In a faraway place...
The observation center was in turmoil: the operators fiddled nervously with their control panel commands, while several control officers walked restlessly from one side of the big room to the other, carrying collected data to analyze and discuss.
The Commander, had gone to his office to answer a call and was now striding back into the room with determination. The Director of external affairs was analyzing information with some subordinates but as soon as he saw the Commander, he dropped everything and went to meet him.
«Sir...»
«Have you received confirmation of the findings?» the Superior asked stiffly.
«Yes, sir, all data appears to match, confirming the incident!» the Director quickly answered, his voice tight with emotion.
«I 've just finished talking with the Primary Movement Control Center» said the Commander, «they are obviously all in a frenzy, such a thing is impossible! They will have to inform the Central Council without delay»
«The Council!?» the Director repeated apprehensively.
«Of course, what has happened is un-heard of! We must be ready to provide an explanation!»
«Sir, our data is indisputable, we have more than one confirmation stating that the device has been activated!»
The Commander shook his head, incredulous.
«And yet that's not possible! That device wasn't able to activate in any way, wasn't it?»
«That's what we believed... Or rather we thought we were sure of!» the Director assured.
«I just don't understand,» the Commander continued, «even conceding that the device could self-activate, we should have received, as usual, a starting signal and destination indications!»
«I really don't know what to say...» admitted, the Director, without an apology.
«No destination marker! Everybody, here, knows that that can't happen!» said the superior throwing up his arms.
«Sir!» One of the control officers drew their attention.
«What is it?» asked the Commander approaching the operator's work station.
«Look...» The technician pointed to a line of data on the display «These last readings indicate that the device is undoubtedly still on professor Baldassar's vehicle, and is completely inactive!»
The Commander gazed in awe at the screen and turned to the Director, whose frozen stare was also focused on the data.
«So... does this signify that the Professor possessed not one, but two devices?!»
In another place, somewhere...
Roy completely stunned stared at the girl standing next to him who was smiling as she waited for his answer.
«Well, wouldn't you like anything cool to drink?» she asked politely, again.
«I... I...» Roy continued to stare incredulously at the beautiful girl who was wearing a figure hugging jumpsuit and strange spherical headgear, both white. «Wh- who are you?» he stammered.
«I am Utility, your flight assistant, or your hostess, if you prefer!»
«Fl-flight?» Roy took his eyes off the young girl and looked around.
He was sitting on a comfortable seat of light colored leather, inside what appeared to be an extra luxurious class passenger cabin, with white and silver walls. In front of him were another two seats, both facing him, both empty. He turned to look at the seat next to him and saw his backpack with Anfry's nose sticking out.
«Anfry!»
«I'm sorry» the girl intervened, «he's been given enough energy to recharge, but at the moment he's in stand-by for some auto-diagnostic procedures, so he can't communicate with you yet.»
Roy picked up his backpack, noting the automaton's fixed vacant stare. Then he was distracted by a glare of light coming from the nearby window, so he leant sideways to get a better look.
On the other side of the cabin window a kaleidoscopic whirling of lights, shapes and colors created a spectacularly fantastic universe, pulsing with a life of its own. Roy was fascinated by that incredible sight. It looked like it had been created by Jack Kirby's enchanted pen, the genial illustrator of the comics that Roy had known since he was a little boy. Roy used to sit on Mose's knee while his grandad read those comics to him, delicately turning the pages with admiration.
«What is that outside?» Roy asked the hostess. «Is it a sort of projected image or special effect?»
«I couldn't really say» the girl replied, still smiling but slightly embarrassed.
Roy stood up and noticed that, apart from the two sets of seats where he was sitting, there were no other places to sit. Also, the corridor next to the seats appeared to finish in a dead end without a door or other visible opening.
«Where are we going?» he demanded, looking Utility up and down with diffidence.
«I'm sorry, I know that it may sound strange, but I really couldn't say» she replied with a feigned smile.
«Where did you come from? I can't see any doors here, how did we get in?»
«Oh, well...»
«I'm a prisoner, right?» demanded Roy.
«But no, I told you, I'm your personal utility, designed to make you comfortable during the journey.»
Roy, confused, moved threateningly towards the girl.
«Listen, the last thing that I can remember is a flash after I heard the shot, Edward thrown some distance away, grandad shouting and then... I don't know, some sort of light... And I woke up here.» He came to a standstill to try and collect his thoughts.
«Right... Edward fired the pistol, I felt the shot, before the flash...» He looked over himself, touching his body to find out if he had any injuries, without finding any.
«Then... I must have fainted, maybe through shock, of course. You must have captured me and here I am! Did you take my grandad and Wendi too? Where are they? Answer me!»
«I can assure you that you are not a prisoner, you are merely on a journey» the girl said again, in a sympathetic tone. «Are you sure you don't want anything to drink?»
Roy, apart from not seeing an opening in that strange cabin, couldn't see a trolley or a mobile bar either. There was nothing, except four seats and a window that looked out onto that absurd scene of fantastic lights and colors in continuous motion. Intrigued, he decided to accept the hostess's offer.
«Fine, yes... I'd like a coke with ice and lemon, please» he ordered defiantly.
«Of course!» the girl smiled and turned away, as if going to get the drink that Roy had ordered. Instead, she simply swiveled around on the spot, before presenting Roy with a tray on which he saw a maxi glass of coke with a slice of lemon, ice cubes and a straw.
«Here you are, I hope everything's to your liking!» she declared satisfied, with the habitual smile plastered on her face.
Roy remained awestruck watching her. «Don't you want it anymore? Have you changed your mind?»
«How did you do that?» the youth questioned pointing at the tray. «What was it, some sort of magic trick?»
«I brought you what you asked for!» Utility replied disappointed.
«No, this is all absurd...» Roy backed away frightened. «what's happening? Am I going crazy.... or.... did Edward shoot me and I'm dead? Is that it? Am I travelling to the afterlife?»
«You're not dead, that's the only thing I know for sure» answered a familiar voice, Anfry had recovered and was now flying freely around the cabin.
«Anfry! You're charged!»
Roy had never been happier to see the little hare fully operative again. In that situation, the little robot represented his sole connection with reality.
«What happened to us, Anfry? Where are we?»
«I've carried out a complete system diagnostic» The automaton replied seriously, «when Edward's bullet hit me, it damaged some of my internal circuits.»
«Yes, but... all this...» Roy insisted, opening his arms to indicate everything around them.
«It's not real, as far as you are able to understand it. Let's say that this place exists in that it's a sort of projection transmitted by the device» the hare affirmed, looking around.
«Device? What device are you talking about?»
«Sit down, Roy.» Anfry pointed to one of the seats.
The youth obeyed in silence, hoping to receive a rational answer that justified the ridiculous situation. The hostess took advantage of his silence to approach him, offering the drink again.
«Your coke with ice and lemon...»
Roy scrutinized the insistent girl, then decided to take the drink and to just sit there quietly and listen to Anfry's explanation.
«What I can tell you for now...» the hare began, «is that, before leaving the laboratory, your grandad installed a very particular device inside me, a very very particular device...»
While he was listening to the robot's conversation, Roy began sipping the coke, verifying that it tasted completely real and was quite pleasant.
After a brief pause, as if searching for the right words to explain the situation, the little hare continued.
«Moses had been trying to work out how this device worked for quite some time, but he'd never been able to fully comprehend it. It was his most important project. So, before leaving the laboratory, he hid it inside my circuits, believing it to be safe there.» Anfry moved slightly closer to Roy, looking him straight in the eye. «The only thing that Moses really knew, is that this device somehow allows you to travel inconceivable distances in just a few minutes.»
«So we really are, um... travelling?!» Roy said, with the straw between his lips, trying to smother a belch.
«Edward's shot provoked a short circuit in my system, fusing together my mainboard with the device which, I don't know how, activated.»
«But where are we going?»
«I have no idea» Anfry replied lowering his head.
«And this... This...?» Roy said pointing to the cabin and then to the girl who, feeling involved, chipped in.
«If you will allow me, I tried to explain earlier» she said, still smiling. «I am the device's primary utility, at your service to make your journey as comfortable as possible!»
«What? I really don't get it...» Roy shook his head.
«This is a projection» Anfry explained, «it evidently activated at the same time as the device. It appears to be a sort of protection system which creates a comforting condition for the passengers, so that they don't suffer the shock of finding themselves on a ...I'd say terrifying...journey.»
«What are we actually travelling on then?» Roy still didn't get it.
«I believe...» the hare said cautiously, «I think that our molecules are moving about freely from one point to another in space. A sort of, how can I say it, 'matter transmission'.»
Roy sagged, leaning tiredly against the back of the chair.
«Oh, for cryin'out loud, come on, you mean ... teleportation?! But that's science fiction!»
Anfry delicately lowered himself onto the adjacent seat.
«How many, of the things you've seen today, could you clearly classify as being 'science fiction'?»
Roy continued to shake his head in disbelief, but all at once his grandad's words came back to him: «I'm more of an archeologist who rather than studying the past studies the future.» Words which Roy immediately associated with a sentence that the little hare had said earlier.
«Anfry, you said that grandad was trying to discover how the device worked. You said discover! That means that the device isn't one of his inventions! So where does it come from?»
The hare didn't have time to answer his question. The cabin was shaken by a strong tremor while a deafening noise, similar to the heart rending cries of a whale but amplified a thousand times, forced Roy to cover his ears in pain.
The hostess' habitual smile vanished, replaced by an expression of total astonishment.
«Something's intercepting our signal! That's not possible! They...We're being hijacked; they're altering our course!».
On Dreamkey...
General Henderson, holding his hat in his hands was making his way slowly down the corridor that led from the hangar where the Fireball was docked to the laboratory, accompanied by Moses.
The Professor, after helping Martika and reassuring Wendi, had waited on the beach for the general's submarine to arrive. Then, once the soldiers had surrounded the area and prohibited the general public from entering, he'd boarded his granddaughter and Martika onto the Fireball, together with a United States Navy doctor and Tex. The vehicle, now completely automatically repaired, took them back home, escorted by the F14's that were surveilling the area. Martika was now receiving the appropriate treatment with Wendi glued to her side, for as long as her grandad was occupied with General Henderson.
«I'm surprised, Professor,» thundered Henderson, «that you haven't already informed the superiors about having completed the project!»
«I already told you,» Moses replied wearily, «the project could not be considered completed. I decided to use the vehicle only because the emergency of the situation didn't leave me any options!»
«You will still have to answer a lot of questions, you know that, don't you?» the military man retorted, skeptical. «and this matter with your grandson, disappearing like that, I don't understand...»
«It's exactly what happened!» Moses burst out, as they stepped into his laboratory.
«We've known each other a long time, Professor. I don't doubt your good faith, but there are really too many obscure elements in this whole business» Henderson continued, then as tactfully as possible. «What 'weapon' could have made your grandson dissolve into thin air?»
«A weapon capable of doing that doesn't exist!» Moses replied angrily.
«Unfortunately the person who shot him has escaped....» thegeneral said with regret.
«Edward used a common pistol, not a.... a sort of disintegrator, like you're insinuating!» Moses replied, the terrible scene still fresh in his mind.
«I'm sorry, Professor...» Henderson continued with comprehension, «but my imagination can't stretch any further...it'll be up to you to give, or better still, find the answers. This is your field of expertise, not mine.»
Moses listened silently to the military man who was browsing curiously around the lab machinery.
«We should inform Roy's mother. And when she finds out, it will only be a question of time before the President's office will also be aware of the facts.»
«I will take the responsibility of notifying my daughter» Moses said, looking at the ground.
«Of course» the General replied, «although I rather think that it will be your daughter who gets in touch with you beforehand...This mess won't have passed unnoticed. Henderson stopped briefly and stared at the strange luminous spheres in which soft various colored shapes chased about.
«We can count on the people of Dreamkey's discretion, considering the fact that the island isn't anything other than an exclusive summer resort for National Security Agency executives and their families...»
«So everything's fine then, isn't it?» Moses said, blankly.
«Come on, Professor!» Henderson turned a compassionate gaze in the scientist's direction. «We must give an account of what happened! Foreign powers will have recorded the activity with their satellites, at the very least we risk some information leaks being skillfully magnified with the only aim of putting us in difficulty!»
The General went back to scrutinizing the objects strewn about Moses' laboratory. «We'll have to play in advance, we'll give our version of the facts: a damaged satellite precipitated and crashed on the island.»
«Fine.» Moses said, flatly.
«Professor, you don't understand!» Henderson was losing patience «In any case you will have to give up all the privileges that you've enjoyed here! This laboratory is ruined! We'll have to transfer you, your work and all your apparatus somewhere safer!»
«If that's the way it's got to be...»
The General moved closer to the scientist, who stared back at him unperturbed.
«Listen, Moses, I'm talking as a friend. I realize that you are shocked about what happened to Roy, but I advise you to snap out of it as soon as possible.» With sweeping arms Henderson indicated the laboratory. «Many, I for one, disagreed that you should work here on your own, in isolation.» He came back to the Professor looking determined: «After today's events you will be under investigation... There will be many questions that demand answers. I don't know what will happen but you would be well advised to be ready; as I said before, try to react. And quickly.»
«Is that all?» was the only comment Moses made.
Henderson sighed and shook his head in surrender.
«Yes, damn you, that's all... For now,» The General put his hat on. «I'll leave my men to guard the house; I'll get back to you tomorrow with news about transferring the laboratory.» He turned round, and started walking towards the exit. «Don't bother accompanying me; I know the way out.»
One wing of the villa had been gutted by the enemy attack. The perimeter walls had collapsed and from outside you could see into the rooms with all the furniture still in place, it was like looking into an opened doll's house.
At the back some rooms were still intact and the downstairs living room hadn't suffered serious damage, even if the floor was covered with pieces of plaster and the glass windows had exploded into thousands of shards.
Martika had been put in a small downstairs bedroom, lying on the bed with an elaborate bandage round her head. The military doctor had stitched the wound caused by Edward's shooting and had diagnosed an obvious concussion, but nothing that couldn't be resolved with time and a good night's sleep, so he left her safely in Wendi's company to get some rest.
The little girl was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed and stroking Tex, who was curled up nearby. Every now and then she glanced at the television on the table, which was showing some old Scooby Doo cartoons, at low-volume. The sunlight, just before sunset, filtered through the lowered venetian blinds, casting dim shadows in the semi-darkness.
Moses opened the door slowly, without knocking.
«Grandad!» Wendi rushed to greet him, jumping into his arms.
«Shhh, sweetheart!» the man whispered, «don't wake Martika, she's sleeping.»
But on hearing those words the woman opened her eyes and turning her head cautiously to look at the scientist, slightly smiled.
«I'm not sleeping, Professor, have a seat.»
Moses sat on the armchair, holding Wendi in his arms.
«How's it going?»
«Apart from this headache, I'm ok» Martika replied, moving carefully into a sitting position.
«I must thank you for what you did today» Moses said gratefully.
«No, I was a complete fool, I let myself be tricked like an idiot!» she replied, mortified.
The man shook his head, looking down.
«No, I am the fool... It's my fault for everything that happened.»
«It's not your fault, Edward was the bad guy who made Roy and Anfry disappear!» Wendi said, looking at her grandad's sad face.
Moses hugged his granddaughter tightly.
«Little one... Unfortunately, I was the one who irresponsibly dragged you all into this mess, and Roy... Roy...» he stared into space, searching for an answer. «I don't know what to say, I don't know what's happened to him...»
Martika had been unconscious when the youth disappeared, she still hadn't been able to talk it through with Moses. Wendi had told her, in between sobs, that the soldier had fired a shot at Roy and that her brother had disappeared together with Anfry in a burst of light.
«Professor... Was it really Edward?» the woman asked.
«No, I don't think so...» Moses tried to get the facts straight. «It wouldn't have made any sense... He seemed drugged, those white eyes...Oh! My God... He fired a shot, he wanted to hit Tex, but Roy, well...Roy threw himself in the way...»
Just remembering the details and trying to reconstruct the incident took a tremendous effort, worn out as he was by remorse and grief. Martika noticed his struggle but thought that, encouraging him to talk about it, might help him to think it over, and get to the bottom of what really happened.
«Go on, Professor...»
Moses continued concentrating, staring at the floor whilst automatically stroking Wendi's hair.
«Roy had his backpack on with Anfry inside...»
«So Edward might have hit Anfry and not Roy?» Martika queried.
«Yes, that must be what happened...Of course. That would explain why electric discharges were released straight after; the shot must have caused Anfry to short circuit...»
Martika attempted to move into a more comfortable position on the bed, as she tried to focus on the situation.
«If that's how it went... does that mean that the hare exploded? It disintegrated?»
Moses shook his head «No, no, in that case Anfry would have shattered into a thousand pieces, he wouldn't have just disintegrated, dissolving Roy as well, without leaving a trace!»
«Wendi said that there was a burst of light» the woman continued.
«Yes, it was released after the discharges.»
«So the light was coming from Anfry, Professor...»
«Yes, but...» Moses began to understand or, better, to accept that it was the only plausible answer. «But no, it's not possible...»
Martika leaned forwards, propped up on her elbows, urging the Professor on.
«And yet, one of Anfry's circuits did accidentally cause that flash of light. You built that robot, you must know which components could provoke that sort of reaction....»
Moses looked up, meeting the woman's inquiring gaze.
«Yes, I do, I have an idea but...It would be too absurd for words.... No!»
Martika pulled herself up a bit more, trying to get closer to the scientist, without averting her gaze.
«Listen, I've been by your side without ever asking anything about your work... I have protected your secrets without asking any questions and, believe me, I have seen both incredible and absurd things.» She stopped a moment and winced, shutting her eyes in an attempt to drive away the pain caused by her head injury. «I have learnt that you are a good man, apart from being an extraordinary scientist, and now I've got the impression that you've got a precise idea of what could have happened, but you're too shocked by your grandson's disappearance to accept it.»
The Professor stared at Martika, saddened and filled with disbelief: «I... Yes, I have thought about it but...it can't be, it's not possible, I don't know how...»
«If you've really got a theory about this... Even if it seems absurd, it might not be impossible» Martika insisted.
«Grandad, do you know what's happened to Roy! He's not gone to heaven, has he?» Wendi lifted her head off of Moses' shoulder, looking at him full of hope.
«If what I assume is true....» the scientist shuddered, trying to keep himself from crying «Roy should still be alive, but I...I don't know where or how...»
The phone on the bedside table rang, making him jump and interrupting the conversation. He picked up the receiver and heard a secretary's voice on the other end telling him that his daughter was on the line.
«Oh, jeez, it's your mom, Wendi.»
«Mom! Can I talk to her, grandad?!» the little girl asked.
Moses gestured her to wait a minute and cleared his throat with a little cough.
«Melissa! How... You already know? What?» He looked at Martika and Wendi, as if searching their faces for the right words to say.
«Listen, yes, we've had some problems...but everything's sorted now. Yes, yes... The kids...» he hugged his granddaughter to him, «are fine... Roy isn't here, but I'll pass you Wendi!»
He covered the microphone with his hand and put the little girl down, while he handed her the phone. «Wendi, please, don't say anything to your mom about what's happened to your brother» he implored, «we mustn't make her worried right now, first we've got to try and work out what....well, where Roy is, ok, do you understand sweetheart?»
«Is it like a white lie?» Wendi asked seriously.
«Yes, sweetheart, that's exactly what it is» Moses smiled sadly before handing over the receiver.
«Mom!» Wendi shouted into the receiver, «I'm fine, yes. There were some bad guys earlier, but they've gone now... Roy?»
The little girls bright and sparkly eyes met her grandad's dull gaze.
«I can't hand over the phone to him, he's out with Anfry at the moment!»
In another place, somewhere...
In a second the luxury passenger cabin disappeared and Roy was dazzled by another blinding flash. He tried in vain to open his eyes to understand what was going on, but they were stinging too much.
«Anfry! Anfry, where are you? I can't see you!»
«I'm here, don't worry» the hare's voice came from somewhere nearby, next to him, «don't move. Give your eyes time to adjust.»
As soon as he could focus on his surroundings, Roy thought that he was hallucinating.
«A-Anfry, what's happened? None of this is real, is it? Is it another projection?»
«I'm sorry» the robot replied seriously, «according to my sensors it's all real.»
Roy looked around dumbfounded, then he looked down at his feet and was seized by a sense of dizziness.
«Oh, flipping heck!»
He was standing on a little rock, smooth and polished on top but rough and uneven underneath. The boulder was floating gently in deep space together with hundreds, maybe thousands of other similar little asteroids, some of which were very close to him.
As far as the eye could see were millions of stars, and brightly colored gaseous clusters, elaborately shaped galaxies and multicolored planets that in some places looked so close to each other as to resemble enormous bunches of cosmic grapes.
«Tell me that this is a hallucination!» Roy begged Anfry.
«Oh no it isn't!» A voice suddenly came from above. The teenager looked upwards above his head and saw, a hundred meters away, a shape suspended in space, made up of four enormous square based pyramids with their tips facing outwards and their bases placed one against the other, delineating a hypothetical cube. Inside that area, a big iridescent sphere, a bit like those in discos, was casting beams of light in every direction. Other smaller spheres orbited around the four prisms, completing the bizarre composition.
«Who said that?» Roy shouted towards the strange structure.
«Please, come on up!» The voice invited them to join it, and at once the rocks around them arranged themselves to form a stairway that led to the upside down pyramid at the bottom of the floating composition.
«Tell me that I'm gonna wake up in a minute, please!» Roy said to Anfry.
«I'm sorry, Roy, we ought to go and see who's up there, I don't think that we have much choice. Perhaps we can get to know a bit more about this weird place.»
«very well...» the youth granted passively, picking up his backpack from the floor. «Get inside, Anfry. It's best if you save your energy, for now.» The little hare settled down in the bag and, as soon as he slung the backpack over his shoulder, the youth sighed and started to jump, not without difficulty, from one rock to another.
«Oh my! This is making me dizzy!»
«Don't look down!» said Anfry.
«Yeah ok, but where is down? We're in the middle of space!» Roy protested.
«Come on now, grumpy, it's not that difficult!» The voice from above reassured him.
When he got to one rock from the top, Roy began to see inside the cuboid area defined by the pyramid shaped structure. Near the bottom there was an altar with some steps, overlooked by another small pyramid in front of which a spiral of pure energy twisted and writhed.
«Oh, there you are, at last! Come in, Roy!» said an indistinct figure who stood out backlit in front of the energy vortex.
The teenager moved onto the surface of the big upside down prism, taking a few shy steps on the pavement made of classic two tone marble tiles.
«Well I'll be damned! You're taller than I imagined!» the figure began coming down the altar steps to meet him.
«Who are you? How come you know me?» Roy stopped and asked suspiciously.
«Everything in its own time! Let me look at you!» said the being, coming closer.
Roy took a few steps to the side so that he could see who he was speaking to without the annoying backlit effect of the energy vortex in the background. When he managed to see the being clearly, a couple of meters away from him, the youth gave a start.
«Is this a joke?» he commented, rapidly taking a few steps back.
«What's the matter, don't you like my look?» asked the clown, with a big smile stamped on his face.
«I thought all the boys and girls of your world liked clowns, I love them! Do you want to squeeze my nose?»
«No! I don't like clowns; they've always frightened me!» Roy replied, with a sneer of disapproval.
«Oh. I'm sorry, really I am...» the being said disappointed, «if it makes you feel better, you ought to know that this isn't my true appearance.»
Roy looked the being up and down skeptically.
«Take the mask off, show me how you really look, then!»
The clown smiled, lowering his head.
«Oh, no, no... It's best not to!»
«Who the devil are you?» the teenager asked, impatiently.
«Ah, yes, of course, I haven't introduced myself! I am... Most people call me The Guardian of Cosmic Destiny, others call me the Observer of Cosmic Incidents, for some I'm, would you believe it, the Governor of Universal Fate...»
«Ah yes, a Governor dressed as a clown, that seems a perfect choice» Roy remarked, ironically.
«very funny!» said the other, without losing his smile. «In fact, where you come from many well-dressed clowns are actually running the world! Ha! Ha! Ha! You're very sharp for your age!»
Roy was beginning to lose his patience; he was tired, scared, overwhelmed by the absurd situation that he was experiencing. He wanted real answers, not witty remarks.
«That's enough! Let's stop beating around the bush! You made me come here, didn't you? So what do you want? Maybe I'm just dreaming? How...How is all this possible? If you've got some answers give them to me, otherwise I'm leaving!»
The clown looked at Roy with concern and he moved closer, curious.
«Well how about that... you've got character...»
He circled slowly round Roy, observing both him and Anfry, who was keeping quiet in the backpack but looking suspiciously over the boy's shoulder. After a little while, he started talking again, but without the joking tone that he'd used before.
«I diverted you from your original route because I wanted to meet you, right now at the beginning of your long, long journey. And I wanted to give you some advice.»
«Advice?» Roy inquired perplexed.
«First of all, what you're experiencing is real, it's not a dream» the clown confirmed. «Accept this reality, because it is your reality now. What you believed to be impossible yesterday, a figment of your imagination, has become reality today. The quicker you get used to this idea, the better.»
«But...» the youth tried in vain to interrupt.
«Overcome your limited and partial view of things!» the Guardian continued. «You have the privilege to go beyond, to see beyond the boundaries of your little world.»
«My world?» Roy managed to interrupt and get a word in this time, «And you, what world do you come from?»
The clown half-smiled and gazed towards the distant stars.
«Open your mind, my friend. Your world is just a drop in the immense ocean of the Universe!»
«Yes, yes, nothing new there then. Ok, I will, but I only want to go back home, to my family, to my friends! I don't care about the rest!» Roy moved closer to the clown. «Can you take me back to them?»
The clown stared at him, worried. «Oh, I shouldn't even be here. I'll be in great trouble if they find out...»
«Who...» Roy tried to ask, but was cut off immediately.
«There's not enough time, in a little while I'm going to have to let you go» the clown proceeded, «you're only here because I wanted to see you, to talk to you and to warn you. You have an important destiny to fulfill, you have to accept it and you have to be on guard...»
«What destiny?» Roy asked, intrigued.
«A destiny that will upset the balance of this very Universe!» the other replied, amused and with emphasis.
«Oh, come on! Me? Give it a rest will you!» the teenager held up his hands in a gesture of denial.
«Oh, yes, you!» the clown confirmed, arms crossed.
«Sure!» Roy proceeded, underlining his skepticism with sarcasm, «What is it, one of the usual fairy tales? That old story about the chosen one! So I will be the chosen one who'll restore balance to the Universe?»
«Chosen one? No, you've just been unlucky» said the clown, with a hearty laugh.
«What?»
«You just turned up in the wrong place at the wrong time, at least, from your point of view, but it's too late now, you're here you might as well get on with it, just accept it!»
The being put his hand on Roy's shoulder, the teenager forced himself not to withdraw from its touch.
«Be careful, life is tough out there! Choose the right company, they'll be important on your journey.»
«But what does that mean?» asked the youth, trying to understand.
«Think about it. I can't tell you everything, for heaven's sake......I'm not allowed to, but I think that we'll see each other, you and me, every now and then....» The clown started to walk away, still looking at Roy as he retreated.
«You can get back to your big adventure now, Roy. See you later!»
«Wait!» the youth shouted stretching out a hand, but everything, around him, had disappeared.
In a faraway place...
Commander Garius had left the control room and had retreated to his office so that he could make a call without being disturbed. He was sitting at his desk and had just activated a private communication channel. The holographic display on the table switched on, although without showing any images of the person he was talking to.
«I'm listening» said an encrypted voice coming from the display.
«Have you received the latest information that I sent to you on the secure channel? The Commander asked with a tired voice.
«Yes, even if it seems very improbable to me...»
«It appears that that's exactly how it is though» Garius confirmed.
«What do you want me to do?» demanded the voice coming from the display.
«I've already pushed you too far, violating the rules in which I myself believe and that I swore to defend,» replied the Commander miserably, «but I'm afraid that we are facing some events that could put our own civilization in danger.»
He got closer, bending over the communication display, as if the gesture cost him an enormous effort.
«Therefore I have to ask you to intervene, collect all the information possible... use discretion and don't give yourself away, for now.»
«Message received, over and out» the voice replied, then the display turned off.
Garius leant back in his chair, exhausted by the tension caused by the latest events and by the weight of responsibility. Motionless, he stared at the stars and the big lunar craters beyond the ample window in his office.
The reflection on the glass window showed him no mercy as it reproduced his image: the tired and weary face of a grey skinned deolian, its big bald skull lined with raised blood vessels that pulsed slowly and its big black shiny eyes. The extraterrestrial gazed faraway, at an undefined point in space, perhaps, out there all the answers to the many questions that were crowding his mind were hidden.