Memorize (Book One)

The Anomaly

"What the hell...?" growled Starling as he got aboard the pod just before the gates slid shut.

Jay was staring at the horizon, eyes wide open, his hand lying flat on the control panel. A simple touch sufficed to give your identity and register for the flight.

"WDC3 - take us to the Fields."

The pod took off and started moving fast, in an elliptic trajectory. Jay pressed his hand harder, imposing higher speed to the pod. A moment of silence followed before Starling spoke again.

"So... explanation now? Where are we headed? I thought we were flying over the City tonight??"

"Mmmmh... it's just... I don't know. I thought I saw something."

"What? What have you seen?"

"A... light. A twinkle, actually."

"A twin-kle??" Starling exploded. "You bet it was worth it. I didn't even finish my space lager! Ah Jay, I swear... You're a nutcase!"

"Well, it'll take a minute, that's all. I just want to make sure that..."

"What do you wanna make sure? It's not like the Composium's taking care of everything. Dude, we've got pods to fly tonight! And there's nothing to worry about."

Starling was right, Jay reflected. There was no reason to rush like this. And nothing to worry about. But he felt his hands shaking, and fear was escalating inside his body. Or more like...the fear of fear.  What was the matter? Why was he feeling "worried"? Worry was hardly human anymore.

My hands are sweating. Am I going crazy?

Why the numbness? Why did he crave for loneliness? No-one was like him. It was probably a matter of seconds before the Composium detected his excessive restlessness. He'd be retrieved. Cornered into what, he didn't know. He had seen a few guys, over the past months. Second-borns who had been retrieved. Most had come back. But one of them had never re-surfaced.

"Oh, fuck!" cried Jay.

"?..."  Starling stared at his friend. Jay was losing it. Suddenly he felt sorry for him. Jay was a Second-born, and he had had a hard time adjusting to his new life, in spite of the Composium's continuous attendance. He gazed at his friend's profile, the intense look, the slightly tense line above his eyebrows, his black hair and this tiny hint of a beard growing on his chin. His muscles were tight and tension was palpable in the air. But Jay was always a little intense. There was this darkness about him, that pulled him away from the optimistic, healthy, trouble-free ambience of the colony. Nope, Jay wasn't mad. Couldn't be. He would have been retrieved by the Composium already. Jay was just... Jay. And he was a good person to hang around with. He just needed help.

While the two friends were lost in their thoughts, the pod swiftly moved above the air camp, flew across the city and over the Fields. A few moments later, it was landing in a vertical effortless whoosh.

"Listen Star, I have to tell you... I'm a little nervous. I don't know why and I'm sure it'll soon wear out. I know you'll keep it to yourself."

"Nah, it's OK man, just happens. Come on, let's go see your twinkle." Starling smirked.

Jay took a deep breath, felt happy that his friend was with him, and they both got off the pod.

It was pretty dark near the Fields, save for tiny droplets of white light every five inches along the plants. Silence was complete, too. It was the most amazing place to be: a compact area of almost nothingness, a place of beauty and quiet delineated by the dense geometric shapes of the plantations.  Below their feet: red fine sand. Above their heads: spiraling galaxies. In front of them: the silhouettes of vegetal life replicated a million times. Then they heard it: the faintest little whistle.

Jay and Starling looked at each other in a moment of stupor. Not that the sound was frightening in any way. It was just... out of place. Unlikely. They hurried in the dark, making progress towards the sound that seemed so improbable. Apart from that, all they could hear was the soft crush of their own footsteps, echoing in the night.

It felt as if seconds were stretching into ages, shadows into giants, doubts into perplexity. And then they stumbled upon it. Right along the water fence (an arachnid-like translucent line of hydrophilic micro pipelines). It had been dumped among the plants, and in its fall it had probably damaged the hyper sensitive fence and triggered the re-engineering self-healing mechanism of the micro lines. Hence the temporary twinkle. It was gone now. The fence had healed itself.

But the thing was there, tangled in the leaves. Shiny. Silvery. Waiting to be picked up.