Paraworld Zero

by Matthew Peterson

  She waved the wand around and said, “Aiyee, Aiyee, Aiyee bookata.” A stream of light engulfed her for a second and then vanished.

  “So what was that all about, Beauty?” Thornapple asked.

  “‘Beauty?’” She gasped. “You’ve been calling me ‘Beauty’ this whole time? You jerk!”

  Thornapple blushed. “Hey, it’s better than ‘Spastic.’ That’s what I was going to call you at first.”

  She threw her pillow at him. “Beauty! Sounds like the name you’d give a dog. Hey, Beauty, fetch the stick. Good dog.”

  “Take it easy, Konya,” Dr. Troodle warned. “You need to save your strength.”

  “AAAH!” she yelled. “My name is TONYA! T-T-T-Tonya! With a T!”

  “Tonya,” he repeated clearly. “Well, why didn’t you say that in the first place?”

  Tonya rolled her eyes and fell back into bed. She looked up and saw Simon smiling down upon her. He still wore his glasses, although cracks ran down both lenses.

  “Simon, why are you still wearing those silly glasses?”

  He took them off and inspected them.

  Thornapple said excitedly, “You know, Simon, I think I can fix those glasses. I bet if I experimented a little I could even make some shatterproof lenses for you.”

  “No,” Simon said, gazing at the broken glasses in his hand. “I don’t think I need them anymore.”

  Tonya sat up against the headboard of the bed and looked at him. “You’ve really grown up, haven’t you?” The specialist scanned her with a handheld device, but she ignored him. “My little Simon,” she said with a smile. “Can you believe all that we’ve gone through together? I’d never believe… I’d never… believe…” She closed her eyes and mumbled, “Oh, I feel faint.”

  The young woman collapsed back into bed.

  “I’m going to give you a mild sedative,” Dr. Troodle said while reaching for his equipment.

  In a flash, the image of her body appeared in the air. Quickly, the specialist peeled away the layers from the three-dimensional image until he reached the cellular level. He then brought up the previously scanned image of Tonya and merged the two holograms.

  “Please stand back,” he said sternly. Everyone did as they were told.

  “What’s going on?” Tonya groaned.

  “The E.M. waves, as you call them, have been tainted with pathogens,” Dr. Troodle said in a troubled voice. “I’m afraid your body is still being attacked.”

  “I’m resequencing your DNA,” the specialist said. “This should only take a moment, but you may feel a little pain.”

  Tonya squirmed in the bed as a flood of light passed through her hospital gown and bombarded her delicate body. A moment later, the procedure was complete.

  “We need to get you out of this parallel world,” Thornapple said.

  “But that’s impossible. I lost my paratransmitter.”

  Simon replied with a sly grin, “Tonya, I think we found something better…”

  * * *

  “I can’t believe it!” Tonya said as she entered the brightly lit cave. “It’s only been a few hours since we turned this thing on and you guys have already decorated the place.”

  A group of men were polishing the statue that the mayor had presented to the city at the anniversary celebration. Simon looked at the small Puds riding on top of the larger ones and then realized the big Puds were not wearing security collars. The scene was not one of oppression but one of unity! It portrayed the reaction the Puds displayed after King Pentagola convinced them to build the machine.

  Mayor Gordon walked up and announced with a big smile, “I thought this statue might be better suited in here.”

  “You might wanna change the inscription,” Tonya suggested.

  “Holo?” Simon called. The old holographic woman appeared in his hand. “What was it that King Pentagola said during that speech you showed me?”

  The woman quoted: “Here stands the brave warriors of Pudo… The big and the small—fighting as one, living as one, dying as one. May we always look back to the day we overcame our pride, stood up for what is right, and defended our planet from the evil forces within.”

  “That’s really good,” the mayor exclaimed. He turned to his robotic assistant and asked, “Nox, did you get that?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Excellent! Wait a second, Simon—I thought your hologram couldn’t speak Pudo?”

  “My goodness. Do you take me to be a second-rate hologram?” the old woman huffed. “I am capable of learning, you know.” She paced around Simon’s hand as she talked. “If you will excuse me, Master Simon, I have a thousand years to catch up on, and I want to gather as much information as I can while we’re still here.” At that, the old woman disappeared into the shard of metal.

  “Testy little thing, isn’t she?” the mayor said.

  “I heard that,” came Holo’s muffled voice.

  The mayor led the group into a side room filled with desks and machinery. At the far end of the room, cut into the wall, was an opening that looked like the entrance to an elevator.

  “Oh my gosh,” Tonya squealed. “It’s a paratransceiver!”

  “I thought it was something like that,” Simon said, beaming. “What’s the difference between a paratransmitter and a paratransceiver?”

  “A paratransmitter only goes one way, but a paratransceiver goes both ways.”

  Mayor Gordon looked curiously at the control panel and asked, “So is it true this thing will take you to another dimension?”

  “It sure will,” Tonya said. “Where do you think I came from?”

  “And it runs on magic?”

  “Electro-magical energy—the same stuff the machine is powered by.”

  “Fascinating. So how does it work?”

  Using the hover chair the specialist had given to her, Tonya zoomed over to the computer monitor and fidgeted with the keyboard. “Everything is in ancient Pudo. Simon, get over here.”

  Simon walked casually towards her.

  “Hurry up before I turn into a lizard or something,” she chided.

  They scrolled through several hundred images of paraworlds, but Tonya didn’t recognize any of them. All of the paraworlds she knew by heart were missing from the database.

  “This is getting really frustrating,” she growled. “These coordinates are all messed up.”

  “How’s that?” asked Thorn.

  “A couple hundred years ago, the High King standardized all of the coordinates so that this very thing wouldn’t happen anymore. This machine uses a different set of coordinates that I’m not familiar with.”

  “So do we just need to pick one, then?” Simon asked.

  “I hope not,” Tonya moaned. “Knowing my luck, we’ll probably find our way to another dead planet.”

  “What’s a dead planet?” Thorn asked.

  “Well, Pudo was a dead planet until today. A dead planet is a paraworld that doesn’t have any E.M. waves. Of course, no one has actually proven the existence of dead planets. Any guesses why?”

  “Because if you did find a dead planet, you wouldn’t be able to report it to anyone. Without E.M. waves, you’d be stuck,” Mayor Gordon answered her question.

  “See, you’re catching on. I’ll tell you one thing… General Banton was a clever guy. He left the generator running so that all of the E.M. energy on the planet would be sucked up. When he killed the king and exterminated his own people, no one could call for help and no one could leave. And because they were cut off from the kingdom, even the Guardians of the Crown couldn’t save them.”

  Dr. Troodle shook his head. “I can’t believe someone could do such a thing.”

  “You’d be surprised what a little power can do to someone,” Tonya responded.

  “No,” Thornapple said, contemplating the inner battle he had struggled with when the fate of the planet was in his hands. “I don’t think I would be surprised.”

  “Bingo!” Tonya exclaimed as a white p
lanet appeared on the view screen. “I recognize this one. I’ve seen my dad go there on business trips before.”

  “So are you sure you’ll be safe there?” asked Dr. Troodle.

  Tonya laughed and said, “My dad is one of the wealthiest men in the paraverse. He practically invented the mobile paratransmitter. Anyone who’s anyone would jump at the chance to help me get home.”

  “So this is it,” Thorn said. “I can’t believe this is really happening.”

  Dr. Troodle frowned and said, “I just don’t know how we’re going to tell your mother.”

  “Tell me what?” Mrs. Troodle said from behind.

  Everyone turned to see the doctor’s wife enter the room—followed by Grog, Little Har, and his father, who now sported a pair of crutches.

  “Mom!” Thorn said in shock. “You sure got here fast. I didn’t think—”

  The young Pud stopped in midsentence when he saw the beautiful girl who had just entered the room. His mouth hung open upon seeing Gwin’s lovely face.

  “Tell me what, Honey?” Mrs. Troodle prodded again sternly.

  “Well, uh,” Dr. Troodle stammered for the words. “We were thinking… it’s going to take years to rebuild the city… and, uh… the schools will most likely be shut down for months… and… well, you know how important it is that Thornapple continue with his education… and—”

  “I’m going with Simon and Tonya,” Thorn blurted out.

  “What?”

  “Tonya’s school is one of the best in the paraverse—”

  “The what?”

  “Mom, it’s just a really good school. I might not even get accepted, but if I do, I think I’d really excel. And it’s not like it’s on the other side of the world or anything. Tonya says it’s not far from here.”

  “Not far from here?”

  “Well, it’s in a different parallel world. But once you got there, the school wouldn’t be very far from here.”

  “Absolutely not! I won’t have you trolloping around with these aliens.” She turned to her husband. “Honey, help me out with this.”

  “No,” Dr. Troodle replied with conviction in his voice. He wasn’t accustomed to standing up to his wife. “Recently, I’ve learned to see things in a different way. Though they may be strange at times, I think Simon and Tonya are the best friends Thornapple could have. Besides, I want our son to be able to magnify his talents. He can’t do that here.”

  Mrs. Troodle’s eyes grew big, and she puffed up her chest. “So, you want to send our son away to some strange land we know nothing about?”

  Thorn chimed in, “Mom, I’m not leaving for good. I can come back to visit at any time.”

  “Really, Mrs. Troodle,” Tonya explained, “parallel travel is pretty safe and fast. It would only take a few minutes for Thorn to come back to Pudo.”

  Dr. Troodle asked, “Are you sure he’d be able to find his way back? You did say this world has been forgotten for a thousand years.”

  “Oh, believe me,” Tonya said, laughing. “One of the High Kings was murdered on this planet—the Imperial Council will definitely have the coordinates to this paraworld.”

  “And… who’s going to pay for all this?” Mrs. Troodle demanded. She was desperately trying to find a reason for her son to stay.

  Tonya answered immediately, “Your family has been so good to me. I’m sure my father would be happy to pay for Thorn’s schooling.”

  “Well,” Mrs. Troodle said quietly. Her eyes became watery, and she started to sniff. “I guess the decision has already been made.” She walked up to Thorn and gave him a hug. “You’re just growing up so fast. I’m having a hard time letting go.”

  “Har come, too?” Little Har asked in his slow, drawn-out voice.

  “Now that’s where I draw the line,” Mrs. Troodle declared. “If Har was gone, who would take care of the house? And who would do the cooking?”

  “You know, Sweetie,” Dr. Troodle said, putting his arm around his wife, “your menabaws actually aren’t that bad. I’m sure we’d be okay… And about cleaning the house—we don’t really have a house anymore.” He then said under his breath, “Besides, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to protect Thornapple?”

  Simon cringed as the memory of Mrs. Troodle’s appetizers flashed through his mind. After all this time, he could still see the three-eyed squid blinking at him.

  Dr. Troodle continued in a loud voice, “Of course we’d have to ask Har’s father first.”

  Harr smiled and said, “Little Har go. Travel to stars.”

  “Actually,” Thornapple said, “if you were to visit a star, you’d burn up. Stars are made of burning gasses and—”

  Both Simon and Little Har burst into laughter.

  “What?” Thornapple asked. “Is it something I said?”

  During the discussion, Gwin had slowly made her way to Thornapple’s side. She looked at him with her large, beautiful eyes and said in a sweet voice, “Well, I guess this is goodbye.”

  “Yeah, but I’ll still see you again.”

  “I hope so. You know, Thorn, we never did have that last dance together.”

  Smiling, Mayor Gordon turned to his assistant and commanded, “Nox, play something slow for us.”

  The robot did as it was told.

  Thorn offered his hand to Gwin sheepishly. She took it, and they started to dance.

  “Circles!” Gwin laughed, trying to imitate the mayor. “Circles! We’re doing circles, everyone.”

  Dr. Troodle extended his hand to his wife. She wanted to stay mad at him but couldn’t. Shaking her head, she took his hand and danced with him.

  “Well, Tonya,” Simon said, “care to dance?”

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  The young woman got off the hover chair and held onto Simon. A worried look appeared on the specialist’s face as he played with his portable keypad, but he said nothing.

  Tonya kept tugging on her green tunic as they moved. It was the same outfit she had worn when Simon had first met her. Except for some missing hair, she looked exactly as he remembered her that day she appeared out of nowhere and saved him from Buz and Spike.

  “What’s wrong?” Simon asked.

  “I think this outfit has shrunk.”

  Simon chuckled. “No, I think you’ve grown.”

  “It just feels a little too tight, that’s all.”

  “Well, why did you wear it then?”

  “One, it’s fire retardant and the rest of my clothes burned with the house, and two, I’m not about to be seen in public wearing those baby doll dresses.”

  They both laughed, but then Tonya suddenly winced in pain. She clutched her stomach and doubled over.

  “Doctor!” Simon called.

  The specialist rushed over and ran some quick scans. “It’s getting worse,” he said. “Stand back, Simon.”

  Simon rested Tonya on the ground, and the specialist swept her body with a device. When he finished, Tonya sat up and moaned, “It still hurts a little.”

  “You’re nearing the threshold of our medical expertise. I don’t think I’ll be able to stop the next mutation. You should leave now while you still can.”

  Simon helped Tonya to her feet and led her to the paratransceiver, where Thornapple and Har were already standing. He typed in the coordinates of the white planet, and a confirmation message appeared on the screen.

  “Just press that green button,” Simon said, squeezing in with the other teenagers.

  “Goodbye,” Mrs. Troodle cried.

  “We love you, son,” said Dr. Troodle.

  Thorn tried in vain to hide his sniffling. “I love you, too.”

  Harr and Grog waved their goodbyes while Mayor Gordon pressed the green button. The last thing the teenagers saw before they were engulfed in blue energy was Gwin… winking.

  Surrounded by an electrical force field, the group was catapulted through several tunnels of the vast parastream and then pushed into their destined portal. Before they
knew it, they were standing in total darkness.

  “Uh, Tonya,” Thorn asked nervously, “where are we?”

  A faint glow appeared at the tips of Tonya’s fingers, giving just enough light for them to see.

  “Holy cow,” she whispered as she looked around the dark chamber. “This isn’t good.”

  Chapter 27

  The White Planet

  Sparkling gems and gold trinkets filled the narrow room. Ancient artifacts and statues lined the walls, and a great number of old books lay on the dusty floor.

  “Hello?” Thorn said loudly.

  “Shhh!” Tonya hissed. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Trying to see if anyone’s home.”

  “Oh, that’s great thinking from our genius Pud. Yeah, let’s just call attention to ourselves so we can thank whoever owns this place for letting us use their secret paratransceiver. Maybe they’ll let us take some of this gold as well.”

  “I see your point,” the little Pud said, looking down at his shoes.

  “Why did we end up in this treasure room in the first place?” Simon asked.

  Tonya stepped off the round platform and answered, “My guess is that whoever owns this place doesn’t realize someone else has the coordinates for their paratransceiver.”

  “Or maybe they don’t even know about this room,” Simon suggested, after wiping away the dust on the control panel with his finger.

  “I guess that’s possible.” Tonya messed with the control panel, but it wouldn’t turn on. “Looks like it’s out of juice. Let’s get out of here.”

  She led her friends through a dark passageway until they came to a dead end.

  “I think I hear voices coming from the other side,” Simon whispered.

  The young man put his ear to the wall, but the second he touched the cold surface, he suddenly found himself on the other side. He looked around and realized he was in a closet. The voices were much louder now.

  “I never intended for you to attack Imperial City,” a man with a raspy voice said from the other side of the closet door.

  “Things have changed, Lord Vaylen,” came the cold reply. “The weapon was a greater success than we had ever hoped for.”