by Tom Hoffman
Edmund took the key and slid it into a large flapped pocket on his pack.
Edmund the Explorer rose up from the couch. “Let’s go, A2, we have a world to save.” He winked at Bruno.
Bruno rolled his eyes and gave a deep sigh. “Explorers.”
Edmund said nothing until they were about to leave through the rippling wall. He turned to Bruno, saying, “Do you know what would be quite lovely? If you made that entire outer wall transparent. What a nice view you’d have of the valley.” He smiled again and disappeared through the granite wall.
Bruno didn’t move for several long minutes. Finally he turned and looked at the outside wall, putting his paw to his chin. “Hmm, a transparent wall.”
Chapter 21
The Swamp of Lost Things
Edmund the Explorer pressed a green disc, activating the cloud comm. “Blinker two nine four, we’re ready to lift. One rab and one Rabbiton.” He released the button and a soft blue cloud shot out of the screen and into the sky, disappearing instantly. “Next best thing to having your own shaper.” Seconds later a red cloud flashed down from above and was pulled into the screen. A voice barked out of the comm.
“On our way, bossrab.”
Edmund the Explorer put the cloud comm back into Edmund’s pack, saying, “We’re off to the Swamp of Lost Things. I guarantee the pilot’s not going to like this. Blinker rabs are mighty superstitious. Oh, and don’t mention anything to him about the World Doors. If he asks why we’re going there just say you don’t know.”
“I am programmed not to lie.”
“Uhh... well... this is a good lie, not a bad one.”
“I am programmed not to lie, good or bad.”
“Okay, how about this – it’s not your lie, it’s mine. You’re just telling the lie for me. You’re a proxy liar, not a real one. It’s perfectly okay for Rabbitons to be proxy liars.”
Edmund looked confused. “But... wouldn’t I still be–”
“A2, if he asks you a question, don’t answer him. Say nothing.”
“Such an action is within my ethical behavioral programming parameters.”
“You know what, I really miss the good old days when Rabbitons did whatever you told them to do.”
Their conversation was brought to a halt by a rush of wind and a deep humming sound as the blinker appeared in front of them. The ramp flipped down and the pilot waved them aboard. “Let’s go rabs. How was your meeting with the cave rabbit? Why’s he live in a cave anyway?”
“He’s a shaper, and a strange one at that. If you met him it would be very clear why he lives alone in a cave. I can tell you this though, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near him if he ever got mad.”
“Always thought shapers were an odd breed. Where to now?”
“You’re not gonna like this, but next stop is the Swamp of Lost Things.”
“You’re serious?”
“Not a joke, my friend. Break out the navmap and I’ll show you the drop point. You don’t need to hang around. Just blink in, drop us, and blink out. Done and done. We’ll find our own way home.”
“I might have to boot you out while the ship is still moving. There’s something not right about that place. Everybody knows it. It’s been there forever and nothing ever changes. Rabs go in and rabs don’t come out, and nobody knows what happens to them. Why in blazes are you going in there?”
“Oh, you know, time to save the world again. That’s what us explorers do.”
The pilot shook his head and tapped a red disc. “Strap and roll, rabs.” Edmund had just finished buckling in when the ship shot into the air and flashed off towards the Swamp of Lost Things. He really wished he was in the Adventurer II with Oliver instead of a blinker that darted around like a mad dragonfly.
Six minutes later the ship was hovering above the putrid gurgling swamp next to a large tree covered island. The ramp flipped down, the dreadful smells of the swamp instantly filling the ship. “Holy rab feathers, what’s that smell? You rabs need to bail.”
The two Edmunds slid down the ramp into the swamp. Before their feet had touched the water the blinker shot up five hundred feet and vanished into the clouds.
“Well, at least he dropped us in the swamp. I was afraid he wouldn’t even do that. It’ll be dark soon, so let’s camp on this island and we’ll find the World Doors in the morning.”
Edmund the Explorer showed Edmund how to set up the force tent, which turned out to be no more difficult than pushing a single tab on a small cone shaped metallic device. A twenty foot defensive sphere popped up around them, repelling rain, wind and mosquitos, and keeping the temperature inside at a comfortable level. After a less than satisfactory dinner of synthesized vegetable stew, Edmund the Explorer lay down for the night. “See you in the morning, A2. Tomorrow the adventure begins. We go through the seventh World Door. First thing on our agenda is a visit to the Blue Monks of Nirriim.”
“What?” Edmund’s eyes opened wide. If he had a heart it would have been pounding. This was the last thing he had expected to hear.
“We’re paying a visit to the Blue Monks of Nirriim. They live on an island in an ancient monastery, and if anyone knows where the artifact is, it’s the Blue Monks.”
Edmund stared at Edmund the Explorer blankly. Visiting the Blue Monks fifteen hundred years before his first visit sounded like a very bad idea. “Oh, Blue Monks. Yes, that sounds interesting.”
“Good night, A2.”
“I think I’ll explore the swamp while you’re sleeping. Maybe I can find the World Doors.”
“Good luck. Don’t get lost.”
“Ha ha ha ha. I have the optional Interworld Positioning System. It is impossible for me to get lost.”
Right before he dozed off Edmund the Explorer mumbled, “I think I’ve created a joke monster.”
Edmund exited the force tent, listening closely to the sounds of the swamp. He heard only the faint buzzing of mosquitos and an occasional distant splash made by some slippery scaled inhabitant of the swamp. He tried to remember where Bartholomew had told him the World Doors were. He knew it was near a larger island, and the blinker pilot said the swamp never changed. It was an odd place, and the swamp did feel strangely detached from the rest of the world. Edmund stepped into the foul muck and watched as bubbles gurgled to the surface of the dark water. “This is rather an unpleasant smell. I can see why Bartholomew was not very fond of this place.”
He decided to circle the island and look for any sign of the World Doors. He had no expectations of running into the Skeezle Brothers, as they wouldn’t build their den of thievery for another fifteen hundred years. He sloshed his way around the perimeter of the island while adjusting his scanning sensors for the widest band of frequencies, both light and sound. He could see lifeforms now, and watched as several violet glowing eel shaped creatures swam past him, and the occasional bird flashed by overhead. Insects showed up as tiny specks of light. It reminded him of the bubbles in some of the fizzy drinks Oliver made for special occasions. He looked up at the stars. “So many stars. I wonder if I will ever visit those worlds? Oliver says they’re too far away, but books in the Central Information Repository discussed at great length the varied life forms on those worlds, and I heard Edmund the Explorer say he had sent Emma to one of them.”
Edmund sat down on a small sandy beach and found himself gazing at individual stars, wondering if that was where Emma was. He hoped he would see her again. There was something about her that deeply affected him. Perhaps it was the way she treated him – not just like a Rabbiton, but like a friend, the same way Bartholomew and Oliver and Clara treated him. He gave a long sigh. “Even the power of my synthetic neuronic brain can’t help me understand why I am so different from the other Rabbitons. Sometimes I envy them. They never question who they are, they just perform the task they have been programmed for.”
He walked back onto the island, having decided to cross directly through the dense thickets to the other side. As he fought his way
past the brush and vines he stirred up a myriad of flying insects and found himself swimming in a sea of tiny glowing lights. “They look like stars, each one with a little life of its own. Maybe that’s what I am, one little star of life in the universe.” When he emerged on the other side of the island he saw a shimmering blue figure looking directly at him.
Chapter 22
The Blue Spectre
Edmund was not afraid. He was indestructible, and whatever else this might be, it was not an ant. The blue figure did not look away. Edmund adjusted his sensors, trying to determine the nature of the creature. It was tall, almost ten feet tall, and was the general shape of a rabbit, but its body was never quite in focus. He couldn’t tell if the creature was solid or made of light. Parts of it were momentarily sharp and clear, then faded from sight or became a strange translucent glowing blur. The result was an eerie shimmering effect, giving the creature an unnatural spectral feel, as though it had floated out of some ethereal realm. Edmund walked towards the figure. The shimmering rabbit creature did not back away, but kept its eyes locked on Edmund. When he got closer Edmund could see the blue spectre was floating several inches above the swamp.
Edmund heard a voice in his head. “You must face the transforming fires of life.” He didn’t know what to think. What did that even mean, ‘the transforming fires of life’?
He heard the voice in his head again. “It means you will be transformed by your earthly struggles, by facing your deepest fears. That is the purpose this world serves. In this case you are not the shaper, you are the one being shaped.”
“Are you my inner voice?”
“I am not. Edmund, you are going to suffer a terrible loss along your journey, but if you are steadfast you will come to find a deep and eternal joy. I hope we shall meet again, old friend. Nothing would please me more.” The shimmering blue creature vanished in a small blink of light, leaving Edmund alone in the foul smelling morass known as the Swamp of Lost Things.
Old friend? Who was this creature? “I have no desire to suffer a terrible loss, and I don’t like the sound of those fires of life.” Edmund suddenly remembered the story told to him by the Blue Monk. The bunny who lived by the ocean had placed all his thoughts into a silver pot heated by the fires of life. This had to be more than a coincidence. He remembered Bartholomew saying all events were connected by hidden strings beneath the fabric of the world.
Even knowing this, there was nothing he could do but wait. He walked around the island back to the force tent where Edmund the Explorer was sleeping. “I think I would like sleeping. At least for a while I wouldn’t have to worry about the fires of life.” It popped into his mind that this was all a memory, that he was reliving something he had experienced before. Had he already been through these fires of life? It was confusing. He realized he had no answers, and so for the rest of the night he watched the stars until they faded away to a blue morning sky.
“Good morning, A2. I trust you had a pleasant night tromping around this ghastly swamp?”
Edmund was unsure how to respond, but was not capable of lying. “I spent a lot of time watching the stars move across the night sky and I walked around in the swamp but could find no sign of the World Doors.”
“Finding the World Doors isn’t like finding a ten credit copper on the street. You won’t find them without these.” He reached into an inner pocket, pulling out a silver case. Flipping it open he pulled out a pair of dark glasses. “These are called World Glasses, my friend. It is only when you look through these that the World Doors make themselves known.”
Edmund nodded. Bartholomew had shown him such glasses several times in the past. “How will we know where to look?”
“We’re close. It won’t take us long. This isn’t my first trip through the Doors. I have been to seven of the twelve worlds, and for two of them, one visit was one visit too many. I can tell you from experience that life picks some very terrifying forms to inhabit. I nearly lost my life to a few of them. But enough about that, it’s time to move out.” He grinned to Edmund, mimicking the blinker pilot’s raspy voice, “Strap and roll, rabs!”
“Ha ha ha ha.” Edmund packed up their camping gear and slung the pack over his shoulder. Edmund the Explorer donned the World Glasses and surveyed the swamp. “Nothing that way. Let’s head around to the other side of the island.” They stepped into the murky waters of the swamp and made their way around the shoreline of the island. Edmund the Explorer’s gaze slowly traversed the swamp. “Ha! I think we might have something.” He gave the glasses to Edmund. “Look through these and magnify your vision.”
Edmund held the World Glasses over his eyes and looked in the direction Edmund the Explorer was pointing. He saw a barely visible dark rectangle in the distance and dialed his vision to twelve hundred percent for a closer look. It was just as Bartholomew had described it to him – a single wooden door with a brass door knob floating above the surface of the water. “I see it. It’s about two miles away.”
“Let’s break out the minifloater. No point slogging through this creepy swamp if we don’t have to.”
Five minutes later they were zipping along above the dark stagnant waters, Edmund standing behind Edmund the Explorer, trying not to grip his shoulders too hard. Within a few minutes they had arrived at the World Doors. They hopped off the floater and Edmund converted it back to tube form, returning it to his pack.
“How do the World Glasses work?”
“Good question. It’s a combination of seeing into another dimension plus seeing a wavelength of light which is normally invisible to us. Hey, why don’t you look with your spectrum analysis beam dialed as wide as possible? You might be able to pick up a glimmer of the doors.”
Edmund adjusted his vision and once again could see all the lifeforms plus oddly colored rays of energy and light streaming down from above. He could make out the very faint shape of a door.
“I see the World Door. It’s a pale green color and almost transparent. I would have missed it if I wasn’t looking for it.”
“See if you can touch it and open it.”
Edmund walked closer to the door and reached for the knob. It felt solid. Gripping it tightly he twisted it and the door sprung open.
“I’ll be darned, it worked. Good for you, A2.”
Edmund peered into the Hallway which lay behind the opened door. “There are thirteen doors inside.”
“Yes. There used to be only twelve but we added the door at the far end. It will open to the Isle of Mandora once it’s complete. The door to Mandora is closed for now because of the time flux issues. We lost a few engineers to a random flux. They’re still alive, but we have no idea when they’re alive. I’m not a big fan of the time traveling business. Too easy to get lost and never find your way home.”
Edmund nodded, hoping he would be able to make his way back to the Island of Blue Monks.
Edmund the Explorer stepped up from the swamp into the hallway of doors. “Well, give me the key and we’ll give it a whirl. If the seventh door doesn’t open we’re in trouble.”
Edmund stepped into the hallway and removed the key from his pack, passing it over to Edmund the Explorer.
“Thanks. Here goes nothing. Okay, six doors on this side, so that means the last door on the right side of the hallway is door number seven.” He walked down the hallway and stood in front of the seventh door. “Watch this.”
As he moved the key closer to the door a keyhole appeared under the doorknob. When he pulled the key away the keyhole vanished. “So far so good.” Edmund the Explorer put the gold key in the keyhole and turned it. There was a clicking noise and a soft melody echoed through the hallway. “No one has ever figured out the purpose or meaning of the song. Each of the twelve doors has its own song.”
The tune reminded Edmund of the ocean’s wordless song of incomparable beauty, but he said nothing. It would be impossible for him to explain it without telling the story of the Blue Monks.
Edmund the Explorer twisted
the knob and pushed the door open. Brilliant sunlight flooded the hallway. “Welcome to Nirriim, A2.”
Chapter 23
Creekers
The two Edmunds stepped through the seventh door into Nirriim. Edmund was greeted by a familiar landscape. They were standing in the desert, well past the sand dunes where Song’s unnamed terrifying creatures lived – the ones who had dragged the Adventurer II down into the sand. At least they wouldn’t need to sneak past them again. Edmund wondered if Edmund the Explorer was aware of the dunes’ deadly inhabitants. “Have you ever been here before? Are there any dangerous creatures we must avoid?”
“Well, I wouldn’t take a stroll across those sand dunes behind us unless you want to spend the rest of your existence trapped inside a Nirriimian sand worm. Fortunately we don’t have to cross the dunes to get to the Blue Monks.”
“What is a Nirriimian sand worm?”
“It’s big, it’s a worm, it lives in the sand, and you don’t ever want to meet one. More than one explorer has lost their life to them. They’re ancient, and as far as I know there’s nothing else like them on Nirriim. It’s possible to get safely through the dunes but you need a special kind of vision to avoid them. It’s a vision that doesn’t involve your eyes. I’ve seen the Red Monks do it. I tried once with a neutronic botscanner, but it didn’t work. I just avoid them altogether now.”
“Oh. You said something about Red Monks?”
“Yes, they’re a fairly common sect of Nirriimian monk. The Blue Monks are different. There are only thirteen of them. Let’s get that minifloater going. We have a lot of territory to cover before we reach the monastery.”
Edmund pulled the floater tube out of the pack and set it on the ground, tapping the start code into the grid. Moments later they stood on the gleaming silver disc.
Edmund the Explorer grabbed the two black handles. “Well, A2, if you’re not going to say it, I will. “Strap and roll, rabs!”