Rooms Page 9

  Earth had been such an extraordinary, joyous ball of fire and diversity. ‘What we had, and what we lost!’ He desperately needed rest. He slept.

  ***

  Rad was awakened by the wind outside his survival dome; the fabric was talking to him as waves of air crossed its surface and small particles of dirt struck and danced away. He had placed the dome in a protected hollow surrounded by rocky crags, so the wind didn’t concern him. In fact, it was almost soothing, as he’d become accustomed to these intermittent storms. He felt as if he were part of this world as it spoke to him, communicating its moods and feelings.

  He sat up, doing his best to clear his head for the day to come, and then glanced out through the skyview that was built into the shelter’s dome. The sun was rising, and the colors on the horizon were brightened and accentuated by the dust particles kicked up by the storm. Many diverse shades and hues of color were airbrushed across the sky, painting and layering a subtle texture across the horizon. Rad was happy here, but he wondered about his ancestral home. ‘What would it have been like to wake to a storm there, walk outside, and have it actually touch my skin?’

  As he had for many days, he spent his time reading and learning from the contents of the old leather book. He also used his compu-tablet to view maps of old Earth and pictures of areas that he had studied that day. In addition, he accessed articles and some videos from Earth’s past. However, his studies were still incomplete. The old book concentrated mainly on the development of Earth’s environment and civilization up to a certain point. He’d found very little about the two hundred year time period just prior to when the human race left Earth. He surmised that some drastic event must have occurred that precipitated a quick exit, but there was no way to know for sure.

  Rad took breaks to eat and glance outside at his surroundings, but it had been a day like many others. They had begun to blend together in his mind, and towards evening, as night again began to touch the planet, he sat and organized his thoughts from the day and laid out his tasks for the next. Before eating, he meditated, sitting quietly, his eyes closed, listening to soft, healing music and to the sounds of the oncoming night. But during his meditation, there was another sound, one that didn’t fit. It was distracting, out of place and foreign. Rad opened his eyes. He’d heard a soft thud followed by scraping and shuffling. It grew louder and more distinct as it pressed against his consciousness. He stood and glanced out the skyview, but the night blocked his vision along with the brightness of the small nightshines inside his shelter.

  The vibrations persisted as Rad sensed a primordial adrenaline rush. His senses were becoming acute. His fear quickened. He turned his head, needing to focus on the location and intent of the sounds, and as he did, they vanished.

  He didn’t understand. It had been so clear, so close by. He took several deep breaths and blew out some carbon dioxide, cleansing his body and loosening his muscles. He settled back down, sighed and shook his head. It was probably just his mind playing tricks on him. After all, he’d just been meditating, and he had been alone for quite a while now. ‘Probably nothing…’

  He relaxed, glanced again towards the skyview and lowered the light inside the dome. His tension eased still more as he began noticing the stars that dotted the dark, silken sky. Each flickering light soothed him along with the thought of other humans, like himself, being scattered across this same fabric of space. Thinking about them caused him to feel less alone, but it also made him wonder if any of his fellow humans had found another Earth-like planet. He hoped that they had…and that thought brought forth in him his ancient, primordial need to breathe fresh, pure air and his dream of being able to lie down unencumbered on the surface of a planet and look up at an open, star-ridden sky.

  ***

  Fawn smiled at what she had seen in the small sphere that lay in her upturned palm. Rad was adapting, changing, evolving. He was learning. He was becoming. The book was nourishing him. His meditations had calmed him. The next level of the Room would make it real. He was ready.

  ***

  The storm had abated, and the strange sounds had not returned. Rad lay back, gazing through the pages of the small book one last time before going to sleep, and as he did, he recalled the time when Zeer had given it to him and wondered, ‘Where did it come from? Who gave it to her, and why did she give it to me?’ Her eyes and the look of her were still as fresh in Rad’s mind’s eye as the book in his hands. Zeer had been such a beautiful enigma.

  He put the book aside and turned off the small lights inside the dome. He was exhausted and ready to rest. Closing his eyes, he quickly fell asleep. It seemed that his dreams came sooner than usual that night. He dreamed of waking inside his shelter. He crawled to the door, unsnapped the layers covering the opening, crawled through the outer entry, and left his small home. He gazed outside and marveled at the feeling. He knew that it was a dream, but he loved it. He walked a few steps and looked back. Then…he heard the sounds again – the sounds that had caused him such anguish. He was caught outside in the open this time, though, with nothing to protect himself. He panicked and quickly awoke from the dream and sat upright; his heart was racing and pounding hard against his chest. Realizing again that it was simply a dream, he felt relieved until he heard the noises again outside the shelter.

  His senses peaked, and his inner voice said, ‘Not again!’ The undulations did not hesitate this time but became more and more distinct. As far as he could tell, something or someone was directly outside the survival dome. Then he noticed movement in the outer entry and reached for the oxygen cup that was attached to the exchange unit. The scuffling and shadowy motion continued as he stared at the entrance. The material moved, and a large, harry hand reached in and spread the partition. Rad pushed himself back and hollered, "Wait a minute! Who the hell are you?"

  12

  Shawn O’Reilly III

  Glancing up at Rad was a man with a quirky grin. He had a strong smell about him that almost knocked Rad over. His long beard, tattered clothes, dirty teeth, and old encrusted life-support suit, along with what seemed not an unfriendly demeanor, nestled into Rad's home with ease as if he belonged there. "Would ye feel better if I took my clothes off too?" he chuckled.

  Rad glanced down with the reminder that he was naked and said, "No…you’re fine the way you are." Then he collected himself and asked a second time, "So, who are you?"

  The man laughed. "I know I'm quite a sight. My name is Shawn O’Reilly the Third. I prefer being called Brit."

  "Okay… Where did you come from…Brit?"

  He looked Rad over one more time and continued. "I haven't been back in the lifeglobe for a year now, except to drop by and steal a little food now and then. Yer the first person that I've seen leave and come out into the desert besides me. Are ye some kind of weirdo?"

  Rad laughed a little at this and asked, "Me? What about you? Are you okay? I mean…can I trust you?

  "Trust me? I don't know…trust me to do or be what?"

  "Trust you not to rip my survival station open, take my food, oxygen, and supplies, and leave me to die?"

  Brit guffawed uncontrollably, slapped his leg, looked at Rad again and continued laughing.

  Rad couldn't help it. When someone laughed that hard, it was difficult not to join in. He pointed at Brit's foot, which was rudely sticking out of his sock and lost it completely. Rad rolled on the floor out of control. He got next to Brit. One of Brit's loud horselaughs was right in Rad's face. It was too much. His breath was so bad that Rad’s face contorted with disgust. This was so ridiculous that it set them both off again. It lasted for another few minutes.

  "Now…” Rad breathed to recover his composure and said, “Mr. O’Reilly…"

  "What? My name's Brit, I told ye…" They were both still a little out of breath.

  "Okay, Brit, you've been out here for a year? What the hell have you been doing?"

  "I could ask ye the same thing, but I know about ye."

  "You know a
bout me. What do you mean?"

  "Well, yer slightly famous. From what I can gather, you were an extremely talented Room’s player who went off the deep end. There is some Room that ye wanted to play so badly that ye went nuts over it, and then ye went missing. I thought ye might be somewhere out here. Besides, I know a sweet young lass named Shee."

  "Shee wasn't supposed to say anything about me to anyone except a couple of my friends." Rad was a little upset at this. He thought he had known Shee well enough to trust her.

  "To tell ye the truth, your friends and Shee were beginning to get worried about ye, and Shee knew that a strange outsider like myself would not be much of a threat to yer secret. They asked me to try to find ye and check on ye. It’s been about a month since ye’d left. But, besides being a little paranoid and a lot naked, I think I can tell them yer all right."

  Hearing the explanation helped. Rad smiled and said, "You still haven't told me much about yourself."

  "Not much to tell actually. I hate lifeglobes. A very distant grandfather of mine was one of the first pioneers in space. He was one of the first to set foot on Earth's moon: 'One giant step for mankind,' and all that. I figured that if he was able to go out there and take the chances he did, well, I should be able to do a little trekking on my own. Besides, the dam lifeglobes give me claustrophobia."

  Rad sat listening. This was one strange guy, but Rad couldn’t help but like him. He seemed straightforward and honest, and it didn’t look like he was going to rip open his survival shelter. "Here I thought I was out here being so brave. You've been outside for a year? How’ve you done it?"

  "My grandfather was a life-support bioengineer and so was my father. I've never gone through any schooling, but I was able to learn a lot by just watching and working with them. Eh! Would ye like me to show you to where I live?"

  "Sure…can I get some clothes on?"

  "I'd appreciate it."

  ***

  They must have been traveling for about three hours. It wasn't a walk. It was a torturous climb through the Sharp Mountains. Rad was beginning to wonder if this had been a wise choice. He hadn’t had much exercise during his stay in the dome. His muscles ached. Brit, on the other hand, moved like a mountain goat. He was obviously used to it. Rad kept his eyes locked on him. The conscious effort seemed to help him, as if he were drafting behind someone on a speedcycle. He continued forward, but not without some discomfort in every part of his body, and not without his life-suit becoming more and more cumbersome. He had to stop. He yelled at Brit via the com-system between the suits and between heavy breaths. They stopped, but only for a minute; Brit pointed to an area in front of them.

  They moved on and came to a narrow tunnel. Entering it, they began to descend and passed through two sheathed barriers before finally coming to a halt. Brit took off his helmet and suit, breathed deeply, and ran his fingers through his long beard and hair as if to say, ‘Well, come on!’

  Rad hesitated but then took off his helmet as well. The air was unbelievably fresh. There was something in it…something he didn’t recognize. Then Brit started walking again, and Rad followed. They were walking farther down a corridor towards a dim light. As they drew nearer, the light became somewhat brighter.

  "Brit?”

  "Just come on, I'll explain in a minute."

  They reached a domed, cave-like room. It was warm and just large enough to be comfortable. Upon entering, Brit laid his outer clothing, shoes, and survival items down. Rad took the rest of his suit off and did the same. There was a supple and extravagant covering on the floor. Rad’s bare feet reveled in the texture. Brit spoke softly, and the lights in the room responded to his voice and glowed more brightly, warming the room and exposing more of it. Directly in front of them, covering and enshrouding the ceiling and walls was something green. To Rad’s disbelief, he was looking at plants, thousands of plants. Some were similar to those that were in the lifeglobe, but many were completely unique and different. Rad couldn’t believe how thick and healthy they were. He now understood what was different about the air. It was filled with moisture and the sweet scent of all the green plants.

  "Do ye have any questions?" Brit smiled.

  Rad stared ahead.

  Brit explained that he had tapped an underground source of water on R-131. Evidently, during the planet’s birth, water had formed and rain had appeared for a period of time. Some of that water had been trapped under the surface of the planet in aquifers, and he’d found a deep cave where the moisture was seeping in. His bioengineering skills had then come into play as he had developed various strains of plants that could survive within the cave. The plants oxygenated the air, and he had created his own exchange unit to balance the gases in the chamber in order to sustain life.

  "It's brilliant, Brit."

  "Really can't take the credit, Rad. I just did some fiddling here and there. Got most of my ideas from my sires, ye know. Sit down and relax. Can I get ye something? I can hear yer stomach rumbling from over here."

  "Thanks. I am hungry.”

  As Brit moved across the room, Rad’s attention was drawn to the one wall where the water was seeping through the fissures of rock. It was as if the planet was giving its life-blood to feed the verdant life within the cave. This was hard to believe. R-131 was supposedly a dead and lifeless planet. It made him think, ‘What else don’t we know about this planet?’

  The cool, clear air filled his lungs, and the plants sparkled under the golden glow from the soft round lights within the room. Then it hit Rad that he’d seen these glowing spheres before. They looked exactly the same as his and emanated waves of illumination that were not just light, not just heat, but energy in its purest form - an energy that you could sense was strong and powerfully life-giving. This couldn’t be a coincidence.

  Rad was about to ask about the spheres when Brit placed an earthen bowl in front of him. In it, a multi-colored liquid swirled with an almost mesmerizing affect. "What’s this?" Brad questioned.

  "It's my specialty. I use some of the water from here, a dash of almost anything edible that I could steal from the lifeglobe, and some of the plants that I’ve grown. I think ye’ll like it. Think of it as an old Irish concoction.” Brit noticed Rad’s puzzled look and added, “Ye know…Irish…as in Ireland… Maybe ye don’t. It was a nation that existed on Earth. I also threw in a bit o’ whiskey!"

  "Whiskey?”

  "Ye betcha. Great stuff. It'll put some hair on that chest o’ yours. Drink up, lad!"

  Rad picked up the bowl and tasted the liquid.

  "What d’ye think?"

  "It delicious!"

  Rad drank the liquid down, and Brit smiled at him in the easy way that he had. Rad had been famished. He felt better almost immediately, drained the last drops from the bowl and was about to ask Brit about the spheres when Brit asked, "Feel better?"

  Rad beamed and said, “Definitely!” As he spoke, he noticed Brit's hand reaching toward the small leather book that was on the floor next to him. Rad covered it quickly with his own and then put it into his pocket along with his sphere.

  Brit looked at Rad and asked, "Important is it?"

  "Yeah…"

  At that moment, events seemed to happen rapidly and blur together. Rad suddenly felt off-balance and out of control. He glanced up. Across the room, he noticed someone walking towards him. It was Shee.

  In his mind he thought, ‘What’s going on here?’

  Rad then glanced back towards Brit. His eyes were intent, not on Shee, but on him. Then Rad noticed a glowing sphere in the palm of Brit’s hand.

  Baffled and off balance, Rad stumbled and fell backwards, falling, it seemed, further and further into himself, almost floating. He lost his sight - lost any cognizant, connective feel for the physical world and tried to speak, but the only words that escaped his lips were: "Brit…Mr. O’Reilly…Shee…uh…" Then he breathed out softly, let go, accepted, and soared.

  13

  The Room: Level 2

 
Old Earth

  Rad's eyes opened slowly, cautiously. He was lying on some flat rocks with a vast, blue ocean sprawled out in front of him. Waves were licking the souls of his bare feet. He pushed up to his elbows and breathed in. The air was crisp and cool as it touched his lungs. He was alone in the open air on a planet of immense and unbelievable beauty.

  The sun was shining. His eyes could barely accept the stark, bright light glancing off the surf and the rocks. Above were the sounds of birds incessantly squawking, yawing, and screeching. They soared magnificently on long, narrow wings, high above the mighty ocean. The swish of the water, the aromas of the plants and herbs, and the sounds of life were all around. A world such as he had never known, except within the pages of his leather book and from his own dreams, lay stretched out in front of him.

  As he rose up to a sitting position, his wide eyes filled with liquid from the bright sun and the wonder of what he saw. This was beyond comprehension. His thoughts were still hazy - his senses still somewhat suppressed. Though, the coldness of the rocks and the raw openness of his body to the elements began to chill him deeply. He realized that he needed to find shelter.

  He climbed the boulders near the ocean in the hope of being able to look inland. The climb ended abruptly on a flat bench, and he stood peering out across a landscape of evergreen forests, mountains, valleys, rock outcroppings, and glaciers in the distant high mountains. From the remaining light of the sun, the crystalline views, and the gold leaves dangling from the shrubs and trees in the vicinity, Rad could tell that it must be autumn. Then he laughed at his use of the term, realizing how much he had learned from his recent studies. His time in the survival dome with the leather book was allowing him to view and understand this new place in ways that would never have been possible otherwise. He understood now what a gift the book had been.