Dangerous Designs

by Dale Mayer [paranormal/YA]

  Shifting to sit on his ample butt, his father said, "We had just finished the emergency Council meeting when the alarm sounded. Louers. Everywhere. Seemed like hundreds of them. I don't know how or why. They overran us in minutes. At least I think they're Louers. They look different, though. Not like they used to look."

  "Different how? What did they used to look like?"

  His father peered around nervously, whispering, "Like us. Exactly like us."

  What? Eric shot him a startled look. He didn't ask the burning question he wanted to ask. Instead, he went for the one next in line. "What are they like now?" Moving gently, he struggled into a sitting position, heaving a sigh of relief when the room stopped spinning. The fear in his father's voice made him look up.

  "Mutants. Deformed, weird looking things. Nothing normal about them now."

  "That makes sense in a way. They've had to evolve to survive. Did you know what the place was like when your people banished them?"

  "No and I don't care." Sitting like a rotund Buddha, his father placed his hands on his knees and glared at Eric. "They're killing anyone who resists and rounding up the survivors. We've been taken somewhere. I'm afraid it's off planet."

  That stopped Eric in the act of trying to stand up. "As in across the veil?" Just then the smell hit him. He bent over, plugging his nose. He groaned. "What's that smell?"

  "Louers. We're prisoners in the Louers' dimension."

  Nasty. Experimenting, Eric unplugged his nose and shuddered at the rank aroma. All the archives spoke about a horrible smell at the gate. Words hadn't done it justice.

  He struggled past it to refocus on the mess they were in. From Storey's history, he'd learned that every war sported winners and losers and the losers, historically, became prisoners. When able to cross dimensions, it wasn't hard to imagine returning the prisoners to your home. Particularly if you needed slaves.

  "Are we being guarded? Has someone come to speak with you?"

  "No." His father shook his head. "There's been no one."

  "Does anyone have a codex?"

  His father leaned closer to whisper, "I do. I don't know the coordinates to punch in."

  Eric could take care of that. His father's unit wouldn't be strong enough to take everyone back at once. "Are they taking the codexes away?"

  "Don't think so. We were herded forward as a group. Outside of giving us a quick check, they haven't done a massive search. There's one codex and even a couple of taprins,"

  "Good." But not great. The simple taprins were basic codexes but wouldn't have the power and functionality to help out here. There wasn't a weapon amongst them. Why would there be? Until now, there'd been no need. "Slip me your codex. I can get out and back with reinforcements in no time."

  His father glared. "Not without me. If you're going, then so am I."

  Eric grimaced. "It's best if we all go at once. The guards could come any moment." He studied their surroundings and the ragged group surrounding them. "How many of us are here, about twenty?"

  "Closer to thirty."

  "Marshal the others into a group. I know where to go." Eric accepted his father's codex, clipped it on, then punched in the coordinates for Stanshor mine. That would get them clear of here, then they could jump to another point. The mine was better for a large group like this. Paxton's lab could be the second jump. Not that it would help much unless it was secure.

  "We'll try for the mine," he whispered to the group gathered around him. "Everyone squeeze in as close together as possible and hang on. We're trying to move a lot of people at once. I don't know that I can take everyone in one jump."

  "You're not leaving me here," blustered a big man in the back, shoving the others in closer.

  "Nor me." That was a young woman holding a young child.

  "I ain't staying. No way. Those things are going to come back and I want to be long gone." An older man spoke, Eric vaguely remembered seeing him in the Council chambers.

  Eric understood their feelings. "Who else has a codex?"

  Two people held up their arms. "Darn." They were both simple versions. "Okay. Let's try."

  He hit the button on his codex and waited for the sequence to run on both, picking up the signals of each other, building power in their connectiveness. Who knew if the codex worked in the Louers dimension? They could very well end up someplace else entirely. He figured anywhere had to be better than here.

  Reassuring blackness swirled around them. He closed his eyes and willed the portal to open. A wretched smell filled their nostrils and the air became fetid, hot. He coughed several times.

  "Is it working?" whispered one of them.

  The blackness deepened until Eric couldn't see his father's face in front of him. Isolation often accompanied a dimension journey, with the cold an ever-present symptom. He closed down inside and waited. Uneasiness knotted up his stomach. They had so few options. This had to work.

  "Are we there yet?"

  "No."

  Another long minute of frightful silence. A child whimpered. Her mother hushed her. "Shhhh. We'll be there soon."

  "Will we? I've never been in such a long transfer." The grumbler was in the back of the group. Probably the big man who'd spoken up earlier. Eric didn't have any guarantees to offer. "Some of the gates aren't working well. Not to mention with this many people the transfer will take twice as long."

  Just when he thought they were trapped, the mist started to recede. Sighs of relief washed over him. The air lightened, the others grinned. He turned to look around. "We're here. Where ever here is?"

  As the mists dissipated, Eric realized they weren't in Stanshor at all. He didn't know where they were.

  "What is this place?" Everyone stepped back to look around. Curiosity and relief wreathed their faces. Trees, trees, and more trees surrounded them. Blue sky and sunshine looked down on them. Eric had to wonder if they'd crossed to Storey's world.

  "I'm not sure yet. I don't recognize it."

  "I don't care where it is. It's not with the Louers." A murmur of agreement wafted through the crowd.

  "I want to go home." The little girl huddled against her mother's legs.

  Eric's father walked over to him hooked his arm and led him a little ways away. "Have you heard about this place before?"

  Eric circled the area. "I don't think so." He walked a few steps further as his father watched. "It's possible we're in another dimension."

  "You mean we've crossed the veil? That we might be in the human's dimension?" he hissed, staring around as if something might jump out at him. "Do you know how dangerous it is over here?"

  Eric looked at him oddly. "Yeah, I think I do. I've been back and forth several times with Storey. Still...I'm not sure that's where we are."

  "So how do we find out?" The self-elected group leader, the large, burly man who'd complained before, stepped forward. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to have gotten out of that place...where's home though?"

  "Please keep in mind that the Louers have taken over our home. We don't want to jump back into the same situation. I'll contact Central and let them know we need assistance."

  He tapped his codes, watching the colors shift in the right order. Reassured, he contacted Central next. No one answered. Sending off a message, he hoped someone there would see the flashing signal and hit the receiver. He didn't want to consider the possibility of no one being there to receive it. Using other codex functions, he tried to get a location for this place. The wrist unit beeped and flashed and in the end, came up with an error message.

  Even the codex didn't know where they were.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Storey stared at her stylus. "Eric is in the Louer's dimension?" He'd better not be. She didn't relish trying to find her way over there.

  Her pencil jerked out an answer. Or somewhat of an answer. Yes. No.

  She sighed. "Which is it?"

  He was. He is no longer.

  "How do you know?"

  His father's codex has rece
ntly been recalibrated for Eric's use.

  "Then where are they now?"

  In another dimension.

  "What other dimension?" Exasperation at the short answers and having to pull teeth to get information was draining her. "My home?"

  Close.

  "Close." She stopped puzzled. "There are only three dimensions here." After a moment, she added, "Right?"

  Her pencil answered quickly. There were only three, but now there is a fourth.

  "Oh no." She groaned and closed her eyes briefly. The onion. "You mean the one I created to make a safety net for my world? Is Eric caught in there?"

  Yes.

  "Which means I can't wipe out that dimension without wiping out Eric and his group?"

  If you destroy the dimension, you will also destroy everything in it.

  "Such as?" The stylus remained quiet. "Could we wipe out the Louer's dimension?"

  Yes.

  "Yes?" she questioned. "So that's one way to stop them. Wipe them out and everyone in it will disappear, too. Drastic but as a last resort...possible." Except how could she know who else might be over there at the time? If the Louers were taking prisoners, then they'd be destroyed as well – including Eric, if he went back to rescue his people.

  "Can you talk to Eric's codex?"

  The codex is a machine. It does not talk.

  "Right." She knew that. "Can you program the codes on Eric's wrist to give him the coordinates to get back home?"

  Yes.

  "Then do so." She wanted to jump up and down. This would all soon be over. Eric would be home safe and sound. Paxton should be sorting through the archives for a way to get rid of the Louers and she could go home. She frowned. She might need to fix a few things there yet.

  I put in the coordinates for Paxton's lab.

  "Good. Let's head back and we should arrive in time to meet them." She studied her codex. Paxton had programmed the original destination, not a return trip. The plan had been to use Eric's codex to get home. "Stylus, can you send the coordinates of Paxton's lab to my simple codex? Paxton didn't program a return trip for us."

  Done.

  Thank heavens for that. Now to get back and stop this solo act. She punched the button she'd used last time and the wrist unit went off in a series of flashes and beeps. The black mist rolled around her, bundling her in a tight tornado of swirling black. She closed her eyes, hating the sense of isolation this type of travel created. One could get lost in the mists.

  A shudder rippled down her spine. Lost in-between. Not a nice thought.

  The mists started thinning. She relaxed, closed her eyes. It would be over soon. Several minutes later, she opened them and frowned. "Why isn't this over?" Frustration and the beginning tendrils of fear twisted in her stomach.

  She waited. The mists still surrounded her, but seemed maybe less thick? Or maybe that was her imagination. The weird black gate they'd used when re-entering Eric's world popped into her mind. That had had a similar feel.

  Her uneasiness grew. Following her instincts. "Stylus, have we arrived?"

  She could barely see the writing on the page, even when held up to her nose.

  No.

  "Damn." Something had gone wrong. How to fix it? What would happen if she stepped out of the mist? She'd most likely be torn to bits. She shifted her weight from foot to foot. Another few minutes went by and she checked her wrist codex again. The lights continued to flash with bright colors. Who knew what that meant? "Stylus, can we contact Eric in any way?"

  The stylus hummed. Not at the moment.

  "Can we contact anyone? What about Paxton?"

  More humming. Yes.

  "Explain the situation to him, please." He should know what to do.

  The humming intensified then shut off sharply. Communication has been disrupted.

  "Damn it. I can't just stand here in the middle of a transition. What can I do?"

  No answer. Her stylus never moved.

  She groaned at the silence. "What's the use of being able to communicate if you can't help me problem-solve?" More silence. The stylus, like any computer, could only answer direct queries. "Okay. Stylus, can I get out of the middle of this gate?"

  Yes.

  She brightened. "How?"

  Time.

  She snorted. "That's something I don't have." Just then the mist started to darken again. She spun around, terrified. "What's happening?"

  The blackness deepened into a morass of seething energy unlike anything she'd ever seen before. It had taken on a powerful, negative feel. She cried out. "Stop. Stop. What's happening?"

  The energy spun faster and faster. She screamed as the pressure in her ears built. She crouched down, covering her head with her arms. Pain ripped through her mind.

  She collapsed to the ground.

  ***

  "Paxton!" Eric grinned at his aged mentor. His disreputable looking group gathered around him, relief and joy on everyone's faces.

  "Eric, Councilman. You made it." Paxton raced toward him, joy beaming across his tired face. "I'm so glad to see you are well."

  The strain of the last twenty-four hours had taken its toll on the older man. His hair stood out in all directions. For the first time in Eric's memory, Paxton's robes were dirty.

  "What's the status at Central?" asked his father, his massive bulk collapsing onto one of the many chairs.

  "We're not sure. So far, you're the only ones I've seen. Except for Storey, that is. Communication's down everywhere." Paxton lowered his face into his hands and rubbed his cheeks.

  "Storey? Did you say Storey was here?" Eric couldn't believe it. Fear and joy warred in his heart. She was supposed to be home safe, not caught up in this mess. "Where is she?"

  "I thought you would know. She went to the basement to help you...then I received a garbled transmission a few minutes ago saying she was having trouble with the codex and needed help." He shook his head. "The transmission cut off."

  "Where was she last?"

  "We calibrated her taprin to arrive at your side, based on your codex. Only we didn't know it was lost. I tracked her until communications went down," he pointed to one of his monitors. "My stylus received only part of it."

  Eric looked at him quizzically. "Your stylus?"

  Paxton glared at him. "That little girl is too smart. She not only figured out how to use her stylus, but she also found out that the styluses can communicate with each other."

  Eric's jaw dropped.

  The Councilman leaned forward in shock. "What? An otherworlder discovered things about our way of life – our tools – that we didn't even know? How is that possible?"

  Paxton faced him. "I'm not sure. She seems to have a very inquisitive mind."

  "That's not good. Not good at all."

  Before the discussion got out of hand, Eric stepped in. "She had to figure out what the stylus could do on her own. When you have training, you're told what you can and can't do. We never questioned what we were told. She's had to constantly question and test the capabilities of the stylus in order to understand it."

  His father's bulbous face darkened like a tomato. "You can't believe she is smarter than we are. That's not possible. We are far more brilliant than those...those animals," he blustered.

  Excited murmurs wafted through the group.

  One tall, spindly man half-stood. "Otherworlder?" He looked around at several of the others. "Are you saying there's a girl from the other side of the veil here? Here, in our dimension?"

  Eric winced. He'd forgotten they had an audience.

  "Not to worry. She'll be caught soon. And terminated. I have a standing kill order in effect for her actions."

  Eric's hands fisted in sudden fury. "Right. Her actions. And what actions were those? To pick up what to her was nothing more than a pencil? To have it become soulbound to her without her knowledge or permission? For that you've put a death sentence on her head?"

  Silence.

  Everyone turned to look at the apoplectic
councilman.

  "Lies. All lies. The Louers attacked us because of her. She's behind everything ill that's befallen us." His father stood, his bulk so rounded and unsteady that Eric wondered if he'd topple over any moment.

  "She is not. She didn't let them in. We snuck into her world and carelessly left the instrument over there. Do you realize we've put their entire world at risk with our actions? She picked the artifact up. That's it. She never did anything to us. She even offered to help solve our problem, and you ordered her to be put to death."

  Eric couldn't stop the bottled bitterness that flowed with the unfairness of it all. "She came back to help us – even knowing there was a termination order on her head. The Louers went to her house. Did you know that?"

  "And you know what else? She stopped them. That little schoolgirl from the other side of the veil stopped the Louers from entering her home and her world. We should be thanking her, giving her an honored place for her bravery. But no, you set the guards after her. Ordered me to retrieve her, so you could dispose of her here. You're being blind and foolish in trying to wipe out the one person that could actually save us." His voice roared across the room, stunning everyone into silence.

  Paxton moved first. Racing to Eric's side, he laid a hand on his shoulder. "Easy, Eric. I don't think that the Councilman understood the situation."

  Eric shrugged off his hand. His bitterness came out in full swing. "Oh he knew. In his all-knowing arrogance, he even ordered my death – the death of his only son – should I fail to return her to face her sentence."

  The murmuring moved from person to person in a growing wave of unrest. They faced the Councilman in collective outrage. "We have a visitor from the other side and you want to kill her? Are you trying to start a war with those people, too?" The big burly spokesman settled into a wide stance, his hands fisted. His face reddened in anger. "Am I to understand, we sent a team over to this little girl's world and left a soulbound item behind?"

  Someone else called out, "How is that possible? Where's the soul it was bound to?"

  The Councilman's red face swelled with temper. Eric watched him struggle for control. His father was a born politician, meaning a born liar. His father's face smoothed over and he beamed at them, then proceeded to answer their questions. "The person who owned the stylus fell seriously ill on his research trip to the other side. He was rushed back here before the team knew that it had been lost. We believe that the veil, combined with the severity of the owner's illness, weakened the stylus's bond. Since then it's been trying to come back home, using this young person as its vehicle."