~*~
”Here we are now walking through one of the Green corridors.” Some of them laughed, but not everyone. It had been a long day… Just a few hours ago some of them might have asked why an absolutely white corridor was called green, but by now most were too tired to ask. Undisturbed by the lack of interest from his students the guide continued answering the unspoken question.
”It sounds like a stupid name for a plain white corridor, I know,” he laughed lightly. ”But there is a reason for the name. You see here we control all the Environmental systems of the building.”
Everybody went ”oh” and then their faces went blank again. They continued their walk through the empty corridor…
”What’s that?”
Sarah’s eyes followed to where the finger had pointed, but then she looked back at the guide. For a minute she thought she had seen something draw over his face, was it fear, anger, irritation? She searched for a clue in his eyes, but now the mask was back and the guide smiled as broadly as ever.
”That, ”he laughed, but didn’t she hear a slight nervous tone in his voice when he continued? ”That’s nothing, absolutely nothing. Just a storage room, that’s all.”
The boy, who had asked, lowered his arm and the crowd followed the guide as he continued his walk.
Soon enough, they stopped again, the guide now pointing at a big computer screen, while talking with a loud voice.
Oh my, she really had to go… She remembered seeing a toilet sign just a few minutes ago.
Perhaps she should tell her teacher, but he was busy talking to the guide now and she didn’t want to disturb.
”Pst…Charlotte, I’ve really gotta go. Tell them to wait for me, OK?”
She didn’t wait for the reply…
Sarah looked in the mirror one last time and then walked out of the room.
The door with the ”ladies” sign shut behind her and she walked back to the big computer screen. Only now to discover that there were no guide, nor any students, in sight.
”Damn it,” she muttered. Charlotte hadn’t heard her. Her first instinct was to just follow the corridor, they couldn’t have one far, but then she got a wild idea; the mysterious door…
She couldn’t have been mistaken. The guide had acted strangely when Tom had asked about the so called ”storage room”.
Standing in front of the door, Sarah takes a deep breath.
”Well, here goes nothing.”
She presses down the door handle and surprise; it’s not locked.
She looks around one last time to make sure no one is coming down the corridor and then she slips through the door.
”What the…”
She had stepped into a new corridor, a perfect copy of the one she had just left.
”Incredible,” she muttered.
Everything was absolutely, totally white and there were neither furniture, nor any doors as far as the eye could see. Everything was so uncolourful that she almost had to touch the walls, while walking, just to know they were still there.
She went on walking until the solid mass of a wall forced her to stop. She looked around to see if there were any sidedoors she had missed, but she saw none. She had come to a dead end…
Any other girl with her mind still fully intact would have taken the hint and gone back as fast as she could, but not Sarah, oh no. To her a wall where there should not be any just implicated that she had to look harder to see the opening.
There had to be a secret door somewhere; the only question was how to open it.
She followed the white plates that made out the walls, with her hands. Now and then she stopped to press down one or two plates, but without results.
She was almost ready to give up, when she heard a silent ”click” and a cool wind coming from behind her.
She counted the plates to make sure she would remember where she had put her hands and then she turned and walked through the door that she had opened.
”Now, why am I not surprised?” she muttered, as she walked through the new corridor, which was, of course, totally white, too.
This time the corridor didn’t lead her to a dead end, but to something that had to be some kind of a storage room.
”So, this is your idea of ‘just a storage room’ hah?”
Well, the nervous guide would probably have peed in his pants, should he have known where she was now.
The smile, that had shown in her face when she had thought of the nervous guide, froze, as she heard the sound of steps coming her way. Immediately, without thinking, she crouched behind some boxes and tried to make herself as small as possible.
”Please don’t see me! Please don’t see me!”
She repeated the words over and over again, like a mantra.
”What do you think you’re doing.”
The voice was sharp and demanding, a typical voice for someone who had been in the military too long. Terrified, Sarah held her breath. Had someone discovered her?! She was just making ready to come out of her hiding place, when she heard a second voice.
”What does it look like I’m doing? I’m taking a break.” The second voice did not sound anything like the first one. It was low and feminine, even if it didn’t really seem to be coming from a woman.
”It looks like you’re lazy. That’s what it looks like.”
”Well Mr. General. I’m not one of your men who you can boss around with as you please and I haven’t had a break in five hours.”
”Hmpf…” The general didn’t sound pleased at all and Sarah almost laughed out loud in pure release. They had no idea she was there…
She couldn’t help herself; she just had to see what the two men who had spoken looked like. Slowly she moved one of the boxes, she had hid behind, a little to the left and then she held her breath. Had they noticed? But no, the two men that she could see now were still talking to each other and she had to try very hard to hear what they were saying.
”Any word about the transmit?”
”No, nothing. It may come tomorrow, today, in one week… We just don’t know. It would have been easier if we could just have one more scientist…”
”We’ve been through this before, Claus. This is high explosive stuff. Not even the President knows anything about it. We just can’t risk any leaks…”
”No I guess we can’t…
“Ah, well you’d better get on your break now, but I want you back in the radio-room in max half an hour. Understood?”
”Yes, sir!”
”All right then mister, carry on…”
”Sir, yes sir!”
The general watched as Claus walked away and so did Sarah. Then he turned around and went back to wherever he had come from.
She remained hidden a little while longer, just in case he would come back, but then her curiosity took over… What in the hell could they have been talking about?! She rose from her hiding place and sneaked in the direction from where Claus had come.
And found herself in a white corridor…
”Now why am I not surprised?” Sarah muttered as a new, solid and of course white wall stopped her. She tried to push the same spot on the wall as before, but with no results. She tried all the walls, and finally the last one did open.
Oops, she thought, just as the door opened. What if Claus had not been alone in the room…? The thought went through her mind at light-speed, but it was too late.
She took a deep breath as she gazed into the room and she could not hold back an astonished ”wow” when she walked in. It was like computer-heaven. Everywhere she looked there were monitors and computer-screens, blinking lamps and buttons.
Sarah felt a strange chill run though her veins. She must have lost her mind. Here she was, in a secret room, somewhere in a military-base. And she had just been listening to a mysterious and highly confidential conversation about some kind of a transmission, so secret that not even the President knew about it. She must be crazy.
Just as she had persuaded herself to go look for her classmates and forget everything about this ‘little’ incident, the lamps went off. And she found herself staring at one of the biggest screens; reading a message, she just couldn’t believe.
”This is worldgroup to worldnation. We have found the answers required for stage two.”
”Roger that worldgroup. Maintain radio-silence ‘til further notice.”
”Negative, worldnation. This is a code blue situation.”
”This is not a secure line. Repeat; this is not a secure line. Maintain radio-silence.”
”Negative worldnation, this is now a code red situation. I repeat; this is a code red situation.”
”Roger that worldgroup. We’re standing by…”
”All right, worldnation. This is our situation: The chameleons are on the move. Repeat; chameleons are on the move. Estimated arrival for bugs to queenseye 0.5 minutes and counting. This is our last transmit.”
”Copy that worldgroup. Let’s hear the numbers…”
……
”Numbers following… Accuracy 99, 8 %.”
”1.As predicted the chameleons do have a hiding-place up in the north. They’ve been there for generations (see Valkyrias). Probability 98.7 %.
2.Probability natives in on it: 98.0 %.
3.Probability nations in on it: 96.7 %
4.Probability chameleons hostile: 78.99 %”
…..
END TRANSMIT
Oh my, she was really in over her head this time. Sarah exhaled when she felt her lungs aching for fresh air. She had held her breath without noticing. Her eyes did not leave the big screen for a minute as the glowing letters slowly faded away.
”God, what a mess,” she muttered.
There was no doubt about it: she had just been witnessing the first real proof that they were not alone in the universe and that the aliens might be hostile and she could not tell anyone about it.
Hell, if someone had told her that there were aliens trying to conquer earth she would probably have called a mental hospital herself, thinking she was doing the poor bastard a favour.
Suddenly, she could hear voices coming from outside, in the corridor. Sarah looked around in panic, but there was no place to hide. She turned around just in time to see the door open…
In, came first the man she could recognise as Claus and just seconds behind him: the general. As soon as they saw her they both stopped, like they had been struck by lightning. She just stood there, passive. Waiting for one of them to make the first move. She was caught, now all she could do was behave and hope for the best.
”Who the hell are you and what the fuck are you doing here?!!!!”
She took a step back, shocked by the tone of the voice. This was not going to be easy.
“Eh, hm… I’m lost…?”
The general looked at her with disgust and then turned his eyes towards Claus.
“How could this happen?”
Claus tried to answer but the general silenced him with a gesture and continued:
“Never mind, but be sure that you’ll never take a break again, as long as I’m still alive and breathing.”
His eyes turned to Sarah again.
“Well miss nosy, you’ve just seen something that wasn’t meant for your eyes… What do you think we should do with you.” His smile was the smile of a beast ready to attack and his eyes were cold.
“ Well,” she laughed nervously. “I don’t know… Let me go?”
He laughed, a mean and evil laughter.
“Yeah, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
She tried to smile, but all she could manage was a scared grimace…
“I’m just a kid. I won’t tell anyone. Promise.” Boy was she desperate, that lame performance wouldn’t trick anyone, she thought with a self-deprecating smile.
Sarah was absolutely right, before she had even noticed what had happened, two big guards had entered the room and they were now holding both her arms in a firm grip.
“Now, my little friend we’re going to headquarters for a little chat, you and I.”
The general laughed again. That kind of laugh you would expect to hear in a bad horror-movie.
“Yes, we’ll have a nice talk… a real nice talk.”
Terrified, she looked at her captures. She didn’t have a chance…
Out in the public corridor, the guards let go of her arms, but one of them showed her his gun to assure her that any try to escape would be not just futile, but deadly too. Sarah gave up a deep sigh and started to massage her arms while thinking franticly: What to do? What to do?
They had almost reached the headquarters when they met a civilian tourist and Sarah got a brilliant idea. When the tourist was as close as two feet away, she started speaking with a loud voice:
“Thank you very much for showing me the way gentlemen. I’m sure I’ll manage on my own, now.”
Yes it worked; she had gotten the tourist’s attention now. It was time to put on the real performance.
“It was very nice of you to follow me all the way… Really, it was, but now I think I’ll just tag along with this gentleman over here.”
The general saw what was coming, but it was too late. The tourist, a young man about twenty-five years old had already turned around and was now watching her with interest. She could see the anger in her captor’s eyes and she smiled victoriously. She and the general both knew there was nothing he could do, not if he didn’t want to kill two civilians in a public place…
Slowly she walked towards the young tourist and took his arm.
“You’ll show me the way outa here, won’t you?”
The guy smiled embarrassed and she thought she was finally safe when he shocked her with his words:
“I’d really like to miss, but I’ve just arrived and I haven’t seen everything I wanted to see yet. But you’re welcome to join me. If you’d like…?”
She took a deep breath, a slight miscalculation, but one that could prove to be deadly. She couldn’t go with him. The general and his men would try to catch her first chance they got… She had to get out of there, right away. Ah, well. There was nothing she could do about her chances anymore. This was the only one she would get. Small as it was she had to take it. If she started running now, maybe she would be outside before her enemies were. She gave the tourist a quick smile and said:
“I’m sorry. I have to get home, but why don’t you ask these” she nodded toward her captivates “gentlemen to show you around. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind at all.”
Before either the general or the tourist had time to answer, she was already on the move. Running as fast as she could, following the exit-signs. Praying she would make it home alive.
She had almost reached the door marked exit when she heard running steps coming from behind.
Sarah looked around desperately to see if there were any sign of a civilian or anyone who might be able to help her, but the hall was all empty, the only people being the ones she did not want to face. There was no where left to run. She did not have a chance. Better surrender voluntarily than to be forced by violence. With a sigh she stopped and slowly turned around…
And everything went black…
~
“Sarah… Sarah dear, wake up!”
The soft, low voice enticed her back from the land of dreams and slowly she returned to consciousness. What had happened, had they shot her? She looked up, ready to meet the face of a doctor or a nurse, scared it would be something else, perhaps an alien.
But the eyes of the face she met were not the ones of the general or a monster. They were the eyes of someone she knew very well.
“Good morning, mom.”
She smiled…
“Well good morning to you too, sleepyhead. Are you gonna lie there all day? You’re going to the new military-base, you know.”
Sarah smiled and nodded….
……..
“What’s that?”
Sarah’s eyes followed to where the finger had pointed, but then she looked back to the guide. For a moment she thought she had seen something draw over his face…
“That’s just a storage room.”
Nah, it was probably nothing, she thought and they continued their walk through the absolutely white corridor…
The End.
