1. Mathaias and Kaimea

A new start.

Ch. 1: Mathaias and Kaimea

Mathaias screams for his parents as loud as his young lungs can. They are walking towards an escape pod, all the time gazing back at their young son that is crying out for them. They cry for him, silently. In their hearts.

Mathaias, as he screams, struggles against the firm, dark hand that firmly grabs his shoulders and restrains him from running towards his parents. His beloved parents! Where could they possibly be going!

Mathaias' mind cannot truly register what what's happening.

His Father! He had never seen tears in his father's eyes before, yet out of the incredible blue eyes of his dear dad came blue drops of salty sorrow. His father had never cried or showed signs of weakness: he always had a joke, a clever punchline, or a whacky trick up his sleeve. Now that was gone, erased, melted. How powerless he is now, how useless, how small! Is this the same man?

His Mother! It didn't make sense that she won't face him! She, who always made him look her in the eyes when she desired to make him see his wrongdoing or teach him something important. Now her back is to him, her shoulders slumped. How cowardly, forlorn, and strange! Not his mother?

But there they are, silently walking away from him. Behind him, Mathaias new “father” keeps him from moving every time the boy makes a move to run and grab them.

“What is happening?!” Says Mathaias. “They didn't do anything wrong!”

“Oh but they have.”

“What? What could my dad possibly do wrong? Or my mother?”

And the man doesn't answer, just smiles at Mathaias.

“Answer me! Please! Where are they going!”

“Not for you to know...not for you to...”

“What? What? Speak louder!”

“Can't say here...”

Mathaias closes his eyes and stamps his foot hard.
“Tell me tell me tell me! They're my parents aren't they?”

“Yes, Mathaias, we're your parents, and we love you.”

His mother's voice rings like a voice in a pin-drop-quiet-room.

He turns around. The new father has vanished. In his place are Mother and Father. They're both at his level, looking into his eyes. His father's blue eyes and his mother's green eyes both shine at him.

“We won't leave, Mathaias. Ever. We're with you no matter where you go, no matter what you do, no matter the mistakes that you make.” They say in perfect unison, their voices almost a perfect choir.

Relief flies through Mathaias as he hugs them tighter than he has before, ever before, in fact. They hug back, their love flowing into the boy------

They vanish.
The child is suddenly staring at the empty vacuum of outer space: free floating. Yet he shouldn't be alive in space!
Earth is nowhere in sight, and he's not near the sun; he can only see the distant stars shining...

Mathaias woke from his dream. He was laying on his back, deep in the space station's library, where people rarely trod. No one would bother him here.
It was a beautiful, massive library where thousands upon thousands of books rested silently on the shelves. The entire ceiling of the room was made of what was called “super-glass”, a very hard, transparent alloy.

Since the station floated eight-hundred miles above the surface of Earth, the stars were clearly visible.

For a moment, he gazed with eyes-half-open at the diamonds in the sky. Then he shut his eyes and said softly,

“mmmmm...some dreams go away...too...soon...”

His head fell to the side as his thoughts put him to sleep again....

Mathaias had begun to dream once more when he woke suddenly to the sound of quick footsteps moving lightly over the library floor.

A girl turned the corner into the fiction section and walked swiftly towards Mathaias. Her small feet moved her effortlessly over the floor, and her black hair swept back as she glided towards him. The way she moved exhibited an stolid humor, like a delicate dandelion laughing at the world.

Her name was Kaimea.

“Mathaias, I found what we were looking for.” She said gently as she knelt next to him, “You were right about the tests. Cross is cheating.”
“Are you serious?” He asked.. He rose up on his elbows and asked, “Is this his usual attempt to get noticed? Or is it bigger this time?” He asked.

“It's going to be big. Basically, if he were to get away with what he's done...” She stopped for a moment; then continued,

“It would allow him to get to go to University back on Earth.”

Mathaias nodded. “Let's go have some justice for dinner, then, huh?”
He stood up and yawned.
“Nice nap?” Kaimea asked

“Always.”

He snatched the books from the floor around him. He placed them each in their proper places on the shelves, gently, then turned to Kaimea.
“Let's be off. We've work to do.”
They walked. Quickly and silently the pair moved past bookshelves, in the deep silence of the library. When they reached the other side of the room, a hallway stretched before them. It was built in the style of the Greeks; white with marble pillars at the sides.
As the two walked through the magnificent walkway, Kaimea watched Mathaias. Eventually she said, some disappointment in her voice,

“You didn't notice. I'm wearing my birthday present, yo.”

“Your present...oh! Yes.” He glanced at his gift to Kaimea: a pair of cyber-glasses. They were formed of a solid piece of depth-plastic: a material that adjusted to the individual's eyesight. They rested on Kaimea's face and brought out the depth of her features.

“Wow it looks...good.”

“You're so full of enthusiasm.” Kaimea nudged him.

Mathaias rolled his eyes,“What'd you want me to say? You look incredibly sexy and adorable?”
“Something like that.” She smiled, poking him.

Mathaias grinned and shrugged it off.

“Well...I was thinking about deeper things. Like this...”
They stepped into a large sitting room. Tables & chairs accentuated the color of the carpet and the marble walls. It was a quiet place, much like the rest of the library.

The only difference was that the floor in the center of this chamber was made of polished marble and glorious ivory and a sort of moody ebony.
Depicted around the edge of the circle were eighteen figures: demons, humans and angels standing in threes. As Mathaias stepped into the center of the room, he stopped and looked down at them.
“What is it? You've seen this a million times before.” Kaimea declared.

“I know, but look at the men.” he said, pointing to the familiar figures. “What do you think they're saying?”

“Mat, we both know it's symbolic.”

“I know. But I'm just imagining.” He said. “Look. This one is choosing angels over demons.” He remarked, indicating a man that was embracing an angelic figure. The devil behind the man was weeping.
“Maybe he's saying, 'I want to go forward with my dreams, no matter how much it changes me.'”
“Mat, we have to go.”

“In a second. Look there. On the other side of the circle, the man has chosen the demon and not the angel.”

He pointed to a man that was bowing down to a black-robed figure with demonic arms and a vicious smile.

“Perhaps he's saying, 'I hate those goody-two-shoes angels. I want to live for the moment, for my desires only.”
“Mathaias. Why is this suddenly so important to you?”

“It's always important. It's about the human choices we make. Look in the middle.” He turned his eyes to the area inside the circle. Inside there was a proud sitting owl, made of marble and ebony.

“This is the ancient belief that man can become wise. That he can gain knowledge and comprehension beyond the other animals. Why did the ancient philosophers believe that, I wonder...”

“Mathaias.” Kaimea swiftly gripped his arm. “There are more important things we gotta do now. Come on.” She looked at him, her mouth fighting back a smile. “The philosophy has to wait.”

Mathaias gazed at the shining circle once more, then looked up at Kaimea.
“What?”
”Mat, we have to go do our job. If this goes down, Cross is going to be arrested for sure. It's our only opportunity.”

Mathaias was quiet for another moment. He twitched and said, “Sure.”
“You didn't even hear what I said.” Kaimea sniffed.

The two friends walked out through the library doors. They emerged into a massive, forty five foot high circular hall made of brown alloy. There were lights ten feet above their heads, along the wall. These lights gave just enough light to balance with the stars. The light in the place was so perfectly balanced it made the place feel alive; as if they weren't in a space station.

They walked quickly along the cobblestone path that ran the outer circumference of the chamber. To their left lay a lush park that occupied two thirds of the room; from the center out.
“I heard what you said.” Mathaias said, his eyes locked onto Kaimea.

“See, it's the books. I read so much it's like...all the metaphors and symbols and ideas get bunched up inside my head until it wants to pop.”

“Maybe you should be like me. You should get out and hang with people more. Laugh. Make jokes. Be random.”

Mathaias shook his head, “You're kidding right?”

“No, I wouldn't joke about that. Human beings. I have too much fun with them!” She giggled.

Mathaias' face wrinkled in a gesture of disgust.

“Oh come on. How can you hate people? Aren't they the central idea in all of your thoughts?”

“That doesn't mean I have to like them. I think they're kind of...ridiculous.” He said as he grinned.

“So untrue! They're the funniest animals of them all, dude!” Kaimea mused.
Mathaias looked out across the park, his eyes trailing from the wooden benches to the simple green of the grass to the grand fountain in the center and the still trees.
Kaimea was quiet for a moment, watching Mathaias. She jumped in front of him and walked backwards.
“I would think that you, of all people, would think that humans are funny.”

Mathaias looked back into Kaimea's eyes,

“It depends on how you think. I think in terms of progress and how we move forward. You think socially.” Mathaias said. He paused and flexed his jaw. “How we treat each other.”

“Exactly. Isn't that how human progress is measured?”

“Like I said, it depends on how you think.”

“Yeah well, that's why humans are funny. They'll say they think one way, then change in a splosh.”

“Splosh?” Mathaias raised his eyebrows. “What kind of a word is that?”
“I made it up.” She smiled a huge smile.
“You're eighteen yet you're immature.” He shook his head, smirking.

“Thanks. I'd rather be immature than dark and gloomy.” She winked at him.
“Dark and gloomy? Oh you're talking about me?”
“No. There's someone else here with us.”

“Oh she's being sarcastic now.”
She laughed plainly at him.
“My point is, you gotta lighten up Mat. It's not like thinking about these things are going to make them any better.”
Mat didn't respond. Kaimea skipped ahead of him on the path, and they were silent for a long while. The only sound was the spraying of water in the fountain and the call of a night bird in one of the trees.
“Let's go give Cross what he's got coming to him, Mat.”
Mat smiled and said,“That's what I'm thinking.”

They stopped before a door leading out of the hall. It was open, and some ways inside was a large school building within another chamber.

As they walked, Kaimea's body language changed. Her walking slowed and became more thoughtful, and said,

“I feel like our lives are about to change, yo. Do you feel it?”

Mat said nothing for a moment, his mind pressed out to feel for tension in the air.

“No.” He responded, “I don't feel anything. It feels like a normal day.” He squinted ahead at the school. “We do this all the time. You're just getting nervous.”

“Maybe...”
And they went.