There's a mysterious force out there, lurking in the void nothingness between time and space fabric, come into contact with it, and you're gone. You are spirited away from existence.
A small figure stood in the middle of a large room, surrounded by cold steel book shelves that loomed above the person. There was only one small light bulb at the top, it hung drearily from the ceiling, next to its 'deceased' kin; the other bulbs that failed to glow at all when the switch was flicked on. Although many areas of the room was covered by the shadow of the tall shelves the bulb shone bright, so the lone reader could read the old words in the book they held. That person took a step deeper into the light, towards the aged desk, where a red leather back note book lay- new but worn, compared to its surroundings.
The young girl closed the book she was holding, and used her free hand to sort out her light brown fringe, with her soft hair away from her face, two red orbs were revealed. They glanced down at the book, analysing the black leather and the golden letters of an 'H' and an 'M' scratched into the item's spine. A faint sigh escaped the curious girl's mouth, and she moved towards her note book swapping the black for the red. The girl turned towards the door, her long, light brown pony tail swayed behind her as she spun. As began her journey to the door, she held a fountain pen in one hand, which was hidden in her crimson poncho and began to jot down notes, in her red book.
"Orela, what was in that book you were reading?" a small soft voice emitted from the shadow of the celling high book cases.
Orela turned to her left, although she maintained a blank stare, her red eyes darted around scanning where the sound had come from. Her red eyes met another pair of red as they emerged from behind one of the massive book cases. Although they were the same colour of red, the new pair seemed to glow. Two small feet, clad in white boots, stepped into the light revealing a small, almost miniature child. This familiar face had pale skin in contrast to her, also, white clothes she had jet black hair. A white beanie hat sat precariously on the small girl's head. The markings down her soft cheeks showed that this particular girl was an android. She stood looking up at Orela, on her tip toes, looking curiously at her.
"You're Tata. Its 23 minutes past 11- shouldn't you be asleep?" Orela looked down at her class mate. Already expecting an answer, Orela had her note book out, ready to take down some notes as to why Tata wasn't asleep.
Tata grinned sheepishly, as she shuffled on one small foot to the other. "I don't sleep. I'm the only android that has a long battery life without charging." Orela wrote this down. "I normally patrol the dorms, during the night and take care of the… Take care of Cerberus during the night. I have permission to stay up so late, as long as I keep others from venturing out of their dorm rooms – you shouldn't be up." Tata tilted her head. ".. But don't worry I won't tell anyone."
Orela let out a subtle sigh and decided to continue to walk to the door. The little turret followed behind, so Orela took the chance to take more notes. "Why did you follow me here?" -Another question that will lead to a note-worthy answer. Pen at the ready, Orela paused for Tata's small steps to catch up.
Tata looked up at her. "You are not permitted to be on this floor in this building at this time, originally I would have stopped you but I decided to follow you because this room is not on my map- this area is just blank on my program. Is this a library?" Tata's gaze drew beyond Orela at this point, taking information in about this room, as she looked at the towers of books, stored away in their shelves.
No full data on school map, and hidden blank spaces. Orela scribbled into her note book.
"What else has blank spaces on your map, Tata?" Orela took several steps towards the exit again, causing Tata to stop processing whatever she was looking at and jog after her friend.
"Analysis of this room shows that most of the second floor areas in each of the buildings have blank spaces- except for the dorm buildings. Their volume is ok with their dimensions. Why don't you ask Mr. 'Wescott' for the full map?" Tata returned a question back to her interviewer.
"I've asked him, he said it the complete version of the school grounds, and there isn't unaccounted- that he knows of." Orela quoted the teacher. "But he also began to question if there were things missing in the map after my query. This library is clearly off limits, especially if it's not on the map. Personally I think the Academy will benefit with such a facility. This room and the vast amount of information seem to be of no current, use. I'm beginning to wonder why." Oreal grinded to a halt again, this time little Tata bumped into her back. With this 'break' Tata went back to looking at her surroundings whilst Orela scribbled down more notes in her red note book.
Tata gazed at the giant book shelves that were lined next to each other; it was significantly different from the rest of the academy. This room held a dusty atmosphere, with her vision, being able to see in the dark she could identify several spider webs that belonged to three different species of spider.
She muttered each arachnid species gently as she identified the web. Orela whom had taken the nib of her fountain pen of the paper in her book, looked at Tata, a little confused.
"Spiders?" She questioned. "Why are you naming different species of spider?"
Tata nodded. "As a turret I have night vision or infra-red vision-" Orela had her note book out again, her fountain pen scratching the fine paper, absorbing the information. "… Umm. I also have other sensors that can identify the heart rate of my target, or anybody that's close by—like my sensors that detect energy fluctuations!" Tata grinned, knowing that Orela was listening. "That's why I am able to identify those webs- this room hasn't been used in a while."
"You seem to be a really useful android, what's my heart rate right now?" A small smile tugged on the edges of her lips. A small spark of curiosity derailed the main subject matter.
"An average of 75 beats per minute- " Tata froze and her smile melted away quickly as her head turned towards the only door in the room. "Another human, two, with an average of 80 beats per minute is approaching this room." Tata's gaze didn't leave the door, and she stood still, as if she was frozen. The two children were just a metre away from the dusty grey door.
"What are you doing? Tata, we have to hide." Orela's voice hissed a whisper to the small child turret, with a tint of anxiety. Her heart rate had increased to 83 beats per minute. Tata snapped back to reality, and darted into the darkness, in persuit of her friend. Shutting her red lights off, and huddling next to Orela, they both waited for the two new-comers to enter. Already both girls were thinking of a non-invasive escape route when suddenly the door knob clicked.
The door creaked open towards the room with the books and the shelves – with only one light on, Orela and Tata sat in the dust behind a well hidden book case, watching two tall figures stroll into the room. Orela looked down at Tata, who was leaning on her arm, in a curled up position. Orela leaned towards her head. "Are you recording this?" Tata nodded silently in response. Orela, hesitantly patted Tata on the head as reassurance, not knowing if that would calm an android turret down and help it focus on recording. She averted her gaze on the open door to check Tata. The little turret had her eyes fixed on the exit; watching two tall figures walk into the dim room.