HOME | DD

Description
“I won’t be scared. I won’t be scared.”

Thought the kid whose hands were trembling so bad he’d already dropped his backpack twice. Through the windows of the elevated train, he could see Ellicott, Colorado, rushing past in light browns, grays and tans. They were almost there. What would entering another dimension be like? Would there be a flash of light?

He could feel his dad’s hand squeeze his right shoulder. “It won’t be long now, Danny, are you sure you’re up for this?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“I won’t be scared. There’s nothing to be scared of. We’re already friends.”

~~~

One year, two months and fourteen days prior, Danny Murray’s mother, Nicole, had died. She was a bright, happy woman, full of energy and pride in her family. She was well educated, but humble, and a firm but fair parent. She always encouraged Danny’s creativity and raised him up to be confident in himself and quick to make friends.

“There’s no such thing as someone not worth knowing,” she would often say.

But then a massive stroke, related to a congenital heart defect, took her life. It happened suddenly, during a bike ride around the neighborhood, and two young kids playing basketball witnessed her collapsing in the middle of the street.

Later in life, Danny would be comforted in imagining that her last moments were peaceful, and she was doing something she enjoyed. But one year, and two and one half months ago, Danny was crushed. His regular habits of playing class clown at school, of watching over younger kids in his apartment building, of setting up soccer games in the park nearby — everything friendly and joyful about his life began to fade away.

His father, Eduardo, dealt with the loss in his own way. At first, he immersed himself in work with the Dimensional Physics Cooperative, but it didn’t take him long to realize that Danny needed him at home more often and needed a friend, a new friend who would open him up to new possibilities.

Six months ago, Eduardo introduced Danny to Colby via video chat.

“He’s one of my coworker’s sons, and he has a hard time making friends, Danny, so could you just talk to him online? I think it would be really good for him,” Ed said.

“Why does it have to be online? Couldn’t we meet somewhere?” Danny asked.

A spark of hope lit up in Ed’s soul. He was proud of his son — any other lazy 13-year-old would probably prefer a distant online connection, but Danny still had his mother’s friendly spirit buried under the grief.

“It would be nice if you guys could meet in person, but remember when I said he had a hard time making friends? It’s because he’s in an unusual living situation. And don’t ask me for specifics about that! He’s sensitive about it and he might explain things to you as you get to know each other better.”

Danny agreed to meet this kid online. It felt good to think that he might be able to help someone else, and his father felt certain that giving his son a task like this would indirectly ease his son’s pain.

But what would this kid be like, and why was he so lonely? Danny imagined he must be sick or deformed, or maybe he had to live in a plastic bubble. He would have had no problem with any of those circumstances, but he was pleasantly surprised when the face that showed up on his computer screen looked a lot like his own.

Colby Suriel was younger, he would turn 12 in about a month, but just like Danny he had dark hair, olive skin, and a radiant smile. Danny was fond of soccer and basketball and loved to play outside, and he could tell from just looking at Colby that he liked sports, too. The kid was stocky and spoke animatedly, and over the next three months they entertained each other talking in online sessions almost every day about things they both loved, like Premier League football, Transformers, The Avengers, etc. Colby said he was “mostly homeschooled” and always listened with fascination to Danny’s stories about his middle school, and Danny was always happy to hear about Colby’s success on a wrestling team he had never heard of — Colby showed off gorgeous silver trophies from the “Blue Anakaris Division,” for which Danny could never find any information.

One day, finally, after talking about a rainy, but glorious, soccer game he had been through after school, Danny expressed a longing he and Colby both felt, but had never before vocalized.

“I wish we could play together. I wish you could come over to my place.”

He saw on Colby’s face that the boy agreed, but noticed his cheeks went a little red.

“I can’t come over to your place,” Colby said, “But maybe you could come over to mine.”

Danny smiled. “Could I really?” he said. “My dad already knows your dad, I’m sure he’d be OK with it! When could I come, do you think? And where do you live?”

Colby was sitting up stock still, shocked by the sudden questions. He wanted this, he knew he did. The time had to come eventually, but he was having a hard time hiding his nervousness. This was it.

“I’ll, um, ask my parents about when you can come over. They’ll need to take care of some stuff first, but it should be soon,” Colby said.

He gulped.

“I live … um …”

Danny listened intently. At last he would understand the Colby mystery. Colby continued.

“Um … you see, Danny, I’m … um …”

Colby’s hands started to shake. Why was he so scared? Danny was a good friend, one of the nicest people he’d ever met. He was sure he wouldn’t care.

“I’m …”

But fear won out.

“I’llaskmymomandcallyouback! Seeyalaterbye!”

The video chat ended. Danny was left befuddled.

~~~

Only an hour later, Danny’s dad sat him down for a talk at the kitchen table. He had a very serious look on his face.

“Danny, Colby’s father called and told me about Colby’s inviting you to their house. Colby wants you to sleep over. Is that something you’d want to do?” Ed asked.

“Yes,” Danny said, worried by his dad’s expression. “Is something wrong?”

Ed folded his hands on the table. “Danny, I need to tell you something that I was hoping Colby would tell you, and this information may make you rethink your answer. If it does, that’s OK. I won’t think less of you for saying no.”

“What is it?” Danny asked, his heart starting to pound a little. His mind raced. He had not been able to figure out what was different about his friend. Was he now going to find out that Colby was sick after all? Was he dying? Please let it not be that.

Ed looked directly into his son’s eyes.

“Colby is an Esdreel,” he said.

Danny’s mind went blank. Esdreel? What an odd word. He had a vague memory of it … from history class … and the news. His eyes went wide.

“Colby’s a … giant?” Danny asked.

Ed sighed and leaned back. “Yes, though they prefer not to be called that. Colby and his parents live in the trans-dimensional pocket outside of Ellicott.” His gaze was still firm and his expression stern.

Danny sat there with his mouth agape for a few moments, not knowing what to think. An Esdreel? A giant? Certainly, everyone knew about them, but interaction with them almost never happened. Suddenly, many things about his dad’s job clicked: He was a scientist, but was not authorized to talk about his work with his loved ones. He must have been working in the trans-dimensional pocket (normally called the “TDP”). Maybe Colby’s dad was a scientist, too.

Ed could tell his son’s head was flooding with questions. He could almost see the kid’s skull throbbing with them. He waited a little for the news to sink in before speaking again.

“Danny? What do you think? Do you still want to visit Colby?”

Danny didn’t answer right away. He had one burning question that he had to get out.

“Why didn’t Colby tell me?”

~~

There was no flash of light and no distinctive sound as the train passed into trans-dimensional space, its few passengers almost not noticing that it happened. But they could not have remained oblivious for long because not only was the TDP’s landscape green and hilly and starkly different from the Coloradoan high desert, it was also peppered with enormous stone buildings — mostly 100- to 200-foot-high structures made of gleaming blue metal, russet red bricks and reflective glass. It was like an alien civilization, and technically it was.

The Esdreel had come to believe the Earth was their ancestral home since landing about 70 years ago, 10 years before humans managed to open gateways into the trans-dimensional pockets and meet them for the first time (strangely enough, the first encounter was peaceful, and the two species’ relationship had, for the most part, managed to stay that way). The Esdreel had come from another planet in their dimension: Esdras, a dark and aggressively urban planet that had hosted them since prehistory. They refused to call it “home,” because on that planet their people had been enslaved by a vicious, now extinct race of exoskeletal beings known as the Zarakiel. Even almost a century after being freed, their culture bore the scars from that slavery.

The TDPs themselves were fascinating enough to the humans — some in Ireland had even yielded archaeological finds that made historians reevaluate the meanings of folktales about faeries and “Tir Na Nog” — but their relationships with the Esdreel had, for the past half-century, revolutionized cancer research, energy production and transportation technology. Still, the Esdreel mostly kept to themselves, always more pacifistic and emotionally sensitive than the humans, who they noticed had their own history of enslaving each other.

During the past three days, Danny had studied this information and agreed to psychological testing, which he passed. Only yesterday, he had been approved for a permit to come and go in the TDP. He noticed during every part of the process that he and his father were often the only people in the room, and he wondered if he might even be the first kid to ever do this.

He had received the answer to his question from before: Colby was likely anxious about telling him because the humans and Esdreel were not used to being around each other. Not only was it dangerous, but, as his father explained, Colby was probably afraid Danny would stop liking him or be too afraid to be his friend anymore.

It made sense to Danny … sort of. He was trying to imagine just how big his friend was going to be, and his apprehension grew. His dad had assured him that he wasn’t worried about Danny’s safety, that the Suriel family had accommodations for him and that Colby was even working on getting a “license for human interaction,” which required that he log hours of actual intercultural experience. But Danny was afraid, not necessarily of being like a little mouse in a big house, but of his first in-person meeting with Colby. What if the kid didn’t like him? Or what if he was really nice online, but ended up being kind of a jerk in real life? (Such a thing had happened to Danny before.) These natural worries were only compounded by the fact that the kid would be as big as a house.

He was so wrapped up in these thoughts that he didn’t even realize he was now off the train. His father had walked him onto a large stone platform with metal railing, and his eyes turned back on. He gasped.

They were in a massive, mostly empty room. Danny had visited an airplane hangar before, but this was like the hangar of hangars, and standing in the middle of the room, a couple hundred feet away from the platform, were three huge towers of humanity.

“Don’t be scared. They’re just people.” He kept repeating the thought.

He recognized the blown-up visage of his friend and surmised that the other two giants must be his parents. They were both smiling. Colby’s mother, who was only a little taller than him, had long, curly, black hair, kind eyes and a thin build, and she stood with her hands folded in front of her. Colby’s father, who was a head and shoulders taller than his son and built like a football player, had light brown hair, thick eyebrows, and a complexion that suggested he worked outside regularly. He stood with his hands in his pockets, and he was the first to make a move toward the humans.

“It’s good to see you, Ed, and good to finally meet you, Danny,” he said. Danny was surprised to find that the man’s voice did have an echoing quality to it, but didn’t sound like the booming, monstrous voice he thought it would be. This small relief made him forget his anxiety for a second.

“Good to see you, too, Alan,” Ed said.

“Good to meet you, sir,” Danny said.

“Whoa!” Alan said, almost allowing his voice to get too loud. “You’re so polite! Colby tells me you’re one of the nicest people he’s ever met, and that’s something I really respect.”

Danny blushed and saw that Colby’s mother had now come forward. How were these giants moving so quickly and quietly? She and her husband both stood just about 50 feet from the platform now.

“Good to see you, Ed, and good to meet you, Danny. My name is Melina. We’ve been really looking forward to having you visit,” she said, all smiles and cute dimples. Danny’s heart melted, and for a second, he thought of his mother, but he quickly stifled that inclination and noticed Melina looking meaningfully back at her son.

Colby was white as a ghost and trying to look everywhere but at the humans. He glanced at Mr. Murray, seeing a warm smile, and then looked at his mother’s expectant stare. Finally, he stepped toward the platform, and, remembering to stay at least 50 feet away on first introductions, he spoke.

“Good morning, Mr. Murray. I’m Colby,” he said, “And Danny … umm …” He looked down and rubbed the back of his head.

In his heart of hearts, Danny once again accepted the mission of making his friend feel better, and his own fear evaporated.

“What are you nervous for?” he said, “Are you worried there’s not enough room in your house or something?”

Colby looked up, his green eyes sparkling. He was almost smiling.

“I promise I won’t clog your toilet or anything,” Danny said with a goofy grin.

Colby chuckled and moved closer, fully smiling now. The railing of the platform came up to just a little above his abdomen and he resisted resting his hands on it. With the giant this close, Danny found himself really being startled by his sheer size, but then remembered that this kid was the same kid he’d been talking to almost every day. Colby was the most relentlessly positive person he’d ever known. He never said a mean thing or complained about anyone. Not even his parents! The closest he’d ever come was talking about Manchester United.

“I think there’s plenty of room for you,” Colby said. “I’m so glad you could make it. We’re gonna have a lot of fun.”

Danny looked up at his friend, and realized he was like an action figure compared to him. Colby was wearing a gray T-shirt with a print of Optimus Prime on the front. Danny found himself wondering if that’s how big Optimus would actually be. He had one big, burning question.

“How tall are you, dude?” Danny asked.

Colby was a bit startled by the question. “Last time I checked, I was 47 feet,” he said.

Danny’s jaw dropped. It was a bad habit he was developing. “I’m five foot four,” he said, and laughed.

“Well guys, it’s about time we head back to the house,” Melina said, and pulled up from under the platform a large plastic object, about the size of a Humvee, that looked like giant handles were attached to a large seat from an amusement park roller coaster. “Are you ready, Danny?”

Danny stared bemusedly at the object. His father stepped forward.

“Danny, that’s a carrier. You can ride in that on the way to their house,” he said.

“And you can ride in it moving around our house, too, if you prefer,” Alan said. “We can have Colby keep it with him.”

Danny didn’t know what to say. He threw his backpack over his left shoulder and was about to walk up to the carrier when Colby spoke.

“Or!” Colby interjected. “Or … you could just ride in my hand, you know. It might be easier to talk that way. And get in and out, and everything.”

Every pair of eyes was now on Danny, and he could feel tension in the air.

“Sure. That’d be fine,” he said, and each face in the room beamed. He felt strange, as though he’d just passed some weird trust exercise, and he saw Colby move his right hand forward. The giant set his hand down, palm slightly tilted up, in front of his friend. Danny felt his dad grasp his shoulder again, and he turned around.

“I love you, my boy,” Ed said. “Have lots of fun, OK?”

“I love you, too, Dad. I’ll do my best,” Danny said, and turned and entered the open hand.

With uncanny gentleness, Colby closed his fingers around his friend’s body, making sure he was settled in his palm comfortably, and lifted him up. The feeling for Danny was bizarre and exhilarating as he was moved up nearer to Colby’s chest, and when the giants all started walking and saying goodbyes, he found he was able to look back at his dad, free his right arm, and wave. His dad calmly waved back.

Danny looked up and saw Colby casually glancing at him now and then as he walked.

“So, Colby,” Danny said. “What’s for lunch?”