Sacred Trust (12 page)

“Yes. A perception. Everything looks like it is all made from the same construction material—something lightweight like plastic, but it has to be much stronger. Even the pillars bracing the ceiling are made of it. It is all very strange. I did not want to go too far without at least one of you with me.”

Ruen looked a little pale. I understood her fear; she was, after all, the youngest of us.

Once again, we heard the approaching drone of what Ruen guessed was a tram. As it passed by overhead, we experienced no vibrations and only heard a quiet swooshing. If our notion of a tram was correct, it probably ran on a maglev system or something very much like it.

“Okay, I think we all need to go up there. Eonus, you should be able to shove Ruen and me up through the opening, and then together, we can pull you up. Ruen, is there room for all three of us up there inside the cables and pipes.”

“Yes, but we cannot go,” said Ruen. She looked at her timepiece. “At this time anyway.”

“Why?” I hoped she wasn't too scared to come with us. Come to think of it, even as anxious as I was to see what Ruen had discovered, I wasn't feeling all that brave myself.

“Because right about now a snack should arrive and then in half an hour, the lights will go out. According to our captors' schedule, bedtime is approaching. We do have control of the lights during the day—there is a switch on the wall in the main room. But it does not work during our alleged sleep time. So tomorrow after breakfast would be a good time to do our exploring.”

The next morning, we were all anxious to embark on our first recon mission. Okay, I was being a bit dramatic calling it that, but we
were
being held captive. I looked forward to outfoxing our captors, whomever they may be. Although we weren't being starved or harmed in any way, we still wanted to get out of this place and go home.

Our breakfast arrived at the time Ruen expected. Arandi and Basilians tended to have the same number of meals as humans, although the intervals between them were strange—at least in relation to my normal schedule.

But since our captors were most likely albinos, it made no sense. Neither Tata nor Ruen had ever seen albinos until recently.

So, based on our meals, who are our captors?
I asked myself.
They must be either Arandi or Basilian.
Another topic for the three of us to discuss in the amenities room.

And that's where we gathered after dumping our breakfast trays on the shelf—the remnants always disappeared, if made available to the food slot.

“Okay, what's the plan for today?” I asked. Our confinement made me twitchy and anxious—and sad. Dad must be frantic. I would be, in his place. I needed action, and soon.

“I think our plan should be to sneak out this morning, and be back before the midday meal,” said Ruen. “We need to be here to pick up our trays, so no one becomes suspicious.”

She had a good point. “Okay. Ruen, you're in charge of keeping track of the time, since you know our meal schedule better than we do. You need to give enough warning for us to get back here before anyone becomes suspicious.”

Ruen checked her timepiece. “I understand.”

She did a little hop, and I had to laugh. We were all short of exercise, especially our energetic Ruen. “We do not have a lot of time. We need to hurry,” she said, reminding us to start moving.

Quietly, we went into our main room. I flung my day pack over my shoulder and slipped my arms into the straps. Eonus lifted Ruen up to remove the grating, and then boosted her up through the access point as I laid the grate on Eonus' bed. I was next, and then Ruen and I helped Eonus pull himself up. There was no easy peasy about it. He was surprisingly heavy but, fortunately, his strength compensated for our weakness.

Hmm, interesting, I thought, as I realized how much muscle mass Eonus had gained in the last few months. He had turned into a sexy hunk right before my eyes and I hadn't even realized it.

“You go. Check out,” he whispered, pointing me in the direction of the tram side of the tunnel.

I nodded my understanding as I tried to set aside my thoughts of his blossoming male physique. At least for now, I had to put my mind on other things, but before I could turn away, he gave me a funny look, and I knew my face had given something away. I felt my cheeks redden as I turned to slip through the tubes, cables and pipes.

Eonus, I knew, did the same on the other side, just as we'd planned, while Ruen waited for us, hidden in the mass of pipes and conduits. We wanted to make sure we found out all we could about our location without being seen.

The tunnel's dark grey walls on the tram side stretched as far as I could see—in both directions. No trams were in sight and no one wandered the line or waited at the stations visible in the distance, in either direction. I wanted to investigate them, however I needed to return to see what Eonus had found on his side of the tunnel. The three of us needed to decide what to investigate first.

* * * *

I was promptly outvoted. Both Eonus and Ruen wanted to check out the moving walkways, although I argued we were more apt to run into others on that side of the tunnel. Eonus and Ruen wanted to investigate the sunlight coming in through what we guessed had to be windows bordering the walkways. I went along with their convincing arguments. We flipped a coin to decide whether to go right or left on the walkway. The coin landed heads up. To the right it was.

After a few moments of silent travel on the moving walkway I was confounded as to why we hadn't run into anyone. Where was everybody?

When we heard the drone of another approaching tram, we peered through the center mesh of cables and tubes to watch the bullet shape flash by so fast we couldn't tell if it had windows, much less if anyone was on board. I reckoned there must be, since the walkways were entirely deserted. Perhaps only repairmen used the walkways.

Suddenly, the tram braked and came soundlessly to a stop in mere seconds at the station ahead of us. I imagined the passengers slamming forward in their seats since it stopped so quickly. No one got on and only two people exited and disappeared into the station through sliding doors that whisked open. They were both albinos and didn't look any worse for wear from their sudden stop.

“Amazing,” said Ruen. “Let's ride one of those.”

“Wait,” Eonus said, showing his tendency toward caution as he placed his hand on her shoulder. “No jump frying pan before see hot,” he said.

“Eonus is right,” I told Ruen. “As much as I'd like to check out one of the tram stations, the more we know, the better we can plan our escape. We need to continue down the walkway since it seems deserted.”

Sighing, she agreed. “Let's continue.”

Knowing our time was limited, we began walking as fast as we could down the moving walkway. We only got off at an access/egress break in the walkway when we approached a window. Silently, we stood there trying to decipher the scene before us.

A compartment with a grass floor stretched to a wall hundreds of feet away. A low wall broke the area into two separate paddocks. The nearest contained animals with two humps on their backs. But their resemblance to camels ended there. With a greenish tinge to their hide and the longest, droopiest ears I'd ever seen they looked like cartoon characters from a Disney video.

The far paddock was dotted with muddy ponds almost completely covered in what looked like water lilies, but instead of white, their flowers were a variegated red and yellow in color. My eyesight wasn't the greatest, but I thought I saw fuzzy brown hippos submerged in the ponds, munching away on the lilies.

“Wow. Have either one of you ever seen critters like that before?” I couldn't take my eyes off them.

“No. Never.” By the breathy sound of her voice, Ruen was as astonished by these creatures as I was.

“Look. There.” Eonus pointed to what my imagination saw as several two-story high greenhouses. Internal lighting emanated through the almost opaque walls; any possible plant life inside was impossible to detect. What we had thought was sunlight came from special lighting in the ceiling that only mimicked sunlight.

Ruen broke my reverie. “We need to get back. It is time.”

Eonus and I didn't argue. Quietly, we returned to the ceiling access to our cell and dropped down on Eonus' bed. Ruen put the grate back with Eonus's help, and we rested for a moment, all three of sitting on our beds, staring at the floor.

“Lunch should be here soon.” said Ruen, a distracted tone to her voice.

Obviously, she was wondering the same thing I was.

Where are we?

* * * *

“You know, Ruen, I'd like some paper and writing tools. I miss my father so much, and starting a diary might be therapeutic.”

“I understand. Even if we cannot be with our family, at least we could write our thoughts down. Being occupied might relieve some of the stress we feel.”

I wasn't sure that would be a selling argument for our captors, especially since we didn't know who they were. Then I had what I considered a bright idea.

“Our days are a little long,” I said. “Perhaps we could make up some games to keep us occupied. I know a number of games I could teach you guys, and if I only had some construction paper and writing instruments, I could make the required items easily.”

“That sounds like fun,” said Ruen, with a knowing glance at me.

“Games interesting,” said Tata.

“Yes, you haven't experienced human games, Eonus,” I said. “You might learn a lot about humans.”

“Worried,” said Eonus.

“About what?” I asked.

“Lose.”

“Well, you can't expect to win the first time you play a game.”

“No. Worried you lose,” he said, folding his arms across his chest and looking rather smug.

I couldn't believe it; Eonus had made a joke. It released the tension knotted inside me, and I smiled back at him, grateful for the moment of levity.

Our lunch arrived at the expected time. Ruen had accurately figured out the correct meal schedule.

After eating, I couldn't stifle a yawn. “You know, I'm a little fatigued from everything that's happened. I think I need a nap. Anyone else interested? If so, we could kill the lights for a while.”

“I am also tired. An afternoon rest would be good,” said Ruen.

“Yes,” agreed Eonus. He turned out the lights, and we settled down. I hoped our requests would be fulfilled as we slept. We had further plans to make once we awoke.

* * * *

I was awakened when I heard a thump. We all stirred, and Ruen turned on the lights. Before us, sat a pile of paper, writing utensils, an odd looking pair of scissors, and small containers of something that might perhaps be glue. Or maybe paint. It was hard to tell.

“Oooh!” Ruen bounced up and down while clapping her hands. “This will be fun! I love exploring piles of stuff.”

“Captors satisfy needs,” said Eonus.

“Then they should let us out of here so we can go home,” I said. Perhaps not the most diplomatic statement I'd ever uttered.

“In the meantime,” interrupted Ruen, with a disapproving glance for me, “let us design some games to occupy our time, and perhaps start writing journals. I need to release my stress, if only on a piece of paper.”

Her voice suddenly sounded so formal. But I'm sure the universal translator was to blame. Thankfully, my captors had left me my translator, or my captivity would be excruciating.

And I agreed with her feelings of stress. So I started a letter to my father. I'm not sure when he would ever receive it, but the action did prove therapeutic and improved my mood. After the letter, I worked on a game.

Eonus and Ruen were as busy as I was. However, I wasn't sure what projects they worked on. And since I couldn't read Arandi or Basilian script, I couldn't even snoop.

Finally I said, “I've made up cards for a game I used to play a lot with my Dad and some friends. The game is called Uno. We could try it this evening.”

Clunk went the food dispenser; our dinners started to arrive.

“Good,” said Ruen. “Our tr...I mean, for some reason, I am quite hungry today.”

“So am I,” I said. “Perhaps our creative activities have stimulated our appetites.”

“Hungry,” said Eonus. He valiantly tried to go along with our deception.

In the end, we all actually ate ravenously.

“Does anyone want to play Uno?” I asked.

“Certainly. What is it about? How do we play?” asked Ruen.

“It's very simple. I've made a deck of game cards. That's all we need to play.” Some heavier card stock had been included in our stack of supplies, along with coloring markers.

“We each start with seven cards. Each card has a colored symbol. We determine who goes first and then that player starts by playing a card. The next player must either follow with a card of the same symbol or the same color. If you cannot play, you must draw a card from the pile in the middle. When someone runs out of cards in their hand, they are the winner.”

“Sounds simple,” said Ruen.

“Easy peasy,” I said. “Well, except for the special cards. I've added cards that skip a player, reverse the direction of play, and ones that are wild.”

“Wild?” asked Eonus.

“The card lets you match the card on the table,” I said. “Especially useful if you have nothing to play and don't want to draw a card. After all, the strategy is to get rid of all your cards.”

After a couple of games, the strategies were apparent. Ruen liked to mess everyone up—she loved Reverse and Skip. Tata, on the other hand, proved to be methodical. Plodding was another word I could have used.

“That was fun,” said Ruen.

Eonus nodded, and the amused look on his face made me think he actually enjoyed the game.

“Good. I have lots of other games in mind to play. Being cooped up is boring,” I said.