Tale from Pentapia, Chapter Four

Tale from Pentapia
An Alternative Childhood

J. E. McCarty

Chapter Four
A New Step

         It is getting light, and the alarm sounds in Mary and Angela’s rest area. Mary starts to wake and shift to the normal off-white color. She looks over at Angela’s bed and sees a faint glowing line. Mary goes to Angela’s plane and calls out, “Angela!”

         Angela begins to wake. When she opens her eyes, Mary says, “Angela, you changed planes in your sleep.”

         “Oh! Thanks, Mary. You’re such a life saver.”

         “Were you dreaming about George?”

         “Yes, but I am not going to tell you about this one, Mary.”

         “Oh, I have heard of those kinds of dreams. How far did it go?”

         “To the point that I kind of wish it had gone just a little bit farther.”

         “That dream sounds about two to three years early.”

* * * * *

         Angela finds George and Danny at the front of the school. When they see her, Danny volunteers to go on into the school by himself.

         Angela says, “Good morning, Danny, George.”

         Danny waves as he walks up the few steps to go in.

         George replies, “Good morning, Angela.”

         “How are you today, George?”

         “I’m fine, Angela, how about you?”

         “I’m alright. How did it go at home?”

         “We had a very nice evening energy. And, I had a long talk with my parents about life.”

         “Did you talk about how we…”

         “Yes, we talked about how we make babies, Angela.”

         “Are you thinking about trying that, George?”

         “No, at least not for a few more years, Angela.”

         “Okay, George. I think we should get into school now.”

         They turn and go up the steps and through the door. Inside, they soon meet two instructors, a man and a woman.

         The woman says, “Good morning, George, Angela. We are from the Relationships and Reproduction class. For your admission into the class, your morning classes are canceled for today. It will be about half an hour until we begin. You both need to stay on campus. Where can we reach both of you when we are ready to begin?”

         “I’m okay with the library. How about you, George?” Angela replies.

         “The library is fine with me.”

         The woman instructor returns, “The library is acceptable. We will see the two of you there.”

         The instructors turn and head up the hall.

         George looks at Angela, and asks, “Are you as surprised as me, Angela?”

         “Could be, George.”

         They begin to make their way to the library. As they reach the door to the library, they look at one another, touch, and go inside.

         As they enter the library, they know what they want to find. The Natural Science section is near the back of the room.

         George asks Angela, “Have you looked up Kappa plane before?”

         “Not here, I have seen some books at home that had some information about it.”

         They find a shelf of books on natural sciences nearly as big as a wall. After staring at the shelf for a moment, George says, “There is a set of science books on the end of the shelf, next to that table.”

         “You have sharp eyes, George.”

         He takes the volume titled, “Index.” Sitting at the table, they check its table of contents.

         Angela notes, “It does not break down the planes.”

         “We may need to check the index in the back. But there are a lot of interesting subjects listed here.”

         “Yes, there are a lot of them…. George, there is something I feel I need to tell you about. I hope this is a good time.”

         “I guess this is as good a time as any, Angela.”

         “This morning, my roommate woke me after having a surprising dream; I had changed planes in my sleep. It was a very emotional dream. And you were in it.”

         “What happened in your dream, Angela?”

         “We were alone. We had been touching. Just before I woke, we were about to do the act.”

         George looks a little surprised for a moment. He responds, “I haven’t had one of those dreams myself; however, I have heard some older kids talk about them. I understand that most have at least one of those dreams, sooner or later. Are you upset about having the dream?”

         “I’m not sure what to call it. I wouldn’t call it a bad dream, but it keeps popping up in my mind. It feels almost like it really happened. When Mary woke me and figured it out, she commented that is was a little early.”

         “It doesn’t sound like there was any harm done. Are you afraid that it will happen soon?”

         “Maybe.”

         “I do really like you, Angela. But, I don’t feel I am ready to do the reproductive act with anyone yet. Let’s see how we feel about that in a few years. Does that help any, Angela?”

         “Yes, I think it does, George.”

         “Good! Now, would you look at all of these subjects here? Under ‘The History of Science,’ some of the subjects it lists are Astronomy, General Sciences, and Scientific Terms. Under ‘The Future of Science,’ it talks about experiments with high-speed photography of people changing planes, taken from both planes. It also talks about life before matter.”

         “Okay, George. They all sound interesting. Except you know a lot more about those terms than I do.”

         “I know that with scientific terms they have been changed often. The scientists like words that are up to date. They renamed our planet Pentapia, after they discovered that we have five spatial dimensions.”

         “What does it list under astronomy?”

         “There are a number of subjects. One that caught my eye is the discovery of rivers of light in space, in all planes.”

         “That is very interesting, George. That is something we can look up next time. We came here to find more information on Kappa plane. I do not think we have very much more time now. You know how to use the data machine. Let’s see if we can find something about Kappa in there, George.”

         They go to the library’s only data machine. It is sitting in the middle of a table, taking up about half of its surface.

         Angela comments, “It doesn’t seem to get much use.”

         “That’s because most people here don’t know how to use it yet.”

         “The screen could be bigger; most of the books here are larger than that.”

         “The tabletop ones have not been around very long. I’m sure the future ones will have bigger screens.

         “The screen is showing all the task codes that can be used from the display that is now on the screen. We want to enter the code for a subject search.”

         George types in the code for subject search and pushes enter. The subject search display appears on the screen. He tells Angela, “I now type in the subject that I want to find information about.” He types in “Kappa Plane,” and pushes enter. A small square appears in the upper right corner with a pendulum swinging inside.

         “The pendulum up in the corner is telling the user that it is working on the task,” George explains.

         After a few seconds the results display appears. George says, “It shows only one article, about fifteen hundred words, under the category of World History.”

         “That is probably the same article I read.”

         “What did it say, Angela?”

         “It talked about the weather being very changeable there, because Pentapia has a lot of water in Kappa plane. And also, there are many different kinds of life in Kappa.”

         “How much water is in Kappa?”

         “In the great lowlands, there is water filling them as far as you can see.”

         “I wonder if the school would arrange a field trip to Kappa.”

         They hear people behind them, and turn around to see the instructors from the class.

         “Are you ready for us?” George asks.

         One instructor responds, “Yes, we are ready for the two of you. I see you know how to use a data machine. Few of our students can use them. How did you learn that?”

         George explains, “I am being raised by my birth parents. Both of them use data machines at their jobs, but those machines are a little larger.”

         “The school will be getting more data machines, and we are planning to start a class about using them,” the instructor states. “Maybe you would be interested in being a student assistant in the class?”

         “I might be interested.”

         The instructor then asks, “What are you looking at?”

         “We are looking for information on Kappa plane. We have not found much about Kappa. We were wondering if the school might arrange a field trip in Kappa sometime.”

         The instructor responds, “Do you know that Kappa is a little dangerous?”

         Angela interjects, “I was about to get to that when you got here. It is because of the water.”

         “You are correct, Angela. Water does not agree with our bodies. We cannot survive for very long in water. However, Kappa plane is one of the subjects of our class. You will be able to find out plenty about Kappa.”

         “You have gotten my interest. I guess we are ready to go,” responds Angela.


         The four of them leave the library and walk to a hallway near the back of the building. They come to a door marked, “Authorized Entry Only.” They enter and walk down another hallway. Near the end of the hall is what looks like a sealed door.

         One of the instructors says, “Go to Zeta plane.”

         When they go to Zeta, the door is only faint lines, and they see a reception desk.

         The young man at the desk says, “I see you have returned with our new students. The interview room is free.”

         “Thanks, Bill,” replies one of the instructors.

         They all enter a door on the left into a small office.

         George and Angela sit in two chairs that have handouts in front of them. The handouts are titled, “Introduction to Relationships and Reproduction Class.” The instructors then introduce themselves.

         The woman says, “I am Instructor Barbara.”

         The man says, “I am Instructor Sam. Inside the handouts, the first thing you will find is the rules of the class. Be sure to read them.

         “In short, conduct yourselves appropriately in class, and do not share the materials of this class with other young people who have not had this class. It is our job to deliver the material to young students.”

         Barbara states, “The class is organized into twelve component sub-cycles that are repeated as students join and graduate. Students remain enrolled in the class through as many cycles as they need to graduate. At times, we subdivide the class by level, age, and gender. However, most of the materials are discussed with the class as a whole. Today, we are starting cycle one.”

         Sam states, “If you turn to the Twelve Cycles page, you will find a list of the cycle’s titles. Please look them over, and ask any questions you may have.”

         The list of cycles reads:

         1. The Male and Female minds
         2. The People Attraction
         3. The Male and Female Attraction
         4. The Self, and Vision, the First Circle
         5. The Couple, and Vision, the Second Circle, Part One
         6. Reproduction and Birth, and Vision, the Second Circle, Part Two (Age 13+ has advanced class.)
         7. The Parents, Birth Parents / Professional Parents, and Vision, the Second Circle, Part Three
         8. Children, and the Vision, the Second Circle, Part Four
         9. The Group, and Vision, the Third Circle
         10. The People, and Vision, the Fourth Circle
         11. The World, and Vision, the Fifth Circle and Beyond
         12. Open Discussion

         “What is this advanced class in Cycle Six for age thirteen and up?” asks Angela.

         Barbara answers, “It covers material that we do not deliver until you have reached reproductive age. We do not want to encourage early experimentation.

         “For our kind, receiving reproductive information at the incorrect time can cause problems. The two of you are a good example. Angela, you received information by word of mouth at the incorrect time. Your experimentation with that information, about two years earlier than normal, has lead to the two of you enrolling in this class at age ten. It may also be due, in part, to both of you being a little more mature than most at ten years of age. Does that answer your question, Angela?”

         “Yes, I think so. But, now I think I should tell you something. Last night I dreamed of almost doing the act. We just talked about it. There does not seem to be a problem. We are not thinking of doing that yet.”

         “That is good to know, Angela,” Barbara responds. “And, it does show evidence that the two of you are more mature than your bodies. That is very encouraging.”

         “Now, we have one more handout,” Sam says as he sets copies on the table, “about the students enrolled in the class. It names the current members, and lists their known strengths and weaknesses. You may find this information helpful.”

         “The class is now convening. Are the two of you ready to meet your classmates?”

         “Sure!” Angela says.

         “Okay!” says George.

         They get up from the table and go back into the reception area. “Do we need to change planes again?” George asks.

         Sam answers, “No, we are all in Zeta here, George.”

         They go through the other door from the reception area, which opens into the classroom. There are two empty desks on one end of the front row.

         Barbara says, “Good morning, students. This is George and Angela, our two new students.”

         There are a few waves from the class, but they remain quiet. George and Angela take the empty desks in the front row.