The SystemStall Part 1: The Room

Fraction 1


I don’t know where to go. Even just to stand here idly makes me sick
.
Yeah, sick.

Just like what had happened yesterday, when I go to The Room. That Room. It’s so smelly and filthy. I don’t wanna go but I have to. Because if I don’t, somebody will have to die. Again.

There’s a reason why that Room is so smelly. It’s because of the sweat. Maybe you don’t believe me but it does. Hundreds of sweaty shoes are thrown from the top. Well, actually its not only the shoes. It’s also the feet.
I guess that explains a lot.

Or is it?

There are just too many mysterious things in this world; we and our primitive brain could not see: things that lies beyond, things that came back. Oh, yes we’ll die. And we’ll see that the smell is not the thing you need to worry. Because, the smell is ours.

I ran upstairs, walking up the shaft. I live in an iron shell. It’s cold, but fortunately, it’s not that smelly. And I’m lonely for most of the time, but sometimes people from another Shell come by and ask for some water. Of course I give them some. I’m generous. But some other time they come with the guns to take my water by force. In that situation, maybe I should just stay away from The Room. And let some shoes be fallen to the ground. Damn, I hate those times. It adds the smell.

Now I reach the top of the shell. There is a door in front of me, and there is a room beyond it. Not that Room, but another one. A usual one. It’s where I put my tools and equipment. Tools are important you know. Even the stupid prehistoric fellows are using it. It’s quite precious.
 
I always lock it, and I always put the key in my pocket. I look for the key in my pocket, but I can’t find it. But now it seemed that I forgot to put it there. I must’ve put it somewhere else. But…

It is dawned to me that the key is always tied to my belt. So I grab my belt where the chain that tied my key is, I was shocked to see that the chain was shorter than it used to be. It has been cut neatly.

Someone must’ve taken it while I’m sleeping. Maybe a neighbor had found out my Tool room location. Damn! I hate that kind of dirty work.

I grab my shotgun and started to go downstairs.

To The Opening…




Fraction II: The Opening


For some moments my mind runs a search for the memories of the past. The history. History is a story which our parents told us about their life. We can belief a story as easy as we deny it. It's a pure choice. Even when the proofs are overwhelming, we still can choose not to belief these stories. Stories are just stories anyway.

I remember someone said that the physical world we live in was originally nonexistent. That it was born, or “created”, some time ago in the past. They said it was a big explosion that gave birth to our world, a very big explosion. It’s funny that it must be an explosion that makes our world exists. It’s very funny that through an explosion, a creative activity was executed.

It’s funny because today we use explosives to demolish things, a nature which is opposite to that of the original. Today we can’t use explosives to create things. We can only destroy.

Now I’m holding it in my hand, The Fire Torch. And I usually use it to blow things out. It is a custom firearm, one and a half inch caliber, my own mix of powder, auto-reloading. I also made some explosive bullets, explode at contact. But I don’t use it now. It’s for some big preys. I guess they’re sleeping now.

I think I know who the culprit is, the feces who stole my key. He’s the only one I know that has the ability to sneak in smoothly.

The lowest level, the opening is in the lowest level. And I’m about to reach it, ETA 2 minutes. Yes, I should’ve built an elevator. But it’s very risky to use an elevator. I personally don’t like it. It’s way too dependent. I can’t control my movement well if I’m trapped inside a cage that can only move up and down. Thanks, I’ll choose the stairs instead..

And of course you can choose the fastest lane, the free G. But I just didn’t have the time to gather rubbery material required to make the safety equipment. Without it, the free G is a deadly lane. . 

Oh, yeah! I’m in the lowest level. There’s the opening.

The shell’s opening is a hole that every shell has. It’s a door. My shell’s door. It leads to the world outside. It’s a rather complicated world, but simple enough to live in. The only rule to this game of life is to survive, to stay alive as long as long as possible. The only friend you have is yourself. Even your shell is not your friend.

It was in the opening that I fell so small, that I could be easily destroyed. The shell had gave us great power the power to sustain our own life. We are so fragile without it. I don’t know who is the one who built this shell, but I thank him so much.

I pushed the black button beside me, and then the light indicator above me turns red. And there it is, the world beyond me.

The floor in front of me moved, and side shifted. Like a camera’s diaphragm, revealing a circular hole in the center of the room.

The world outside will be revealed, and I will seek the one who dare to sneak into my shell. I will take his head to the beasts.

I walked forward, and stopped on the edge of the opening, the 5 meter diameter hole. I take a deep breath and jumped…

Into the blue…




Fraction 3 : Into the Blue

Freefall.

So sweet, so sweet, the smell of freedom.

The wind, the sweet smell of the wind.

Like I was invited into infinity, into the place where the mind would be so content that it won’t ask for anything else. The moment’s continuity would just enough, no enhancement required.

But there is one problem. This free fall isn’t for eternity. The motion driven by the eager rigid body of throwing away its potentials is an attraction that leads to the death. Simple fact, gravity has a dead end, the center of mass of the planet.

Its beautiful though, the blue shine of the atmosphere. The crystalic shine of the dusts and gases that painted the scenery. The clouds, White clouds. Like a pillow from heaven to comfort the weather. And of course, every time I do this I feel so peaceful. Forgetting all the pain, mistakes, and anger I had before. The glittering dusts of blue crystals, the crystal of joy, and energy. Blissful.

Well, I’m still freefalling.

Almost everyone in the world think that this planet don’t have a solid center of mass. That this planet is an all-gas planet. But I have seen a lot of solid rocks (okay, a rather big piece of dust actually) floating in space. This should be a prove that there are a lot more of them somewhere.  And even maybe there are some in gigantic size. I believe that I would find one someday.

My eyes were fixed to ‘some black dots’ underneath me. But five seconds later they become ‘some small black circles’.

Now they become ‘some bigger small black circles…’

Bigger…

Yes.

And now I can see some other black dots emerged as I gained proximity. There’re lots of them. Those black floating objects are mankind’s best friend. They saved us from the danger of the gravity. Because somehow, they float in space.

Here, gravity is deadly. It can swallow you to singularity. To the lost center. To nothingness. If you fall there, no one would be able to save you. And even if someone could, I bet he or she wouldn’t even think about it. Fallen People will soon, and it usually very soon, be forgotten. The Fallen People probably didn’t die. Maybe they’re just falling forever, or maybe they find another Shell somewhere else, down there, if there is any.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Fallen People are forgotten people. And being forgotten is worse than being dead. Because dead ones never seems to be forgotten. They live in our memories, old people said.

Worse than being dead, how horrible.

I saw three shells pass me by, maybe ten meters away.  They didn’t look very big from the outside. Especially the ones in the distance. But when they are near, they do look big.

And cold.

I’m here, the sea of shells. I looked in every direction, looking for a certain shell. His shell. It was very easy to notice, that man’s is. The most unshaped one. Like an abstract statue made by a mad sculptor. He is a machine manipulator. A mechanic you can say. He likes to modify machines to fit his needs. Don’t ask me how that shell could end up like that. I’m not the one that is crazy.
I took my wire gun, a small gun from my waist. Seeing that my friend’s shell’s altitude is almost reached, while I’m not in the right trajectory, I can miss it.

I see that shell in my down-right side. I must calculate it correctly because I never intended to be a Fallen One.

I considered the distribution of shells between me and his shell. I chose three suitable ones.

I shoot the first one. The wire was shot to the first shell and it hit. I rolled the wire back so that I was pulled toward it. This way, I change my trajectory. The reaction force of the wire gun rolling back the wire is massive. It moved my entire body like a shockwave pulling my arm. It was painfully awakening my senses.

After that I detach my wire gun’s tip from the first shell, and then I shoot the second shell, then same process, then the third.

After I detach from the third shell, I landed smoothly on the Mad Craft’s Shell.

Now, should I knock the door?

Well, hell. This shell is not even has a shape. If I can find the door, I will knock. If not, well, I have to make a hole in this masterpiece.

I crawled to keep myself stick to the shell, looking for the opening. Every shell has different opening location. And sometimes they changes too. So I crawled to where the opening was last time I went here. I hope it’s still there; it’ll save my time and energy.

I climbed down to the left side of the shell. And there it is. The opening itself is also in different shape than usual. It’s a five leaf, starfish like-mouth. Thank god no teeth.

I’ll knock.

With my left hand supporting my body, I grab my shotgun with my right hand and point it at the center of the opening.

“Cane, I know you can see me! Disable The Room, and open the mouth! Quickly! Or I’ll make this precious mouth a twenty leaf mouth with a big hole! You know me, it’s no bluff.”

The knock worked. The mouth opened like a flower blossom. And I can see the interior from here. And The Room too.

I won’t be fooled. He might have opened the mouth for me, but he is smart, and he won’t let his guard down. I shot my shotgun to the center of the opening. The flash of my torch amazes me for a second; it’s been a while since I saw that light.

The bullet blames inside the structure, a normal boom. That Mad Craft man followed my words. He did lower his guard down. If The Room is still activated, the boom would have been different.

I jumped inside. The mouth closes.

“What the hell are you doing? You're ruining my Bay!” a throaty voice came
down from the stairs. The voice seems very happy to greet it’s guest.
This is Cane. The Mad Craft man.

I point my shotgun to his head.

“Wow, boy. Slow down a little.”

“Where’s my key?”

“What key?”

Humph…, classic. “Don’t waste my time. Cane, you know you can talk to me when you need anything. Don’t be a bad man.”

“And now we’re talking. But hell! What are we talking about? At least use some main topic sentences. You know, to get a good ground for both…”

“Don’t play smart dumb Cane! You know what I’m talking about.”

He laughed. “Oh, Dim, Dim! Don’t live in your own perceptions. What happened?”

This man really is irritating. “Give me my Tool Room Key! God Damn it!”

He smiled.

Suddenly I heard a sound of explosion, and the shell vibrates like an earthquake. That’s something.

“What happened?”

The Mad Craft’s face seems very calm. He smiled again. “I know you would come.”

He is still smiling. His smile is very irritating. It makes me want to punch it down. The sound of bent metals echoed across the shell. The sound of failing structure.

Cane still speaks slowly, ignoring the sound around him. “Are you sure you are safe here Dim? Are you sure that the life you have now is not going to leave you?

“Because you know, these shells we live in are not actually our friend. They are a host. A host that demands you to stay float with it. A host that drains your beliefs.”

“What are you talking about? What was that sound just…”

“We won’t survive! If we always squeezed by fear to fall. I know you believed it. You’ve been looking for it.”

I heard another explosion. This time the shell shakes harder. What happened?

“Get out of here!” he turned away from me, ignoring the fact that I could shoot him anytime.

“You won’t kill me, even though I’m the one that cuts your keychain. Believe me, I’m not.”

I heard another explosion, and another, and another. This time the shell was swinged, a direct hit.

The shake almost makes me fell to the ground.

“Get out of here. Save your life. You did the right thing by coming here. I bet your shell was dead just now.” He pushed a button in the panels, and the mouth opened again. “Get out and don’t come back. Because, next time I won’t disable The Room. Even for my own nephew.”

I couldn’t say anything, and I can feel the shell started to lose its structure. I walked backward to the opening, empty mindedly, and jumped out, speechlessly.

To the sea of explosions...




Fraction 4 : The Sea of Explosions

Strange.

What had happened? Cane is so strange. He spoke like he had possessed by something. It doesn’t make sense at all. All the stuff that he said there has no meaning.

I fall again. I fall because I have no words to talk back. That moment I forgot what I came for, my purpose, the key, that god damn key. Cane sure is a very good speaker. The fact that I got out of his shell in the most inelegant way is a hard proof of that. Well, he always had been like that since forever. That man is. But today is different, he is far more believable.

Here in the open sky, the blue sea of crystals, I can see what had happened, The Sea of Explosions, the red ambient in the sky. The shocking view pulled me to reality, the urgency, the emergency. This is no good. This is no good at all. I can’t think of anything, anything at all to get out of this bad situation. How am I going to get myself out of this shit alive?

In front of me a shell exploded to pieces, three big pieces and thousands of small ones. I look up, to see the cause of this disaster. Of course I already know the answer. There is nothing else that can cause this.

Ｉt doesn’t matter now. No time for definitions or other smart talks. It’s the matter of survival, because the sky glow is getting redder every second.

I don’t know what to do. There is no such thing as a safe place. Because, the only place we can be is shells, and they are not safe as they were this time. That red glow in the sky speaks for itself..

“I bet your shell was dead just now.” Cane’s words echoed in my head. Is it true? That I have no shell now? Relying on the statistics, it would likely be the truth. Yes, too bad. Pity me. The groundless me. Having no shell means I have to get another one.

Mine was a leftover. The previous owner died and I happen to be the first one to know that he was dead. Lucky me. Before I got that shell 20 years ago, I live in Cane’s. A life full of brain washing by the master of machines finally came to an end. And now it seems my whole life that would come to an end.

No! I don’t believe it.

Suddenly I felt anger came back to my soul. Maybe I am not a good person. Nobody would want to live with the full-of-fury me. Maybe people just don’t care if I Fall or die. But I can’t accept that people can’t do anything. Seeing those shells shattered in pieces, and imagining the people inside, hiding in the most dangerous place in the world, the place they believe to be the protector, making me sick. Watching them die meaninglessly makes me angry. Why!?

I don’t want these stupid fireworks stop me from living. I’ve got to do something. I produced my wire gun again. I point it to a shell above me, and shoot.

I want to go there again, come home, for the last time.

I roll the wire back, the shockwave pull my body through my hand, again. But it’s harder this time, because now it is directly against gravity. I can feel the wind slapping my face as I go up and up to the high sky. Then I release the wire from the shell. Eventually I flew above that shell, continue to ascend.

But within seconds, the wind on my face slows down, which means I’m slowing down too. But I don’t see any shell that can support my ascending movement again. Have all the shells been destroyed? No shells to support me again? Don’t make me laugh. I don’t die that easily. I look for shells on my altitude, hoping that I can land safely somewhere.
(A host that demands you to stay float with it. A host that drains your beliefs.)

I found one, and I go there using my wire gun again. This time I can’t land smoothly on the surface. Instead, I am still hanging with my wire gun on the side. I put back the gun and started to climb up.

On the top surface, I looked around. The red glow is strong, yet it doesn’t get any stronger. Is it over?

By the time I thought of it, one of them thrusts down just behind me. Lucky it didn’t hit the shell I’m on. I can feel the heat all over my body. It seems that their size is about a quarter of an average sized shell. My eyes followed it’s trail. Down there it curved a bit and hit another shell. The flower of explosion blossomed. The glow is getting redder there.

I looked up, to see for a shell to hold my journey back to the top. Ah, my eyes hurt. The red glow creates an atmosphere that makes the air looks a little opaque. I can’t see any shells on the right spot to support me.

Suddenly, a man popped out from some kind of a hatch seal behind me. He is carrying a gun. Surprisingly, he didn’t notice me at all. Or maybe he noticed, but just didn’t care.

He shouts to the sky, screaming unintelligible voice. He shot his gun randomly to the sky. Okay, I know what this is, a crazy man, a hysteria. We humans can never accept death.

Everything we know is limited in these three axes. We know nothing else. Nobody knows what lies beyond death. There is no one that we can ask about it, no one has ever returned. Are we simply ceased to exist?

I don’t care about that man. I don’t even care with the bullets he spent wastefully. I keep looking for shells to take me up.

Suddenly, he noticed me, and screamed to me in an intelligible voice. So this man can speak anyway?

“Hey, you! I see you have a gun. Can I borrow it? I will smash those stinking fireballs.”

The sound of wind sweeps the distant space between the two of us. Silently waiting for my response. Damn, what is this guy thinking? You’re not just crazy, man. But you also have lost your knowledge in this three axes world.

“I don’t have any gun!”

“Come on! Help me stopping those monsters! They can be killed you know! I’ve seen people in the southern sphere destroying those monsters. We can do the same!”

“I don’t have any gun or ammo to waste. Go ahead waste your own. Don’t involve other people!”

I turned around to look for shells again, but there is still nothing. I walked to the edge of the shell

“You don’t believe me don’t you? Do you think I’m crazy? Ha-ha! Tell you what? Everybody is crazy. Yes everybody is crazy. Because they don’t do anything. They just wait and wait for death to come pick us up. I’m not one of them. I won’t give up until this shell is…”

Destroyed.

……………

Silence, sudden deaf.

Everything I see is red. Only red. Red air, and metal debrises. I don’t hear anything. Have I become deaf?

Slowly my eyes began to see. The fractions of dreams and fractions of hopes. Mankind’s best friend, became fractions. The flower of explosion blossomed in front of me. No more words, no more thoughts. Just the celebration of death. This festival is surely the quietest one. There is nothing to hear. No body pieces to bury, just a red flower.

Soon after, I begin to gain speed. I can feel the wind on my ears, but I still can’t hear anything. I don’t have anything to hear or think. No sound, no thought.

No sound, no thought.

Just vision. The vision of meteor shower creating the brilliant festivity of death. Yes, those monsters are meteors. It’s beautiful. The blossom of fireworks as they collide with the shells. Beautiful. And also, the red tailed meteors collide with the blue tailed meteors. An astounding view.

Wait a second, I have never seen any meteors that have a tail like that.

A very straight blue tail.

Are they meteors? The red meteors glow in the head, but the tails is just cloud of dusts and ashes. But these blue one glows all over from the head to the tail.

And they aren’t random. They always hit the red meteors.

Suddenly my body hits something hard. I landed on something like a shell. Then my body comes to rest.

I tried to get up, but pain hits all over my body. So I give up, lying on my back. I closed my eyes like I don’t care if I will die this instant.

And then I hear voices.

“Is he alright?”

“I don’t know.”

“He seems unconscious, let’s take him in.”

I tried to open my eyes and move again, but the pain’s too much.

“Hey, he’s awake. Come on.”

I forced to open my eyes. And then I see them. There are three people surrounding me.

“Are you all right?

“Where am I?”

This man smiled. “Thank god you’re alive. There is no need to worry, son! We came to save this locus.”

I closed my eyes again, this time carrying the dream of the world of death, to the source of broken peace.

I just uttered one word.

“Hell.”

And fallen asleep.

To the dreams of the Blue Meteors...



Fraction 5: The Blue Meteors

Everyone has a compass inside them. To guide to the truth. To sense the right direction. But that compass is not perfect. The world is full of electromagnetic fields that bend the straight laws of map and navigations. But it is not that the compass is broken. No it is not. It is just deviated and slanted, to a certain degree.

Sometimes I asked myself, why are we given a compass, but not given a map? To me, the map is more important than the compass. Because with the map, we can still grasp the environment well, and later, we can deduce orientation. But with a compass only, what can we do to find our way?

To me, the answer is to find the map somewhere else.

I opened my eyes, realizing that my compass has broken.

Where am I?

A ceiling. A metal one. An unknown one. It came to my eyes. The smell, the smell is alien to my mind. A light, easy to breathe sensation. When the air flows within my throat, I could feel my skin touches the sheet, the bed. It has a nice cold texture on it, and my whole body relaxes.

And then I woke up.

I recalled them all, Cane, the meteor shower, the explosions, and the blue ones. I looked around the room, there is only a bed and a door. Nothing else. I stand up and opened the door. What is outside is a long doorway to the left and right lightened up with only small bulbs every one and a half meter. I started to walk to the left way. I saw a light there. Maybe it is a way out.

There is a stairway leading upward, and goes up to the light. The wind blows my hair. In front of my eyes, a view of clouds and light rays assembled to show the descending sun. Of course we don’t have a real sunset. Nor do we have clearly distinguished days and nights. Our planet doesn’t have a horizon.

But there are times when it is bright and dark. And when it is dark, we can still see rings of sun’s light diffused in the outer layers, making some kind of night show light work. But when bright times changes to darks, it is still a good view to see. I looked around, it seems that I was on the deck of a ship.

Four meters in front left of me stood a girl in brown clothing. She had a long black hair and ivory skin. She wore no shoes or other footwear. Both her hands rest on the metal bars. She seems to be watching the view of the sun moving down behind the thickening layers of the planet.

Finally she noticed me.

“So you’ve awaken.”

“Yeah, seems so. Where is this?” I walked to the metal bar perimeters in front of me.

“This is my brother’s ship, a part of the Blue Meteor convoy. Ever heard about it?”

“No”, I stared the slowly fading sun, “but sure I want to know more about it.”

She smiled faintly. “Of course you are.” She walked toward me. “My brother is in the bridge, if you want to see him.”

Her voice tone and accent is a bit strange in my ears. It makes me a little uncomfortable. Well, in most times I will call it strange, but hey, it is not the way to think about a new acquaintance.

“Are your wounds alright?” She said.

“No big deal. I used to have it worse.”

“If you sure you are alright, I can notify my brother so he can come and see you.”

“Okay, its fine.”

She turned away from me, and started to walk away. She disappeared behind a big iron structure.
Is it just me or that girl is really fast? No self introduction, nothing. She didn’t even explain where I should wait or where I can do private stuffs. Shame on her.

Well I think I will just wait here. While watching the fading sun and its light rays and the clouds, I thought of everything again. Cane, the shells, what is the meaning of all these recent events?

Destruction, extinction. Is that what lies beyond?

Suddenly I felt tired, I leaned my back on the metal bars, taking my eyes away from the sun. And then I realized the dimension of the ship. It is huge. You can load almost 40 shells in it. And not just that, I also saw other members of the convoy, they have even bigger ships. From the place I stand, I can see five other ships traveling in the same direction. I wonder how many ships are there in this convoy. So I go for a little walk around the ship. I finished one lap, and there were a total of 15 ships that I can see.

By the time I get back to the place of the doorway to my previous room, I see the girl with an older man, her brother I suppose, sitting on a structure of metal.

“Sorry, made you waiting. I didn’t think this ship was this big, so I tried to wait for you by walking around. “

“No, it is fine by me. We just worried that maybe you were thrown off the ship because of the wind,” the brother replied.

“Ha-ha, nice one.” Was he serious?

“I am Sif Rockford. Commander of this ship. This is my little sister Rea.” His sister bowed a little.
What is she doing?

“I believe there is a lot of things you want to ask, but why don’t we go to a better place to talk, maybe in my house?"

We are going to the house of Sif Rockford. That so called house is a room with a table, a chair, a bed. I also noticed a small door which could be a toilet or bathing rooms, but I don’t know for sure. The only differences with the room where I slept before is only the table, chair, that door, and the size. A little bit bigger, but I won’t feel any difference if I close my eyes.

“So, Rockford, is this your house?”

“Yes. I believe housing facilities are called house.”

“Yes, you are right.”

Rockford opened a panel in the wall, and took out some silvery things. Probably al-foiled foods, and gave one of them to me.

Looking at my puzzled face, he said to me, “This is how people eat at my ship. We like simple foods because we don’t have time to eat the way we used to be. First, rip the blue part off the silver aluminium. Then just sip from the opening.”

I tried, and tasted this “convoy style” food, and it is not bad. It tasted good and I said that to them. This way you can eat and do other things simultaneously without problem, quite a convenient stuff.

“Rockford…, Rea…,” I paused to take a breath, “what had happened to the colony?”

“Colony, you mean the locus where you were?”

I give a nod.

He took a deep breath, bad signs. I knew it will be a very bad news, but I have to ask. I have to make sure.

“Honestly, 94 percent are totally wiped out. Among those which survived, fifteen are rendered inhabitable, and eleven are likely to fall after two or three years, but most are still able to sustain a stable float.

“But, in my view, that number of shells won’t be able to sustain a good locus for long. In time they will have to join a bigger locus or…”

Why he paused? “Or what?”

“Or they have to be a nomad. Like us.”

A nomad? Doesn’t sound so bad.

“How long have I been knocked out?”

“Five days. During that period we always announce injured persons and dead bodies to the locus members, but no one ever showed up to claim you. After all I think the chance people you know…”

“Sif,” his sister looked at him with a warning face.

“I’m sorry,” said his brother.

“It’s alright.” They were all dead to me long before. “So nobody wants to take me in and I must make your ship 60 kilos heavier huh?”

“Yes, in a way.”

“Hell in the hell. No choice for the victim I guess.”

The next one to speak is Rea, “Hmm…, I’m so sorry, but what is your name?”

“My name?” suddenly I realized that all this time they were looking at me with the eyes of caution. Now I understand the reason, “It, has been quite a time, the last time people ask for my name.”

They are still looking at me.

“I am, Dim Donovan. My friends call me Dim.” (Oh, Dim, Dim! Don’t live in your own perceptions. What happened?) Cane used to call me that way. Is he my friend?

“Okay, Dim Donovan. You have nothing to worry about for now. Just take a rest and ease your mind.”

“Mr. Rockford,” Oh, hell, I used Mr.

“I have no problem of joining your convoy, but at least I want to know where is your destination?”

He smiled a bit, “We have none Dim, because we are nomads, we travel around as a mean of survival, not because of a destination.”

“I, I understand.” Of course it is, “but don’t you have any destination Mr. Rockford?”

“I do have. But you won’t understand it, not now.”

I nodded.

I am afraid that maybe I asked too much things. But there is one more thing that I should ask. This is the most important one.

“Mr. Rockford…”

“Rockford is okay Dim. What is it?”

“Is there exists The Room in this ship?”

He showed a big smile, “Are you kidding?”



###Three days later.###



It is now dark outside the ship. I stood behind the metal bars perimeter. I can see the traces of sunlight rays diffused in the outer layers.

Colorful.

It seems like years ago, the last time I leave my shell to look for my tool room key. Now they are looks so distant and unimportant, of no relevance. How stupid I am.

“Everyone does have a destination you know.” Rea walked behind me and said slowly. “But sometimes it is so difficult to see the way we should head. And sometimes people lost in a pointless journey. But here, everyone have a destination. People who travel always have a destination. I know that pretty well. Even those who don’t have one travel to seek for it, and it was all different,” her last words spoken in a bright tone.

In the foreground of the sky, the six of the convoy ships flying constantly. The trail of the machine’s propulsion drew a stretched line behind the ship.

“Yeah, and everyone have a different destination.”

“But you know, here, they are traveling together. So many different destinations, and yet they are in a same trip.”

“It won’t last forever. One by one they will reach their destination, and finally they will all stay somewhere.”

She shook her head. “I think, they will wait for us. They will still with us, guiding the rest to reach faster. Because I believe, in this world there is only one destination. It is the Journey to the Truth.”

I smiled and laughed a bit. “The truth, huh? You sure are a rare person Rea Rockford.”

Ever since a long time ago, I’ve known my destination. But also since a long time ago, I’ve lost my map. And now I have got a new map. Is it the time for me to start the journey?

No, I’m already on the way.

To the Journey to the Truth...