"We've still got twenty mec-tah," Orion said looking at his wrist-com.
"Maybe we should just get on the transport," Celli suggested, casting a glance in the direction of the information booth. She had no desire to loiter around the dock. It was as if the people here lived under a blanket of fear and mistrust even thicker than the one in their district. This is madness, she found herself thinking. I just don't see how it was meant to be like this.
As they walked through the gate the fare was automatically deducted from their com-chip implants . They stopped to look at their transport before they boarded. It was a mid-sized passenger transport that had obviously seen better days. The brown and silver paint was chipping in places and there were three dark gray streaks near the back from the exhaust of the port side forward thrusters.
"Think it'll get us there?" Fel wondered aloud.
Orion shook his head and walked aboard.
There weren't many passengers, so they climbed up to the third deck and claimed two couches facing each other by a window. They took off their packs and placed them by the wall.
"Anybody want a snack?" Fel asked, feeling generous with the credit he had won from the game. "My treat."
"Yeah," Orion said, "I'll have some poglo sticks."
"Me too," said Celli.
"Poglo sticks for everyone!" Fel announced, and proceeded to the snack bar in the center of the transport.
Orion looked out the large window at the platform. Two dock workers were connecting a blue hose to one of the transport's intake valves.
"Orion, I need to tell you something," Celli said quietly. Orion turned to face her. "It's about the dream I had." He was immediately interested. "There were... people... we met some people." She pursed her lips as she contemplated her presentation. "They were not people like I have ever met before. They had a certain... look to them," Celli tried to explain what she had felt, "something about their eyes." She smiled as she remembered her dream. "They were very..." Celli sighed, "happy," she said for lack of a better word. "They were unconnected from the Com." She swallowed. "They were... wild, in some way; powerful in another way... alien..." She smiled sheepishly. "It was confusing, but it felt good. I don't know how to explain. It was like they lived in a different reality or something." She looked into Orion's eyes. "They invited us to come with them."
Orion looked intently at her. "Where?" He asked.
"I don't know." Celli shook her head. "They were going somewhere and they wanted us to go with them."
Orion nodded.
"Doesn't make much sense, does it?"
"There's more to this than we realize." Orion heard himself say.
Celli knitted her brow, looked out the window. "If there were any people like that," she held her breath then exhaled, "I would go with them."
"Is that why you decided to come?"
Celli turned and studied his face before answering. "I don't know... I'm not sure. It's something about the way I felt in my dream... and I can still feel it now." She turned her gaze back to the scene outside the window. "It's something connected to what happened in our game."
Orion nodded. He felt the same way.
Fel came across the floor with three bags of poglo sticks and three cartons of manra juice.
Orion and Celli smiled. "Thanks, buddy," Orion said, accepting the treats, "I owe you one."
"Forget it," he said, putting a poglo stick in his mouth, "I still owe you quite a few. Mmmm, these are not bad, pret-ty-fresh!"
"Departure in five mec-tah." The drive-com announced.
"I get a good feeling about this," Fel said confidently as he bit down on another poglo stick. "I mean... think about it," he swallowed, "you spend every day in the com-zone, you don't even know what's out there. There's a lot of free-zone that's completely uninhabited. Who knows what lives there – lurking... hidden in caves." He elbowed Orion.
Orion smiled. "Yeah, yeah, well, I tell you that thing looked... and sounded plenty real to me."
Fel laughed. "Here's our chance to find out." He took a swig of manra. "How long's the trip," he asked.
"3 mec-lan and 10 ," Orion answered.
"Enough time to relax a little." Fel took off his boots, kicked his feet up on the couch in front of him and put another poglo stick in his mouth.
"CR-1206 now departing for Yalam Center. Next stop: Chagta-Lon."
The three young factory workers watched the dock recede as the transport began moving slowly backwards toward the ramp. The pilot cleared the platform and swiveled one-eighty degrees. He fired the six forward thrusters and they began to move out of the dock, gaining speed as they traveled down the exit ramp. They glided into one of the main underground access tunnels where they merged with traffic going to and from the com-zone.
"Look!" Fel exclaimed, pointing to a sleek looking mrith ship. The three of them watched it as it passed them by in a faster lane.
"Probably going out to practice," Orion speculated
"Do you recognize the emblem?" Fel asked.
"No, I've never seen it before; could be a new team."
"Well, if we save up long enough..." Fel said. The boys laughed and Celli smiled. Their transport veered left down another tunnel and within a few minutes they glided upwards and broke into the light of Hanthran. They flew at a leisurely speed, three hundred meters above ground, cruising over the outskirts of Kypro, then the agri-zone, as they flew toward Belemer Lake.
***
"Changta-Lon in five mec-tah."
The transport slowed and descended vertically into the Changta-Lon passenger dock. The open-air dock was surrounded by massive gray warehouses; they could see, through the windows, movement inside: transports shifting huge crates, conveyers, elevators. This food would reach their tables, eventually.
A few people disembarked from CR-1206 and a few people stepped aboard.
"CR-1206 now departing for Yalam Center. Next stop: Filo-Marin."
They ascended to one hundred meters and began moving forward, then slowly gained altitude and leveled off again at three hundred meters. They watched the machines working in the fields below them. Elevated roadways, more conveyers, pipes and cables feeding the crops, slow-moving sky barges collecting crates of produce. Every square meter accounted for. Efficient. Controlled. Automated. There was no danger of starvation, if you were registered in a com-zone. Even if you were slotted for elimination at a sanatorium, you would be dispatched with a full belly. Efficient.
"I wonder what it would be like," Celli said gazing out the window, "to work in the agri-zone? Cleaner air; green plants."
"No mrith clubs," Fel commented.
Celli didn't answer. "I'm glad I decided to come," she said.
***
"Colang-Brez in five mec-tah."
The transport descended into a ring of huge calipo trees and came to a soft landing at the dock. They strapped on their packs and walked down the stairs, exiting the transport.
"CR-1206 now departing for Yalam Center. Next stop: Reniol-Haaf."
The transport ascended and departed for its final destination of Yalam Center – a large agri-complex on the edge of Kypro's territory. The three teenagers walked through the trans-dock gates and into the town of Colang-Brez.
"Nice place," Fel observed, surveying the scene. "What do they do in this town?"
"Recreation," Orion answered. "Exclusively Keneso clients - the Cholan provide the services. They have health centers, games, sports, spin-houses - whatever you want – if you can afford it."
"Did you come out here when you were younger?"
"Yeah, every cenro." Orion tried to sound casual but being back in Colang-Brez brought back a flood of memories from his former life. "There are a lot of things you can do out here that don't require a lot of credit though." Orion studied a directional sign as they walked past. "You wanna go to the lake?" Fel and Celli looked at him. "We'll have time to set up camp and still have some fun around here. We can go look for that sphere tomorrow."
Fel and Celli could do nothing but agree. Orion seemed to know where he was going and they were content to follow. "It's about a fifty mec-tah walk to the lake from here," Orion said, "then about another fifty to the camping area. Do you think we can make it?"
"I'll try," Celli responded.
***
"There it is!" said Orion triumphantly as they came over a small rise and caught sight of the lake. They paused and took in the beauty of the scene before them before continuing to the water's edge. "This water is supposed to be clean enough to drink," Orion said. He dipped his hand in and took a sip. His friends watched him. Orion shrugged. "Tastes good to me."
He looked along the shore to the west. "The camping area should be just over there, where the forest begins. Over there," he pointed in the opposite direction, "you can see all the health clubs and spin-houses and everything else." They shaded their eyes as they studied the large complexes of stylish buildings on the lake shore, a few kilometers to the east.
"That's where I stayed when I came here with my mom," Celli said pointing, "that silvery building right on the water. I'd never seen anything like that before. It was really nice."
"We better get moving," Orion said, struggling to adjust his pack, "I wanna get a chance to swim before it gets too dark."
"Sounds good," Fel said.
***
After an hour on the beach they retired to their camp. They sat around a campfire Orion had managed to build and warmed themselves and discussed the events that had led them to this place.
"You're right about one thing," Fel said, "even if we don't find that safe, this has been a lot of fun already." He looked out over the serene waters of the lake, "Sure beats KB-35, eh?"
Orion offered a sniff of contempt. Tur-Lam 64 seemed like a bad dream from the lakeside.
"But what if we do find it?" Celli asked a question that the boys hadn't seriously considered – at least not since they had boarded the transport in Kumplan. The sense of travel and adventure had overshadowed the significance of the sphere, and their mrith game, and the experiences Orion had had. The boys were silent.
Orion stared into the slow burning flames. "Somehow, I think that if that sphere is out there, maybe we should let it be; just enjoy the lake and get back to Kypro before anything happens." He looked over at Celli, then to Fel and shrugged. "At least we came out here." He gazed around at the sky and the water and the green, realizing how much he had missed this scene - this sensation.
He felt stronger and more in control. He felt that the thing, the monster, could not find him here - it was somehow confined to the com-zone. He was willing to bet that his dreams here would be sweet and clear. His mind was at peace. It's the colors I was missing, he reasoned, the green, the blue, the air, the open sky. I haven't seen this color for a long time. This is the therapy I need.
"Still scared of the reglar?" Fel smirked.
"Yeah, maybe," Orion said. "Maybe there's something worse than a reglar out there." The boys chuckled. Fel poked at the coals with a stick and small flames burst out in swirling patterns sending sparks tumbling upwards to mingle with the stars that were beginning to fill the sky above them.
"Maybe..." Celli began in a peculiar voice, "if we don't find it... something worse will happen; or something that should happen won't."
"Do you really think it's that important, Celli?" Orion said, trying to sound indifferent.
"I think it's important," Celli's voice was sober. "I think we were meant to find this thing. I think there is something in there."
The boys hadn't seen Celli this determined about anything but a mrith game before.
"I was only joking," Orion said, trying to appease her. "We leave tomorrow at dawn."
Celli was relieved. "No more jokes, okay?"
"Well," Fel said with an impish grin, "you're the one who didn't want to come in the first place."
"Yeah, I know," Celli returned, unflinching, "but that was then."
"So, everything has changed?"
"Some things, I guess."
***
They slept together in a large, domed tent which Fel's uncle had lent them. They rested peacefully all night, breathing the air of the free-zone. No dreams came to any of them.