Free The Lonely Whelk by Ariele Sieling Page A

reason there is so much secrecy around
this room is that we don’t want people off and on different planets
without regulation. It’s a dangerous thing having these Doors
sitting here. Diseases, parasites, predators, airborne biological
contaminates, biological weapons, insane madmen, poisonous gases…
even weeds could cause huge issues for our planet. And not just our
planet, but all planets. It’s the ultimate opportunity for
cross-contamination.”
    “ You mean like famine,
drought, plague, dead people,” Clyde offered. “People mutating and
creating new species.”
    Kaia started. She had forgotten he was
there.
    “ Precisely. And clearly we
want none of those.” John began to stride forward. Desks lined the
walls of the room, and there were regular doors at even intervals
along the curved walls. “The regular doors lead to rooms with more
Doors, but they are specialized locations that need extra security.
Don’t go in those rooms.”
    A woman with glasses and her hair pulled
back in a tight bun strode up to them with an attitude of
impatience and focus. A scowl seemed to have taken up residence on
her face more or less permanently, according to the wrinkles around
her eyes. “John,” she stated bluntly. “Caverty is missing. Again.
We think he slipped through the Expialma Door and is hiding out
with that woman with the third arm. Unfortunately, she’s hiding
behind an army, which is currently fighting a war on either side of
our Door. So we can’t go and get him. He’s a liability. A missing
liability who might die. And if he doesn’t die there, he might not
survive here, once I get my hands on him.”
    “ Oh, blast,” John said,
shaking his head and tightening his tie. “That is why we can’t have
people buying their way into this profession. Get his dad on the
line, and write up a report for Drake and Tom. If anything changes,
let me know immediately.”
    Kaia’s eyes were wide as she listened to the
exchange.
    “ Isn’t that something Rock
should be informed of?” Clyde asked. “Doesn’t that represent a huge
threat to the building and our government?”
    “ This is not an unusual
thing,” John said, turning to face Clyde. “Employees become
overwhelmed with the immensity of their responsibilities, and
sometimes run off. As you can see, that is easy to do here. Caverty
was an employee for us a number of years ago, but we had to fire
him because he was having relations with, well, you heard, the
woman from Expialma. Caverty is a Ruthitan from the planet Planzge.
We like to have at least one of them on staff at all times, as they
are highly intelligent and have positive relations with many
different civilizations. Unfortunately, they have a particular
inclination to run away, looking for adventure or some nonsense.
Last time this happened, we revisited the policy, and this time
will probably push legislation change. If he takes action, he
becomes an immediate security liability and at that point we inform
Rock.”
    Clyde nodded, understanding. “I understand,
but it seems it might be valuable for security purposes to have the
information sooner, so we can plan in advance of this gentleman
taking action.”
    “ Kaia-kee, write that down
and I’ll bring it up with Rock.”
    “ This is incredible,” Kaia
said, pulling a notepad from her bag to scribble a note to remind
John about security detail later. “How many places do you have
access to from this room?”
    “ We can currently travel to
three-hundred-twenty-seven other planets, and have access to
another six which are dangerous or not recommended for various
reasons. That allows us access to billions of people, millions of
races, and thousands of civilizations. The statistics are
mind-boggling.” John was waving his hands in circles as he became
more and more excited. “Not only that, but we provide a means for a
lot of merchants to sell their wares to other civilizations, so
naturally we charge a toll. We make more off our toll