though the smartest of the group, would probably not understand that Peter could never pick anyone over his own brother.

  Peter turned to Jenny. “Did you see the man at the door of the church when you found me? Small man, big mustache?”

  Jenny looked at Eli, shaking her head. Eli shook his as well.

  “Well, right before you came there was a guy sticking his head out the door asking me a lot of questions. The last thing he asked was whether or not I wanted to know what was going on. He knew my name, and he spoke in English.”

  Matt snorted, “We all speak English, big deal.”

  Irene turned to her boyfriend with a look that would wither a plant. “Yes, Matt, we speak English, but we are currently in Mexico.”

  Matt fished out the last bit of cheese stuck on one of his teeth, then swallowed it noisily. “Oh, yeah. Mexico.”

  Peter silently confirmed his belief that some of the group had been treating this like a vacation. He needed someone who was taking all of this more seriously. It would not hurt to choose the smartest among them. “What about you, Jenny? Will you come with me?”

  “Why don’t we all go?” Eli asked.

  Peter shook his head. “I don’t know why exactly, but I think we’ll scare him away if all of us go. I don’t even know if he’s still there, or if he’ll talk to me.”

  Matt, to his credit, stepped up and stated, “Then I’ll go with you. You may need a little help if this guy tries something.”

  Peter shook his head again. “I think you’ll scare him too, and the muscle I need is between the ears.”

  Both Matt and Eli looked at Peter curiously and a bit unhappily. Peter had not meant to say the “between the ears” comment and belittle Matt by suggesting he was a mental lightweight. Great. Now Eli and Matt are mad at me. For good reasons. I didn’t ask to be the leader. I didn’t ask for any of this. All I can do is disappoint everyone as I will never live up to what they, and Orb, expect of me.

  Eli eventually looked down at his cool, second-hand boots and bit his tongue to avoid saying something else. Matt shook his head and turned to Irene, who also shook her head at Peter.

  Jenny broke the tension and diverted the anger by finally replying to Peter’s request. “Of course I’ll go with you
, Peter.”

  Eli, resigned to the fact that he had lost this battle, looked at Jenny and said, “Call me immediately if there is any sign of trouble. I don’t care about the roaming charges or whatever. Just call me.”

  Irene then leaned toward Eli, cupped her mouth to try and downplay the fact that she was correcting him in front of the others, and whispered, “Orb made us leave all our phones, remember?”

  Irene had resisted the idea of leaving her phone behind, and constantly checked her back pocket without even thinking about it to retrieve her electronic companion—coming away empty-handed, frustrated each time.

  Eli winced, smacked himself in the forehead with an open palm, then winced again at how hard he had hit himself. This was not going well for him. He took a deep breath, then slowly, forcefully pushed it out. “I am going to give you both a fifteen-minute head-start. The second those fifteen minutes are up, the rest of us are going to come looking for you. I didn’t really pay attention to any church, but I remember where we found you. We’ll be there.”

  Realizing that this was the best offer he was going to get, Peter nodded his agreement to Eli, then used his eyes to direct Jenny to the door. Jenny nodded, gave poor Eli a light peck on his cheek, then used both her hands to help lift her voluminous skirt up and away from the dirt floor as she walked to the door.

  Peter turned back to Eli. “We’ll be fine, Eli. I promise.”

  Eli, looking down at his watch, replied, “Fourteen minutes and fifty-five seconds. Fifty-four seconds…”

  Peter smiled and then hustled to catch up with Jenny.

  ***

  As Jenny and Peter walked down the ancient stone street, dodging holes, Peter struggled to think of something interesting to say. Besides knowing her name, and the fact that she was very smart, Peter knew little about her. Why would he? She was older and swam in completely different waters. And now? Now she was Eli’s girlfriend?

  Taking a quick glance at the road ahead for hazards, he turned to Jenny, who was doing her best to keeping her large, fluffy skirt out of the dirt as much as possible, and he opened his mouth and expected something to happen. Nothing did. He shut his mouth and again faced forward. It was Jenny who broke the silence.