For the Balance of a Heart: A Poker Boy Story

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  I shook my head. “The Silicon Suckers just promised me it would be open with a tunnel to the surface. They never showed me where it was.”

  She turned to Stan.

  “Sorry,” he said.

  She looked at Screamer.

  “We didn’t even know this city was here,” he said. “We thought we were going into ancient ruins to look for you.”

  “Oh, no,” Helen said, slumping in her chair and covering her face with her hands.

  I glanced at Patty, then back at Helen, the Queen of Hearts.

  Looks like there was one little detail the Queen of Hearts hadn’t figured out in her little scheme.

  A very important one.

  Chapter Eight

  Actually, what she hadn’t been thinking about, I had, from the very first moment I learned that Laverne wanted us to go down into the “tunnels” as this city was called by those who had never been here.

  I wondered what people who lived in this beautiful place actually called it. And exactly where it was in reality. It certainly wasn’t under Las Vegas.

  “Okay, a couple of questions,” I said to the group sitting silently around the fire. “Where exactly is this city in time and space? And what the heck is it called?”

  Stan shrugged and looked at Helen.

  “The city’s name is Elysium,” she said without looking up. “It exists in a time in the distant future from what I understand.”

  Patty coughed, glanced at me, then asked, “Elysium, like in Elysium Fields, like in a form of heaven?”

  Helen shrugged. “All myth and rumors of this place. But it is actually a pretty nice city from what I have seen of it.”

  “Great, just great,” Screamer said. “We haven’t died and we’re stuck in heaven.”

  I didn’t know what to think about her answer. Something was nagging at me, but darned if I could figure it out. Something about this city being in the far future, yet we had come into it in our time, and it seemed to have a protected area in our time as well, under Las Vegas.

  Maybe it really was a city inside a giant snow globe buried under Las Vegas.

  Again I tried to clear my mind of that stupid thought.

  I needed to ask another hundred or more questions, but like everything with this rescue mission so far, most of the questions were going to have to wait until after we got out of here.

  If we got out of here.

  So I picked the one question that bothered me the most.

  “So when we came through the door, we stepped into the future?”

  “I believe we did,” Helen said, then sighed and slumped in the chair like a kid not getting her way.

  The future. That was the key. I had an idea. It wasn’t much of one, but it was all I had at the moment.

  I stood and started to put my parka back on over my black leather coat. “Stan, could you jump us back to the balcony we came in on?”

  He looked at me with that studying look that only the God of Poker could give a person, then nodded and stood and put on his coat as well.

  Screamer shrugged and did the same and so did Patty.

  “I’ll be right here when you get back,” Helen said. “I’m still chilled from my last little adventure out there.”

  Stan just shook his head and a moment later we were standing on the balcony looking through the snow and out over the beautiful city below.

  The cold air hit my face with a bite, but actually it felt good and cleared my thoughts even more. The wind swirled the light snow through the buildings and now there seemed to be very few people on the streets below. Whatever the local time was, it must be getting late.

  Back in Vegas it wasn’t even dinnertime yet.

  Patty took my hand and I could feel her calming influence push through me.

  I looked at the blank wall behind me where the door from Las Vegas into this city had been.

  “So what are you thinking, Poker Boy?” Screamer asked.

  I pointed at where the door had been. “We came in level to Freemont Street in downtown Vegas. Right?”

  Everyone nodded, so I turned and pointed down. “We have to be a good thirty stories above the street level here. And we know the exit is underground and against the Silicon Sucker’s territory.”

  “So more than likely it’s down on the main city level somewhere,” Screamer said. “That’s a lot of area to look for a door that is more than likely very hidden.”

  “I agree,” I said.

  I turned to my boss. “Stan, is it possible in our vision or in our minds, whatever, to overlay a view of Las Vegas from our time over this city? Same scale and everything?”

  He looked at me and actually frowned. “We would need to be connected.”

  “Screamer?”

  He nodded and I indicated everyone should step to the metal railing of the balcony and face out over the city. Screamer stood between me and Stan and Patty had my hand on the other side.

  Screamer’s main power was the ability to hook up thoughts, to see what others were seeing with a touch.

  He touched my hand and suddenly he and I and Patty were all together again in my head. We had done this so many times over the last few years, I sometimes wondered if them being in my mind wasn’t more comfortable than when they weren’t there.

  I like it too, Patty thought at me.

  Me, not so much, Screamer thought back.

  Then Screamer touched Stan and brought the God of Poker into the mix. And instantly a map of Las Vegas formed in my vision. Actually, more than a map, an image of the city as if we were in the air over the downtown area where we had gone through the door.

  Rotate it so that the Strip is running along that big boulevard below, I thought to Stan.

  He did, and suddenly the two main roads overlaid almost perfectly, only the one in this city kept going out into the distance, right through where the airport had been in our time.

  This is a future Las Vegas, Screamer thought, clearly stunned.

  “Stan, take us north, keeping the cities lined up, along our Highway 95 where the Silicon Suckers home castle is.”

  Suddenly we were no longer on the balcony, but instead flying through the snow with an image of Vegas below us overlapping the streets and boulevards of Elysian.

  It was even colder up in the air like this. My face and hands were going to take some warming time when this was over. I just hoped my nose didn’t freeze off.

  I’d still love you anyway, Patty thought.

  Knock it off you two, Screamer thought.

  Stan took us north slowly until finally I indicated he should stop.

  We were right over the edge of the Silicon Sucker’s boundary. And clearly they still lived there, since there was nothing but huge mounds of sand and empty spaces over their Territory. The mounds of sand towered into the air over the edge of the new city.

  The Silicon Suckers still exist, Patty thought, feeling as stunned as I felt.

  I pointed to a wooden shack that had been built against the huge mound of sand. It looked very, very old and weathered. And sand covered the back half of the building. And on the front, facing the city, was a closed wooden door.

  Is that the door home? Screamer asked in a thought that felt excited.

  I could sense Patty was excited as well.

  It might be, I thought back. It would have been a long ways underground in our time. Stan, take us along the edge of the Silicon Sucker’s territory to the west and then back to the east.

  We spent the next five cold minutes drifting through the air, the map of our time imposed over the city below. Then we ended up back over the old shack half buried in the sand.

  We had found nothing else touching the Silicon Sucker’s territory.

  Looks like we might have found our door out, I thought to the others.

  Part of me wanted to shout for joy.

  And part of me was scared to death that we were wrong.

  Chapter Nine

  An instant later we were back in the
warm room with Helen and the wonderful crackling fire.

  Screamer dropped his grip on my arm and I was again alone inside my head.

  “Any luck?” Helen asked.

  “Maybe,” Stan said to her. “Get on a coat and gather your things.”

  She jumped to her feet like an excited child and vanished.

  Patty and I moved over in front of the crackling fire, holding our hands closer to the flames in a sad attempt to warm them.

  In less than fifteen seconds Helen was back, bundled in a heavy coat with a bag over her shoulder. With a wave of her hand, the fire went out, the lights in the place dimmed, and white sheets covered the furniture.

  “Planning on returning?” Screamer asked.

  “You never know,” Helen said.

  An instant later Stan had us standing in the desert in front of the old shack. The wind was blowing harder here and the snow felt like small grains of sand against my cheeks.

  Up close the door looked very similar to the one we had come through on the way in. Same rough metal handle with strange inscriptions, same old wood. That made me feel a little more hopeful.

  I turned to face everyone and held up my hand for attention. Then shouting over the wind I said, “If this is our door out and we end up in the Silicon Sucker’s tunnels on the other side, it is critical we say nothing and calmly walk to the surface.”

  I looked directly at Helen and she looked back, very puzzled.

  She then started to say something and Stan held up his hand. “If you can’t agree to Poker Boy’s instructions, you stay here.”

  “And how can you make me do that?” Helen demanded, her eyes blazing as she turned to face her ex-husband.

  She was so angry, I had no doubt that the snow wasn’t getting near her. I know I wanted to step back, but I didn’t.

  Stan just kept his poker face and said calmly, “We will go through first and make sure the Silicon Suckers never open the exit again.”

  “You would do that to me?”

  “I would,” Stan said. “And I am sure your parents, once they know you are alive and living just fine, would agree with me.”

  She started to say something and then closed her mouth. She turned her back on Stan, staring at the wooden door in front of her. Her face was bright red, almost matching her hair blowing in the wind.

  “It is critical we say nothing and walk to the surface,” I said again, looking directly at her and keeping my voice as even as I can. “Please? The Silicon Suckers have opened this tunnel for us. The least we can do is honor their customs in their land.”

  Finally, she took a deep breath and nodded.

  I glanced past her at Stan and he nodded. I had a hunch he was going to make sure she followed the instructions. I didn’t want to think of dealing with the Silicon Suckers again if he couldn’t keep her under control.

  I took a couple steps through the sand and pulled on the door. It didn’t move.

  Stan stepped up and made a motion and then pulled the door open, scraping back sand as he did.

  A dark concrete tunnel lead into the mound of sand inside the small shack and again Patty snapped on her flashlight and I lead the way, holding her hand.

  Screamer followed us, then Helen, and Stan came in last, pulling the outside door closed behind us.

  We walked silently for about thirty paces and then around a corner to face another door.

  I indicated everyone keep quite with a finger against my lips, then I pushed the door open.

  Beyond the door was a sand tunnel that I knew was dug by the Silicon Suckers. It had the same light that seemed to come from everywhere and the same scraping marks on the walls.

  But the question was had we gone back in time or were we just walking inside a Silicon Suckers’ tunnel in the future without invite?

  Patty instantly snapped off her flashlight and put it away.

  I lead the way up the steep slope of the tunnel, only glancing back to make sure Helen was still with us and that Stan had closed the door.

  There were no side tunnels at all.

  The climb had to be the longest in my life. But actually it took us less than ten minutes until the tunnel leveled and I walked out into the evening light and warmth of the desert outside of Las Vegas.

  A bright red Ford pickup truck sped past on Highway 95.

  As Patty stepped into the evening sun, Laverne and Benny appeared, both looking happy and angry at the same time. I didn’t want to think about what this family meeting was going to be like.

  As Helen stepped into the light, a bright smile crossed her face as she saw her parents. Then she turned to Stan.

  “You can take off the shield now holding me here,” she said.

  “Not me,” Stan said, smiling.

  Helen turned to stare at her parents. “Mom?”

  “We’ll talk,” she said.

  And with that Helen vanished, and not to a place she wanted to go I would wager.

  “Thank you again,” Lady Luck said and behind her Benny nodded.

  It never got old having Lady Luck thank you.

  Lady Luck went on. “After we get family business taken care of, I would love to hear about your adventure on the other side. I’ll come join you all for lunch one of these days.”

  Then she and Benny vanished as the four of us stood there with our mouths open.

  An instant later Stan had us back in my office and we were all missing our parkas.

  And I had about six thousand questions built up to ask.

  Screamer shook his head and looked out at Las Vegas below my office. “Well, that was an interesting afternoon trip. I think there’s a steak with my name on it at the MGM Grand.”

  “Mind if I join you?” Stan asked. “I would love to know how you knew Helen or Sheila, as you called her.”

  “You drive,” Screamer said, smiling, and an instant later they were both gone.

  Without answering a single question I had.

  “So that leaves just the two of us,” Patty said, looking at me with those big brown eyes of hers. “Any ideas?”

  “Maybe trying to find out what just happened? And what those keys were all about. And why exactly that city is there. And who did it.”

  “More than enough time for that,” Patty said, smiling. “I’m going to call in and cancel work tonight. I think they can get by without me, don’t you?”

  I took a deep breath and looked out over the city I loved. I was finally starting to catch her drift. It was time to celebrate being back and being alive.

  “I do,” I said, nodding seriously.

  “Then after I call work I want to take a long hot shower,” she said, smiling at me and giving me a quick kiss. “I’m still chilled. Then maybe some dinner.”

  “Mind if I join you?” I asked, holding her close. “I’m sure they can get along without me at the poker tournament tonight as well.”

  “For dinner?” she asked.

  “I was thinking of the shower to be honest,” I said.

  “You drive,” she said, smiling.

  “With pleasure,” I said.

  And it turned out that with pleasure was a very good description of the rest of the evening.

  About the Author

  Bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith has written more than one hundred popular novels and well over 100 published short stories. His novels include the science fiction novel Laying the Music to Rest and the thriller The Hunted as D.W. Smith. With Kristine Kathryn Rusch, he is the coauthor of The Tenth Planet trilogy and The 10th Kingdom. He writes under many pen names and has also ghosted for a number of top bestselling writers.

  Dean has also written books and comics for all three major comic book companies, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, and has done scripts for Hollywood. One movie was actually made.

  Over his career he has also been an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books.

  Currently, he is writing thrillers and mystery nove
ls under another name.

  If you enjoyed this Dean Wesley Smith short story, you might also try these short story collections:

  The Women of the Felt (Poker Boy Adventures)

  Five From the Jukebox

  Love With the Proper Fantasy

  Five From the Aliens

  When Ghosts Have Stories

  Five Weird Crimes

  Five From the End of the World