by Barbara Taub
When the mouth of the alley was clear, Stefan caught my eye and pointed across the street to a doorway with a tiny sign for Null City Metro. I pointed to the exposed road we’d have to cross. He looked worried but nodded and grabbed the packs. I went first, holding George’s carrier.
We were almost to the street when the men stepped out in front of us. It was one of those warm autumn days Seattle can surprise you with, so both had sweaters casually draped around those stupid popped collars above their bared arms. But horned shadows writhed around their feet, and their smiles made me want to take a shower.
Older Smiley shook his finger at Stefan. “Cousin. Grandfather says hello.”
Stefan stepped in front of me. “What do you want?”
Older Smiley shrugged. “Grandfather was expecting you. We just wanted to make sure you meet with him.”
Younger Smiley tried a (less successful) smirk. “Who’s your girlfriend?”
“She’s nobody; just a girl who needed a ride.” Stefan gave me a push. “Get going or you’ll miss your train.” His worried eyes jerked quickly toward the doorway across the street. I could see why he hadn’t been a success as an actor, and I could tell the two Smileys thought the same. So I peeled off my gloves as I started toward the entrance to the alley.
Sure enough, Younger Smiley reached out and grabbed my arm. “If she’s nobody, she won’t be missed.”
My heart was pounding so loudly I could barely gasp the words. “Let me go. I don’t want to destroy you.”
Younger Smiley was starting to laugh when Stefan lunged for him. His companion grabbed Stefan and held a gun to his head. Then he deliberately shoved Stefan away and stepped over to place the gun against my forehead.
The world got still. One part of me listened to my heart pumping so loudly my ears roared. But another part noticed the smell of the waterfront a block away, sounds of traffic mixing with the call of a seagull, George’s scream of feline fury as his carrier hit the pavement.
The gun’s warm barrel pressed against my temple as both Smileys gripped my arms between them. In the tiny bubble of silence as the four of us stared at each other, I wondered where Older Smiley had been keeping his gun warm. (Ewww!) And then I remembered how this morning, for the first time in years, I hadn’t touched one of the pebbles on my nightstand to see what today’s touch would be. This would not be a good day for a touch that merely gave polka dots or a glow. “I’m sorry.” I still don’t even know if I said the words out loud as my bare hands touched an arm on each of them. I’ll say this for my touch: it’s not flashy. There was no smoke or lightning, not even a whisper of sound. There never is. One moment the Smileys were threatening me and the next…
Stefan worked his mouth for a minute. “What. Are. Those?”
I was bent over, panting like I’d just run a marathon. “They’re…called…Pony-Buddies,” I braced my hands on my thighs and waited until I could stop gasping, and the black dots moved toward the edges of my vision. “I used to have a whole set of them when I was little.” Two, tiny, knee-high horses stared at each other. One was pink, and the other blue, both with bright yellow manes and tails. Each had a horned monster branded into his flank.
Stefan’s shoulders shook. I remembered the Smileys had called him cousin, and I staggered over to pick up my dropped gloves in case he needed me to comfort him. By the time I pulled on the gloves and got back to his side, he was bent over, wheezing. Tears were running down his face. “Stefan?”
The face he turned to me was red with… laughter? “It’s perfect.” He wrapped both arms around me and swung me around, setting me down to laugh against my lips. “Little girls everywhere will love them. They will never eat fear again.”
The blue pony stamped a miniature hoof and started toward us, only to be nudged aside by his pink companion, who had seen the approaching danger. A line of children in matching t-shirts, probably coming from a field trip on the water taxi a block over, were heading for a school bus parked at the front of the alley. Screaming their joy, the children broke ranks to surge toward the tiny ponies. The two former monsters had trouble coordinating all four legs at first, but the last we saw of them, they were making a respectable job of staying just ahead of the children.
Stefan ran back for his motorcycle, and then we crossed the street to the Metro Station. He was still laughing about the little ponies when four blond men stepped in front of us, blocking the entrance to the Metro. Before anyone could say anything, even before I could get my gloves off, the Metro door behind them opened. The man in the doorway was so tall even I had to tilt my head back to see his eyes. Dark eyes peered over dark-framed glasses as he looked toward Stefan and me. “The train is coming soon. You’d better get your tickets.”
One of the men laughed. “They’ve decided to stay here.” He and the others ranged themselves on either side of the door. The tall stranger sighed and carefully folded his glasses into a case before stowing them in a pocket. I only had time for a quick reassessment as he straightened up—towering, powerful, stern. He reached up into the air with both hands and pulled down a massive sword. Light flashed off the blade like flames and pointed at all four men. The knives and guns they held glowed red hot as their owners flung them away. With a scream of displaced air, the flaming sword slashed down, sending the four blond men running.
Then the sword was gone, and the stranger disappeared into the station. A pair of passing pedestrians muttered about those damn cosplayers and their stupid costume props. But it was Seattle: they’d seen lots weirder.
•●•
Stefan insisted on pushing his motorcycle through the doorway and down the stairs beyond. At the bottom, we found a vintage ticket machine with a dark window on top. He leaned his bike against the turnstile and pushed the start button on the machine. The window lit up, and inside, a mannequin dressed in a conductor’s uniform opened her eyes. A voice that reminded me of bells asked, “Name and destination?”
Stefan cleared his throat. “Tickets to Null City for Stefan Krampus and Roulette…” He paused and looked at me.
“Simoneau. And it’s Lette.”
The Conductor’s mouth didn’t move, but we heard the bell voice again. “Ticketing options for Stefan Krampus and Lette Simoneau. Charges for local immigration transfer to Null City Station: all vision in two eyes or the weight of two eyes in diamonds.”
I looked at Stefan. “One ounce.” He blinked at me as I hummed the game show theme song. “I’ll take Gross Eyeball Facts for $200. Answer: The weight of the average human eyeball is this amount. Question: What is one ounce?” He looked a little stunned and I shrugged. “You have no idea how much time I kill surfing old game shows.”
Opening the unit converter app on my laptop, I did a quick calculation. “This says one ounce equals 141.7 carats.” I poured my jar of diamond rings into the little drawer and pulled down the lever labeled Payment. “Let’s hope this adds up to enough carats for both eyes.”
The ticket machine whirred and clanked while the Conductor opened her eyes again. “Payment submitted: 145 carats. Please take change, and submit vision from one eye.” A few rings clattered back down into the Change slot, along with three small metal bars which I think were the gold, silver, and platinum from the settings of the diamonds. Neither of us spoke as I put them all into my pack. A single ticket floated down to the tray at the bottom of the machine. Stefan and I both stared at it.
I set down George’s carrier and turned to Stefan. “You go.” His beautiful blue eyes closed as I stepped closer, so I pressed my lips to each eyelid. “Your grandfather’s men aren’t after me. And it’s my fault we don’t have enough diamond carats. I should have used bigger rocks instead of gravel.”
I wrapped both arms around him. “I can wait until another good touch day and get enough money to try again. Or maybe I can use the money great-aunt Roulette said she was leaving me.”
Stefan’s eyes opened, and he lifted his chin. I could just see Prince Charming pre
paring for battle against the evil witch. Turning away, he reached for the payment lever, shivered, and put his head down for a minute. When he looked back at me, there was a black patch over one eye.
I put my gloved hand on his chin and turned his face from side to side. “Damn. With the two-day beard and the eye patch, you look like the world’s sexiest pirate.” Looking slightly more cheerful, he collected the motorcycle while I took the tickets from the tray at the bottom of the machine. The Conductor closed her eyes, and the machine went dark.
We went through a turnstile and onto the platform. There was a wall up the center with mosaic signs on either side proclaiming Ø CITY METRO, SEATTLE STATION . I saw Stefan staring, so I told him the first letter is the mathematical symbol for null or sometimes for an empty set. He nodded the way Mom does when she doesn’t understand what I’m explaining but really doesn’t want me to tell her anything else.
After that, we sat on one of the benches, and I got out my laptop to write this journal update. But Stefan says that according to the timetable a train should be coming now, so I need to put everything back in my pack and pick up George’s carrier.
•●•
The Metro
LiveJournal, October 30, 2012 by LetteS
The Metro train rolling into the station reminded me of the train we took around Disneyland when I was little. A bit faded on its Train-of-the-Future outside, a little worn on the inside; it had seen many passengers and was ready for more. Stefan pushed his motorcycle into the little section between the cars, and we went inside to find seats. There were no other passengers, so we each took one of the bench seats that faced each other across a small table.
Just as the doors were about to close, the guy with the sword came in and sat in one of the seats across the aisle from me. He pulled out a laptop and started typing. I thought my typing was pretty fast, but his fingers were a blur over the keys.
I stared out the window as the train left the station. “No lights. It doesn’t feel like we’re in a tunnel, but I can’t see a thing.”
“Light doesn’t work the same way in the fourth dimension.” The deep voice came from Sword-guy, but he didn’t look up.
“Space dimension?” I asked. Stefan’s cough sounded like a laugh, but I ignored him. “Or time?”
Sword-guy was finally looking directly at me. “I’ve been trying to figure that out. There are those who think it’s the same thing.”
“Great. We’re on the Star Wars train,” Stefan muttered.
“I think you mean Star Trek,” I told him. “Although unless you count Episode 84 with the two-dimensional creatures, I don’t think they actually used other dimensions for anything except maybe beaming from one location to another.”
The stranger opened his mouth but I got there first. “Oh, and wormholes, of course.”
Sword-guy nodded. “The Metro runs in at least four dimensions. And it travels both time and space.” He pushed his glasses to the top of his head, spiking dark curls up in every direction. “I’ve been working on modeling that.”
“Articles I’ve read lately say our three dimensions are just a shadow of the fourth dimension,” I offered. Stefan looked like something was hurting him, so I tried to explain. “It’s kind of like the way things in our three-dimensional world only cast a two-dimensional shadow.” Stefan stared. I tried again. “You know—flat. Think of it this way: if you were in a two-dimensional universe and you wanted to get somewhere on the other side of your world, you would have to move across the surface. In a three-dimensional world, the shortest distance to the other side might be straight through the center. But add in a fourth dimension, and…”
The stranger’s eyes lit up. “And it could be inside the other three.”
“At every point. Curled up.” Someone who actually gets what I’m talking about. I smiled at him. “So you wouldn’t have to travel across three-dimensional points to move across distances in the fourth dimension.”
“Or across time.” The stranger’s smile, rusty and unused looking, seemed familiar somehow. I thought it might be what my smiles look like. He held out a hand. “My name is Rag.”
Rag shook hands with Stefan and turned to me. He looked at my gloves. “Death-touch?”
I nodded, and he looked even more interested. “What are you?”
“I’ve never known. But we’re on our way to Null City, so with any luck I’ll get rid of whatever it is. Only—why do I feel like someone should be telling me that nobody can see the Wizard, not nobody, not no how?” This time Stefan laughed, while Rag looked confused. I wasn’t sure what the etiquette was, so I went with the question he had asked me first. “What are you?”
“That’s not the right question.” Rag looked completely serious. “Do you want to know what I was? Or what I am? Or what I could be?”
“Assuming that we’re on a train and not following a white rabbit down a hole,” I murmured. “Okay, let’s start with what you could be?”
Rag looked approving. “I could be the second-greatest inventor who ever lived.”
“And what you are?”
“Maybe number twelve. On my best day.” He looked out the window, and before I could ask he spoke softly to the dark outside. “And what I was? Raguel, The Angel of Justice. Now Fallen.”
A bells-voice that sounded like the ticket machine Conductor announced, “The Metro is now approaching Between Station. If you are leaving the train, please make sure you have all your belongings, and thank you for riding the Metro.”
I turned back to Rag. “Do you know how long it takes to get to Null City?”
He shook his head. “This should be a short run. The Metro sets its own timetables, and it usually follows them. Except when it doesn’t.”
Stefan snorted again. “You make it sound like the train is alive.”
Rag turned to him. “It is alive, just not in an organic sense. It probably doesn’t have a concept of morality or good versus evil. And we can’t know what it’s motives are, because the Metro exists in other dimensions including time. So its actions are usually based on things that haven’t happened yet. I think if anyone got close to knowing how the Metro works, they’d be candidates for a padded cell.” He hesitated as if he wasn’t sure about the next bit. “One of the things left from when I was Justice is that I can see gifts and abilities. I can tell that he’s a Krampus.” He jerked his chin toward Stefan, ignoring his glare. “But I can’t see anything from you. The only other…entity…I’ve encountered like that is the Metro.”
Rag reached up into the air as if he was going to pull that sword out again. Stefan and I jumped back. But this time his hand pulled down a big binder that said NOTES on the front. Turning to a tab marked with the letter M, he pulled his glasses down onto his nose again and flipped pages. “Magical insignia…magnetic levitation…metallic bonding… Yes, here it is. Metro Train.”
Taking three pencils from his pocket, Rag chose the longest one and started writing, muttering about curled dimensions. Stefan opened his mouth, but I whispered, “Shh! There’s nothing worse than being interrupted before you can finish writing down a new idea.”
Rag looked like someone had just punched him. “I’ve been around for…a long time…but you’re one of the very few who’s ever understood that. Really. Who are you?”
I could feel my face getting hot. Stefan shifted across to my bench and put his arm around me. “What matters is who she’s going to be. We’re heading for Null City and a normal life.”
I moved away from Stefan’s arm and turned away from Rag.
When the Metro stopped at a station with a sign for Ø CITY METRO, BETWEEN STATION, Rag got off. Just before he left, he leaned across Stefan to meet my eyes. “Null City is about forgetting, but the Metro is about change. That’s why every rider is charged a fare that will change them somehow.” We both looked at Stefan’s eye patch. “So make sure, Rapunzel. Make sure you’re ready to forget the person you are now, or you’ll just end up exchanging o
ne tower for another.”
After Rag left, Stefan moved back to the other bench, and I pulled out my laptop to write up this journal entry.
Chapter Five
Null City!
LiveJournal, October 30, 2012 by LetteS
When we saw the giant mosaic sign for Ø CITY METRO STATION tonight, Stefan and I were so excited. As we got off the train, we passed a poster with a little box of brochures: Null City Newbies? Call Null City Tours for our Newcomers Intro package. Everything you’ll need to start your new life in Null City. So we called the phone number listed, and the recorded message on the other end directed us to a little travel agency right outside the Metro station. Inside, we met a girl named Poppy, who said she was the Anchor for Null City. I think it’s a kind of mayor, but she’s even younger than I am. I couldn’t help liking Poppy right away, especially because she’s tall and red-haired like me (not as tall, but much redder hair).
According to Poppy, we’ll change a little over the next day or so as we both become the completely-human equivalent of our previous selves. She told me she’d been waiting for us to arrive because my aunt Roulette opened an account for me at the Null City Bank and gave Poppy a debit card with my name on it. After getting directions from Poppy, Stefan and I checked into the Null City Hotel. He looked disappointed when I asked for separate rooms, but I didn’t want to take any chances until my touch was completely normal. At the door to my room, I stared at the lock and the little keycard. I looked at Stefan. “I’ve never checked into a hotel by myself before.” Stefan took the key out of my hand, opened the door, and followed me into the room.