Ripped Apart: Quantum Twins – Adventures On Two Worlds

by Geoffrey Arnold

  ‘Quick! Run,’ Wrenden called from further along the roof. ‘They’re getting closer.’

  ‘Down here,’ came Wrenden’s command as Qwelby reached the next corner. He stopped and looked up to see Wrenden signalling him round yet another corner. A few moments later another shout.

  Everything was too surreal for either Qwelby or Wrenden to stop and wonder how the latter kept on being on different roofs, in the right places at the right times.

  ‘Stop!’ Wrenden called.

  As Qwelby looked up the end of a rope fell by him. He could see Tamina behind her young brother with her arms around his waist. He assumed the not-twins were behind her. He grabbed the rope.

  ‘Okay. I’ve got it. I’ll tie myself on,’ he called, looking up. The top half of the building disappeared behind thick, driving snow. The climb up did not look inviting.

  ‘No time,’ came Wrenden’s voice. ‘You walk, we pull.’

  Qwelby glanced to his left. Two dark figures, a man and a woman were almost upon him. A glance to the right. The other man and woman were faintly visible through the snow that was now falling faster.

  A pull on the rope jerked him into the wall. He almost lost his grip. Quickly, he leant back, put one foot high up the wall and started to walk.

  The shuttered windows had thin ledges. He must have failed to see them because of the thick snow. He would have liked to rest on the ledges but the rope had been dropped down between the lines of windows.

  The higher up the wall he climbed, the more the wind battered at him. Thick snow was concealing his friends on the roof. His arms were aching and it was difficult to keep going as there were unsettling jerks on the rope.

  He was wondering how much further he had to go. Unable to see the top he had no way of measuring the distance. Having to concentrate so much on walking up the wall he had no energy left for his inner fire. He was freezing and was afraid his hands were about to lose their grip on the rope. He saw ice forming all along his bare arms and down his bare legs. Ice was glistening on his red tank top and his black shorts, the only colour in the whole scene.

  An extra strong gust of wind opened a clear view through the snow.

  What was happening? He could see Wrenden holding the rope, Tamina’s arms still around him. He could not see Pelnak or Shimara. His arms were trembling with the cold. His fingers were freezing. It looked as though streams of ice were running down the rope. He saw the ice flaking off. No! It was the very strands of the rope itself coming apart. His eyes were watering.

  He was almost at the top. He was stuck. Angled out from the wall his feet could go no higher. He needed his friends to pull the rope towards them. He tugged at it, trying to pull himself closer, saw Wrenden start to topple towards him, Tamina’s arms sliding down her brother’s body, down his thighs. The rope slackened and Qwelby dropped, swung, and crashed against the wall. Cries of pain from above as brother and sister crashed onto the roof.

  Momentarily stunned, Qwelby stared at the rope, mesmerised as he saw strand after strand snapping.

  ‘Qwelby!’ It was more of a gasp than a shout.

  *

  In the StroemCavern, well above the coruscating light beams that were supposed to keep the Stroems in check, an ear extended from the single, enormous Stroem to become an arm, reaching out towards Wrenden. A hand formed at the end.

  Wrenden threw himself down onto the floor of the gallery, stretched through the railings, reaching for the hand.

  ‘EEKY!’ Tamina shouted, throwing herself at his legs as he was pulled through the barrier.

  *

  Looking up, Qwelby saw Wrenden’s body halfway over the roof, one hand on the rope, his other arm extended, hand held out. Using every last drop of strength Qwelby hauled himself up the rope and saw the strands turning to ice, snapping under the strain.

  ‘Qwelby,’ Wrenden pleaded.

  Tensing himself, gripping the rope with his left hand as hard as possible, Qwelby gave one mighty heave, felt his body rise, stretched his right arm up and seized his young friend’s wrist. He felt a hand grip his own wrist, heard a series of sharp cracks, and watched as the rope fell out of sight. Then felt a second hand grip his wrist.

  No sooner had he believed himself safe than he dropped, heard cries of pain, then stopped, swinging. Looking up, he saw that Wrenden had slid half way over the sheet of ice that edged the roof. Bent at his stomach he was hanging upside down.

  ‘EEKY!’ Tamina shouted.

  Qwelby heard the panic in her voice and watched helplessly as her brother slid right over the roof and he himself dropped further down, almost losing his grip as he crashed into the wall again.

  ‘TAMINA!!’ Qwelby heard the not-twins cry, followed by the sound of their bodies slamming into the StroemGallery as they hurled themselves at her as she headed over the edge of the roof.

  Qwelby looked into his BestFriend’s face, seeing the mixture of horror and panic written all over it. Another slip as Tamina was pulled further over the roof edge. Panicked cries from the not-twins out of sight on the roof, and a cry of alarm from Wrenden as he swung in the air. Tamina had slid so far that her stomach was on the edge of the roof. She was hanging upside down, her face to the wall with only her brother’s feet in her hands.

  Qwelby knew if he did not let go, Tamina would slip again, and all three of them would fall, to be lost forever in the NoWhenWhere. He looked into his youngerest’s rapidly twirling eyes: red, yellow and black. And released his grip.

  ‘NO…O…O!’ Wrenden screamed.

  Too numb from the cold, and with the wet from the snow turning to ice, Wrenden’s grip was not strong enough. Qwelby watched as his friend let go with one hand, using it to make a grab for Qwelby’s free hand. With a shake of his head, Qwelby made a fist so there was no hand to be seized. Eyes locked together. The two boys felt Qwelby’s icy wrist slide through Wrenden’s grasp.

  Qwelby smiled ruefully. This time Tullia could not tell him off, accusing him as she usually did of leading Wrenden astray. For once he was being a proper elderest.

  ‘Never apart!’ Qwelby called as he fell.

  ‘QWELBYYY!’ He heard Tamina’s scream as he tumbled backwards, the snow beating into his face, blotting everything from his vision

  He fell in slow motion, arms and legs stretched out in front. ‘There is more colour than red and black,’ his mind said. ‘There are my red-brown arms and legs. They will save me. If I can twist around and be a cat. Land on all fours, just like in a HoloWrapper.’

  A flurry of snow was dashed into his face. He closed his eyes against the stinging. Felt it on his checks and his forehead as he plummeted down

  ~

  down

  ~

  down

  ~

  Lellia was beside herself with fear as she spoke to Control Panel, beseeching it for more energy into the safety beams, then changed her mind. Wrenden had completely disappeared from sight and only Tamina’s feet were visible above the Stroem. What if Wrenden is below the safety level, he will be cut off, lost in the Stroems, sucked into the NoWhenWhere. And Tamina. Could she be cut in two? Leila punched the emergency alarm that would bring Mandara. For an emergency like this, no matter how much it would be disturbed, Lift would make the journey.

  Rejecting all thoughts of Temporal Consequences, Mandara overrode Lift’s counsel and they Timeshifted, Lift setting Mandara and Shandur down at the end of the corridor. They ran to the StroemLock, Shandur grabbing insulshoes as Mandara opened the outer iris. Even with Timeshifting they dared not waste precious moments acquiring helmets.

  A frightening scene greeted them. Shimara and Pelnak were half way through the railings, their legs partly wrapped around the stanchions as they slipped further over the edge of the gallery. Their heads and the top halves of their bodies were lost from sight in the throbbing Stroem, its bright emerald green and streaks of vivid red clearly saying “Qwelby.”

  The two men ran and seized the not-twins’ legs.

  �
��We’re going to pull you back,’ Mandara said in a steady voice. ‘Hold on tight!’

  They pulled. With a roar of despair the Stroem collapsed back down into the roiling mass below.

  Tamina was revealed, holding onto her brother by his feet, and he was still gripping one fine StroemThread in his outstretched hands.

  As the Stroem released its support on their bodies, brother and sister swung back to hang vertically upside down and the light beams ceased flickering. Their unsupported weight made Tamina’s legs slide through the not-twins’ grip. Mandara and Shandur let go of the not-twins and hurled themselves forward, only to see Tamina’s feet disappear from view, her empty shoes held in the not-twins’ hands. Screams filled all the helmets.

  A faint cry of ‘Why…?’ ending in a sob seemed to rise from the depths, followed by the sound of bodies crashing.

  Instead of hearing the hoped for ‘…not?’ everyone’s helmet was filled with Mandara’s voice.

  ‘Lower the height of the safety beams,’ Mandara commanded. ‘Cancel all but this sector. Then full power here. Emergency Tachyon Transmission. Engage!’

  Lellia did not need to speak to Control Panel, it had heard. Travelling faster than light and thus backwards in time, the Tachyons reinforced the selected sector.

  ‘Raise this sector!’ Mandara shouted, fear racing through him. It was the ultimate safety device, but only designed to catch a small object.

  Just then the inner iris of the Lock opened and Mizena appeared. She was just in time to see Wrenden’s body come into sight, then his sister prostrate beneath him.

  Having been told by House that the Stroems were exceptionally excited and her husband and great uncle were without helmets, she had taken the time to be fitted with one. So it was that a few minits later four very shaken youngsters and two suffering men had been helped into the cosy room. Wrenden had turned grey. He looked like an old man, a very old man. His face was haggard and his hair had gone white. Tears were streaming down his face.

  ‘He was climbing up one of the Stroems. It was slipping through my fingers. Then it thinned away to nothing. We had a wrist grip. I was pulling him up. We were all sliding into the StroemWell. He let go of me! I couldn’t hold him. I wasn’t strong enough. He’s gone and it’s my fault. I should have saved him.’ He choked. ‘I could have saved him… he let go.’

  An anguished look was plastered all over his face. ‘He shouted “Never Apart” as he fell… That’s what the twins say.’ He looked around, appealing for an explanation.

  ‘I think it was his way of saying he’ll always be looking out for you. Wherever he is.’ Tamina wrapped her arms around her brother, hugging him as he howled his heart out. With tears in her eyes she looked around the room at the others. ‘We were so close.’ She looked down and pulled her brother tightly to her. ‘If Qwelby hadn’t let go, we would have been pulled over into the Well.’ She ruffled her brother’s hair. ‘We weren’t going to let go. We couldn’t.’ She sobbed and buried her face in her brother’s hair.

  ‘No. We weren’t. We couldn’t,’ Shimara and Pelnak said together, holding hands and looking at each other, shaking with shock as they remembered the terrible moments when they had heard the anguished cries and then almost immediately they thought they had also lost Tamina and Wrenden forever.

  A long time was to pass before everyone was sufficiently recovered for the whole story to emerge.

  Eventually, as life on Vertazia changed, the whole event was made into what was to become a famous HWFantasy: containing a serious question: What is Reality?

  That was followed by a game playing follow-up whereby the various players, know as ‘GamesWrappers’ could act together to rescue the Qwelby character in one of several different and challenging ways.

  CHAPTER 14

  BETWEEN WORLDS

  Qwelby was sweeping down through the blackness of space, a black that was shot through with lines of bright light, sudden flowerings of mixtures of colours, bright reds, oranges and yellows. Shining shapes were moving across his vision. The lines of light were coming from them.

  ‘Focus. Remember where you are,’ a sharp voice inside his head said. A sensation swept through him as though he had stepped under a waterfall, but the water was flowing through every cell in his body. His senses cleared.

  He was astride Zhólérrân, his fire-breathing Dragon, leading a group of DragonRiders in yet another battle against space ships flown by the Solids who were intent on destroying his HomeSphere. Mine? Of course it is. I am the Dragon Kèhša. Signalling to his Wing of Warriors, he whirled Zhólérrân into a spiralling dive towards the last target, intent on using the Dragon’s “Fire” to mindblast the crews of the remaining few attacking ships.

  Oh, but he was weary. Aurigan life began in the solid, third dimension, then progressed over some two thousand years through to the ninth where they existed as pure group consciousnesses free from all constraints of Form, and needing only the energy from distant stars to survive. Extending outwards though a series of concentric orbs from the central third dimension three hundred kilometres in diameter, the whole space ship was finally enwrapped in the energies of those existing in the much faster vibrations of the ninth dimension.

  Although designed to be as self-supporting as possible, the HomeSphere still needed to enter planetary systems. Advanced scouts had said that there was no planet suitable for a future home. All they had wanted to do was to pass slowly through the system, re-energising the whole race as they cruised close to the sun, and replenishing stocks from any uninhabited planet of nutriments essential for those existing in the lower dimensions.

  Dropping down into the third dimension they had made contact with the inhabitants of the fourth and fifth planets and explained their simple needs. The HomeSphere’s course had been at an acute angle to the ecliptic and on a heading to keep it at a great distance from the inhabited planets. Yet once again they had been met with suspicion, mistrust and an almost overwhelming assault.

  It was inevitable that a few warriors were lost in each round of fighting. More serious was that the mental anguish all Auriganii experienced from sensing the destruction of so many sentient life-forms was taking its toll on the cohesiveness of the whole race, and threatening to destabilise their DNA. This latest conflict was bringing to a head deep-seated divisions that were threatening to turn into a disastrous schism. Even though by now battle-hardened, he was tiring from the repeated death and destruction. And he was beginning to wonder not only how long he and his warriors could continue, but whether the race would survive.

  Its handful of small escorting ships drifting lifeless, their energy projectors silent, a lone battleship was still heading for his HomeSphere. There it is again, that strange feeling that I created it. But that was thousands of years ago. And who was she that led our people on board?

  Although he was only just over six hundred sun cycles old, already all his DNA was fully activated and he existed at the highest level of the seventh dimension, making sliding between dimensions easy. But maintaining a presence in the solidity of the third for long periods, whilst also using to the full his energy capabilities of the higher levels of vibration, was extremely fatiguing. He was fast approaching the point where he would have to let go his Form and return to the seventh dimension to recuperate and re-energise.

  With a great effort of will he summoned his flagging reserves for the final dive. In a blending in which Rider merged with Dragon they Harnessed the minds of Warriors and Dragons. As they launched a mighty, concentrated blast to end the battle, the young Dragon Kèhša shuttered his mind in a vain attempt to blot out the anguished, mental screams of the dying Solids.

  A lone gun turret flared from the crippled ship. Excruciating pain seared all down the right side of his body. Helplessly, he tumbled out of the now destroyed harness, the mind shattering scream of his beloved Dragon ringing through every fibre of his being.

  Flaming DragonBreath, sparkling laser beams, the mental screams of mind
shattered Solids: through it all and as always, the Dragon Kèhša had seen a beautiful, golden-maned, silver Unicorn accompanying his Wing. Now she was speeding towards him.

  He cursed the Rider for the dangers she took, time after time, following him and his Wing so closely into the thickest of the fights, regardless of the danger to herself and her Unicorn. His people could not afford to lose her. She was the pre-eminent of all healers. It was only through the application of those skills to people’s minds that the Auriganii remained united and continued to thoughtpower the HomeSphere on what had become an interminable quest.

  ‘The people cannot lose their Dragon Kèhša. Nor he his Zhólérrân!’ His Dragon thoughtsent a reminder of its own need for healing. A healing that came especially from the almost symbiotic relationship that existed with a Unicorn, that engulfed the Riders of both and left him uncertain in his pain deadened mind of whether he was man or Dragon and loved the woman or the Unicorn, or both.

  Surely there will be a day when there is no more war and I will be able to allow my love for her to unfold.

  Tumbling through space, feeling sick as a variety of images revolved around him and unbelievable weary, he surrendered to what he thought was the inevitable. My last fight. The HomeSphere has been saved.

  A comet was roaring towards him. So much noise in the quiet of deep space? It looked like a Stroem with an elongated tale. It had a face. Kaigii! He stretched out an arm and was swept into its fiery wake…

  *

  A feeling of peace swept over Tullia. The blackness of deep space was restful, the myriad tiny pinpoints of stars. But? Some were much larger, moving as she watched. They were not stars. Spaceships? She was in an HWAdventure? A sensation swept through her of being under a waterfall, the water flowing through every cell in her body.

  Everything came into focus as a sharp pain lanced though her mind. She felt her heroes’ screams and urged Trellûa, her winged Unicorn, towards the tumbling DragonRider. Merging with her Unicorn, she poured all her energy into Trellûa. Golden light sprang forth from the Unicorn’s horn, spiralling towards their heroes, the young Dragon Kèhša and his Dragon.