Shadows by Peter Cawdron Read Free Book Online Page B

Space seemed serene. Thinking
about it, another equally applicable term sprang to mind: surreal.
The idea of clouds floating beneath someone was like that of a
children's tale. To soar above the clouds was the stuff of dreams.
To float through space must have been surreal, she decided, at
least as best she understood the word. The images before her were
probing the limits of both her comprehension and her
vocabulary.
    Susan particularly liked
the images of people floating inside busy metal rooms with wires
and computer consoles lining the walls. She wanted to ask Charlie
about them, but the furrows on his brow as he read his book spoke
of intense concentration so she went back to her book. At first,
she thought these photos had been taken while the people were
jumping, as how else could you float without being in water?
Turning the page, she saw another photo of three people drifting
within something called the space station, only they were floating
at different angles. One of them, a woman, was completely upside
down. Her hair drifted away from her head when both she and her
hair should have fallen to the ground. What marvelous wonders there
had once been, Susan thought.
    A few pages
over, Susan found herself looking at wisps of vapor drifting in the
pitch black of space. The array of colors was breathtaking to
behold, a beautiful tapestry of reds and blues, yellows and greens
slowly blending with each other. The caption said something about
Orion, but like so many other words she ’ d seen, the
term was meaningless. She wondered if she would ever see something
so beautiful with her own eyes.
    The book called this
ethereal cloud a nebula and said it spanned twenty-four light
years, which was something that gave Susan a glimpse into how
radically language had changed. She understood each of the
components, twenty-four, light and years, but she had no idea what
these words meant when run together. How could a year be a
measurement of distance rather than time? And what did light have
to do with a year?
    In the back of her mind,
something was wrong, something ate away at her thinking, but she
couldn't quite articulate what. After reading for what must have
been a couple of hours the disconnect finally
registered.
    “ I don't
understand, ” she confessed, taking her hair band
off and fiddling with it nervously. “ Why keep this
secret? Secrets are to protect something. There's nothing here to
protect, only something beautiful to share. ”
    Charlie
smiled, looking up from his book as he said, “ I don't
know. Maybe they figure if we knew what we lost it would be too
much for us? ”
    He opened
another book and flicked through a few pages. Resting it before
her, he pointed at an image, saying, “ Recognize this? This
is a book on anatomy and medical practices. ”
    He was pointing at an image
of a knee brace. It looked far more refined and purpose-built than
the one he'd made for Sheriff Cann, but the likeness was
unmistakable.
    “ Who have you
told? ” she asked.
    “ No
one, ” Charlie replied. “ Well, no one other
than you. Doc Winters thinks I'm a genius. Truth is, I realized how
this knowledge could help. Barney doesn't like me tinkering. He
thinks if Hammond finds out there will be hell to pay, so I play it
cool. Just the odd innovation here and there, something to make
people's lives easier. ”
    Susan shook her head, still
playing with her hand band.
    “ This is
wrong. This is so wrong. ”
    “ What? ” Charlie asked in surprise. “ I thought you'd like this place? ”
    “ I love
it, ” Susan confessed. “ But if all this has
been hidden then it's been hidden for generations, for hundreds and
hundreds of years. ”
    Charlie didn't seem to get
her point.
    “ If they've
kept this hidden from everyone, for all time, you have to ask what
will they do when find out that you know? ”
    “ Barney knows
too, ” Charlie replied.
    “ I can't
believe how na ï ve you
are, ” Susan replied, somewhat exasperated.