Barrier

A False Introduction

9.

Luis shook hands with nine sullen-faced individuals, none of whom would make eye-contact with him. Perturbed, but nonetheless excited for experiences beyond the last few days, Luis decided not to dwell on it. He was, despite their outward appearances of utter gloom, intrigued by his new companions. He was not surprised to find that identical twins had emerged from the plastic and glass residences; however, they did not currently at all reflect the comical aura of their dwellings. Both were somewhat gangly, with mussed-up, mousey brown hair and t-shirts bearing sarcastic logos - You read my t-shirt. That's enough social interaction for one day - and, in short, possessed humorous potential. Their expressions, veritable epitomies of sheer boredom, though, did not.

The copper building housed an absolutely insane-looking woman, hair sticking up at the oddest of angles, as if she'd been electrocuted mere moments ago. She, too, looked as if she'd rather be anywhere else than here at the moment, as did the gargantuan specimen local to the stone construction, and, to Luis' vast disappointment, the girl who had just exited the most interesting building of all, the material of which Luis still couldn't trace, sure he had seen it before, but never in such quantity. Its occupant, however, was entirely alien to Luis. With blonde hair of a shade so light Luis was sure it defied the name, tied neatly into a braid, piercing, pale blue eyes and a flawless complexion, she summed up perfectly all the best qualities of - ice! That was it, the substance which Luis hadn't recognised, though, to his credit, this was an incarnation of the material so aberrantly crystalline, so unlike the rough chunks spewed out by the disposable trays he was so used to, that Luis doubted anyone should recognise it. Ironically, though, despite her icy inclinations, the cold, haughty expression the girl currently wore appeared entirely incongruous, as if she'd never looked this way before in her life. He got the inexplicable feeling that there should be a warm smile in place of that disdainful grimace.

Luis was powerless to do anything but watch in extreme disappointment as his meagre hope was extinguished. The strangers trudged back to their individual homes in silence, and, one by one, disappeared from view.

"Why are they all so depressed? Why wouldn't anybody talk to me?" he demanded of Elizabeth as she led him to the empty site he had been allocated.

"What did you expect? That they'd come out on their hands and knees, dying to meet you?"

"Well, no. I just thought they'd be a bit friendlier, that's all..." he trailed off.

"As in the friendliness you displayed on your way here?" Luis just barely caught a malicious glint in her eye, so he remained silent.

Apparently satisfied she'd won, Elizabeth gestured indifferently to the barren slice of land that would surely be Luis' new home, probably for the foreseeable future.

"Do whatever you want with it," she began to depart.

"What?" called Luis. She didn't turn around.

He stared at the patch of land. It stared back sardonically, challenging him to impress it. Go on, it seemed to say. And that was exactly what Luis would do. Perhaps finding a unique build, even amongst this quirky, individualistic mix, was the key to success. If he could show them, prove his worth, maybe they'd respect him, even come to like him... wait, he was doing it again. What was the matter with him. He didn't seek approval, and he wasn't going to start now. And then it dawned on him: this was another technique designed to pacify him, influence his behaviour. The others had been made to go along with it, or else they'd just agreed. He didn't know, and he didn't care, for, as soon as he began to, he would innevitably invite self-doubt and insecurity, both of which would force him to modify his conduct, something that he wasn't prepared to do. The question was, now, what could he do to illustrate his newfound rebellious attitude. Maybe furthering the isolation they were so keen to force on him would do the trick...

An hour later, he was exhausted, doubled over, and faced with a hole in the ground, nothing more, at least to onlookers. Inside, however, was a complex labyrinth of underground tunnels which had enabled him to obtain all the materials which he so desired. Before entering to examine his handiwork, Luis had to apply the finishing touch. He'd spent a few minutes compressing and manipulating the cast iron he'd acquired with impressive stealth from the copper dwelling, which, as he'd anticipated, was brimming with a plentiful supply of other metals and alloys, until it resembled, very closely, a manhole cover. Clambering into the hole and down the ladder that could also be credited to the copper house's owner (the most magnanimous of Luis' new companions), Luis slid the cover telekinetically into place. He could feel the weight of it indirectly, and was contented that anyone who attempted entry, apart from him, of course, would be at the very least faced with a wearing challenge.

By mixing components of two separate buildings, one of the simplest constructions, similar to a log-cabin, and the castle-like dwelling wreathed in fire, Luis had managed to bring light to his home at others' expense. The fire posed no problem for anyone, as it was practically renewable, and, having cleverly stripped what could be construed as excess wood from carefully-selected panels, Luis was confident he wouldn't be discovered. He'd felt their stares boring into him aboveground, as he tossed unceremoniously the dirt he'd been extracting over the compound walls, so he'd felt a somewhat irrational nervousness as he'd appropriated the various forms of matter which were required for the interior, but he could now reap the rewards. He had an interconnected web of corridors leading directly under each and every building in the compound, and, best of all, nobody could possibly know what he was doing or where he was at any given time. The potential advantages were incomprehensible.

Not without some illogical resentment, Luis had been unable to resist the excessively ornate decoration of his new residence. He possessed a room devoted to a large, marble, frozen fountain, which had been incredibly difficult to make, requiring skill, subtlety and delicacy in order to shape the ice without cracking or shattering it. The ends, nonetheless, justified the means, for, as Luis examined his perpetually preserved masterpiece, thanks to the bracing temperature as deep below the surface as he was, he felt a supremely encouraging sense of hope and wonder at the beauty that could be accomplished through the relatively minor exploitation of nature. This fountain, to Luis, was a form of redemption for the wrongs he'd commited, a sign of the good that he could accomplish.