The Keeper. Part 1. An Invitation
‘Sir, everything in order, Sir,’ said one of them.
The general nodded.
Stuffed full of racks and containers, the hangar had all manner of vehicles parked along its edges, including, to Arthur’s surprise, several light tanks. A door clanged shut at the far end, and a small group hurried over.
‘Ah, Maria Nikolaevna. A pleasure to see you again,’ smiled the general to the lady dressed in a grey flight suit and cap. ‘Arthur, Maria is going to be your guide and assistant during your stay here. So, if you need anything at all, she’ll be the person to ask.’
‘Hello, Arthur, I am very glad to meet you,’ she said, shaking his hand.
‘And here beside her we have Dr Rubenstein, our head of development here at the facility. You will be working with him on all things concerning the box from this point onwards.’
The elderly, slightly blading man, who was wearing a white technician’s coat with its top pockets crammed full of coloured pens, held out a hand for him to shake. ‘Nice to meet you, young man. Tomorrow will be an exciting day, I’m sure.’
Smiling shyly, Arthur shot a glance at the girl standing behind them. Wearing jeans and a hooded sweater, she had long brown hair and was, he guessed, about his own age.
‘And finally,’ said the general, ‘I’d like to introduce you to my daughter, Sky.’
For an awkward moment the two of them stared at each other, neither one quite sure what to do next.
‘Hey!’ said the girl, the first to react, stretching out a hand.
‘Hi!’ he replied, shaking it.
‘I thought that while you’re here with us that it might be good for you to have someone your own age to talk to. My daughter lives with me at the facility, and I’m sure she gets tired of hanging around with old dogs like me all day.’
‘Oh, you’re not such a bad old dog, Papa.’
‘Yes, well, we wouldn’t want that becoming general knowledge now, would we?’ He winked. ‘So then, now that we’ve all been introduced, I will leave you both in Maria’s very capable hands and give you a chance to rest up before tomorrow. Dr Rubenstein, if you would be so kind as to accompany me, I have a few things which I need to go through with you.’
‘Certainly, General,’ replied the doctor.
‘Follow me, please,’ said Maria, and led Arthur and his father out of the hangar, through a security checkpoint, and into a brightly-lit warren of stairs and ultra-clean corridors. Technicians in white coats like the doctor had been wearing hurried to and fro, barely paying any attention to them.
‘Green is for Propulsion Systems,’ she said, noticing that they were staring at a coloured sign-board at the end of one of the corridors. ‘Red is for Astrophysics, blue is for Biomechanics, and so on. It’s confusing for everyone at first, so don’t worry too much if it feels a bit intimidating.’
‘Yes, it’s quite the labyrinth you have here,’ commented his father.
‘Oh, you have no idea. And this is only what you can see above ground.’
‘Is that right? I wonder what goes on down there then.’
‘I honestly couldn’t tell you,’ she said, smiling at him. ‘That information’s way above my pay grade.’
Taking them up several flights of stairs, she led them down a side corridor and stopped in front of a glass door. Pressing a key card against a sensor, it swished open to reveal a plain but cosy looking entrance hall.
‘Arthur, this is going to be your room over here,’ she said, indicating one of three closed doors. ‘And Craig, your’s is that one there.’ Opening a third set of doors, she stepped aside to allow them to get a look inside. Consisting of a kitchen and table at one end, and sofa, TV, and soft chairs at the other, it was a simple but comfortable living area. ‘As you can see, pretty much everything you could need, so make yourself at home and feel free to help yourself if you get hungry. Provisions have already been prepared for your arrival, and you’ll find them in the refrigerator… Also, there’s a telephone you can use, as your mobile phones, if you have them, won’t work here. Just press the red button on it if you need to get in contact with me for any reason.’
‘Red button,’ repeated his father. ‘Got it.’
‘Now, I hope you’ll understand that, given the nature of this facility, you will not be permitted to leave these rooms without an escort. I apologise if that sounds a little draconian but it’s for your own safety as much as anything.’
And telling them that she would return at 9am the following morning, she wished them a good evening and left.
‘Right, well, here we are then,’ said his father after the door had shut behind her. ‘Why don’t we go and get ourselves sorted out and then meet in that living area in a bit? I don’t know about you, but I’m getting kind of hungry.’
Agreeing, Arthur opened the door to his room. Small and lightly furnished, it had a built-in wardrobe on one side and a double bed and side tables on the other. A window at the far end looked out directly onto a concrete wall opposite. Dropping his pack on the floor, he flopped heavily on to the bed.
‘Ouch! Hey – watch it, will you! I’m not a sack of flower, you know.’
‘Oh my God, sorry,’ he replied, rolling over and unfastening the top of it to let the cat out.
‘Go on, admit it, you forgot I was in there, didn’t you?’ meowed the cat, jumping out and stretching himself.
‘Well no, not really. Anyway, I said I was sorry, what more do you wa… ‘Woah! Cat—we’re back!’ he cried. ‘We can talk!… And it has to be because we’re close to the box again, doesn’t it? What do you think?’
‘What do I think!? I think that first thing tomorrow morning you need to get yourself over to wherever it is that they’re keeping it, and offer to buy it off of them! And don’t take no for an answer, either! It can’t cost much – it’s only small. And if they ask why you want it, you’ll just have to explain to them that you’re not very useful without it.’
‘Me? Nice one, Cat. But I seriously doubt that the box is for sale. There’s no way they’ve gone to all this trouble to simply let us take it away again. Ah! Which reminds me, you’re going to need to remember to stay out of sight from now on. No one knows you’re here, and we should probably keep it that way. I can’t imagine what they’ll do if they discover I brought you with me.’
The cat, who’d just started cleaning a paw, glanced up at him.
‘So, why did you bring me?’
‘What do you mean, “why did I bring you?” I told you. It was a feeling, like you needed to be here.’
‘What do you mean you told me?’
‘When we were in my room. When we were all about to leave. I told you that you needed to come, too.’
‘And what, you thought that I somehow magically understood you?
‘Well, I don’t know – yeah, I guess. Why’d you get into my backpack, then, if you didn’t?’
‘Because I saw you were going somewhere with that general and wanted in on the action.’
Arthur gazed at him and then shrugged.
‘Fair enough, I suppose,’ he said, getting up. ‘Well, now you’re in on it, just stay quiet and hidden, ok?’
‘So, first impressions of the T8 facility?’ said his father, as Arthur joined him in the living area. He had just finished warming up the rice and fish that had been left for them, in the microwave. ‘Mmm, yum… tastes pretty good actually. Here, this one’s yours.’
Taking the plate he was offered, Arthur sat down at the little square table, which his father had already laid.
‘I don’t know. Pretty cool, I guess. It’s much bigger than I thought it would be.’
‘You can say that again. Did you get a look at those towers on our way in? I reckon they must be where they assemble rockets and such like. You know, ever since I was your age, I’ve always wanted to see a real space rocket.’
‘Do you reckon they’ll let us see one?’
‘Maybe. Who knows. I don’t see why not. Anyway, no harm in asking, is there? It’s the least they can do, all things considered.’
7
The Experiment
‘Hey, come on, rise and shine already!’ meowed the cat. ‘You don’t seriously think that you can hide under those sheets forever, do you?’
‘Ugh… I do actually… Now go away.’
‘Nope, not gonna happen. Come on, up, up, up.’
Arthur groaned and opened his eyes.
‘That’s it, a bit more… Almost there…’
‘Cat, zip it, huh? It’s way too early.’
‘Fine, but first let’s see how well you can sleep when you’re starving, now c’mon, look lively.’
‘Oh blast! I forgot to pack your biscuits, didn’t I?’
‘You did indeed! Lucky for you though, us cats are extremely versatile in these sorts of situations. So, if you could be so kind as to tot off to the kitchen and bring me back something tasty, I’d be ever so much obliged.’
‘Tasty?’ repeated Arthur, sitting up. ‘Like what?’
‘I don’t know. Like anything really. Well actually, anything except sausages.’
‘Sausages?’
‘Yep. Terrible things, sausages.’
‘Really? When have you ever been given them to eat?’
‘Well, never. But as none of you are any good at clearing away after yourselves, you’d be amazed at what I’ve tried over the years.’
Arthur grinned. It made sense when he put it that way.
‘Alright, fine, I’ll try and find you something,’ he said, dressing and heading towards the door.
‘And don’t forget to make sure it tastes good!’ the cat meowed after him.
‘Yeah, you said that already. And it shouldn’t look like a sausage—I know.’
‘Or taste like one!’
‘Morning,’ said his father, who happened to be standing right outside at the very moment he’d opened the door, making him jump. ‘What’s all this about sausages, then?’
‘Sausages? Oh, nothing,’ Arthur replied, feeling his face burning. ‘I was just, um, wondering if there’d be some for breakfast, that’s all.’
‘Were you indeed? And do you often talk to yourself about things?’
‘Me? No… Well, I don’t know, sometimes I guess…’
‘Is that a fact?’ He grinned. ‘Well, don’t tell your mother I said so, but I imagine that you get that from her.’
There were no sausages that morning. Breakfast was a much simpler choice of yoghurt, muesli and bread with cheese. Arthur, though, couldn’t bring himself to eat any of it. Constantly glancing up at the clock above the door, he was already far too nervous. Thoughts like: What if I can’t open it for some reason? What if it is all just a big waste of time? had begun to flood him with doubts. And unable to take his mind off them, he’d even ended up completely forgetting to fetch something for the cat. The cat, in turn, had threatened to start meowing at the top of his voice unless Arthur went back again and did exactly as he’d promised.
‘See, no sausages!’ said Arthur, returning and placing two bowls under his bed. ‘Now, don’t forget to hide in the pack if you hear someone coming, okay? And wish me luck! That lady’ll be here any second now.’
‘Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever,’ purred the cat, getting stuck into a bowl full of yoghurt.
Maria arrived, as she said she would, at nine o’clock on the dot, and escorted them through a series of walkways to a lab on the far side of the facility. Stuffed full of cameras and different arrays of equipment, the sense of excitement was palpable as they entered.
‘Good morning, good morning,’ said Dr Rubenstein, hurrying out of a side room to greet them. ‘And how are we all this fine morning? I trust that you both slept well. We’re just about ready for you, I think.’
‘Definitely a bit jet-lagged this morning,’ said his father, who was still nursing a large mug of coffee which he’d brought over with him.
‘Ah yes, of course. Plenty more of the black stuff in that room over there if you need it,’ said the doctor, indicating the room he’d just come out of. ‘Now, Arthur, as we’ve still got a few minutes before kick-off, why don’t I tell you what all of this is for?’ he continued, pulling a handkerchief from his pen pocket and mopping his brow. ‘So then, these sensor banks that you can see at intervals around the room, and all of those cameras which have been set up with them, are going to record not only what we’ll be able to see with the naked eye but also everything our eyes simply won’t be able to register. That data will then be processed by those big computer racks and sent for analysis in the control room on the other side of these glass panels over here.’
He pointed in the direction of a mirrored wall.
‘And how are you feeling in yourself? A little nervous? There’s really no need to be, you know. Just take your time and repeat whatever it was that you did to open the box in the first place. How does that sound?’
Arthur nodded. He wasn’t just feeling nervous – he was feeling completely nauseous.
‘Good morning, all,’ said the general, coming up behind them. ‘Everything set, Doctor?’
‘I believe so.’
‘Excellent, let’s begin then, shall we?’ And taking the box out of his pocket, he handed it to Arthur.
‘Right, two minutes please, everyone,’ announced the doctor, guiding him over to the square concrete platform in the middle of the room. Empty, except for a single chair in the centre. Arthur sat down on it and waited nervously.
Such a lot of trouble, he thought, turning the box over in his hands and gazing up at the mass of cameras pointing down at him from rails mounted to the ceiling. And all I’m supposed to do is say ‘open’ three times. Unbelievable!
‘Ok, Arthur, we are going to dim the main lights now,’ came a voice once the room had cleared.
Nodding, Arthur took a deep breath.
‘Ready when you are,’ said the voice.
Dark, except for a soft light above him gently illuminating the platform, Arthur cleared his throat and held the box up into the air.
‘Open. Open. Open,’ he said clearly and evenly.
Expecting it to suddenly leap out of his hands, he watched in horror as it tumbled on to the floor in front of him. Oh no! Why didn’t it shoot up into the air like last time!?
Picking it up, he glanced over at the glass wall, fully expecting to see someone come out of it. But there was only silence. And catching his reflection in the glass, he tried to recall what he’d done that day at the cottage. Where was I? I was in the attic. What was I doing? I was sitting on the floor. What did I do? I held up the box and said ‘open’ three times.
Sure that the only real difference was that he was sitting on a chair, he slipped off it and sat cross legged on the floor. He raised the box up again.
‘Open! Open! Open!’ he said, this time in an even more commanding voice.
A crushing silence fell upon the room.
‘I’m sorry. I don’t understand what’s happened, but I can’t make it open,’ he said.
‘Are you sure you remember everything that you did the first time?’ came the voice.
‘Yes,’ replied Arthur.
‘Are you definitely sure?’
‘Yes, I’m sure,’ he said, already feeling foolish.
The lights flickered back on, and the doctor emerged with his father and the General. There was no hiding the troubled expressions on each of their faces.
‘Okay, now let’s think, shall we,’ said the doctor. ‘Where were you when you opened it, what was around you, what you were doing, and so on?’
Arthur ran his hands slowly through his hair.
‘I…um… I was at the cottage, upstairs in the attic. The room doesn’t have anything special in it—a bed, a cupboard, a few windows, Aunty M’s painting stuff… I was sitting on the floor, and I said the word “open” three times, and it opened.’
‘And that’s all?’ asked the general.
‘Yes.’
The doctor and the general glanced at each other.
‘Doctor?’ prompted the general.
‘I mean, I suppose we could try to move this experiment to a higher floor—to a room with a window, for example. But I struggle to believe that it could be significant. You remember what happened that night on the train,’ said the doctor, mopping his brow again.
The general nodded and shook his head.
‘Wait!’ said Arthur, ‘I… um… I know this might sound strange, but my cat was also there with me at the time.’
‘Your cat?’ repeated the general, aghast.
‘Yes, he was there when it opened.’
‘Doctor?’ Please don’t tell me that a cat could be the reason why this isn’t working?’
The doctor stared at him thoughtfully. ‘Well, I suppose that it could be possible,’ he said at length. ‘Given everything we know, there’s no reason why it might not be the case.’
‘But Doctor, a cat!?’
‘I am well aware of how it sounds, General. But please don’t forget that the boy is the only person to have successfully opened the box without destroying everything around him.’
‘So, and what now? We’re going to have to send a jet to pick up a cat?’ he barked. The general’s usually amiable face had become contorted with frustration.
‘I believe so. Unless you have a better idea.’
Cursing, the general turned to go.
‘Wait… I… Actually, I brought him with me,’ said Arthur.
‘What, really?’ asked his father, looking astonished. ‘How is it that I didn’t know anything about this?’
‘Well, I um, had him in my backpack.’
‘You never!’ He laughed. ‘So, that whole not wanting to put it in the car boot and then your appearing again in the kitchen this morning two minutes after you’d just left was because of the cat?’
‘Yes.’
The general stared at them both in stony silence. ‘Go and get the animal!’ he instructed the doctor.
‘I can go,’ offered Arthur.
‘No, you’ll stay here. I am sure at the very least, the doctor can manage to get this right!’
‘Stay here, please,’ said the doctor, looking extremely put out by what the general had just said.
‘You know, I’m curious. What made you want to bring the cat?’ asked his father, when the general had become distracted by a colleague.
‘I’m not really sure. It was kind of a feeling that he needed to be here too…’
‘A feeling. Wow. You realise how strange that sounds, don’t you?’
‘I guess.’ And for a moment, Arthur wondered if it might not also be a good time to reveal that he and the cat were able to talk to each other.
‘Something on your mind?’ asked his father, raising an eyebrow expectantly.
‘Um, no, no, everything’s fine,’ he replied, changing his mind.
The doctor returned about forty-five minutes later holding the cursing, wriggling cat tightly under one arm.
‘Let go of me, you big elephant! You’re holding me too tight! Where are we going? Where’s Arthur? What’s this place? I don’t like it. You smell funny!’
Handing him over as quickly as he could, the doctor took out a tissue and began to wipe the bloody scratches on his hands.
‘I was manhandled, I tell you! No pleasantries—they just came in and grabbed me as if I were a common mouse or something!’
‘Cat, calm down,’ whispered Arthur, putting him down and then picking him up.
‘Oh, no, don’t you start!’
The cat wasn’t used to being picked up by anyone.
‘Shh, listen. It’s going to be hard for me to talk to you here. I can hear you fine, so I’ll nod or shake my head if you ask me a yes or no question, but if you want to talk more, then I’ll have to pick you up like this. Do you understand?’
‘Yes, yes, now put me down… No, wait! What are we doing here?’
And after filling him in on what had happened, Arthur placed the cat onto the chair.
‘So, go on, tell me, they think I’m like your lucky charm don’t they?’ he purred.
‘Lucky charm? You didn’t really just call yourself that, did you?’
‘Sure. How else do you explain my needing me to be here?’
‘Honestly, Cat, the things you come out with.’
‘Arthur, are we ready to do this again?’ asked the voice across the tannoy system.
‘Yes.’ He nodded.
‘Okay, everyone, clear the room, please. Dimming the lights now.’
Having already decided to sit on the floor again, Arthur cupped the box in both hands and slowly raised it into the air.
‘Arthur?’ said the voice, after he appeared to just be staring at it.
‘What? Yes, sorry, I’m ready,’ he replied. ‘Open! Open! Open!’
This time, the box flew straight out of his hands and froze several metres above him. Snapping open, just like it had done at the cottage, it filled the room with light before plunging it into darkness seconds later.
‘Yes! We did it,’ he cried, turning to congratulate the cat. ‘Hey! What are you doing over there?’
He could just make out a pair of ears poking over the edge of the platform.
‘What do you mean what am I doing over here? Honestly, I would have thought that it was obvious. I was finding a better place to study the map.’
‘Yeh, right, sure you were.’ He grinned.
‘Listen, buster, you can grin as much as you like, but as of this exact moment, I’ve just officially become a lucky charm, hero, eighth wonder of the world. Feel free to pick any or all of the above, because whatever you think, that box ain’t gonna open without me!’
Arthur rolled his eyes.
‘You’re definitely a wonder, Cat. But don’t you think that it’s really weird that it only opens if we’re together?’
‘Not really.’
‘Why not really?’
‘Because you could only talk to me, and I could talk to you and the fish. So…’
‘So?’
‘So, I’m obviously like a golden key or something.’
‘A golden key?’
‘Yep, cross my whiskers and hope to die, stick a mouse tail in my eye.’
‘But it still doesn’t explain why it only opens if we’re both here.’
‘Sure, it does.’
‘It doesn’t.’
‘Yeah, it does.’
‘Cat, it doesn’t!’
‘Suit yourself! But it does.’
‘Aaah! Well done, my boy!’ beamed the doctor, the first to emerge from the glass wall. ‘You did it!’
‘Thank you,’ said Arthur, handing the box back to him. ‘Doctor, what it shows, it’s a map isn’t it? To get to those planets with the writing next to them?’
‘We believe so, my boy, we certainly believe so.’
‘But what I don’t understand then is that even if it is a map, it’s never going to be possible to get there, is it? I mean, I read that we don’t have the technology for space travel, and that even if we did, it’d still take lifetimes to be able to get anywhere.’
The doctor smiled at him approvingly. ‘This is of course an excellent and valid question and one which deserves a serious answer. But just not at this moment, if you please,’ he replied, hearing the general coming over and turning to shake his hand.
‘Good job,’ said the general, shaking Arthur’s next.
‘Thank you.’
‘Hey! Look at you, lapping up all the glory. I haven’t heard my name being mentioned once yet,’ came a disgruntled meow.
‘Cat! Shh,’ Arthur hissed.
‘’Everything OK?’ asked the general, noticing.
‘Yes, I think he might be hungry. He always starts to moan when he’s hungry.’
8
The Arrowhead
‘Ah, Sky,’ the general called out, seeing his daughter standing by the door and waving for her to come and join them.
‘I think Arthur deserves a little break, so why don’t you show him around a bit, and perhaps include the courtyard too, if the weather’s nice enough. I’m afraid to say I don’t know what it’s doing outside today. In the meantime, we’ve got a few matters which we need his father to assist us with. We’ll come and join you once we’re done.’
Catching Arthur looking at him, his father smiled.
‘Go on, I’ll catch up with you in a bit,’ he said.
Wondering what they could be needing his dad for, and having made sure that it’d be OK for the cat to could go with them, Arthur followed Sky out of the lab.
Despite the fact that much of the facility was out of bounds even for Sky, one of the areas which wasn’t was a tower complex similar to the ones which he and his father had been wondering about the previous evening. Not only that, but just as they thought might be the case, Arthur entered to discover that a rocket really was in the process of being built inside it.
‘Looks like a giant oil drum if you ask me,’ commented the cat when Sky got called away to take a phone call.
‘Ha ha.Very funny.’
‘I’m serious. You humans are mad trying to go into space in one of those things. You know, right, that there’s a reason why no other species on this planet have ever tried to build something like this?’
‘Well, yeah, because none of them are smart enough and only humans have fingers.’
‘Wrong! Because none of them ever thought it reasonable to want to strap themselves into soda cans full of highly explosive fuel.’