Creatures of Snow (4 page)

Al looked over to Sky, “In fact,” He began,
noting Sky’s open mouth and look of overwhelming awe, “I’m pretty
sure we stand out.”

“
Wow.” Sky hadn‘t heard
his snide remark. “It’s so much bigger than it looks from the
outside.”

“At least close your
mouth.” Al raised his eyebrows and elbowed Sky in the side with a
smile. “Well,” He said, stepping into the room. “Let’s do
this.”

Sky followed Al as they were swept up by the
crowd. He couldn’t believe the mass of people. It was nearly double
what they had witnessed on the outside. Surely they couldn’t all
work there.

A young, female scientist, looking a bit out
of place with her eyes just as big and awe-filled as their own
caught Sky‘s attention as they passed. The look didn‘t go unnoticed
as she suddenly changed her route and maneuvered towards them.

“Hello there.” She spoke
with enthusiasm, as she matched their step.

He glanced over, not
letting the sudden twist in his stomach show on his face. He hoped
to the Havens, she wasn’t about to blow the whistle and have them
kicked out, even before they had a chance to explore. He nodded a
hello and forced a warm smile, a smile that began to waver after
she stared a little too long.

Up close she looked
perhaps in her late twenties; with her dull brown hair tied back
with precision. The round glasses that were sliding down her nose,
seemed slightly too large on her slender face. “You two must be
here for the lecture, I assume?” She asked and pushed her glasses
up with a nervous laugh, “I mean, of course, right?” She snorted
just a pinch when trying to muzzle another giggle, “That’s why
everyone is here.”

Al and Sky gave one another a nearly
undetectable shrug.

“
That‘s right.” Al said,
flashing his winning grin.

“
Wouldn‘t miss it.” Sky
added with a toothy smile.

The woman nodded absently
as her eye’s darted around the room excitedly. “I just came from
the Haigon Branch,” She started as she directed them towards the
lifts where most of the people were heading. “But, I’ve been here
once before so I sort of know my way around. It’s kind of
overwhelming the first time.”

They followed her into one of the glass
encased lifts as she rambled on, “This place is like a maze on the
upper levels because everything looks the same.”

A few more people crowded into the lift, she
punched the twenty fourth floor button and no one said
otherwise.

“
You said you came from
the Haigon Center? That must have been an interesting place.” Al
was squished beside her and his short stature left him at an
awkward level.

“
Oh, not at all. The
Portal we study there is small and more suited for
intra-dimensional travel, it doesn’t even reach the multiverse.
Plus, the natives there are so rude.” She shook her head, but never
lost her smile.

The lift moved at a
stomach dropping speed until smoothly coming to a halt and the
doors opened silently. Sky dragged Al over to the side as the
others that had occupied the space filed out one by one. He was
hoping to be left unnoticed, but the woman turned just before
exiting and gestured for them to follow.

Stepping out into a
sterile, white hallway, Sky had to admit it was a bit of a
surprise, after having just come from the warm, inviting atmosphere
of the lobby. The inner corridors were the complete opposite, with
no décor whatsoever and harsh, bright lighting that was by no means
flattering.

The woman glanced over her shoulder at them
as she began to lead them down a ridiculously long hallway. “My
name is Ruth, by the way, Dr. Ruth Millen.”

“Ah, Dr. Millen.” Sky
nodded. “They call me Professor Dumbledore and this here is my
associate Doctor Who.”

“
And by associate, he
means superior.” Al chimed in.

The woman, Ruth rolled her eyes and tilted
her head. ”Ha, ha. Very funny. Do I detect a little Earth humor
there?” She looked down at Sky’s badge, “So you’ve been to Haigon
then…Mr. Levit?”

Sky let his most charming smile distract
her, “Of course. Our research has taken us to many strange and
exotic lands.”

Ruth shook her head, on the verge of another
eye roll, before abruptly turning a corner. “Right.” She continued
to lead them forward at a brisk pace, staying ahead of a group of
white coats. “To be honest, I thought you two might have just snuck
in, being that you’re both so young and,” she glanced back and did
a once over of them, “un-groomed.”

Al wrinkled his nose when she turned back
around and mouthed the word ‘un-groomed’ with a look of insult to
Sky.

“
But, it takes all kinds.
I should have guessed you were TLD’s.” She paused by a door that
blended seamlessly into the wall. The only indication of the door
was the handle. Ruth wrapped her fingers around the smooth metal,
throwing back an extensive smile, “In any case, you two are in for
a treat, this year they got Dr. Manix for the Preview, and yeah, he
gives the best lectures.”

They entered a large,
multi-level auditorium, with stadium style seating that was already
filled to the brim with scientists and researchers. For the second
time that day Sky was taken aback by the building. It didn’t seem
possible that a room that size could fit inside REALM.“I didn’t
know there were this many people at REALM.” Al whispered, “This
place is huge!”

“
Huge is barely the right
word.” Sky didn’t disguise the wonder in his tone.

“It’s because of the
Origin of course,” Ruth pointed down a few rows, “There, I see some
empty seats.”

“
Did many of the
researches from your branch come?” Al asked, his eyes scanning the
room, no doubt memorizing the faces of the scientists. Al never
forgot a face, a trait that had proven helpful more than a few
times.

“Oh, everybody came, are
you kidding? This is history in the making from what I hear. This
isn’t going to be your normal Annual Preview, no sir.” Ruth said
dropping down into one of the seats “All those years of experiments
and research, it was all for this. It’s the dawn of a new
era.”

“
Do we have good timing or
what?” Al whispered in a low voice taking a seat next to
Ruth.

“
And Dr. Manix always puts
on a good show.” Ruth smiled and took a moment to look around the
room as well.

Sky settled into a
surprisingly comfortable seat at the end of the row, when he looked
over to Ruth he inadvertently, caught her staring at
him.

“Did you know this stage
is part of the original amphitheater that used to stand on this
very spot? Everything is still here; they just built around the
broken structure and underground caverns.” She blurted out with a
nervous laugh.

“
Interesting.” Al probably
didn’t really hear what she was saying as he continued to look
around the room.

Sky had heard her though, and didn‘t hide
his surprise. “An amphitheater, you mean like the one in Green
Springs on Athlesis? But, those are gigantic…” but, so was this
room.

“
Oh yes,” Ruth leaned
forward to see around Al, “Like I had said before, the Origin makes
it possible,” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“
I knew that.” He looked
away quickly, clenching his fist.

“The largest and oldest
dimensional portal, the Origin, and they built REALM around it.” Al
mumbled, half listening, his eyes still making their way from face
to face. “It’s got the mass equivalent of a black hole, so even the
best charms and seals can’t contain all that energy. My guess is
that those small leaks from the Origin are what allow this building
to bend the rules a bit when it comes to space and time…among other
things.” Al finished, not completely aware he was thinking out
loud.

Sky knew their ruse was
up. There was no way anyone associated with REALM would not have
known every detail of the Origin and the space it inhabited as cold
hard facts, not whimsical speculation.

Ruth gave them a hard stare. He looked her
straight in the eye for the first time and gave a charismatic smile
and shrug. It’s not like they were causing trouble…it was just
innocent fun.

Her face softened and her eyes rolled up
once again as she turned her attention to the stage.

Sky breathed a sigh of relief. Really, what
was the harm in letting them stay anyway? He followed her gaze down
and focused for the first time on the large stage that sat front
and center. Four seats were set up beside a wooden podium, and
behind that floated a large hover screen that was alternating
images of portal sites.

A hush fell over the
auditorium, “That’s Dr. Manix.” Ruth whispered as a middle age man
with ash blond hair made his way briskly towards the
podium.

Dr. Manix raised his arms to gather the
attention he already had in the absolutely silent room.

“
Welcome, scientists and
researchers of REALM!” He said with his arms opening up wide and
his voice booming throughout the vast space.

The sudden explosion of
thunderous applause that rolled around the stadium was enough to
send Sky to back into his seat. Looking over to Al he could see the
humorous surprise that played on his features as well.

Dr. Manix took it all in
with a jolly nod and smile, letting the audience calm themselves
after a few moments. Once the room settled back into silence, he
let the calm sit awhile, slowly turning his eyes from one side of
the room, to the other.

Finally, he spoke.
“Science…is awesome. And today…we begin a new journey in hopes of
creating a new era of peace, prosperity, and a renewed sense of
being for all mankind…” He paused, leaving his words reverberating
in their ears, “without shedding a single drop of
blood.”

The audience ruptured into
another bout of roaring ovation, but this time Manix held his hands
up to regain control. “And now, let us welcome our guests,” He
turned to his left as three men walked out onto the stage, “Dr.
Zeph, an antiquity Iko, along with his apprentice Roland Levit and
our very own Professor Robert Blanks from the REALM Academy of the
Highest Learning.”

Sky snapped to attention
in time with Al, “Ha! Right there on center stage, Zeph must love
this.”

“
Good thing he combed his
hair.” Al laughed over to Sky in a nearly inaudible
whisper.

Sky shook his head, “I
guess he was really telling the truth, for once.” Although he still
had no idea what Zeph would want with REALM, but it wasn’t all
together shocking either. Somewhere behind that glassy stare there
was a cunning mind that had made its way into any organization of
importance.

Even from such a distance,
he could imagine Zeph’s wide, gunpowder eyes slowly inspecting the
audience in an oblivious wonderment. The guy loved an audience and
attention and everything that came with it…so just what was he up
to?

Roland, the boy whose badge he was wearing,
was doing a very poor job of hiding his absolute terror. He felt a
slight stab of sympathy for the poor jerk – how overwhelmed he must
feel when suddenly faced with thousands of the brightest minds in
the galaxy.

Professor Blanks, on the other hand, looked
around blandly; seemingly indifferent to the entire event.

“
He takes your breath
away, am I right?” Ruth whispered with a soft edge to her smile.
“Dr. Zeph. A real Iko, right here before us...”

Sky stared at her, taking
a moment to understand why she was so impressed. He had almost
forgotten that most people didn’t get to interact with Iko’s, or if
they did, they didn’t know it. The few Iko’s that were left in the
Living realm tried to stay hidden amongst normal society for one
reason or another. Sky hadn’t realized how much he took them for
granted, having been adopted by one.

“…
It’s been one hundred
and fifty years since nearly all of the Iko’s chose to leave the
Living realm. The selfless race of beings, born to the Havens, who
chose to take on living bodies to guide us, protect us, heal us,
all without asking anything in return. They watched over us for
centuries, but eventually, even their saintly patience wore thin,
and they were driven away by man’s greed, violence and contempt.”
Manix’s voice echoed through the hushed and captivated
room.

Sky saw a sea of bobbing
heads, nodding in agreement. He had heard stories of the Mass
Exodus of Iko’s – they had left without warning, almost overnight.
A few of the younger ones stayed behind, not quite ready to give up
on humanity, his father included. Zeph and Ixanna, other members of
his ‘extended family’, were some of the only antiquity ones to not
cross over. Of the two Haven races, the Iko’s were truly immortal
as far as he knew; with powers that far exceeded that of any being
born in the Living realm.

“It’s sad to say, but
mankind would rather forget the gift they once had.” Dr. Manix
spoke slower now, his tone utterly sincere, “But, not here at the
center of REALM. We choose to embrace our history, and learn from
the past mistakes. When the Haven races call to us, we will answer.
And that is exactly what we did.” Manix paused again, letting his
eyes scan the crowd, “When Dr. Zeph, came to us some years back and
proposed what sounded like a ludicrous idea…we didn’t refuse him,
no, we listened.” Dr. Manix gestured dramatically to Zeph. “And so
began the top secret agreement between REALM and the ILA Institute.
After seven long and arduous years of planning, this project is now
ready for unveiling.” With a twitch of his finger the lights dimmed
and the repetitive images on the hover screen dissipated. “Project
Moira.” Dr. Manix’s voice cut through the hanging silence. “A
project dedicated to the successful transport of humans into the
other Levels.” Dr. Manix let a coy smile sneak across his lips as
murmurs and gasps began like a wave across the crowd.