“It’s destroyed! Our invention is ruined. Virri!” he yelled, losing his temper again. “Why did you do that?”
Virri shrunk away, retreating into her shell and rolling behind Tessa’s chair.
“Don’t yell at her. She was just trying to help.” Tessa gave Virri’s pearly shell a gentle pat. Virri poked her head back out tentatively.
“Hey, look on the bright side. Baked potatoes!” Lewis held up a smoking potato covered with a blackened rind of char. He bit into it. “Yikes! Hot!”
Tessa also felt a strange burning sensation creeping from her wrist down to her fingers. “Hot is right. Ouch!” she cried, running to the bathroom and dabbing her skin with a damp towel. Her entire hand was tingling.
“Are you okay?” Maeve asked.
“Yeah, mostly. The electricity from the circuit must have zapped me a little. I have a metal plate under my skin from that old injury. I think it reacted in a weird way.” She rubbed her wrist. “I’m fine, it just feels weird. Like it’s buzzing.”
“Uh, Tessa?” Isaiah said. “That’s because it is. Look.”
The face of Tessa’s eChron watch lit up. Its screen glowed, crowded with new messages. Each time a new one loaded, the watch vibrated.
“Holy cow! I guess Virri’s oomph jump-started the battery or something! It hasn’t worked since we got here.”
The cadets gathered around and Tessa showed them the messages.
“Wait a minute,” Isaiah said, always picking up on small but important details. “Look at the time stamp on this one. Your sister just sent it a half an hour ago.”
“So?”
“So, that means your smartwatch is somehow receiving data from across the Threshold,” Isaiah said incredulously.
“Which means maybe, just maybe, it can also send data.” Dev nearly jumped for joy.
The cadets cheered.
Virri shrank away sheepishly.
“Oh, it’s okay,” Tessa said when she noticed Virri’s worried eyes. “We’re not upset with you. The radio broke, but this may work even better. You helped us. Thank you.”
Virri looked up. She reached for Tessa’s hands and squeezed them. Tessa squeezed back. Then Virri crawled up the nearest wall, opened a ceiling grate, and disappeared back into Station Liminus’s ducts.
46
EARTH
Dr. Khatri had already had several cups of strong, caffeinated tea, but he needed another. His eyelids drooped and his energy waned, but he refused to rest until he found evidence of a natural portal.
He shuffled to the kitchen and placed the kettle on the stove. While he waited for the water to boil, he flipped the television on and surfed the channels aimlessly.
The local newscaster announced, “Rolling blackouts are on the rise throughout the city of Conroy and surrounding counties.”
Mayor Hawthorne’s photo flashed on screen.
“The mayor promises to work with the energy council to ameliorate the situation, but business owners and individuals are growing increasingly frustrated by the situation.”
The video cut to a reporter interviewing two old men, one of them holding a pitchfork, the other holding a shotgun. A dilapidated silo appeared in the background.
“When the power goes out, my cows can get past the electrical fencing. At first, I thought coyotes were picking them off. Then I suspected the MegaAg folks. But now I think it’s something else!”
The reporter spoke into her microphone. “The owner of Miss Mary’s Dairy claims that a total of six animals have gone missing in a matter of weeks. Police are investigating.”
The farmer spoke again. “My buddy and I, we staked out the perimeter this time, sure we’d catch them MegaAg folks kidnapping our cattle. We spotted the cows, just beyond the fence, trotting toward the old Greene silo.”
“It was sort of hard to see, because mist and fog always settle around that place. It’s in a natural gulley,” Gil Greene added.
Ray Harkis’s face lit up. “We had our eyes on one cow, a sweet little Holstein who lost her way. Then, all of a sudden—poof! The poor gal disappeared into thin air. Spookiest thing I ever saw.” He blinked. “My buddy Gil saw it too, didn’t ya?”
“Sure did. With all them quivers wiggling the ground around these parts, we think maybe a sink hole opened up.”
The kettle whistled. Dr. Khatri turned off the stove, but he didn’t bother to pour himself a cup of tea. Instead, he picked up the phone and dialed a number with shaking fingers.
“Dr. Scopes,” he said. “I’m sorry to call so late.”
“It’s fine. I’m up,” she said, sounding tired. “Is this about the kids?”
“Yes.” He tried to calm his breathing. “I think I’ve located the nearest dimensional tear.”
She perked up. “Where? New Guinea? Panama? West Virginia?”
“Right here in Conroy.” He shut off the television. “Meet me at the eastern border of the MegaAg seed fields, near the old Greene silo.”
“That’s private property. How do you expect to get access at this hour?”
Dr. Khatri glanced at his wife’s MegaAg credentials and ID badge on the kitchen island. She had conflicted feelings about working for a big agricultural conglomerate, but they paid well and supported her research into drought-and blight-resistant strains of rice and soy.
“Leave that to me,” he said, picking up the badge and slipping it in his pocket.
47
STATION LIMINUS
“You have 74 new messages.”
Tessa scrolled through the texts from Zoey on her smartwatch.
if I break my ankle in these
shoes, I’m blaming you.
wow, how do you stand hanging
out with Blake? She is insufferable.
I just saw the Hart McAubrey
poster in your locker. LOL
I knew you had the hots for him!
You are so cheesy
…
how’s the field trip?
be nice to my friends, okay?
don’t embarrass me, okay?
take some notes if you see
anything cool, okay?
ugh. I wish I was there …
if Isaiah seems gloomy, try to
cheer him up
if Maeve is moody, give her
space.
…
you didn’t tell me you had a math
quiz today? Argghhhhh!
you are literally the worst
I’m going to intentionally flunk it
for you.
JK. I’d never do that.
Aced it! booya!
you can thank me later.
wow. ungrateful much?
…
Are you ignoring me?
Really? Really?
…
Whoa. Did you feel that quiver?
It was sort of scary. We had to
hide under the desks.
The lights are still out.
Hope everything is okay at
NASA.
text me back, pls?
…
WHERE ARE U??????
I’m at band practice waiting
outside the locker room to change into our normal
clothes like we planned and you’re not here.
…
Are you and Lewis pranking me
right now?
I feel like this is a prank …
…
Fine. You WIN!
I said it: YOU WIN.
It was actually really hard to be
you today.
I give you a lot of credit.
You can style me for a whole
month. Happy now?
Hello … ?
Seriously, T. What is up with you
today?
…
WTH?!?
MOM IS FREAKING OUT. DAD
TOO. WHAT IS HAPPENING?
…
YOU VOLUNTEERED FOR A SLEEP
STUDY A
T NASA?
YEAH, RIGHT *eye roll*
WHERE ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE
YOU REALLY DOING?
YOU BETTER NOT BE HOOKING
UP WITH GAGE BEHIND THE BLEACHERS.
I AM SO NOT COVERING FOR YOU
AGAIN.
PS—He is a terrible human.
If you heard the way he talks to
me and my friends, you’d get it.
You deserve better.
Much better.
…
Tessa, I’m scared.
Mom is acting extra weird. Dad
is eerily quiet.
I’m sorry about our fight. I said
awful things.
Please don’t stay mad.
If this is about the swap, it’s
over. You win.
…
HELLO? EARTH TO TESSA?
ANSWER ME. PLEASE.
…
T, I’m worried about you.
I know something is up.
If you’re in trouble, I’m here.
Let me help.
I love you.
Come home.
Tessa finished reading the last message. She wasn’t sure what time it was on Earth, but she typed a message and hit send.
She waited. And waited. Nothing. Tessa tried once more. This time, the watch made a swoosh! sound indicating the message had been sent.
A small icon popped up. She showed it to the other kids.
“It says delivered, but unread. Zoey usually takes her watch off at night. We can try again in the morning. She’s probably sleeping now.”
“Speaking of which, we should do the same. We’re never going to play well tomorrow if we’re sleep deprived.” Maeve yawned.
Dev caught the yawn next, then Lewis. They were exhausted. A few hours of shut-eye sounded more delicious than the twelve-course feast they had eaten earlier (minus the wriggling tentacled things).
They said good night and retired to their cloud beds.
Isaiah tossed and turned. His mind was racing, his nerves raw and jumpy. He thought about the changes in vision and the inklings he’d had—the need to leave the greenroom, the importance of connecting with their families back on Earth.
Duna had said Transfer could have some unexpected effects. Isaiah had been sick when he arrived, but when the nausea faded, something else replaced it. Something Isaiah didn’t have a name for and didn’t know what to do with. There was a sensation thrumming through him, some unidentifiable energy that needed an outlet, like the radio’s electrical current. Something that had become amplified since he crossed the Threshold.
He walked to the dining table and spotted a lonely, charred potato. Lewis had actually eaten the other one, which was pretty gross, but that kid seemed to eat just about anything. Except for live starfish. He drew the line there.
Isaiah studied the potato, thinking back to Nolan’s tuba during the field trip. He focused his eyes on it. He wondered if he could make it move without touching it. He squinted. He willed the potato to move. He blinked. Wait? Had it just wiggled? He leaned closer to check. Nope. It was in the exact same spot. He tried again. The potato refused to budge. Maybe he hadn’t acquired some new superpower after all. Still, he was too restless to return to bed.
While the others slept soundly, he slipped out the door and wandered through the quiet Station until he arrived at Gate Hall. The looping structure rotated slowly, doorways shifting and changing as they passed.
He looked through a porthole, then leaped back as an enormous sea creature swam by. Another window revealed a fiery sunscape, flaring with bursts of white-hot gas and light. Through the keyhole in a red wooden door, he spied an idyllic hillside dotted with … wait, were those cows? He stepped back and rubbed his eyes. Then, far in the distance, he spotted a slim, shadowy figure wandering Gate Hall.
Isaiah ducked behind the frame of a heavy stone door, pressing his body flat to the wall, hoping he hadn’t been seen.
He peered around the stones. The figure opened a door, looked in, closed it again. Over and over, the shadowy figure opened and closed doors, as though he was searching for something, someone, someplace. Isaiah squinted, trying to make out the figure’s face, but he was too far away. Technically, there was no day or night in the liminal spaces between dimensions, but the Station’s lights were dimmed for the designated eight-hour sleeping interval required by most species for essential energy restoration.
“Hey! You!” a guard shouted, and ran toward the figure with a club raised. The man opened a wooden door and jumped across the Threshold. The door closed behind him and the wall instantly shifted from wood to concrete. The guard slammed an angry fist against the wall.
“Almost got him this time,” he muttered to himself.
Isaiah’s heart stopped as the guard swiveled and made eye contact with him.
“Earthling?” The guard strode in Isaiah’s direction. “You shouldn’t be out here unaccompanied, especially at this hour,” he said gruffly, grabbing Isaiah by the arm. “I will escort you back to your chambers.”
“I was just looking. I wasn’t planning to open any of them,” Isaiah stammered.
“I should hope not. You never know what might come crawling, creeping, or screaming out of these doors.”
“Who was that person you were chasing?” Isaiah asked.
The guard turned, his four pale eyes scanning Isaiah. “You saw him, too?”
“Of course I did.”
The guard loosened his grip on Isaiah’s arm. “Some call him the Traveler. Some call him a ghost. Those of us who work the late shifts see him from time to time, but he’s a tricky one. No one’s ever gotten a good look at his face. Some say he’s traveled so much, he no longer has one.”
“He’s faceless?”
“Perhaps. Some species experience cellular degradation after too many Transfers—similar to the way digital images lose their resolution when compressed and sent back and forth. Some individuals are more susceptible than others.”
Isaiah thought of Dr. Scopes, the way she had looked airbrushed, her face missing contrast and edges. Maybe she had hopped between dimensions too many times? Then again, Dr. Scopes had vehemently refuted the possibility that other dimensions even existed. Isaiah shook his head, his thoughts jumbled.
“Why do you chase him?” Isaiah asked.
“We have orders to catch the Traveler. He’s trespassing. Visitors to the Station must be authorized by the council.”
They turned the corridor and took a shortcut past the Menagerie. The nocturnal animals prowled through simulated night. Some glowed, flaunting their bioluminescence in the darkness. The colossadon bellowed, a mournful call that echoed through the halls. Even though Duna had said during their tour that the creature was vicious, Isaiah felt sorry for it. How lonely to be the last of its kind.
“Don’t go sneaking around again,” the guard advised when they arrived at Isaiah’s suite.
Isaiah nodded, the image of the Traveler seared into his brain.
“Next time I find out you’re out after curfew, I won’t be so kind.”
“I understand,” Isaiah said, entering the room and locking the door behind him.
He tumbled into his cloud bed and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep for the first time in months.
48
EARTH
Dr. Khatri swept a flashlight along the ground. “Watch out for cow pies and black holes.”
“Ah yes, my idea of Friday night fun.” Dr. Scopes high-stepped over clods of dirt and clumps of grass.
“There!” Dr. Khatri whispered excitedly. “I knew it!” The portal was hard to miss. At the base of the old silo, the ground eroded into a gaping hole, with bursts of quantum lightning glinting along its jagged edges.
“Stay back or I’ll shoot!” someone yelled through the darkness.
Dr. Khatri and Dr. Scopes froze, then slowly raised their hands over their heads. A flashlight shined in their eyes.
“You cow
nappers?” the voice asked.
“No.” Dr. Khatri squinted into the blinding lights.
“We’re scientists. We work at NASA. And we need access to that … sinkhole.” He couldn’t possibly tell them that he suspected the hole was actually a portal to another dimension.
“NASA, huh?” The man turned off his blinding flashlight and switched on a camping lantern.
“My granddaughter went there today for a field trip. Red-head. Sweet girl,” said a second man, stepping into the light.
Dr. Khatri squinted, trying to get a better view of the men he was addressing.
“Yes, I remember her. Very bright. Loads of potential. A flair for the dramatic. Maeve was it?”
“Uh-huh. That’s her.” Gil Greene lowered his shotgun slightly.
Ray Harkis jutted his chin out. “You think my cows stumbled into that?” He pointed.
Dr. Scopes looked into the portal. It was black with swirling iridescence, as though a slick of oil had pooled on top. “It’s quite likely,” she said. She stepped closer and felt the energy pull her, like a magnet. Dr. Khatri grabbed her coat and yanked her back.
“Don’t get too close,” he warned. “It’s acting like a black hole. It has a strong gravitational field.”
“Where does it lead?” Gil asked.
“That’s what we intend to find out,” Dr. Scopes said.
“I can tie a rope round your waist and lower you in, like we used to do with the old water well,” Ray offered.
“No, thank you,” said Dr. Scopes. “It’s too unstable right now.”
“She’s right. We need to run some tests and see if we can stabilize the, err, sinkhole before venturing in or getting the kids to exit.”
“Kids? We didn’t lose any kids. We lost cows!”
“Right, of course. My mistake,” Dr. Khatri said, quickly fixing his error. “And it is our goal to bring them all back, safe and sound. As quickly as possible.”
“I like the sound of that,” Ray said with a satisfied nod. “How can we help?”
“Dr. Scopes, secure this area with the assistance of these fearless dairy vigilantes. Make sure no one goes near the portal. I will return to the Gwen Research Center and gather supplies.”
Mission Multiverse Page 19