Part of the Puzzle [Group Two]

Posted on 25 Feb 2021 @ 3:54pm by Lieutenant Commander Amelia Warner & The Narrator & Commander Indi Hawk

450 words; about a 2 minute read

When the white light had faded, the small group could (eventually) see that they were in a different room. It was round and there were seats lining the whole edge, carved out of the rock. There wasn't anything in the center of the room except them, and the floating image above them. Just glowing letters, seemingly meaningless...but since it was another room without a door, it stood to reason that the key was in those letters.

More words. More toys in a large game. Indi heaved a heavy sigh as she looked at the letters. They didn't make sense. They didn't help her. What the hell was she doing here? Instead of being home, with her wife? Grumbling to herself--at least this time she was sensible enough to keep it carefully hidden from everyone else--she looked over at Amelia. "Any first thoughts on this one?"

Amelia looked it over. At first glance, it obviously looked like nonsense...but she knew that it had to be more than that. She tilted her head, as if that would help, but you never knew... "I suppose it could be some sort of cipher?" she said doubtfully. "But I don't know. It looks like there may be words in it already."

Indi nodded. The words aren't hard to read, but I don't know what we need to do with them next," she frowned before reading them out loud, "So many little lost souls, so very far from their own."

"Do you notice that--"

The doctor's statement was interrupted when the letters all rearranged themselves in the air to spell out just what the commander had said. They rested in mid-air for several moments before flashing away. When that flash faded, they now saw that the far wall had two doors in it where there hadn't been any before. Perfect arches, totally dark on the other side.

"I guess you were right," Amelia said, eyeing the doors. "I'm not sure I trust those doors."

Indi used her implants to scan the doors on every spectrum available to her. It didn't reveal anything in particular. She motioned to her officers to prepare to move out and secure every direction. "Only one way to find out," she spoke to Amelia as the small group set into motion.

The doctor frowned. The commander was right, but none of this gave Amelia a comfortable feeling. "So where do we start: left or right?"

Some things didn't have a right answer, at least not that you could know in advance. As the doors looked exactly alike, Indi shrugged. "Right," she spoke, approaching said door to get it to open.

Given that she didn't have a better idea, Amelia followed...

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