The heavy, oaken door creaked open, and inside they found a single room, light filtering in from the six windows.The heavy, oaken door creaked open, and inside they found a single room, light filtering in from the six windows. There were benches set against the walls, one on each side of the doors, and another pair on the walls away from the doors, for a total of six. To the right of each door, above one set of benches, was a set of hooks, as if to hang coats. "Weird," Nickolai said quietly as they walked in. "What do you suppose it's all for?" "I don't know." She shivered gently. "Maybe it's for a ritual or something." "That's not funny." On Terra, rumors about Shardik sometimes became extreme in their detail. Furry walked to the middle of the room. The floor was of the same rough-hewn stone as the walls, and was set with angular stones in a radiating pattern away from the center, which was laid with a single circular stone. Furry walked further, towards the other door, and opened it. Outside, the day was as bright and sunny as it had been when they'd arrived at the island. She stepped out of the room. And came running right back in again, soaking wet. "Ack!" she proclaimed loudly. Nickolai ran over to her. "What happened?" "I... I stepped through that door, and it was... it is raining out. "What are you talking about?" Nickolai asked. He put a hand on her shoulder... she was dripping all over the floor. "It's bright daylight out there." "It's raining." "Not that I see." "Wait a second," Furry said. "Look out that door." She pointed to the door they had first come through. "What do you see?" "Sun." "Not rain?" "No." "I see pouring rain. And through that door?" She pointed through the door she had just stepped through. "Sun." "I still see rain. And you have to admit, I am soaking wet. Did you hear that?" "Hear what?" "Thunder, Nickolai. I hear thunder." "Furry, I don't hear a thing except and the ocean." "That's not what I'm hearing. I'm hearing thunder. Tell you what. |