Free Music of the Spheres by Valmore Daniels Page A

vindictive brother-in-law. Even with his current mundane task, he flourished
at Quantum Resources. It was nice to see people in their element.
    George stood there looking back and forth between the two
new arrivals expectantly.
    “Maybe you should change,” Calbert suggested. “This might
take more than a few minutes.”
    Michael said, “Or we could all go to an early lunch.”
    ∞
    They went to a pub down on the corner to eat. While George
decimated a Reuben sandwich, washing it down with a frosted glass of beer,
Michael related what happened with Alex, and the request to find Yaxche.
    “I heard about the kidnapping,” George said. “He was a very
nice old man. I hope he’s all right.”
    Michael grimaced. “I’m sure he is. The Cruzados must believe
he knows something more about the scroll than what he told us.”
    Shaking his head, George said, “You don’t think he misled us
all this time? I only spoke with him a few times, but deception isn’t in his
nature. I don’t believe he’d lie.”
    “Neither do I, but maybe something just kept getting lost in
the translation. I believe we’ve reached a pivotal point in all this,” Michael
said. “Alex—and the rebels, obviously—think the scroll will provide the
breakthrough we’ve been looking for. I think so, too.”
    George wiped his fingers on a napkin. “All right. Sign me
up.”
    “You sure?” Michael asked.
    Glancing at Calbert, who nodded, George grinned like a kid
with a new robocycle. “You know, in a way, I always felt like I was one of the
pioneers, discovering the scroll in Yaxche’s possession. It pained me that no
one could figure it out. I’ve spent hours looking over the reports and studying
the simulations and recordings, but I would love to take a crack at this in
person.”
    Calbert finished tapping a few commands into his portable
holoslate and said, “All right. I’ve sent in the orders to head office, reinstating
Michael to active duty and informing them of your field assignment. You’re both
booked on a flight to Tegucigalpa.” He nodded at them and winked. “You’d better
get packed!”

12
    Canada Station Three
:
    Lagrange Point 4 :
    Earth Orbit :
    Alex sat at a
table by himself in the mess hall. He was alone in a crowd of adults. A few
familiar faces would nod and smile when he looked up, but no one invited him to
eat his meal with them.
    In a way, he couldn’t blame them. He was an anomaly.
History’s first and only interstellar traveler, Alex looked nothing like a
pioneer or a hero. He looked like a sickly boy, and most people shied away at
the sight of him.
    Picking at his plate of fries, Alex sighed and turned his
mind back to his memories. Since the night of his collapse, he hadn’t been able
to achieve that transcendent state again. It had been exhausting, and Alex had
felt extremely weak for several days afterward.
    But there was something out there that he needed to understand.
Some metaphysical connection had been made when he was quantized. Was it that
haunting voice? What did it want?
    Earlier that morning he had tried to message Michael to let
his friend know he was all right, but he only got the answering service saying
Michael was out of town, but would check his messages periodically.
    “Mind if I join you?” someone said, interrupting his
thoughts.
    Alex, surprised, looked up to see Kenny smiling at him.
    “Uh, yeah. Sure.”
    Kenny sat down and arranged his lunch on the table. It was
some kind of vegetable soup and a toasted sandwich.
    “Are you feeling any better?” Kenny asked as he broke some
salted crackers into bits and sprinkled them in his soup.
    “I guess.” Not knowing what motivated Kenny to sit with him,
Alex was reluctant to say much.
    “You gave everyone a pretty good scare.”
    “Did I?” Alex spoke in a dramatic voice. “That’s good.”
    Kenny stared at Alex for a moment and started to say
something, but Alex smiled to show he was being facetious.
    Using his spoon to dunk