Chapter 5: Dreams.
"Open your eyes," said the Oracle.
Gabriel did so.
He was in back in her apartment, sitting opposite her in the kitchen. The soft sounds of classic Jazz gently drifted into the room, and the smell of browning cookies filled the air.
"So," she spoke, "what did you see?"
"The truth," said Gabriel. "Just like you said."
She smiled. "You saw everything?"
"No. But I saw something."
"Ah, yes. I expected as much."
He looked down. "Is that because I'm not the savior?"
The woman tapped her pack of cigarettes on the top of the table. "You're not as determined as he will be, perhaps. But I believe that both of you share a common path."
"I certainly do not."
She laughed. "Of course you don't. Each person makes their own path, right?"
He said nothing.
"All right, I've helped you enough. Chalice?"
The woman whom had shown him to the kitchen came in. "Yes, Oracle?"
"Take him back to the waiting room with the other Potentials."
Chalice grabbed Gabriel's shoulder.
"Oh," said the Oracle, almost forgetting. "You can open your eyes, now."
"But... I've already opened them," he said, confused.
"I mean for real."
So he did.
Gabriel suddenly found himself staring at a bunk above him. He and the other boys were sent to a converted artillery bunker to sleep for the night, but how he had actually gotten in the bed seemed a mystery to him.
"Feeling better?" asked what sounded like the voice of Pablo.
He looked across to the beds against the wall. It was him. "What happened to me?" asked Gabriel.
Pablo shrugged his left shoulder as he leaned against his pillow. "They said you passed out or something. It's probably because you don't eat."
The boy sat up. "I need to fast," he explained. "It helps clear my mind."
"Then I think you should do something besides starve yourself, man." Pablo reclined onto his back, crossing his fingers. "Like, read a book."
"Books do the exact opposite," he said. "They fill the mind with thoughts and ideas."
"I don't know about that, but--" His head turned toward him. "That 'Little Engine' book is inspiring. Y'know?"
"I don't need inspiration right now," said Gabriel as he stood from his bed.
He could see that the beds around him were about three bunks high, and there were about seven other beds in the room. Some were draped over with blankets, while other were obscured by large, non-functional armatures of an unknown design. A door stood perpendicular to his and the other's bed.
"Hey, where are you going!" said Pablo, watching Gabriel get up and leave.
"Please, keep your voice down." The boy quickly shuffled over to door. "I need to walk for a bit. Please don't tell anyone I'm gone -- I'll be back."
"Yeah," said Pablo. "When you black out again."
He stepped out onto the hall. It was much darker then he remembered; perhaps an unnoticeable tertiary lighting source had dimmed while he was unconscious. After a while of groping through the darkness, he came upon a vertical sliver of illumination that immediately caught his attention.
He heard a woman speaking. "How long has it been, since the incident?" she asked. "Four, maybe five months?"
Another woman spoke. "Four months, 28 days. I know, I'm crazy -- it's way too soon to start seeing new people." A sob escaped her throat. "But I've known Mauser longer than Dozer. I can't help but think that if I--"
"If you chose Mauser, you wouldn't sitting here like you are now?" she guessed. "Cas, you're tearing yourself apart thinking about this."
"But, Zee--!"
"Listen. Dozer was my very best friend, someone who was sensitive, caring and honest."
"He wasn't the best cook, though," said Cas, managing a small grin from behind the tears.
Zee gave a strained half-smile. "No, he wasn't. Don't think for a moment that he picked that up from me, though."
Gabriel leaned closer to the door, peering in. He could see Cas holding a doll, but wasn't able to make out the exact details of it.
"Why do you still carry that?" asked Zee.
"It reminds me of him," she said and held it up. Based on what Gabriel could now see, it did a look a bit like many of the crewmen he had seen. "Would you believe it? A little girl just threw this across the room and I -- I almost lost it." She handed it over to her. "Take this. I don't ever want to see it again."
"Okay," she said, squeezing it lightly. "So, what are you going to say to Mauser tomorrow?"
"Everything."
The doll nearly dropped from Zee's hands. "Everything?"
"Yes."
"What do you think he'll say when he hears that?"
"He'll say what he's always wanted to say -- from the moment we first laid eyes on each other." She looked to the copy of 'Butterfly' that Dozer once hand-made for her. "That he loves me as much as I love him."
The child backed away from the room, knowing he had just heard a conversation he wasn't privy to hear. Something gnawed at his gut, but it wasn't hunger. Stepping off into the walkway, he let the darkness wash over his eyes, blanketing his mind. For a second, he could swear his feet had left the ground.
Then he realized that they had. He was blacking out.
A moment later, he felt his body being lifted by two lean arms. He could sense that the carrier's legs were trembling, as if the person hadn't gotten the hang of using them just yet.
"Ungh!" the young man grunted. He brought Gabriel back to the sleeping space he had left earlier, and propped him against the wall. "Can you stand?"
Gabriel squinted through heavy lids. "I think so. Who are you?"
"That's not important now. I need you to go back to bed, before anyone sees us. Do you understand?"
He nodded.
"I hear they might let you try the training program in the morning. You wouldn't want to ruin that by getting caught outside your room during shutdown hours, would you?"
"No."
"Well... go on, then."
The child entered the room. Inside, Pablo sat on his bed with a troubled look on his face.
"I... I was right, wasn't I?"