Out of This World (16 page)

“I have news,” the Chief Justice announced to them after everyone had left. “It seems my answer to your question, Jenna, was incorrect. One of my men approached me after the contest to tell me that he had seen an adult man and woman of your species on Mesrobia. Just a few weeks ago.”

“Fantastic!” said Jenna.
These had to have been their parents
. “Are they still on Mesrobia?” she asked eagerly.

“No. In fact, the reason no one bothered to report this to me is that they were here for only a minute or two. There is a group of four portals, right next to each other, a short walk from here. Apparently, the humans were seen from a distance arriving through one of the portals, and then immediately leaving through another.”

“Does the man who told you this know which one they left through?” asked Zachary.

“I’m afraid not. It happened too quickly. But it was definitely one of those four.”

“Can you take us there?” said Jenna.

“I’d be glad to,” replied the Chief Justice. “Follow me.”

While they walked, the two humans told the Chief Justice about the arrival of the first portal in their kitchen that had swallowed up their parents, and how they had come to be on Mesrobia. “You seem to know everything about the portals,” said Zachary. “Now that we’re citizens, can you tell us their secret? And how we can get back home once we find our parents?”

The Chief Justice frowned and stopped walking. “Well . . . about knowing everything about the portals,” he began, looking guilty. “We act like we do. We tell the visitors we invite here that we do. But the truth is that we really don't know that much. Mesrobia is connected by portals to so many other worlds that we need to protect ourselves. If these other worlds all think we have knowledge of the portals they don’t have, and can use this knowledge to our advantage, they’ll think twice before trying to attack us.”

Zachary’s heart fell. He could understand why the Mesrobians pretended to know more than they did, but he had been so hopeful they would finally be getting some answers. “But I thought you said if we passed the test you could return us to our world.”

“I can return you to the world you came here from. But that’s all. I just assumed you came here from your own world.”

“Is there anything you can tell us about the portals?” asked Jenna.

“Not a lot. We know that they’re all the same size. We know some are stable, while many appear and reappear at regular intervals. And that most of them are one way. Notice that after you arrive on a new world, the portal isn’t usually still open behind you for the return trip. The portal that Lisgar will take back to her world is not in the same location as the one that brought her here.”

“What causes the portals to exist in the first place?” asked Zachary. “Magic?”

The Chief Justice laughed. “I guess that’s as good an explanation as any. I have no idea. What causes the sun to exist? Maybe that’s magic too.”

“Is there any way to control them?” said Zachary. “To spring them open where you want?”

“Not as far as I know. If you’re suggesting someone controlled a portal so it would appear under your parents, on purpose, I highly doubt it.”

Zachary frowned. As time went on it seemed they were getting further away from solving this puzzle rather than closer.

They finally arrived at their destination, a small, pyramid-shaped building. There was nothing inside except the four active portals the Chief Justice had described. The kids examined each of the four. They looked through the first and were greeted by a blizzard raging across a barren arctic landscape. It looked colder and less inviting even than the North Pole. They were unable to see through the next two portals at all, which the Chief Justice said was sometimes the case. The final portal was a window on an arid desert without any signs of life as far as they could see.

“Which one will you take?” asked an interested Chief Justice.

Zachary raised his eyebrows. “Well, the ones we can see through give us a choice of freezing to death or getting baked to death,” he said. “My parents would have taken one of the middle two, that's for sure.”

Jenna nodded her agreement.

Zachary turned to her. “Your choice, Jen,” he said. “You’ve earned it.”

This was a small gesture, but the respect behind it was huge. Pride swelled up inside of her. There was no difference between the second and third portals, but ever since she could remember she had a fondness for the number three. Perhaps it would be lucky. She pointed at the third portal. “Let's try this one,” she said.

It promptly disappeared, almost as if on cue.

The Chief Justice frowned at the portal’s bad timing. “It will return in about ten minutes,” he said reassuringly. “Unfortunately, I have to leave now. Just wait here until it returns.” He met Zachary’s gaze. “But before I go, I want you to know that I will honor your request and find a way to change the trespassing law so that it works but doesn’t punish the innocent.” He paused. “And thanks. Thanks for providing the kick in the pants I needed to do what I should have done in the first place.”

He took two steps back from the humans. “I know that you have to try to find your parents without delay,” he said. “Which is very much a shame. We would have loved for you to stay here for a while. You two are very, very impressive. Naturally, as Mesrobian citizens, you will always be welcome here.” He looked at them warmly. “Good luck to you both.”

“Thank you,” said the two humans together as the Chief Justice exited the building, leaving them alone to await the return of the portal.

Their mood was the best it had been in a long time. Their parents had been seen alive fairly recently, and if they got lucky and chose the right portal, they might be right on their parents’ heels. Things could have been better, but they also could have been a lot worse.

“While we’re waiting,” said Jenna, “any new ideas as to what’s going on? Or what the worlds we’ve visited might have in common?”

Zachary paused in thought before finally shaking his head. “None. Each world has different types of civilizations. They all have different numbers of portals. And the natives all have different levels of knowledge about them.”

“Yeah. That about sums it up,” said Jenna dejectedly.

“There is one thing they all have in common, of course.”

Jenna regarded him quizzically.

“The air,” he said simply.

“The air?”

Zachary nodded. “You know, the atmosphere. Oxygen and nitrogen—like on Earth. I mean, there are planets in our solar system with poison atmospheres that would kill us in minutes. Some planets don’t have
any
atmosphere.”

Jenna gulped. “Thanks for reminding me. As if I don’t have enough to worry about when I go through a portal.”

“And then there’s gravity,” continued Zachary. “The gravity on all the worlds we’ve been on so far is almost exactly the same as Earth’s. Which is good. Because as cool as it would be to land on a planet as small as the Moon—where we could jump six times farther than we’re used to—if we landed on a planet like Jupiter, its gravity would instantly squash us into
paste
.” He looked ill as he imagined this fate. “And then there are planets that are thousands of degrees hot. Or have deadly radiation. Or are totally volcanic. Or are— ”

“Okay, okay,” snapped Jenna. “I get the point! There are all kinds of ways for us to die horribly the instant we step through a portal.
I get it
.”

Zachary scrunched up his face. “Sorry,” he said meekly. “I’ll stop now.”

He paused in thought. “You know,” he said, his voice now taking on a guarded enthusiasm, “I’ll bet the portals can only open between worlds that can support our type of life. I mean, so far that’s been the case.”

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“Well, yeah, but the more I think about it, the more sure I am that it’s true. I mean, it hasn’t just been true for us, but for Mom and Dad also.”

 Jenna brightened. “Good point. And they’ve been on a lot more worlds than we have.”

“Exactly.”

“And if there were portals that led to instant death, the Chief Justice would have mentioned it, right?”

“Right,” said Zachary. He frowned and added, “Although I wish I would have thought to ask him that.”

They stood in silence for several long seconds. “We’re not getting anywhere, are we?” said Zachary.

Jenna shook her head and then shrugged. “How do you solve a puzzle when all of the pieces are totally unrelated?”

 “Good question,” said Zachary miserably. “I only wish I had a good answer.”

As he finished speaking, the portal Jenna had chosen suddenly reappeared in front of them.

Jenna eyed it warily. “Should we go through?”

Zachary nodded, and then sighed deeply. “Maybe we’ll find some answers on the next world.”

Jenna took her brother’s hand and looked down at the shimmering portal. What would await them on the other side? Their parents? Some answers? Or maybe a planet full of poisonous air.

“On three,” said Zachary, still holding his sister's hand.

They closed their eyes as had become their custom. “One, two, three,” they said as they took a small jump forward into the center of the portal.

They felt an all too familiar sensation and then firm ground under their feet. The climate was slightly damp and on the chilly side, but reasonably pleasant.

They opened their eyes.

And saw nothing.
And saw nothing.

They gasped in horror.

They were completely blind.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Tentacles

They closed their eyes tightly and then reopened them.

There was no difference. It was totally, completely, black either way.

Jenna was still holding her brother's hand. She clutched at it for reassurance. She held her other hand up an inch from her eyes. She couldn't see it at all.

“Zack,” she whispered in panic, “where are we?”

“I don’t know,” Zachary whispered back, his voice distraught.

Even on the darkest, blackest night there was
some
light. Here they were on a strange world—undoubtedly a dangerous one—and they couldn’t see a thing. Without being able to see they were utterly helpless.

Their imaginations ran wild. Who could guess what vicious predator was even now licking its chops, drool running over its fangs, moments away from pouncing. And they had thought a giant wasp had been frightening. That was child’s
play compared to this. Nothing could generate the raw, primal fear of being in an unknown and likely dangerous place and not being able to see. Their hearts beat so hard against their chests they thought they might burst.

“Take hold of my waist,” croaked Zachary, fighting to control his panic. He heard a hollow echo as he spoke. “I'm gonna start moving.”

When he felt his sister's hands around his waist he put his arms out in front of him and began to shuffle forward, only inches at a time, having no way to tell if he was an inch away from slamming into a dangerous obstacle or falling over the edge of a cliff. Years before he had closed his eyes and tried to walk around his house, just to get an idea of what it was like to be blind. Even pretending he had only been able to do so for a few minutes before it had freaked him out so much that he just had to open his eyes.

His hand hit something hard. He jerked it back.

He let out a sigh of relief. It was only a rock wall of some kind, smooth and cool to the touch. He put both hands out and moved them up, down, and sideways along the wall. “I think we're in a cave,” he said finally. “Do you hear the hollow echo?”

Jenna nodded, not remembering that he couldn't see her. “I think you’re right. No wonder it’s so dark.”

“We have to find a way out of here,” said Zachary. He continued walking cautiously, sliding his left hand forward along the wall as a guide. “We won’t survive for long if we don’t.”

Jenna held his waist and followed as he focused all of his concentration on moving forward. With her other hand she reached into her pocket and removed the small generator Zachary had given her and held it. For some reason, its presence in her hand was reassuring—at least a little. And in her state of almost total terror, she needed all the reassurance she could get.

Visions of fanged alien bats, or worse, flying toward their necks or sneaking up on them continued to torture their imaginations. Only their sense of hearing could now alert them to any threats, but strain as they might they could only hear the sound of their own shuffling and the thunderous pounding of their hearts.

Slide—stop. Slide—
stop. Slide—stop. Their progress was painfully slow.

They had been moving in this way for about twenty minutes—which seemed like twenty hours—when they detected a glow, ever so faint, in the distance. After another few minutes of slow progress they made their way to its source. It gradually came into focus.

It was a tree. A miniature tree not more than five feet tall. It had a full complement of tiny white branches with delicate, perfectly formed transparent leaves, outlined in silver along their edges. The leaves were shaped like butterfly wings and were the size of one of Jenna's fingernails. Somehow, each of the leaves glowed from within, ever so slightly, providing just the barest hint of illumination. The glow was so faint that even against total darkness the entire tree full of the leaves, spread out as they were, only provided illumination enough for them to see a few feet in front of them. But after total darkness even the faintest light was a relief.

Jenna reached out and touched a branch gently. The tiny, faintly glowing leaves shimmered as she did so. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered admiringly.

Zachary didn’t respond. Instead, he took a few steps away from the tree and peered ahead in the distance where he could just barely make out a number of discrete glows within a few yards of each other. “I think there are about ten more of these . . . Glow-trees . . . farther ahead,” he announced excitedly. If these trees grew throughout the cave, they might be able to find an exit after all. “Let's make our way over— ”