Chapter 3

The contents of the letter seemed to be a compulsory summons to meet with Morlon Fribourg. It was nonspecific in temporal locality, but the letter itself did seem to have an expiration date with which to respond, based on an hour clock that was counting down. There was an implied threat that not meeting would result in an act of malice.

“Is this binding?” I asked.

“You should probably talk to Doctor Handle,” Loxy said. She specializes in these sorts of things.

“It took some effort for Fribourg to get that served,” Alish noted. “That woman had no apparent magical abilities, so she’s not from around here.”

“She could be support staff, off campus?” Keera offered. “Or part of the colony?”

“She clearly has had enough experience with magician that she commented how much she hated it,” I commented.

“Maybe she’s a pet,” Fersia said, toying with the bell on her collar.

Keera scratched behind Fersia’s ear.

“Well, I guess I will go see Doctor Handle,” I said, standing up.

“Don’t be late to the pep rally,” Loxy said.

“Yeah, we’re all going to be wearing our lightening badges,” Fersia said.

“Lightening badges?” Alish and I both said.

“Our symbol, coat of arms thing,” Fersia said, pulling her jacket sleeve out from under her to reveal.

“Oh,” Alish said. “I thought those were tree roots.”

“Really?” Fersia said.

“They look like tree roots,” Alish assured her.

“This is made of light,” Fersia said.

“So are tree roots,” Alish assured her.

“Really?” Fersia said. Keera hugged her.

Loxy touched my jacket, drawing my attention to the badge. I hadn’t even noticed. My puzzled expression clearly gave me away.

“You okay?” Loxy asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Shirt was on backwards, didn’t notice the addition of a lightening patch,” Keera said.

Nadine Collier, engineer, arrived at the table, pink hard hat and all.

“We’re not quite ready to open yet,” Sabra said.

“I’m here to inspect the additions,” Nadine said.

“Really?” we all said.

“That might explain why you’re not here,” Loxy mused.

“You haven’t seen them?” Nadine asked, pointing to the one closest to our table.

From our seating position, we could not see the enclosed rose at true north position of the Harister Hall. We could see some of Loxy’s enclosed pine tree, tree house-home between the 12 and 3 positions, and at the three o’clock position, something new: it appeared to be the top of a bubble. We all got up, walked down into the tunnel, out of the wall and around to discover what appeared to be a giant snow globe, minus the water, but snow falling inside the globe. There was a city in the distance, which might have been a mock up, miniature city, or it might have actually been a distant city, or a city that was affected by the refraction of light through the globe. The perspective was so ideal, it kept drawing our attention to it. No matter how you walked around it, the city stayed at the same distance. If there was a road going to the city, it could not be seen due to the fresh snow fall. There was a moon gate that led, presumably, into the globe and hopefully into the city, otherwise there would be a good walk through the snow. My brain was thinking, Emerald City, with the snow fall intended to counter the effect of poisoned poppies.

“Wow,” Fersia said for us all.

“You said additions?” I asked, as if staring into the globe wasn’t magical enough to be presently satiated.

“You really haven’t noticed?” Nadine asked.

We hadn’t. So, Nadine led us around to the nine o’clock position, where there was another ‘snow globe’ like structure, only this was full of water, with an underwater city in the distance. There was an air pocket at the top of the bubble. The floor of this snow globe was covered with white sand, a scattering of sea stars, some coral, fish, a treasure chest with a half emerged, sunken galleon, and, most prominently, and eye capturing, sea monkeys. And I am not talking about brine shrimp, but actual human sized ‘sea monkeys’ as illustrated by Joe Orlando in all the comic book ads of the 1970’s that made young men lust for having sea people of his very own. And a lot of disappointed kids who discovered the reality of advertising could be extremely misleading. And it wasn’t just kids, because even adults bought into it. For example, my older brother asked mom to buy them for him, and she refused, saying: “I don’t want you looking at naked people.” Which, kind of just makes you wonder, and increases the wanting to look at naked people, which was what we did as hunters and gathers for at least hundreds of thousands of years, and if you believe the hype that life in antiquity was better than the present, seeing naked people probably kept us well adjusted.

“You use to dream about being with sea monkeys, didn’t you?” Loxy reminded me.

OMG, I sighed. I would have rather that had stayed secret, but was actually relieved that it could be said out loud without me feeling judged by my friends. “If I wake up to find myself fucking a brine shrimp, I am not going to be happy,” I said.

“If you cum, I would say you were really happy,” Keera said.

Fersia laughed.

One of the female sea monkeys approached and put her hand on the inside of the globe. Mesmerized, I approached and placed my hand over hers, on the outside of the glass. She mouthed the words ‘hello,’ but I had a bizarre fantasy flash through my head. She was saying “Spock, no!” And I was responding, “You have always been, and shall always be, my friend.”

“Jon?” Loxy asked.

I was drawn out of the fantasy. The female sea monkey laughed and swam back to her group, and they all seemed to be chattering excitedly. I looked to Loxy.

“Did you say something?” I asked.

“Wow,” Loxy said. “Where are you?”

“This is a normal effect of addendums,” Nadine assured her.

“I’m losing my mind?” I asked.

“No, you’re expanding it,” Nadine assured me. “So, if you’ll excuse me, I would like try and get my work accomplished before the pep rally. And as the patriarch of this Hall, you really need to attend this one, Jon.”

“I wonder what’s going to go in the other positions,” Keera mused.

“Oh, that’s right? Do we have a say? I would really like that tea shop where the patrons pet cats,” Fersia said.

“With all the additions, and what may come, you might as well move in, Nadine,” I said, jokingly.

“I accept,” Nadine said.

“Don’t we have to run it by a committee?” Esfir asked.

“I think he just bypassed the committee,” Loxy said, amused. “That was spirit, Jon. There is no accidental remarks.”