There's suddenly much fuss made as someone enters, several people leave their seats and head to the entrance to greet this person. It is like a musivid star entering, except no screaming. Paul wonders who this person is and why they have attracted so much attention.
The man swings round and to Paul's surprise, he holds out his arms and says that he cannot believe that the legendary Sylvie is actually here. Paul recognises her face, as she approaches the man, he hugs her, then leads her into the cafeteria. There's a hush as he announces that he's delighted to say that they have Sylvie with them and that she was the main reason why they had been so successfully on the Keljesq 6 campaign. Without Sylvie they would not have stood a chance. He adds that with this lady aboard we cannot fail.
Paul feels kind of left out of things, he was feeling insignificant enough before this stranger appeared. Paul knew that Sylvie would have a secret past, after all she was a spy.
Sylvie suddenly announces, "Oh, Galdesar, I would like to introduce you to a very good friend of mine, Paul Glaceons. His uncle is Richard Glaceons, I believe you worked with him on the Deltar Sigma case?"
The man, tall, rugged and dressed entirely in black, apart from the distinctive dark blue stripes edged with gold, on his shoulders. Strolls straight past his many admirers and approaches Paul, right hand outstretched. As he approaches Paul, he mutters, any friend of Sylvie's has to be a friend of mine. I owe this woman so much gratitude, I cannot express my admiration of her abilities.
Paul nervously accepts the man's firm handshake. The man has such a presence, that earlier cultures would have described him as a god, or if not that, a king or Emperor. The man exuded power, control and ability to use what influence he has to the best effect. It certainly seems to be paying off with the people assembled in this room. The man's acceptance of Paul, seems to have had a strange effect upon the people around Paul, they all look at Paul as if he were someone of importance now, rather than that insignificant civilian who should be eyed with suspicion and mistrust. Paul marvels at how the very presence of one person can change the atmosphere in such a short space of time and with such a powerful effect. Even Sylvie, who normally just fades into the background as an unseen person, suddenly shines, as being of great importance, to be admired, to be feared, to be re-veered.
The engines can be heard firing up, the craft was obviously waiting for this Galdesar, to come aboard.
Paul leans towards Sylvie and remarks, "Your friends obviously missed the trip."
Sylvie nods towards Galdesar and says, "You kidding, Galdesar is one and his right hand woman Kell-ast-aj are the friends I was trying to get hold of." She turns to Galdesar and asks, "Too important to answer text messages these days?"
"From you Sylvie, never, we were running late and the idiot who brought us to the craft insisted I had no time to answer your text. Little did he know how important you are to me. But we were dependent upon him, to get us here safely, so I decided for once, to let him have his way. Sorry if you were disappointed in me." Answers Galdesar with a big grin on his face. Then he continues, "Could I ask why you and your friend here, are still dressed in civies? Only it makes this lot nervous." he nods in the direction of those around them.
Sylvie replies, "Sorry I didn't think there was any rush, but only too happy to oblige."
Paul is wondering why they have such a hangup about having others around not dressed the same as themselves. It seems somewhat extreme, but perhaps it is something to do with their training. If it is something to do with being able to spot enemies quickly, that makes no sense, as it would be easy for someone to either get hold of a uniform or fake one up and come amongst them. Paul could never figure the military mind.
Galdesar glances at his comms band and says, "We are operating on UTC now, I would like you Sylvie and you Paul to join me and my Leader Board team for a meal, by which time we will be in the depths of space and on our way. That OK with you Sylvie?"
Sylvie, without hesitation replies, "Just tell me, er.... us where and when."
Gadesar walks to the nearest screen on a wall, points to a part of the craft and says, "Here". Sylvie and Paul look closely at the place on the screen. Galdesar slides his finger to icons representing Sylvie and Paul. Their comms bands beep. Paul glances at his Comms band and sure enough there is a map showing the location of the room that Galdesar had pointed to.
Galdesar says, "Oh by the way, little rule regards comms with the outside, don't encode. Our system will take care of that, anything that you encode, will not be forwarded, just a precaution regards the enemy within."
Sylvie takes Paul by surprise as she laughs and asks, "What on R4 made you say that?"
"Glancing at the comms bands I suppose. Most hosts forget to mention such little, but important things." replies Galdesar, then continues, ""You know me stickler for details."
Sylvie smiles and replies, "Bragging again about your qualities and skills?"
There is a silence for a short while, then Sylvie says, "Well best get out of our civies. Oh stickler for detail, you didn't tell us the when bit."
"How right you are, see I knew it was a good idea to have you along for the ride, how about in two hours?" asks Galdesar.
"What do you mean? I arranged this trip, you just provided the transport." Sylvie pauses, for effect then continues, "And the charming company."
"That does not deserve a response, two hours and no fashionably late!" Galdesar turns and marches out of the cafeteria. It is almost as if the sun had suddenly set, as the room returns to its previous atmosphere. Sylvie nods in the direction of the doorway and says, "Lets get changed then Paul, you heard the master."
~~~~~~~~
Ed has the strangest feeling, that he is being observed. It is a very strong feeling, almost like the conviction of suddenly uncovering a camera surface and having the suspicion that you have been monitored for a while. Ed cannot see anything different out there, yet he just has this overwhelming feeling he is being watched, well more than watched.
Ed is aware that there is some conversation taking place about him, nothing that he can hear, strange really. Its almost like when Sylvie was around and he thought he heard her speak, yet she didn't. Only here, he doesn't understand the language as such, but gets the drift of what is meant by it. Whoever or whatever is conducting the exchange of ideas, seems to be concerned that Ed is aware, that's it aware. The other side of the exchange is offering some sort of explanation, but Ed does not understand what the explanation is, just that it is an explanation or potential one. The originator of the exchange expresses some concern that Ed's awareness state should be stopped. Ed wonders if that means they are planning to kill him or just put him back to sleep. The explaining part of the exchange seems to be pointing out that there are other such awarenesses. Ed wonders what it means here, does it mean states of awareness or people who have also reached the same or similar state of being awake that Ed has reached? Ah it is the latter.
If only Ed could find out why he and the others are being held here like this suspended in a sleep state. Are they just biding time, whilst their injuries heal? No can't be, Ed has no sense of being injured, although he can't guarantee that his senses are all active and operating properly. If only he could move and see his body. That's it, perhaps if he focused his eyes to the interior of the pod, he may be able to see a reflection of at least part of his body on the interior surface. Ed concentrates and to his surprise he can see his mouth, chin, neck, chest, shoulders and tops of his arms. He is naked! So he is suspended in liquid in a transparent pod and naked. Most weird.
They can read his mind, the exchange that just took place clearly showed that they understood Ed's sense of surprise at finding himself naked. There's a further exchange about the importance of returning Ed quickly to a state of sleep, no more than that, unawareness. They appear to be distressed at the fact of Ed's shock. They think he is suffering. Ed decides to try an experiment, t
o see if he can communicate with them, he concentrates on the question, 'why am I here, why do you want us unaware?' Over and over, he concentrates on the question. He is distracted slightly as he detects concern again that they think he is suffering. Then there is an exchange about his question and again attempt to find a solution to return Ed to a state of unawareness. His experiment worked! He can communicate with them. Ed wonders whether he should ask if he is injured, but decides against this as they may interpret it as Ed becoming even more distressed. Instead he decides to relax and then concentrate on the question, 'How did I and those around me, get here?' Again Ed repeatedly concentrates on the question, whilst keeping calm and unemotional.
After a short while there is another exchange. This time it is them that are panicked, as they realise that Ed is aware that he is not alone and that the pods around him represent fellow travellers. The exchange goes along the lines, that they have not observed any of the others being that aware. They are really spooked out by Ed's sense of awareness. Ed decides he will next concentrate on what has happened to their craft the Jasteritan.
Another exchange, along the lines of how do we explain this one.
Ah so at last they are aware that Ed is tapping into their conversation. They are considering replying to his question. Now he is making some progress.
~~~~~~~~
Chapter 29 - Common Ground
There is a lot of friendly banter going on between the people collected around the table. Galdesar is at the centre of it all, as can be expected. He stands as soon as he catches sight of Sylvie and Paul. The pair now look just like any of the other military personnel collected around the table, dressed in their supplied military uniforms. Paul felt strange and uncomfortable, it wasn't that the clothes themselves were uncomfortable, it was more the fact of appearing to be something that he was not. Yet the reaction of these military people was much calmer now, he was one of them. Strange how clothes can do this. Paul knew he just had to get used to wearing the clothes, it would be his normal wear for the rest of this journey. He consoled himself with the fact that whilst he was 'off duty' and in his own room he could go back to wearing his own clothes if he felt the need. Sylvie on the other hand didn't seem in the least disturbed at wearing the uniform or come to that mixing in with these military people.
Galdesar indicates that two chairs have been reserved for Paul and Sylvie, one beside himself and the other beside Kell-ast-aj. Sylvie takes the chair beside Galdesar. She looks concerned as Paul walks to the other chair. Sylvie can sense Paul's feeling of unease, telepathically she reassures him that everything will be alright and to treat these people as friends, they will warm to him, especially now he is one of them so to speak.
Paul smiles at Kell-ast-aj, then at Sylvie.
Galdesar taps the side of his glass with something, it lets out the classic ringing noise and a hush settles upon the room. Galdesar announces, "Could we have a toast to our guests, to welcome them amongst us?" There is a moments silence, as he waits for everyone to raise their glasses. Then he resumes, "To our welcome guests Sylvie and Paul, without whom this mission would not be taking place and also to a successful rescue of our friends and colleagues out there in the depths of space or some as yet unexplored dimension."
There are cheers, clinking of glasses and then Sylvie speaks, "May I and Paul also toast you as our hosts and co-conspirators on this mission and woe betide whoever or whatever is holding our friends and colleagues."
The cheer is twice as loud and more enthusiastic. Paul is most impressed at how Sylvie managed with so few words to bring them on side with her and Paul.
Everyone sits down and the chatter resumes. Paul decides to take Sylvie's advice and try to get along with these folks. He asks Kell-ast-aj, "So how long have you been working with Galdesar?"
She smiles and replies, "For many years now, I joined him as a lowly FF1, he was at the time the FF2 of our unit and even then showed promise of great things. He was impressed with my performance out in the field and recommended to our superiors that I be promoted, they agreed but I refused as I didn't want to leave his unit. So they promoted the pair of us. We have gone on from strength to strength ever since. An unbreakable team as Galdesar puts it. And you, how long have you been working with Sylvie?"
Paul tells her about their adventure several year back. Kell-ast-aj listens with great interest. Commenting that Paul and his brother had great courage to undertake such an adventure. Paul goes on to explain that Ed is one of those trapped in that anomaly that they seek.
Kell-ast-aj takes Paul by surprise as she says that she admires their courage to put their lives on the line to rescue others like this. This coming from a woman who's everyday life must consist of doing this sort of stuff time after time, day in day out?
There's a voice from the other side of Paul, the man says, "Sorry to interrupt, but I was also listening to you there, er, Paul isn't it?"
Paul nods. The man, although sitting down appeared to be quite tall, longish rugged face, dark hair and eyes to match, stern looking expression on his face, almost as if he were about to reprimand Paul for something. He continues, "I have to agree with Kell-ast-aj you and your brother have much courage, its almost a shame that you didn't chose our career path instead of your own, but it seems as if you are making best use of your abilities and talents in serving the beings of the universe your own way and like Kell-ast-aj, I have to admire what you do.
Paul has gone from feeling quite small and insignificant to feeling quite proud of his and his brother's achievements. He thinks he will get along well with these military types after all.
~~~~~~~~
Whilst no reply comes to his question, Ed is delighted when he becomes aware of some other thread of contribution entering the conversation, he does not know how he can tell the difference between the contributors or speakers, if that word can be used in the context of such a method of communication. The latest speaker announces that they are unable to find a cause for the increasing state of awareness amongst the entities. Ed is delighted to hear that others in these pods are waking up and fighting against whatever is keeping them in these things. The next question is why are they being kept here. Ed concentrates on the question, 'Why are you keeping me in this pod?'
After a short while the answer comes to Ed, 'for your survival and well being.'
Ed decides to take another tack on this and thinks over and over again, 'Why are we not in our craft, what happened to them?'
There is a longer delay on the reply to this one as there seems to be much debate as to whether they should answer this one or not. One of the speakers seems to be pushing the line that they may yet find an answer to restoring the state of unawareness. Whilst the other two seem to be of the opinion that things have degraded to the point that even if they do, they cannot guarantee maintaining it. In any case a longer term solution to this problem must be found. Ed gets the overwhelming feeling that he is getting somewhere on this. These, whatever they are, have a problem and it involves him and his fellow travellers. He needs to find out just why they have this storage problem in the first place. Perhaps the anomaly is a natural phenomenon that presents these folks with the problem that they have to take care of any travellers that fall foul of it and judging by the number of pods that Ed has seen, they seem to have a pretty big problem on their hands and what is more it is growing.
In an effort to seek the truth, Ed decides to ask the question, 'Do you have the problem of keeping us because of the thing that brought us here? Is it naturally occurring?' Ed finds it difficult to maintain an accurate repeat of such a long question and making sure it reads the same time after time, but he is pleasantly surprised that they appear to have understood his meaning. They are in shock at this latest question, the vote seems to be two to one in favour of not answering this one.... truthfully.
So they are proposing to lie? Don't they know he can read their thoughts? Probably
better than they can read his? Obviously not, as the debate continues. Ed wonders what he can throw into the mix, to stir things up even further. Then he comes up with an idea and thinks, 'If you are responsible for dragging our craft in here, our peoples, will find a way to come and get us and you will suffer for your crimes.'
This latest, causes a lot of debate as they try and assess what threat the travellers pose. Having created the controversy Ed seeks a way out of the situation. He decides in the end to ask the question, 'Can we help you to solve this problem and get our people back to their homes?'
This latest question causes as much exchange as the last, but the balance seems somewhat tipped this time around and is much more even in its sense of support in what Ed is proposing. The problem of storage of all these visitors is so obviously taking its toll upon these beings, that they are desperate to find a solution. Yet Ed gets the strong feeling that there seems to be some sort of ethic or belief that they could not bring themselves to kill off the travellers. The latter is very encouraging to Ed, it puts a strong point in Ed's favour regards some sort of negotiated settlement of the problem. Ed decides to pursue the line of trying to find out why their craft keep getting dragged into the anomaly. He decides to ask the straight question, 'If you don't want us here, why do you drag our craft here?'