The Sphere: A Journey In Time (15 page)

There were more flashes of Doctor Lancing, though his face was never in focus. He was frequently in the laboratory room I had seen with other children. I caught a glance of a sphere. One of the children was holding it, and while the rest of them watched intently the young boy disappeared then reappeared a few seconds later. I caught a glimpse of Noah, but the image vanished too quickly. Somehow my mind knew I could get it back though, and I focused on bringing the image back to the forefront.

Noah was hunched on the floor in a plain room. I could see what I assumed was Doctor Lancing’s white lab coat in my peripheral vision. I watched passively as Noah clutched his abdomen and screamed. The back of my mind found it odd that I didn’t care as I watched, merely continued to focus on his mid-section as a man’s voice asked, “Where is she?” Noah screamed that he didn’t know.

My vision flickered to the other side of the room. There was a ghastly pale, gaunt looking man strapped into a wheelchair with another, different helmet on his head. He was staring with wild fright at me. I saw the corner of Doctor Lancing’s lab coat swing slightly as he turned to the man in the wheelchair. “Where did you take her?” The man didn’t take his eyes off me as he whimpered, “I don’t know,” just before breaking into a heart wrenching wail of pain.

I leapt out of the chair and tore the helmet off my head. I barely had time to register that several objects fell to the floor as I ran out of the room, through the office and into the hall. They had been looking for me, and they might still be looking. That little girl, Eliza, could use her mind to move things and to hurt people.

I sprinted down the hall, pulling out my light disc as the light from Doctor Lancing’s office faded behind me. I turned the corner, half expecting to run into him, and slowed my pace a bit to get around the chairs I had noticed earlier. Someone had built that helmet and burrowed into her brain as a way to interact with her. That made no sense, she could hear and react to people, why not just talk to her? It must be something more than that, a way to link to her mind, to her ability to manipulate objects from a distance. A few objects in the room had started to levitate as I was linked with her, that’s what fell. I hadn’t realized it while I had the helmet on. Had I done that? Or had she?

I rounded another corner and could see the light from the living dome spilling in through the glass doors at the end of the hall. I kept sprinting towards the exit and refused to look back to see if I was being followed.

Chapter 15

I burst through the doors into the living dome and only then allowed myself to turn and look behind me. Through the glass doors the hall was still and empty. It looked as though I had never even been in there. I switched off the light disc and pocketed it again, then turned back towards the main courtyard of the living dome.

It was barely recognizable. The gardens were wild and overgrown. The buildings looked like they were in good shape, though the grass had also overgrown and vines were covering much of the central facades. I guessed Doctor Lancing didn’t have much need for a tidy living space.

I walked slowly over to my living quarters, trying to ignore the fact that the most alarming part of the facility neglect was a giant hole in the roof of the dome. Something had shattered a large section of the glass and bent the frame in. Eliza, perhaps?

When I reached my door it did not open automatically for me, but it was easy enough to force open. It was dark inside here as well, but I didn't have to go in to see from the light in the doorway that someone had destroyed the space. Either through searching or looting, I wasn't sure. I lit my disc again and cautiously wandered in.

The kitchen cabinets were open and the contents disheveled. It looked like they had been searched. I couldn’t imagine why someone would want to search my kitchen cabinets. I wandered through the space, my bed had also been stripped and clothes pulled from the closet. I had so few personal effects, I had no idea what someone would have been looking for. I was simultaneously puzzled by the motive and angry at the invasion of privacy. What little I had left in this place.

I left my quarters and walked across the open space to Noah’s quarters. I could tell immediately upon entering that it wasn't right. The decor was off. The furniture too fancy. Aside from a thick film of dust, it didn't look to be disturbed. I wandered through just to be sure, but nothing looked out of place, except for the fact that being Noah’s quarters, everything in there looked out of place. I walked back outside and double checked the door. It was definitely the right room. I tried the next door over. Like Noah’s place, it seemed to be undisturbed. I went back outside, and my gaze was drawn back up to the hole in the roof of the dome. I tried to push my fear away. Whatever had done that must be long gone. This place was empty. I walked over to the area of grass below the hole. Through the weeds, I could see shards of glass on the ground but nothing else. Whatever came through didn't seem to do much damage where it landed. I stared up at the hole again for a minute. It was making me feel unsettled, like I was wrong that whatever had come through had left a long time ago. I forced myself to turn my back to it.

I hadn’t counted on this. I had no idea what to do with myself. I had no idea what year it was, and I had been detached from the real world for so long, I was nervous about the idea of leaving the complex. I needed to know what happened and what year it was. The fact that algae had been growing in the bath meant it had to have been at least a few months since anyone had been in there. But what would have caused the place to be abandoned? Almost certainly it had something to do with the hole in the dome. So when did that happen? Was this a split in the timeline, or was I in the future?

I certainly couldn’t remain where I was. I walked over to the main entrance Jim and I had used when I left for the island. My stomach knotted. I hadn’t been outside since my trip to the island, and that hardly counted as the real world. Perhaps I could find a way to get back to the island. I could live with Marina and Adam and find some way to be useful to them. When I got to the doorway it didn’t open, but I was expecting that at this point. Unlike my own doorway though, there were no ridges in the door. There was nothing I could see to grab hold of and force it open. I tried sliding it using just the friction of my hands against the door, but it wouldn’t budge.

Panic gripped me for a moment. What if I was stuck in here? How would I survive? I walked back to the nearest quarters and forced that door open. There was a photograph in the entryway of someone I didn’t know. “Adelaide MacDuff mail.” I waited for a moment, but there was no response. My sigh was more out of frustration than disappointment. I hoped maybe a back-up power system would kick in to respond to me, but I hadn’t actually expected that would work.

There must be another way in. I had rarely seen the main door used, but I knew we must get deliveries somehow. The farm made the most logical sense to me. If they had to take delivery of certain foods and supplies that would be the closest place to store things. I turned back towards the farming dome.

I had only been this way once before, with Noah. He wanted to show me a new plant he created by suggesting a cross breeding of two other plants. I couldn't remember the name of the original plants or what the creation was. In the end it tasted horrible and he gave up on it. The farmer had destroyed the small section of crop to Noah’s dismay. I laughed lightly at the memory of his indignation and the sound was swallowed by the emptiness. The glass door leading to the farming area had been propped open. A large house that I assumed was where Montgomery, the farmer whose name Noah used on missions, had lived and worked was off to my left. Several fields stretched out in front of me. I had forgotten how big this section of the complex was. An orchard with various trees was off to the right.

"Ok," I said to myself. "If I were an alternate entrance, where would I be?" I thought about the root cellar Noah had found just a few hours ago. It seemed like years ago to me now. I felt like I was being watched and glanced back through the doors to the living dome. Nothing moved. There wasn't even a breeze to rustle the tall grass. "Root cellar it is." Talking to myself was a habit from when I was young and my parents would leave me alone in my room for hours at a time. Someone had told them it would help my creative side to be left alone like that. I guess it did, though I never actually created anyone in my mind who was listening. It was a comforting thought, to pretend someone was there and to speak to the silence.

I walked around the back of the house. From what I could see, like everywhere else it was dark inside. I smiled when I got to the back to find there was an actual cellar there. It was still latched shut but wasn't locked. I lifted the latch and wrenched one of the doors open. It was dark inside there as well so I relit my disc and headed down the shallow concrete steps to the cellar below the house. The room was much bigger than I was expecting. That made sense though, at least a thousand people had lived in this complex. Though not all our food came from here a vast deal of our fruits and vegetables had. And I knew that one of the fields was planted with soybar, which could be made into many more types of food with the produce conversion system.

There were vast shelves full of containers. I pulled one down off the shelf closest to me and read the label; carrots. "Now all I need is salted beef and cabbage." My shoulders fell as I put the container back on the shelf. Even if I managed to find a way out of this place I had no idea what to do after that. For all I, knew Noah hadn't been taken to this time period. Perhaps he had made it back to normal time as he was supposed to. Would he try to find me? Were they tracking me right now? "First things first." I walked down the aisle a little further and pulled another container off the shelf, just out of curiosity. I read the label to myself, "Juniper." I put it back and continued down the aisle. About halfway to the back I pulled another container down and wiped the dust away to see the label. "Orange slices." I put the container back and wiped the dust away from my hand with the other, then looked at my hand for a moment. There hadn't been dust on the first containers. "Wait a minute." I turned and quickly walked back along the aisle. About halfway back the containers failed to be covered with dust anymore. I grabbed another container and stared at it in disbelief. Someone had put these here recently.

That someone was suddenly pointing a disintegrator pistol at me. "Put that back please, and place your hands on your head."

I did as he asked, my swift movements betraying my sudden fear. "I'm not here to rob you." He was old, but his hands were steady with the gun. I didn’t like my chances if I tried to rush him.

"How did you get in here?" he demanded. The gun moved an inch closer to my torso.

"The doors were unlocked. I was looking for... something."

"No, I mean the dome, how did you get in this dome?"

My eyes followed the tip of the gun as it moved just slightly away from me when he gestured with it.

I realized what he meant. He thought I was from the outside world. A reasonable assumption given the state of this place. "Please lower the pistol! I'm not here to steal from you or anything. I need help," I pleaded.

He lowered the gun slightly, but kept a firm grip on it. "No funny stuff now."

"No funny stuff," I agreed. I lowered my hands from my head but kept them held out in front of me as a sign of trust. "I need help."

"So you said. What kind of help?"

"I need to find a way out of this place."

He grunted in amusement. "Just head back out the way you came in."

"That's easier said than done. Do you know what year it is?"

He laughed at me. "What nonsense is that? I haven't kept track of the date in years." He gave me a look that said he thought I was either crazy or up to something. I noticed his finger twitch back towards the trigger on the pistol. "What are you doing in my root cellar?"

"Your root cellar? You live here? You work here?"

"Live here, yes. Work here, used to be. Nobody's been here to work for in years."

I had only met the farmer a few times but I certainly knew his name. "Are you Montgomery Welsher?"

He gave me a dark, mistrusting look. "Now how would you know that?" He raised the pistol again and pointed it at my head this time.

My pulse sped again, desperate to get him to trust me. "I'm a librarian. My name is Adelaide MacDuff, I'm a good friend of Noah Kent."

"Adelaide MacDuff?" His look turned from confusion to surprise and a small laugh escaped his lips. It built as he lowered his gun and clutched his stomach, bent over with laughter.

"What!" I yelled at him to get his attention.

"Oh, Adelaide." He stopped laughing and gave me a wry smile. "You’ve pissed off quite a few people, you know. Come with me."

I followed him outside and up into the house. He turned on a light in his kitchen. "You have power too," I noticed.

"Too? Yes, I have a small generator, it's enough to keep this place going. Have a seat." He gestured to the kitchen table and pulled out a bottle of some pale yellow liquid. He placed it on the table and retrieved two glasses, leaving the pistol on the counter. At least I knew I had his trust now. He poured two glasses of the liquid and pushed one over to me. "Drink, you're going to need it." He took a sip of whatever it was and stared at me as he put the glass back down. "Adelaide MacDuff," he said again, almost breathlessly, as he looked me over.

"What happened here?"

"So you don't know what year it is?"

"No idea at all. I just got back and everything was wrong. It looks like no one’s been working here for years."

He gestured to the drink again and I took a small sip. It was harsh on the back of my throat, and I made a face.

"That they haven’t. It’s been just me for a long while now. The year is 2168." He watched my reaction.

I couldn't speak. 2168. How could I have ended up here? I took another sip from my glass. And if I ended up here what became of... "Noah?"

"Oh he came back in 2073, as was expected. But boy, oh boy when you failed to show up an hour later like they had programmed?" He laughed again. "Being out here I never got to hear about much of the goings on, but Noah came to visit me a few days after his return and told me all about it. They were furious with you. They thought you'd found a way to outsmart them and go somewhere else. They grilled Noah for days trying to figure out where you had got to. And come to find out it was their own fault, a screw up with the programming." He chuckled again. He clearly didn't have much faith in the people who ran this place.

My face had fallen as he explained this. Noah came back on time and was gone now.

Montgomery seemed a little giddy with excitement. "He gave me a note for you. Knew you’d make it back at some point."