by Mara Amberly
She looked up his details on the computer. “There was a James Lowry admitted earlier tonight. I’m afraid visiting hours are over, but if you come back in the morning after 10–”
Nessa didn’t want to leave it until then if she didn’t have to. “Isn’t there any way I can see him, just to make sure he’s alright? He doesn’t have any other friends or family except for me and,” she gestured beside her, “Katy here.”
The nurse seemed to consider this. “Are either of you family members?”
Nessa paused for a moment, and then sort of nodded. “We aren’t married but we live together. Please, it’s important that I make sure he’s okay, and I think he’ll be relieved to see me. I don’t want him to feel completely alone right now.”
They’d stayed in the same house for a day or two, so it could be said they were living together.
Nessa’s ruse worked and the nurse nodded. “I’ll take you through to see him, but only for a few minutes. It’s important we don’t disturb the other patients when they’re trying to sleep.”
She smiled reassuringly. “I’ll be as quiet as a mouse.”
Katy covered her mouth to mask her smile.
The hospital smelled like every hospital Nessa had ever visited. It induced slight anxiety, as memories of medical procedures long ago returned. Still, considering the alternative, she was grateful that hospitals and their staff were here. Her shoes clicked on the floor more loudly than she liked as she accompanied the nurse down the corridor.
Alison pushed the door open for her, and she and Nessa walked in. It was a men’s ward. Some of the other patients had the curtains around their beds closed, but James didn’t. He was awake but resting, and Nessa was surprised he’d stayed there and not opted to leave the hospital. Perhaps he saw the importance of getting better, so he could see his son again.
“Hey,” she said quietly, approaching the side of his bed. She didn’t see a drip or anything, so they mustn’t have thought he needed it.
“Just a few minutes,” the nurse reminded her, leaving Nessa alone with James at last.
Nessa leaned closer to whisper to him. “I told her you were my partner so I could get in and see you, so don’t catch me out in the lie,” she said with a grin. “Visiting hours aren’t until the morning. How are you? Did you get your results back yet?”
James was grateful to see her and it showed. “I’m not surprised at all. Thanks for looking out for me, Nessa. They said my ribs are bruised and a lot of other places, but there’s no internal bleeding. They keep running more tests on me but they haven’t found anything. They said they’d likely send me home tomorrow.”
Nessa was relieved to hear the good news. “That’s brilliant. I was worried for you, James. You can stay with us until you’re better, and then we’ll get you set up somewhere nearby if you want us to.”
James looked grateful and he nodded. He pulled up the pillows again behind his head and laid back more comfortably.
“If I can’t get back then I’ve decided I’m going to try to build a life here. I would like to travel and see what this world has to offer. I always wanted to do that, even back home, but I’m afraid if I get too far away from the garden and you, I might miss my chance to return. For now I would like to stay in the area, but I can’t sit around all the time. I need to keep busy and do something constructive. I’m ready to go back out there whenever you are. That’s allowing a bit of time first for healing, I suppose.”
Nessa was pleased that James realised he needed time to heal. “Rest up for a few days and we can go back out there again, a bit more prepared this time. I have some experiments in mind to see what my ability can do. It might help me to figure out the boundaries of my skill and the ways it can be used. Katy knows about it now and she’s agreed to help me. What I really want to do is try and find ways to re-visit the same locations.”
James nodded, his expression slightly concerned. “Just please be careful with it. If you got stuck in another world while I’m here, we’d both be alone in unfamiliar places with no way back.”
Nessa nodded. “You have my word I’ll be careful, and I don’t plan to start until at least tomorrow. I won’t go far from the portals; I just want to run some tests.”
Footsteps approached the room and Nessa looked around the door to see who it was. Alison, the same nurse, had returned.
“It’s time to go,” she said. “The doctor will likely release him in the morning. He does his rounds of this ward around nine o’clock and James can give you a call if he’s released.”
Nessa smiled, “thank you.” She turned to James and gave him a gentle kiss. It wasn’t just for show, though it might have seemed that way. She was happy to just let James wonder about that.
***
The next day, James was released from the hospital. Nessa and Katy brought him back to the house and helped him settle back into his room. He was still very sore, but able to get around on his own.
Nessa had gone downstairs to put away some groceries they’d picked up on the way back, and returned to hear James and Katy talking.
“You’d really help me set up my investigating business?” James sounded grateful but surprised.
“Yes I will,” Katy said. “In exchange, I have your first case. Nessa had a sister and I want you to try and find her.”
Nessa lingered out of sight, listening to their shared conversation; her expression saddened at mention of her sister. She could’ve stayed there and listened in more, but she didn’t. Nessa returned to her bedroom and began making plans to test her ability. The day felt full of promise, especially now that James was back. Her sense of hope was returning.
***
Three hours later, Nessa and Katy stood in the garden, while James relaxed in a chair nearby. He was wearing a new t-shirt and long pants, and he’d pulled on his shoes.
“Curry powder ready?” Katy asked excitedly.
“Curry powder is ready,” Nessa said with a chuckle.
Clad in a green dress this time and tennis shoes, Nessa opened a small plastic bag of curry powder and breathed in the scent.
Her eyes widened at the pungent smell. Oh yeah, that’s curry powder alright.
Nessa felt the scent trigger her ability at once, and she allowed the portal to open near the back gate. It swirled into being as portals always had before, symmetrical and strong. Nessa wondered how she could destroy the curry powder when she was done, just as she usually did with flower petals, but she was sure she’d find a way. She gave the bag of curry powder a shake, just to ensure moving the grains wouldn’t disturb the portal. It remained in place and she felt no difference in its energy.
“I’m ready,” Nessa said with a smile. She was excited to give this a go.
Katy handed her the canvas bag of rocks they’d prepared. “Be careful!” she said.
“I will be.” Nessa walked through the portal and came out quickly on the other side. She wasn’t sure where curry powder would lead her – India sprang to mind, but she found herself in a forest or maybe a jungle. She looked around carefully but there was no sign of anyone. She quickly set out two of the stones on the ground. Each was slightly larger than her fist and had a white spot painted on it. She stepped back through the portal, and Katy and James were relieved to see her appear again. The whole process took no longer than thirty seconds.
“Do you remember the phrase we decided on?” James asked her.
“Cats are the best and your world needs them too.”
“That’s it,” he said with a grin.
Turning around, she pulled out the bag of curry powder and emptied the contents on the ground. The portal faded quickly and dissolved from sight. She stamped on the powder for good measure and thought it helped things along. The portal was soon no more.
“How long do you want to leave it before you return?” James asked her. He instinctively leaned toward her as he spoke and winced as a result. He was still very sore.
“Now should be fine. I don�
��t think time passing should make any difference.” It occurred to her that she might be wrong about that, but she didn’t think so. After all, if her grandmother could return to the same world many times, she presumed that she could too, even if her ability was different.
“Whenever you’re ready, Nessa.” Katy was edgy and a bit impatient to see whether it would work. “If anything happens to you I’ll blame myself, because I set you on this path.”
Nessa gave her a reassuring smile. “I’ll be alright. You wouldn’t believe some of the trouble I’ve been in before, and I always found a way out of it. I was in a dungeon on James’s world.”
Katy’s eyes widened. “You are kidding me?”
James laughed. “Actually she’s not. It’s a long story.”
This amused Nessa, but she knew she was postponing the journey, while Katy and James worried about her more. She noticed something different this time – an urge to open a portal tugged at her senses without an obvious trigger. She often had inclinations to open a portal, but usually when there was a particularly strong aroma. At the moment she didn’t smell anything much. If she paid attention, there was a sweet scent of flowers and plants on the breeze from the garden itself, and if she brought her hand up near her nose, she could detect the curry powder. Maybe she should’ve chosen coffee instead of curry powder, because the smell was less strong?
“I was about to suggest we get the next bag of curry powder to retrieve the stones but I’m feeling a pull toward opening another portal. I don’t know where it would go but the feeling is strong. It must just be the smell of the garden.
Katy smiled and James’s mood turned a bit more serious.
“Would you open it please?” he asked. “It could be nothing but we were just talking about my world. Maybe it’s worth a try?”
Katy looked fascinated by the idea but worried too. “Are you prepared to go through?”
Nessa shrugged. “I’m about as prepared as I’m going to be. The only thing is, without an item triggering the portal, how do I close it again? We can’t destroy what we can’t see. If it’s the garden, what are we going to do?”
James hesitated at that. “Where do you feel it leads? I think somewhere in your mind – in your heart, you must know the answer to that question.”
Nessa closed her eyes and searched her mind for an answer to that question. “I don’t know. I don’t–”
There was something – an impression she got, but she wasn’t sure if it was real. “The Valley of Derin?”
She heard a gasp from Katy.
“That’s it. We have to go through it.” James was resolute, even though they’d have to find a way to close the portal again, and he was still recovering from his last journey.
“Have you ever tried closing a portal without crushing the item that helped you open it?” He sounded nervous but excited. Hope did that to a person.
“Yes, most of the way. Sometimes when I close a portal, I test myself to see how far I can close it before I crush the flower or whatever it is I’m using as a focus. I’ve always reached a point where it was still open a little bit and I felt the time was right to crush the item. I can try but I’m not sure if it will succeed.”
Katy put a comforting hand on Nessa’s shoulder. “You don’t have to do this, Nessa.”
“You don’t have to, but please... please do,” James said.
Nessa nodded. “I really have to do this. Prepare yourselves, alright?”
She moved in front of the gate, where she’d cast the first portal to James’s world. There, she focused her mind, and let the energy and the desire to open the portal flow through her. Just as it did every time, the portal swirled into being in front of her. There didn’t seem to be anything different about it at all.
“I have no idea if this can close on its own, James. If I go through it, I’m taking a chance that I might not be able to get back.” Somehow though, she knew she could. It was mostly fear talking. She just hadn’t learned how to properly use her ability yet.
“I’ll go alone,” he said, carefully rising from the chair. He was still in a lot of pain.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. What if this is the wrong world? If the portal closed, you’d never find your way off it. I have to go with you.”
James paused at the threshold of the portal, while Nessa turned toward Katy. “I’m certain it will be alright. I’ll see you soon, Katy,” she said, her voice filled with emotion.
Katy nodded. “Go on. I’ll be here. Don’t make me come in after you! Take care of yourselves and be careful in there.”
James stepped through first and after a lingering glance at Katy, Nessa followed a few steps behind him. It looked just as it had before. They were in the Valley of Derin during the daylight hours, and the field of flowers stretched out before them. The question was which world was this?
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Pandora's Home Dimension;
Red Mountains, Alverron – 4:53 p.m.
Pandora’s eyes opened to the sight of worried faces gathered around her. Kailen, Olsen, Anders and Karen – they were all watching her. She tried to sit up; Kailen helped her while the Scientists seemed more inclined to keep their distance. Maybe they were smart to do so, but Pandora sensed they had nothing to fear from her. It was just one of many things she sensed or knew – or felt she knew – that she hadn’t before. They were there – memories and knowledge, and disjointed images; only they were organised and serene, even. The memories felt like leaves falling from a tree, and any time she needed to know something, the answer drifted down.
“You don’t have to worry about me. This was meant to happen, only perhaps not to me. It might’ve been meant for someone in the future. All I know is I’ve changed but everything will be fine.”
“What does that mean?” Kailen asked her. “What’s different? You seemed pretty damn awesome to me before, Dora. I don’t want anything to change.”
Pandora rubbed her eyes and looked around, especially at Kailen. “You haven’t lost me. The box – it contained memories and knowledge of those who came before. There’s so much and it’s still coming to me. How long was I out for?”
Kailen looked unsure that she was okay, but what could he do? “Almost half an hour.”
Olsen took a step closer to Pandora and knelt down beside her. “What do you remember?”
The memories of so many people felt like they were easily accessible. It was incredible. “The memories aren’t mine, yet they’re so clear. Most people didn’t die in the cataclysm like we thought. They left. Our ancestors were the people who stayed behind in the domes. Our ancestors were the ones who wouldn’t desert our world.”
Karen listened with curiousity, but she possessed a healthy dose of scientific scepticism. “How did the others leave? We know they had limited space vehicles but that’s all.”
Pandora accessed the memories. It was so easy, it amazed her. “There was a way to open portals between worlds. A small number of our ancestors were born with the gift. It was a mental skill that they developed with practice and training. One named Jama opened a portal to a parallel reality, which had been pre-decided, and travelled through it with a large number of people. Two other portals led to other dimensions, each for a different faction, so they need never argue again. Those responsible for the atrocities were left to die on the planet, out in the wastes. It was seen as their just punishment.”
“That’s unbelievable,” Anders said, yet it was clear he believed her.
Karen seemed to forget her hesitation as she asked another question. “Do you feel that these memories are going to stay with you or do they have a time limit? That’s if you know?”
Pandora knew for certain already. “The knowledge isn’t going anywhere. It’s permanent.” She put a hand on Kailen’s shoulder to reassure him that she was still herself. “It’s alright,” she said, hugging him softly.
“Then we need to return and speak with the council,” Olsen said. “Our othe
r business can wait. The last thing we need is to put you at risk when you’ve gained this knowledge. I would also suggest we start recording it immediately.”
She thought Olsen might doubt her, but he was playing it safe. “I believe I know how to identify those with advanced abilities. If any still exist in our settlement, we should be able to find them,” she said with a smile.
***
The journey back to Terania Settlement was uneventful by comparison. Pandora reassured Kailen that she hadn’t changed and that she was still the same person, but she could feel differences in herself. It was as if her maturity had grown, but she still had her own memories. Before this had happened, she’d felt much more aimless – wanting to explore, travel, and in some ways escape from a life she had little choice about, though Kailen had given her reason to want to stay. Now, she felt driven to help the people of Terania Prime – not just in her settlement, but the others too – and she saw so many prospects for the future that hadn’t existed before. She knew how to maximise their terraforming efforts. She knew the outsiders must have been from the settlements originally and not descended from the condemned, because there was no way they could’ve survived. It was also possible, though unlikely, that they were returned travellers. She held Kailen’s hand for much of the way back, and as they grew closer to the settlement, he seemed more at ease and accepting of the change. She felt that perhaps in some ways things would be different now, but they were together and she wanted that to stay the same. He was the man she wanted to marry one day.
***
“This council meeting is now in session.”
Elder Surayko was a woman in her fifties, known for her honesty, but also her tough and unyielding nature on matters significant to the future of Terania. She was the senior member of the council, who settled any matter or dispute unresolved by the council as a whole. She sat at a desk in front of Pandora, Kailen and a semi-circle of the gathered Scientists and Engineers, including those who had travelled on the expedition, and Helene, who was also there to provide moral support to Pandora. Former council members, who were all elder members of the community, sat on seats at either side of the room.