Fiction: Trudy Fine's Very Short Journey Through Space (1)

This month's Words for Wednesdayis hosted by Elephant's Child. This week's prompts are: machine, telephone, fiction , delightfully, trap, skulduggery and/or groaned, umbrella, fertile, corner, deft, selection. I used machine, telephone, groaned, corner. You can find more participants at Elephant's Child's blog over here.  (Note: Ben is a character from this previous story but you don't have to read that to understand this story.)

Fiction: Trudy Fine's Very Short Journey Through Space — Part 1 of 4

Machines whirled somewhere behind her and then they stopped. She listened. For a long moment, silence greeted her. Then the whirling began again. But the sound faded away.
    When she opened her eyes, she saw only darkness. Blinking rapidly, she kept trying to see but the darkness never changed. A groan escaped her lips. Sharp pain ran through her eyes. For a moment, she had forgot she couldn't see. The constant darkness around her made it easy to forget she didn't have eyes. She lifted her hand to her face. There were bandages around her eyes.
    A telephone rang. She recognized the sound but it couldn't be. They could never afford one. The ringing continued and then it abruptly stopped. No, it wasn't a telephone, it was perhaps an alarm, the kind firetrucks made when they passed by her house. She listened. But again, all she heard was silence. She pressed her hands down to sit up. The material was soft but firm beneath her palms. She turned her body around. Through her thin socks, she could feel the solid cold floor. It was a bed she had been lying on but it was too comfortable to be hers. The scent of cleaning detergent, probably bleach, was all around her. This was not her home. But where was she?
     She held out her hands near her feet. Her boots were there. She put them on. Slowly, she got up and walked forward. One, two, three, four, five, stop. Her fingertips touched something cold and smooth. Carefully, she took slow steps following the pace of her hands on what she assumed was a wall, around a corner, more steps until her knees struck something. It was the bed. The room was small as it only took her thirty steps to go around. There was no opening on the walls. She sat on the bed. Wherever she was, she could not tell without seeing.
    The darkness had been her companion for a long while. She had grew used to it. Counting steps helped her to navigate the space around her. Ten steps to the fridge, five steps to the bed, every time she counted, they were always under one hundred. Small spaces had been her comfort. She could not imagine living in a vast place with so much spaces to count.
    Normally, she kept her eyes closed or else people would see into the sockets and that usually scared them. Some mornings, she would wake up and thought perhaps it was all a dream and that if she could just open her eyes, she could see again. 'Miracles do happen,' Steven had said, 'You just have to wait for them.'
    Steven. Yes, she remembered she was at Steven's grave. And then she was here.
    "Trudy!" That was the name Steven had called her. But it wasn't Steven, he was dead. She stood up.
    "Trudy Fine. Hello. My name is Ben." Soft footsteps came near and they abruptly stopped in front of her. "I'm sorry to be rude, but we must leave at once!" A hand grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her along.
    One, two, three, four, five, stop. A whoosh sound. Ben kept a hold on her wrist. The whirling sound was getting louder. Their footsteps echoed loud and clear. "Trudy, from here on, keep quiet and do what I tell you. I cannot warn you enough of the danger we are both in."
    "But I don't know where we are and who are you?" Trudy whispered.
    "I've told you. My name is Ben." His voice was calm with an edge of giddiness. He didn't sound old like Steven nor did he sound young either. Trudy could not discern why she could not pinpoint his age as she usually could with everyone.
    "But I don't know any Ben."
    "I can't explain now, just know I'm Steven's friend. Now, if you don't mind, don't speak and try not to make any noises."
    "Not make noises ? What about our footsteps?"
    "Yes, that was noisy, wasn't it?" Ben exhaled and tugged her forward.
    The whirling sound was loud but the alarm ringing was overpowering it.
    "Umb buug! Umb buug!" The voice was high. Then there was a chorus of voices shouting gibberish. Trudy had never heard such speech before.
    "Damm!" Ben laughed. "No need to be quiet now." He dropped her hand and soon it was wrapped around her shoulder. "If you want to stay in one piece, you have better hold on to me!" There was anxiety in his voice. She reached out and grabbed onto what she hoped was Ben's shirt. In her left hand, the fabric was rough and on her right hand, the fabic was thin and soft. A few pew-pew sounds passed by her ears.
    "That's it, don't let go until I tell you." Ben tightened his arm around her. What he was doing with his other arm, she could not say. She pressed her head against his chest. Thud, thud, thud. Pause. Thud, thud, thud. Was that Ben's heart beat? But why were there three?
    They were moving and then they were... flying? Trudy could not say but wind was gliding past her at great speed and her feet was dangling with nothing beneath them. She started to choke. She tried to take a breath but couldn't.
    "Just a few seconds longer. It will be over soon, I promise." Ben's voice was only slightly assuring but Trudy really liked to breathe if he didn't mind.
    Her lungs relaxed and she took in short, deep breaths. She was beginning to be aware of her eyes. She could feel a certain roundness and fluids moving as if trying to figure out how to shape itself. A part of her was elated and the other part was fearful. If only Steven was here. He would tell her there's nothing to fear.
    "Better?"
    She nodded. Wherever they were, it was hard for her to speak. There was air but somehow it was never enough. There were no sounds other then their movements and Ben's voice. "Where...are...we?"
    "In space. But don't worry. I have done this before. It's much easier with a ship but we'll go get it now so that you won't turn into a popsicle."
    "Didn't...we...leave...your...ship?"
    "Oh that old clunker? No, that ship is no longer mine. I traded it but the deal didn't quite stick. Well, it's a bit of a long story." Ben exhaled. "Hold on!"
    They plunged downward much like the time she rode a bus down a steep street and she had vowed never to ride another bus again. This however made her wish to never go anywhere. She screamed or at least she thought she did. But whatever sound she was making were lost in the void.
    They stopped. She felt the solid ground beneath her. Her body seemed to have froze. She could barely move. Ben released his arm around her.
    "First time planet-to-planet travel is pretty rough. But you'll get used to it. At least you're not puking your... Well, I don't want to be rude but you might want to wipe the bits from the corner of your mouth."
    Her lunch came up pretty easy though it was only two eggs and a piece of toast. She wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her sweater. Her elbow struck something soft. She was breathing better. "What was that about planet-to-planet travel?"
    "Oh, you can't see it but we are jumping from planet to planet through wormholes. It's faster. Usually. But I have to keep you breathing so that slowed us down a bit."
    "Where are we?"
    "Bittercheesebattle. Honestly, the way people named their planets is absurd. But it is translated to English so perhaps it isn't absurd." He laughed lightly. "I would tell you to take off your bandages since your eyes have probably finished regenerating but I'm afraid the sight might freak you out."
    "Do you mean I could see if I take off my bandages now?"
    "Yes." Ben was moving around her. She could hear his voice going up and down. "But I don't recommend it. My friend Jesse lost consciousness the first time he went with me. We are talking about traveling beyond the speed of light. The bubble I placed around you keeps you from getting burn from all the movements through various atmospheres of the different planets we dropped on. So I don't recommend looking. Even I sometimes get a bit vertigo now and then."
    "So the bubble keeps me safe?" She stretched out an hand. There was the softness her elbow had hit earlier. "Is this the bubble I'm feeling?" With both hands, she touched the soft surface above and around her. She tried to move but just taking one step seemed too slow as if gravity was pulling her down.
    "Yes. But, how should I put it? Perhaps think of the bubble as a couple of extra winter coats on top of the coat that you are already wearing. It keeps you protected but it also constricts your movement. The bubble keeps you alive. And there's this little thing about your body splitting into infinity which you don't have to worry about."
    She nodded. "But what about you? What's keeping you from splitting into infinity?" She was certain he was not within any bubbles. He was moving too freely.
    There was a brief silence. Ben let out a long breath. "Let's just say I don't need to worry about any of that. We must get to my ship so that I can take you back to earth. Ready for another trip?"
    She shook her head. "No."
    "Good. We've only got ten planets to go." They began rising. But soon they were falling again. Then they were slowing down. Trudy thought to take a peek. She lifted the edge of the bandages around her left eye. For a moment, she could not breath. All around her were blackness filled with silver and white orbs that may be planets and surrounding them were hundreds of swirly gas clouds the size of skyscrapers. They moved like living beings in slow motion. Then they swirled and twisted and a hole opened up like a giant mouth with whirls of dull colors and she was soon being swallowed in it. She quickly pulled the bandages down.
    "Now, see? It's why I don't recommend it. But you're still conscious. That's good."
    She laughed half hearteningly. Yes, she was conscious but she was freaking out a little.
    For nine more times afterward, Trudy was glad she had no more food to let go nor the desire to look again.
    They stopped and dropped. She tumbled onto the solid ground.
    "Oops. Sorry, are you alright?" He pulled her up by her hands.
    "Fine!" She dusted at her pants bottom. Then she wiped at the sweat on her face with her sleeve. The scent of rotten egg filled her nose. She reached out but could not feel the soft surface. "What happened to the bubble?"
    "You no longer need it. You can breathe easy on this planet. It's just like earth, only with no inhabitants."
    "No inhabitants? Where did they go?"
    "No where. This is my planet. I'm the only resident here. I called it Havenwood."
    "But... You lived alone here?"
    "No, I don't live here. This is just my home base where I keep my stuff. You know, like those storage boxes humans have to store their junk. Sorry to be blunt but what was the point of storing stuff you don't need or want? Everything on this planet is necessary to me."
    "Aren't you worry about invasions?"
    "No. No one can come here without my help. It's location is hidden and there is a force field all around it. If a ship tried to pass through, it would crashed against it and blow up. The force field is made of energy that rebuilds itself every few seconds so the field is never the same and the holes that are made simply rebuilds. If some fool could make a hole and go through, they would still have to deal with losing all the powers to their ship the moment they pass through the atmosphere. Not to mention the automatic system that sends lightning at anyone that lands on the surface."
    "It's well protected then." Trudy wondered what was it like to want to protect something this much. But she didn't have a whole planet to store her things.
    "Of course. I have to protect what's mine."
    "But lightning isn't striking down on us."
    "No, of course not. I sent a signal through before we landed." After a pause, he said, "It's safe to take off your bandages now."
    Trudy felt around the bandages around her eyes and pulled them off. She blinked rapidly. It was dark and the only light came from a sphere in the hand of a tall, thin man standing before her. "Hello again, Trudy Fine."
    It was Ben. Under the dim light, his eyes were still quite bright and green. They seemed to be laughing. His thin lips wore a subtle smile. "Shall we go?"
    
~ Read Part 2 here ~