(Small Fry Chapter 4)
In a bright flash of light,
we disappeared from our living room to reappear in another, in a corridor of
the futuristic stronghold of the once powerful Circulate.
The headquarters was inside
a massive glass dome, which housed late 25th Century
technology. It had black floors, open
ceilings to allow natural light in, frosted-over, sliding glass doors, and
computer interfaces adorning many surfaces.
The computers were touch screen, with see-through casings filled with
crystallized circuitry. Indeed, the
computer core of the Circulate Mainframe which was a ‘smart computer’; looked
like a giant, rotating crystal pyramid, with a myriad of lasers hitting it to
access the ingrained information.
Once upon a time, the
Circulate was made up of 696 humans, those who could either calculate time or
move through it, in the form of its’ Circulators. The Calculators chose to place the second
headquarters on the terran-class planet inside of a green nebula, on the other
side of the galaxy. It was to protect
the secret of the society’s existence, since the nebula was too unstable to
navigate space ships through. The only
way the headquarters was accessible, was for Circulators to phase via the Gate
or instantaneously phase, directly to the planet’s surface.
The secret society left
their mortal existences behind in the Final Phase, to evolve as energy to the
space time continuum. After their
departure, it left behind only my Circulator mother, who met a long-lost cousin
who was a Calculator. It was Mum,
Vincent and my Gran - who was the only Circulator let alone human, to have been
to eternity and back - who trained my abilities as a Circulator. With my family’s departure, now it was just
Declan and I, as the last of the Circulate to use the empty headquarters.
“This way,” I headed for
the nearest entryway.
As Declan and Ki followed
me through the automatic, sliding glass doors, they noted on the lit up panel
beside which read; VIEWING ROOM.
Immediately, the female
voice of the Circulate Mainframe, greeted us.
“Welcome to the Viewing Room, Circulators Bianca and Declan Sabre.”
“Huh?” My mate looked taken aback. “How does it know that you changed me?”
“The Circulate Mainframe
knew of your oncoming transformation, for years.” I smirked.
“It is monitoring our timelines, don’t forget.”
Our Medicine Man looked
suitably impressed, as well as by the futuristic technology.
The room had a glass top,
circular desk which went around in a ring.
On top sat three crystallized computer consoles, which were spread
around. In the centre of the room, was a
large, upside down, crystal pyramid, hanging from the open ceiling. Three Calculators used to sit here,
monitoring Earth and the entire Universe, when the Circulate still had all of
its members. In the three sides of the
pyramid, different scenes from humankind’s history were on display. One depicted the Roman Forum during Imperial
times, the other was of the Forbidden City in the 16th Century and
last of all, were the Lokoti Tribal Lands of the era we had just departed.
“Hey that’s my house,” Ki
pointed at the picture.
“The Circulate Mainframe
always has its eye on tribal lands, as it keeps tabs on my whereabouts.” I said breezily.
“B, would you like me to
report on Circulate systems and Hodge Endeavor?” The computer offered.
“No thanks, not today.
I’ll get a full report the next time I come, unless there’s anything
urgent?” I said as I sat at the closest
computer console.
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