Polaris (15 page)

At the top of the staircase, he walked through an oval opening and quickly huddled against the wall. He heard people talking and immediately recognized one voice as Mr. Kessler’s. Aaron turned around and faced the wall, staying as close to it as he could, leaning sideways just enough for his left eye to see around the edge of the wall. He saw a darkened room and crept inside. He lowered himself to the ground and crawled to a door with a light shining through the small opening between the bottom of the door and the floor. Attempting to look under the door, he realized it was not fully shut. He stood and eased the door open just enough to peer through.

Mr. Kessler stood facing Zion and D1. They spoke in hushed tones, but Aaron could also hear someone crying. Aaron watched as Zion opened a small velvet bag and poured diamonds into her palm. He leaned in closer, trying to hear what was being said, when his hand slipped and he fell against the door, causing it to fly open, the doorknob slamming into the wall.

Zion rushed to turn on all the lights. Aaron pulled himself up, keeping his eyes on them as his mind blazed with possible escape routes.

D1 crossed his arms as a broad grin spread across his face. “Well, looks like we’ve got company.”

Zion poured the diamonds back into the bag and cinched it up. “Aaron, what are you doing up here? Are you hungry?”

Aaron shrugged. “Hungry? No, I’m not hungry. Mr. Kessler said I should come up to your attic.” Something moved behind D1 in the shadows. “Um, he said you were hiding something.”

“I said no such thing,” Mr. Kessler interjected.

The shadow moved again. Aaron realized that it was something behind a curtain.

“Yes, you did,” Aaron said as he focused on the curtain. He looked at Mr. Kessler and saw amber sparks coming from his eyes. “What are
you
doing here?”

“Help me,” a voice cried from behind the curtain.

Aaron ran over to the curtain and yanked it open. Behind it he found a glass room; in it were several humans—crying. His lip began to twitch, as he silently counted the people behind the glass. There were nine. The group consisted of elderly and loner types. Aaron stared at the tears that poured from their eyes, rolled down their cheeks, dropped onto the floor, and bounced. Their tears were now diamonds.

Nakal made his way to rear of the Gatekeeper’s house. He watched as the Gatekeeper and his family prepared to leave in their transporter. The children squealed with the excitement as they ran out the house. Each of the children splashed through a rain puddle, and the youngest ran back toward the house.

“Where are you going?” the Gatekeeper asked the young girl.

“I forgot the sparkly hair barrette you gave me. I want to wear it tonight for family night,” she said as she slipped through the space between her father and the door he held open.

“Oh, okay. I’m going to the transporter. Close the door on your way back out.”

Nakal’s teeth ground against each other, and his eyes narrowed. “Family night? How dare he do the very thing he punished my family for doing.”

Moments later the girl ran back outside, swinging the door behind her, but she did not check to make sure it fully latched. Nakal stayed in his position until the transporter lifted, and in a flash it was gone. It took all of five minutes for Nakal to sneak up the pathway and enter through the back door.

The house smelled of jasmine and cinnamon. Nakal knew this was one of his mother’s favorite scents. That was one of the specialty treats his father had brought back from his missions to the planet Earth. It was also one of the items that only members of the elite community could have. Nakal’s house now smelled of sulfur that crept from the volcanic tunnels since the commoners were not allowed to have a designer air filtering system. He saw a small intricately cut glass bottle of the fragrance on the table. He took it, placing it in his pocket.

“Let’s see what else we’ve been missing out on,” Nakal whispered out loud through gritted teeth.

As he made his way through the Gatekeeper’s house, he noticed it was set up just like the homes of the earthlings he’d watched while in the library pods. From the way the pictures were hung neatly on the wall, to the furniture pieces, to the throw rugs, and to the dinnerware. Everything had been imported from Earth to decorate the home.

Nakal’s arm brushed against a table lamp, causing it to crash to the highly polished wood floor. The sound was thunderous, and he quickly looked out the window to see if anyone heard it. Then he knelt down and picked up one of the pieces.

He felt a flash of heat course through his body, and instead of cleaning up the mess, he picked up another lamp and threw it against the wall, laughing as it shattered into pieces. He inhaled deeply and smiled. A euphoric feeling overcame him. He grabbed another lamp and threw it, kicked over the end table, and yanked several of the art pieces from the wall and punched holes through them with his fist before throwing them across the room.

His rampage continued in the kitchen. He ransacked the cabinets and broke every piece of the imported china as quickly as his hands could get the next item. He swirled around and danced throughout the house, demolishing everything in his path.

“Take that!” Nakal yelled at the portrait of the Gatekeeper that hung in the study. He reached up and pulled the massive oil painting down with both hands. It hit the ground with a thud. He stomped on it until it had a gouged opening the size of his feet. “You’ve been demoted!”

He took his arms and swept everything from the Gatekeeper’s desk onto the floor. He pulled out each drawer, dumping the contents onto the floor. He stopped when he noticed a small, inscribed metal box. His breath came in short pants; sweat covered his face and dripped down his neck. He opened the box and found a library pod access card.

Nakal smiled. “Jackpot.”

Aaron, too stunned to move, stared at the floor of the glass room. Brilliant sparkling diamonds covered the ground so heavily it looked as if it were blanketed in snow. Aaron’s glare went from the diamonds that littered the floor of the glass room, to the human specimens that were crying, to Mr. Kessler, Zion, and D1, and then back to the diamonds.

Aaron’s face dropped, his breathing was labored. “What is this?” Aaron cried out, glaring at Zion. “Why do you have these people locked up in your attic?”

“
Au contraire
,” Zion held up her hands. “This is not our attic, but Mr. Kessler’s.”

Aaron shook his head. “No. I got here through your house.”

D1 chuckled. “Afraid so, mate. Somehow you crossed over to his area. We are here to find out what he’s been up to and stop him.” D1’s eyes twinkled as amber electrical sparks emitted from his pupils.

“You lie!” Aaron shouted as he stumbled backwards. “Your eyes are telling me you are with the other team.”

Mr. Kessler took a few steps toward Aaron. “Remember what I told you,” he said, his eyes still amber.

Aaron backed farther away from him.

“Aaron,” Zion pleaded, “we’re on your side.”

“But your eyes are like Nakal’s.” Aaron shuffled around a large table, using it as a fence between them. “You can’t be on my side.”

“Who told you that?” Zion demanded.

Aaron turned his gaze toward Mr. Kessler.

“I told you no such thing,” Mr. Kessler said.

Zion smiled at Aaron and slowly walked toward him. Placing her hand on to his shoulder, she gave it a gentle squeeze. “Remember what we told you about him. He is not to be trusted. Our eyes have nothing to do with it,” she said. She gazed into his eyes as hers turned amber.

Mr. Kessler grumbled loudly. He slammed his hand against the glass wall. “Those,” he pointed toward the people behind the glass, “are the oddlings they get for their so-called help. Look at them, Aaron! Notice all the diamond accessories your hosts have about them. During their experiments, they found out that human tears mixed with this atmosphere form diamonds.”

“No.” D1 walked past Mr. Kessler, giving him a shove, and stood in front of Aaron. “As I said, you somehow crossed over to another place while climbing the stairs. This is Mr. Kessler’s attic. We discovered what he was up to and came to confront him about it. He works for a private sector of your government.”

“What?” Aaron said.

D1 continued. “He collects the diamonds for them, and they turn around and sell them to your fellow earthlings. Diamonds are not created on your planet as you’ve been taught. They’re created naturally here and cover the cavern walls like dust. They’re plentiful to us and they are placed deep within the Earth’s surface by members of the Fleet from the planet Venus, and you earthlings mine for them.

Zion walked over and stood next to D1. “Diamonds are our gift to Earth. Your government has several trade treaties with other planets. However, the diamonds from our caverns are small and Mr. Kessler is correct, we did discover that human tears mixed in our atmosphere will also create diamonds, but they are much larger and
this
is why Mr. Kessler brings the humans here. It is for his benefit and gain.”

“That is not true!” Mr. Kessler objected.

Aaron inhaled sharply and held it before releasing the air. His mind reeled, his thoughts were hazy. “None of this makes sense.”

Zion nodded. “Yes. It’s hard to believe, but this sort of thing has been going on for thousands of years. Currently, NASA is our main contact.”

Aaron turned his attention to Mr. Kessler. “You kidnapped those people? Who are they, other people that you’ve talked into playing this stupid game?”

“I … I was a victim of this game,” Mr. Kessler grumbled. “I would never put another human through this.”

“But you did it to me!” Aaron screamed at Mr. Kessler. “You wanted me to trade places with you.”

Mr. Kessler shook his head. “No, you misunderstood. I only wanted you to trade places with me because I didn’t want you to be part of this madness. They … ” he pointed at Zion and D1, “they basically kidnap people from time to time, bring them here to produce the diamonds, and then return them to Earth. You know as well as I do that
no one
believes people when they tell their alien abduction stories. We say they’re crazy.”

Aaron nervously paced. “I can’t take this. I can’t take this anymore.”

“Aaron,” Zion’s words flowed from her mouth as if she were soothing a newborn. “This is not something you need to worry about. You need to finish the game.”

“Yes, you need to leave,” D1 said. “Zimmare sent word that Nakal is waiting to be summoned to an illegal meeting with Sirius. And if what we sense is true, they may be planning some sort of cheating tactic against you. He also left word that your next clue is near your home.”

Aaron moved toward the entrance to leave, but stopped when he noticed a small replica of a building his father had told him about.

“It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?” Zion said. “It was one of my greatest designs I had built on Earth as a gift for your people. But now I’m afraid you only know it as the Palenque Mayan ruins.”

Aaron shot a look at Zion. “You designed that and had it built?”

“Oh, she and her brothers are very talented and have created several of your ancient landmarks,” D1 added. “Shameful, you all didn’t follow the upkeep instructions she engraved on the walls.”

“Why do you say this is in Mr. Kessler’s attic if it’s yours?” Aaron asked accusingly.

“Well,” Zion stumbled on her words, “he must have taken it.”

Aaron threw up his hands and once again headed for the door.

“Aaron,” Mr. Kessler shouted at him.

Aaron stopped. His shoulders tensed up, and his teeth clenched. “What?”

“I would not lead you wrong. We are from the same place. Do not trust these people. D1 is leading you to a setup. Head to the library,” Mr. Kessler pleaded.

Aaron’s mind raced as he ran out and down the stairs. He looked at the doorway and saw it had changed. It was different than before. He remembered now. Had he really crossed into another dimension and entered Mr. Kessler’s house? He thought back to the paper mill when Mr. Kessler had not assisted him when those creatures attacked.