Field Investigations

Chapter 27:

I snapped back up in my chair. Where was I? I looked around the classroom. I was at some sort of organization, right? The AFS, it was called. And the room was lit up so strangely. Every surface was equally bright, with no shadows anywhere in the room. Around me, everyone else was sitting up, confused. Every seat in the room was taken except for the one in front of mine, but that changed a second later when a short, brown-haired girl walked into the room. As she walked to her seat, her back to me, I caught a glimpse of her distant expression, the corners of her mouth tilted downwards in a slight frown. I thought I sort of recognized her, maybe from the cafeteria. I couldn't quite put my finger on where I'd seen her before, though.

I twisted my hair around my finger. Dry, rough. I hadn't showered in a few days. I felt tired, exhausted, but also stir crazy. I needed to get out of here, this room, this place in general.

I couldn't put my finger on it, but something felt wrong, and it wasn't just the fact that I didn't know how I got here.

"So," Abby smiled. "Let's talk about some terminology you'll need to know when discussing the Field and the Green. Oh, and have any of you seen that new movie on Netflix?"

Huh? That was so... out of character for her. Nobody else seemed bothered by it, though. Everyone else straightened in their seats.

"Wait, you mean the one about that police officer? I thought-"

"No, you idiot. She's talking about that Star Wars show, right?"

Abby broke up the arguments, apparently annoyed. For a moment, though, I thought I saw her serious frown shift into a slight smile.

This was strange. What had she been talking about before she asked about the movie? Field... Green... Those words sounded vaguely familiar. Hadn't I heard them on the bus?

Abby reached into her pocket, pulling out a metal sphere that looked like it was about four inches in diameter. "First, you'll need to know about Transporters. They are devices that allow you to travel in and out of the Field."

Transporter... That word sounded familiar as well. Where had I heard it, though? On the bus, maybe? I wasn't sure.

"You'll get your own Transporters once you pass your final examination and graduate from the Academy," she explained.

I was nervous to talk, but I needed to know. "How long will we be here for?" I asked.

"You won't be leaving the AFS, but once you graduate the Academy, you might be sent to the headquarters in other countries as an ambassador. We actually have an ambassador from Brazil here at headquarters right now. She's here on important business, though. Very important, so you probably won't get to meet her."

Won't be leaving. Was she - did she expect us to be alright with that? To just grin and say, "Sure, we're happy to spend the rest of our lives here in this oddly shadowless, answerless place that we don't know how we got to! Where's the sign up sheet?"

And something else she said, about an ambassador from Brazil... Again, I felt like I'd heard about that before. Where had I heard someone talking about that? On the bus? Or maybe wherever I was before then.

I tapped my foot against the dark blue, carpeted floor.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

I missed the linoleum floors in the cafeteria. You could make a real sound on those.

She held up the white square that I'd thought was a phone, the one that sent out that holographic display. "This," she said, "is called a Field Interface. We'll learn about these in more depth in our third unit, but for now, all you need to know is that these can show you information on who is in the Field, where they are, what the temperature is like in the Field, and other things like that which allow you to plan a safe journey through the Field or the Green. Again, you'll each get your own one of these once you pass your final examinations. And in your next class, you'll actually be using a Transporter and a Field Interface, learning how to plan and execute a trip into the Field."

"Wait - going into the Field is like... turning invisible, right?"

She smiled. "Yeah, exactly."

I looked around the room. Nobody else seemed excited. The opposite, really. They all seemed glum, bored, even. Was I the only one who thought the prospect of turning invisible was at all out of the ordinary? And turning invisible... If I had that ability, I could just disappear whenever I didn't want to be noticed.

I smiled to myself. Maybe being in this place wouldn't be so bad after all. And if I could just turn invisible at will, I could leave this place whenever I wanted to. I needed to pass that final exam as soon as possible, because once I had a Transporter in my hands, I would be free.

Abby took a deep breath. "Now, this class you're in right now is only a one time thing. Think of it as a sort of orientation to the AFS. Normally, during this time, you'll be taking an Interface reading class. For your first few weeks, you will have basic, general classes on entering and exiting the Field safely. Once you've tested out of those classes, though, you'll receive more specialized instruction on the uses of the Field. Some of you will test out faster than others, but all of you should be able to make it through the basic classes within a year."

I wouldn't take a year. I would be out of those classes as fast as physically possible. I wasn't the best student back at Washington High, but that was about to change. Here, the faster I made it through the classes, the sooner I could get my hands on one of those Transporter things and leave this place for good.