Sci-fi Novel - The Dream Artist - Part 6

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Part 6

The Dream Artist's three-story mansion with window moldings painted white had a pure beauty. From the outside, there was no sense of abandonment in the house; the windows were clean, the front door was tidy. As we could not see anything resembling a bell around the wooden door, I hit the door forcefully with a lion-shaped doorknob with red-light eyes. A short man with remarking long nose and jaw opened the door.

“We come from the Ministry of Homeland Security; we'd like to take a look at the house and ask you some questions. My name is Peri, and this is my colleague Ruhi, " said Peri.

“You ask a lot, but you can't reach any conclusions,” said the short man. The small pupils, the chunky body, the black collar shirt he wore and his negative attitude didn't give good signals for the future.

“May I ask your name?”

“Galip,” he said, without looking at my face.

“Mr. Galip, you have no right to choose whether to assist us, we have a warrant, and we can live with you in this house for a year if necessary.”

“Previous investigators were also very confident, but they couldn't provide me any information I didn't know. Don't stay at the door, come in.”

When we entered, we encountered a narrow entrance that we never expected and metal stairs that came up from here in a spiral form. I put the door that has a warning “do not enter” in my mind to enter later. Peri began to climb up the stairs with a quick jump. I thought Galip was a relative of the dream artist. The place we reached was a small room that only saw a corner of the second-floor window. We rode a narrow elevator where three people barely fit. I was angry with Galip because he didn't warn us about the surprises we were going to have. The elevator was not only moving vertically but horizontally, and there was no way to predict where we were because there was no indication of which direction we were going or which floor we were on. I didn't want to ask any question whom I thought might have killed Selim Özben, because I had no intention of feeding and raising his arrogance. I was pleased that the elevator has finally taken us to a relatively large room with reasonable daylight. At the same time with Peri, we took our laser measuring balls out of our pockets and directed them down the stairs from the end of the room. The balls buzzed like two big bumblebees, scattered the lights and disappeared. I was glad to be seated because the ceiling was not as high as I could comfortably be standing.

I asked Galip “What is your relationship with the dream artist?”

“You didn't ask an easy question to answer,” he said, first by rubbing his long nose and then his long chin. "As a cinema veteran, I was consulting and coaching Selim Özben. Like athletes, artists who perform at this level need some coaching. Artists can have fluctuating performances or fluctuating mood. In addition to the technical support, it was my duty to encourage him as a brother, and to gather him when he is confused.”

By the way, Peri didn't seem to listen to Galip's response, she opened her mobile computer and looked carefully on the screen.

”Almost every side of the building consists of elevators," she said in a confused manner.

“This building is not what it looks like from the outside; it is a very dynamic place."

"Habits are the enemy of art, especially in the art of dreaming, it is vital. That's how I suggested this building was designed. Selim and I worked on it for days. I put out what I learned in the studios that I work in, found a competent architect, and we created a beautiful place that makes surprises every moment. It is also in harmony with the environment."

“Do you have any idea where Selim Özben might be?" Peri asked.

“I'm tired of repeating this over and over, so please don't take it personally, but I refuse to answer your question,” said Galip.

"My experience taught me that those who refuse to answer questions are the ones in the panic of hiding their misdemeanor."

“I don't want to talk about it,” said Galip insistedly.

I stood up and looked out the window. My attempt to balance the negative energy that Galip emitted with the beautiful image of the stork flock flying over the woods has failed.

“We have no intention of leaving without taking the answers to our questions. We will get the necessary information in some way.”

"You came here without getting the information I gave before, if you were people with respect for your work, you would have seen digested the previous information," said Galip.

"If you walk through the same wrong paths, you will go to the same dead-end streets. We also don't need to learn from anyone about our job, no matter what happened to you, I expected a person of your age to be more mature,” I said, trying to dominate my anger.

“I don't think your intellectual capacity would be enough to understand; we were doing a very high-level business here.”

"I'll have to spend a few days in this house."

“I'm going out, and I'm sick and tired of all the researchers who are constantly asking questions and having no results, I'm going to instruct the service android Marlo to help you. There are hundreds of commercial secrets in this house, some of which are protected by patents, and you should know that if any one of these secrets comes into the hands of our competitors, I will hold you responsible.”

He stood up, walked through the stairs at the end of the room and disappeared.

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/tr/a%C4%9Fa%C3%A7lar-cadde-bina-konak-yol-do%C4%9Fa-3903922/