Undefined - The Zephyr Book 1 ? (completed)(#Wattys2016)

Chapter 8 - Cello

8 - Cello

"Wait, what does it mean to be a Spare?" I backtrack.

"I don't know," the receptionist answers moodily. "It never happened before." She touches the small communication-board next to her screen, it rings several times, a male voice answers. "Madrig, I need your help."

"Can it wait, Arla?" Madrig's voice asks from the communication-board.

"Well," Arla, our receptionist sighs and eyes us, "if you think two Undefined who share the same birthday can wait, then sure."

"What do you mean, share the same birthday?"

"I mean, according to them and the Council records, they were both born, on the 5th of April '66."

"I'm coming right now." The conversion ends with a little chirp from the communication-board.

While we're waiting for Madrig to show up, I look down at Syianne and am surprised to see her staring at me with the corners of her mouth pointing up into a small smile. "So, I guess we're like cosmic twins?" I say.

She nods.

Madrig arrives, he's another Undefined. He's rather thin and fit even though he's in his sixties, and he's as bald as an egg. He goes straight to Arla's computer and checks the matter out for himself. "Oh no," he whispers, "this is a very bad sign."

"Why?" I ask. He looks up at me as if only now noticing I'm there.

"Well," he says and I can see on his face how he's trying to find a way not to tell us something that we have every right to know. "It's complicated."

"Humour us," Syianne says dryly.

He breaths in, clearly, he's torn, but then he shakes his head, frowning. "I can't." We both open our mouths to argue, as he lifts his hand to silence us. "I'm not authorised to and I don't know for certain. Listen, this is what we're going to do." He leans over the desk toward us. "I'll set a meeting with the higher ups and they'll clear up any confusion you might be feeling, but it'll either be tonight or tomorrow morning, in the meantime, go enjoy the city a little, I mean you've come all the way from – " He looks at the screen. I see his mouth form the word Aafta and I see his eyes widen.

As he looks me up and down he notices Risa too. He's growing paler with every passing second, "A very, very bad sign," he whispers. Risa sticks her black forked tongue out at him menacingly. She's been rather clingy from the moment we've entered the Zephyr. "Have you learned how to ride it yet?"

"I can ride her?" I feel embarrassed at my ignorance.

"I suppose," he replies. "There are only two others of her kind that I know of."

"This is the biggest she gets and she doesn't fly," I offer.

"Perhaps she's still young then," he concludes.

"You've changed the subject," Syianne interrupts.

He rubs his bald head nervously. "Yes, right, so, listen." He opens a drawer in the desk, pulling out a handful of coupons. He sorts them out between his fingers. "Okay,  these will be enough to get you meals in the dinning dome, and this," he sets a voucher-ticket before us, "will give you a room and breakfast at the Lemming. That's just down the street from the front gate. Mind you, we've run out of these tickets so you two kids will just have to share a room, but I'm sure you don't mind, eh?"

I guess we both stare blankly at him, because his smile disappears momentarily. "You can have a tour of the neighbourhood today, get yourself acquainted. After dark I kindly ask that you stay at the Lemming in case I manage to get a meeting tonight. Understood?"