Jenna’s face wrinkled up in confusion. “I don’t get it?”
Zachary was about to respond when one of the giant, leathery-winged prehistoric monsters swooped down out of nowhere. It flew toward them with alarming speed.
“Split up!” yelled Zachary as he moved away from his sister, making the creature choose between targets.
The monster swooped down toward Zachary, its powerful talons extended. Zachary dived to the ground and flattened out, causing the creature to miss him by inches.
The creature flew off hundreds of yards distant and began making a huge, lazy circle to come around for another attempt. It had sized them up and knew that it had all the time in the world. They were slow and completely out in the open. Easy prey.
Zachary stood to his full height. “Jenna, I need to finish,” he said hurriedly. “What I saw in the cave—I’ve figured out what it means. That crystal Hirth gave us isn’t just a language transformer. It’s also a sort of spy camera. Somehow, Hirth and Wyland are using it to keep track of us. If you’re going to run rats through a maze, you have to have some way to watch them. Somehow, I was able to tap into it in the cave. For just an instant. I thought I’d imagined it, but when I figured out the rest, it suddenly made perfect sense.”
Jenna had barely listened to him, having rushed over to one of the trees with the giant, plastic-looking leaves. “Zack!” she screamed. “Come on. We need to figure out how to get one of these leaves so we can sled down the mountain and hide from this thing. Come on!”
Zachary shook his head. “Forget about escape, Jenna,” he said. “We're not running anymore.”
The flying creature had completed its turn and was now bearing down on them at an ever increasing speed.
“Come on, Zack!” pleaded Jenna in horror as the creature extended its deadly talons.
“No. It’s nothing but a test. I refuse to run the maze anymore.”
“But what if you’re wrong!” screamed Jenna. “You can’t bet your life on this.”
“I can!” said Zachary, his eyes fiery. “And I am!”
Zachary threw back his head. “I refuse to play along anymore!” he screamed to the sky at the top of his lungs. “Hirth and Wyland, and whoever else might be behind this, I’m done playing. Get yourself another guinea pig!” he finished angrily. “I'm not moving!”
He glared defiantly at the giant, flying reptile bearing down upon him. Its mighty talons were fully extended and it was only seconds away.
“Zack, dive!” screamed Jenna hysterically.
Zachary didn’t move.
The giant beast altered its course at the very last instant, its talons so close they raked the very top layer of Zachary’s hair. It then retracted its talons and rose in the sky, flying away.
Jenna’s mouth fell open. He had been right. About everything.
Zachary pulled the purple crystal from his pocket and held it in front of his face. “Now how about telling us what this is all about,” he growled.
Zachary waited patiently for a response while Jenna walked over to join him. The moment she was at his side, Wyland’s voice was broadcast from the crystal as if it were a speaker. “Well done, humans,” he said. “Wait where you are. We’ll be there to escort you through a portal to Orum in just a few minutes.” There was a pause. “And then you will get the answers that you seek.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The Explanation
Hirth and Wyland joined them about five minutes later, as promised. The difference in expressions between the two transparent men was even greater than before. Hirth looked more bitter and angry than ever, while Wyland looked delighted. Both men asked that conversation be delayed until they were back on their world.
Less than ten minutes after they had joined Jenna and Zachary, the two transparent men had escorted them to a nearby portal. They stepped through and were once again on Orum, with its familiar rolling hills and farmhouses.
“Congratulations to you both,” began Wyland as soon as they arrived. “You were, indeed, engaged in a test. One you passed with flying colors.”
“That remains to be seen,” challenged Hirth.
Wyland glared at Hirth and said, “I let you be in charge when they first arrived, and you agreed to let me be in charge for this part. I know this was easy for you to agree to, since you never believed they would live long enough to even leave Orum. Especially after you infected them with Anchor Fungus, a clear violation of our agreement. But they did survive: your Anchor Fungus and far more.
Hirth folded his arms but did not reply.
“Please ignore him,” said Wyland to the two humans.
“What have you done with our parents?” demanded Zachary. Wyland may have been friendlier than Hirth, but Zachary had no reason to trust him.
“Don’t worry,” said Wyland. “Yes we um . . . borrowed . . . them temporarily, but they’ve been treated like royalty. We’ll take you to them very soon.”
Jenna and Zachary glanced at each other and blew out long breaths of relief. Their parents were alive and well. And they would—finally—be reunited with them. Both kids felt as if a crushing weight had just been lifted from their chests.
Jenna turned back toward Wyland. “What is this all about?” she asked.
“Our two worlds are about to become linked,” said Wyland. “Extensively linked.”
“How?” said Zachary. “And what do you mean by extensively?”
“Let me begin at the beginning,” said Wyland. “Portals link together numerous worlds as you’ve seen. Thousands and thousands of them, in fact. But they are a natural phenomenon. No one can create or control them. They appear for unknown reasons at unknown places.” He paused. “A few months ago, we became aware that a single portal had opened between us and a new world.” He nodded at the two humans. “Your world. With thousands more in the process of becoming born.”
Zachary’s eyes widened. “Thousands?” he repeated. He scratched his head. “Do all of them link our two worlds, or do some go to other worlds?”
“Very insightful question, Zachary. Inexplicably, every last one of them links only our two worlds, Orum and Earth. Or they will when they are fully born in just a few weeks time.” He paused. “Until this one active portal opened, fairly recently, your planet Earth was completely isolated from all other planets.”
“Will any of them be two-way portals?” asked Jenna.
“As far as we can tell,” said Wyland, “they will all be two-way. To our knowledge, Orum and Earth will be connected more extensively than any two worlds have ever been.”
Whoa, thought Zachary. Incredible.
“Anyway,” continued Wyland. “Given how closely our worlds are about to be linked, we decided to bring sixty adult humans to Orum to study.”
Zachary nodded knowingly. “A bit nervous about the new neighbors, huh?” he said. He couldn’t really blame them. If he could choose where the Earth portals led, he doubted if it would be here. Surely there were species that were more compatible with humans than these transparent people.
This time Wyland’s smile was forced. “Let’s just say we wanted to understand your species a little better. After all, we have portals on our planet to any number of worlds, but no more than three, maximum, to any single world.”
“And you’re about to have thousands linking you and Earth,” said Jenna.
“Exactly.”
“Not a good situation, is it?” said Zachary. “Because other than Orum, Earth will still be isolated. For humans to get to any other worlds, they’ll have to go through yours.”
“The thought had occurred to us,” said Wyland grimly.
The alien paused to let Jenna and Zachary digest what he had said so far, and then continued. “In discussions with the humans we brought here, we found that you have no concept of magic. Other than in your stories for children. But not real magic. And when we demonstrated magic, it made the subjects we brought here uncomfortable. For civilizations of your level of soph
istication, inability to do even the smallest feat of magic is unheard of.
“We also took humans to numerous other worlds, including insect worlds,” continued Wyland, “to see how they would react.” He shook his head. “And they did not handle it well. They were often unable to adjust to new situations—probably because Earth has always been isolated and never exposed to any alien creatures or cultures. But based on this we were concerned that if Earth were brought into contact with our world, and through us to endless others, this could lead to disaster. Your species is too unimaginative and close-minded to be able to embrace beings and concepts vastly different from yourselves. You’re too inflexible. Too unprepared to accept what you believe to be impossible.”
“So were our parents part of this group you’re talking about?” asked Jenna.
Wyland shook his head. “No. They were others of your kind. We used magic to erase their memories and returned them home.” He paused. “And then our Grand Council deliberated.”
“Grand Council?” said Zachary, raising his eyebrows.
“The ruling body of our world. A collection of the twenty most powerful wielders of magic on Orum. What you might call witches and wizards. Although we prefer the term magicians. But unlike those who call themselves magicians on your planet, who only pretend to do magic, we use real magic in everyday life. Each member of the Grand Council is the most powerful magician on Orum in their specialty area.”
“Um . . .okay,” said Jenna. “So what did your Grand Council have to say about the situation?”
Wyland lowered his eyes. “We took a vote. Under the circumstances, the Council decided it would be best to keep Earth isolated. Forever. To destroy your portals.”
“I thought you couldn’t do that,” said Zachary.
“We can’t create them or control them. But we can definitely destroy them or stop them as they’re about to emerge. Anyway,” he continued, “I had studied Earth and disagreed with this course of action. I thought we had a lot to learn from your people.”
“Really?” said Zachary wryly. “From a non-magic species like ours? What did you think you could learn?”
“Teamwork, for one,” replied Wyland. “Our species never needed it. When you’re able to use magic fairly effortlessly, there isn’t much need to cooperate. Since your people couldn’t use magic, you often needed teamwork to survive, especially during your primitive phase. So you’re a species who have evolved to work in a pack, while we’re like your cats: not great at working together. Not very cooperative.”
Both kids glanced at Hirth, his arms still folded on his chest as he radiated hostility, and decided he and Wyland offered a great example of an inability to work together. But two humans who hated each other would act the same way, so this didn’t necessarily prove anything.
“The other skill I thought we could learn from your species is logic and problem-solving,” continued Wyland. “When you can use magic, you don’t need to understand why things work the way they do. But your species has always had a handicap. Because you’ve never been able to use magic, you were forced to learn to solve problems the hard way.” He paused. “I argued to the Grand Council that it would be a mistake to cut off our worlds from each other. I also sensed that your species was becoming more open minded. More accepting. I was convinced that the next generation,” he gestured toward Jenna and Zachary. “Your generation, would be able to handle surprises far better than the current one.”
“So you proposed a test?” said Zachary.
Wyland nodded. “Exactly. A test of the potential of the human species. The potential of the next generation. I proposed we select two children and test their flexibility. Their reaction to the unexpected. Their ability to fight irrational instincts. Like an aversion to giant wasps, for instance. Their ability to tolerate, accept, and even embrace differences. Different concepts, different cultures, different beings. Their ability to change perspective. To accept new ideas. It would be a truly brutal test. Under the most difficult conditions. With their lives always on the line. If they passed, I got the Grand Council to agree not to close the portals between our worlds.”
He paused to catch his breath and then continued. “And I wanted it to be more than a test. I wanted my people to have a chance to study humans in action. To study their teamwork, and their problem solving. To see how much we might be able to learn from your species.”
“How did we do?” said Jenna.
“As I told you already,” said Wyland, beaming, “you passed brilliantly. You surpassed even my high expectations. You accepted and befriended others no matter how troubling their appearance was to you. You were able to see beyond their appearances and judge them by what was on the inside. Your teamwork was extraordinary, and the Grand Council got to see all that I hoped we could learn from you. You stuck by each other no matter what. You made sacrifices for each other. And the bleaker things got, the more you supported each other. You demonstrated generosity. Compassion. Self-sacrifice. Bravery. Determination. Loyalty. Resourcefulness. Adaptability . . .” Wyland paused. “I could go on, but I think you get the point.”
“Thanks,” said both kids at once, delighted by the compliments but still wary of the situation they found themselves in. There were still a lot of unanswered questions.
“And then, unbelievably,” continued Wyland, “you managed to figure out you were being tested. Truly remarkable!” he gushed.
Hirth snorted, the first time he had been anything but a statue for some time. “If you hadn’t made sure they knew there was an answer to find before they left,” he snapped, “they would never have guessed they were being tested.”
“I’m having trouble remembering,” said Wyland. “Can you help me? Which of us was the idiot who used the word flunk?”
A look of pure hatred came over Hirth’s face.
“So was none of what happened real, then?” asked Zachary.
“Oh no,” replied Wyland. “It was all very, very real. We had teams of magicians from Orum working invisibly in the background to ensure you got into the proper . . . trouble. Lesser magicians than those on the Grand Council, but still quite powerful. But you really did help Lisgar get home to her family. She would not have done so without you. And you helped Nivek get back to his world as well. And you saved Tular’s life. And so on.”
Zachary tilted his head in thought. “And you made sure that all of the worlds we visited had fairly primitive societies—without magic.”
Wyland beamed. “Exactly,” he said. He turned to Hirth. “Even you have to see how well they’re able to use reason to work things out. The problem solving abilities of our people are growing weaker with every generation, but the minds of these humans are working out puzzles all the time, not just when they’re solving riddles on Mesrobia.”
Wyland turned back to Zachary. “Most societies are able to perform magic to some degree, even when they’re primitive. But there are a very rare few that don’t develop this ability until their societies mature. We made sure to limit your travels to these worlds.” He paused. “But there is only one world we know of that has an advanced society, but a total inability to perform even the smallest feat of magic.”
“Earth?” said Jenna.
“I’m afraid so,” replied Wyland.
“So speaking of Earth,” said Jenna. “Of all the people on our planet, why did you choose us for this test?”
“I’m a master in all areas of magic,” said Wyland proudly. “But I’m a grandmaster, the best on Orum, in magical intuition.”
“Isn’t intuition when you kind of know something,” said Jenna, “but you aren’t sure how you know it?”
“Exactly. I often don’t have this power, especially when it comes to my own future, but when I do, I’m never wrong. As part of this talent, I can sense the potential in people better than anyone else. Qualities both hidden and obvious. If you ask me to find the greatest singer in the world, I can do so. They may never have had a singing lesson in their lives, but
I can tell without hearing them once that they can go on to perform brilliantly. Of all the children on Earth, my magic told me that you two had the best chance of passing this test. I don’t know why this is—I just know that it is.” He raised his eyebrows. “This didn’t mean that you would pass, by the way, just that you would have the best chance of anyone. The odds were still very much against you.”
Jenna couldn’t help but feel outraged. “I appreciate that you didn’t want Earth to be, um . . . isolated,” she said angrily. “But the odds are that we would be killed! Didn’t that matter to you? You were willing to see two innocent kids be killed just to prove a point to your Grand Council?”
“It sounds bad, I know,” admitted Wyland. “But this was the only proposal the Grand Council would accept. And the alternative was shutting down the portals.” He raised his eyebrows. “And since the Grand Council estimated this would cost over twenty million human lives, I thought risking yours was worth it.”
Both kids stared at Wyland in horror. Twenty million lives?
“What are you talking about?” demanded Zachary. “Why would shutting down the portals hurt anyone?”
“We’ve learned that your portals have been emerging for many of your generations. Along a very long jagged line that goes on for about eight hundred miles, in a place you call California. As the portals get closer to emergence, they have been known to cause what you call earthquakes.”
Zachary suddenly had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. “This jagged line. Is this what we call the San Andreas Fault?” he asked.
“I don’t know what you call it. But I’m sure it isn’t a geologic feature you could possibly fail to notice. You just didn’t know this line was due to the birthing pains of thousands of portals.”
“So what happens when you shut the portals down?” whispered Jenna, bracing herself for an answer she knew she wouldn’t like.
Out of This World Page 17