Balloon City
Chapter 3
Meggie enjoyed the opportunity of driving around at night. Clarissa never questioned her on where she'd been and what she was doing driving around at all hours, for she was too busy with either work, or her boyfriends. For the next three weeks, Meggie went to Professor Des roches' lab, every night, where he mostly had her sitting at a table working out calculations that he gave her. Minato always seemed to be off somewhere else, and she barely saw him. However, Meggie enjoyed doing the calculations, and was greatly intrigued by the charts and diagrams on the big table in the middle of the room, whenever she got a peek at them. The charts were hand drawn with extreme precision, and Meggie could barely find a single problem in any one diagram. Occasionally, Minato would come along and jabber technically with the professor, and then run off again. That was what bothered Meggie most. There had to be some sort of secret here. She longed to find out what it was, but how could she when they wouldn't tell her anything?
It was a Friday night. Meggie had cheerfully declined a party, held at Amanda Kessler's house, and then eagerly hurried off to the lab. She glanced around, but she didn't see Professor Des roches. Minato walked into the room, staggering under a the weight of a large box. Meggie itched to know what was inside of it, but she didn't say anything. Minato dropped the box with a heavy thump onto a table, and nodded to Meggie in his usually silent greeting.
Meggie smiled. “ Hello.”
Minato gave a kind of half-smile, and then turned and walked back out of the room.
“ Minato, wait!” Meggie said, running after him.
The boy stopped and looked at her.
“ Where's the professor?”
“ Looking at the machine.”
Meggie felt a slight surge of anger. So there was something back there, that they were too suspicious to tell her about. “ What machine?”
Minato looked a little surprised at the snap in her voice. “ The project?”
Meggie stared at him. “ You didn't tell me that it was some kind of machine.”
Minato's face didn't appear to show any kind of emotion. “ I expect the professor means to tell you about it in his own time.” he said, and then turned and walked away.
Meggie was disappointed, but she swallowed it back, and walked over to her usually table, and glared at her sheet of math problems. She couldn't focus at all. Questions spun around and around in her head, till she felt bewildered and rather dizzy.
There was a crash in the back room, followed by a yell, and Meggie jumped to her feet startled, but then she heard talking, and things seemed normal again. She went back to her work. It must have been several hours later, when Professor Des roches, and Minato emerged from the machine room. Meggie looked up.
“ Well, Meggie, you better get going home now, it's pretty late.” Professor Desroches said to her.
Meggie nodded.
“ I won't be here tomorrow. I have business elsewhere, but Minato will be here, so you can still come and work on that little problem I gave you.” the professor looked her as though he wanted her to agree.
Meggie nodded again.
The professor and Minato walked off somewhere talking technically again, and Meggie calmly picked up her bag and hurried outside to her car. She couldn't help thinking that the “little problems” that the professor kept giving her were a distraction; a reason to keep her busy. He never explained what the problems were for, and she never thought to question him on them. As she drove home through the night, she came to a decision: tomorrow she would get it out of Minato. She would question him, till his ears fell off if need be. She had to know! She couldn't just go on, doing weird math problems for something that she didn't even know the purpose of.
*
Meggie came in and walked over to her chair like normal, setting down her bag, and picking up her pencil to scribble down more numbers. Minato wandered in with a stack of papers, setting them down neatly on a table. He looked over at her. Meggie looked back.
“ Do you know where the professor was going?” she asked casually.
Minato shrugged. “ He keeps his business to himself.” He turned to walk away.
“ So. Are you gonna tell me about it tonight?” Meggie asked.
Minato stopped in his tracks, and looked at her suspiciously. “ What?”
“ The machine.”
The boy's face showed nothing. “ That's the professor's business.”
“ But you know about it.” Meggie insisted. “ Doesn't that make it your business too?”
Minato barely blinked. He shrugged and turned to walk away again.
“ Well?” Meggie asked, stopping him in his tracks.
“ I can't tell you about it.”
“ Why not?”
Minato gave a grunt of annoyance. “ Are you always this persistent?”
“ What are these problems even for?”
“ I don't know! Only the professor knows that.” Minato's eyes gave a strange flash.
Meggie stared at him incredulously. “ So you really have no clue what you're working on.”
Minato grimaced. “ Miss Earlson, I could lose my job if I told you anything.”
“ You don't need to call me 'Miss Earlson'. My name's Meggie! And I won't tell the professor that you told me anything.” Meggie pleaded.
Minato looked at her thoughtfully. “ Fine. I'll show you the machine. But we'll have to hurry. There's no saying when the professor will be back, and he often comes to check up on the lab when he comes back from these 'engagements'.”
Meggie smiled. “ Fine!” She stood up from her chair, and followed him out of the room.
He led her into a large room, lit with bright, fluorescent lighting. In the middle of the room, there was a large, circular shaped metal platform, about ten feet in diameter, with a wheel set atop a pedestal in the center of it. The platform was set on a base like a turntable.
“ Well, here it is.” Minato said, and turned to Meggie. “ You happy?”
Meggie looked at the contraption in bewilderment. “ I don't even know what it does!”
Minato didn't answer.
“ Come on!” Meggie groaned. “ Just show me! Please!”
Minato looked at her, his face still not portraying how he was feeling. He didn't say a word, just walked over to the platform and stepped up onto it. “ Climb on.”
Meggie gave a small smile, and stepped up onto it, moving till she was opposite him on the platform. Minato's hands rested on the wheel, and Meggie followed his example. The boy looked at her gravely, and then reached forward and pressed a large button which was set in the middle of the wheel. Meggie felt a strange suction on her feet, and found that she couldn't move her feet. They were suctioned onto the platform to keep her from flying away.
The last thing she noticed was Minato's hands clenching tightly to the wheel, and she thought the ring on his middle finger, which she only just noticed then, rather unusual.
That was when the spinning began.
*
The experience was like nothing that Meggie could ever have imagined. After a few seconds, she wasn't even feeling the spinning anymore, just knew that suddenly the sounds were changing, and her vision, instead of being blurry as she looked around, and getting dizzy, she was aware that what she was seeing was changing. She could still see Minato, a couple of feet in front of her, and his face was one of confusion. Then, Meggie was aware of people – voices, and could feel the warm felling of sunlight on her face, and even see the light in a way, although she was kind of wrapped up in a translucent whiteness, which made her feel as though she were in a cloud. And then suddenly she was out in the open, surrounded by all kinds of sounds. The contraption under her feet was gone, and it was just her and Minato thrown into the middle of a crowd of strange people. There was shouting and screaming, and Meggie noticed that the style of clothing worn around here was unusual. At least in some cases. Also, there were strange little boat-shaped things, which floated around attached to hot-air balloons. As she looked around, she saw that they were in some kind of city, but all around it, was nothing but sky! Balloons were everywhere she looked, not just large, hot-air balloons, but also small balloons that she'd only seen at birthday parties. The buildings were not huge, but they weren't exactly small, so Meggie had a hard time picturing it as a flying city. It couldn't. Could it?
Meggie suddenly remembered Minato, and looked around for him desperately. He was still next to her, but the people around them were moving. He was watching her, and Meggie realized that he looked as shocked and awed as herself – confused even. It was all so beautiful and amazing that Meggie could hardly believe it.
And then suddenly a great cry went up. Meggie and Minato looked at once to the sky above them, and saw strange airships gliding overhead. They were shaped rather like birds, and there dark coloring made them stand out strongly against the blueness of the sky. And then there was an explosion and Meggie's heart-rate skyrocketed, as she watched, horror-struck, as one of the big, beautiful, hot-air balloons burst apart in flames. Others quickly followed suit, and Meggie saw that the airships were the ones shooting the balloons. Minato didn't waste a second. He grabbed Meggie's trembling hand and ran for it. Meggie could hardly keep up with his pace, and terror made her legs shaky, and her breathing inconsistent. Minato glanced behind himself for just one fleeting second, and ran smack into a man. He tumbled over, pulling Meggie down with him. In the process, his ring slipped off of his middle finger, and everything disappeared. The people, the flames, and cruel airships – all gone.
They were back in Professor Desroches' lab on the machine, and it was still spinning. Minato slammed the button, and the two flew off and tumbled in a breathless heap on the floor. Meggie couldn't speak. Her heart still hadn't settled back to normal, and she was still panting hard from the run. She looked over and saw that Minato was panting too, and his brown eyes were wide with – fear?
They waited until they felt more steady, and then sat up slowly. Minato stared at her with his wide eyes. And then opened his hand which was tightly clenched. Meggie looked at his open palm. There lay, the ring.
