“Don’t get too excited, but I smell a very important job in your future, JT. C’mon, we have to hurry. I wasted too much time dragging these bolt-heads back here.”
“I told you to just leave us,” Switzer said.
“Shhh. What important job, Charlie?” I asked. “Where are you taking us?”
“To the Samiran Caretaker,” he said.
Charlie led us to a couple of trams and piled us in. Without a word, the driver sped along a shallow channel carved through rows and rows of buildings. Tiny lights glimmered through the grimy exteriors and blended in with the stars on the sloped horizon.
I was anxious to put Core City and the events of the last cycle behind me. I was also very curious about this Samiran Caretaker and the job Charlie mentioned. I sat behind Charlie with Ketheria. I was glad I had called him now and had not listened to Switzer.
What was the job?
I wondered as the blackened buildings blurred against the ring. And why me? Would I get to use my softwire abilities? How important was it? Charlie turned and looked at me.
“What?” I said.
He looked down at my foot and smiled. I guess I was hitting the back of the chair a little too hard.
“Relax, we’re almost there,” he said.
After only about a kilometer, the vehicles slowed and stopped in an open stone court. I got out and stood in front of a building so massive that it blacked out the stars. It must have been at least ten times the size of Weegin’s World. Six different spacecrafts scoured the building with blinding white searchlights. The ground under my feet pulsed red while smoke from sparking construction drones drifted through the searchlights.
“Stay together!” Charlie shouted over the crackling din.
Water trickled down the soaked steps as we climbed up them to the Caretaker’s. “Do you smell that?” I asked.
“I do. It smells like those creepy tunnels where Weegin took us,” Max answered.
We followed Charlie up the wide steps and through an enormous stone archway. The corners of the building were rounded from age and the whole thing felt old to me, really old, like Magna, the city where the Keepers lived on Orbis 1. Yellowish plantlike material sprouted from the cracks that ran along the walls, and everything looked wet. Charlie inserted a crystal ID disc into a metallic device next to a doorway so tall I couldn’t see the top of it. A thin, red beam of light sprang from the doorway and scanned Charlie and then all of us. When the light beam seemed satisfied, the two incredible doors drew apart as if they were floating in space.
Standing on the other side was Theylor. “Welcome,” he said.
“Hi, Theylor,” I said.
“Are we glad to see you,” Max said.
“Speak for yourself, malf,” Switzer whispered under his breath.
“Hello, children,” Theylor said, awkwardly opening his arms to imitate the Earth gesture of a hug. Max and Ketheria rushed the tall, two-headed alien and hugged him. Theylor smiled — both of his faces.
“Theylor?” said another familiar voice. Drapling stepped out from behind Theylor. Although he, too, was a Keeper, Drapling was not one of my favorite aliens. He always seemed to look at me with contempt. “Quite the homecoming, is it not?” he said with his left head.
“Not really,” I replied. “What . . .”
The ground shuddered violently beneath our feet, and the cavernous building echoed with thunder.
“. . . was
that
?” Max said, finishing my sentence.
“That was the Samiran,” Drapling said. “May we proceed?” He looked at Charlie and said, “You’re late.”
Drapling turned, and we all followed him under another archway. I tugged on Theylor’s purple robe.
“What are we doing here, Theylor?” I whispered.
“It appears you may be quite helpful to us once again, Johnny Turnbull, but we will have to see. Follow me, and please stay close together. Do not wander off, for I am afraid it may not be safe.”
We all followed Theylor deeper into the moist labyrinth. Its
“I told you to just leave us,” Switzer said.
“Shhh. What important job, Charlie?” I asked. “Where are you taking us?”
“To the Samiran Caretaker,” he said.
Charlie led us to a couple of trams and piled us in. Without a word, the driver sped along a shallow channel carved through rows and rows of buildings. Tiny lights glimmered through the grimy exteriors and blended in with the stars on the sloped horizon.
I was anxious to put Core City and the events of the last cycle behind me. I was also very curious about this Samiran Caretaker and the job Charlie mentioned. I sat behind Charlie with Ketheria. I was glad I had called him now and had not listened to Switzer.
What was the job?
I wondered as the blackened buildings blurred against the ring. And why me? Would I get to use my softwire abilities? How important was it? Charlie turned and looked at me.
“What?” I said.
He looked down at my foot and smiled. I guess I was hitting the back of the chair a little too hard.
“Relax, we’re almost there,” he said.
After only about a kilometer, the vehicles slowed and stopped in an open stone court. I got out and stood in front of a building so massive that it blacked out the stars. It must have been at least ten times the size of Weegin’s World. Six different spacecrafts scoured the building with blinding white searchlights. The ground under my feet pulsed red while smoke from sparking construction drones drifted through the searchlights.
“Stay together!” Charlie shouted over the crackling din.
Water trickled down the soaked steps as we climbed up them to the Caretaker’s. “Do you smell that?” I asked.
“I do. It smells like those creepy tunnels where Weegin took us,” Max answered.
We followed Charlie up the wide steps and through an enormous stone archway. The corners of the building were rounded from age and the whole thing felt old to me, really old, like Magna, the city where the Keepers lived on Orbis 1. Yellowish plantlike material sprouted from the cracks that ran along the walls, and everything looked wet. Charlie inserted a crystal ID disc into a metallic device next to a doorway so tall I couldn’t see the top of it. A thin, red beam of light sprang from the doorway and scanned Charlie and then all of us. When the light beam seemed satisfied, the two incredible doors drew apart as if they were floating in space.
Standing on the other side was Theylor. “Welcome,” he said.
“Hi, Theylor,” I said.
“Are we glad to see you,” Max said.
“Speak for yourself, malf,” Switzer whispered under his breath.
“Hello, children,” Theylor said, awkwardly opening his arms to imitate the Earth gesture of a hug. Max and Ketheria rushed the tall, two-headed alien and hugged him. Theylor smiled — both of his faces.
“Theylor?” said another familiar voice. Drapling stepped out from behind Theylor. Although he, too, was a Keeper, Drapling was not one of my favorite aliens. He always seemed to look at me with contempt. “Quite the homecoming, is it not?” he said with his left head.
“Not really,” I replied. “What . . .”
The ground shuddered violently beneath our feet, and the cavernous building echoed with thunder.
“. . . was
that
?” Max said, finishing my sentence.
“That was the Samiran,” Drapling said. “May we proceed?” He looked at Charlie and said, “You’re late.”
Drapling turned, and we all followed him under another archway. I tugged on Theylor’s purple robe.
“What are we doing here, Theylor?” I whispered.
“It appears you may be quite helpful to us once again, Johnny Turnbull, but we will have to see. Follow me, and please stay close together. Do not wander off, for I am afraid it may not be safe.”
We all followed Theylor deeper into the moist labyrinth. Its
Similar Books
