TCI: Book 1 Part 1: (N. L .A.) The Fire Stone. Book 1 Part 2 Continuing

Part 2: Chapter 14: The Mapmaker

"Ah! Plotius... wrong solar system, too far south I think, try another."  

"My turn! My turn!" said Amy, still giggling and quickly coming forward she pressed her finger right up to the knuckle into the eye nearest to her. "Yuck! It's cold!" she said taking her finger out along with a thick slimy line of mucus. She looked down at her hand "Yuh! There must have been one of these 'eyes' in that alcove!" She quickly wiped her finger down the back of Chase's trench coat. 

"Hey!!" 

"You thought we were being watched, remember?"  

Chase nodded, "Yeah, I guess we were."  

The huge cinematic eye opened wider, darkened a little and then glowed blue. The inner sphere began to grow larger and floated upwards, taking on the appearance of an Orb as it filled the high ceiling of the chamber. Slowly, as the smoky mist within the sphere cleared to show a star speckled night sky, another smaller planet was visible.  

"Ah! That's better...Terra-Tri, The Blue Planet. Earth... very pretty, providing you don't get too close!" The chamber darkened further as all the tiny eyes closed. "Sit down, sit down." The Cloak gestured to some chintzy armchairs that suddenly appeared below The Orb.  

Chase was a little weary but Amy sat down and looked up into The Orb straight away. She turned to Chase and beckoned to him. Just as he sat down The Orb swelled again, appearing to hover over them like a massive bubble. Slowly it lowered and Chase and Amy became enclosed within it.  

As they both watched the pictures unfold all around them, they had the weirdest sensation they were moving, as though they were sitting in a spacecraft and the Orb or The Great Eye or whatever it was, was some kind of optical window, and it was just like they were looking out over the universe! 

Suddenly the Orb rolled sideways and they were off! Amy yelled as they sped at great speed towards the Earth, passing strange flying objects and swirling vapour, which suddenly scattered to reveal a blue sky all around them. As they flew down they could see land and sea spread in patterns far below. They dipped suddenly as though the craft was nose-diving, then straightened and swerved to miss low clouds and mountains. They skimmed across oceans and descended over Southern England. The Isle of Wight and the Needles lighthouse could clearly be seen. Wind whipped Amy's hair and Chase could taste salt on his lips. 

A number of times Amy squealed and grabbed the sides of her armchair. Then they suddenly took another nose-dive towards the sea, turned sideways to fly between two of the tall white columned rocks of the Needles then skimmed across the sea, past yachts and a ferry boat just missing the whites of the waves as they headed towards land.  

"Oh-wow!" gasped Amy, as she was pushed back into her seat, "Isn't that tower thing near home?" she called pointing to it as wind whipped her hair."  

"We're back in The New Forest," called Chase but before he could say any more they where jolted up into the air, banking left to follow the moors, gorse land, woods and a winding river.  

"Are we really flying? Are we really there?" called Amy. It felt so real. Chase prayed they didn't fly over Weir House, as he was sure Amy would leap from their illusionary spacecraft, thinking they were home. Chase felt the sea spray on his face again and now could smell the coldness of the clouds and the freshness of the woods below them as they banked round again. He turned to speak to the cloaked figure. Through the blur and sheen of the bubble encasing them, Chase could see it, standing a little way behind them, still being very careful not to reveal its face.  

"We're not really movin' so how're yer doin' this–where are these images comin' from?"  

"Everyone and everything leaves specks of themselves, their existence, everywhere they go... even you. We can pick up on the energy those specks generate."