Dell

Dell

"Be careful and I won't hurt you,"

unknown

Valen was a holy place at the center of over a hundred underground homes.  Most people Dell saw were guests that used a room for a few days as part of their pilgrimage then departed once they were spiritually satisfied. Dell was permitted to see the World Worshipers primary place of worship, Valen, which he thought was beautiful.  Rumors had suggested that this place was a series of underground tunnels full of urine and waste.  True to the rumors Valen was entirely underground but spread wide and expansive under the Pan-Atlantic.  The World Worshipers had literally and figuratively been underground for the past fifty years or so after the Catholic Church took a foothold.  Dell didn’t know the specifics on the conflict but the Catholics won in an extreme way.  But in the late 1990’s Catholicism too was rejected for Culturalism which isn’t technically a religion.  And since the Catholic Church was only dominant for a brief time Newtopia’s primary religion remained as the World Worshiping.  Stained and weakened the Worshipers now welcome the secret blessings of many of Newtopia’s wealthiest as well as their money. 

That wealth called to Dell from above as he heard a loud noise.  A wide crystal dome ceiling about 60 feet across braced the weight and wrath of the Pan-Atlantic and let in nothing but for a dark green glow and the long, low rumble of the river.  The dome, more than a hundred feet above met steel ‘I’ beams that ran down to the marble floor.  Instead of the putrid dump he had been told about from his brother or from sideways jabs on T.V. the place of worship before him was practical and beautiful.  While his eyes adjusted he could see the dirt wall in the back of each side of the octagon.  White granite pillars that met no ceiling stood in no apparent pattern and at different heights.  The floor was marble set in large slabs that spun black and white together like two types of pudding but again with no discernible pattern Dell could reason. 

Dell walked the perimeter of Valen and then around and between the pillars by himself.  Worshipers quietly sat or knelt on the floor.  When he returned to Mara and Oblivion’s small home he was told he could come again.  They had housed him for the past two days after one of their scouts poisoned him.  Oblivion and his daughter, Mara, held some sort of authority amongst the Worshipers and had known Dells father.  It was because of this that Dell enjoyed this freedom and likely his life.

He wanted to know so much about the worshipers but knew he was a guest and didn’t want to attract more attention than necessary.  Further he feared the man that saved him.  The girl Mara was always smiling now and he like that, Oblivion had told him not to touch her.  Even so he had to get home and when the time came to say good-bye to Mara he put everything he had into a soft smile and nod.

He wasn’t allowed to see the exit nor how they brought him back to the surface when he was escorted out by two men who worked for Mara’s father.  He was blinded with a mask of Barack Obama that had no eye slits though could hear everything.  The journey up and out from Valen and the homes was a labyrinth of sounds, smells, and whispers.  He stumbled over his feet around when he was sure they entered an elevator.  And that was the first thing after the long aluminum hallway.  But then he stumbled a last time when one of them whispered “turn right” to him.  Then it smelled like dirt and was cold.  It might have been wood they were walking on then.  Or it could have been tile too since the noise brought from their steps didn’t resonate far or loud.  There were so many stairs and he heard another machine before he felt a breeze and his world beneath the mask glowed bright and hot. 

They walked a while after that yet and there was only one escort now.  He had expected that since Mara, Oblivion’s daughter and the girl he shouldn’t have kissed told him this would happen.  “They’ll take you out and then probably track the land with you to find your path again.  Don’t even try your cell phone, you won’t get any reception.” 

Dell knew that phones were of no use out there.  He had been on seven trips so far, each successful and without modern devices but he didn’t say that.  Instead he asked, “How will they find my path again?”

“That won’t be hard, that’s just not- the thing is, Dell.” She had walked closer to him then, “I don’t know what they do then.”

Dell felt unsure of what to say and then asked, “Then they kill me?”  And he took the clothes she handed to him from around the shower curtain.  “Well I don’t know, and I don’t think so.  We’re not like that but recently Gerard has been fighting and causing trouble with the innocent Newtopians.”

“Who?” Dell asked as he dressed.

“Gerard is my dad’s uncle and I don’t know what he is in charge of, if anything, but people leave with him and don’t come back.”

“I’ll come back.”  He looked out from the shower and kissed her. He felt much braver then than he did now.

When the mask was taken off, now above ground and far from Mara or her father he blinked and waited for his eyes to adjust.  As they did the figure in front of him moved from side to side.  The threat of death seemed distant seconds ago in the bright blindness of the mask.  But now it became very real all over again.  The size of the figure in front of him and the distance from him became new factors in this new, scary equation.

“Be careful and I won’t hurt you.”  Dells eyes could see the figure clearly now.  He had the typical olive skin of a Newtopian but his brow was far larger than normal which is what Dell noticed first.  The second thing he noticed was his height which was far above normal, at least 6’7’’.  He had short brown hair and wore an all green and grey cloak like most Worshipers above layered long-sleeve shirts.  Dell didn’t say anything back and then the large man began walking, Dell followed.

The walk was mostly quiet which Dell really liked.  For the first time Dell was able to reflect on the last few days and days ahead.  His father was his last and most recent body bag he sent down the Pan-Atlantic.  He dropped to the river, floated over 150 miles of varying speeds and into the great Atlantic Ocean.  The journey scared Dell.  But since he was not going to be taking the trip himself he began thinking of the rest of his family waiting for him in Sam’s Town.  Soon he and the silent giant would pick up his path again and he would be only hours away from his mom, sister, and brother.  The large man stopped and began looking around.

“What the hell?”  Dell said more aggressively than he had intended.

“We maintain consistent travel time by remaining healthy and awake.”  The man said bluntly.

“The notion of remaining healthy and awake is the most important thing to me but I can be healthy at home,” Dell said sternly and patiently.

“In all truth, resting tonight will get us to your house tomorrow,” the big man said.  Dell knew that was true but thought it a weak point to make in favor of resting so early. Still the large man continued, “Also, no one is a threat; the RNRD is running from forest fires, the Grey People have yet to cross the river.  And city folk couldn’t care less about your body transportation scheme.”  A sinking feeling hit Dell hard.  How could he know?  If he knew then the Worshipers knew, Oblivion and Gerard too.  If they knew why hadn’t they don’t anything.  As if reading Dell’s mind he said, “We haven’t stopped you because we don’t want to.  In fact we intend to help.”