Above. chapter 3

                                                                  Above
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        Chapter 3


As Aleeah opened her eyes there was a soft murmuring around  the room like the burbling of a mountain spring and then a soft gasp echoed in the huge cavernous space. The light was blinding at first after so long in the holding cell and Aleeah shaded her eyes with her hands as her eyes adjusted.

The first thing she noticed was the green. Plants were everywhere, soft patches of dirt held hundreds of different plants unknown to her, window boxes and vines grew on the railings of stairs that went hundreds of feet into the air, and trees whose trunks were larger than her arms would go around with fruit and flowers growing on them at the same time. Green! Every where she looked there were flowers and fruit and vegetables!

The second thing she noticed was just how huge the space really was, a hundred pillars that rose farther up than she could see with spiral stairs twirling around them should have made the space seem smaller but they only served to amplify how grand it really was. The walls each had long stairs and balconies going up, seven... eight... nine... ten stories!

'Enough space to harbor thousands...' Aleeah wondered to herself.

The third was the light, a small carved pattern of flowing light seemed inlaid into the nearest pillar and as soon as she noticed it in one place she saw it everywhere. Long fingers of the light seemed to shoot  from pillar to pillar, all headed toward the center of the room, the source of the light.

She started forward and some grumblings came from several different directions in the crowd of people she was just noticing. She immediately shied back and bumped into Skyler's cold chest, she gasped and he grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her up, setting her down again at arms length from him.

"S-s-sorry..." she stuttered looking up at him with wide eyes.

"It's alright Ms. Jacobi, you are new here, it might have been too much for you to take in all at once."  He said, smiling down at her and waving her forward. "Explore."

She turned and slowly let her shoulders drop, letting out a deep breath as she noticed how diverse the Civils were. A hundred or more surrounded her at a distance, some behind trees some halfway up pillars and more on the balconies. Thousands started appearing all over the place, appearing out of cracks and crevices in the walls to stare out at her. The majority had the same black hair and blue eyes as Nina and Skyler but there were many with different features, green eyes and red hair flashed in the bright glow of the wall carvings and light brown eyes shimmered and sparkled in contrast from the dark brown skin that surrounded it. She tried to ignore them, despite her urge to stare at their beauty, as she started toward the center of the main hall but something struck her as too eerie... There were no children. Most of the Civils were short and thin like a child but none of their faces had any hint of the child-like innocence she had seen in Human children. These were all adults with not even a babe sheltered in the mothers arms hushed to sleep, or wailing over something only its mother knew how to amend.

She shot a shocked glance at Skyler, who had been following a few feet behind her, and he chuckled. "Everything will be explained later, just explore and enjoy the hospitality of the civilized people." he said, putting emphasis on the word 'hospitality' and shooting accusatory glances at the nearest Civils before they could shy away from his gaze.

"There will be plenty of time to discuss our culture and your future here later," Nina piped in. "For now, enjoy this little freedom before the Mother assigns you your work schedule. Being new here will be tough at first and you won't have the time to look around."

The silence, also, was eerie. There were normal Above sounds like that of a bug rustling through the plants, the occasional bird call, and a breeze making the leaves of the trees laugh as they collided with each other which, when she thought about it, all seemed misplaced in an underground cavern, but no other sound echoed through the place. No footsteps or even hushed conversations reached her ears, it was as if they all glided over the ground without touching it and never spoke even when it seemed necessary, they were ghostly beings.

Aleeah nodded and walked slowly forward again, curious as to what the source of the light strands was. Her fingers brushed up against the plants to either side of her and she stooped to look at an interesting flower, noting the fact that it was not an Above flower she studied it carefully. It was red, different shades of red, with four large mottled petals curved downward at the tip, and six long yellow spiral strands that shot upward from the center and waved in the light breeze like fine hair in slow moving water. The leaves of the plant were dark red, looked a lot like a spiral fern from the Above, and moved along the ground five inches away from the bare flower stalk before curving upward like a protective bowl around the flower. She inhaled deeply and as the scent of the flower reached her nose she hummed deep in her chest, it smelled like cinnamon and honey. She asked what the flower was without directing the question to anyone in particular.

Nina came silently to her side and bent to her knees, breathing in the smell as she answered. "Our last Mother had a particular love of plants and devoted a lot of her time to breeding them from specimens from the Above and making them purely native to this colony, after her passing everyone in the colony has put a little of their time to turn the Main hall into gardens. This one was her favorite and she spent weeks developing it by tweaking the plants genetics to perfect it. We named it after her. The Rutie flower."

"Hmm..." Aleeah wondered to herself whether the Civils were really as bad as she had always been led to believe. It seemed to her that a life led by whatever was on your heart was far better than a life of running. The colonies seemed like more of a prosperous place than the tribes of the Above, but there was something off about it. The lack of children was unnerving and she was determined to gather as much information as she could about her, in her mind, temporary home. She needed to see Gared urgently, but her curiosity was getting the better of her. Where was the light coming from?

She got up and walked away from the flower that had captivated her and tried to mimic Nina's graceful stride but failed miserably. She saw a clearing up ahead and switched back to her usual walk to get there faster. The soft dirt squished between her toes pleasantly as she stepped heel-to-toe in a bouncy Human gait along the wide dirt paths between the pillars and trees. She glanced back at Nina and Skyler, a few paces behind her, just as they exchanged grins. She picked up the pace to see the source of the light strands and soon reached the edge of the clearing.

The clearing itself was a big circular space at the very center of the hall with the trees making a natural wall all the way around it except where the paths entered it. Soft short grass covered the ground in a light green carpet which was surprisingly inviting despite the certainty that it was occupied by hundreds of bugs, and in the center of the circle was a large, white, stone hand. The hand looked like it was being sucked into the ground with an arm attached to it, disappearing into the soil at the middle of the forearm, and was palm-up with its fingers (which were as tall as she was if not more) curled upward in such a way that it didn't look like it was trying to hold on to life but, catch it before it fell into the same earth it was disappearing into.

"Catch what?" she wondered.

She let her eyes travel upward and there, it seemed a mile away, was the sun. Aleeah stared at it till her eyes burned and she had to look away and blink rapidly. It was the sun... underground? She couldn't wrap her mind around it. She shaded her eyes from the sun and looked up long enough to see that the light strands went directly into the massive fireball.

"Th-th-the..." she stuttered. "The sun?!" She exhaled sharply with the release of the two words and put her palm to her forehead. "But we are underground..." She looked over at Nina. "How did...?"

Nina smiled. "No, not the Sun, a sun."

Skyler came to Aleeahs side as she slowly sat down to keep from falling. "It's an invention of ours," he said. "One of the many ways we have made civilized life better. We created our own sun from pure energy, channeled that energy into the carvings our ancestors made, and let it go throughout almost the entire colony before connecting back with the sun."

Nina beamed at her. "Genius isn't it?"

Aleeah shook her head in shock, many in her tribe would call it witchcraft and condemn it. They would accuse any who created such things as Ganjie sympathizers and kick them out of the tribes for good, leaving them to contract the disease of the monsters of the Above. But now, starring it in the face, she couldn't do that. It was beautiful. She realized that her hands were shaking and buried them in the grass she was sitting on, she noticed idly that it was the softest thing she had ever touched.

A thought occurred to her. "But... how does it ever get dark?"

Nina crouched on her toes next to her. "The hand," she said, pointing at it. "After a full 24 hour day the sun sinks down into the hand and the connection with the light strands ceases, creating darkness in all the halls and rooms in the colony. The lanterns, like the one we had in the unfinished tunnel, are not connected to the sun but are mini suns themselves. Like the main sun, they never stop burning, we have to cover them or put them away to have darkness."

"How did you create it?"

Nina's smile disappeared. "I'm afraid we can't tell you, not yet at least. Not until you are one of us."

Aleeah nodded. It made sense. If this technology ever got up to the Above, the Ganjies would tear the world apart. There would be no cover of darkness for the Civil armed forces to strike, or for the Human tribes to move safely.

As they spoke the sun slowly started sinking and Nina and Skyler stared directly at it for a moment before helping Aleeah off the ground.

Nina looked Aleeah in the eyes. "We need to get to the Mother before night, you can visit your brothers tomorrow but now we need to hurry. We can do many things but, contrary to Human myths, seeing in the dark is not one of them."

"We are sorry, but we need to do this." came Skyler's voice as something soft covered her eyes and tightened around her head. "We can not let you know your way to the council hall or the Mothers court."

Aleeah shot her hands up to her face and let out a sharp cry as Nina's tiny gloved hands grabbed her wrists. "We do not want to bind you, Miss. Jacobi, because it wouldn't be civilized, please don't give us reason to do so. It would be undignified."

Aleeah stopped struggling and nodded, she was at their mercy and there was nothing she could do to fight them even if she tried.

Thum-thump-thump, thum-thump-thump, thum-thump-thump... Aleeah felt the vibrations of heavy foot fall run up her legs and pound in her chest for a few seconds before she heard it.

"Whoa! Hashi slow down!" came a new voice, commanding yet playful, a feminine voice.

Something snorted and Aleeah jumped. Whatever it was it was right by her ear, and she fought the urge to hit it.

"I can not believe you did that to me..." came a male voice, breathless.

The girl giggled. "Quit your complaining! It was fun wasn't it?"

Nina spoke next. "Mother-daughter, how may we be of service to you?"

"No help needed Nina, I came to speak to the Human. Is this her?"

Aleeah broke her silence to clear her throat. "She has a name you know." she said in a haughty voice.

Skyler laughed. "The Human temperament never ceases to amaze does it? She means no offense, Ellesmere, she is only Human."

Aleeah shot a fist to where she thought he stood and made contact on his shoulder, she winced at the crunching noise her hand made, but he didn't react in any way except to chuckle.

Aleeah cradled her newly injured hand and decided that it was a very bad idea to hit a Civil.

The one Aleeah gathered to be Ellesmere laughed. "I expect nothing less! My curiosity knows no bounds as many know, but here i have neglected my manners! Aleeah Jacobi, my name is Ellesmere, eldest daughter to the Mother of this colony."

'Someone to befriend...' Aleeah thought as she nodded in Ellesmere's direction. "It seems you already know who I am, now if only i could see you..." she hinted craftily.

"Why are her eyes bound?" Ellesmere said sharply, and there was a slight shuffling of feet on grass where Skyler and Nina stood.

"The Mothers orders, Ellesmere, we had no other choice than to obey." said Skyler.

"Well I am the Mothers daughter. I take full responsibility for any trouble you might get into for this. Now, take the blinder off."

"We will not take it off but you are welcome to." said Skyler.

The fourth person, been silent throughout the exchange, spoke up. "M'lady, let me be of service," and, in a flash the blinder was off and Aleeah took in her surroundings.

The Mother-daughter was standing in front of her and a little to the left, and directly to her right was the fourth person who had not been introduced yet. Directly to her left where the snort had come from she could see nothing but Nina and Skyler, they looked like they were leaning against a wall but there was nothing but open air behind them. She furrowed her brow at this and was about to inquire about it, but a soft gasp from Ellesmere distracted her.
"Your eyes..." Ellesmere said, in awe. "They are beautiful."

"My eyes?" Aleeah said, absentmindedly bringing her hands up to her face.

The fourth Civil cleared his throat. "Human eyes are a wonder," he said. "Forgive me, Lady Jacobi, my name is Jameson." he stuck out a gloved hand and Aleeah shook it.

"What kind of a name is Jameson?" she asked.

"What kind of a name is Aleeah?" he replied, winking at her.

She took a moment to study her two new acquaintances. Ellesmere had the same general features as Nina but her hair was down to her waist, her smile a little more mischievous and, her attire a little more exotic. She was wearing what looked to be all light brown leather, with the vast majority of her skin showing, and wore no accessories other than a thin silver circlet on her head with a small dark blue gemstone in the very center, accentuating her eyes perfectly.

Jameson, however, was the opposite of exotic in what he wore, his clothes were very plain and gray, reminding Aleeah very much of the clothing Humans wore in the Above. His dark, middle-eastern skin shined in contrast with his deep set, dark blue Civil eyes, of which, Aleeah noted, had a sadness to them despite the spark of mischief and intelligence. Strangely, his was the only presence Aleeah felt at ease with, while the others moved in quick, graceful motions, Jameson seemed content to move slowly and with an ease in body that seemed almost to float with his long gait.

Aleeah suddenly noticed that all the Civils surrounding her were wearing long elbow length gloves, and not once had she ever come in contact with the milky pale skin of the Civils. A small line appeared between her eyebrows and her lips came together in a confused and frustrated pout.

Meanwhile, Ellesmere and the others spoke in quick hushed tones that Aleeah was just becoming aware of, and though they spoke fast and kept it all in a very low quiet monotone Aleeah managed to catch a few words here and there.

"...quickly before we are noticed..." came a voice that sounded like Skyler's, and then Aleeah heard Nina's voice a few seconds later, "...to the Mother......before the rebellion..."

This seemed to cause a stir with Ellesmere for she shifted uncomfortably and mixed emotions flashed across her tiny, heart shaped face. "...how can you know this when...?"

Aleeah felt her brow crease more as she saw Ellesmere shift uncomfortably once more and then sit on what seemed to be thin air. Jameson was the only one who seemed detached from the conversation Aleeah was catching alarming snippets of, he stood still in one place and examined Aleeah closely, the intelligence in his eyes flickering like an open flame. He didn't divert his gaze as she met his eyes but instead half smiled at her and continued his calculating stare.

Aleeah sat down in the grass as the sun sank lower and lower in the cavern and pondered over everything she had seen, storing it in the different rooms of memory in her mind. Stacking the piles of memories into the rooms and leaving them to sift through and sort when she had the time.

When she opened her eyes she saw that her friends were done in their disturbing conversation and were all starring at her curiously just as Jameson had earlier. She pretended not to notice and got up, brushing the dirt off of her swaying green dress and looked at them casually. "Well?" she said. "Are we going to leave anytime soon? The sun is going down."

Ellesmere smiled pleasantly, poorly hiding her distress, and addressed Skyler in the same kind of voice Aleeahs parents had used when the bartering wasn't going their way. "Skyler, I believe you have cleaning duty tonight."

Skyler shot a shocked and hurt look at his sister and, seeing no sympathy in her countenance, slumped his shoulders and sped out of the clearing through an entrance to Aleeahs left with a scary grace, not even leaving a visible path in the grass where he had been.

Nina nodded to Jameson and zipped out an entrance to Aleeahs right.

Aleeah felt her eyes grow wide with curiosity and, felt the prickling on the back of her neck as if danger was near. She stared at Ellesmere and Jameson, feeling naked now that her first two acquaintances in the colony were gone, and took a few steps backward.

Jameson and Ellesmere were shortening their postures into predatory crouches and moving in fluid inhuman motions as they flanked her.

Aleeah felt dread slam into her in full force a few seconds before the adrenaline kicked in. Surely if they had wanted her dead they would've done it already? She stumbled a few more steps backward before hitting what felt like a brick wall. She frowned in exasperation at her situation and crouched into a similar posture as her attackers, mimicking their movements exactly. The brick wall behind her moved and she felt a sharp blunt pain slam the back of her head. She yelped before slipping into darkness.