Free The Lonely Whelk by Ariele Sieling Page B

– which is
pretty small related to most of the income of those we work with –
in one year than we make in an entire decade from taxes here in
Pomegranate City.”
    “ That’s incredible!” Kaia
was thrilled. All the science she had ever studied, all the math
that she had absorbed into her over-excitable brain, and all of the
most amazing surprises in the world could not have prepared her for
this room. Doors that led to hundreds of other planets, people from
thousands and tens of thousands of other cultures – babies, men and
women, animals, foods – so much to learn and see and…
    “ What is that?” she gasped,
slapping one hand over her mouth and pointing with the
other.
    John pulled her hand down and placed a
finger over his mouth. “Hush!” he exclaimed. “And don’t point. It’s
rude. His name is Deidrick and he is extremely kind – one of our
most influential ambassadors.”
    “ But... but...”
    The individual under scrutiny was none other
than a giant, snow-coloured, long-haired bear. In addition, he was
wearing boots and a hat, and walking on all fours – the boots were,
indeed, on all four of his… feet? Paws?
    “ He is beautiful,” Kaia
conceded, still staring. Then, as she watched, a group of blue men
wandered through a Door. At once, her eyes started picking up
irregularities of all sorts within the people mingling in the
crowd. One man was twice as tall as everyone else in the room. A
group of oddly-clad women were actually covered with fur. Two young
women in lab coats appeared to be talking to lizards, and the
blackest man she had ever seen suddenly vanished into a puff of
smoke. That elicited a mild reaction from the workers nearby, as
they rushed to cluster around an ashy circle on the floor. After a
moment, one of them reached down and picked up what appeared to be
a very, very tiny version of the man who had been standing there at
full size only a minute before.
    Kaia gasped. “Is that normal?” she
asked.
    John laughed. “Yes. It’s an effect we’re
studying. It only happens to his species, as far as we know. When
they come through a Door, they engage this sort of… phoenix effect.
You know what a Phoenix is?”
    “ It’s some kind of, um,
elephant, I think, on Earth that explodes when there’s a full moon.
And then a new elephant egg emerges from the ashes of the deceased
elephant. Some sort of… um, religious reincarnation theory, I
think.” Kaia clutched her notebook tightly to her chest. “Was that
close?”
    John laughed. “It’s a bird, not an elephant,
but you get the gist. So this species – they’re called Steekards –
they turn into ash when they go through a Door. It’s a really weird
phenomenon. Then they reappear, really tiny, but they never really
disappeared in the first place. They got really small instead. And
over the next twenty-four hours they expand back to their normal
size. It’s a pretty painful process, I gather, so they try not to
do it too much. But they really want to understand it and possibly
learn to combat it, so we’ve had quite a few volunteer test
subjects.”
    “ Is it like travel
sickness? Like, Door travel sickness?” Kaia asked.
    “ No, Door sickness is an
entirely different thing, and altogether unpleasant,” John replied.
He clapped his hands once and then gestured to a cluster of young
men and women in lab coats. “But before we go much farther, let me
introduce you to a few people that you’ll be working with.” He
turned to Clyde. “I think your tour is done. Head up to the main
security office. Rock will likely be there.”
    “ Yes, sir!” Clyde strode
confidently back towards the entrance.
    Kaia turned towards the group of students
John had just pointed out, and watched as he strode up behind them
and stuck his head between the shoulders of two working
students.
    “ Hi!” he said
cheerfully.
    “ Whoa!” one of the students
called out. “You have got to stop doing that, Mr. John!”
    John laughed. “No I