Inka of the Ice

Chapter Five

"Wake up! Hurry! We're going to miss our flight!" A shower of clothes rained over Inka and Sera. Lucas was already awake, drowsily rubbing his eyes while Angel bombarded them with clothes and words.

Inka rolled out of bed, ran into the bathroom, and pulled off the wrinkled, stained, light blue dress from the Mistress's apartment. She stuffed the chocolate box inside of the dress and tied the cloth securely around it. Then, she pulled on what seemed like miles of unnecessary clothing- undershirts, underpants, long pants, long sweaters, long vests, long leg warmers, and finally long boots topped with faux fur.

"That'll be good," Angel said as Inka reemerged from the bathroom. "I'll give you your parka when we arrive." Inka hurried to get Sera dressed while Lucas changed in the bathroom. Angel was wearing the same apparel as Inka, but her neat hair and wide eyes told Inka that she had prepared early.

When they were all done, Inka grabbed her chocolate-box-wrapped-in-a-dress and Lucas grabbed a crumped piece of paper, and they departed. Halfway down the corridor, Inka stopped.

"Wait! I forgot to make the beds and clean up the trash and wash the floors!" To her surprise, Angel laughed.

"Honey, it's a hotel. That's the point- no cleaning or cooking! The cleaning maids do that work, they'll be coming around soon. Here you can relax." She pressed the elevator button.

"I'll meet you downstairs," Lucas said, edging towards the stairwell. Inka felt her patience break.

"You're just scared," Inka said. "Use the elevator, for goodness's sake!"

"No thanks," Lucas said. "And I'm not scared." He scowled. "I just prefer walking." And he disappeared.

Angel watched him go. "He's scared," she agreed, "but not that kind of scared." Inka stared at her. Angel looked embarrassed and quickly stepped inside the elevator to hide her flushed cheeks.

Prof. Parker was waiting in the lobby- or rather, pacing. "Dr. and Drs. Seneca are late," he stressed. Lucas arrived. Five minutes passed. Dr. Seneca rushed out of the elevator, a flushed, puffing Drs. Seneca following close behind.

"Sorry, sorry, Professor," Dr. Seneca panted. "My wife just had some trouble- morning trouble, you know." Prof. Parker nodded curtly. They exited the hotel, Prof. Parker having checked out earlier, and hurried off through the vast airport, Inka, Lucas, and Sera running to keep up.

Airport procedures, Inka soon learned, were long, boring, laborious, and seemingly useless. She had been given two suitcases to lug around, both filled with heavy technical equipment. Lucas was heaving a huge bag of drills, and Sera was carrying Angel's purse like a backpack so that Angel could hold more baggage herself. Finally, the suitcases were deposited on black moving ramps that looked like the flat, rolling material of a car tire. After another age, the rest of the procedures were finished and everyone was brought to the gate, which wasn't actually a gate, just a seating area and a desk where an attendant sat, a cap perched on her dome of brown hair.

"Just in time," Prof. Parker said, sighing with relief. The gate was empty except for the group of scientists and the orphans. A sign read SPECIAL FLIGHT in bright yellow letters on a black screen.

They boarded the small plane through a set of huge metal doors and a strange tunnel that reminded Inka a little bit of a vacuum. The aisle of the plane was very narrow, the ceiling so low that all the scientists except for Angel had to duck to walk through. On either side of the aisle were chairs. The scientists seated themselves evenly, two and two. Lucas, Inka, and Sera squeezed into two seats, Sera on Inka's lap.