Baby crawled across the vinyl-topped shelf, tiny face contorted in
dismay at the chill that penetrated even the thick pink mittens and
matching leggings mother had so painstakingly picked out. Discordant
voices clamored from behind, father's guffaw a low bass that echoed
hollowly in the semi-open space; mother's voice light and breezy, a
little off-key from nervousness, reassuring nonetheless. Several others
figured in prominences of greater or lesser importance amongst her dim
recollections of past hugs, kisses and nose-to-nose cooings. It all
added up to a meaningless din for her nine-month-old brain. Memories of
cozy warmth in mother's arms almost made baby turn around, but the
mysterious sights beyond the open balcony beckoned irresistibly.
Besides, she had just woken up from her afternoon nap.
One pudgy hand lifted up from the smooth shelf-top and came down a
finger's length forward on--nothing. Frowning, she probed the curiously
absent surface with her fingers.
Nothing again.
Determined to solve this perplexing mystery, she applied the full
potency of her present intellect to the task, craning her neck over the
edge until she perceived the hazy mass of softly glowing lights far
below. For half a minute, she stared at these lights and then promptly
lost interest. She started to turn, twisting her chubby hips until her
hands and padded elbows were safely back on solid plastic. For an
instant, both feet dangled above the precipice, threatening to
overbalance her body, but the instant passed.
Seeing her parents, she gurgled happily.
She heard a cluck of distress, mother's mouth opened to form a horrified
oval and father, muttering harshly under his breath, jabbed a finger at
something.
The shelf tipped over.
Baby squirmed and tumbled into the void.
The wind whipped at her jacket, tore the static-tightened hood from her
head. Her tiny heart sped up at this unexpected turn of events. Hands
and legs flailed until her body angled downwards, head raised to regard
the bottom towards which she was rapidly plummeting. Pale blue eyes
widened at the spectacle of the lights she had previously noticed.
Arranged in a pattern of many overlapping circles, the innumerable
specks of different colors revolved around a central axis of shifting
shadows. At first, she tried to follow one particularly pleasing shade
of mauve with her eyes, but the particles of dust in the onrushing air
made them water. She rubbed at them with the edge of a sleeve. Dreary
gray walls, punctuated at regular intervals by bubble-like protuberances
similar to the one that had ejected her, rushed past too quickly to
offer much in the way of distraction.
And the bottom was still such a long way off.
Bored, images surfaced in her mind unbidden. The buffeting air
reinforced vague impressions of being thrust from warm dark liquid to
cold bright light. Memories of caressing hands swaddling her in thick
fabrics stood out vividly, but what she really longed for were the long
periods of blessed sleep. She recalled brief forays from the stark
lighting of inside to the perpetual cool dimness of outside. She thought
of the view of vast open blackness beyond the overarching girders of
their dome.
Most of all, she remembered mother's gentle touch and soothing tones.
She was beginning to miss mother terribly.
Her fickle attention returned to the present.
She had been falling for so long that she had almost forgotten it and so
gave a slight start of surprise at the walls that zipped past unchecked
and the rushing air that droned ceaselessly in her ears. She looked
down. The bottom was perceptibly closer now though still far away. The
central core was no longer so obscure as before. Tiny flashes of
electric blue brought into focus moving shapes within. Even as she
stared, some of the dots zigzagged in and out of the cavernous opening,
like motes of dust flitting about with minds of their own.
Before her eyes, one of these detached itself from a swirling cloud of
its fellows and ascended toward baby with impossible swiftness,
resolving at last into a thing of gleaming mirrors twisted into the
shape of a boy. The being settled not ten paces from her, gleaming hands
poised on polished hips, falling effortlessly at the same rate as baby
herself.
Oversized goggles leaned forward to examine her with unmistakable
curiosity. Entranced by the attention, baby, eyes sparkling, giggled and
announced the universal greeting.
"Goo-goo," she said.
"Cute. You're a pretty baby now, ain't ya?" asked the boy, curling the
pale pink lips beneath the goggles. Mocking laughter burst out around
the two of them. Baby looked frantically around but saw no one else in
the vicinity. They were still falling at a furious rate.
"How would ya like to have some fun with us, then eh?" The question
elicited more giggles, though somewhat nervous-sounding ones this time,
from the thin air, and the boy reached out a black-leather gloved hand
towards baby's shoulder.
A shiny blue ball about half a foot across dropped next to them
seemingly from above.
"Watch it, punk," it said in a metallic voice. Both of them watched,
baby in open-mouthed delight and the boy in rising panic, as the sphere
slowly extruded a plethora of nasty-looking spines and needles pointed
straight towards him.
The boy's mouth worked noiselessly for a second, then sputtered,
"Copper!" He flicked a switch at his waist and darted away far swifter
than he had arrived.
The floating ball hesitated, various lenses and antennae twitching back
and forth between baby and the rapidly fleeing boy, before shooting off
after him, yelling at the top of its electronic voice, "Hey come back,
you kids! I'll teach you to play truant on my watch!"
Baby wistfully watched it chase after the dispersing cloud of the boy's
fellows, onboard lights alternately flashing red and blue, klaxon
blaring wildly. They soon disappeared in the churning depths far
below.
The core was of a considerable size, rather like that of the cratered
moon visible outside the dome, when baby noticed that she was no longer
falling. At last, her surroundings had recovered from the temerity of
moving too quickly for her to observe. She moved her legs and discovered
to her great delight the singular joy of standing motionless on nothing.
Her insides felt a bit funny though.
She looked about. Embedded in the wall directly opposite her was a
bubble-balcony, the upper half of its transparent shell slid open.
Inside, an elderly lady with frizzy gray hair sat at a low glass table,
pouring a brown liquid from a silver teapot. She was so surprised to
find baby staring at her that she almost spilled the drink onto her
floral dress.
"George," she called, "there's a flying baby outside our apartment!"
From somewhere in the interior lit by the fluorescent tinge of a
holovid, a gruff voice replied, "Quiet, I'm watching football!"
For several seconds, the lady and baby stood staring at one another.
Then the lady whispered, "Would you like to come in for a spot of tea,
dearie?" She extended a hand out of the balcony by way of invitation.
Baby burbled cheerily and reached out for the gnarled fingers.
Unfortunately, her surroundings chose that moment to start moving again
and baby found herself being whisked away.
"Another time, then," said the old lady sadly, waving good-bye.
Reflexively, baby waved back.
At first, baby thought she was headed towards the central core once
more, but she had traveled for no more than a few feet when suddenly an
unseen force grabbed her out of the air and sent her careening head over
heels towards the far wall. She had just recovered enough from the shock
to get a look at the fast-approaching expanse of gray towards which she
was moving to seemingly certain splatteriness, when an aperture slid
open soundlessly and in she went, the breath knocked out of her little
body.
"Ouufff," she said.
The hatch slid closed once she was inside as mysteriously as it had
opened. She found herself whooshing down the twisty length of a silvery
tube at tremendous speed without once touching its surface. Blue
lighting illuminated the metallic surface just enough to see by, and
judging by the jointed sections of tube that sped past, she was going
just as fast as she had been when falling out of the balcony. She peered
at the end of the tube but all she could see were the endless series of
rounded corners.
Experimentally, she tried to brush the swiftly moving surface with her
fingers, but try as she might, her fingers couldn't make contact with
anything at all. It was as if the tubular walls were constantly moving
away from her, or perhaps she was constantly being pushed away from
it.
Here and there, she noticed openings in the tube leading into what
looked like more tubes. Once she caught a glimpse of an object rushing
from one opening into another in front of her. It was a box with a red
ribbon tied around it and a little plastic tag trailing behind on a
short string. It looked like someone's birthday present.
Baby found herself tumbling through similar openings herself several
times, feeling dazed and queasy at the unexpected change of direction on
each occasion but all the tubes were identical. It was getting to be a
very boring trip indeed.
She had almost fallen asleep, having managed to discover a curled
position that was comfortable regardless of the direction in which she
was moving, when she braked to an abrupt halt. Her insides sloshed
around a bit, then stopped just as suddenly, as if they had received the
command to halt half a second later than the rest of her body. Her
bleary eyes opened to regard a hole irising into existence in the
formerly flawless metallic skin.
She felt a moment of nausea as whatever force holding her faded away and
then she was plunged into darkness.
She was sliding on a cool, slippery chute and then there was a popping
sound. She felt some discomfort in her ears and instinctively swallowed
a few breaths of air.
The world exploded into blinding light.
Someone was cuddling her in a warm woolly towel. She blinked a few times
and saw an aged face smiling down at her. She frowned in concentration.
A moment later, some part of her brain connected this image and the
accompanying scent of evening primrose oil with a name: Aunt Rosie.
Thus reassured, she did the only thing she could think of. She wrinkled
up her eyes and started bawling.
**********
Cooing with puckered lips and murmuring sweet assurances, Aunt Rosie
held baby tightly against her bosom. She walked over to the holovid and
pressed a few buttons.
The disembodied faces of baby's parents flickered into being above an
antique wooden bureau. Mother's forehead was creased with worry while
father had an impatient look in his eyes.
"It's all right dears, Amanda's arrived, safe and sound."
The distressed countenances evaporated like mist before the dawning of a
new day.
"It took so long, we were getting worried," said baby's mother.
"Just heavy traffic. I checked with the Mass Transit Authority.
Absolutely nothing to worry about," Aunt Rosie smiled.
"I never doubted it for a minute. Tumbled off the ledge all by herself,
she did. Knew my little girl was a natural spacer the day she was born,"
pronounced baby's father in tones of swelling pride. His wife nodded
enthusiastically next to him.
"Of course she is. Well, hurry up and come over soon! I'll be
waiting."
Aunt Rosie switched off the display and looked down at the baby, who had
worked herself down to sniffles by now. It was a good thing she was
starting to dry up. Any baby's first fall was an important occasion and
she had to get ready for the party.
Gently, Aunt Rosie placed baby in her cradle, which immediately began a
soft rocking motion. Then, confident that baby would be exhausted after
her adventures, she got up and began to prepare for the guests who would
be arriving from the other side of the planetoid.
**********
This story starts as one of the most horrifying tales a
parent could imagine, twists to a surreal account of a plunge from a
precipice, and segues at last to a Pythonesque dialog between worried
parents and a reassuring auntie. A tour-de-force by a first-time
contributor to Anotherealm. Kudos to Mr. Yew. Looking forward to more of
this kind of work.--gm
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