The Glory Walk

by Lynne Roberts

  Chapter 6. Meeting the Master

  ‘Time for breakfast,’ sang out Astrid, as Kate opened her eyes and struggled to sit up. ‘Oh, and I forgot to open your views for you. What would you like?’

  ‘What?’ said Kate stupidly, as Astrid strode across to one of the round blank portholes on the wall.

  ‘What views would you like?’ asked Astrid patiently.

  ‘I don’t mind,’ muttered Kate, wishing she knew what Astrid was talking about.

  ‘I'll make it a view of Lunar Circle, then you won’t feel homesick,’ Astrid smiled. She turned to the porthole. ‘Lunar Circle, Beta Zone.’

  Immediately the porthole cleared to show a picture of a city with towers and domes, very like the sight Kate and Phoebe had seen from the hoverpad the day before. Instead of the rosy glow there was a definite blue light over everything. Hoverpads flipped busily through the air and people hurried along the moving stairways. Kate stared at it in fascination. People of all shapes and sizes and ages went about their business, obviously unconcerned that someone on the other side of the planet was observing them.

  ‘There really isn’t much privacy anywhere here,’ thought Kate in dismay. ‘I guess I could only see inside someone’s apartment if I knew what name to say though. I hope no one is looking in at me.’ She looked around the room but could not see any obvious cameras or spy machines. ‘I suppose it’s through the screens,’ she thought with relief. ‘They can probably only see me if I’m standing in front of them.’ She made a mental note to avoid the area of the room by the screens.

  ‘Now, for the other I’ll get a Vardish scene,’ Astrid said cheerfully. Angelica really likes this planet. It’s rather primitive but very colourful. Vardish please.’

  The porthole lit up with an eerie glow. A myriad of strange plants in rainbow colours shimmered in an invisible breeze. As Kate watched, a small creature rather like a furry frog hopped onto a leaf and rolled its eyes. Another frog creature jumped up beside it and bumped it with its snout. The first frog toppled from the leaf with an astonished expression on its face then hopped away out of sight behind a yellow and orange striped leaf. Kate giggled in delight.

  ‘I thought you’d like that one. If you get tired of it, just change it,’ smiled Astrid. ‘Now I must wake Angelica or she will sleep all day. You girls mustn’t be late for the Master.’

  Kate’s heart sank. She had hoped it had all been a dream but waking up made it all too horribly real again. She chose a dove grey robe to reflect her sombre mood and glumly made her way out to the eating area.

  Breakfast was a large bowl of what Kate was relieved to see was a type of muesli. Crunchy nuts and grains and pieces of unfamiliar fruits were topped with creamy syrup with a tang like yoghurt. Jupiter had already finished his and was hurrying out the door with a frown on his face.

  ‘There’s been an unexplained power surge in the main transducer,’ he called out to Astrid. ‘I may have to work late while we try and locate the cause.’

  Angelica bolted her bowl down and urged Kate to finish hers quickly.

  ‘Hurry up. We have to collect Celeste and Phoebe and we mustn’t be late for the Master.’

  ‘Who is the Master?’ Kate asked breathlessly as she hurried down the corridor after Angelica. Angelica sighed impatiently. ‘He’s in charge of the System in Aquarius Base. He organizes our studies and determines what privileges and punishments we are given.’

  Kate gulped. She didn’t like the sound of punishments.

  ‘Here we are,’ said Angelica in relief, as they reached Celeste’s apartment. Phoebe and Celeste came out the main archway as she spoke and Kate grasped Phoebe’s arm.

  ‘I’ve found out how we got here, I think, but it’s not going to be easy getting back,’ she told her.

  Phoebe looked stricken. ‘I haven’t found out anything,’ she whispered. She moved closer to Kate as Angelica and Celeste walked on ahead. ‘All Celeste and the sainted Stella wanted to do was to talk about what we do on our planet. And not important stuff like governments of anything. They are only interested in clothes. Just like that witless Naomi and Emma.’

  Kate’s mouth fell open in shock. ‘Naomi and Emma? But I thought you liked them? I mean, they’re the ‘in’ group.’

  ‘They are total morons,’ snorted Phoebe. ‘They only talk to me because my mother is a fashion designer. Other people only talk to me because I hang about with them. And I’m stuck with them because no one else has been particularly friendly.’

  Kate blushed and looked away.

  The girls followed Angelica and Celeste up a ramp to an imposing tower. Other girls and boys were hurrying up and most waved or called out greetings to Angelica and Celeste. They looked curiously at Kate and Phoebe. Angelica led the way into a large domed room and pulled Kate down to sit on a cushion beside her. Celeste did the same with Phoebe. In front of each cushion was a mushroom shaped table. Gradually the room filled as all the students took their places before a table.

  ‘Keep quiet as much as you can,’ Angelica advised. ‘That way the Master won’t realise how ignorant you are.’

  ‘We are not ignorant,’ spluttered Kate, but a warning frown from Celeste silenced her. There was a sudden silence as an archway opened onto a dais at the front of the room. A tall man in a black robe stalked out and stood with arms folded, surveying the children.

  ‘Begin’ he commanded.

  Silently each mushroom table opened up to reveal a raised screen with strange symbols on it. Angelica and Celeste placed their fingers on the front of their tables and began tapping them industriously in various places, as the symbols changed with bewildering speed. Phoebe and Kate looked helplessly at each other.

  ‘They must be computers of some sort,’ whispered Phoebe, ‘but I have no idea how to work them.’

  ‘We’ll have to pretend,’ hissed Kate, and began to tap the table in front of her at random. Phoebe rolled her eyes and did the same, feeling remarkably foolish. The symbols on the screen flared and froze. A large beep came out of a small grid on the side of both tables, and Angelica looked horrified.

  ‘Now you’ve done it,’ she breathed. ‘The Master won’t be happy with that.’

  ‘What were we supposed to have done then?’ Kate asked her in a furious whisper. ‘You’re not exactly being much help.’

  Angelica hunched a shoulder and ignored her.

  ‘What is the meaning of this?’ A menacing voice came from behind Kate, who squealed and looked up in fear. The master stood by her table, cold and forbidding. He snapped his fingers twice and the shrill beeping stopped, much to the girls’ relief.

  ‘You are performing very badly. Is this deliberate?’ He shot a glance at Phoebe as he spoke and she went pale.

  ‘We don’t really understand how to do it,’ she stammered. ‘We’re not from here.’

  ‘We’re visiting from Lunar Circle,’ offered Kate. She saw Angelica making frantic signals at her. ‘On a student exchange,’ she faltered.

  ‘I see,’ said the Master grimly.

  He snapped his fingers at Kate and Phoebe’s screens which immediately went blank. Reaching into a pocket of his robe he produced two metal rods, the size and shape of pencils.

  ‘Perhaps you’d better show me what you can do,’ he said calmly. ‘You,’ he said, handing a rod to Kate, ‘use the symbols you are familiar with to write a sequence of numbers. Then you can put in a set of calculations.’ He handed Phoebe a rod. ‘You can write a simple sentence giving your name.’

  They nervously held the rods then Phoebe had the inspired idea of using hers to draw on the table. ‘It’s like a computer mouse,’ she whispered to Kate. ‘Whatever you write comes up on the screen.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Kate in relief and wrote down 1 2 3 4 5., followed by 1 + 1= 2 and then 2 + 3 =5. Phoebe inscribed ‘My name is Phoebe,’ as the Master watched them impassively.

  ‘Things are evidently done quite differently in Lunar Circle,’ he remarked. ‘You will each now com
plete these sequences.’

  He snapped his fingers again and on each screen appeared a row of symbols. ‘Select the appropriate symbol from the bottom of the screen to complete each sequence,’ the Master said as he moved off.

  Celeste glanced across. ‘That was lucky. He didn’t punish you at all. That’s baby stuff there.’

  Angelica frowned. ‘It’s very odd. He must know you couldn’t be from Lunar Circle. They are connected to the same System as us and he would have been told if there were any students over here.’

  ‘What else could I say?’ asked Kate indignantly. Angelica ignored her.

  ‘Perhaps he thinks there was a slipup, like a cut in power or something like that,’ said Celeste. ‘It doesn’t matter. As long as they can do some of the work.’