Meeting Dimmsdale

Jim had alighted the ultra large bus after being awoken by the bright light and was slightly mesmerized by the place. Just like him, several others were alighting the bus with their things and making their way out of what seemed like a garage, for thousands of buses. The scenery looked good in the eveningtide.

While Jim noticed all these, he also did not fail to notice that this time, there was no instructor or guide of any sort, just a large garage and people walking out of it.

'How am I supposed to get around' Jim reasoned.

However, there was no time for thought when he had a vital item, if it was an item, with him. He recalled hearing from the attendant at the island Airport that his phone was linked with the digital card and hence, could be able to navigate his way around, if at all he was lost or wasn't.

Jim reached for his trousers back pocket and grabbed his phone. Seeing the blue blur around the edges of his phone was annoying him a little, but he knew it was for the best.

'If I should be correct, maps of the Academy should be displayed in a map app.' he reasoned.

Just as he had predicted, his Google map had the map of the Academy, precisely where he was, which was the only thing displayed at the moment.

'How rude. My permission wasn't even needed for my location to be accessed.' Jim thought.

One other thing he wondered was, if the Academy was supposed to be safe, why did a digital map come at a cheap price.

'Perhaps, there could be measures I don't know about, for these kind of things.' Jim thought answering his own question.

The map Jim was looking at displayed the place where he was. And true to his own ideas, the place where he was was the GARAGE.

A few looks here and there around the place revealed that he was one of the few persons standing. He needed to be done quickly. That was Jim's thought.

The map was large enough to occupy the entire space of his phone. And since his phone did not support the holographic function, he had to take the pain of scrolling the map.

A few scrolls, he had come to discover that this was the Central Immigration Control Centre. Though it was pretty far from where he currently was, several roads made it easy to get there. Another question on Jim's mind was if the entire place was the central immigration control.

'That would likely be impossible.' Jim reasoned. 'The whole place was as big as four megapolis if not five.'

Jim was done figuring out his way around. It was time to head for the central immigration control centre. Navigating his way through the garage was not very easy, due to the presence of much people doing the same and the pack of buses.

He has exited the garage already and was making his way downhill. Literally, a while after leaving the garage, there was a road that went downhill, going down the slope gradually.

Jim followed that road and had completely exited the garage and everything concerned with it. The Central Immigration Control Centre on his map was constantly beeping , and Jim took it as a sign that that was the place he needed to head to, since there was no guide.

After a while of walking, Jim had appeared at a junction, where vehicles were shuttling the first two dual carriage road he had seen since he began his voyage to the Academy. He picked the pedestrian lane and began to walk on it. The number of people moving on the same pedestrian lane was almost no different from the ones in the garage. Though it was considerably lesser.

He stopped his walk and hailed a cab passing by. He was already getting tired of walking down the lane, carrying his things with him, was a headache.

The car stopped as it should have done. Jim was really hoping that cabs responded the same way as outside the Academy. And what a relief, when the car came to a halt, windows down to reveal a cabby and an empty vehicle.

Jim opened the back door of the vehicle and got in. The cab driver assisted him with his things, placing them in the trunk of the car. Once seated, he laid his head on the headrest behind him, and began to quietly ruminate over the events of the day.

The eveningtide also provided the perfect atmosphere to relax as the car drove.

"What's your name kid" a voice asked interrupting his train of thoughts.

Jim raised his head and his eyes caught the eyes of the cabby staring at him through the car mirror. Since he had asked nicely, Jim decided to respond.

"Jim"

'Also, he seems quite the aged cabby. Responding calmly should be the right thing to do.' Jim thought.

"And how old are you?" the driver probed further.

"Fourteen" Jim replied back.

Hum hum. The driver surprisingly stopped his questions just when Jim was expecting more, and began to hum silently.

"So you're a cabby right?" Jim asked. He had decided to, because he was quite intrigued by this fellow and wanted to strike a normal conversation with him.

"The obvious answer is yes" the cab driver replied almost immediately, as if he was waiting for Jim to ask. Without waiting for Jim to continue, he continued his talk.

"I did shuttle most parts of the sectored Academy B and C. But I stopped after three years of being am Academy cab driver."

"Why did you stop" Jim asked.

"I did because I did not get the kind of treatment I deserved...or maybe, wanted. I and my family."

"You have a family right?" Jim asked.

"..Yes" the cab driver replied. "I then decided after three years of driving around the Academy to shuttle the Central Immigration Control Centre., to give people the treatment I always wanted, but I didn't get."

"And..." the light swerve the car made, caused Jim to be unable to complete his sentence. After regaining his composure, he continued.

"What might that treatment be?"

The cab driver's eyes reflected through the mirror looked sad, like in remembrance of a long past event.

"To be treated like humans" he finally let out.

That shocked Jim. 'Were people treated like animals.' He kept asking himself questions. However, the driver was not done.

"To be treated like humans, and not millions of cargo needed to be shuffled somewhere. I worked my way up the ladder for four years, only to become a cab driver. Though most of it is my fault, the Academy still deserves some of the blame."

Jim continued to listen to him, like he had nothing else to do and had completely forgotten about his own plans reminiscing.

"But perhaps, things have changed, just maybe." the driver concluded.

Jim realized he was done speaking already, and since the fellow had the experience of the Academy, it felt right to ask him some more questions

"You should have noticed that the entire place could be the Central Immigration Control Centre. And there are hardly any residential buildings, none at all" Jim said. And this was true. Since he walked out of the garage and had boarded a taxi, he kept seeing buildings that looked like administrative ones. Others were commercial ones, like cafe shops, boutiques, even restaurants. And no residential buildings.

"Am I missing something or could it be like I'm misinterpreting the map?" Jim asked in a somewhat whisper like tone.

"No my dear boy, you're not." the driver cut in.

"The entire map is actually the Immigration Control Centre. Though there are other places, it could pretty much still be called the Immigration Control Centre. And as you guessed, the entire Immigration Centre is downtown. There is though, a residential area, but that's for those whose immigration has not been processed.

'mmm' Jim nodded his head as a subconscious response to him understanding what the driver explained.

"Perhaps, you have not thought of it, but the Immigration Control Centre is only one of the five Immigration Centres the Academy has." the driver said continuing his explanation.

"So when I say I shuttle the Immigration Control Centre, you can imagine the pay."

Jim could see the smile on the face of the aged cabby and it looked rather beautiful.

Heck! He had not even considered the currency considered the mode of payment. 'But it shouldn't be anything than dollar, Euro or pounds.' And he had that in excess.

"Talking about immigration, you'll very much he going to the Academic Institution." the driver resumed his talk.

"And what is that?" Jim said sitting upright.

"It's place for kids like you. If twenty could he considered a kid." the driver explained amidst laughing.

"You're here to stay with your parents? or.." the driver stopped on seeing the reaction on his teen passenger who relaxed his back on the seat.

"Cruel" Jim said even when he knew what his parents did wasn't.

"Exactly how my son would react." the driver stated.

"Where is he?" Jim asked .

"He's dead.He was in the institution, but died during a rebel/Academy clash."

"I'm sorry" Jim said. He could see the very sad face the driver face had taken.

"Damien Junior. That was his name. The last one of my family I had left. Though he's gone now. You remind me a lot of him." the cabby said. "When was the last time I carried a fourteen year old boy" he joked. The driver's face showed a mix of feelings. Amusement and grief.

The car came to a sudden halt, same as other cars coming their way.

"I think we're here." the driver stated

Jim needed no further proof or map to know he had arrived.

The car was parked at the south pole of the what looked like palatial sized horse shoe magnet with several wings and security personnel. Gigantic wasn't even word enough to describe the size.

"Stay safe kid , and forget about the fare." the driver's voice sounded as Jim was about to get out the car through the already open door.

'I guess I won't get to know the mode of payment then' Jim thought.

"And just in case you need a good get-away driver, give this to any vehicle driver.." he said handing Jim a card through the right window of the car.

"Say the word 'cabby' .." he instructed winking gleefully, "and my name, and you have your ride."

With that, the driver revved the engine of the vehicle and drove off.

"Wait! What's your name?" Jim asked. But the car was gone.'

'I guess I'll never know then.'

Just then, he saw another card on the floor next to his feet. He bent down, picked up the card and muttered.

"Dimmsdale"

'Hmm' he shrugged, "I guess I won't be calling in the favour any time soon. So much for being 'just a cab driver'. However, that was the least of his concerns. At the moment, he was facing a gigantic administrative building referred to as the Central Immigration Control Centre.

"First things first."