Comet's Fall 1: Ostancine

1.5

It was late into the evening before I returned to the observatory. I had waited as long as I could because I was bargaining that I could get into the doctor's office while he was asleep. I only needed to take a small peek at what he was working on, after all, so it wasn't like Iwas really doing anything bad. Still, I felt terrible doing what Iwas about to do and it had been a long time since I had broken in anywhere. That wasn't who I was anymore, but my Darrenport past might do me some good if I let it tonight.

The doctor had quarters upstairs of his office, a small suite on thethird floor. This meant that he almost never had to leave his office, and this had been the case ever since I started working for him. In my long hours dusting and cleaning the observatory's many brass tools, I often looked at the door longing to know what was behind it. All that I had taken in during my few times in there were his large desk, the small stairs to the bed chamber, and that clattering bookcase. Tonight would be the night I explored more, I decided, even if I had to sneak into the bedroom chamber itself. I was going to break in and find out what the old man had been doing.

I turned the drivers over in my hand a couple times. I'd taken them out of one of the spare tool kits and they'd be vital in getting that door open, and hopefully doing it quietly. I'd spent all afternoon planning this little heist out. I just hoped I'd be able to get in unnoticed. I'd put up with too much to have the doctor let me go for snooping about.

I put my ear to the door. It seemed quiet in there. The doctor must have been asleep, but that didn't relax me.

I placed the screwdrivers on the floor. I didn't know exactly how the door latched, but I had brushed up on my long-ago abandoned lockpicking skills with a book on locks I'd read over my dinner. I was a scholar now and not a thief, so locking fell by the wayside when I went to school. The biggest lock I had ever picked as a mischievous youth was the liquor case in the bazaar, but I knew from the experience that I might be able to circumvent the lock by prying back latching mechanism. The time had come to see if that theory would work.

I held my breath, and then worked the first driver into place. I almost stopped then and there, but the pressure on my sinuses began to well up and my mind was set. I was leaving the dust tonight, whether I succeeded or was caught.

I wiggled it around until I found the latch. With a little clicking back and forth, I had it pried back, and much easier than I'd expected. In my younger years I'd picked my fair share of locks and none of them had been so easy. It seemed uncharacteristic of such an important place.

I tugged slightly at the door, and satisfying my expectations it didn't budge.

Out came my second driver and I slipped it into the gap, deeper this time. After feeling up and down the door, I found a second latch. I started working that one too, and with a familiarly sick satisfaction at my break in I felt it slip just like the first.

My heart raced suddenly as I heard a clunk on the other side.

I paused, breathless, before coming to my senses and grabbing the rag from my waist. If I was caught, I'd just tell him I was still dusting. After what seemed like an eternity, I got the gall up to work the second latch back.

But the door still didn't budge.

Out Came the third driver, with the same technique. I found the last latch toward the bottom of the door this time. Back and forth I worked it with the flat edge of my driver. Slowly back and back it moved out of its groove.

The perspiration on my brow dripped onto the floor. I was sweating profusely despite the rush of air I felt pulling past me through the door's edge. Slickness on the door handle betrayed my lack of confidence on pulling this off. This was hardly my first break in, but it was the most important one I had ever done. With a deep breath, I continued.

Back clicked the last latch, but still it didn't budge.

I pulled harder and the door slipped a little. I pulled harder still, and the door slid a little farther against the frame of the door. Still I heard nothing on the other side.

I gave another, harder pull, and the door flung open, far faster than it should have and in the wrong direction. It slid in and buckled inthe middle before swinging out into the office. The design defied logic, but I had other things to worry about.

I knew I'd been caught as I found myself pulled off of my feet. What Dr. Khalis would do with me and my snooping washed over my mind, but that turned out to be the least of my worries. The breath squeezed from my breast and my arms flailed as I seemed to fall into the office, After a moment of weightlessness I latched onto the door jam. Terrified, I tried to find some explanation for what was going on. It was as if gravity suddenly went sideways.

My body suddenly turned perpendicular, and I felt an intense pulling at the boots on my feet. I struggled to keep my grip on the door. For a panic filled second the force from inside the doctor's office was so immense I thought I'd be ripped apart. What was the doctor making in here that could do this?

I looked down at my feet and was met by what looked like a narrow hallway and the deepest gloom I had ever seen. My eyes struggled to remain open past the rush of air. I saw a telescope careen past me, and float off into the nether at the end of that hall. More debris, papers and tools including my drivers, also drifted off into the darkness under me as they were sucked into that blackness.

I was getting cold, intensely cold, and the feeling was leaving my legs. In contrast to the feeling my mind slipped to happy moments,and as the cold gripped my body I felt strangely comfortable.

Then suddenly an unseen force struck me and the cold was no more. Perhaps I was going numb. I had always heard that happens when one dies out in the cold. First comes comfort, then comes numbness, then there's nothing, or so people said.

My hands suddenly slipped from the door jam, and I was pulled into the abyss. My fingers sought any handhold they could muster on the door, but it snapped closed behind- no, above- me.

Perspective suddenly shifted, up became down, and my mind struggled to make sense of what it was taking in. My eyes fell on emptiness around me. All-round was a vast blanket of stars, with me hopelessly drifting through them.