FictionPress.com - let the words flow| FictionPress.com - let the words flow |
| Home Just In Communities Forums Beta Readers Dictionary Search | Login Register Extras |
Project 37
-By: Onah-
Chapter 2: The Man from Another World
Suddenly the tinted glass doors slid open and the girl tumbled forward. A very confused man in an unrecognizable uniform and combat boots stared back at her. The girl was breathing heavily and in panic.
“Thanks!”
She took off running again. The man in the uniform blinked for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders and passed through the doors before another man crashed into him, the man from the office. “Don’t let those doors--!” The man shouted and reached out, but it was too late. “--Shut…”
“Huh? Why?”
The poor doctor chasing the girl had caught up with them by then. Out of breath and with a scowled expression on her face, Denisa barked, “Where is she? Please don’t tell me she just passed into the military sector??” The men stared back at her with blank expressions, telling her all she needed to know. Doctor Denisa let out a long sigh and brought her hand to her forehead. “This is not what I’m being paid for…” she said as she closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead.
“Soldier!” She barked, “I need you to re-open those doors.”
Autumn was pleased with the time she bought herself and noted the difference in this new part of the facility. The carpet wasn’t as plush as she ran down the glass hallway that connected into a structure. The walls were trimmed with a glossy black lining and the air even felt more heavy here. A monotonous voice rang out over an intercom and computer panels were settled into the walls here and there, projecting a song of small, short notes. Autumn’s pace was beginning to slow down and despite her spirit’s intent of running like a girl gone mad, her legs were growing weak.
Hallways. Doors. Openings leading into other rooms. Corridors. Hallway after hallway, never-ending stretches laid out before her as she twisted and winded through the foreign labyrinth. Oddly enough, hardly anyone was visible around these parts at all.
The girl guessed that one needed a special pass to access the sliding glass doors, but some of the other doors seemed to open without such permission. She had no idea where she was going, only operating on the idea that she had to get away, and the more lost she had become the more a destination slipped from her mind, and all coherent thoughts of a plan of action. Autumn robotically pushed open yet another door before rounding the inlet into the main pathway when she crashed right into the chest of a man!
This man had on the same unrecognizable uniform she saw earlier, but that wasn’t the most important thing she noticed about him, it was the look of malice on his face. “Kids don’t belong here.” Came a gruff voice, and with that, he gave the girl a shove.
Caught off balance by her tired legs, the girl fell back towards the inlet, and the pair of arms that broke her fall belonged to non other than doctor Denisa.
“Got’chya!”
Not a moment earlier before the girl rounded the corner the doctor had opened the door adjacent to the one Autumn had opened, in an attempt to outsmart the girl by taking a shortcut and had guessed correctly. She caught the girl in her arms and grabbed her tight in case Autumn fussed. The woman glared up at the soldier who had by now turned his back and began to leave.
“Jerk.” Denisa stood up and helped Autumn to her feet, smoothing her white coat in the process and keeping a hold of Autumn with her other hand. “What do you think you’re doing? Are you crazy?”
Autumn stared back at her exhausted, with empty eyes.
“Where did you think you were going? Do you have any idea where we are? That man is just one of many jerks in this sector and they don‘t care about how they treat other people, much less some little girl. Now I‘m getting us out of here because we‘re not suppose to be here, so stay by my side, and for God‘s sake, don‘t go running off!” Denisa gripped the girl hard by the arm.
She dragged the girl somewhat back into the inlet and slid the pass along the door she entered from. A red light flashed and a low sound keyed. Denisa sighed and slid the pass again. Another red light and the tone denying her entry. “Great…”
“My door didn’t need a pass.” Autumn said softly.
“Yeah, but my door will get us out of here faster.” Hesitating a moment, Denisa came to the conclusion that even the slower path would be quicker if it meant the door opening and getting them out of there. She tried her luck.
“Locked.” Denisa looked around. “I can’t believe this, now the doors are locked…” The woman pulled out a portable device and punched in digits along its side panel before talking into it. “I’ve found her. I was using the card I was given to get through the doors, but now it seems it won’t work anymore, and the doors are locked. We can’t get out of here, what am I suppose to do?”
“Where are you located?”
Denisa looked around and began to read off what was around her in the bizarre writing Autumn had never seen before.
“I did a scan, Denisa, and you’ll have to wait for the doors to unlock.” A male voice echoed.
“And how long is that going to be? Why are the doors locked?”
“Because a squad with the General is passing through that way. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to wait for them to pass.”
The expression on doctor Denisa’s face began to change as all traces of frustration and anger began to drain and anguish and anxiety took over. She let the hand holding the device fall limp at her side, as did the rest of her body. Autumn gazed at Denisa, still tired, before asking softly, “What’s going on?” Perhaps the girl sensed Denisa’s distress. Yet Denisa wasn’t looking back at Autumn, she was gazing further down the hallway.
Autumn followed her gaze and through the hazy glass she distinguished dark figures heading down the hallway in their direction. The figures were walking three to a row, but from a distance it wasn’t clear how many. Their stride was rigid and perfectly in sync with one another. As they got closer, it was visible that their eyes were focused straight ahead and it almost seemed as if they would walk by without noticing the two females.
That was exactly what Denisa was hoping for. She was just about to pull the girl back when Autumn asked, “Which one is the General?”
“Are you kidding me? He’s a noble, so he’s the only one with long hair.”
Autumn stared on in curiosity, “I don’t see him.”
The girl strained her eyes. As the men came closer, she could see that their lips were solemnly pursed together and not a single pair of eyes shifted toward the scenery beyond the glass. Not all of their uniforms were the same, the men in the front wore dark hunter green while the men in the middle and the back wore uniforms of black that zipped up to the neck. All of them wore mean looking pairs of black combat boots, and some of the men had unfriendly looking tools strapped to belts around their waists. One man even had what looked like a robotic gauntlet wrapped around his arm. All of these were high-tech tools Autumn had never seen before, and she was just about to ask the woman at her side what they could be used for when something caught her eye.
A glimmer of white.
It came from the middle of the party. Despite the fact that Autumn was taller than most girls her age, she still leaned against the frame by her side and stood on her tiptoes to catch another glimpse. The girl couldn’t see much of the man, being as how he was in the middle of two men on either side, and most of her view was obstructed by the soldiers in front. What she managed to catch was a bit of a tall shoulder and a stray tendril of white hair that fell in place from bouncing against his shoulder to flowing behind his back. As the squad passed through choice sections of sunlight, the visible strands of snowy hair would glisten, as if absorbing light.
Autumn turned around to face the doctor. “Oh! Is he the old man in the middle with the white hair?”
Denisa shushed the girl frantically and pulled her back. “I don’t want them to hear us.” She hissed through her teeth. “They’re going to pass by here in just a moment, don’t talk or peek your head out, I’d rather they not see us. Got it? We’re not suppose to be here.” She reminded the girl.
Autumn nodded and leaned her back against the furthermost wall like Denisa did and looked straight ahead to await the passing squad. Denisa did not let go of Autumn’s arm. They both stared forward as the soldiers passed by, not a single soldier looking their way. It appeared that Denisa’s plan would have worked when one soldier deliberately broke his gaze and tilted his head just the slightest in their direction and looked right at them with sideways cast eyes.
Autumn felt the color drain from her face as the man looked right at her. Every thought processing in her mind was wiped clear as she met his glance. The air felt heavy. Sound seemed to fade away. The old man with the long white hair wasn’t old at all. The snowy white hair was set against a firm face with an angular jaw belonging to a man that appeared to be in his late twenties. Despite the unusually light shade of hair for such a young person, his skin was not light at all, but rather a dark bronze. Almost copper. His outfit was nothing like the uniforms the men at either side of him wore. His complex looking black boots were worn past his knees to mid-thigh and behind him pooled a black coat that had a tail made of two flaps, the second being longer than the first. No medals, badges, or marks of honor decorated his chest. And a neck-choker that appeared be to part of his uniform, rather than an accessory, was wrapped around his neck. There was nothing that appeared comfortable or inviting about this outfit at all.
Yet it wasn’t his contrasting features and harsh attire that caught her breath, it was his eyes. Something about them wasn‘t right. Surrounded by oddly dark colored lashes, his eyes held a color she had never thought possible on a human being before. They were not blue, or any other regular shade of blue that would appear natural for a person, they were aqua. It was such a bright color it seemed as if his pupils weren‘t visible, and that made his gaze unnerving altogether. The way his eyes were reflecting the light around him wasn’t natural either. It was almost like they held a glow from the inside without actually emitting any light, much like a feline’s eyes.
The whole encounter didn’t last for more than two seconds, and yet it felt as if time had stopped. The frightfully magnificent, and overall upsetting figure passed on without so much as missing a step. As if nothing had ever happened. Autumn was left with the aftermath of recovering her nerves after he passed. It felt as if she were clearing from a daze and couldn’t even remember the rest of the men passing by when the girl noticed she was still staring forward with her mouth somewhat agape. Autumn looked up and noticed Denisa had a similar disturbed look in her eyes.
“That was the most intimidating man I’ve ever seen.” The wide eyed girl confessed in a tone of pure honesty.
“Terrifying, isn’t he? I don’t understand how some women think--”
“What’s wrong with him?”
Denisa blinked in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“He looked like something from another world, he was so…bizarre looking. I’ve never seen a person his age with that color hair before, and his eyes..! What was wrong with them?”
The woman broke her gaze from Autumn and began to look around herself, regaining her composure. Perhaps she was wondering if the doors locked for security purposes were unlocked now. “I don’t know, I’ve heard rumors he was born like that, and I’ve heard rumors he underwent some alterations. Either way, I don’t care. I never liked him - Now let’s get out of here.” Denisa turned on her heels and walked to the door where she slid the pass. A different note rang out.
It opened.
Autumn made her way over to that window and cast her gaze out at the alien landscape. She nonchalantly smoothed the lines in the simple, cotton brown short-sleeve she was given. It purposefully bunched at the shoulders and bust before being tamed by a single strip below her chest, and then smoothed from there on out across her stomach. A simple pair of pants adorned her as well, somewhat resembling blue jeans but still nothing she was use to. Autumn was given a pair of brown boots much like the ones she owned, but despite being new and not as scuffed, they were far less fashionable. The girl couldn’t hide the look of disappointment in her outfit, thinking she was being made to dress up to impress these people. It certainly wasn’t anything dressy.
The girl had also taken special care to wear her hair up as Denisa described since she learned something, that only nobles in this place wore their hair past their shoulders. Everyone else wore their hair up, unless their hair was cut short above the shoulders. Autumn fussed her hair into a bun while still trying to maintain a traditional 80s poof to her bangs before Denisa seemed to flatten it in annoyance. Now as the girl stood staring out at the window, thoughts of her appearance faded from her mind as she gazed at the landscape before her.
It was a desert. Vast, dry, and hazy. With no vegetation, and the horizon shimmering like water from the heat. Strange dunes and pillars reached up like hands grabbing towards the sky in vein, and a cloudy haze seemed to create the illusion of fog in the distance. It was the first time that Autumn had bothered to stop and take a look outside and the look on her face changed from curiosity, to shock, to horror.
“Oh my God…”
“What?” Denisa approached her and stood by her side.
“This is a desert!” Autumn stepped back, not taking her eyes off of the scene before her. Denisa’s gaze shifted from the window, to the girl, to the window once more. “Yes, it’s a desert…?”
“That means I’m not in New York City anymore…” The girl whispered. She refused to take her eyes away from the sight, yet the look on Denisa’s face was that of utter confusion. The woman kept staring at the girl’s face when she began to notice tears pooling in the rims of Autumn’s eyes.
“Hey…didn’t we already go over this earlier?” Denisa then whispered, “I gave you a little hint to where you are so you wouldn’t be so surprised, so don’t start crying just before you meet the Head Council.” The woman then gave the girl a tissue from a nearby table.
Autumn dabbed at her eyes. “Yeah, but…I…I didn’t think that I…I didn’t believe you. I was hoping that this would all be a big dream that I would wake up from. It never occurred to me that I wasn’t actually in New York anymore…”
The look on Denisa’s face seemed to change to that of genuine concern. Until then, she hadn’t taken the girl very seriously, but now it seemed that this child really did believe she was taken away from her home, and that to some level disturbed the woman. When Autumn saw the woman’s face, she began to break down.
“I’m not a patient without a name, my name is Autumn Silverman! I’m from New York City!” she faltered through her tears.
Gently placing her hands on the girl’s shoulders, the doctor looked Autumn in her green eyes. “Listen, you’ve got to calm down. I don’t know anything about you and I’m not suppose to, so don’t go off blabbering details to me. I don’t want to hear them. I’m a doctor, and today has been one, big, way off track task for me. Listen, you’re going to feel better in a little bit when you talk to the Head Council because they can answer your questions. So dry your tears, because you can’t let them see you like this.”
Autumn looked down and dabbed more at her eyes. Denisa concluded, “And when I leave here, I shouldn’t remember you or have any thoughts of you at all after these moments, okay? No one’s going to hurt you and you’re going to be fine, alright?” But did she really believe that?
Before the girl could say another word, whether a word of protest or a word of thanks, a voice interrupted them. “Uh-hem.”
Both females turned their attention to this new arrival standing with his hands on his hips. “Sweet as this soap opera has been, doctor, I highly doubt the Head Council will approve of such drama. You were suppose to have this kid here a while ago, and you’re late.”
“Apologies, but the girl was distressed, and I needed some time to--”
“Spare me, you’ve had plenty of time. I didn’t know it takes a squad to catch one runaway girl, maybe if you had been doing your job you’d have been here on time. Give me the girl, you’re dismissed.”
The woman was crimson with anger. Meanwhile, Autumn was pale with fear. It didn’t occur to her that Denisa wouldn’t be coming with her to meet the Head Council, yet the girl chided herself for not realizing sooner that it wasn’t Denisa’s job. The tall, gangly man took his hands away from his hips and stepped forward, rigidly swinging his long arms as he walked quickly to where Autumn was standing and grabbed her by the arm and yanked her behind him. The girl let out a cry of surprise and frantically looked back to the woman for help.
“Don’t worry, they’ll answer your questions,” she said reassuringly. “You’ll feel better once they do. I’ve got to get back to work now.” Maybe this was her way of saying goodbye, because before Autumn knew it, the tall, gangly man shut a pair of doors behind them.
Denisa was left standing with an odd look on her face as she stared off into the dark room for a moment and a knot began to twist in her stomach.
“I’m not a patient without a name, my name is Autumn Silverman! I’m from New York City!”
…when I leave here, I shouldn’t remember you or have any thoughts of you at all after these moments…
Somehow Denisa knew that wouldn’t be true.
The nervous girl stepped inside and gave a small jump at the sound of the doors shutting. Allowing her eyes to adjust to the dimness of the room, she saw that before her was a large, brown table with dark figures sitting on either side.
“Hello, Autumn.” A calm, but kind voice rang out. “Why don’t you have a seat?”
Stepping forward, she took a seat in the closest empty chair. Autumn cast a nervous glance in the direction she heard the voice, trying not to meet the other eyes she knew were upon her. She settled on the most likely source of the voice to have been the man at the head of the table. He seemed comfortable with his position and the outfit he wore had a regal touch to it. His dark skin hinted of African descent and the full beard and slight graying of his hair hinted of middle age as well.
“I’m sure this must be very confusing and distressing for you, as I’ve been informed you tried to run away from our health inspector earlier,” he eyed the girl with a paternal gleam, “but there’s no need to fear. This isn’t our usual meeting place, and it’s very rare for all of us to be gathered together in person and not having an electronic meeting, but take a look around this table. These men are some of the most important men on our planet. For these special circumstances, we decided to meet together in person at this unmapped location for better assessment, and to formally greet you. You must understand, you’ve taken us a bit by surprise with your age, no one expected you to be so young,” he smiled.
She wasn’t sure how she was suppose to take this. Autumn hesitated and then nervously opened her mouth to speak, her voice failing her somewhat, “If you already knew my name, why didn’t you know my age?”
“Ah, good question,” the man commented. “You see, I’m not a man of physics, but we have some of the smartest scientists on our side, and the way it was described to me is that space and time are one, and often indistinguishable. Sometimes we have a target in mind and the results can vary, give or take a few years. Time is a hard portal to calculate, it would seem. Tell me, Autumn, do you believe in aliens?”
“N-no…”
A few of the men around the table gave a soft chuckle, including the man who asked. “Well then, this might come as a shock to you, but technically, we are aliens,” he smiled. “You see, we constitute as aliens because we are life forms not native to your world, and you are just as alien to us. Quite frankly, Autumn, what I’m trying to say is that…you are no longer in your world. You’re in ours. You are on another planet.”
Her eyes met him with an indiscernible gaze. He wasn’t sure what kind of reaction he was expecting, but judging from her silence she was either speechless or overwhelmed. Either way, he took it upon himself to continue. “I know this must be overwhelming, but bear with me.” He pressed a button on a remote control and a three-dimensional holograph produced a cosmic image before the table.
“You’re currently located on Pleidon, a planet that makes up part of the Pleiades.” The constellation flashed before her eyes. “Pleidon consists of three main land masses: The Western Continent, the Eastern Continent, and the Northern Continent.” The planet came into focus and enlarged itself, revealing the irregular shapes that were land amid a large body of dark water. “We are on the Eastern Continent, which consists of different territories, most of which we now control, but not all. Which brings me to us…”
Fingers that reached out to touch the holographic image retreated as the projection now faded and the man stood up. “I am President Trenakrolis Mehartic,” as if for emphasis, he placed his hand over his heart and gave a small, polite bow to the girl. “We are the Head Council of the Eastern Alliance government. To your left is…”
The man’s words began to fade from Autumn’s ears as he went around the table introducing these powerful men. The information that had been unloaded was too much, and their names failed to imprint in her mind as they were nothing compared to what she had just learned. Autumn ran through the motions of making eye contact and acknowledged the men who nodded to her after being introduced. President Mehartic had just introduced the Vice President to his right when he came to the man on his left. “To my left is General Sedarion Emergreiz…”
A jolt shot through her spine and into her head as she looked at the man looking calmly back at her. Contrasting deeply against the gleaming eyes of Mehartic, framed with soft lines, this man held a gaze as cold as ice which seemed to her to be the most disinterested in the group as to what was going on. His expression seemed to hold no compassion and the girl was almost thankful when President Mehartic went on to introduce the next man. The introductions were finished with the man facing across from Autumn when President Mehartic asked, “Do you have any questions for us, Autumn?”
The girl broke her daze and met the man’s soft eyes, an expression that seemed to contrast against the powerful position he held. “Yes…why me?”
The man broke into a grin as he sat down. “I can not tell you all of the details here, but the man I will appoint as your guardian will help you. We brought you here for a purpose which you will soon discover isn’t very clear, but we were hoping that you might be able to help us clear that up. There are still a great deal of mysteries surrounding our planet. We didn’t exactly choose you, you chose us. Or, more correctly, we calculated who you would be, and the numbers don’t lie.”
Calculated? The girl’s mind was reeling with thoughts and questions as to what could be behind the mysterious words this man had just said, but nothing compared to what he was about to say.
“For the next year you will be staying with us.” Autumn looked up in shock. “Not to worry, it will be in your world as if time has not elapsed. During your time in our world, you will be closely documented and your identity kept secret as part of a top secret project. I’m placing you under the protection of a man with a high success rate and whom I’m confident will have very little failure in guarding you from those who wish to know about this Project. From now on you will be known to us as Project number thirty-seven, and your legal guardian will be General Sedarion.”
