by E. R. Mason
Cassiopia glared at Markman and turned to the robot, “T-E-L, say power-up procedure for the SCIP transformer.” Without waiting for a reply, she went to one of the control stations at the Drack computer and listened as the requested instructions were dispensed.
“Activate power panels TP, DP. Run Drack program IT-A. Enter transformer-engage routine TE10.”
Mounted on the wall near the Drack, she spied a group of circuit breaker boxes. She went to them, found the one that was labeled TP and pushed up the large gray lever on the side of the panel. A subtle hum rose from beneath the ramp the electronic doorway sat on and lights began to race around its frame. Blacklight tunneled up and around the edges of the door where the chalky, white, porous material was joined.
Next to the panel marked TP was another larger gray panel with DP scrawled on it in black Magic Marker. It took all of her strength, but with angry determination she forced the lever up. It clamped in place and the Drack columns burst to life, lighting up in eerie violet-fluorescence from within. Monitor screens placed at intervals around the grand computer glowed with scrolling start-up data. The hum from the Drack phased in and out with noise from the monolith. Colors from nearby panel lights reflected off the robot’s mirror-like finish.
“Ms. Cassell!”
“Please shut up, Mr. Markman.”
“Ma’am, if you’re not sure exactly what you’re doing, how can we be sure it’s safe?”
She stopped, looked, and shook her head, “But Mr. Markman, you just said yourself, nothing at all is going to happen. Didn’t you?” She turned back to the keyboard control panel, looked mockingly over her shoulder once more at him, and stared down at the monitor screens. The phosphor light illuminated the soft contours on her tired face. Without looking up, she called, “T-E-L, come here.”
Markman stood his ground this time, as the robot motored smoothly forward on its tractor drives. As it passed, he felt like a man trying to conjure up any good reason to excuse himself and leave.
With the robot standing beside her, Cassiopia entered several commands into the Drack’s keyboard. She cursed under her breath. “T-E-L, enter and execute SCIP program initiation.”
The robot quickly rocked itself into position. Its touch sensitive fingers found the Drack keyboard and entered the proper series of commands with machine speed.
“T-E-L, on my command, enter and initiate transformer engage sequence.” With an air of expectation, she came back to stand beside Markman. Her animosity was gone. She looked at him with complete resolve. “Let’s back up a few steps. Are you ready?”
“No. For what—exactly?”
“For your nothing, Mr. Markman. Your nothing at all. T-E-L, execute!”
The robot’s complex fingers whirred and clicked at the keys. A drone of power began to swell and oscillate throughout the room. Rapidly it grew louder and more ominous. Suddenly a loud reverberating crack made Markman jump. His body tensed. He glanced over his shoulder as though looking for potential cover, while Cassiopia, appearing fragile and vulnerable, stood entranced, gazing obsessively at her father’s arcane creation. Popping and burning sounds rang out and grew louder and louder. Streaks of blinding lighting flashed across the slab’s surface in rapid fire, until it became so bright it was difficult to watch. The air became heavy with a static charge as the strobing radiance from the monolith cast distorted shadows on the walls and ceiling. Jagged bolts of high voltage energy arced across the white surface of the monolith with such intensity that Markman grabbed Cassiopia by the arm and pulled her back still further. The frightening roar of confusion rose to an ominous crest and gave way to a second pounding clap of thunder. Suddenly stillness and quiet returned, leaving only a charred smell in the still air.
Markman released his hold on Cassiopia. He forced himself to relax and breath. He wiped away the tiny beads of sweat from beneath his nose and watched as she pushed away from him and approached the monolith in silent awe. Together they stared in shock at the altered form of the slab. Something was very different. The white door had disappeared and in its place stood a shimmering, suspended mirror. It was the purest mirror either of them had ever seen. It looked more like a wall of mercury than glass, almost liquid. The reflections in it were strikingly lifelike and textured, as though looking into another room.
They stood captive and silent in a common state of awe. Neither could speak. Both remained motionless, gawking at the flowing, synthetic mirror, unable to grasp exactly where reality stopped, and reflection began.
Cassiopia finally recovered. She walked slowly up the ramp and leaned forward for a closer inspection. The smooth surface seemed to ripple as she approached. Her image had depth and dimension unlike any she had ever seen, and the portion of the lab that back-dropped it seemed completely real. It looked like a place that could be entered.
She reached forward to test the undefined surface, her duplicate imitating each movement perfectly. Caution suddenly overcame curiosity and she hesitated. She looked around and then back at Markman, who remained dumbstruck.
“Bring me something from that desk over there; anything will do.”
He shook himself awake and went to the small desk near the robot’s base station. A silver letter opener was in the center drawer. He came to the side of the ramp, hesitated, then handed it up to her. She took the long narrow blade in her right hand and raised it to the smooth, glassy surface. The point of the letter opener touched the tip of its own reflection and stopped. But the touch had been light. She pressed harder and watched in astonishment as the blade disappeared into the liquid surface. There had been little resistance. Wide-eyed she continued pushing until only a small portion of the handle remained visible. Markman looked on in disbelief. From his position he could see both sides of the mirror and no part of the letter opener had emerged out the back. Cassiopia withdrew the instrument and studied it. It seemed unaffected. She turned and faced him with a narrowed stare.
Markman could find no appropriate words. He gestured nervously with one hand and tried to appear skeptical. He struggled to think of an explanation for what he had just seen, but could only shake his head in frustration.
“Bring me something larger.”
Hoping a second test would reconstruct reality, he quickly fetched an aluminum stool near the Drack and handed it to her. With the same quiet determination, she promptly pushed the legs through the mirrored wall and drew them back out again. They too appeared unscathed.
Rubbing her left temple, she looked over at Markman. “I think my father went through this door and didn’t come back. What do you think?”
Markman shook his head and looked up at her with a wrinkled brow. “I don’t understand any of this, Ms. Cassell. I’ve seen some pretty unbelievable things in my time, but nothing like this. I guess I’m sorry I suggested you were part of a hoax. I was raised to believe anything that anything is possible, but I’m afraid this has caught me off guard. The only thing we can do now is make a request to the university to bring in some experts on this. I’m open to suggestions if you have any.”
“There are no experts on this,” she replied stiffly. “Can’t you see this is ground-breaking science? No one understands this, except maybe my father.”
“Well we can’t go any further until we figure out what is happening here. I’ve got to call my contact. I’m overdue.”
“Grant me one small favor then?”
“What’s that?”
“Allow me some time to review my father’s files before you bring the whole world swarming onto this house. If I can have some time to study them in peace, it’s possible we could both learn more about what’s happening here. Once you turn this over to the authorities, they’ll probably lock us both out and neither you nor I will have any more to say about it. I love my father very much. It would kill me to be shut out from finding him.”
He looked into her persuasive brown eyes. How could he explain what had happened anyway?
“How long do you want?”
&nbs
p; “Just give me tonight.”
“I’ll hold them off, but only for tonight.”
For the first time she looked back appreciatively. “Thank you for that.”
“It’s possible we didn’t really understand what the robot said. Your father may still show up.”
“Yes,” she replied, but she looked at the glistening body of the TEL and realized it had been left there for a reason. It had been waiting.
Chapter 6