Lost in Space

by Kevin Emerson

  I got out my video recorder and scrolled backward through the files. I had so many, not one from every day, but then sometimes a few on a single day. And it was so strange because I remembered all these moments and yet these were videos of another reality, and seeing them gave me that slippery, foggy feeling in my head again. In a way, these moments on my recorder no longer existed, or did they? It made me wonder: If I was able to stop Penny, would this reality cease to exist? And what would happen to this version of me? Did that mean there were two Will Robinsons? The thoughts caused a pit in my stomach. If there could be more than one reality, then which one was actually real?

  I took a deep breath. Had to focus! Obviously this was real because here I was, and the danger was real, and there was something real I could do to make things better. I kept scrolling, and the thumbnails of my videos started to play as I passed each one. It was like watching it all in reverse: our time on the Resolute, the orbiting space docks above Earth, the rocket ride up there going backward instead, down through the atmosphere, Earth growing bigger as we got closer to the surface, saying hello to our house instead of good-bye, unpacking everything and placing it back in all the rooms. Then there was stuff about school and home and finally I saw a thumbnail of a darkly lit stage. I let it play for a second and there was Penny, reciting Shakespeare, her voice echoing in the auditorium.

  The next video was from that morning. Hopefully it was the one I needed to find the memories for intercepting Penny.

  I tapped it: Hey, guys, it’s Will. Just checking in to introduce you to my Trash Bot that I made for today’s science fair. The old me held up a little palm-size drone with four propellers and a claw beneath it that was almost as big as its body. That’s right! This was from my last science fair (and yes, if you’re curious, I won). It’s armed with sensors that will scan the ground for paper and plastic and other materials and then pick them up and bring them to trash cans or recycling bins. You might wonder how it can tell if, say, an item it picks up is actually trash. Well, I made this visual and materials index that the drone can reference.

  Watching this made it all flood back to me: all the hours I’d spent working on that project, winning and how proud Mom had been, and how we’d celebrated that and Penny’s show later that night with cake. But then I could also remember coming home with that blue ribbon only to find the house in total despair with Penny’s bad news. “Well,” I said to the Robot, “at least I win the science fair, no matter what.”

  I closed my eyes and tried to picture every detail of that morning to make it fresh in my mind. What had I done after that video? Had breakfast, walked to school, went inside early to practice flying the Trash Bot and finish my exhibit poster. The best time to have a time portal show up was probably when I was walking to school. There weren’t usually many people around.

  Penny and I technically went to different schools, but the middle school and the high school buildings were on the same campus—so I would have a shot at intercepting her.

  Of course then I had a dizzying thought: Did that still happen? How could Penny arrive back in time from a future she was never a part of? But she had to, didn’t she? Or she’d never be there to steal the candy in the first place.… I would have to assume that she did because otherwise, I had no idea what to do.

  I put my recorder away and noticed that the Robot had slowed down. A few strides later, we arrived at the walls of the cliffside. I was pretty sure we were south of where the doorway was.

  “Now what?” I said.

  The Robot gripped the rocks and we began to climb, spidering up the cliff, from one outcropping to the next, rising above the treetops. As we went, I noticed scrapes in the rock around the handholds that he was using.

  “You’ve come this way before, haven’t you? Is this what you were doing after Mom made me send you away? Mapping out a route to get to the doorway undetected? Nice work.”

  We climbed until we reached a narrow ledge high above the trees. The Robot started to carefully sidestep along it, over gaps here and there that dropped into darkness. Soon we reached a point where the ledge ended, and the Robot climbed again, and we emerged on a wide plateau in the moonlight. Ahead, I could see a sheer cliff dropping away. I had no idea how we were going to cross that—

  But the Robot stopped before we reached it and looked down at his feet. I saw that we were standing over a ragged, triangular hole in the rock.

  “Um, do we have to?”

  The Robot crouched and started down. After a moment, we were in total darkness. The space narrowed around us, until the rocks were scraping my back and shoulders. We kept descending, and then the Robot let go of the rock and jumped backward slightly. For a second we fell, and I almost screamed, but we landed on what seemed like soft ground. I aimed my flashlight and saw that there was a narrow, jagged tunnel leading off in either direction, too tight for the Robot to carry me through, and he bent so that I could get off him.

  I followed him through the darkness, our feet squishing on the damp ground. The tunnel wound along, sometimes getting so short that the Robot had to crawl, sometimes so narrow that we had to walk sideways. It was pitch-black except for the lights from his face and my flashlight, and silent except for the distant rushing of an underground river.

  We reached a spot where there were piles of rock on the floor, and I saw a fissure with fresh, deep scrapes on either side. The Robot squeezed into the narrow space that he’d carved.

  We slid along through the fissure, the rock tight on all sides, until it ended at what looked like a solid wall. The Robot looked up and I saw that there was a flat crack above our heads, just wide enough to crawl through. The Robot turned and tapped my wrist, telling me to turn off my flashlight. Then he cupped his hands like he was making me a step.

  “You sure about this?” I said as I put my foot in his hands. He lifted me to the crack. “This is pretty tight.” I felt my pulse speeding up as I crawled in.

  Rock pressed on my back and my knees. I shuffled forward and couldn’t see a thing. The only way that I could tell I was going the right way was a cool breeze against my face. The rock was damp beneath my hands. It scraped my spine and I started to imagine being stuck in here, unable to move, unable to call for help.… Suddenly, it felt hard to breathe. I stopped but had this urge, this need, to stand up, to stretch out, except that was impossible. The walls felt like they were too close, getting closer—

  I felt a gentle push on my foot and twisted to see the Robot, lying flat so he could fit through.

  “Right, sorry,” I said, and I took a deep breath and started to crawl forward again.

  A few more shuffles and I finally saw light: that eerie green. The rock around me opened up, and I emerged in the rear of the cave. The doorway was up the slope from me, and beyond that, the tunnel entrance. It was too dim to tell if the aliens were there, but if they were, they’d probably be up by the tunnel, thinking we’d try to get in that way.

  I slipped out of the crack and crouched beside it as the Robot emerged, too.

  “Do you think the doorway works from both sides?” I whispered. It looked the same from back here, showing a field of darkness and stars.

  The Robot looked from me to the doorway.

  “Yeah, I think so, too.” I started to creep up toward the doorway on my hands and the balls of my feet. I moved diagonally until the doorway and its star view was between me and the tunnel entrance. I stood and stepped toward it, trying not to make a sound.

  I had to hope that what we’d theorized about the door would really work. As I got closer, I focused on that one morning, on my walk to school with my Trash Bot, trying to remember every detail I could. I reached out and touched the starry surface with my finger.…

  The doorway began to ripple, and then space started to blur and zoom past. Into the Milky Way, to our solar system and to Earth, and the view halted on a sidewalk, on a street in the hazy morning sunshine. One of the streets I took on the way to school.

  �
�Okay,” I said to the Robot. “Be right back—”

  Suddenly, there was a flash of light beside me.

  An alien appeared and reached for me. The Robot lunged out of the dark and grabbed its arm and hurled it away, but another one appeared, and another, both grabbing the Robot by the shoulders.

  The Robot thrashed and swatted at them with one hand, and with the other he reached for me and shoved me toward the doorway.

  I tumbled through the barrier, felt that freezing sensation all over, and then I was through, my feet pounding on the concrete as I caught my balance, sunlight in my eyes.

  I stood up and tried to look normal while also seeing if anyone noticed me. But I’d gotten lucky; the sidewalks were empty on both sides of the street.

  I spun around and for just a second I saw through the doorway. Three of those aliens were grabbing the Robot from all sides, their red-goggle eyes glowing. He struggled to fight them off, but they were too strong. He yanked one hand free and reached toward the portal with an outstretched finger.…

  The doorway disappeared. Gone, just like that.

  CHAPTER

  Istood there gaping at the sidewalk where the doorway had been. Had the Robot been able to fight off those aliens, or was he captured now, and if so, what would they do to him? And how was I going to get back? Was I trapped here on Earth, in the past?

  Except wait—no. That last part I could handle. I could go back through the doorway when Penny from the cave showed up. At least for the moment, my plans were the same.

  I looked around, and all at once, it hit me: the hot breeze, the heat off the sidewalk, the singed electric odor of traffic buzzing by, and that slightly sour aroma of the haze. Houses, cars, the rustle of synthetic trees in the little yards… Earth. It was almost too much to take.

  I heard laughter and saw three kids approaching on the other side of the street. And then a movement caught my eye on this side. A figure had rounded the corner and was walking in my direction. It was my past self, on the way to school.

  I ducked and lunged into the space between the bushes along a high fence. Crouching there, I thought, This is insane! My past self was about to walk by his future self! Can you imagine if you were just walking along minding your own business and suddenly you saw you hiding in the bushes? Of course, I didn’t remember seeing myself in the past, but that didn’t mean I was safe; Penny had changed the future, so obviously I could, too, if I wasn’t careful.

  Luckily, as the past version of me got closer, I saw that he was totally preoccupied with the Trash Bot. He fiddled with it and then it rose into the air in front of him, its little propellers buzzing.

  “See what you find!” my past self said. Trash Bot buzzed ahead up the street, right past me. The old me jogged after it, smiling. I clenched, afraid to breathe, but he raced right by me, too.

  Then I heard laughter. Across the street, I saw those other kids pointing at my old self and whispering to one another. Misha, Alena, and Stefan—who used to be my friends. Except sometime during sixth grade they’d gotten cool and I hadn’t. I remembered that feeling: like someone had taught them a secret language and then they only wanted to hang out together and acted like school was stupid. Which made me feel stupid for thinking that something like a science project was cool. I balled up my fists; even on this morning when I hadn’t been thinking about them at all, they’d been making fun of me.

  But, sure, even I had to admit running up the street talking to a little robot drone wasn’t super high on the cool scale.

  I haven’t changed that much, I realized, thinking of how I was always talking to the Robot. But then, what did those kids know? They could never befriend an alien robot.…

  Stop thinking about that! I had to focus. I peered out of the bushes and watched until my past self had crossed the street and entered the school grounds. I had just started to get up when another pair of students appeared on my side of the street. I ducked and waited as they walked by, engrossed in holochats beaming up from their communicators. Once the coast was clear again, I slipped out and headed toward campus. I stayed close to the bushes, hopefully out of sight. Penny’s school was on the next block past mine. I’d have to wait until the morning bell rang before I could risk walking by the grounds.

  As I got close, I could hear the morning chatter. I stopped at the edge of the fence and peered across the street. There, inside the schoolyard, were groups and clusters of kids, the younger ones running this way and that, climbing all over the playground equipment, the older ones standing in groups talking or shooting basketballs or riding hover boards. I didn’t see myself, but then I remembered that my past self was already inside doing last-minute flight tests and finishing my project poster.

  A lump started to form in my throat. A tingling sensation in my hands and feet. I hadn’t loved school, but looking at all those kids, how happy they seemed, I realized how safe it had been compared to my life now. I remembered climbing on the ropes and bars of the playground structure when I was younger, remembered this very morning, being in the classroom firing up my drone while Ms. Thomas sat behind her desk working. My only worry in the world had been about a science fair ribbon. Thinking about it all made my eyes start to tear up again.

  The bell rang, that same old harsh electric tone that I remembered, and everyone hoisted their packs and started to head inside. Some kids ran for one more turn on the slide. One girl dribbled out and took a final long shot, but soon the yard was nearly deserted except for one group of middle-school boys who were huddled tight and speaking in urgent whispers, probably about lunch credits or gaming coin.

  I should go, I thought, but I kept standing there. My whole body felt like it was wound up tight. I had this urge to run across the street and get to class on time, even though it wasn’t my class anymore.

  A second bell sounded.

  “All right, gentlemen!” A teacher appeared, striding toward the last group of boys. Ms. Janila, the music teacher. She glanced at her wrist. “Looks like you’ll be heading to the office for late passes.”

  “Aw, come on!” one of the kids said.

  “What can I say? I don’t control time.” She motioned toward the doors, and the group started inside with their heads hung. Ms. Janila turned to follow them.

  I stepped out from the corner and crossed the street. Once I had made it past the yard, I would loop around to the high school auditorium and then find another place to hide until Penny appeared. I had no idea when she’d make her break for it. She’d said morning, but that could be in twenty minutes or three hours—

  “Will!” I froze. Oh no. Ms. Janila had turned back around and was waving in my direction. “Hey, Mr. Robinson! Let’s go! You’re late!”

  CHAPTER

  Run! I thought—but if I did that, Ms. Janila would think it was the me from the past ditching school. And then my past self would get in trouble, and who knew how that might change things.

  “Come on!” Ms. Janila waved again.

  No no no! I raised my hand. “Hey,” I said, starting toward her.

  I crossed the street and walked through the gate, the whole time feeling like I might explode. When I reached her, she motioned to her communicator. “I’m sure you’re aware that you’re late. You’ll have to check in at the office.”

  “Okay,” I said, staying where I was and trying not to shake. “Thanks.”

  “Come on,” she said, “I’m headed that way, too.”

  “Oh, um, right.” I fell in step beside her.

  “No backpack today?”

  “Huh? Oh, no, I mean, it’s inside. I just ran back home to get something.”

  “Ah.” She looked at my empty hands, her brow wrinkling. “Didn’t find it?”

  You’re not holding anything! “It was my slideshow for the science presentation. I just had to upload it.” The lies were adding up, and it felt like the slightest breeze was going to send them all crashing down.

  “That’s right—the science fair is today. Nervous?�
�

  “A little bit, I guess.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do great.”

  We entered the building. There was nobody in the hall, and my classroom was upstairs, but my eyes still darted in every direction. If the wrong person saw me…

  “Cool costume, by the way.” She motioned to my clothes. “Isn’t that a colonial program uniform?”

  “Oh, uh, yeah.” My insides were twisting in a knot.

  “Part of your presentation, too?”

  “Yeah, exactly. I, um, I thought it might be cool if…”

  “Oh wait, that’s right! Your family was selected for a mission!” Now she smiled. “Well, I’d be wearing one, too, if I were you. You guys are lucky.” As if on cue, she coughed hard into her arm. “I’ve had an application in for two years. They say the air quality on Centauri is way better than here. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll get to be your music teacher there, too.”

  “That would be cool,” I said.

  We reached the office and Ms. Janila stepped behind me. I walked in, shaky hands in my pockets.

  “Well, I assume you can take it from here,” she said, moving past me and crossing the room. “Have a good day, Will, and good luck with the presentation.”

  “Thanks.” I managed to smile at her. Finally. She turned and walked out the door at the far end of the office. Okay, this was my chance. I started to turn—

  “Sign in at any terminal.” The office manager had noticed me and pointed toward three screens on the counter. This was where you had to officially log in as tardy. Okay… except then I remembered that wasn’t going to work, because my earlier self would already have scanned his communicator when he walked into the classroom. “I already signed in,” I said. “I, um, just ran home to get something.”

  “That’s fine, just do it again. You’re still tardy.” She smiled at me for a second before her face fell as she returned to her work.

  I moved to a terminal. How was the past version of me going to explain a tardy to my parents? Or worse, was this going to alert my classroom teacher right now? If that happened, things were going to get real confusing, real fast.