Baaul: A Change of Heart

Chapter 7: We Aren't Alone

It was the longest 24 hours of Renee's life and that included her time in jail. Her mind could not forget the orb that was nestled just outside of her window and Marianne had made sure that her time was booked full with various activities, but finally it was her free period of the day.

She rushed from the group therapy to make her way outside and rounded the building. Though she made sure that she didn't run because she felt that would attract attention and she didn't want whatever this thing was taken from her before she even got a chance to investigate it. She was so excited about it that she barely felt bothered by the thick humidity.

Renee found her room from the outside and for a moment, she feared that someone had snatched it up while she was in her morning sessions, but a few steps toward the forest, she could see it neatly tucked under some foliage that she was not familiar with. Though leaves were just leaves to her.

She kneeled down and picked up the cold metal in her hand. That made it odd, but what really made it odd was how light it was. Though it didn't feel hollow either. She had never known any kind of metal to have this kind of feel to it. How fascinating! And from the glow of the ball, she could tell that it was indeed mechanical in nature.

Quickly, she stuffed it into her pocket and tried to casually make her way back inside. She wanted to observe this thing within the safety and privacy of her room. Out here, she ran the risk of a staff member catching her, or worse, Marianne. Since her defiant outburst against Mandy, Marianne's pleasantry with her was strained. Awwwwww...

Once she was secure in her room, Renee closed the door, then though better of it and went into the bathroom because that door had a lock from the inside. The bathroom reminded her of a hotel room. All bright white tile and dark accents. It had one of those lifted glass bowls with the shattered look as the sink. She hated it. What was wrong with a normal sink?

After shutting and locking the door, she went to go sit on the closed toilet, pulling the orb out of her pocket. At first, she just rolled it carefully around in her palm, getting a feel for the weight. It was smoother than any metal or even any stone that she had touched before. It had that same metallic sheen that movies try to pass off as silver nitrate, but real silver nitrade was either a white crystal like powder or a clear liquid.

It wasn't quite aluminum, because it was far too smooth for it, but it was the closest thing that she could think of that could compare for the color and weight. She turned it over, intending to look at the red light, but she accidentally dropped it. It clattered to the floor HARD as if it weighed more than it felt. Panic gripped her and she fumbled to her knees to make sure that she hadn't damaged it, but upon looking it over, she could not detect even a scratch. Just what the hell was this thing?

Renee settled on the floor, sitting cross-legged, and looked at the red light closely. She noticed there were tiny red characters on them, not unlike those red digital clocks that screeched out that awful alarm. She ran her finger gently over them, wondering if it would emit any heat like she'd expect a light to, but not only did she not feel any heat, but a giant laser grid shot out of it, making Renee gasp and drop the orb.

It rolled a little until it righted itself to properly display the grid. At first, Renee was too shocked to move, but then the curiosity in her took over her brain and processed what she was looking at The grid was a map. Of what, she wasn't sure. The image was so immense that it nearly touched wall to wall, but conveniently didn't touch her. She reached for the orb, hoping that she could turn it somehow. Her hand brushed the red laser and she marveled at how the image moved.

No freaking way!

Renee waved her hand again, and the rendering moved with it. She continued to play with it, noticing it reacted similarly to a touch screen tablet, allowing her to zoom in and out. When she zoomed out, she realized that the map was of not only the forest, which included this very facility, but it included the entire country-no the entire world.

She noticed that there were more of those characters everywhere on the map. Immediately she understood it was a language of some sort. One that she had never seen before, but it didn't take her long to start identifying patterns. Though it was too much for her brain to separate everything, so she ran to her room and searched for something to write with. In her nightstand, she found a medium sized notepad and a pen. She snatched it up and ran back to her bathroom.

She began writing down every character that she recognized in a pattern, trying to decipher it. Soon, she was able to understand that the map not only had English names translated into whatever language it was, but also had other names that she didn't quite understand. To her knowledge, the translation simply wasn't a language that she knew existed. Not that she was an expert in languages.

Still, she continued to write and decipher, soon realizing that everything had two names. It applied to everything she could see. From zooming in as close as the trees outside her room to as far as the very Earth itself. Everything was named, and some things even had descriptions. She recognized 'human' in certain parts, which was odd in itself. She wasn't one to disbelieve in aliens, but could she really think that she somehow managed to stumble upon alien tech? There was just no way, right?

She ran her finger over the red lettering on the orb again, satisfied when the diagram withdrew into itself again. She was just about to try to look it over again once more when there was a knock on the door. Marianne's voice came to her.

"Renee? Are you okay? You're late for art therapy?"

Renee bit her lip to keep herself from cursing out loud. She had been so busy studying this damn text that she lost all track of time. As quickly and quietly as she could, Renee shoved the orb into her clean towels, knowing that the maid staffing only bothered removing the dirty ones that she left on the floor. "Sorry! I wasn't feeling too good!"

"Should I get the physician to-" Marianne started, but Renee swung the bathroom door open and gave her a fake flattering smile.

"No, that's okay. I feel better now. I just think I need to stay inside more. I'm not used to this kind of heat."

Marianne gave her a considering look, her eyes darting back into the bathroom behind her, as if checking to see if she was hiding something. Finally, she gave a small smile and nodded. "Okay. I'll still feel better if we have someone take your temp and make sure you didn't catch a virus."

Renee just nodded, figuring it would be easiest to just agree with her to put her worries at ease. Her nerves were shot from the nearly being caught and the discovering of a possible alien if not government level related tech. She itched to go back and continue looking it over, but she knew that she would have to keep this a secret. It took everything she had to not turn and look back into the bathroom when Marianne started to lead her out of her room.