Chapter 12

The first sense was smell. A burnt woody floral scent permeated the air, strange but in a specific way, oddly familiar. Eitan opened his eyes. The light fell in shafts, highlighting the rising rows of stone seats. The columns of the round, open-air building were fluted, with carved vines winding around their girths. Above him was a great dome resting on the columns with an oculus directly overhead.

Eitan stood on a dais, perfectly round with a flat smooth surface of grey stone. Nothing moved. Behind him was a great seamless panel from floor to ceiling and etched upon it in gold was a detailed picture of a spiral galaxy from above. He barely caught a flicker of a light on one arm of the galaxy, about two-thirds of the way from the center. The flicker was gone.

His pants fell halfway down his butt. He reached down to pull up his pants, only to realize that his belt had no buckle and his pants had no button. The rivets on his jean’s pockets were missing too.

Holding his pants, Eitan stepped off the dais and descended the dais stairs to the floor. Another set of stairs were cut evenly into the stone on his left, rising from the floor to the bottom of the columns. He crossed the open area and climbed the stairs, holding up his pants with his right hand. He counted twenty levels.

When he reached the top, he could comprehend just how monumental the columns were, rising meters above his head. He walked between them, feeling small and inconsequential. A great metropolis spread out before him. Buildings of all shapes and sizes, made of an array of materials, seemingly fought for space next to one another. Some buildings were faced with stone; others were a hue of metals slightly off-color. The glass was pinkish. Looking down, he saw pale brown paved streets and sidewalks, just like any other city, but the proportions were different.

The day was partly cloudy, and the clouds had a dark grey tinge to them.

He was huffing from the exertion of climbing, as if the humid air lacked something he needed.

Nothing moved. The city was empty, giving off a sense it had been abandoned for a long, long time. A breeze brought new scents to smell, none of which he understood. The sun, heading towards the horizon, had a greenish tint to the yellow light. Eitan stepped back into the shadow, guessing that the sun on this planet was stronger than Sol.

Looking back out over the city, he caught sight of a creature flying, flapping its wings and gliding on air currents around the buildings. The creature circled closer to the building under which Eitan stood. He was able to discern feathers and plumage, as if this thing was a bird. The plumage was bright blue with an intricate pattern of browns and yellows on the underside of its wings and belly. The neck was long.

The bird dove and landed on the edge of stone floor where Eitan stood. The eyes were forward-facing, as a predator’s eyes would be. The talons were modest, but the beak was broad for the face, odd-looking to Eitan.

“Are you the welcoming committee?” Eitan said, uncertain of what to do. Hearing his voice made clear that the world around him was silent. His voice sounded peculiar, as if strangely pitched. The bird stared back at him.

Eitan looked up and saw more birds circling in the currents above the buildings. He counted more than two dozen who were coming ever closer. The hair on the back of his neck rose as did the hair on his arms.

Eitan took a step backwards. The bird took a step forward. Another bird landed next the first one. Deciding that waiting any longer was foolish, Eitan spun on his heel and darted down the steps. As he went down, he heard the scrapes of many talons on the stone. He reached the bottom and aimed for the stairs leading up to the dais.

Looking back, he watched the birds waddle between the arches. He started climbing. As he ascended, he began casting, seeking a familiar thread. As thick as he believed the clusters of threads were at home, the richness and the quantity of threads on this planet were exponentially denser. The birds hopped down from the top onto the first ledge. Bolder ones fluttered down to the second and third ledges.

Eitan stepped onto the dais and ran for the center, which was marked with a gold medallion. Only when he stood on the medallion did his senses open fully again. He felt that he was able to cast directly. The birds were continuing to descend, some were halfway down.

Hundreds of possibilities cascaded down upon him. Eitan started to shake with fear, panicked that he would never find home in this indecipherable maze. Something twanged. He cast in that direction, but the thread was too weak.

An unearthly squawk filled the rotunda. Eitan pushed hard. He grasped at an emerging target, something generating quantities of familiar dark energy. He locked – Akemi. He double-locked and WHAM.

Akemi screamed. She was sitting on the toilet with her pants down, tapping on her cell phone.”What the fuck!”

“We got to run!” Eitan yelled back, grabbing her arm and pulling her off the seat. The door burst open and Nikki rushed in with confusion on her face. “Nikki, call Foundation Security and tell them we have to evacuate! Now!”

“What?” Sten said, muscling his mother aside.

“Whitcomb kidnapped me and locked me in the research center,” Eitan said. “If he can’t have me, he’s coming after the two of you. He’s desperate and he’s dangerous and he has goons and he is willing to do anything.”

“Joseph,” Nikki called out. “Call our security and tell them Eitan was attacked. We need to leave.”

“You jumped?” Akemi said, calming pulling up her pants and buttoning them.

“Not to you,” Eitan said. “Whitcomb put a global GPS tracker in my neck, see?” He bent around and showed her the stitches on his neck.

“Where did you jump, Eitan” Sten asked, grabbing his brother by the shoulders.

“Yes,” Eitan answered, knowing what his brother was asking. “I jumped ... extraterrestrial. None of the metal on me came with me – my belt, my buttons. My pants fell down.”