Cypher's Heart

Cypher’s Heart

Written by: Pamela Thornton

“We are currently 20 minutes from the earth atmosphere. Please find your seats and buckle your set belts.” The lady said from the main station of the space craft. 23 days since Cypher, boarded the space craft and left her home from Orion. In her hand she held a small golden heart shape locket and a letter in a langue in which she did not know. This trip wouldn’t even be taking place if the telecommunication pad could recognize the langue. The locket had had her puzzled ever since she found it in her mother’s things. Her mother had passed in a fluke accident, a man had gotten mad at the waiter at here favorite café. The man threw his coffee in which short circuit the window with the view of earth and forced it to open. The suction from the open window had not only taken her mother but 5 other innocent bystanders. Months of trying to pretend that her mother was just at the store or the café and would be back Cypher, decided to start cleaning out her mother’s things. That is when she found the locket deep in a wooden box that her mother had brought form earth. The locket it was a picture of a man whom she had never seen. This was not her father who died in The War of The Nations. Her father was extremely handsome, tall, with blonde hair and was from the southern part of America. Cypher’s mother had made sure that she knew every detail of her father. Cypher loved to hear of the stories of her father, but this locket had her puzzled. The man in the locket seems to be of Asian descent, with small eyes and darker hair.

“Please hold on to your side rail bars as we enter into the earth atmosphere in five minutes.” Snapping Cypher out of her trans from the items in her hand. She quickly put them in her bag and placed the bag under her seat and held the rail bars as asked. Entering the Earth atmosphere was the most annoying thing. It was the only planet that made one feel like they needed to be shaken down before entering. After what seem like forever, she finally heard.

“Welcome to earth we will be landing in New York City in three hours.” The lady from the main station.

“Thank Goodness!” Cypher said to herself, as she fished out her bag out from under her seat. She was so happy that finally she would be able to go further than the metal walls that held her safe from the cruel suffocating space. The first week was find all the activities on board keep her entertained but there is a limit as to how many games and crafts one can do on the space craft.

“Hello Cypher,” said a man.

“Oh, hello Ottie.” Ottie had been her source of companionship on the pace craft. If it wasn’t for him, she had no idea how she could have handled the past 23 days.

“Did you see that Enyo and Res got into another spat, because the space line said that they weren’t going to cover the damage to their new space line phone?” Ottie said as he sat in the empty seat beside her. He had a luxury seat in the front so when it was mandatory, he would go and sit in his space. Cypher had luck up and was seated in a seat with no partner. Which was good for her because she could spread out more when it was time to sleep.

“Oh no, I missed it!! Ugh, I guess that what happens when you’re the only one on the space craft that can actually open a bottle from earth. I promise, I don’t know what everyone is going to do while they are here. They don’t have the advance technology that we do so they are going to have to do a ton of things by themselves.” Cypher started to rant. Ottie giggled a little and looked out the window.

“It is definitely a long way from Orion.” Ottie said seeming to look a little sad at the fact he wasn’t at on his home planet. Unlike Cypher, Ottie had been born in Orion his parents where one of the first settlers and people didn’t start making the pilgrimage there until after The War of The Nations. Cypher and Ottie settled in to a nice conversation as they waited the announcement of landing.

“Please, find your way back to your seats. As we will be landing in 30 minutes.” The voice overhead interrupted.

“Well, I guess that is my cue to go back to my seat. Cypher, thank you for being a companion on this journey with me during the past 23 days.” Ottie said as he stood up from the seat.

“It was my pleasure and if anything, you saved me from being in the middle of all of Enyo and Res problems.” Cypher said with a giggle. “Also, I am sure you will find what you are looking for on Earth. I hope it will be quickly so you can go back to Orion to your family.” Ottie was sent word that his ancestors need him to discuss the future of the family assets since a great aunt of his passed that he had no idea she was still alive.

“Thank you, Cypher. What about you, are you going to go back or you going to stay here on Earth?” Ottie said with a small smile on his face. Cypher, looked out the window to the blue ocean that laid beneath them.

“I don’t know, but I know we must have a dinner before you go back to Orion.” She said looking back at Ottie, with a smile.

“Deal, well I must get to my seat now. Goodbye Cypher.” Ottie said as he walked away.

“Goodbye, Ottie.” Cypher felt a little sadden that she wouldn’t be seeing her new friend all day liked she had since she had been since day two of her journey to Earth. Soon her thoughts drifted back to the letter. The first thing she must do is to find out what the letter says and then find out who wrote the letter. She thought as she made a checklist of everything she wanted to find out. Just finding what the letter said would be the most important and would help her know what her next move would be afterwards.

“Ma’am, here is your information for your room, and this is a pamphlet for your stay. It gives you a list of restaurants, activities to enjoy and a list of shops you can visit during your stay.” The man said behind the counter at the hotel. Cypher, looked at the pamphlet like it would burn her if she touched it. She had forgotten how Earth was still using paper to give out information and not just sending it directly to your telecommunication pad. Still, she gave a smile, her thanks, and took the pamphlet, then walked to the elevator. All she needed at this point was a good shower, fresh clothes, and a nap then she could begin her search for someone to help her with the letter.

Cypher, woke up and looked at the clock. 2:00 am. She did not mean to sleep for nine hours. Her stomach made such a noise that if she didn’t feel the rumble, she would have sworn there was a monster in her room. “Ugh, I should have eaten before I laid down. I don’t know if there is a restaurant open at this hour… Wait a minute, what I’m I saying this is New York City, the city that never sleeps.” She smiled to herself and rolled out of bed and looked in the mirror to make sure she was a lest presentable and put her shoes on. Outside the hotel the sidewalk wasn’t too packed but still normally at two in the morning she would be asleep in her nice little room and all would be quite in Orion. Cypher, didn’t have to walk far until she came across a convince store. She picked out some snacks for the hotel room, drinks, a sandwich and a smart phone that she will need while she was on earth. After she got to the room, she unpacked her food and sat down to activate her new phone. A few hours later she looked at the clock, 7:06 am. “Four hours to set up a phone!!! When will earth update all their systems?” She thought to herself. She went to the bathroom and freshened up, after she came out she looked at the locket that laid on the table on top of the letter. Cypher grab the locket and opened it up for what has seem like the thousandth time to look at the picture again. “Who are you? Why did my mom have a picture of you in this locket? How can I find you?” She said to herself. For the first time since she found the locket she put it on. Cypher looked in the mirror at the locket on her neck and touched it. It was just a plain golden locket, but it looked nice against her tan skin. Snapping out of her trans she grab all the things she would need for the day and headed out.

“Excuse me ma’am, could you tell me if you know what langue this is?” Cypher asked the lady that was behind the counter to the hotel, as she passed her the letter.

“Oh, this is written in cursive.” The lady said as she looked at the letter.

“Cursive?” Cypher said.

“Yes, before computers they wrote in cursive to save time on writing.” The lady explain.

“Oh, I see. Can you read it?” Cypher asked.

“I’m sorry, but I only know about cursive. My grandparents use to tell me about how they had to take classes for it and how hard it was. They would show me examples of things they had written and would read. This is how I recognized what the letter in written in.” The lady behind the counter said.

“Are your grandparents close?” Cypher asked with a small hope building in her chest.

“My grandparents have been dead for many years now. I am sorry.” The lady said sadly.

‘Oh, I am sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up sad memories.” Cypher said a little defeated.

“No, it wasn’t your fault. You had no idea they had already passed. Although I don’t know if you are going to be able to find anyone who knows how to read the letter. Those who know how to read cursive are as my late grandparents.” The lady continued. “After The War of The Nations cursive was outlawed. Many believe it is so we can’t read the Constitution or the Bill of Rights but either way many don’t know how to read it and those who do I would assume would keep quite about it.” Cypher’s heart sank, now she is going from a simple mission in finding out about the letter to committing a crime in learning about this letter.

“Thank you, for all your help.” Cypher said taking back the letter. “Where am I going to find someone who would be willing to trust an out of planet foreigner to read a letter in a langue that is outlawed? What kind of adventure is this going to be?” Cypher thought to herself. In which the answer to those questions would come later. Still to this day Cypher doesn’t know if she would have taken it, but that is what happens when a human becomes curious. The century old saying of how curiosity kills the kitty cat is still valid. Some things are should just be left in the bottom of a wooden box without any inquiry.