The Fourth World Read online

  And then Fintan was slipping away into sleep again.

  *

  He woke, still in his hospital bed. Everything seemed clearer now. He looked around the room. As hospitals went, it was nice. It was clean, and the equipment looked modern.

  The doctor peeped in.

  “Ah!” he said. “You’re awake!”

  Fintan smiled and nodded.

  “I bet you’re hungry too.”

  “Yes” said Fintan. “I could eat a horse”

  “Sorry, horse is off the menu until tomorrow. Can I get you steak and eggs instead?”

  “Sounds good.”

  Breakfast came, with visitors: Zack, Ayako and Nizhoni.

  “Nice hat,” said Zack.

  “Huh?” said Fintan.

  Ayako, smiling, pulled a small mirror from her purse. She handed it to Fintan who looked at his face in it. His head was covered in bandages, with only his face exposed.

  “Is it Egyptian?” asked Zack. “If so, why didn’t you pick one up for us when you were there?”

  It was good to hear Zack being back to his usual jovial self.

  “I’m glad we’re all here” said Nizhoni. “I feel we owe you an explanation”

  “It’s ok,” said Zack. “I’m sorry my ego got in the way, of course you don’t have to tell me everything.”

  “But you are our friends,” she said. “And even Fintan didn’t know everything, but what he knew I asked him to keep private.”

  She continued. “There are other Navajo in the school. And these Navajo broke the condition of confidentiality about the school, to help our people. We know that our people can keep a secret, so the Navajo in the school let our friends outside the school know about it, so they have a better chance of getting in and succeeding when they get here.”

  Zack was stunned. “That’s a dangerous game you’re playing.”

  She sighed. “I know. But, you have to understand my people. First, we can keep a secret. There is no way that we would leak something of this importance. And second, you must remember that our people were almost made extinct by outsiders.”

  “By us,” said Fintan.

  “Not you, but your forebears,” she smiled at him. “There’s no hard feelings, but we believe in our culture, we love our culture, and we realized that once the human race made it to the stars, there can be a planet just for us Navajo, where we can be who we want to be and not worry about outside cultures destroying us ever again. We can evolve into what we are supposed to be.”

  “But isn’t that the point of a reservation?” said Zack.

  “Have you ever been to a reservation?” she answered.

  He shook his head.

  “It’s a poor compromise,” she said. “It’s a place where Navajo can be Navajo, but we’re surrounded by a culture that could easily destroy us. It feels like we are under siege. It is nice that we can be ourselves in there, but can we expand? Can we grow? All we are right now is a museum or a tourist destination. We’ve stagnated, and we want to grow.”

  “So,” said Fintan “by having more Navajo in the school, you will grow your power, so when the time comes that we go to the stars-”

  “We’ll go our own way” she said. “And we’ll have what we dreamed of. We’ll enter the fifth world.”

  “That’s how I knew about the flight center. That’s how I knew a lot about the school. Other Navajo have been here, and went back and told us about it. I couldn’t tell, because the secret has never been outside my people before. Can you keep it?”

  “Of course” said Fintan. Zack and Ayako also nodded.

  Chapter 13: Hospital

  I never thought that she’d be so indiscrete

  Nor I, but there’s a great bond there

  Do you think we should do something about it?

  Let’s wait and see

  Fintan’s concussion must have been serious, as he stayed in hospital for the whole weekend. He was expecting to get out for Monday classes, but still wasn’t released. Still that wasn’t a problem as he had double Cosmic History on Monday mornings. He was happy not to see Sinclair for the rest of the week.

  However, boredom began to set in. He spent the day sleeping, staring at the ceiling, eating the hospital food (his stomach squirmed at the thought) before finally sleeping again. It seemed like an eternity until finally he heard Zack coming down the corridor to visit. He might be only twelve years old, like Fintan, but his voice was deepening and could carry.

  He stuck his head in the door.

  “Yo!” he said. “Is the sleeping beauty awake?”

  Fintan nodded. “Thank God” he said. “I thought I was going to die of boredom.”

  As always, Ayako and Nizhoni came along. Fintan was so happy he was sure that his grin was loosening his bandages.

  “Mister Sinclair missed you this morning,” said Zack. “He looked lost and pining for you for the whole lesson.”

  Fintan laughed. “Yeah, right!”

  “He did!” said Zack. “He even gave you a little gift.”

  Zack dropped some papers on the bed.

  “No way,” said Fintan.

  Zack put on his best English accent, stood as straight as he could and spoke down his nose at Fintan. “Mister Adams,” he said, “please make sure that Mister Reilly receives these and ensure that they are completed before next Monday. Just because he’s in hospital he’s not going to be a slacker.”

  Fintan couldn’t help but laugh, Zack had nailed the accent.

  “Slackerrrrr” repeated Zack.

  “We’ve done what we came to do,” said Ayako. “Time to go. See you tomorrow Fintan!”

  “Woah! Wait a minute!”

  Ayako laughed. “Gotcha!”

  “Oh you’ve missed so much good stuff today. I got so much to tell you!” said Zack.

  “So go ahead” said Fintan. “Keep me awake”

  “First, and this isn’t the best part – just wait a bit for that, but you’ve got to see this” said Zack. “Ayako, go for it!”

  Ayako rolled up her sleeve to show the bracelet. “We had a tech class today and they showed us how to do this.”

  She touched something on the bracelet and the red crystal glowed. Then a small cubic area was projected above Fintan’s bed.

  “It’s like the holographic projector they used when they scared us with that monster,” she said.

  “So why are you showing it to me?” said Fintan. “And not Zack?”

  She laughed. “Well, it takes a little while to figure it out, and he’s still bumbling around with it.”

  “Yeah, watch this!” said Zack

  He did the same motions as Ayako. A light shot out from it, right into his eyes.

  “Ow,” said Zack. “It didn’t do that last time!”

  “Well, what did it do last time?”

  “You don’t want to know. Trust me,” he said.

  Ayako smiled. Nizhoni placed her hands over her groin and mimicked an ‘Ouch’ sound.

  Zack went red. “Ok, continue Ayako, let’s show him!”

  “So is this the coolest part?” asked Fintan.

  “No!” said Zack. “It’s cool, but it’s not the coolest part. Just wait!”

  Ayako turned some controls, and the projection lit up with a replay of the Starball game that Fintan and Nizhoni had just played in. She was able to control the game, moving forwards and backwards the play and replay various highlights.

  “Now that’s cool” said Fintan.

  They stepped through one of Simon’s more impressive moves. Ayako was able to freeze the frame, show the formation of the other ships and step through just how Simon was able to avoid or deceive them.

  “Impressive” said Nizhoni. Praise indeed coming from her.

  “Just wait till you see this” said Zack, nodding towards Ayako.

  She skipped ahead until the last few seconds. In slow motion they saw Nizhoni’s amazing shot to first knock the ball across the field from where she could line up h
er goalbound shot.

  Then they saw Blue Leader’s intercept course, and Fintan moving out of his corner. Even in slow motion his ship blurred on the screen. He was moving fast. They saw him cut off Blue Leader just in time for Nizhoni to get in the final shot that won the game.

  “Now that was cool,” said Zack. “You’ll have to tell me how you did it!”

  “It looks different from here,” said Fintan. “In the game, you just do it, you don’t think. I told Nizhoni that I had her back, and I didn’t want to let her down.”

  “Aww,” said Ayako. Nizhoni blushed slightly.

  “First, that’s not the coolest thing. I’ll get to that in a moment. But, when we were watching the replay, we got to talking about the Kobayashi Maru, and how we dealt with it, and realized that you weren’t part of the conversation, and we’d love to know how you dealt with it.”

  “The Kobawhatsit?” said Fintan.

  “You know the test. The last part. It’s impossible to pass, so they want to see how you deal with failure and how spectacularly you burn out. Or something.”

  “Earth calling Zack, come in?” said Fintan. “What are you talking about.”

  “You know the Kobayashi Maru. It’s Japanese.”

  “No it isn’t,” said Ayako.

  “Well they said it was Japanese on Star Trek.”

  “Can you start again?” said Fintan. “Maybe it’s the bandages, but my head hurts.”

  “OK” said Zack. “And I will speak s-l-o-w-l-y ok?”

  Fintan raised his eyebrow. Get on with it!

  “When they tested you for this place, they tested you, like the rest of us with a bunch of games, right?”

  “Yeah” said Fintan.

  “And then you got to fly a saucer, except you didn’t think you were flying a saucer, right?”

  “Go on” said Fintan.

  “You did a bunch of tests, and blew through them, and then they gave you the impossible test.”

  “Which one was that?”

  “You know the one where there were two balls and you had to put them into a proper orbit, blah blah?” said Zack

  “Yeah.”

  “Well that’s the Kobayashi Maru. In Star Trek it was a test of character, to see how you would do in an unwinnable situation. To see what you were really like. I gave up on one ball and just put the other in orbit” he said. “I guess they liked a part success instead of a complete failure.”

  “I got both in Orbit” said Ayako, “but not the right orbit. After a little while they fell and burned in the atmosphere.”

  “I shot them” said Nizhoni. “Better than having space junk floating around.”

  “So what about you?”

  “I uh put them into the right orbit,” said Fintan. “I guess I passed.”

  They were quiet.

  “Nearly killed myself doing it though. But somehow I got out.”

  He went on the explain how he had done a billiard shot to put both balls into orbit, but the recoil sent him into a death spin towards the moon. Then he told them how he was able to use his last drops of fuel to pull out and survive.

  “Wow,” said Ayako.

  “Somehow, I’m not surprised,” said Nizhoni.

  “No wonder they picked you for Starball,” said Zack.

  “Oh here he goes again with his conspiracy theories” said Ayako. “Zack, you are in the middle of the biggest conspiracy theory on the planet. Why do you have to look for more?”

  “They didn’t pick me,” said Fintan, answering Zack. “It was random.”

  “Yeah right” said Zack. “You passed the Kobayashi Maru, of course they wanted to see you in action.”

  Fintan shook his head.

  “Anyway” said Zack. “Cool as it is, that’s not the coolest part!”

  Ayako changed the video to show inside the Red Squadron dome. “Last nights party,” she said. “Sorry you missed it.”

  “Oh thanks,” said Fintan. “You guys have a big party to celebrate, and not only am I not there, but you’re going to rub my face in it. Thanks a bunch.”

  “No no no no no no no!” said Zack. “That’s not it. Just watch!”

  He moved his hands in the air, through the screen. It allowed him to manipulate the image. He picked out the stage, and the members of the team on the stage. He froze the frame and zoomed in on Simon.

  The image was very clear. Simon was standing, a little shyly and slightly behind the rest of the team.

  “That’s odd,” said Fintan.

  “It’s not the oddest thing,” said Zack. He zoomed in further. On the screen they could see Simon’s face. One eye was blackened and bruised.

  “Even that’s not the best part” said Zack. He moved forward a few frames to see Simon smile. A tooth was missing too. Zack laughed. “Cool, right?”

  Fintan couldn’t help but smile, but wasn’t sure if it was because of Zack’s laughter or because of Simon’s discomfort.

  “That doesn’t make sense” said Fintan, looking at Nizhoni. “We saw him in the ready room, and he didn’t have any-”

  “He must have” said Nizhoni, interrupting him. “Where else would he have gotten it?” She raised an eyebrow and smiled a little. “And you weren’t really yourself, so don’t trust your memory.”

  “But,” said Fintan.

  Nizhoni smiled a little again, her eyes meeting Fintan’s.

  He smiled. “You didn’t?”

  Zack interrupted. “Is this a secret conversation, or can anyone join in?”

  Fintan shook his head. “She’s right, I must have been disoriented.”

  Zack looked at him suspiciously. And then at Nizhoni who smiled her best innocent smile.

  He shrugged his shoulders in a way that said ‘never mind’.

  At that moment Trichallik walked into the room. Zack stood back to let her pass. She was much smaller up close, even shorter than Ayako. She nodded to them as she gently eased her way past.

  “Hello Fintan,” said Trichallik in her unique voice. “I’m sorry about what happened, and wanted to see if you are doing better? I’m sorry to disturb your conversation with your friends, I will leave soon.”

  She walked closer to his bed. They had never seen her up close like this, and it was unnerving.

  As she stepped closer to Fintan he couldn’t help but notice her eyes. From a distance they looked to be pure black but as she stepped closer they looked more like mirrors.

  It was getting hard for Fintan to breathe. He couldn’t take his eyes away from hers. He was looking deeply into them now, and could see that they were compound eyes, like those of an insect.

  It was getting too hot for Fintan. He was sweating profusely. Trichallik smiled.

  Fintan couldn’t be here. He had to get away. He scrambled back in his bed, but was unable to move. It felt like there was a great weight on his chest. He felt a scream rising from low down in his chest, but he fought to surpress it. She reached her hand out and touched his arm. The touch of her skin on his drove him over the edge.

  He screamed, and then blacked out again.

  Chapter 14: Conspiracy Theory

  Not what you expected I assume?

  Definitely not. I’m surprised.

  This tells us a lot.

  “I’m sick of this hospital bed now,” said Fintan.

  “Well if you’d stop fainting every time you see a perfectly normal alien up close, they might let you out!” said Zack.

  “I don’t know what came over me.”

  “That was a fear response if I ever saw one,” said Ayako. “No offense, Fintan, but you were clearly terrified.”

  Nizhoni looked at Fintan, holding his gaze, looking deep into his eyes for a moment. “Are you sure you want to talk about this now? We don’t want you to get ill again.”

  Fintan thought about it. “It’s bouncing around my head all the time. If I don’t talk about it with you guys, I think I’ll go crazy.”

  They waited, listening.

 
“Look, this might sound weird,” said Fintan. “But when she got up close, I felt like I had seen her before. And I don’t mean since I got here. There was something that I couldn’t place. And then I couldn’t breathe. I just don’t get it. I’ve been trying to figure it out, trying to remember, but I couldn’t.”

  He stopped for a moment, and then continued. “There’s something else. Her eyes. When I saw them up close they were different, compound, like those of an insect. She looks almost human so it’s easier to accept her as an alien, but when I saw that – I just couldn’t deal with it.”

  “So,” said Nizhoni. “You think you’ve seen aliens like her before?”

  “No,” said Fintan, “of course not. I’ve hardly ever been out of my hometown before. Where would I see an alien?”

  “There’s something else that is odd,” said Nizhoni, “How did you know I was Navajo?”

  “What?”

  “Back when we first met. Zack called me a ‘Jap’, but you knew I was Navajo,” she said. “How?”

  “How!” said Zack, holding his hand up. “How. Get it? How! It’s how Indians say hello.”

  Nizhoni rolled her eyes.

  “Sorry,” said Zack. “Go on”

  Fintan thought about it for a moment. “Now that you say it, I have no idea. I guess I had just read about Navajo or something?”

  “And that was enough for you to be able to tell which nation I am from, just from my name?”

  “Well you do have the flag on your uniform,” said Zack. “That helps.”

  “Zack, you are from California, only 2 states over from New Mexico. Do you recognize this flag?”

  He thought about it for a moment. “No,” he said, quietly.

  “So how did Fintan know about it?” she said, turning back towards him.

  Fintan breathed in deeply, and then breathed out again.

  “I have no idea,” he said. “You have to believe me.”

  “Are you sure you may not have read something about it? You’re a smart guy” said Nizhoni. “And I’m sure you read a lot.”

  “If I did, I think I’d remember,” said Fintan. “I am sure I didn’t.”

  “Why are we interrogating Fintan,” said Ayako. “He’s our friend.”

  “Sorry,” said Nizhoni. “I don’t mean to do that, I just want to be sure there is no rational explanation about how you would know these things”

  A tear started crawling down Fintan’s cheek. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know.”

  She took his shoulders in his hands and embraced him to her chest in a motherly way. “I know.” she said. “I understand. You see I had the same feeling about you when I first saw you. We have met before. I just don’t know where.”