Outcasts of Gideon

Passing Down : Part 2

Cara led them back into the temple. There she went to a stairwell that took them below the main section. Several flights down they came to a storage facility. Cara unlocked the door and went inside. She returned with a small maintenance hover. She piloted it back toward the stairwell.

Dewey stepped in her way, standing firm, not letting her pass. "I need to do it."

"You can't. It took me weeks to learn this thing. It's not the most stable."

"He's right," said Dawn. "He's the only one who can touch the object. It doesn't affect him the way it does the rest of us."

"The platform can hold both of us." Cara stepped to the side, showing them how Dewey might fit. Dewey stepped up to test it.

They entered the temple and Cara took Dewey up on the maintenance hover. Dawn and Bobby stayed off toward the side of the massive room. The hover soon neared the top of the copula. Dawn estimated it to be around 25 meters up. She felt unease imagining herself on that little platform so high.

At that distance, it was difficult to see any details. What she could make out was Dewey's arm reaching for the center of the star. The hover wobbled, forcing Cara to grab him. He tried again, this time more slowly. He appeared to grasp something, holding his arm out to show it. Cara began their descent.

From behind her, she heard Bobby's voice. "I'm glad you didn't say I was the only one. I wouldn't want to be up there."

When they'd returned, Dewey held out his hand. In it was a small metal object. "Looks the same."

"Why didn't we leave the light up there?" asked Cara.

Dewey looked from Dawn to Cara. "You want us to go back up?"

Cara's eyes pleaded. "We have to. You're the one who brings the light."

Dawn reached into her pocket and removed the leikela. As light slipped out around the cloth, they were all forced to shield their eyes. She wrapped the cloth over it again and handed it to Cara. "It doesn't belong to us. We may have to take it down later, but you can put it up there now."

Dawn reached her hand toward Dewey to grab the artifact. Thinking better of it, she opened her pocket and invited him to drop the object there. When he had, she closed it.

Dewey and Cara again mounted the maintenance hover. Dawn turned and hurried out of the temple. She didn't feel comfortable watching them go back to the top of the dome.

Back in the office, Dawn found the cloth Cara had used to dry her hands. She lifted each alien object with it, placing them on the table. Bobby came in behind her, closing the door. "They are back up there."

"I'm surprised he went up the first time."

"You sent him."

"I didn't think he'd do it."

"Really? Who would have gone then?"

"I guess it would have been me."

Leaning over, she studied the objects. It was the first time she'd looked so closely at the artifact. Her brief encounter with it on the Aion made her reluctant to do so. Here it seemed so harmless, a flawless piece of dark gray metal curved at the edges. The object was longer than it was wide, but not by much. Narrow across the sides, it was a little larger than the palm of her hand. It's size made her think of an old style communication device. She wondered if it that was a clue to its use. Of course, she understood that it was probably not made for a human hand. It may have been much larger in the grip of its designer. It might also have been much smaller.

The larger surfaces of it were smooth, though only one was flat. A subtle recess on the other side mirrored the overall shape of the artifact. The recess was too large for a thumb but too small to serve any purpose she could discover. The corners were also smooth and seamless. She could find no crease whatever, as though it were a single piece.

Bobby pulled up to the table beside her. "Which one is ours?"

"Well, at this point, they both are, but they look the same. You had one of them for weeks. You tell me which one it was."

"They do look identical. I never noticed how flawless mine was. Seeing them side by side, that's the first thing that stands out. Not a mark. No imperfections. How is that possible? And why aren't they doing anything?"

"What did you expect them to do?"

"I don't know. Maybe fuse into one. Trigger some sort of temporal vortex. I'm kinda new with these alien devices."

"And they're not bothering you? No visions? No dreams?"

"Well, I'm not sleeping, so I can't tell about the dreams."

"Right. Want to touch one?"

"No thank you."

Dawn reached her hand out, her finger inching closer to one of the objects. She found herself suppressing the urge to touch them. It wasn't an urge she had noticed before. It was stronger as her hand neared them. She pulled back and found the feeling subside. "Strange."

Bobby grabbed the cloth and turned each object over with it. "What now?"

Dewey and Cara entered the room. "Anythin'?"

"Nothing yet," said Dawn.

"Then you ain't touched it yet."

"No. Did you notice anything different when you touched it?"

"Nothin', really. Seemed the same. Maybe colder."

"Colder?"

"Yeah, didn't you notice they're cold?"

"I only touched it once."

"Well, they are. Bobby, didn't you think they were cold?"

Bobby shrugged.

"So, what are we waitin' for? This is why we're here, right?" Dewey reached down and picked up both objects. He pressed them together. Held them end to end. Finding the sides with the subtle recess, he tried to fit one into the other. Nothing changed.

Cara stared at him, wide eyed. Dawn could tell the woman was smitten. It might have been the anticipation. It couldn't be what she was seeing. Whatever it was, Dawn wondered if this whole thing could get any stranger.

"I think it's you or me," said Bobby. Dawn knew he was right. She also knew she couldn't allow him to do it. He'd been through enough.

Dawn reached over and grabbed both of the objects from Dewey. As she did, everything around her faded away. Gone were Dewey, Bobby, Cara, and the temple offices. Gone were her doubts as well. She knew this was the next step. She'd taken it. She'd passed over again. Not the bubble. This was different from the empty. It was the same as the first time she'd touched the object, but different from that as well.

Was it the setting that changed? The colors were here. No, not colors, shadows. Shadows of sounds. That's not right. Shadows of someone, of something. Faint blurs. These were the beings she saw. They weren't in the empty. They were here.

Only where was here? She wasn't looking for Bobby or Dewey. She was looking for the sources of the voices. Those same uncertain forms billowed around her.

Were they the same? That last time seemed so long ago. Her stay had been brief. They were three, maybe four. The same number were here. Were the voices the same? Like before, these beings roiled in and out of the constantly moving landscape. Their amorphous forms vibrated and folded in upon themselves. They passed in and out of her view. At times, only their voices remained, leaving a visible vibration in the ether of this place.

She thought about shouting. That's what she'd done before. It seemed to work. Maybe again? "Can you talk to me?" she said. She might have shouted it. She wasn't sure. The effect was the same. The voices stopped. The beings seethed in and out of her view. They'd heard her again. This time, they didn't hesitate. This time, they had been waiting.