Millions of In-Worlds

Chapter 2: Gardener Save Us

How did we get ourselves in such a terrible fix? The Grand Keeper, or Grandma Chrys told us our trainin' might be dangerous. She warn't jokin'. Here we was Freck, Uncle Ren (Oh, did I say that Ren is my Uncle?) and me, all with unknown painful injuries. It seemed like we was deep inside the biggest cave in the world. What if they never found us? Our mission was to discover a missin' civilization believed migrated from Topside (Earth) ta a place called Hollow Earth. Was this worth it? Freck and I were only thirteen years old. Thirteen and not pro'bly not gonna see fourteen.

The Keepers, which includes Grandma Chris and Uncle Ren, exist for the one and only purpose—preserve knowledge. They were entrusted with this responsibility by the Gardener. The Gardener is their name for God. Keepers are not exactly human. 'Cept for bein' a little taller than most earthlin's you couldn't pick 'em out in a crowd. They have special ways of goin' about their business without bein' caught. Some can change shapes and become birds, bugs, or any common ol' thing. My momma is a reducer which means she can shrink herself down very small. At her smallest she can strap herself into a flutter-by suit, which looks just like an actual real-life butterfly. If you saw her flyin' around in the air, you wouldn't know the difference between a flutter-by and a real butterfly. 'Cept in the dark. Real butta'flies don't fly aft'a sundown. When the temperature drops they light on sumpin' ta wait until the air's warmer. They don't sleep like people 'cuz they ain't got no eyelids ta close.

My daddy is human. He told me when I was little that my momma was a butta'fly. I just thought he made it up like in a fairy tale or sumpin'. Daddy raised me Topside while Momma stayed b'hind in the Kingdom of the Keepers. She had very important stuff to do. That didn't mean she didn't keep tabs on me. She and other keepers were always watchin'. It was all very hush, hush. I didn't even suspect it. Humans were not, except in very special cases, allowed to become aware of Keepers and what they was doin'. People just wouldn't understand. Even at thirteen I knew how destructive people get when frightened by sumpin' that's different. I cain't imagine what would happen if they found out I was half-human and half-keeper. Prob'ly kill me, I guess. They ain't very understandin'. It's always shoot first, ask questions later.

The Kingdom of the Keepers is actually on another planet. We share an almost identical space in the cosmos. Scientists have long known that the shell of an atom is made up of tiny particles (electrons) zingin' 'round a hub called the nucleus. It's made up of protons and neutrons. If ya shrunk down to particle size you'd see that between the nucleus of the atom and the shell is an enormous amount of empty space. The Gardner uses those spaces and fills them with what the Keepers call in-worlds. Under our same sun, with the same moon at night, and blue skies in the daytime exist an unknown number of in-worlds. You could stick out your arm and it would literally pass through hundreds of planets that cain't be found with any telescope.

It's a little like all of the microscopic creatures that exist unseen on Earth. They cain't be seen 'cept through a high power microscope. Everywhere, totally invisible to us, are billions of strange life forms just goin' about their business of existin'. Maybe those critters don't know about us neither. They could live and die on a flake o' skin. I sure would't wanna see 'em, though. Could you just imagine havin' microscope eyes and seein' all those weird critters scurryin' here and there all the time? It would give you a permanent case of the hebbie-geebies. But the Kingdom of the Keepers ain't microscopic. It's the same size as Earth. It's so near to us that we could touch it and not even know.

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Freck was short for freckles. And boy did she have freckles. They were all over. Right now the red dirt covered them all up, except where her tears made streaks. A Freck without freckles just warn't right. The dirt even disguised her brown hair. It was almost like she and the crud were the same. I'll bet a buck my nearly white hair is the same color as hers. She's my best friend. It pained me ta see her like this. I had to get her outta here. I went to work pullin' heavy rocks off her.