Well, THIS sucks! Calvin bitterly thought as he leaned against the wall of his cell.
The soldiers had marched them to some kind of military base where they had promptly been searched and separated. Now Calvin sat alone in a windowless room with no knowledge of what was going on outside, how long the soldiers intended to keep them there, or why they brought them here in the first place.
He had lost track of how long he had been in isolation; the minutes just flowed on by in one monotonous, never ending stream.
Absently, he found himself wondering if Susie was alright. Hobbes, he was fairly certain, was alright; he could hear the tiger's agitated growling – faint as it may be – every now and then. And while his growls were clearly sounds of distress, they sounded more annoyed than anything; which was good, it meant that he hadn't been hurt, at least, not severely. Susie, however, he had no idea where they had taken her, and he hadn't heard a sound out of her.
So Calvin sat, worried and fretting as time kept trudging on.
As he looked around, he found himself in an empty corridor. The walls were blank and unadorned and he could see or hear no other living thing.
In the whole passage, there was but one thing disrupted the endless monotony. Something – a chart or something similar hanging at the end of the tunnel.
He rushed over to the object – it was a map of the world, but clearly not Earth. There was one large continent of unfamiliar shape that was colored green. To the west of the big continent was a smaller, island-like continent painted red. To the north and south were two land masses colored blue; and here and there about the map were a few sparse areas painted white.
So this must be what this world looks like. Calvin thought to himself.
As Calvin leaned in to get a closer look, the white areas of the map vanished in a flash of red. At the same time, a large rip tore itself into the map. Calvin looked aghast at what had happened. Backing up a pace, he stared transfixed at what transpired next. Red began encroaching on the western shore of the green continent and pressed eastward. Sometimes the green pushed it back a bit, but the red kept moving forward. And the more land the red gobbled up, the more tattered and worn the map became. After about a minute, every spec of land on the map had become red. And the poor old map, decrepit, weary and unable to hold out any longer, finally crumbled and turned to dust.
When the map vanished, a cloaked figure was revealed. It stood there, motionless, just staring at him. Calvin looked up at the apparition. He was apprehensive, yet curious. He couldn't make out any features of the figure's face under it's hood; save for it's piercing, scrutinizing eyes that stared at him unnervingly – like the mysterious personage was staring into his soul.
Calvin looked at the figure and the figure looked at him, never moving so much as an inch.
Calvin was about to make a run for it, when the phantasm stretched it's hand out towards him, open and inviting, as though the figure wanted to shake hands. Calvin was apprehensive, but the look in the figure's eyes, while unnerving, told him he was in no danger. Not knowing what else to do, Calvin reached out and clasped the apparition's hand.
A loud clang and groaning sound jolted Calvin from his sleep. He turned to see the cell door opening with an armor clad soldier on the other side giving him a distasteful look. "On your feet, you!" the man ordered. "The colonel wants a word."
Calvin grimaced, slowly rising to his feet. "Alright, I'm coming. Just hold your horses, I – Wait a minute, you speak ENGLISH!"
The soldier looked confused. "I do not know any ENG-lish." he stated in annoyance.
Now Calvin was confused. "But... then... what language are you speaking?"
"The common tongue." the soldier answered shrewdly.
Now Calvin's mind was reeling. This whole situation kept getting weirder; suddenly he could understand what their captures were saying, yet they insisted that they weren't speaking English... They must be playing with his mind, yes, that made sense; they were playing some creepy mind game to test him or something! After all, it's not like he could suddenly learn a new language,... right? "Um,... out of curiosity, what language am I speaking?"
"The same as the rest of us." the soldier curtly replied. "And it's about time, too. If you can talk like a civilized person, why didn't you do so earlier, instead of hooting about like some jabbering hog monkey?!"
HOG monkey? Calvin would have to file that away for later.
"Now come with me!" the soldier reiterated. "It is inadvisable to keep the colonel waiting!"
Not wanting to stay in the cell any longer, and figuring that talking to this colonel might be the best way to get some answers, Calvin wordlessly went along with the soldier.
A couple minutes later, the soldier brought Calvin to a room with a single table and chair. The room's only other occupant was a lone man with his back to the door.
As they entered the room, the soldier addressed the figure. "Colonel, I've brought the boy as you requested!"
As he said this, the figure turned to face them. Calvin made an involuntary gasp; standing before him was the same hawk faced man who had them apprehended earlier.
"Thank you, lieutenant." the colonel said, gruffly. The lieutenant released Calvin and positioned himself by the door. Turning to Calvin, the colonel gestured toward the chair, saying "Sit."
Once Calvin was seated, the colonel glared at him with a calculating look. "What is your name?" he asked the boy.
Calvin knew this would probably be a mistake, but he found he couldn't help himself. "My name is Sir Lancelot of Camelot! I am on a quest to find the Holy Grail. My favorite color is blue – "
There was a loud slam as the colonel slapped his palm onto the table. Getting right into Calvin's face with a furious glare, he growled "I don't give a rat snake's tail what your favorite color is, and I do NOT appreciate you treating this like a joke! If you want to come out of this interrogation with all your body parts functioning properly, you had better give me straight answers! Understood?!"
Yep, definitely a mistake.
"Got it." Calvin replied, meekly.
"Now, give me your real name!" said the colonel.
"... Jet Li." Calvin spouted out the first oriental sounding name that came to mind.
"That's more like it." the colonel replied in a satisfied tone. "Where are you from, Jet Li?"
Hoo boy, this was decidedly not a favorable situation. What do you do when lying can only get you in trouble, but the truth is absolutely out of the question? "Oh, y'know. We're from... around... Actually, we kinda got lost."
"Lost?"
"Yeah, we were at this party the other night and things got a bit outta hand. A bit too much sake, if ya know what I mean!"
The colonel's eyes narrowed as Calvin spun his yarn. The displaced youth hoped it didn't mean the colonel was calling his bluff – 'course, with a face like his, that expression could mean anything.
"Just tell me what town or city you came from!" the colonel said, curtly.
"Oh, um... I, uh... forgot."
The colonel raised an eyebrow. "How could you forget where you live?!"
Calvin leaned forward, his fingers interlaced. "It was a really great party."
The colonel growled, agitatedly. He turned his sights upward and his scowl deepened. "What happened to your hair?" he asked.
"Why? What's wrong with my hair? Does it have split ends? Please tell me it's not a cowlick!" Calvin put both hands to his head and started frantically running his fingers through each strand.
"No, no your hair is... yellow. Is that some sort of chemical reaction?" the colonel's voice indicated genuine confusion – as though he had never seen blond hair before.
Calvin was perplexed. "Uh,... no, I've pretty much always been blonde."
"Impossible! You must have done something!"
"Well, I don't know of any way to change one's hair color! Do you?"
Calvin took the colonel's growl to mean that he didn't.
"I mean, I suppose I could dip my head in a bucket of paint, but that seems a bit messy – not to mention, uncomfortable."
"That's enough." the colonel rumbled.
"Or I could stick my head in the sunlight and try to bleach it, but that would take an awfully long time and – "
"I said 'ENOUGH!'" the colonel swiped his hand through the air in front of Calvin. And as the hand swept by, a trail of flames was left in it's wake. It burned in front of Calvin, dancing sinisterly before vanishing into the air.
Calvin's eyes went wide as saucers on seeing this phenomenon. His jaw went slack and his mouth became a tiny, thin line.
The colonel continued. "I've had enough of your disrespectful attitude! If I hear one more mordacious comment out of you, you will be punished – severely."
"Oookey dokey." Calvin replied, his voice more high pitched than he would've liked.
"Now, if your inebriated mind can recall, this was found in your pocket – what is it?!"
Calvin looked at the object the military man brought out. It was a tiny metal ball – just slightly larger than a ping-pong ball. It was bisected with a thin, black horizontal line right down the middle. Just below the line was a small red light glowing dimly.
"I have no idea." Calvin said with complete honesty.
The colonel's scowl deepened, causing Calvin to feel an immediate panic attack. "No, no! I, I, I know you said no more snark, but I really, honestly have no idea what that thing is!... 'Fact, I don't even remember it being in my pocket!"
The colonel loomed in closer to him. "You are certain of this?"
"Absolutely." Calvin squeaked.
The colonel glared into his eyes, probing for the slightest trace of deception. Calvin sat there, wilting under the colonel's scornful gaze, sweating like a sinner in a church.
Calvin wasn't sure how long he could take the older man's staring – he felt like an ice sculpture before a blowtorch. Just when he was beginning to feel like would break down, the colonel grumbled a rough "Very well." He turned away from Calvin, adding "The lieutenant will escort you back to your cell."
Calvin wordlessly rose and went with the lieutenant, leaving the colonel by himself.
Seeing that the room was completely empty, the colonel thought aloud "Why don't I ever get invited to those parties?!"
Susie was a nervous wreck. All alone in her meager cell, with no idea as to the well being of her companions, She had nothing to do but lean against the wall and imagine what horrors lay in store for her. She had heard tales that involved soldiers who's carnal urges perpetually grew, and with no outlet to relieve themselves, they would act out on any target they could get. And here she was, a fifteen year old girl with no real combat experience in a military base full of soldiers, each easily twice her size and all of them fully armed.
Sleep brought little respite; her subconscious mind brought up eerie and disturbing images. At one point, she found herself on what looked like a game board of some sort. Beneath her feet was a grid of square tiles painted to resemble a map – or so it seemed. Moving about the board were several round tiles; some were painted red and had what looked like a flame etched into the top, some were green and had block-like edifices on top, and a few others were blue with a shape like a crescent moon and waves carved into them.
As she watched, the tiles made their moves across the board. The red tiles were the most aggressive, striking at the green and blue tiles mercilessly. And though the other tiles fought back, it was ultimately futile.
Susie watched, in horrified fascination, as the red tiles pressed on, decimating the other tiles wherever they went. At one moment, she looked up from the scene and gasped in fright – standing across from her was a cloaked personage, it's face unseen underneath it's hood. The figure stared with rapt attention; not at the tiles below, but at her!
The tiles continued their campaign; the red tiles ruthlessly pressing their advantage, while the green and blue tiles defending themselves valiantly, yet for naught. Soon, the green and blue tiles had all been conquered, with only the red tiles remaining. And then the scene and everything in it faded away – completely engulfed in blackness.
Susie looked about in bewilderment, then turned to see the cloaked phantasm directly in front of her. She looked up into the figure's hood, yet couldn't discern anything of a face – only two gleaming eyes that stared at her unblinkingly. The specter moved it's hand toward her and she jumped back in a fright. She looked at the figure with mistrust and fear in her eyes. Slowly, she backed away, wanting to put as much distance between herself and the phantom as she could. The apparition made no move to stop her, it only continued to gaze at her with those glistening, unnerving eyes.
Susie awoke in a cold sweat, shaking. For a time she sat with her back against the wall, her knees held to her chest – too afraid to fall asleep again.
She sat motionless until the sound of the cell door opening reverberated through the emptiness. Looking up, she saw a soldier standing in the door frame. He was speaking, but she still couldn't make heads or tails out of it. The soldier, seeing that he would get no response from her, other than blank stares, made a motion for her to come over. She rose, tentatively, and complied, though still wary of the intimidating figure.
The soldier led her through the compound to a room where another soldier was waiting. They seated her in a chair and began questioning her – at least, she assumed they were questioning her, since she had no idea what they were saying. She tried to communicate this to the interrogators; pointedly shrugging her shoulders, shaking her head and looking at them with confused expressions.
The interrogation seemed to drag on for hours, but eventually the soldiers seemed to agree that they weren't getting anywhere and took Susie back to her cell. And there she remained, with nothing to do but wait.
After a while – she had no clue how long it had been, the cell door opened again and she was made to follow her captors once again.
While she was being led along, wondering what they wanted this time, Susie saw something that lifted her spirits considerably. Another group of soldiers were marching toward them; and following behind them was Calvin with an irate Hobbes prowling beside him.
The two groups joined up and Susie fell into step alongside Calvin. "What's going on?" she asked.
"I think they're letting us go." Calvin replied.
"What? Why?"
Calvin shrugged. "I guess they can't come up with any really compelling reason to keep us."
They were brought out of the compound and the soldiers stood at attention. The displaced travelers waited for a moment; when the soldiers made no other moves, they turned and started walking. Just as they were leaving, one of the soldiers shouted something to them, Calvin then turned and called a reply. When he turned back around, Susie was giving him a strange look. "What?" he asked.
"Since when do you speak Japanese?!"
"... Since this morning, apparently." Calvin replied, nonchalantly, and pressed onward.
Susie made a quick dash to catch up with him. "What do you mean 'since this morning'?! People don't just spontaneously learn new languages!"
"Look, all I know is I dozed off and when I woke up, I could understand what they were saying."
Susie's expression was a mix of inquisitiveness and bewilderment.
"... Makes no sense to me either." Calvin stated, dully. He continued walking for a few paces before suddenly asking. "When you heard me talking to the soldier, what did it sound like?"
Susie thought for a second, then replied. "It sounded just like the way the soldiers talk."
"You couldn't decipher any of it?"
"No, none."
Calvin pondered this as the trio wandered on. "... Strange, it didn't seem like I was speaking a different language. 'Fact, when the the soldiers were speaking, it didn't seem like I was hearing a different language!"
"... Wow that's... this just keeps getting weirder." Susie mused.
"You don't know the half of it!" said Calvin. "The guy who interrogated me – the colonel – he shoots FIRE out of his hands!"
The small party came to an abrupt halt. Susie and Hobbes both looked at Calvin with flabbergasted expressions.
"... Calvin,... people don't shoot fire out of their hands – "
"And people don't spontaneously learn new languages over night!" Calvin countered. "Look, I know what I saw, it was right in front of my face! There's absolutely no chance that I mistook what I saw!"
"Alright, settle down." Susie said, in a placating tone. As they continued on their way, she turned back to Calvin. "So, you were interrogated?"
"Yep."
"So was I,... but... as you can imagine, it wasn't very... productive."
"I'll bet." Calvin remarked with a rueful smirk.
"So,... what did they; what did they want to know?"
"Oh, the usual stuff." Calvin made a flippant gesture. "Who we are, where we came from, why my hair's blonde – "
"Seriously?! He asked why your hair's blonde?!"
"Yeah I know, weird. Oh – " Calvin fished into his pocket and pulled out the strange object. "He also wanted to know what this is." he showed the device to his companions. Susie gaped at the metal sphere in astonishment while Hobbes gave it a curious sniff.
"Whoa... what is – "
"Let me save you the trouble." Calvin moaned, exasperatedly. "I have no idea what this doohickey is! I don't know what it does, where it came from or how it got in my pocket!"
"Oh." Susie breathed. "Um,... could I have a look at it?"
Calvin wordlessly tossed the thing to her. Susie turned the device over, looking at it from every angle. She tried rotating the two halves – though the parts turned, nothing happened. She tapped her finger on it, listening for anything that might give an indication of it's function. She pressed on various parts of the device, searching for any hidden buttons. Not one thing she did yielded any sort of change or reaction. "It uh,... doesn't seem to do anything." she said at length, tossing it back to Calvin.
"Probably the only reason they gave it back." the boy replied as he caught the object. He took one last look at the device, right into it's glowing blue light. "Huh," he mused "Coulda sworn that light was red earlier."
A set of blades suddenly popped out of the top of the device. "Whoa!" Calvin tossed the it up with a startled cry. But rather than fall to the ground, the device's blades started spinning at high velocity, causing the object to hover like a miniature helicopter. It floated in front of their faces for a moment, then steadily climbed into the sky. The trio could only gawk after the thing with wide eyes and slack jaws.
When the device got so high that they could no longer see it, their attention was brought back to the ground where tiny blue dot of light had appeared. As they watched, the dot grew into a widening circle that spread over the landscape. It traveled all across the surrounding area so far that they couldn't see it anymore.
Uncertain of what to make of this, the three travelers cast bewildered glances at each other.
After about five minutes it returned, now getting progressively smaller as it retraced it's path. Soon, it became a tiny blue dot once again, just before vanishing.
Calvin, Hobbes and Susie turned their gazes back to the sky to see the tiny device slowly descending. Tentatively, Calvin reached out his hand and the otherworldly machine came to rest on his palm. Having come to roost, the device's blades stopped spinning and folded over, becoming a seamless cover over it's upper half and the blue light turned back to red.
"... How profoundly odd." Calvin stated.
"What WAS that?!" Susie shrieked in near hysteria. "Calvin, that thing could be dangerous! We should get rid of it!"
Hobbes huffed, nodding fervently.
Calvin, however, was looking the device over, examining it methodically. "... Or it could be beneficial." he stated. "Thing is, we just don't know anything about it."
Susie gave Calvin one of her looks that said he was out of his mind. "You're not seriously going to keep it?"
"Aw c'mon, don't tell me you're afraid of a little light show!" Calvin challenged as he pocketed the machine again.
"A light show that may have given us radiation poisoning." Susie countered.
"Worry wart." Calvin snorted. "Besides, I get the feeling this little doodad's significant somehow – though I'm not sure in what way." he turned a look back toward his companions; Susie's expression hadn't changed and Hobbes, while still dubious, at least seemed to be mulling it over.
Calvin sighed. "Look, we'll hold onto it for now – see if we can figure out what it does. IF it proves to be dangerous, then we'll dispose of it!"
"Like if it explodes in you pants?" said Susie.
"Yeah, like that." Calvin cast a look toward the sky, gauging the sun's position. "C'mon guys, we're burnin' daylight." he turned and continued walking on.
They continued walking for an hour or so, before stopping to rest at the crest of a hill.
Susie seated herself on the ground, smiling as a cool breeze wiped away her perspiration. Calvin stretched and laid himself down on the grass while Hobbes sought the shade of a nearby tree.
"Y'know," Susie piped up after a few minutes. "We're gonna have to figure out some sort of shelter."
"Yeah." Calvin agreed, sitting up. "Not to mention food." At the sound of 'food', Calvin felt the nudge of Hobbes' paw on his shoulder. "Not now, Hobbes."
"Well, Hobbes is a predator, couldn't he catch something?" Susie asked.
Calvin blew through his pursed lips, dismissively. "Are you kidding? Hobbes' idea of hunting is looking through the pantry for a can of tuna!"
Hobbes nudged his shoulder again, adding a throaty rumble. "What? You know it is!" Calvin snapped, tartly.
"Alright, then do you know anything about trapping or anything?" asked Susie.
"'Fraid not. How 'bout you? Cut it out, Hobbes!"
Susie shrugged. "I have a rudimentary idea of edible plants."
Calvin frowned. "Well... I guess that'll have to do. Seriously Hobbes, STOP poking me!"
"Alright. Now what about shelter?"
"Well, it doesn't look like it'll rain." nudge. "But then, there's no telling how cold it gets at night." nudge. "We could try to find something to hide in." nudge, nudge. "Like a cave," nudge. "or a hollowed out tree." nudge
"And if we can't find anything?" Susie asked. "How good are you at building shelters?"
"Never had to, before." nudge.
"Do you think you could try?"
"I could try." nudge. "No guarantees it'll stay up, though." At this point, Hobbes raised his paw up high and brought it down hard right on top of Calvin's head. "OW! What the – Hobbes, what the HECK'S gotten into you?!"
Hobbes gave an irate snort and pointed his paw down toward the slope of the hill. The two humans clambered over to edge and looked out to where he was pointing. Down below, a short distance away from them, a small town was spread out in the midst of the landscape.
Calvin blinked as he took in the sight. "Or that. That'll work too."