Population Miniscule

Chapter 7: It's All Over Now

Starla paced the large family room. She heard Kendon and the kids coming hurriedly down the corridor. It was odd not to hear them all chattering amongst themselves. She turned toward the opening in the duct. The tiny door flung open and the four of them poured into the room.

“What took so long? You've been gone for thirty minutes!”

Kendon looked up at her. His face had a stern seriousness to it and she knew whatever he had to say for himself would not be good.

“Starla...” Kendon began slowly, “she saw us.”

“What? Who?”

“It was a complete fluke. Unavoidable. No one did anything wrong.”

“Kendon, who?”

“Catherine.”

Starla gasped and Kendon watched her go pale and then flush with anger. She didn't speak right away, but he braced for it anyway.

“Kendon, I told you!!! All of this was a horrible idea from the start! You promised me that we'd be fine here and nothing like this would ever happen. You said it was more likely to happen in the city! What is everyone going to think!?! What's going to happen now? It's over. It's all over.”

She was close to tears and Kendon was unsure how he should go about calming her. He tried anyway because the silence of her fuming was deafening.

“Honey...”

“Don't “Honey” me, Kendon Strother.”

“Listen...I think we might be able to ride this out. Sightings have happened before and the situation blew over.”

“There hasn't been a sighting since the thirties when that idiot trekked through South America and ran up on those natives. Of course that blew over! They probably thought they were hallucinating. What would a primitive tribe do? Call the press? It's not like this...it's not like now.”

“Haha, she said the same thing. Catherine said she was hallucinating. I told her she wasn't.”

“You did what!?! You're a bigger idiot than that other guy. Why didn't you run? How in the heck did she see you in the first place?”

“I went to meet the kids and I was almost there. Then that computer thing made a thunderous racket. I got to the kids, and the light came on in the hall. We tried to hide, but Kendra fell, and it was just a mess.”

Kendon shook his head looking at the floor and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah, it's a mess alright! You have to telegraph the city.”

Kendon looked up and his shoulders fell.

“Can't that wait until the morning. It might not be such a big de....”

Starla interrupted him before he could finish.

“Not a big deal!?! You know we have to let them know! This big monstrosity is going to tell the whole world, Kendon. Why wouldn't she?”

“Well, she said something about people thinking she's crazy.”

“Kendon, you have to let them know. We can't just go on a hope and pray that nothing will come of this. Where is your brain?”

Kendon turned away from her and looked hopelessly at the ceiling.

“Kendon...”

“Yeah.”

“You have to.”

“I know.”

Kendon retreated to his office. It was shaping up to be a horrible night. He almost managed to convince himself that this wasn't that big of a deal. Almost. He had lost his sense of duty to the Minisculum long ago. He had grown tired of the fear. That's why he moved here in the first place. It was difficult convincing Starla to come. He hoped he could convince her to stay.

He stared at the telegraph. He could barely bring himself to do it, but he tapped out, “Sighting. Myself and my three children. We are safe.” He sat there for what seemed like forever waiting for the reply. “How many? Destroy immediately and move. Standing by.”

Kendon knew what that meant. Minisculum were trained in Avoidance. It was another one of those extra classes they took in school. Avoidance mandated that in the event of a sighting where all escaped, they must immediately evacuate the area. This meant moving what they could and destroying all evidence of the rest to evade future discovery. If the Minisculum left too much evidence behind, it wouldn't be long before the large ones would start looking for them. The elders in the city wanted him to evacuate. This complicated so many things. Foremost was the fact that his family resided here with fifteen others. There were eighty Minisculum in all here in Catherine's walls. Eighty lives that were about to drastically change because of his stupid mistake. Kendon's entire body felt heavy. “Just one.” he sent through the telegraph line.

Everything would be different now. They would probably have to move back to the city. There was no time to think. They only had a matter of hours and possibly a few days to “destroy” and “move”. Kendon's heart sank. This had been his idea in the first place. He led the rebellion back in 2004 that brought them all here. He had grown weary of underground life. He had a theory that living in the walls of single houses would make for a much easier life for the Minisculum. It was his effort to thrust the Minisculum forward. They would no longer have to worry about heating and energy problems. Food would be much easier to come by since it only took a mere mouthful of the large one's food to provide a meal for a whole Minisculum family. Life would be better and he could concentrate more on his work and his family. Kendon looked at his bow leaning in the corner. He hadn't had to hunt in ages. He hadn't missed it. He really disliked the blood and guts of it all. In many ways, the Minisculum lagged behind the large ones, but in others they advanced ahead of them. That had been the culmination of Kendon's hope for coming here. He wanted to utilize their technology while further developing that of the Minisculum. It was all over now.

Catherine awoke in the early afternoon finding herself draped oddly across her bed. She'd barely slept and had finally fallen asleep from exhaustion sometime in the mid morning hours. It didn't take her long to remember the happenings of the night before. Had it been a dream? It sure did seem real. She had been awake for hours thinking about it. She glanced at the vent in her bedroom. Darkness loomed behind the slits of the vent cover. She really wanted to know more about the tiny people she had encountered. She wondered if she had frightened them away. She thought about going through the house knocking on the walls until she got their attention, but she thought better of it. This was like having a roommate, but they were roommates she knew nothing about. Her mind was filled with questions and no answers. She decided some coffee sounded nice. Perhaps she might see her new friends later in the day. For now, she tried to push them from her mind. She spent the day in her chair writing on her laptop. The only time she really thought about them was when she went to her office to grab her computer bag. She fell asleep in front of the TV in the early evening.