Timothy Eli and the Light Guard Trials

Sub-Chapter 7: Pick a Partner Any Partner

“What a jerk,” Eve exploded the minute he was out of shouting distance.

“Yeah,” Sai agreed. “I would give anything to find one of these people who had an ounce of class.”

I shook my head motioning that I agreed with her statements. Sam stood speechless with his hands in his pocket.

“Let’s try some of these rides,” I said trying to shift the focus from what just happened.

Everyone seemed to perk up at the sound of my words, even Sam.

“With all these rides, if we want to try them all we had better get started,” Beth pointed out.

“Yeah, let’s start with this one,” Eve replied pulling me in the direction of a huge ride that was positioned in front of us.

Her fingers were soft. Her pull was just enough to let me know she was serious.  I smiled reluctantly trying to maintain an aloof image.

“Sure, let’s do it,” Pete replied. “You up for it, Sai?”

Sai shrugged her shoulders indifferently as they followed us.

“Okay, but after you’ve moved at the speed of light it’s going to be hard to find a rollercoaster fast enough to scare me,” she replied jokingly.

“I’m sure they’ve made the proper modifications,” Sam replied standing with his hands on his hips staring up. “Let’s do it.”

We followed a line trail to front of the ride. A droid stood at the entrance greeting passengers as we approached.

“Is this where the line starts?” Eve asked turning to the android.

“Yes, Ms. Timila,” the android replied with a smile similar to the one Delta 412 showed a couple of hours earlier.

He looked vastly different then Delta 412. While Delta 412 was the spitting image of a human being, this android was covered with latex like skin with sockets that were covered in a weird, hard looking silver liquid.

“Okay,” she replied uneasy.

The android moved to the side and allowed us to enter. The entire ride looked like a wormhole. It was housed inside a huge structure with souvenir shops on each side.

“Why is it so empty?” I replied turning to the android. “I expected more of a crowd.”

The android turned with an expressionless robotic demeanor.

“Yes, well, this reality was created specifically for the trials,” he replied. “It’s only during the trials and only the chosen trial legions are admitted.”

I nodded approaching the structure. We waited in line as a couple of legions hopped on.  I hoped we wouldn’t be recognized as we made our way to the entrance to the ride and luckily we weren’t, either that or no one cared.

“So how are we going to do this?” I asked turning toward everyone.

Eve showed a bashful smile.

“Well, it’s a tube capsule but it only holds two at a time,” Sai replied assessing the situation.

She looked at Eve and their eye contact was a dead giveaway. They were obviously speaking with each other and my guess was it was through BAU.  I stood impatiently as a smile cracked on their faces.

“Tim,” I heard ringing in my mind like a thought in my own brain.

It was Pete. I struggled to respond and keep a straight face.