Chapter 32

Jin pressed a button and the door opened. Laarusk stepped into the room accompanied by Aleria, an older man with gray hair, a pair of humanoid tabby-cats, and a girl that looked about ten years old.

The girl sniffed the air then turned to Jin. “Miss Nava, need I remind you to run the sanitizing system when you have finished a procedure? While the scent is quite pleasant, it does tend to be overwhelming. Please run the sanitizer now then return to your duties.”

Jin blushed in embarrassment and turned to the panel. A moment later there was a hissing sound accompanied by a slight breeze as the smell of honeysuckle was cleared from the air and replaced by the clinical smell of antiseptic. Jin hurried from the room and the door closed behind her.

“Now then – Andy is it?” began the girl, “I understand you have had an unusual encounter with others from your home world. Is that correct?”

I looked at the girl, then at Laarusk and Aleria. The girl noticed my questioning look and smiled.

“I’m sorry. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ardua Lenz, Director of this facility. These are Neb Niets,” she pointed to the man, “and Lyra and Bando Ffzyk. Lyra and Bando are what we call them anyway as their real names are too difficult to pronounce for non-feline based vocal cords. You already know Laarusk and Aleria.”

Kendra and I acknowledged each as they were named and introduced ourselves to them. After a brief discussion we found that Lyra and Bando were technicians under Neb Niets, just as Laarusk and his team were under Aleria. The two supervisors reported to a management team headed by Ardua. Both teams were working on similar projects to save people who died, or were about to die, by processing them for relocation to new worlds. Lyra and Bando had been the team leaders in charge of picking up one such group which had ended in failure.

“We don’t know what happened.” explained Lyra. “Bando said he had a lock on our subjects so I engaged the transfer equipment. Suddenly an alarm went off and the system shut down. When I checked the logs later it showed that the transfer system experienced a power surge and lost contact with the subjects. Video records showed the subjects vanishing just as transport was initiated. Our team assumed there had been an equipment failure and ran a full diagnostic of all systems. Everything checked out at or above specifications. The only thing we could not find was the cause of the power surge.” The tone of her voice changed from confident to sadness. “All I know is that I somehow managed to kill fifteen people I was supposed to save.” It was obvious to me that she was filled with regret, blaming herself for the loss.

Ardua turned to Aleria and nodded.

Aleria spoke quietly to Laarusk.

Laarusk looked at me and grinned. “Andy, would you describe for us the events of today beginning with your approach to the cave and what you found once you arrived?”

Aleria interrupted before I could start the story. “Before Andy begins, I want you all to know that he and many of his followers are people who have been processed by Laarusk’s team. Kendra was one of Andy’s mates before he was processed but has only recently been sent to Andy’s location. Proceed Andy.”

I began my story just before my first sighting of Kendra at the cave entrance, leaving out my ill-conceived decision to drop my weapon and rush in to her rescue. Lyra and Bando exchanged glances when I mentioned seeing the school jacket. I went on to talk about entering the cave and discovering the dead boy, including my suspicion about the spear. When I mentioned Coach Foust by name Lyra turned to her supervisor.

“He ... he just said Coach Foust is alive! On their world. Professor Niets, how did our people end up on their planet?” She let out a snarl as she turned to Laarusk. “You! You did this didn’t you? You and your advanced classmates somehow hijacked our transport and stole our subjects, didn’t you! How could you... Why would you do that to me? Was it because I wouldn’t go out with you?” She unsheathed her claws and assumed an attack posture. “You had me suffering thinking I had vaporized them! Well I hope you enjoyed your little joke because it’s the last one you will ever pull!”

Wait, what did she say? ‘Classmates?’ ‘Professor Niets?’

Laarusk moved to the other side of an exam table. “No! I didn’t have anything to do with it! None of us did. Please believe me.”

Bando reached and grabbed Lyra by the shoulder. “Sis stop! You have no proof that Laarusk or his team had anything to do with what happened.”

“It had to be them Bando. Who else could figure out how to do it? They’re the advanced students, the smart ones with all the brains.” She made a lung towards Laarusk. “They ruined our experiment!”

“You don’t know that’s what happened! So what if they are the advanced group. We’re all smart. We had to be just to get selected for this program. We will figure out what went wrong. Besides, you could have been in their class if you wanted to. You didn’t have to stay behind with me.”

The civility that had been there up to this point seemed to be disintegrating. Aleria and Neb were accusing each other of failing to monitor their students. Ardua was at the console but I couldn’t tell what she was doing. Bando had gotten between Laarusk and his sister, apparently to keep her from shredding Laarusk with her claws. The siblings seemed to be having a discussion in their native language. True to their appearance, it sounded like a cat-fight.

I had heard enough. I raised my voice trying to get everyone’s attention. When that didn’t work, I used a different tactic. I grabbed the back of Lyra’s neck. Her reaction was what I expected from an irate feline – she turned and hissed at me.

The discussions stopped and everyone looked at us. She raised her arm like she was going to take a swipe at me. I raised my hand, ready to block. She stared at me. I stared back. She growled and I growled back. Every action she took, I did my best to imitate. I was not going to let her intimidate me. We seemed to have reached a standoff when Bando said something to her in their language. Her demeanor changed instantly. Her claws retracted and I swear it sounded like she purred at me.

“I don’t know what is going on Lyra, but I want answers just as much as you do.” I turned to face Laarusk. “Is what she said true? You’re just a student at a school and I...” I took Kendra’s hand, “we are just specimens in your class project?”

Laarusk stood there shaking, his mouth working but no sound coming from it for several seconds. He closed his eyes as he took several deep breaths.

“Andy, this is not just a school. The students here come from different dimensions. Almost all of us are from the planets you call Earth and Mars but in a different reality. Some, like Lyra and Bando, are not only from a different dimension, but from another solar system as well. We were recruited to study methods of relocating individuals to developing worlds from more advanced locations in an attempt to improve the natives chances of survival. Just as in your case, the selected individuals were about to die so our offer of relocation was, as you say, a ‘win-win’ situation. Your case did throw our process off when you interacted with so many others, linking their futures to yours.“

“Why didn’t you say so in the first place? Why all the subterfuge about an ‘organization’?”

“Would you have volunteered if you had known it was a science project for a class of teenagers?”

“Well I...”

“You’re only teenagers?” interrupted Kendra. “But everyone I’ve met except for Director Lenz and Jin look at least thirty. Just how old are you, Laarusk?”

“Appearances can be deceiving. My race matures physically faster than some others. How can you estimate the age of someone like Lyra or Bando without a frame of reference? Most of the others you have interacted with here are not what you would consider ‘human’, correct? But to answer your question, I will be seventeen in two of your weeks.”

“You’re right. Most everyone I’ve met I have no way to even guess how old they are. I’m surprised that I’m actually older than you Laarusk. Tell me, what’s it like...”

“Kendra, please. We can socialize later. Right now, we need answers. Laarusk, you’re right. I might not have volunteered. Then again maybe I would have. The deal you offered was a heck of a lot better than my situation at the time and I certainly don’t have many complaints about my current status. It beats the heck out of dying in a vehicle fire. I guess I’m saying I can understand why you lied but I’m not happy that you did. No harm, no foul.” I put on a mean face. “Just don’t let it happen again.” I couldn’t hold back. I broke into a big grin. “Now, we have the issue of how the coach and crew ended up where they did instead of here. Is it possible that someone used Laarusk’s lab to interfere with the transfer?”