The Place Beyond

by Ryan Lohner

  Pren stiffened. He walked over until he was looking Matt right in the eyes. Under that baleful glare, Matt felt any residual courage draining away from him like a weed wilting under the onslaught of killer chemicals. He quickly sat down.

  “Yes.”

  That was when Jane erupted. “Where are they? What did you do to them?” Matt was stunned at the fury in her voice, accented by the tears she was still choking back.

  Pren raised his hands, not a very comforting gesture as his gun was still held in one. “Hey, I’m a very low man in this thing. You want to know more, my boss has to say you can.”

  A different voice said, “And I don’t.” Matt jumped back up as, all around them, more men materialized. There were five in all. One of them threw what looked like a ball into the air, bathing the area in light. It was that strange, floating lamp that had started this whole thing, Matt realized. He winced, looking away, waiting for his eyes to adjust. Once his vision acclimatized, he could see that Pren was smaller than he’d looked in the darkness, especially next to the new arrivals. His rat-like face didn’t help him look any more intimidating either. Still, Matt found it hard to forget just how small he himself had felt during the whole confrontation. The new arrivals were all wearing the same thing, clearly some kind of uniform. The black color made it hard to make out details, but they appeared to be just regular, comfortable clothes. One of the new arrivals was wearing a slightly different version. While the others wore solid black, his had silver piping and shoulder tassels. Even without that clue, he was clearly the leader of the group just from the way they all looked to him. He had a hard face with bright blue eyes, offset by red hair and a short beard of the same color. There was also a nasty scar that curved around the right side of his cheek, ending at a missing chunk of his earlobe.

  “Good work, Pren,” he drawled. “I see they’re all still in one piece. You’re really learning to rein in those tendencies of yours.”

  Pren made a mocking bow. “I live to serve,” he said, with the same sarcasm he’d used on the call.

  The leader didn’t react to this insubordination, simply saying, “Though there’s still room for improvement. For instance, they’re in a circle around you. You can’t watch all of them at once by yourself.” He glanced around at Matt and the others. “If you could all line up next to each other, please?” Matt and Jim moved to where Jane was standing, Jim apparently thinking, as Matt was, that she was the least likely to move. They were thanked with a nod.

  “Now then, I’m Captain Aaron Chapman of the Krell Eagles. As you may have surmised, we knew about your interest in us from when you first came across us. And in the few days since then, we’ve been patrolling the area, hoping you’d return. Though I never really thought you’d come back to exactly the same place. If you were seasoned opponents you would be unlikely to walk into what could be a trap. And if you were innocent bystanders, you should have been scared off completely by what you saw that night. So, I must confess, I find myself at something of a loss. Just what are you doing here?”

  Matt realized that Jim and Jane were both looking at him. “Oh, so it’s all on me now, huh?” he said bitterly.

  Jane shrugged. “It was your idea in the first place.”

  Matt sighed and turned to Chapman. If nothing else, he was easier to look at than Pren, even with that scar. “Look, I’m very sorry about all this. It’s really all about my friend. He’s been missing for a week – and I dragged these two into it with me. I had this crazy idea that we might find something if we looked around here, and it really sounds stupid now. None of us want anything to do with whatever’s going on, and I’m pretty sure,” he said, looking at Jim and Jane, “these two would both agree that we won’t say anything about it.” His companions nodded vigorously.

  Chapman smiled, and to Matt’s surprise there seemed a bit of genuine warmth in it. “Now, that’s what I’d been hoping to hear.” The smile disappeared. “Unfortunately, I’m not quite the final authority on matters like this.” He took a device off his belt that, to Matt’s eyes, resembled Pren’s weapon. This one, though, had a rounded design which went a long way toward making it appear less threatening. He seemed almost apologetic as he said, “To sort this out once and for all, you’ll have to come back with us.” He pushed a button on the device and the air in front of him … shifted. Everything nearby distorted, swirling into a spiral that spun faster and faster until the movement wasn’t visible. Then it flattened, and everything seemed normal again.

  Matt glanced over at Jane and Jim, checking to see if they had witnessed the same thing, but they were still staring straight at the spot where the distortion had been.

  Chapman cleared his throat. “If you’ll just move a bit to the side, young man, everything will become clear. Well, maybe not everything, but we have time.”

  Matt did as he was told, and indeed, it was immediately clear why Jane and Jim were still so enraptured, at least if they were seeing the same thing. A swirling mass of white, just like he had seen previously, had appeared in the exact same spot, except this time the center was black. He stepped back to where he had been before, and it disappeared again.

  Chapman smiled. “I imagine it’s quite something from your point of view. It’s called a transit corridor. They exist in just two dimensions, so looked at from the right spot on either side, you see nothing at all. They’re what allow us to come to this place, and luckily, they work both ways. I shudder to think of the poor man who first had to test it, coming through with no idea what kind of place he was going to, or if he could ever go home. Still, that was a long time ago, and we’ve made some improvements. Pren, if you’ll demonstrate?”

  Rat features never took his eyes from Matt’s face as he walked over to the corridor. He bared his teeth in what loosely passed for a smile. “I’ll be waiting for you. Don’t be long.” His gaze still fixed on Matt, he stuck his arm into the transit corridor. The second he did, he started distorting, the same way as everything else had.

  Matt’s stomach lurched and he quickly looked away. By the time he had his nausea under control enough to turn back to the tunnel, Pren was gone. Matt could only assume that, as he had heard nothing, Pren had not experienced any discomfort.

  Chapman coughed again, commanding their attention. “It’s completely painless,” he said, “all you have to do is touch any body part to it. So,” he glanced around at them, “who wants to go first?”

  No one spoke. For Matt, this was at least partly due to the fact that he was still struggling to comprehend what was happening.

  Chapman frowned. “I thought I’d made myself clear. The sooner you do this, the sooner this will all be over, one way or another. The alternative is that we just end it here, and please believe me when I say, I don’t want to do that. I always try to avoid casualties among non-combatants, which I’m now reasonably sure is what you are. So I ask again, who will go first?”

  Jim stepped forward. “Okay, I’ll do it.” He looked at Matt and Jane. “I’m the reason we’re here tonight, right?”

  Chapman nodded. “Good man. Like I said, you just touch it, and you’ll be on your way.”

  “On our way where?” asked Matt, stepping up himself and grabbing Jim by the arm.

  Chapman sighed. “That would be quite difficult to explain at this point. I can only promise that it’ll make a good deal more sense once you’ve gone through. I’ve already sent in one of my own men to show that it’s safe. Now I can only ask you to help me clear this up once and for all. Again, I must ask you to believe that I wish you no harm. It’s just that my hands are tied in this instance.”

  Jim pulled his arm free. His eyes met Matt’s. “I believe him.” He sighed. “I mean, I know my opinion doesn’t count for much with you right now, but that’s what it is.” He walked to the corridor and thrust his arm through, a little too eagerly as far as Matt was concerned. Matt’s stomach twisted again, and then he was gone.

  Matt and Jane shared a quick look, then he said,
“I’ll go next,” leaving Jane to sulk as he could tell he had cut her off from saying the same thing. He stepped forward, forcing himself to keep picturing Dave’s face. Who knew, maybe this would allow him to find out what had happened, maybe, he would even find Dave, as unlikely as it seemed now. And wasn’t that why he was here? Wasn’t that why he had dragged Jim and Jane into this? Something this bizarre would certainly explain why the police had been so stymied in their investigation. Who would ever have thought of something like this, even in a town like Berkland? With all that running through his head, he took a deep breath, glanced quickly back at Jane, now dry-eyed, and touched the corridor.

  Chapter Seven

  There wasn’t any pain. Chapman had told the truth about that, at least. The dark spot at the center of the white vortex simply expanded until it filled all of Jim’s vision, and then, with seemingly no transition at all, a new place appeared. He was indoors, and everything was so spotlessly white that at first he had difficulty telling that anything was there at all. But on closer inspection, he could make out the corners of the walls, and a floor and ceiling. The room seemed to be a perfect square, about ten feet all around, with absolutely nothing in it.

  He heard a laugh to his right and turned to see Pren.

  “You might want to get out of the way,” he instructed. ”The captain will be wanting to get back himself. I don’t think blocking the entrance will put you at the top of his favorites list, do you?”

  Jim had just moved aside when Matt materialized from the corridor, closely followed by Jane, both of them had also stood, blocking the entrance, gawking, until Pren issued the same warning. Hot on Jane’s heels came the rest of the men, one by one. Chapman came last of all. At the sight of the closest thing to a friendly face among these people, Jim let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

  Chapman came over to them, smiling a little. It made his scar go a bit whiter. “This is what we call the travel room, where the corridor opens.” He hesitated. “That isn’t information I would normally give out,” he admitted, “but in this case, what you’re about to see will make it obvious anyway.” Glancing at Pren, he said, “So you can take that scowl off your face.”

  “It’s not a scowl,” Pren admonished. “It’s just my face. And I’m kind of sensitive about it, if you don’t mind.” His sarcasm was gone, but Jim was still reasonably sure that he wasn’t being serious.

  Up until now the walls had appeared to enclose the entire room with no way out. Jim supposed he should have been worried about that but his mind had rather more pressing matters to deal with. Besides, there was always the corridor, assuming they could get to it. But then the wall directly opposite the white mass that signaled the entrance underwent a similar transformation, seeming to flex and spin within a circular area, until another room was visible through it. It was a stark contrast to the one they were in now, full of massive equipment being overseen by several people who clearly knew what they were doing.

  Chapman moved to the new portal. “This is the same concept,” he volunteered, “but since it’s within the same universe, it’s not nearly as flashy. Actually, it was my idea,” he said, smiling again. “Creating a separate room to go to before we punch through into another world. There’s no other way in or out. You couldn’t ask for better security, and it’s no actual work for anyone.”

  The man had been nothing but a cool professional so far, so this little display of vanity was a bit jarring. Still, Jim was hardly in a position to comment on it. “So, us first again?” he asked.

  Chapman nodded. “And you should be quite glad of that. After all, if we all went first, we could just turn both corridors off and leave you in here.” At the looks on their faces he added, “Yes, it could happen. Our general is not someone who spares the rod, shall we say. Still, if you’ve been telling the truth, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about, should you?”

  Jim could hardly argue with that. And even if he could, he wasn’t so inclined.

  Chapman nodded to another of his men, who stepped through the hole, and the three of them followed, again one at a time. From what he’d seen, that was all that one of these things could handle. Now he saw just how large the room was, and filled floor to ceiling with the machines that Jim could only assume had something to do with powering the corridor. He was also a bit surprised to note that the technicians he had seen through the corridor were actually the only ones there. He winked at Matt and Jane, whispering, “I was expecting more blinking lights, weren’t you?”

  Pren chuckled as he came through. “And exactly what purpose would that serve? Seriously, I’m asking.”

  Jim cringed; his little joke had only been meant for his companions. “Well, err,” he struggled to find something to say, “you know, man, like … because they’re … big computers.”

  “And so they should give seizures to all the people who work with them?” Chapman said, having stepped out of the corridor. “Please, let’s not waste any more time.” As they passed through the room, the technicians remained studiously at their consoles without so much as glancing up.

  As they followed Chapman, Jim realized that, oddly enough, he was beginning to feel a bit better about their situation. His first impression was of a bunch of faceless goons who itched to kill them; Pren had gone a long way to fostering that thought. Now he was starting to see that they were just people too; people who might sympathize with him and his companions. Or maybe he was just grasping at straws – ignoring how impossibly strange and dangerous the whole situation was. As soon as that idea entered his head, he forced it out as swiftly as he could. For the time being, he had to think positive.

  * * *

  Jane had been in a daze ever since seeing the corridor open. This whole thing was so far beyond her comprehension of reality that she simply had to take it as it came, with no attempt to understand it. Sure, in her childhood she’d entertained fantasies of going to other worlds, where there would be all kinds of wonderful sights and people, usually centered around a handsome prince. But she’d grown out of that phase and for a while now had set her sights on more realistic goals.

  Worse, was the feeling that one of their captors was sizing her up. She hadn’t actually caught him at it, but being an attractive girl in high school meant that she was quite adept at knowing when she was getting attention from the opposite sex – appreciated or not. She was definitely getting the latter feeling now. The unwanted scrutiny was coming from a man with freckles lining the tops of his cheeks and under his eyes; a look she had never seen the appeal of, and even if she had, she would still feel uneasy about this.

  So, what to do? She was of a mind to confront him, but this was far removed from high school, she needed to consider the effect on the others that challenging him might have. The two thoughts kept chasing each other around and around in her head, until she found it hard to focus on anything else. Not that there was much else to focus on for the moment. They had passed through the room with all the machines and were now simply going through a series of hallways that were all the same gray color, with oddly patterned protrusions that had provided a little variety at first. Now though, their blocky shapes held a rich monotony all of their own.

  Chapman didn’t seem to have anything more to say, and no one else was venturing anything either. At least he seemed like a reasonable guy, at least compared to Pren, the only other one of these people she had heard speak. Just as she allowed herself to relax a little, her eyes caught those of the guy who had been staring at her. Abruptly, she came to a decision. Slowing her pace, she allowed freckle face to come a little closer so that she would be able to talk with him without everyone else overhearing. “Can I help you?” she asked, arching her brows.

  A startled look flashed across the freckled face, changing quickly to a grin. “And I thought I was being so subtle.”

  Jane shook her head. “I think we must have different definitions of the word ‘subtle’,” she said frostily. “Well, just so we’re cle
ar, I’m not available right now. For anything!” She turned her eyes forward, dismissing him. A hand descended on her shoulder. Not good.

  “You never know,” he muttered, leaning into her space. “You might be stuck here for a while.” He grinned. His teeth were stained and uneven. “I just want to let you know the offer’s open.”

  “Eyes front, Reeves,” Chapman’s voice cracked through the air and Freckle face immediately backed off. So, Jane noted, if he was going to pull something, it would be when his boss wasn’t around. Well, she would just have to make sure that she and Reeves never found themselves alone together.

  * * *

  Matt was grateful for the intervention. He could see that Jane was having some kind of problem with the guy Chapman had called Reeves, and from the way Reeves had been eyeballing Jane, he had no trouble guessing why. For the nth time, he wished he had never had the bright idea of trying to track Dave and his father down.

  A couple of minutes later, Chapman said, “You may want to shade your eyes.”

  The three of them exchanged puzzled glances before complying. Glancing around, Matt saw that none of the soldiers were troubling to, then he saw the visors slide out of their helmets. To their left, the wall split into segments that shifted and spun until the strange patterns that covered the gray surfaces began retreating inside each other. By the time the movement came to an end, an opening about twice as big as a regular door gaped in front of them. Sunlight flooded into the hall and Matt found himself grateful for the captain’s warning.

  After a few seconds his eyes got used to the intensity of the light, and he could see outside. A massive city stretched in front of him, and as they were escorted through the door, he saw that there was glass stretching far in both directions, allowing an unobstructed view of the place. The ground was very, very far below. He had been to the top of the CN Tower once, when his parents were investigating a supposed fault that would send it crashing down, and this seemed even higher. Several skyscrapers, just as tall as their position, poked out of a shiny steel construction that, under the circumstances, reminded him of nothing so much as a giant bear trap.