Awakening on Orbis (25 page)

I stared at the O-dat in fascination as the Nagool helped the alien kneel in front of Ketheria, and then the alien dropped his head onto her lap. The two other Nagools moved back and out of the frame. She looked up as the others left and then seemed to focus on the alien in her lap. Ketheria’s shoulders slumped, and then her whole body flexed. The room became brighter, and I realized that Ketheria was glowing. The light seemed to radiate from her skin, getting brighter and brighter as she stroked the Nagool’s forehead with her right hand, all the while clutching his left hand in hers.

The light continued to build around her, and she began to tremble. She was shaking now, and then she threw her head back as if to scream. The O-dat flashed white as the glow around Ketheria exploded, making it too bright for the surveillance equipment to register an image. When the flash subsided, so had the glow around Ketheria. She was no longer trembling, but her hair was soaked with sweat. The two other Nagools rushed back in, and one caught Ketheria as she collapsed onto the makeshift sleeper. The third Nagool, the one that had needed to be helped in, stood up without the aid of the others. His skin looked tighter, and he stood straight, smiling at the other Nagools.

Did Ketheria do that to him? What had I just watched? Was Ketheria healing people now?

I opened another file that had been recorded after my arrival at the Hollow. An image of Max jumped to the screen, making my stomach lurch. She was seated on the floor in her room, and I could tell she was crying. Theodore was seated next to her. When he put his arm around her, I immediately felt angry.
I
should be there comforting her, not Theodore. What was he doing, anyway? I pulled up another file of Max. This time Queykay was in her room, leaning over her. It looked as if he was yelling at her. About what, though? Max was holding her ground, at least she was trying to, but Queykay seemed very angry, very threatening. He waved his arms about, forcing himself into her personal space. At one point, I thought he might even hit her, but then he stormed out. Grace entered. She kept glancing over her shoulder as she spoke closely with Max. What was going on? I wondered. I flipped over to a file with the same time stamp. A file for Theodore, but he was not in his room. I couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong. I searched Charlie’s computer to find some sort of live feed like the one he had shown me before.

“What are you doing?” Charlie said from behind me.

I spun around on the stool to find Charlie looming over me, a plastic pipe in his hand. He swung and struck me in the head before I had time to react.

I awoke to a pounding headache and a nice lump near the top of my head. Someone had put me back in my room. I pushed the lid aside and sat up. The blood rushed from my head, leaving nothing but the pain, which exploded and filled my entire skull. I pried open my eyelids to see if Switzer was sleeping. He wasn’t there; I was glad about that. Had Charlie brought me back here? Had Switzer seen him? I couldn’t tell what spoke it was, but despite the rocket that kept launching inside my head, I was hungry.

I found Switzer eating with our usual group of Space Jumpers, but he didn’t see me enter the food commons. Switzer was holding up something attached to his uniform and showing it to the others while they ate. It looked like some sort of fabricated metal pocket. Our new uniforms! I had forgotten.
Who cares?
I muttered to myself while I searched the food wall for something to eat.

“Where have you been?” Switzer asked, coming up behind.

“Nowhere,” I replied, and kept pulling food out and stuffing it into my mouth before even putting it on my plate.

“How can you be nowhere? You weren’t in training. You weren’t around to get your uniform, and you certainly weren’t in the room.”

“What are you now, my Guarantor? I was doing stuff.” I slammed the last door and pushed past him.

“Stop taking that crap. Those tablets are making you unbearable,” he called after me.

“Yeah? What’s your excuse?” I said, and left the food area.

Why had Charlie hit me? Had he not remembered me? I wanted to go back and find out. I also wanted to get something to protect myself with, or at least be ready to use my arm if Charlie attacked me again. He was strong, though. I needed to be prepared. Maybe there was something in my room to use, I thought.

When I returned to my room, Brine Amar was waiting for me.

“You’ve missed our scheduled appointments,” he said.

“Sorry, I haven’t been feeling well,” I told him. It wasn’t really a lie. My head was killing me.

“Did you go to the infirmary?”

“No.”

“What is ailing you?”

“Um . . . my head. I’m having bad headaches.”

“They can fix that immediately. Come. I’ll show you the way if you don’t know,” he said, standing up.

“Now?”

“Yes, now, unless there is somewhere else you are off to, though I don’t know where that could be since you’re supposed to be with me right now.”

Despite the fact that he had told me that I could not offend him, I detected a tinge of anger in Brine Amar’s voice. Should I tell him about Charlie? What if that led to Charlie’s little surveillance room? I couldn’t risk that. I wanted to see Max again. I wanted to know how Ketheria was healing people.

“You know, I just had something to eat and I’m starting to feel a little better. Why don’t we just have our session? I apologize if I messed up our schedule.”

“That is fine as well. We have much to do.”

I tried to concentrate on what Brine Amar asked of me, but I could not stop thinking about Charlie. How long had he been here? Why couldn’t he remember anything? How much of him was really Charlie? My connector was instructing me to upload file after file of Space Jumper history, most of it dry and boring, while I thought of Charlie. The process reminded me of my first rotation at the Center for Wisdom, Culture, and Comprehension.

“What do I need this for?” I complained.

“Do you not wish to understand the rich heritage created by the many Space Jumpers that have come before you?”

Not really,
I said to myself, but I had to admit, Brine Amar was right. There were a lot of Space Jumpers who had done some amazing things in the universe. Softwires didn’t seem so rare when you looked at their entire history. I did notice, however, that there was little mention of the Tonat. Instead, I found stories that involved other categories of Space Jumpers. I read about units of militarized Space Jumpers, as well solitary Jumpers called Cenots, who worked undercover within unknowing civilizations. I read of one Cenot who lived among a warring race known as Forlians for more than forty rotations. He single-handedly created a new form of government that, once adopted by its people, allowed the Forlians to reach the stars and assist the Ancients in constructing the Rings of Orbis. I wondered why I had never heard of the Forlians before and why I had never encountered any on the rings. Orbis certainly held a lot of mysteries. Did anyone truly know everything?

I went slowly with the Cenot files. I found myself admiring these aliens and their dedication to the Ancients, but I could not understand why they sacrificed their entire lives yet had lapsed into obscurity. It just seemed strange.

“These Cenots,” I said to Brine Amar. “Are there any here? You know, at the Hollow?”

“I don’t believe so. It takes a special kind of Space Jumper to spend his or her life in isolation.”

“Her? I wondered about that. So there are female Space Jumpers as well?”

“Certainly. Some of the best.”

“I don’t know how those Cenots do it,” I said, shaking my head.

“Acceptance,” Brine Amar replied. “Something you have much trouble with, I’m afraid. I hoped we would be much further along than this before you commenced the next stage of training.”

“Next stage!” I cried. “I thought we were done. I thought we were getting our uniforms and that was it. Switzer has his now. I thought I could go back to the rings.”

“But you don’t even have your Burak yet.”

“Burak?”

“Your Space Jumper’s belt. Your most important possession.”

“But I don’t need a belt.”

“You will if you ever need to jump
with
someone.
You
may be able to jump without your burak, but you would surely kill anyone you ever tried to jump with.”

“Cenots don’t jump with anyone,” I reminded him.

“I’m referring to a rescue attempt. What if you were forced to jump and take the Scion with you? Without a belt, you would be unable to make the proper temporal allowance for your passenger. I shudder to think of the result.”

I remembered the numerous times I had fantasized about jumping off the ring and taking Max with me. What if I had killed her? What else didn’t I know? There was so much to learn, but I didn’t want to stay here any longer. I wanted to be with my friends.

“When does the new training start?” I asked.

“When you are ready,” he replied.

“I’m ready.”

“Are you?”

Brine Amar’s tone frightened me. “You don’t sound very confident about my progress. What about Switzer? How is he doing? Perfect, I’m sure.”

“Why don’t we start with your uniform? It is a big step in accepting who you are.”

“I know who I am,” I told him.

Brine Amar didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to; his silence said enough. He raised his hand toward the door, and I shrugged. I could use some new clothes, anyway.

Brine Amar took me to the small cluster of trading chambers located near the recreation area, just past the food commons. I had yet to visit this area. I had heard Switzer talking about going there with a few other Jumpers, but I had not been invited.

“Who works here?” I asked. “Do they live on the Hollow?”

“Most are Honocks. I believe there are also a few people who failed to complete the program but chose to stay.”

“Or maybe the Trust didn’t want them to leave and reveal the Hollow’s whereabouts.”

Brine Amar looked at me. “This is not an evil place, JT,” he said. “You really must open your mind before it’s too late.”

“Too late for what? You don’t have to be so cryptic. Just tell me.”

“Here we are,” Brine Amar said, stopping in front of an open trading chamber. It was nothing more than a few tables arranged under a concrete shelter.

“But where are the uniforms?” I said, staring at the bolts of material and piles of rubber, metal, and plastic.

“You don’t think they stock uniforms for every species, do you? Your uniform is made specifically for you. It is unique, as unique as your softwire.”

“That ability seems pretty common around here,” I told him.

“You look only at what you see.”

A Honock entered from a door in the back wall. I could tell he was a Honock by the hunk of hardware around the back of his neck.

“Welcome,” he said, beaming. “One last straggler for a fitting?”

This Honock seemed a little more “awake” than Charlie or the Honock that was afraid of me. This one acted like a normal person, despite the fact he was mostly metal, wires, and circuits.

“Just me. It must not be that busy around here,” I said, pushing the Honock for information.

“Oh, you would be surprised. I also do repairs and tailoring. The Trust keeps me very busy, but it’s always an honor to create a suit for a new Space Jumper. I’ve made every Space Jumper suit for . . .” The Honock looked up as if trying to remember. Then he gave up and shook his head. “Well, for a very long time. That’s for sure, isn’t it, Brine Amar?”

“Indeed, Potu. Your work is worn by almost everyone at the Hollow.”

Potu looked at me, smiling. I was surprised by how alert he seemed to be. Why wasn’t Charlie like this?

“Have you been assigned yet? I don’t think so. Let me see. Something simple to start. A uniform you can build on. Do you see yourself in a militarized unit?” Potu asked me.

“Actually, what about the suits you make for the Cenots? I think that’s more what I’m looking for.”

Potu’s smile faded, and he looked at Brine Amar, as if for guidance. From the corner of my eye, I saw Brine Amar nod gently.

“Then follow me,” Potu instructed.

Potu led me to another section of his trading chamber, where there was some type of scanning machine with four pillars. Potu ask me to stand at the center of it while he adjusted each pod, raising them to my height.

“This gives me a multidimensional rendition of your exact body shape. I can make you a suit that fits better than your own skin,” he boasted.

“Sounds good,” I said. “Just make sure to leave my old skin where it is.”

Potu chuckled as he continued to set his fitting machine.
So, Honocks understand humor,
I thought. Then Potu moved in and allowed me a closer look at the hardware attached to the base of his neck. Without asking, I pushed inside his little computer. Immediately, I found a simple interface that would allow other Space Jumpers access to Potu’s mind. Not every variable was accessible. Some were password-protected. My softwire allowed me to push past that kind of simple security programming and look at the hardware in its entirety. It was fascinating — so many hardwire connections to his soft tissue, synaptic chips with chemical impulses, and electric pulse generators, all in that little construction at the back of his head.

I pulled out, and Potu was staring at me. “Don’t do that,” he scolded me.

How did he know? “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I just —”

“It’s polite to ask first,” he interrupted. “I’m more than just a machine.”

Potu continued with his work and then punched at an O-dat on the wall. A beam of green light sprouted from each of the four posts and scanned my entire body. It was over before I blinked.

“Done,” he said. “Come back next cycle.” The coldness in his voice was easy to detect.

“Don’t I get to pick a style or anything?”

“You already mentioned you were interested in a Cenot standard. That’s what you’ll get.”

I was embarrassed by what I had done, but I was also intrigued by how much emotion Potu displayed.

I stepped out of the fitting machine and walked toward Brine Amar. “I guess that’s it,” I said.