As soon as Trip entered the city portal,
he was surrounded by security and ushered to the high council chamber. He
fumbled in his pocket to be sure the torn piece of cloth was there. It was.
He stood before the council, head held
high. “I request a hearing,” he said not giving the council a chance to open
the investigation.
“Denied,” said the Keeper. “You violated
dome security.”
“It was dome security I protected,” said
Trip. “The aliens broke through the portal.”
The Keeper turned to Reema, “Aliens?” he
asked.
“I made a full security report,” she
guarded her thoughts from Trip as the Keeper had ordered.
“I can prove it,” said Trip. He pulled
the piece of cloth from his pocket. “Here, their uniform.”
The Keeper extended his hand, “May I?”
Trip fidgeted uneasily, not wanting to
let his proof go, but he couldn’t give up his chance to graduate the academy.
“I assure you it is from another world,” he said.
The Keeper turned the piece of cloth
over in his fingers. From his belt, he withdrew a larger swatch of fabric. It
too was unlike the fabric city clothing was made of. “This,” he said, “was
found by one of our archeologists.” He put the pieces side by side. “It appears
your aliens have been here before.”
Trip stared at the cloths and said, “You
believe me, then?”
“Your find is valuable for our
continuing archeological studies,” said the Keeper. “Still, you jeopardized the
city, leaving without authorization.”
The junior cadet’s shoulders slumped. He
was sure the Keeper knew about the incident. He glared at Reema who stood in
silence next to her mother.
The Keeper wrapped the two cloths
together and turned them over to the science counselor who stood next to him.
Turning back to Trip he said in a low grave voice, “Your irresponsibility must
be punished.”
“But there truly are aliens,” protested
Trip. “Reema, tell them!”
Reema, eyes downcast, said nothing.
The Keeper nodded at the science
counselor and said, “I’m assigning Trip to your department. His research abilities
make him more useful in your library archive rather than as security cadet.”
“No,” said Trip. “I, I, want to be a security
officer.” He looked at Reema's mother hopefully.
The Keeper had already
turned away. Reema's mother shook her head and walked toward the exit. Reema followed
The science counselor
motioned Trip to join him. Head hanging, Trip stumbled after him, thinking hard.
Maybe, just maybe he would be able to prove the cloth was not from his world. He
touched the science counselor’s arm. “May I see the cloths?"
A smile crept across the science counselors face as he handed the pieces of fabric to Trip.
