WHEELS

by Lorijo Metz

  Now it begins…

  Beneath the very molecules that formed the air, beyond the range of human hearing, a deep, low, vibration emanated from the main disrupter node. Silently, it spread like fog creeping along the ground, thickly, covertly covering everything and everyone in its path, with the exception of a few inches around B.R. Provost, until it reached the smaller disrupter nodes located around the outer limits of Avondale.

  Outside Principal Provost’s bubble of present time and within the boundaries of Avondale, everything stopped. Miss Chantos had just made up her mind to go talk to Nurse Prickel about Principal Provost—now she stood, motionless, half turned toward the nurse’s office, lips pursed in determination. Nurse Prickel had finally found time to have that sip of lemon tea, but at the exact moment the teacup met her lips, the currents washed over her, leaving the tea hot—yet tantalizingly out of reach.

  The exposure happened so quickly no one had time to notice the person next to him or her freeze into place. No one noticed a thing. When the field withdrew, approximately three hundred and sixty five days from now, all of Avondale and anyone who passed within its boundaries, would be surprised to find themselves one year behind the rest of the world, thoroughly confused, but none the wiser.

  Provost withdrew his hand; the air shimmered and moved around him. Once again, time was the enemy. Three hundred and sixty five days, give or take an Earth day. He must find his old mentor, Petré T. Revolvos. Together, they would find way home.

  Chapter 10

  FBI TRANSCRIPT 21204

  Agent Wink Krumm and H.G. Wells

  Thursday, April 16th

  KRUMM: The math does not add up.

  WELLS: Twenty-first day of September, Eighteen hundred and sixty—

  KRUMM: Dear God!

  WELLS: Amazing, isn’t it. I look younger than you. However, having spent over a hundred of those years on Circanthos—

  KRUMM: Provost’s planet?

  WELLS: The same. B.R. Provost himself is close to two hundred years old. Circanthians abide well into their three fifties.

  KRUMM: Professor Wells, would you be…agreeable to some tests?

  WELLS: I have nothing to hide.

  KRUMM: Excellent. Now…tell me about those two species, the Circanthians and the…?

  WELLS: Tsendi.

  KRUMM: Am I correct in assuming you’re referring to two distinct species?

  WELLS: Distinctly distinct. Make no mistake; however, the Tsendi are the more human of the two.

  KRUMM: Tell me more.

  ***

  AWAKENINGS

  Monday, March 16th

  Planet of Circanthos

  Hayes’ arms and legs were frozen while his head moved up and down, all around like a bobble-head doll.

  “Yip, yip, yip!”

  “Hayes. Snap out of it. It’s just a puppy.”

  Strands of lights had begun popping on along the cave walls, wiggling and jiggling and—strangely alive. They had just covered bioluminescent cave creatures in Mrs. Slade’s class, so the alive part didn’t concern McKenzie. Well…not much anyway.

  “Yip, yip, yip!”

  Something moved; a large squatting or sitting lump to the right of the pool.

  “HARRUMPH,” said the Lump.

  McKenzie backed up so fast she bumped into Hayes. “IT’S ALIVE!”

  “OW!”

  The Lump moved again, this time giving two more “harrumphs.”

  “I don’t think we’re dead yet.”

  McKenzie looked over her shoulder. “Welcome back.”

  “You did this,” Hayes murmured, his eyes wide, staring at McKenzie as if she were the talking lump. “You did something, and you’ve done it before! You change things, but…” He looked away. “You don’t like to. It scares you.”

  Hayes had been reading her mind in the particle stream. He’d been reading her mind and—what if he knew everything. “How dare you!” she cried, whipping around. “You pretend you’re sick so you can go see Nurse Prickel. You wish she was your mother.”

  Even in the dim light, McKenzie could see Hayes’ face turn bright red. Snaps. I’m such an idiot! “I’m so sorry,” she began, but her apology was cut short by a growl and a bark. Then whatever or whoever was in the corner made another loud, “HARRUMPH!”

  McKenzie and Hayes forgot about their argument and turned. The creature was stretching its human-like arms. Then, whatever it was sitting on began to rise.

  “Welcome,” said the Lump rolling towards them.

  “Oh my,” whispered McKenzie, her eyes glued to the creature’s sphere-like appendage.

  “My now, I hadn’t realized there would be two of you. But, of course, two is better than one.” Coils of kinky gray hair sprang from the creature’s head in all directions, but her smile (for the voice was distinctly feminine) was broad and inviting. Layered with wrinkles, she looked something like a Cheshire cat with curls. She paused to pluck the bowling ball puppy off the long, shirt-like garment she was wearing. “You arrived with Bewfordios. Yes?”

  Hayes grabbed McKenzie’s hand.

  The creature stopped rolling. Then once more she began to rise, her sphere becoming more oval than round. Higher and higher she rose, until she towered at least a foot above them. Turning this way and that, she seemed to be searching for someone. When she dropped back down her smile was not so broad, but McKenzie could now see two, surprisingly bright, sparkling blue eyes. “Appears he’s gone out and left you alone, then.”

  Placing one hand on the rim of McKenzie’s chair, the other on McKenzie’s knee, the creature closed her eyes and began to breathe deeply.

  “It has a British accent,” whispered Hayes.

  McKenzie wiggled her fingers free of Hayes’ grasp. She’d noticed the accent. She’d also noticed the creature’s breath, as well. It smelled like coconuts. If this wasn’t the strangest dream, then it was the strangest reality she’d ever been in.

  Finally, the creature leaned back and withdrew her hand. She began tapping her chest. “Pietas. Pi-e-tas. My name is Pietas.”

  Apparently, she was telling them her name. McKenzie felt like pinching herself; instead, she began tapping her own chest. “McKenzie. Ma-Ken-zie Wu. And this is Hayes—I mean, Rudy Hayes. We come from the town of Avondale. From Earth.” And just to be safe she added, “We come in peace.”

  “Peace? PEACE!” Hayes roared with laughter. McKenzie leaned over and jabbed him with her elbow.

  “OUCH!”

  Pietas began to laugh, a huge hearty laugh that shook her all the way from the top of her human-like head to the bottom of her most nonhuman-like sphere. “Well, well, so you are indeed from Earth. You,” she pointed to McKenzie, “must be the One. Wells never mentioned anyone like you, very devious of him. Tell me,” she continued, “where is Bewfordios Provost?”

  “Provost? Provost! I KNOW!” Hayes went from catatonic to cataclysmic and began jumping up and down. “I KNOW! I know what’s happening!”

  Pietas backed up, bumped into the puppy and sent him tumbling into the water. The puppy yipped angrily, shook himself off and rolled out of sight.

  “This is a dream,” said Hayes, “Remember when I hit my head on Principal Provost’s chair? I passed out, see. And now I’m dreaming. I’m not real,” Hayes pinched himself, “and neither are you!” Then pinched McKenzie.

  “OW! Rudy Hayes, I’m gonna—”

  “Perhaps I ought to begin again,” said Pietas. “Did you travel here alone, or did someone who looked like me,” she pointed to her sphere, “accompany you?”

  McKenzie rubbed her arm. She had an uneasy feeling she was forgetting something. “We came alone.”

  Pietas’ brow wrinkled. “Dear me!”

  “I touched a box. We were in Principal Provost’s office. The box is why we’re here.”

  “Aaaahhhh,” said Pietas, lingering over the vowel, “Then it would appear Bewfordios will have to find another way home.”

  “Who…is Bewfordios?” Tho
ugh McKenzie feared, she already knew.

  “Bewfordios Provost? Why,” Pietas smiled, “he is a very good friend of mine.”

  “Principal Provost lives in a cave?” said Hayes.

  “Don’t be ridiculous. He resides in the Gathering.” McKenzie and Hayes must have looked confused, for after a short pause Pietas added, “Here. On this planet. Circanthos.”

  McKenzie felt as if she’d fallen into a bad sci-fi movie. My Principal is an Alien! She had the urge to ask Hayes to pinch her again. Yet, something didn’t add up. “How do you speak our language?”

  “Indeed, I do speak Earthian. After the Wellsman arrived, we found it useful to speak a common tongue with the Tsendi.”

  McKenzie nodded her head wondering how Principal Provost, or the Wellsman, or whatever Pietas called him could arrive, leave and yet live here.

  “If I heard you correctly,” said Pietas, looking pointedly at McKenzie. “You activated the pinicolis.”

  “The box,” murmured McKenzie. Had she activated it? Not really. Not intentionally. “I don’t think so—”

  “She did,” said Hayes. “McKenzie can change things.”

  “And you should go back to not talking,” she snapped.

  “Well then,” said Pietas, sounding very pleased, “As the Corona-Soter, the savior of our people, you are a being more complicated and powerful than even H.G. Wells could devise. It is no wonder he did not mention you.”

  McKenzie waited, expecting Hayes to laugh or say something sarcastic, but not even a smirk crossed his face. Worse, he was staring at her as if she were…special. Alien special, that is.

  “If Bewfordios did not return with you,” continued Pietas, “there must be a very good reason. Welcome McKenzie and…?”

  “Hayes. Just Hayes,” said Hayes, giving Pietas one of his winning smiles.

  “Just Hayes.” Pietas bowed in his direction and, before he could correct her, turned to McKenzie and began flailing her arms in a ritualistic gesture ending in a bow; all this, while reciting something in a language that sounded familiar but, ultimately, like everything else here, different.

  Hayes placed his hand on McKenzie’s arm. “You okay?”

  McKenzie shook her head. No. If she was ‘special’, if she could change things, make holes in car doors and arms disappear, then her nightmare—but, of course, it couldn’t be true. The incidents with the particles had only begun a few days ago. “I’m okay,” she said pulling her arm away. Dreams were like that, weren’t they? They played tricks, weaving events together that didn’t belong. Besides, her dad had told her what happened.

  “Did Bewfordios mention why you were chosen?” Pietas paused. Waited. McKenzie didn’t know what to say. “Did he tell you about Circanthos? H.G. Wells? The Tsendi? Anything?”

  Hayes cleared his throat.

  McKenzie shook her head. “Hayes and I were in Principal Provost’s office because we’d…” But Pietas probably wouldn’t understand. “It was a mistake. That’s all. I wasn’t supposed to touch the box.”

  “Mac’s only half right,” said Hayes. “I’m the mistake, not her.”

  “Nonsense.” Pietas spun around as if making a quick inspection of the cave. “The universe does not make mistakes. Everything happens for a reason. Now then, this dusty old cave could use some light, wouldn’t you agree.” Torches along the walls lit up all red, yellow and blue. Fire-like flames crackled, the cave sparkled; it shimmered. Pietas had simply closed her eyes, taken a few deep breaths and—

  “Moved particles,” murmured McKenzie.

  Pietas rolled over to the right of the pool where the slightly soggy bowling ball puppy was snoozing contentedly beneath a pale-blue pedestal. “I believe the job of explaining your destiny has been left up to me,” she said solemnly.

  Closing her eyes, Pietas leaned forward and placed her left hand against the wall. Seconds later, a rectangular opening appeared. Pietas opened her eyes, reached inside and, with a grunt and a great deal of effort, withdrew a large book. As soon as she placed it on the pedestal, the book radiated with life, catching and holding light then casting it out again. Colors bounced from book to wall, through torches and back again.

  “It’s like a rainbow,” said Hayes.

  The Aurora Borealis, thought McKenzie.

  “Our greatest treasure and mystery,” said Pietas, “the Circolar. Within its pages lie predictions of our doom,” Pietas looked in McKenzie’s eyes, “and hope for our future. The reason you both are here. You see, McKenzie, your presence is not a mistake. Loonocks ago, the beings who created the Circolar predicted your arrival. ‘Out of the land of the two legged comes the Corona-Soter.’ The Wheeled Warrior.”

  If McKenzie had had any idea where a hole on this planet would lead, she would have wished for one. “But how—”

  “The journey’s begun, the goal is clear, how we get there and whom we choose to help us along the way is up to us,” Pietas continued. “The Circolar reveals only the coming of the Corona-Soter. I cannot tell you how you will help our people, for it is not written. It is not even clear that you will succeed. Only one thing is clear, you are our only hope.”

  McKenzie looked at Hayes. “Pinch me—NOW!”

  Instead, he squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

  McKenzie slapped his hand and peeled his fingers off her shoulder. “Look at me! I’m not a powerful weapon. I can’t even control the power I have. I mean—Snaps! What am I saying? Principal Provost didn’t send me. If it were up to him, I would be in his office writing a million-word essay on why I should not touch other people’s belongings. I’m trouble, Pietas. T-R-O-U…

  “B-L-E,” finished Hayes. “She is that.”

  “Thanks!”

  Pietas returned the book to the wall. She waited until the opening disappeared, then turned. “All Circanthians can particle-weave. I assume that is the power to which you’re referring. Perhaps there is a different power you possess. Something that makes you…unique.”

  McKenzie didn’t know what to say. A different power? One was enough! What’s more, if all Circanthians could…what had Pietas called it? Particle-weave? A perfect description. If they could particle-weave—and much better than her—then how was she supposed to save them?

  Pietas stretched her arms and yawned. “Dear me,” she declared, “I have been asleep for four loonocks and am feeling ravenously hungry.” Then suddenly she rolled over to the wall at the end of the cave, glanced back, “Come along,” and disappeared.

  Chapter 11

  FBI TRANSCRIPT 21202

  Agent Wink Krumm and Rudy B. Hayes

  Tuesday, April 21st

  KRUMM: Do you know why you’re here?

  HAYES: That toilet exploding was not my fault. Josh—

  KRUMM: It’s not school related.

  HAYES: Mr. Moore’s tool shed?

  KRUMM: Not…Earth related. Look…you know what I’m talking about. We’ve seen the alien dog.

  HAYES: You have?

  KRUMM: Ah ha!

  HAYES: No, no. I mean, ha ha, that’s funny. You’re funny, Agent Krumm, ‘cuz you’re obviously talking about my new poodle. Right?

  KRUMM: You seem nervous.

  HAYES: Me? Nervous. Well, maybe a little. My aunt’s been kinda p, p—punchy lately…with the new poodle and all.

  KRUMM: Not surprising.

  HAYES: Can I go now?

  KRUMM: First, tell me about the new poodle, or should I say…poonchi?

  HAYES: Poonchi! Is that a new breed?

  KRUMM: You tell me. In fact, why not save us both the time and tell me the truth. The truth, Mr. Hayes, and then you can leave. Veritas vos liberabit! The truth will set you free!

  ***

  LOONOCKS & EPOKS & LOONS, OH MY!

  Monday, March 16th

  Circanthos

  “Mac, hurry up! You gotta see the blue trees.”

  Though the torches had gone out, the cave glowed dimly under the light of the bioluminescent creatures that lived within
its walls. McKenzie leaned forward and touched the spot where Pietas had removed the book. The wall blurred before her tear-filled eyes. She could almost imagine the particles moving aside to reveal the book. So too…

  The broken window, opening…

  but not open.

  Her mother’s arm, there…

  then no longer there.

  Her screams…

  “Come along dears,” called Pietas. “Cera san is quite useless this deep in the forest. We haven’t time to poke about.”

  McKenzie pushed herself away from the wall, her heart pounding wildly against her chest. A tear rolled down her cheek. Who am I? She wiped her face and turned towards the wall that Pietas and Hayes had so recently walked through. What am I? The opening was still there. Pietas acted as if particle-weaving was second nature, like breathing or walking. Surely, she would be able to help McKenzie find out the truth.

  Hayes appeared. He held out his hand. “Come on. Even if you are only part of my dream, you gotta see the blue trees.”

  McKenzie smiled. “Sure.” Then a thought occurred. If this wasn’t a dream, she would need far more than the truth—she would need Pietas’ help to find their way home.

  ********

  Hayes hadn’t exaggerated. The trunks of the tree were the same blue as the box in Principal Provost’s office. Not only that, but they were at least two elephant-widths wide, and row upon row as far as the eye could see. “Wow…” murmured McKenzie. The cave had looked like a cave, but this… She ran her fingers across several layers of coarse, pale-blue bark. They really weren’t in Avondale.

  Running from tree to tree like wall-to-wall carpet was something that looked like plush, mustard colored moss. Aside from that, there appeared to be no other vegetation. No flowers or weeds, no limbs of any kind until fifty, maybe sixty feet in the air, at which point the canopy was thick with growth, bursting with life. Hints of greens and yellows, aqua blues and lots of shimmering dark red leaves pushed their way through; so dense, there was no sky blue or direct sunlight in sight. Nothing growing farther than a few inches below the bottom-most leaves. And yet, there was light.