“I should have been with him from the start,” she said. Classic Courtney. “We’re going to make things right, don’t worry.”
Patrick told me, “If I find out anything more about Mark Dimond, I’ll send a note to your acolyte.”
Courtney wiggled her finger bearing her Traveler ring. “That would be me.”
There was an awkward moment. Nobody knew how to say good-bye. It was Patrick who put the situation into perspective.
“It’s started,” he said. “Whatever the Convergence is, it feels like Saint Dane is pulling the pieces together by orchestrating events here on Earth.”
“Pulling the pieces together?” Courtney asked. “Or ripping them apart?”
I added, “Saint Dane told me a long time ago that all he had to do was tip over one territory and the rest would fall like dominos. He said the first was Denduron. It wasn’t. With the territories being mixed and history changing, I’m beginning to feel as if those dominos are finally lining up.”
We exchanged dark looks. Courtney broke the tension by declaring, “This isn’t over.”
We said our good-byes and made our way to the flume. After making sure we weren’t being watched, we quickly slipped down onto the tracks and ran for the star that marked the gate. Our timing was just right, for when we reached it, the light of an oncoming monorail train appeared in the distance. I pushed on the star and the door instantly opened. Courtney and I ducked inside and closed the door with plenty of time to spare before the train sped by. We stood together and gazed into the mouth of the flume.
“Should we put our Second Earth clothes back on?” she asked.
“Nah, we’ll only have to change again on the other side.”
Courtney nodded. “Hey, the quig is gone,” she exclaimed.
Sure enough, the vicious dog she had blasted into dreamland was nowhere to be seen. I drew no conclusions, but was thankful we didn’t have to deal with that snarling monster.
Courtney pulled the silver weapon from her pocket. “I should leave this here. It doesn’t belong on First Earth.”
I looked at the silver cylinder. It didn’t belong on Second or Third Earth either. Not really. It was a weapon that was developed on Quillan.
“Bring it,” I said with finality. “I’m tired of playing by the rules.”
“You sure?” Courtney asked cautiously.
“No, but if First Earth is back in play, there might be quigs there. If you see one, nail it.”
Courtney nodded and slipped the cylinder back into her pocket. She reached out and took my hand. “I don’t know if we’re doing the right thing, but it’s the only thing.”
Together we stepped into the mouth of the flume.
“First Earth!” I shouted. The flume sprang to life. The giant rock tube began to writhe. Far in the distance a light appeared that quickly grew brighter as it came to carry us away. The dark walls melted into crystal, revealing the sparkling stars beyond them. The jumble of sweet musical notes grew louder. I felt the slight tug of energy pulling us into the void…and we were off.
We didn’t talk much on our journey back through time. I think we both made up our minds that we were going to stop guessing at what we might find, and wait until we actually found it. That didn’t stop me from thinking, though. And worrying about Mark. How did Saint Dane convince him to change the course of history? What had happened? The computer said he was last seen in November of 1937. What happened to him after that? Did he go to another territory? My only hope was that we would arrive with enough time to track him down and stop him from introducing his Forge technology to the world. No, that’s not true. That wasn’t my only hope. I also hoped we wouldn’t be faced with another turning point on First Earth.
I couldn’t bring myself to look out at the star field. I knew what was there. Beyond the crystal walls of the flume were images from all the territories, floating together in the giant celestial sea. With each trip through the flume, more random images were appearing. It was getting crowded. I didn’t know if the images were real, or spirits, or some kind of symbols, but their presence was all too clear. The walls between territories were breaking down. I was failing.
The journey lasted only a few minutes. The musical notes grew louder and more frantic. Soon we were on our feet, back in the rocky cavern room. It looked exactly like the same rocky cavern from Second and Third Earths because, well, it was. The difference lay beyond the wooden door.
I’m happy to say we weren’t pounced on by any snarling quigs.
“There!” I said, pointing to a pile of clothes stacked neatly near the mouth of the flume. I found the same clothes from my last trip to First Earth all neatly cleaned and folded. There was the starched white shirt, light gray pants with the darker gray jacket, and leather shoes. There were even those long-legged white grandpa boxers I learned to get used to.
“No way!” Courtney said, disgusted. “I’m not wearing this.” She picked up a pretty dress with a pattern of tiny blue flowers. She also held up a pair of big white underpants that looked like the waist would come up to her armpits. “And what the hell is this?” she added, holding up a white bra that looked like twin, white waffle cones with a wide white strap holding them together. “You gotta be kidding!”
“Keep your own underwear,” I said, laughing. “I don’t think we have to worry about anybody seeing your sports bra.”
“How do you know I wear a sports bra?” she said, squinting suspiciously.
“Just a guess,” I said quickly. “But you gotta wear the dress.”
I took my clothes to the other side of the cavern to get out of the embarrassing situation, and for modesty. Because I had grown a few inches and packed on several more pounds of muscle, I worried that the clothes wouldn’t fit me anymore. But they did. Strange. They seemed to be the same clothes that I had worn a few years earlier, but they weren’t the same size anymore. I figured I should stop stressing over the details and just go with it.
“I hate dresses,” Courtney complained from across the cavern.
Courtney may have hated dresses, but dresses didn’t hate Courtney. She looked awesome. Unlike the clothes on Third Earth, this dress was perfect. It was fitted on top, with a loose skirt that moved when she did. It came down to just below her knees. The blue flowers were bright, like spring. The sleeves were short, and she kept the top few buttons open. She even put on a pair of low, leather shoes that looked practical, if not very comfortable.
“People actually dressed like this?” she said with disgust. “It’s just…queer.”
“C’mon!” I cajoled. “You look really good. Like a girl and everything.”
“Give me a break,” she snarled. “How come you get to be comfortable and I have to look like some dorky schoolmarm?”
“I don’t think they use the word ‘dork’ in 1937,” I kidded.
“Well they should because that’s exactly what I look like!”
“I mean it, Courtney, you look good. But if you seriously hate it, we can find something else when we—” A creaking sound stopped me short. I knew that sound. The flume was coming back to life.
Courtney and I both snapped a look into the tunnel. Somebody was coming in. The two of us stepped closer to each other.
“Any guess?” Courtney asked.
“No idea.”
The light grew brighter, lighting up the rocky cavern.
“Maybe we should take off,” she suggested nervously.
“What if it’s a friend? Or Mark?” I asked.
“What if it isn’t?” Courtney countered.
Music filled the room. It wasn’t a tune, just the clear, sweet notes that always accompany the Travelers through the flume. Courtney slowly bent down to pick up her Third Earth pants. I thought she was going to put them back on, but she dug into the pocket to retrieve the silver Quillan weapon.
The light got so bright that we had to shield our eyes. Squinting through the light, I saw a dark shadow appear at the mouth of the flume. B
ecause the light was so bright, it was hard to make out who it was. The shadow took a step forward. The light didn’t diminish.
“This is bad,” Courtney said. “When the light doesn’t go away, it’s always been—”
“Gee, what a shock!” came a familiar, sarcastic voice. “Seeing you two here!”
“Oh man,” I gasped.
It was Andy Mitchell. It was Saint Dane.
The guy stood at the mouth of the flume, facing us with his hands on his hips. He snorted and spit, still playing the part of the creep from Second Earth.
“So sweet seeing you two together again,” Mitchell said. “And Chetwynde! In a dress! There’s something you don’t see every day.”
“Where’s Mark, Saint Dane?” I demanded.
“Living the life is my guess” Mitchell said. “He’s a big shot now, Pendragon. A real fantasy come true for a geek like that. Everybody thinks he’s a genius. But, oh man, such a thing he started. Such a thing!”
Mitchell laughed. It made my skin crawl. I wanted to strangle him. I took a step toward him. Mitchell took a step back and the light from the tunnel enveloped him. He didn’t leave, though. He transformed. I stopped as he stepped back out of the light in his familiar form. He wore the black suit I knew so well. His bald head was crossed with the red scars that looked like lightning bolts. He grew back to his full height of well over six feet. None of that struck me as much as his eyes. It was always about the eyes. They burned brighter than the light that danced around him, staring me down with their blue-white madness. When he spoke, it was no longer in the voice of Andy Mitchell. It was the low growl of the demon Saint Dane.
“Everything that has happened, all that you see has been planned from the beginning. What is it that your kind is so fond of saying? Ah, yes: ‘That is the way it was meant to be.’ Well, my friends, this is truly the way it was meant to be. The Convergence is nearly here.”
Courtney stepped up behind me and shouted, “Where is Mark?”
“Does it matter?” Saint Dane responded. “You can’t undo what he’s done. Though I will enjoy watching you try.”
He took a step back into the flume. I didn’t want to let him get away. We needed some kind of clue as to how to find Mark.
“Wait!” I shouted. “We have to talk. About the things you told me on Quillan.”
“I’m done reasoning with you, Pendragon.” He sneered. “It is time for the journey to end. The last piece of the puzzle awaits me, on Ibara.” He took another step back into the tunnel. The light grew around him.
“No! Wait!” I shouted.
“You might think about leaving now,” he added. “Before it’s too late.”
The light flashed and quickly grew smaller as it swept Saint Dane off. In seconds the event was over. The tunnel was dark and eerily silent.
“What did he mean by that?” Courtney asked.
“Who knows? He always talks in riddles.”
“That was no riddle,” Courtney countered. “He said we should get out of here before it’s too late. That sounded pretty clear to me.”
A sound came from deep within the tunnel. Not a flume sound. A real-world sound.
“Someone’s in the tunnel,” Courtney gasped.
She grabbed my arm. The footsteps grew louder. It sounded like more than one person.
“Hello?” I called out.
No answer. The footsteps were regular and rhythmic, like marching. The sound of hard leather on stone was unmistakable. Someone was marching out of the flume. More than one someone.
“This is wrong,” Courtney said, backing away toward the door. “Let’s get out of here.”
“No,” I said, holding my ground. “We have to know.”
The marching grew louder. Who was in there? Did someone from First Earth discover the flume and go spelunking? I often wondered what would happen if regular people entered the flume and walked deep inside. Did it go on endlessly? I began to make out human forms in the inky darkness. There were definitely people in there, but I couldn’t tell how many. Three? Six? They marched close together, moving relentlessly from deep inside the tunnel toward the mouth of the flume, and us.
“Bobby?” Courtney called nervously. “Not liking this.”
Neither did I, but we had to stay and see. The marchers were twenty yards from reaching the mouth of the flume. I finally saw that it was a group of men. Tall men, with square angular features. I knew those guys. I hated those guys.
“Dados!” I gasped. “From Quillan.”
We backed away from the mouth of the flume as the dados marched slowly, incessantly forward.
Toward us.
JOURNAL #28
FIRST EARTH
They were security dados from Quillan. No mistake. I knew them too well. They had that square Frankenstein look that made them seem human but…not. They each had a golden stun pistol in a holster belted at the waist. The odd thing was that they weren’t wearing the green security uniforms. Their clothes were raggy and torn, as if they had been through a war. I definitely got a Night of the Living Dead zombie vibe, which chilled me. Bottom line? These weren’t friends.
“Get outta here!” I shouted to Courtney.
She took a step toward the door and stopped when she realized I wasn’t following.
“C’mon!”
“I’ll catch up. Watch out for trains!”
“Bobby!” she pleaded. “I’m not leaving you.”
“One of us has to find Mark!” I shouted. “Go!”
Courtney hesitated. I knew she didn’t want to leave, but one of us had to be sure to get out of that tunnel or Mark would be lost. She knew that, so she ran for the door. She opened it quickly, glanced back at me, and was gone.
I didn’t know what these goons were after, but it couldn’t be good. Their presence alone on First Earth wasn’t good. I couldn’t let them get beyond this cavern. Problem was, there were lots of them and not-lots of me. I had one chance and I had to take it.
“Quillan!” I shouted.
The flume sprang to life. My idea was to send them back to where they came from. The dados stopped and looked back into the tunnel curiously. They looked like confused dogs who didn’t know what to make of a strange sound. Their curiosity cost them. Light blasted from the tunnel and enveloped them. I didn’t know how many of them were in the flume, but they got sucked back in and sent on their way home to Quillan. My idea worked. I let out a relieved breath….
A little too soon. One of them realized what was happening. Before the pull of the flume could grab him, he sprang forward, leaping out of the tunnel and into the cavern. I was ready. I braced myself, expecting him to jump me. He didn’t. Instead he ran right past me, headed for the door to the subway. Whatever their mission was, it wasn’t to mess with me. In that brief instant I had the sick feeling that they weren’t there because of Courtney and me—I feared they were coming to invade First Earth.
I had to attack. That wasn’t something I was used to doing or even knew how to do. Loor had taught me to defend myself, not be the aggressor. Most of her training was about letting the other guy make the mistakes. If I had done that, the dado would have left me alone standing there at the gate, crouched down, ready to defend myself. Looking stupid.
Bright light from the flume filled the cavern as I spun and tackled the robot from behind, wrapping my arms around his legs. He sprawled forward, hitting the rock wall next to the wooden door with his shoulder. Hard. The impact was strong enough to knock a chunk of rock out of the wall. The robot didn’t even grunt. Not good. Dados didn’t feel pain, which meant they had no fear. I didn’t know what to do, so I held his legs in a bear hug. His clothing crumbled in my grip, as if the fabric were rotten. Weird. But I didn’t let go. I could feel the strength of his robot legs. He was a machine. I wasn’t. My only hope was to somehow wrestle the dado back into the flume and send us both out of there. There was no way I could beat the mechanical thug in a fight without a weapon.
A weapon! I quic
kly reached up to grab his pistol from its holster. Bad idea. The dado’s leg was free. He kneed me in the head. I fell back, reeling. I saw stars, and not the kind you see through the flume. I had to shake it off fast or this thing would be loose on First Earth. I scrambled back to my feet to see I had given the dado an idea. He was reaching for his pistol. Oops. I looked around desperately. The light was already receding into the flume. I had missed the bus. Could I activate it again quickly? Nope. Not before this thing would take a shot at me. The only thing I could do was attack.
I leaped forward, launching myself parallel to the ground. I hit the robot as it fired and…Fum! The dado fell backward as the charge from its weapon smashed the wall, blasting out a spray of rocks. The dado landed on its back. I landed on the dado. For a brief instant I was eye to eye with the robot, staring into its mechanical, lifeless doll eyes. Yikes.
The moment didn’t last long. The robot threw me off like I was made of straw. I was running out of ideas, not that I had that many in the first place. I hit the ground and rolled toward the mouth of the flume.
“Quillan!” I shouted again. The flume sprang back to life. It was the only thing I could think of doing, though I had no idea how I was going to wrestle the dado into the tunnel. As the light from the flume began to fill the cavern, I stood with my back to the entrance. The dado stood with its back to the door of the cavern. It was a standoff. No, I take that back. The dado was in complete control. The only thing I could do was step back into the flume and get out of there. The dado raised its pistol, aiming at me. I instinctively took a step back, then stopped. I couldn’t leave. I had to let it shoot me. At least when I came to, I’d still be on First Earth and could figure out a way to chase it down. Leaving wasn’t an option. I braced myself, ready to get nailed.
The dado didn’t fire. It held the gun on me, keeping me back as it took a step toward the door. It didn’t care about me. I was nothing more than a nuisance. It wanted to get to First Earth. There was nothing I could do. The dado knew it. While keeping its doll eyes on me, it reached back for the door that was the gate to the flume. With one quick movement, it holstered its pistol, pulled the door open, and sprang out into the tunnel….