DROP POINT CHAPTER 2 episode 11

Episode Eleven: Uninteresting Visitors

Click here to read chapter one.

“So wait,” Kenny said, trying to catch up with Kyle Carter, “you’re going where?” “To Piott’s office,” Kyle stated for the dozenth time. “I deserve to be in that meeting, and he knows it,” he said heatedly. They reached the door that opened up into Piott’s office. The strip above the handle was bright green, meaning he was inside.

“The one about the Siren?” Kenny asked. “But he’s the Com-” “I’m the one who almost got killed for the information in his hands. Not him. I don’t see why-” when Kyle pushed open the door, he stopped. The room was empty. No spacemen in business suits. No laid-back commander in his stupid glowing blue floaty chair. How come they didn’t even have this kinda crap in the future? I mean, it’s the future! “Where’d he go?” Kyle stepped into the room and looked around. “Kyle, the Commander isn’t here, and we’re strutting around in his office. We should probably leave before he finds us,” Kenny said nervously, but Kyle didn’t hear him. He was staring at the large window facing the black and grey terrain of the moon. Lights in the distance bobbed up and down, across the grey landscape. Kids on their break were goofing around on LunaRovers. Suddenly, they heard footsteps from the hall. Kenny poked his head out, then turned around to Kyle. “They’re coming! Hide!” Kyle scoured the room, looking for a place to fit two people. Under the desk? No, not enough room. Behind that door? No, it was locked. In the cabinet? Yes! Kyle opened the door to find the floaty chair. He rolled it out and got in. Kenny followed, and Kyle rolled the chair back in front of them. Kenny reached up and closed the door just as voices entered the room. There was a click and a small buzzer – probably the handle’s green light turning red. “Okay, let us get down to business,” remarked a gruff, low voice. Kyle was really cramped. A floaty chair was supposed to fit nice and snug in here, without two boys. “Yes, let us. Commander, unfortunately I have to tell you that the faulty information from the boy’s memory has thrown us off our course,” said another voice, this one old, British-accented. “Faulty information?” the Commander asked. Kyle pushed the door open just enough for him and Kenny to peak out. The commander was standingbehind his desk, facing what looked like a man in a grey uniform with his head stuck inside a red squid. Next to Squid Man stood something hidden beneath thick beige robes with its hood drawn over its face, showing nothing but glowing red eyes. There was a necklace with a small golden ring around its neck, hanging outside of the robes.

The British voice came back as the hooded figure gestured with his arms. “We’ve sent ships to crawl up and down that line in the Aquatarius Arm. You know, the line where the two of three coordinates meet?” “I’m familiar,” Piott deadpanned.

“The Siren is not there. It’s no place in that entire sector.” Following a moment of silence, the Squid Man nodded briskly, and Piott nodded back: an inaudible message. Then Piott reached under his desk, and pulled out a digital recorder, which looked like a small rectangular piece of glass. It was pale blue, and it was undulating slowly out of the center. Kyle thought the thing looked evil. “Are you quite sure?” Commander Piott asked. The rippling was excited by the sound of the voice, then slowed down again. Piott set it down on the desk and pressed a little red button in the corner of the screen. The screen smoothed out and faded to black. “That’s the audio recorder, I assume?” Squid Man gestured at the rectangle. “Yes. They wanted me to record the conversation to make sure all goes well. But that bit should be enough to keep the inspectors off our backs,” Piott said. “Now, what is this meeting really about?” Kenny shifted his leg, and Kyle elbowed him in the gut. Kenny shifted his leg again, and let out a tiny groan. “When Kyle Carter arrived in our time, he was dropped out of a Wormhole, right?” The hooded man said. “Right,” Piott affirmed. Kenny shifted again. “What is it?” Kyle hissed just loud enough for Kenny to hear. “Charlie horse,” Kenny whispered back. “What’s a Cha-” Kyle started to ask, but the voices stopped. “Did you hear something?” the hooded man asked. Piott paused, then shook his head. “Recruits probably screwing around instead of chores,” he shrug it off. “Speaking of which, you’d be well off to remember you’re training them to be soldiers, not running a daycare. But anyway,” the Hooded man

continued, “When Kyle came out of the Wormhole, the energy needed to send him through to our side was released in the form of invisible energy.” “Invisible?” “Suffice it to say, invisible energy relates to energy the same way dark matter relates to regular matter.”

“Ah,” Piott said. “But when Kyle arrived and we learned of his origin, we decided to check levels of invisible energy. In the past fifty years, there have been two dozen surges similar to Kyle’s, varying in size slightly.” the Squid man said. Kenny started to shift around crazily, just barely avoiding the thin wooden walls of the cabinet. “And we want you to investigate. Just remember: this is all off the record until such time as we know where these surges are coming from,” the Hooded man pointed at the powered-off recorder. Piott nodded, and picked it up. “Now, back to business,” he said, and turned it back on. The blue light and the rippling came back immediately; shivering at every sound. “...and there. Fresh batteries and everything,” Piott said. “Good job there, Commander,” Squid man said, as if reading off a script. “But I’m afraid it seems that part of our discussion concerning the Siren has not been recorded. Such a shame.” “Well, we must be off now. Remember what you are to do, Commander,” The hooded man added, then opened the door. All three men left the room, closing the door behind them. Kyle burst through the cabinet door, and Kenny limped out after him, groaning and tenderly massaging his leg. The hover chair rolled on its side across the room in a wide arc, and flopped over onto the floor facedown. “You seriously don’t know what a Charlie Horse is?” Kenny asked sourly. Kyle shook his head, deep in thought.