Out of This World

by Douglas E. Richards

“Yeah, I guess so. Are you?”

  Jenna nodded. She was shaken but she would be fine. Thanks to her brother. Where did he get reflexes that fast? And he had been so decisive. Just like in their kitchen when she had almost fallen into the portal. And then she remembered the silly generator he had insisted she carry with her. Maybe there was something to his story, after all. She wondered how long it would take before the Omega waves would start helping her.

  “We're not exactly off to a great start,” observed Zachary.

  “It could have been worse,” said Jenna. “A lot worse. And it almost was. Thanks for throwing me off the road.”

  “No problem,” he said. “Although tackling you like that isn’t something you usually thank me for,” he added with a grin. His expression became serious once again. “We’re just lucky that our mission to find Mom and Dad didn't end before it began. We need to really stay alert from now on.”

  Jenna nodded in agreement as they pulled themselves into a sitting position and looked toward the road on which they had arrived. The car that had almost hit them, a boxy red two-door, had finally come to a full stop about thirty yards beyond where they had briefly been standing. If Zachary hadn't thrown them out of the way they would have ended up as two giant bug-smears on its windshield.

  A very tall driver and slightly shorter passenger exited the car and walked to the edge of the road to look down the hill.

  Jenna saw them first and gasped. It couldn't be.

  They appeared to be ordinary men, except for one extraordinary feature.

  They were transparent.

  YUCK! Jenna almost gagged. Thankfully, both the driver and his passenger were wearing normal pants, but their shirts were transparent and underneath them, so were they. And not just their skin. Their muscles were transparent also. You could see everything. All their inner . . . workings.

  Even transparent jellyfish gave Jenna the willies, but jellyfish were nothing compared to the sight of these two. This was too much. You could see their skulls and all of their internal organs. Their hearts beating rhythmically. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Their lungs filling up with air. Even tiny rivers of blood coursing through their veins and arteries. They were grisly, living illustrations in a medical textbook.

  Jenna jabbed her brother in the ribs. “Look up there,” she whispered through clenched teeth. “Do you see those guys?”

  Zachary did and his mouth dropped open. “Uh-huh,” he mumbled. He and his sister instinctively crouched lower to the ground, trying to melt into the hillside so they wouldn’t be seen. “I wish I hadn’t eaten Mom’s disgusting dinner,” he whispered, fighting to keep a meal in his stomach that suddenly wanted to come back out. Finally, he was forced to look away from the men to let his stomach settle.

  “Uh-oh,” whispered Jenna. “We're in trouble.”

  Zachary glanced up to see the two men walking down the hill, obviously in search of the two kids they had almost hit. Jenna and Zachary held their breath and froze in place. Both men were not only transparent but were also enormous—even the shorter one was over six feet tall.

  “Ah,” said the taller of the two transparent men, who had been driving. “There you are.” He approached quickly from only ten yards away, looking even more repulsive from this short distance. His heart looked like a red fist covered by tiny veins, clenching and unclenching, clenching and unclenching, again and again, pumping blood through the transparent tubes that were his arteries.

  “You speak English?” said Zachary, astonished.

  “Well of course I don’t,” snapped the man. He handed Zachary a solid purple crystal, about the size of an acorn, that gave off a faint glow. “Place this in your pocket,” he instructed as the second transparent man now joined them. “This is a language transformer. It will instantly and automatically transform all possible languages into all other possible languages. Even writing.”

  “You mean a translator?” said Jenna.

  “Were you not listening?” barked the man. “A transformer. If this were a translator you would hear strange sounding words coming from my mouth that this device would then translate into English. Is that what’s happening?”

  “Ah, no,” said Zachary. “It sounds like you’re speaking English in the first place.”

  “Exactly. And I hear you as though you’re speaking my language. That is how it works. Not a language translator—a language transformer.”

  “And it works for writing also?” said Zachary in disbelief.

  “Do I need to tell you everything twice?” complained the man. “Yes. Written words, no matter what the language, will look like English to you. And your written words will transform into the language of whoever is reading them.”

  “How in the world is that possible?” asked Zachary skeptically. “It seems more like magic than science.”

  The taller of the two transparent men shrugged. “Same thing,” he said simply.

  “Same thing?” said Jenna. “Science and magic are the same thing?”

  The taller transparent man just glared at her but didn’t reply. The shorter man—who still soared above them imposingly—stepped forward with a friendly expression. “I can explain,” he said. “But first, let me introduce myself. I’m Wyland, and my companion is named Hirth. You are on our world, called Orum.”

  The kids introduced themselves as well, continuing to look away from the two men periodically. Their transparent bodies were so disgusting, and made the siblings so uneasy, they could only handle looking at them for a few minutes at a time.

  “Because we get the occasional visitor from your world,” continued Wyland, “we have recently become familiar with what you mean by ‘science.’ Magic is simply the process of controlling scientific principles with one’s mind.”

  “You’re wasting your time!” snapped Hirth. “These humans are feeble-minded and unimaginative. Which is why they can’t even use the simplest magic. Why even try to explain?”

  Wyland glared at his companion. “I have my reasons,” he growled.

  This Hirth was really getting under Zachary’s skin, but he forced himself not to react to his insult. Zachary didn’t believe in magic, of course. But he also didn’t believe in portals that could transport you to other worlds, or talking purple birds, so he forced himself to be open minded. “So what science do you activate with your minds to make the language transformer work?” he asked.

  Wyland shrugged. “We don’t know. You see, although we now realize that magic and science are two sides of the same coin, we have always been able to control magic fairly effortlessly. Without having to really think about it. So just because we can use it doesn’t mean we understand what scientific principles we’re tapping into.”

  Zachary looked totally confused.

  “I think I get it,” said Jenna to her brother. “At least a little. Take gravity. You can use it, even if you don’t know any of the science behind it. Push a boulder off a cliff onto your enemy’s head, and he’s going to have a really bad day. You don’t have to be Albert Einstein to be able to use it.”

  “Exactly right, Jenna,” said Wyland, beaming. “Same with magic. We use it. We know it taps into science. We just don’t know the science. And when we want to amplify our abilities or make our magic permanent, we’ve found a variety of crystals we can use to do this.”

  Zachary turned the language transformer in his hand, inspecting the purple crystal carefully. Finally he looked at Jenna, shrugged, and stuck it in his pocket as instructed. “I get how you can do magic without knowing any science—I mean, assuming there really is such a thing as magic. But wouldn’t your magic be even stronger if you did know science? I mean—”

  “Enough!” shouted Hirth. He scowled even more deeply at the two humans, which Zachary wouldn’t have thought possible. “You are now done asking stupid questions, and we are now done answering them.” When he said the word “we” he glared at his companion, as though his message was for Wyland’s benefit as much as for the
humans. “You need to proceed quickly. You have little time.”

  “Little time for what?” asked Jenna, realizing she didn’t have to look away quite as often anymore. Maybe she and Zack were becoming used to these men’s repulsive and unsettling appearance.

  “You have to get moving,” said Hirth impatiently. “I hope you're not upset that I almost hit you with my ground vehicle. We expected you to land a little farther down the road.”

  “You expected us?” asked Zachary.

  “Well of course we did.”

  “Are you here to welcome us?” asked Jenna hopefully.

  Wyland smiled and nodded, but Hirth looked as though he had just sucked on a lemon. “Welcome you?” he repeated nastily. “Definitely not! And for very good reason,” he continued with brutal honesty. “Because you are not welcome here. I am here to usher you on your way—and away from here—as quickly as I can. Frankly, your kind make us nervous, not to mention a little nauseated.”

  “I don't understand,” said Zachary.

  The man frowned. “It should be obvious. Your kind are too feeble and unimaginative to use magic, as I’ve already said. In addition, you’re covered in hideous, opaque skin, and we can’t see anything inside of you. Disgusting!” declared the man. “We’re a very straightforward, aboveboard people. But we’ve found your kind to be nearly impossible to understand; devious and confusing. And we don’t trust you. How can you trust a person when you can’t see what’s inside him?”

  “You can trust us,” said Jenna innocently.

  “It doesn’t matter if we can or can’t,” snapped Hirth. “What matters is getting you on your way as soon as possible. You’re trying to find your parents, correct?”

  Their eyes widened. “How do you know that?” said Jenna.

  “We don’t have time for any more idle chatter,” said Hirth. “I can direct you to one of two portals. You tell me which one. Option one: the one that your parents took. Option two: a portal that will lead you to your parents much more quickly.”

  Zachary’s eyes widened. Hirth seemed to know exactly what was going on. His parents hadn’t had any luck getting a native to share information with them. But before leaving this world, Zachary was determined to question this man in depth until he got some answers.

  “Well,” snapped the man. “To which portal would you like to be directed?”

  “What's the catch?” asked Zachary.

  Hirth looked confused. “The catch? A catch is something you find on a gate, or something you do when someone throws you a ball. What does that have to do with my question?”

  “I mean, the decision seems too obvious. Is there any reason why we wouldn't take the shortcut that you haven't told us about?”

  “Shortcut? Who said anything about cutting? I was speaking about portals.” Hirth shook his head. “This is why your kind can’t be trusted. You always try to change the subject.”

  Both kids realized why they were having trouble communicating at the same time. The people of this world apparently only used the precise dictionary definition of each word. Their interpretation of language, just like their bodies, left nothing to the imagination. If they told this man he had lost his mind, the man would look for it, thinking it was really lost. They would have to be careful to phrase everything as literally as possible here or they would quickly get into trouble.

  “I think I’m beginning to catch on,” whispered Zachary in his sister’s ear, grinning.

  Despite the seriousness of the situation, Jenna couldn’t help but laugh at her brother’s joke.

  Zachary turned back toward Hirth. “Let me try this again,” he said carefully. “Is there any reason why we wouldn’t want to take the portal that will get us to our parents the fastest?”

  “Congratulations,” said Hirth. “You’ve actually managed to ask a question that shows you have more intelligence than a tree. The answer is yes. That route is much more dangerous than the one your parents took.”

  It figures, thought Zachary. Just great. He scratched his head. “What do you think, Jenna?”

  “I think we need to take the shortcut,” she answered, pleased that he had asked for her opinion.

  “Me too,” said Zachary. “Can you tell us the nature of the added danger?” he asked.

  “No,” replied Hirth sharply. He looked at his watch. “And you had better decide quickly. You barely have enough time to make it to one of the portals before your Anchor Fungus begins its second stage of growth and you two become very ugly . . . fixtures . . . here on our world.”

  The shorter transparent man, Wyland, had been silent for some time, but he suddenly burst angrily to life. “Anchor fungus!” he shouted. “Hirth, you are not authorized for this.”

  Hirth shrugged. “Too late now,” he said simply.

  Wyland’s eyes were burning with anger, but he said nothing more.

  “Anchor Fungus?” said Zachary. “I'm afraid I’m not following you.”

  “Of course you’re not following me, because I refuse to lead you. If you were listening, you’ll remember that I said I would direct you to a portal, not that I would lead you there.”

  This guy must be a ton of fun at parties, thought Zachary. “What is Anchor Fungus?” he asked, trying to stay as literal as possible.

  “Pull up your pant legs and see for yourselves.”

  The siblings did so, and the color drained from their faces. They each had fuzzy green patches around their ankles, growing even as they watched. It was truly revolting.

  “That is Anchor Fungus,” explained Hirth, as if it should have been obvious.

  Both kids began clutching at their ankles, trying to rub, scratch, or pull the sickening growth from themselves. But it was useless. They couldn’t remove even a tiny part of it.

  “Nothing you can do will deter it,” said Hirth. “Believe me, anything you could possibly try has been tried before. It’s harmless to us, but I infected you with it exactly five minutes ago, when Wyland here was being far more friendly to you than you deserve.” He glared crossly at his companion once again.

  “The infection begins on the ankles,” continued Hirth. “But it will spread. In exactly—” he glanced at his watch, “and I do mean exactly—forty-nine minutes, the fungus will complete the first phase of its growth. At that time it will send tendrils down into the ground, growing from your ankles at the rate of several inches every few seconds. The tendrils can penetrate anything, so it will not help you to be standing on concrete. If you have not stepped through one of the portals, forty-nine minutes from now, the fungus will anchor you to the ground and then gradually wrap around your entire body.”

  Jenna and Zachary’s faces curled up in horror.

  “You will remain the unwanted guests of this world,” continued the man with disdain. “Permanently.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Escape Route

  The two humans shrank back in revulsion. What a horrible, horrible way to go.

  As if reading their thoughts, Hirth continued. “It won’t kill you, that’s the worst part. It feeds off energy produced by your bodies. It will keep you alive for a long, long time, exposing us to your repulsiveness all the while.”

  Zachary gulped. “What happens to the fungus if we reach a portal before it, ah . . . roots?”

  “Nothing happens to it if you reach a portal before then. If you go through a portal before then and leave Orum, it will die instantly and you will suffer no after effects.”

  “Why would you do this to us?” demanded Jenna in horror.

  “I want you off Orum as soon as possible,” replied Hirth. “And yet you seemed to be in no hurry to get anywhere. I believe that you will now be more . . . motivated . . . to leave.”

  “No kidding,” snapped Zachary bitterly. “So tell us how to get to the portal. We choose the one that will get us to our parents faster.”

  “Follow me,” said Hirth, and without another look behind him made his way to the car he had been driving, while the kids a
nd Wyland followed.

  “You don’t have time to make it to a portal on foot,” said Hirth. He gestured to the car. “So take this ground vehicle we were using. The citizens of Orum all share the few vehicles we have, since nobody really needs one.”

  “Why don’t you need them?” said Jenna. “What? Are you saying that you can just, you know . . . magically . . . travel wherever you want?”

  “That is correct,” said Hirth.

  “Right,” said Zachary skeptically. “Then why don’t you just transport us to the portal now and save some time?”

  “Because you’re uninvited visitors to our world. You’re lucky I’m letting you use the ground vehicle.”

  “If you don’t need them,” said Jenna. “Why do you have them?”

  “Using magic too often can be tiring,” replied Wyland. “So we don’t use it for everything. We have imbued some devices, like ground vehicles, with magic crystals, so we don’t have to always make efforts of our own. For many trips, a ground vehicle works just fine.”

  Sure it does, thought Zachary in disbelief, but he decided not to challenge them any further. “Okay. Whatever you say.” He shook his head. “But here’s the problem. Jenna and I haven’t learned how to drive yet.”

  “Don’t be stupid,” snapped Hirth. “This ground vehicle responds to verbal commands from whoever is inside. Just tell it what you want it to do and always stay in the right lane.”

  Zachary raised his eyebrows but said nothing. He quickly opened the door and settled into the driver's seat while Jenna sat beside him.

  Zachary cleared his throat. “Lower window,” he said tentatively, wondering if Hirth was trying to make a fool of him, but the car carried out his command immediately.

  He nodded approvingly at the transparent man through the open window. Hirth was still repulsive, but Zachary could now look at him for long periods of time without looking away. And while Wyland looked almost exactly like Hirth, his more friendly nature somehow made his appearance slightly easier to take.

  “Okay. Direct us to the portal,” said Zachary. He was going to add, “and we'll get out of your hair,” when he decided not to. Hirth would just tell him that they were never in his hair.