Chapter Two- A Strange Boy

When Sam woke up again, a dim light came through a curtained window near his bed. The window was a solid pane, and it seemed strange to have in a bedroom. A window that doesn't open was not useful. It was just vanity, bragging about how much money a person had, to be able to build in decorative glass to see outside. A large green lawn stretched out towards gloomy looking trees, thick fog winding around everything within sight. Sam rubbed his head and looked away. Committing the sin of vanity for a window and there wasn't even a good view.

The headache was less pounding and more dull, but Sam's mouth was even drier than it was when he last woke up. He could deal with a mouth that felt like he had not had a sip of water in days. He had done it before. The last time he ended up in the Contemplation Room, he was there for two days with no water or food. He did as he was supposed to, sitting in the bare room and thinking about how he had done wrong. Previous trips for lesser infractions taught him that even if he didn't understand why asking what materials made up the ancestors buildings or why they couldn't make more, was wrong, if he looked somber enough and admitted his wrongs he would be let go as long as he never brought it up again. There was no need to. It was just a question or two that popped out before he could consider whether he should let it. It wasn't worth making his parents and the other adults angry, and anyway...

The sound of metal turning in a lock drew Sam's attention from his thoughts and to the heavy wooden door at the other end of the room. The door did not open, but a few moments later, he could hear footsteps walking along in front of his door. He stood up and walked to the door, turning the handle and stepping outside.

Two women, one maybe as old as his mamam and the other only a few years older than his own 16 years, were walking quietly along, heading toward a staircase at the end of the dimly lit hall. Sam began to follow them, but he was distracted by an odd smell, which was making his nose itch and nearly collided with a tall boy exiting the room beside his.

"Hah there whoa," the boy exclaimed, back-peddling with a surprised expression. "I didn't see you, sorry about that."

Sam frowned as he looked the boy over. His words sounded weird, the accent on the vowels strange, and his face looked weirder. Everyone in town had mousy blonde hair and blue eyes, but this boy had eyes almost as black as his hair. What kind of punishment building was he in? He didn't recognize the two women, either, now that he thought about it. And he knew everyone in town.

"I wasn't paying attention, I am sorry. Do you smell that?"

The boy leaned in and tilted his head to see beneath the mop that was Sam's hair. "Did I bump into you? I am ready sorry about that. My Mamah said I would run right off a cliff one day because I was staring at the stars. " He sniffed the air and scrunched up his nose. "It smells like cleaner. They probably don't use sanibots here. Are you alright?"

The boy waited expectantly, and Sam coughed to cover up his confusion. "No, I am fine. Are we supposed to go that way? I saw two women go toward those stairs... " He looked toward the stairwell, but the hallway ahead of then was empty.

"I don't know, I just got in last night, and I guess I fell asleep on the flight."

Sam followed the boy as he started toward the staircase. "Flight?"

"Unh. I caught the shuttle at the port in Eredin City. Where did you come from?"

Sam's headache resurged. The boy wasn't making sense, and Sam wondered if he was blessed. Blessed kids didn't make it to his age, usually, their brains didn't work right, and they got into accidents easily. Sam thought it would be alright to be nice to the boy, so he answered the question. "I'm from Douglas Town."

"I have never heard of that place. They must have put up verts all over Io for this job, I guess I am lucky they chose me! Or we are lucky they chose us," the boy looked back over his shoulder with a grin and started down the stairs. Sam looked around once more, trying not to breathe deeply, and then followed.