Photo: Kaitlyn's world at night Rings of space junk around the earth.
My dad's voice on the answering machine message had changed things for me. Initially, I was curious about what Mr Wallace was so keen to protect. Now I possibly had a link to finding my dad or at least the people who knew him and could answer questions. I needed answers worse than a junkie needed a fix and Ricky Gervais needed new material.
It was Tuesday. I had Snuck out and I walked to the bone yard at night. From my house, it only took about thirty minutes walk to the edge of town where it was. I had climbed out of my bed got dressed and grabbed my school bag. If anyone asked I was going to school - I had reset my clock to show it was time to get up. Fortunately, Mom didn't stop me she was sleeping. The bone yard was big, it didn't have a working fence, I knew where I was because the ground started to crunch beneath my feet. I wasn't sure if the yard was scarier at night - in the dark you couldn't see the bones. People rarely came her so it would be a good place to meet up quietly.
I sat down near a mountain of unidentifiable bones. I looked up, the sky was quite bright. The silver rings around earth grew from the horizon to my left arced, over head and landed to my right like a Dimond rainbow. We were getting to the time of year were micrometeorites - tiny bits of the satellites would hit the atmosphere and drop down like raindrops made from lead bullets. The odds of something hitting were low but that didn't stop people buying umbrellas to 'stop micrometeorites dead'. Once those bits had been GPS satellites or Weather satellites, now they were struck dumb like the planet which they surrounded. So many bits were still landing every year someone died getting hit by a bit of falling ring.
I waited at midnight on Tuesday night hoping I was in the right place. I kept looking at my watch and for some reason time had slowed down just at 11:56.
"Come on stupid clock be tomorrow already," I said shaking the phone Alex Strong gave me.
"Don't be too keen on tomorrow. Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, but today... today is a gift. That's why we call it the present." said a voice.
I looked up to a man's voice. He was hiding in the dark.
"Dad is that you?" I said. I wasn't sure but it didn't make sense if Dad was the man on the phone then why hadn't he come to see us?
"No I'm not your father Lucy, but your father is not the man you knew." said the man.
"Who are you?" I asked him moving towards hum.
"My name is not important. What is important is what you want to do with your name" said the man.
"I don't get it," said getting closer. "just going back. Did you know my father Gary?"
"What makes you think my name is Gary? They call me the Professor" said the man.
"Do you know where he is?" I said.
"No one really knows where they are." the man said slowly "The best you can ask is when you are."
I wondered about this for a second. The message had said I had passed the first test. Which implied there would be others. I had figured out that the test was there to make sure non of the infected would find the phone number. Here was an infected guy clearly trying to sound like he wasn't infected. He was still clueless. Perhaps he was another puzzle design to protect the maze.
"What is at the center of the maze?" I asked. In the distance I heard the kind as a diesel engine of some digger start up.
"That which was always there. Knowledge. Now, why don't you come for a walk with me" said the man.
Ok, that sounded like a step forward. I walked over the bones and finally found a small badly dressed man. As my eyes adjusted I saw he was small, round with a beard and a hat.
"Knowledge of what?" I asked.
"Ask not knowledge of what but ask instead for knowledge about who." said the small professor as we walked.
"OK, knowledge of who lies at at the center of the labyrinth?" I asked.
"You know who. It's you." said the man. We walked down a wooden staircase.
"Why did they take my dad away?" I asked.
"Everything happens for a reason," said the man mystically "to know why, all you have to do is find every reason that happens."
I don't know about you but my opinion of him was rapidly running down hill and catching a bus
"So what's your purpose here?" I said "are you going to say 'it's not my purpose here but am I here on purpose'?"
"How did you know I was going to say that? Are you psychic" said the professor. OK he clearly was infected.
"Do I look psychic ?" I said " I don't look or have an axe or anything"
"Yes yes, your right," said the professor.
OK That's it he is definitely infected. As we walked The professor told me his story. He had been infected with TS-17, but he like a number of other infected worked for a group he called the labyrinth. We walked towards a large digger and as we did a man got out, he was wearing working clothes, a tool box, he had a hunting rifle with a telescopic sight over his shoulder and had a yellow hard hat. At first, I thought we had been found, but then figured it out.
"You're the possessed," I said before the man could speak.
"What makes you think that?" said the man.
"It's the hard hat - health and safety was abolished in president Endle's bonfire of red tape. Only a possessed would wear one as a disguise."
"Well no need to ask you if you're possessed or not." said the man he turned to the professor. "thank you, Professor, I'll take it from here."
"What's with the professor?" I said as he ambled off.
"Over the last few years the department of homeland defense has seen the possessed as a threat. Their agents have made a number of attempts at infiltrating the maze - do you mind if I use a long word like infiltrating?"
"No feel free. It's rather ... refreshing" I said. It was quite a relief not to have to edit myself from sounding too clever.
"Infected agents have tried to infiltrate our organization. The professor makes them feel like they have met someone. If they are infected they arrest him then they find out he knows nothing. Normally he keeps talking until you walk away in disgust and I come and talk. If you stay then you're infected. Then I get you with the rifle if you sound like an infiltrator. I saw Greg's little girl I knew you weren't infected. So I signaled the professor to come over straight away and save the dramatics for another day. You were lucky it was a full moon I might have killed you otherwise as an infiltrator. We were told to expect a young man."
"Where is my dad?" I said. "Was he a member of your organization?"
"Oh yes. Big time. As for where I don't know, I heard he was captured I heard he might have escaped I'm not sure. I'm just part of the recruitment process. I don't know much in case I get captured myself. The infected might not be smart but you don't have to be smart to know to keep punching someone for weeks until they talk. But I know how to give someone the next clue to the next stage of the recruitment process, but you can skip that" the man said while he tapped the top pocket of his oil-stained overalls.
"So what is at the center of the maze?" I asked him.
The man smiled - "what is at the center of the maze - it's what you're looking for. Come we will go to my house and I can tell you everything there. I'll send a message to PI and see what we can do for you"
I stopped for a second. "Look if you know me then why haven't you maze people tried to find me before now?"
The man pushed his hand back slightly wondering what to say.
"Greg your dad wanted you and your mother to be safe. He was real paranoid about it. paranoid that's such a nice word sometimes it's a real relief to be able to say that out loud. Like having an old friend visit. Sorry, where was I? Err OK - your Dad wanted to make sure your Mom was OK. He made us promise to stay away in case you were being watched by homeland defense. Your still a bit young your only what 15?"
"17," I corrected.
"Wow, well when we meet - but it was long ago. you probably don't remember, Katelyn" said the man. "Let's get moving. I heard bone falls on the higher heaps. It's probably the wind and my imagination but someone could be out there. Let's get home have a hot drink and I'll tell you everything about your dad" said the Man turning.
"What's your name?" I said. I still wasn't 100% sure about this.
"I'm Bob. Nice to meet you Katelyn," said the man smiling.
A set of flood lights came on. The whole bone yard lit up white. Just then a red rose filled Bob's shirt. Seconds later it bloomed across his overalls. At the same time I heard a shot. Someone with a rifle was shooting at us. Bob grabbed me and knelt down. As he put his hands around me I could feel the bullets hit him. I could feel him deliberately protect me from the shots. He couldn't stand up and then fell on his side dragging me with me. Bob was using himself as my shield.
"Bob!" shouted the voice of the professor in the distance. "They got me and I haven't' got them"
There was a shot this time and the professor didn't say anything again.
"Five shots. rifle like that has a magazine of seven" said Bob blood coming out of his mouth. "On seven run like hell. I'm cold."
"You're going to be fine," I said.
"No I'm not, remember seven run like hell," said Bob but then his eyes stopped moving still open.
The shots stopped. I pulled Bob's gun from his shoulder and use him like a sand bag to hold the gun. It took me seconds to find the safety catch and let a couple of shots off. We had done this at school in first amendment studies.
Then as I expected two more shots ran out, that made seven. There was a pause. I got up and something white flashed in Bob's top pocket. I paused and turned round and went back to Bob and grabbed the white envelope in his top pocket. I then ran like hell to the safety of a mobile office next to a flat area which might have been a car park or something. I kept running for thirty minutes before I finally stopped for breath and hiding. I opened the envelope in it was a single sheet of white paper.
"UNDER THE SECOND LEG OF THE MAZE AT THE OPPOSITE END OF THE TOWN FROM HERE."
I was at the edge of the dead zone here. I could try my luck surviving on my own or go back to the town and mom. I calmed down and reasoned that they didn't see enough of me to recognize me. If I stayed in town I could then find what this clue was.
A/N Thanks - see you next Thursday, possibly before.