Caught Somewhere In Time

Start reading from the beginning…

He knew they were right outside the door. He could sense them, even though they couldn’t sense him back. That was his only advantage over them, and he had always known it was an advantage. His whole life they had painted it to be a disability, but he knew it disabled them more than it disabled himself. Sometimes, some of the other kids would tease him about it, but he knew it wasn’t a bad thing. The Protectors couldn’t control him like they could the other humans, and that made him special. He knew the truth now too. They couldn’t lie to him anymore.

When he sensed they had moved on, he crawled out from under the table he had been using for cover. He put his back to the door and closed his eyes very tight, trying to feel if there were others close by. Adam could hear the Protectors’ thoughts, but it was only a one-way communication. If he focused, he found that he could hear them from a distance, which is what he was trying to do with his eyes closed. No other Protectors where nearby; the diversion by the other kids had worked. It wouldn’t take anybody very long to learn his plan, at least part of his plan. He had only told any of it to one friend, his closest friend Egypt. She promised to keep it a secret from the others, lying to the other humans to make a diversion. When they were all together, it was difficult for the Protectors to hear them all. There were too many thoughts, so they would all be separated. To discuss it.

That part of the plan was the most brilliant, Adam thought. They would all be separated, and no one would know why they had made the diversion, only Egypt. It would have just been kids creating mischief for their adults, their Protectors. Egypt will hide once the kids started yelling and banging things and causing a ruckus. No one will know she is missing until the other kids had all been questioned, and by the time she was found, Adam would be gone.

When he and Egypt were whispering about it last night, she said she could make a diversion to get the Protectors away for him. All she knew was that he planned to escape, escape and come back ready to rescue them all. He didn’t tell her how, didn’t tell her the truth he had learned, only that he was going to escape. She would spread the word about the diversionary plan, to wreak havoc on the Protectors. Egypt was sure the others would help her, but only because she was a troublemaker, and the one most likely to be having fun in any given situation. The others envied her ability to enjoy herself wherever she was. She even had found a way to have fun during the great movement, and that wasn’t much fun for anyone.

Now many of the Protectors had moved into the cafeteria, where things were being broken and food was being wasted and thrown about by the kids. Adam wished he could be there to see it, but he knew he had to leave. And the time was now. He slipped from the room unseen, and moved toward a restricted area. There were no Protectors here to make sure the children stayed in the public places. Adam stepped around the corner and found a very long hall, curving slightly so the end couldn’t be seen, with doors lining it on the outside curve. He remembered what Nanny had told him, the first of three things he must not forget: many of the doors led to other halls, but the eighth one led to an exit.

He closed his eyes and concentrated. There were some Protectors coming down those many side-halls, to doors ahead of him, but they were not close yet. Adam ran, as fast as he could down the hall, counting as he went. He bumped his shoulder on the doorjamb of the eighth door, afraid to slow down before reaching it. He opened the door as little as necessary to step through, and closed it silently behind him.

He looked at the hangar bay full of ships. He had never known that this was here until two cycles ago. No humans were allowed outside of the public areas, and certainly if one of them did get into a restricted zone, they would be punished. The Protectors did not like to punish them, but they insisted that it was sometimes necessary, for the good of society as they said. Adam thought that didn’t make sense though, since the Protectors were allowed here. It wasn’t for the good of society that humans were not be allowed to be here, it was for the protection of the Protectors and their many secrets.

He sensed that some Protectors were in the corridor behind him. None were coming into this room though; they were going to help separate the kids. Adam smiled to himself. He had made it this far, farther than any human had ever been. Certainly farther than the Protectors would tolerate to any degree. He started jogging through the bay looking for the ship that Nanny had told him about. They all looked so similar, he thought. All shining silver, all smooth and rounded. As jogged he recognized that each was very large, large enough that three Protectors standing on each others’ heads wouldn’t look over the top of one ship.

He stopped when he was surrounded by ships, at least two-deep in every direction, and he ducked his head down a little. All of the ships were high enough from the ground on their supports for the Protectors to walk under, but the Protectors were not as tall as Adam. Some of the other kids were as tall as he was also, a few taller, but most were still as short as the Protectors were. Ducking his head down a little, he could see underneath the ships, all in rows. Nanny had told him that the ship he would need would be slightly shorter than the others, and smaller around as well. He would need the smallest ship. Adam turned around slowly, looking under the ships for one that looked smaller, closer to the ground.

Just as he spotted the ship three or four vehicles away, he realized that there was a Protector in the bay with him. Just one, and that he had spotted Adam. The boy started running around the ship on his right, to get lined up with his fastest route to the ship he needed. The Protector was closer though, having come from that direction. Running to that ship meant running to the Protector. Adam slowed and stopped, considering his options. He couldn’t see the Protector yet, but he could sense that he was near.

Adam’s goal was apparently no longer a secret, regardless of how he got out of this place. He had been found in the hangar, so there was only two ways out of here: in the ship, or in custody. Adam had never pushed his disability with the Protectors before, having seen Egypt and a couple of others reined in for bad behavior. It looked painful, but Adam had always thought that because they couldn’t see into mind, that they also wouldn’t be able to force their will into his brain either. If he was protected in a way the others weren’t, maybe they wouldn’t be able to punish him. He decided that this was a time to be brave. He had been in this complex ever since the great movement, and he had been part of this colony since he was born. It was all based on lies now, as it always had been, but none of the humans knew that, only him. They couldn’t lie to him anymore, and he truly believed that they couldn’t hurt him either.

Adam stepped out into the open, moving away from the ship he was nearest. He walked up the aisle between the massive silver vehicles toward the one he planned to steal. The Protector stepped out into the open too, so Adam could see him.

Is this why a commotion was created, Adam?

Adam kept walking toward him, staring at his gray, thin shape.

We know you can hear us, Adam. Stop this before we need to punish you. We do not enjoy the punishment. You will not enjoy the punishment.

“Magister, I am out of bounds,” Adam replied aloud, the only way he could communicate back to the Protectors. “By your rules, I should be punished already.” Adam walked deliberately, hiding his fear with false courage. “If I am to be punished anyway, why do you wait?”

We do not enjoy the punishment, said the voice in his head. When they spoke, the humans felt it inside of them, similar to the vibration your own voice makes in your ears, only without any actual volume, and much deeper in your head. When they punished, it was the same, only painfully amplified. If humans became too unruly, the Protectors could actually cause them to faint, solving the problem entirely. Let us lead you back to the public areas.

“No, Magister.” Adam was truly scared, but he dare not let it show to the Magister. Adam was face to face with the Protector now, right in front of the ship he needed to escape in. “You cannot lie to me anymore. I know the truth.”

What truth do you know? Have you discovered why you are here? We do not hide these things from you, we merely protect you from them until you are ready.

“When we are ready?” He was surprised, but he shouldn’t have been. The Protectors always made the humans out to be child-like, even now when they were nearly grown! “When will we be ready? When we are adults? Then what, will you tell us the truth and continue to keep us locked up here?”

We want to protect you. What have you learned that disturbs you?

“Goodbye Magister.” Adam knew he was being stalled. The Magister was not able to hide his thoughts from Adam, thoughts that called out to other Protectors to come help him even while he asked questions. If he was going to leave, he had very little time left in which to do it. Adam made a move to duck under the smallest ship.

No, Adam. We will not allow this. The Magister’s large eyes narrowed, and Adam could tell that he was trying to punish him, to subdue him. Adam merely turned to look at the thin gray life form and smiled, relieved that he really was beyond their control, as he had guessed. NO! said the Magister, grabbing Adam physically by the arm.

Adam felt a rage building inside him, a rage he had never felt before. Was this hate? He jerked his hand free of the Protector’s long frail fingers easily, and swung his arm back to hit the Magister. Adam backhanded the being in the face with his freed hand, and lunged underneath the ship. Nanny’s second bit of advice repeated itself in his head: the smallest ship makes the longest journey, to get inside, you must grip the flat surface.

He reached under the ship and as his hand contacted the flattest area at the very bottom, the silvery metal rippled like liquid. As he grabbed a handful of it and pulled slightly, the whole under side of the vessel began rippling like he had seen images of ponds do, and it hissed loudly. A rectangular shape appeared and began bending downward like a ramp. Adam ran to the lowering edge of it and the Protector lunged at him again. Others were entering the hangar now, having received the call from the Magister. Adam didn’t have much time left.

The Magister was waiting for him at the bottom of the descending ramp, his head just below the bottom surface of the ship. Adam, bent over a little so he wouldn’t bump his head approached the Protector, now angrier than ever.

There is nowhere to go. All the humans are here. You will be alone, forever.

“It would be better than being lied to forever!” Adam grabbed the Protector’s narrow shoulders and shoved him aside with brute force. He ran up the ramp and into the dark ship. The light started fading behind him as the ramp began to close.

Adam.

The third thing that Nanny had told him to remember, what was it again? He looked around in the darkness, but it was impossible to see anything.

Adam, wake up.

Adam was confused in the pitch black of the ship’s interior. He tried to call out, to tell the ship that he couldn’t see. Many things in the complex functioned that way, but now his voice wouldn’t come out. He began to get frightened again, with no voice to speak, and no eyes to see. Then a light appeared in front of his eyes. He tried looked around in the ship, but his vision was blurry. Adam didn’t understand what was going on, or where he was. He had been in this place before, and it wasn’t the ship. It was all so confusing, and what’s worse, it seemed like he was lying on his back.

Then he remembered. He had escaped. He had made it away, and found the humans.

“Adam, wake up now,” said a woman’s voice. A human woman’s voice, something Adam had never truly heard in his life until a few days ago. Days. He was still struggling with the concept of time measurement. Time was not important where he had spent his whole life, because he never had anywhere to be at any given moment. There were no windows with which to see out of the complex, so days and nights were all the same thing. The humans were given a sleep cycle that probably approximated a day, but without clocks or calendars, it was impossible to tell how much time had really passed. Adam had started calling the sleeping and waking cycles ‘days’ recently because that’s what the other humans called them. “You have a visitor who is very interested in meeting you.”

“A visitor?” Adam sat up in his bunk. He was in jail, technically, but only because nobody could claim him, so there was nowhere else for him to be. Looking around his cell, he saw the gifts that had been given to him by the humans here on Mars. More, it seemed, than when he had fallen asleep. Everyone wanted to make him feel at home, but he wasn’t sure what he felt. He knew he was trapped still, but by humans this time, not the Protectors. He had merely moved himself from one trap to another.

“Adam, remember we told you that we have many leaders? One of them has come to meet you. He is an Admiral, which is very high ranking among humans.”

The woman was nice, but Adam had a hard time remembering names. Especially this woman, since she usually only stayed with him while he slept. “What is his name?”

“Adam, please say hello to Admiral Chan.”

Continued on April 24, 2010