Chapter 3. John learns and speculates.
When Bradley, Megan and their mentors disappeared, the Adventurous and John were left on the street alone. John felt uneasy for the first time since this morning. While he enjoyed the adventure of finding a transportation device to this place and getting here, it was totally wrong that he and his friends were separated. John expected that they would freely go around and would have a chance to have some fun, but it was not working quite the way he wanted it to. He turned to the Adventurous and expressed his frustration. But the Adventurous had a stone expression on his face.
John got impatient. He remembered that his pockets and schoolbag were full of money and he really could have some fun spending it. Not to mention a tasty lunch. He had not had anything since early morning. Not that he felt real hunger, which he was actually surprised about, but having a tasty meal would be a fun thing to do. For starters. Then they could go play around; maybe there were some Carnivals or something of the sort with rides, not that he actually saw anything on the way here… Anyhow, if the Adventurous was not proposing anything, it could be because his parents were stingy and did not give him any allowance. But it would not be a problem for John, only if the Adventurous proposed anything. After all, his name was “The Adventurous”, and in John’s mind it should have meant something.
“Let’s get going. Don’t you have a place to eat around here?” John suggested since the Adventurous apparently did not intend to disappear.
“Are you hungry?” the Adventurous asked, surprise in his voice.
“What did you think?” John responded, pretending that he was really hungry. “I have not eaten since breakfast! And it was a very long time ago.”
“Are you sure? You should not be hungry in this place. Maybe you are bored, and it only appears to you that you are hungry. That sometimes happens…” The Adventurous stumbled as if he was going to utter something he was not supposed to say. Then he moved on, “But I am pretty sure you won’t be bored for long. Only today.”
“Should not be hungry?” It was John’s turn to be surprised. “What do you mean? I have not eaten all day!”
The Adventurous explained patiently, “Well, even if you feel this way, you won’t anymore after a while. You’ll get used to it. There are a lot of things to do here, trust me. It is just the first day when things are hidden from you.”
John was so carried away by the conversation that he did not notice how they started to walk and where they were going. He wanted to get as much information from the Adventurous as he could. He asked inquisitively, looking straight at the Adventurous, “All right then. Tomorrow can we go on some rides?”
“It depends what you call ‘rides’,” the Adventurous responded elusively. “It is not impossible.”
“Perfect!” John exclaimed. “Can’t wait!”
They walked and walked, the conversation paused, so John looked around and realized that they have been walking for a while and he lost track of where he was relative to the place where his friends disappeared. “Where are we going?” he asked the Adventurous.
“I’m going to take you to the place where you will be living. An apartment, I believe you call it,” the Adventurous responded and stopped talking again.
John started to get bored with this really long walk. He tried to involve the Adventurous into more conversations about what other attractions they had there and what kind of aircraft they were going to learn to fly. But the Adventurous was silent. Then John started to think and imagine his own stuff. After all, he was in an adventure that nobody he knew had before. It was like a Huckleberry Finn kind of adventure: spend a few weeks with these Unknowns, learn to fly and change their money into dollars before going home. John speculated that mom and dad would not mind such a long absence if he came back with money. Provided he did not spend it all, which he was sure he wouldn’t.
Then he started thinking of scenarios how Bradley and Megan could have disappeared. His ideas included zero transportation or using some kind of invisible aircraft that was parked there on the sidewalk. John was not sure why the Adventurous did not do the same thing with him, but both models offered an explanation. For example, the Adventurous had not mastered zero transportation yet. He could possibly do it all by himself, but because he also had to carry John along, it did not work. If the others disappeared by means of an invisible vehicle, then it was possible that only two of these vehicles were available at that time and none were left for the Adventurous and John.
It started to get dark by the time they reached some place where the Adventurous finally entered a building and started walking upstairs. John was going to ask for food again but realized that he was still not hungry. However, he was getting really tired and would be ready for bed soon. He started to wonder what time it was.
“All right, we are here,” the Adventurous said, waving his hand at a door in a long corridor.
He opened the door and invited John to come in. John peeked inside and looked at the Adventurous with doubt on his face. It was just a small room with nothing in it but a bed near a wall. An apartment?! Besides, John was expecting that he would be re-united with his friends and was very disappointed.
“There is nobody in this room,” he told the Adventurous. “Are you sure it’s the right place?”
“Nobody told you would not be alone,” the Adventurous said and looked at John more sternly. “Now get in and don’t waste time. Tomorrow is a big day.”
“All right, I understand, but where are Bradley and Megan?” John insisted, making one step towards the door.
“They are not too far,” the Adventurous gave him a reluctant hint. “Anyway, I talked too much. The other two did not get as much information from their mentors as you did from me. In a way, this is not fair to them. Get in and wait for me tomorrow.”
“Fine. Good night,” John said and stepped into the room.
The Adventurous left without saying a word. The door behind him closed, and John was left wondering what the Adventurous meant by saying that Bradley and Megan were not too far away. He sat on his bed and turned towards the door. It was not there! “Yeah, great!” John murmured to himself. “The same games as in that house! Just making me wonder how they do it!” John slowly approached the wall where the door was just a short while ago and banged on it with all his might. Somebody banged right back.
John shouted, “Hey there! What’s going on? Adventurous, is that you?”
“Hi, John. It’s me, Bradley.”
John was very happy to hear that his friend was nearby. The Adventurous did not lie, after all, saying that his friends weren’t too far. What was not clear was whether Bradley was never locked up in a door-less room or he managed to escape from his room somehow, so John asked, “Bradley?.. What are you doing there? Did you escape? The door in my room disappeared”.
“No, I’ve been locked up in a room,” John heard Bradley reply. “I just got in. And my door disappeared also.”
John was intrigued by this phenomenon. When the Adventurous brought him to the room, they were standing in the middle of a long corridor, and now Bradley was saying that there was a room on the other side. “Was the door just where we stand right now?” John inquired.
“Exactly here, that’s right,” Bradley confirmed.
When he heard this, John even forgot the fact that they were trapped in these weird rooms, and the only thing he wanted was to find out how this worked. He shouted to Bradley, “Same with mine. Don’t you find it fascinating?!” But since Bradley did not respond, John figured that his friend was not so excited. Bradley was known as a rather practical person who would think about the CONSEQUENCES.
John remembered how he was once rescued from a complete fiasco because Bradley remembered about his chores and actually did them. They played in his house when John’s mom asked him to load the dishwasher to make sure they had clean dishes for dinner, but the boys were in the middle of a game, and John didn’t want to do it. Then he decided that he wo
uld make a robotic arm that would perform this task for him in a much quicker way. This arm would pivot on a ninety degree angle and grab plates from the sink, then release them into the racks of the dishwasher. One thing John did not estimate correctly was the amount of time this project would require. He also omitted the fact that he did not have enough knowledge to perform all the necessary calculations. While Bradley was trying to remind him that they were running out of time, John just waved his hand and continued with his idea. Then Bradley quietly sneaked out and loaded the dishwasher. Which was great because, needless to say, John was not ready with the robot that day or ever, to tell the truth.
But that was different. That was a routine thing and would be a routine discipline should the dishes not get washed. And while John was enjoying himself for now, he understood his friend’s concerns. True, it was not a given that they could leave any time they get tired of the Unknowns, with the way the situation was turning around. John felt like Bradley needed encouragement, so he shouted, “Come on, Bradley, cheer up. We are together, after all, and together we can solve all these mysteries. And find the way out,” he added, realizing that he forgot the most important part.
“Where is Megan?” he heard Bradley ask instead of giving John any positive feedback.
But John didn’t know. He hesitated with his response for some time. John knew how Bradley always held himself responsible for his sister and how painful it had to be to not know where she was. When they were much younger, a few of the neighborhood kids played hide-and-seek in John’s back yard. Megan once hid so well that they could not find her and moved on while Bradley kept looking. It took him quite a while because Megan actually fell asleep in the bushes, but he did not give up.
This memory gave John an idea and he said to Bradley, “I’m pretty sure we’ll find her. Just have to keep looking. Well, thinking first, then looking,” he corrected himself.
John took pride in his ability to generate ideas. People told him that some of them were good while others were not so good, the one with the robotic arm, for example, but John simply could not hold himself from taking on some crazy projects. Besides, it was a good idea with poor execution. The Chief of the Unknowns in that respect was right to assign him to a mentor who was called “The Adventurous”; John had more expectations of that guy and hoped that he would remedy the situation the next day.
Meanwhile, John desperately needed an idea. Luckily, he had one which appeared to be quite reasonable. He proposed to Bradley, “Go around the room and bang on all the walls. I’ll do the same thing. Maybe Megan is in the next room.”
John started going around the room, banging on all walls, but Megan was not responding. John returned back to his starting point and called out to Bradley. “Nobody,” he reported. “What about you?”
“The same,” said Bradley, sadness in his voice.
But John right away produced an explanation, “I know what’s going on. They put us into some kind of a boys’ dormitory, and they probably have a separate building for girls. Don’t worry. Tomorrow we all will be learning how to fly, and I’m pretty sure we’ll all meet at some point. I doubt they have too many runways in this place. It looked pretty boring to me, but the Adventurous promised that it’s just for the first day. Tomorrow we will be seeing lots of stuff.”
Since the rooms did not have anything interesting in them except what looked like comfortable beds, John felt like calling it a day. In his mind, it was important to get well rested for the next day, because pilots have to be alert. And if they didn’t see Megan, then they would have their wits about them to think of a way how to find her.
[back to top]