Mission Multiverse

by Rebecca Caprara

  61

  EARTH

  Zoey read the message in the car on the way to NASA, her eyes darting back and forth. She typed in a frantic reply.

  Tessa—whatever you do,

  do NOT go with Dr. Scopes.

  Do not trust her.

  There was no response.

  Answer me. Please!

  If you’re reading this, get away from her.

  Run. Hide. Go anywhere, just get away. NOW.

  A minute passed, and then another.

  Finally, the watch pinged with a reply.

  It’s too late, Zoey.

  We already did.

  62

  STATION LIMINUS

  As quietly as she could, Tessa showed the message to Isaiah. Her heart jackhammered her ribs.

  “What do we do now?” she whispered in the darkness. “We have to find the others and warn them.”

  The cart slowed. Dr. Scopes stopped and pulled a ringing device from her pocket.

  “Yes?” she said, speaking softly. “I found two of them. Where are the other three?” There was a long pause. “On floor seven? Cell nine-B? I’m on my way now. Yes. I know. Of course I’m in disguise. Do you think I’m some sort of neophyte? Yes, yes. Fine.” She hung up and continued pushing the cart.

  “Bingo,” Tessa whispered to Isaiah. “Floor seven, cell nine-B.”

  “How are we supposed to beat her there?” Isaiah whispered back.

  Their cart slowed to a stop. The kids huddled together, making sure their elbows and feet weren’t sticking out.

  A robotic voice addressed Dr. Scopes. “Halt! You have reached a mandatory checkpoint.”

  “Checkpoint?” she asked. “Is that normal protocol?”

  The robot beeped with irritation. “Following the Menagerie breach, additional checkpoints have been established to ensure the comfort and safety of Station passengers.”

  “I see …” said Dr. Scopes, clearly irritated.

  The robot beeped again. “Cite your destination and task.”

  “Upper wing. Diplomatic salon replenishing,” Dr. Scopes replied.

  The robot scanned the cart’s digicode. “Affirmative,” it answered.

  A second cart pulled up to the checkpoint and parked next to theirs.

  “I’m returning to the galley for more vellwaffers,” its driver told Dr. Scopes. “The Nharlites are insatiable today.”

  Dr. Scopes chuckled, playing along. “You should see how many pints of moonrye they can toss back after a grueling Transfer!”

  “Now is our chance,” Tessa said. She slid the curtain aside.

  “Are you crazy?” Isaiah hissed.

  “Probably, but I’d rather be crazy than dead.”

  As carefully as possible, they slipped from their cart into the refreshment cart parked beside them, pulling the curtains closed behind them. Dr. Scopes continued to chat with the catering staffer about voracious Vermaskians and gluttonous Quomions. From a thin gap in the curtains, they could see Dr. Scopes’s foot tapping anxiously on the floor. Finally, the conversation wrapped up and the two carts parted ways, heading in opposite directions.

  A few minutes later, the cart carrying Tessa and Isaiah rolled into a bustling galley. Pots and pans clanged, grills sizzled, and helium burners flared.

  “How do we get out of this thing without anyone noticing?” Tessa asked. The kitchen was a swirl of activity with alien-looking chefs, dishwashers, and waitstaff moving in a frenzied culinary choreography.

  Isaiah peeked out between the curtains, careful to remain hidden. Across the room, he spied a towering pile of shiny yellow fruits with purple spots. Isaiah eyed one at the very bottom of the stack. He squinted, focusing his energy on that single fruit. He channeled the sensation he had felt earlier, remembering the way he’d willed the tree in the colossadon’s habitat to fall.

  His vision started to blur; the space behind his eyes grew hot and bright. The fruit moved—just a slight wobble. He squinted harder, focused more intensely. The fruit wiggled again. He imagined reaching out and grabbing the shiny sphere, yanking it free from the pile.

  And then, just like that, the fruit dislodged, bouncing off the table and across the floor. A second later, the entire tower collapsed in a terrific yellow-and-purple avalanche. The kitchen dissolved into chaos as the cooks slipped and tripped over the rolling, runaway fruit.

  This was their moment! The two cadets made a mad dash for the exit.

  “That was lucky! But we have to get to the others before Scopes does,” Tessa said once they were safely out of the kitchen.

  Isaiah paused to catch his breath. He looked around. The security guard had taken a special route through the service corridors last night when he escorted Isaiah back to their suite.

  “This way,” Isaiah said. “I know a shortcut.”

  63

  EARTH

  “I am so glad you’re here,” Dr. Khatri said, greeting Mayor Hawthorne at the main entrance of the Gwen Research Center. He introduced her to Professor McGillum. “Where is Zoey?” he asked. “I thought she would be accompanying you?”

  “She forgot something in the car. She’ll be here any minute,” Mayor Hawthorne replied, straightening her hunter-green blazer. Even though it was Saturday, and she was technically off duty as mayor, she felt it was important to dress well. Her business suits were like a form of armor in that way.

  Dr. Khatri tried to keep his own nerves at bay. “Any word from the kids?” he asked.

  Mayor Hawthorne nodded. “Yes, they’re on some sort of station, like a space station, perhaps? I’m not sure exactly. But according to Tessa’s most recent text, Dr. Scopes just arrived.”

  Dr. Khatri’s eyes grew wide.

  “Zoey told them to stay away from her. But Tessa said it was too late.”

  “Too late? What else did they say?” he asked frantically.

  The mayor looked distraught. “Nothing yet. Tessa hasn’t responded to the last few messages.”

  “Oh, dear. This is worse than I thought.” Dr. Khatri walked in brisk circles around the foyer. “Professor McGillum, we must work faster to find a solution.”

  “How can I help?” Mayor Hawthorne asked, eager to assist. Children’s lives were on the line. She would mobilize the entire municipal government, if need be.

  “We need to either find another portal or repair the quantum collider here at the center. Unfortunately, it was badly damaged when the kids disappeared. I don’t think it’s salvageable, at least not without my Syntropitron.”

  “What’s that exactly?” asked Mayor Hawthorne. “You mentioned it before, I think?”

  “It’s a large, tubular invention that rewinds the effects of cellular entropy. We hope one day to scale the technology to restore environmental degradation. But our current prototype should be capable of repairing equipment like the collider.” He frowned. “Although right now it’s useless. Because it’s missing. Dr. Scopes and I thought Professor McGillum had it, but he clearly didn’t.”

  Mayor Hawthorne racked her brains, trying to think of possible leads. “Could the kids have brought it with them? Might Dr. Scopes have taken it?”

  “Not likely,” Dr. Khatri replied. “Dr. Scopes probably would have used it if she had access to it. Especially if she wanted to travel through a portal all along. It’s possible the device got misplaced during the disruption at the Center yesterday. Professor McGillum and I have searched the building high and low but haven’t found any sign of it.”

  Just then the doors flew open. “Hey, guys!” Zoey said brightly. “Sorry to keep you waiting. Had to go back for this.” She held up the heavy black case that Gage had mistaken for a tuba.

  “Where on Earth did you find that?” Professor McGillum said. “Mohan, look!”

  Dr. Khatri turned. “Is that—?”

  Zoey gave an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, I think it belongs to you, or someone here at NASA. I’m not sure what it is. One of my classmates accidentally brought the wrong case home aft
er the field trip, thinking it was a musical instrument.”

  Dr. Khatri practically leaped with glee. “Zoey! You are brilliant!”

  “Uh, thanks?” she said, handing him the heavy case, grateful to be rid of it.

  Dr. Khatri laid the case gently on the floor. He opened it gingerly. His eyes twinkled. “Yes,” he breathed. “This is exactly what we need. There’s no guarantee it will work, but it’s our best shot. All of you, come with me. Hurry. There’s no time to waste.”

  64

  STATION LIMINUS

  Dr. Scopes stealthily wheeled the large refreshment cart inside the interrogation chamber. She looked left, right, up. The room was empty.

  Perhaps she had been given the wrong location? She was about to pull her lynk out of her pocket when she noticed the curtains on the refreshment card were askew. She knelt down to fix them. She blinked. She tore the curtains open. Tessa and Isaiah were gone.

  A guttural, alien scream escaped from her lips. She rubbed a hand across her face, smearing her peach blush, revealing leathery scales below the mask of makeup. Her eyes glazed over with icy fury.

  Across the Station, Shro’s lynk buzzed. He answered it, listening carefully. “You lost them? How is that possible!” He growled and stormed around his office. “Find them. Scan the entire Station if you have to. What? You did that already? And nothing?”

  He shook his head. “Do it again. If the Earthlings are still on board, the heat maps will pick up their exact locations. Yes. That’s what the Menagerie staff have been using to catch all the runaway creatures.”

  Shro exhaled, growing angrier by the minute. “The only thing that could scramble the sensors is regenerex, and there is no way the Earthlings could be in possession of that.

  “No more excuses,” he growled. “We must find those pestiferous Earthlings before the rest of the council does. I no longer care about the subterfuge. I have reason to believe the stowaway escaped the Station today with incriminating evidence. I believe she was assisted by the humans. Yes, I’m serious!” he boomed.

  “I will not allow the Earthlings to jeopardize our plan, not at this stage. We’ve come too far. I want them caught. I want them destroyed. If the heat scans fail, you may need to take more extreme measures. In fact …”

  The wheels in his mind began to turn. “There are still dozens of animals running wild around the Station. It could be a useful diversion. Adding another creature to the mix won’t draw any extra attention. Yes, I know the risks!”

  Shro seethed. “I don’t care how you do it, just get those cadets, NOW!” He disconnected the lynk and threw it across the room, shattering it into hundreds of fractals.

  65

  STATION LIMINUS

  “Stay out of sight,” Dev said. “We’re fugitives now.” Isaiah and Tessa had busted them out of the interrogation cell and now all five cadets were on the run.

  “Wow, that sounds so cool,” Lewis mused. “I’ve never been a real fugitive before.”

  Isaiah made a face. “If we get caught we’re dead, so it’s not that cool.”

  “Come on, guys. We need to find Duna,” Tessa said. “They’ll know what to do.”

  The kids ducked behind a waste disposal unit on the perimeter of the Arboretum. There were clusters of armed guards at every turn. Since the Menagerie breach, security was tighter than usual.

  “Don’t forget that Scopes is still on the loose,” Tessa said.

  Maeve frowned. “Are you sure about her? I thought she and Dev’s dad were working together to help us.”

  Tessa showed them the messages on her smartwatch. “Looks like she was a traitor all along.”

  Dev thought about his dad. He’d always spoken so highly of Dr. Scopes. He was sure her deception cut his father deeply. Dev wished he were home so he could give his dad a hug.

  “If only Virri were here,” Tessa said, peering around the corner of the disposal container. “She seems to know every inch of this place and all the best hiding spots.”

  “Quick. Someone’s coming.” Isaiah pulled them into the Arboretum. Most of its staff had been called in to help locate the missing animals, so the greenhouse was empty. The cadets hid behind a massive leafy succulent, like an agave plant but larger, with unusual geometric markings running along its thick leaves.

  The door opened. “That’s her!” Tessa hissed. “That’s Scopes. Get down.”

  Dev flattened himself against the wall. “Did she see us?”

  “I don’t know. But something happened to her,” Maeve said. “She looks … weird.”

  “She was wearing a catering uniform last time we saw her,” Tessa said.

  “No, not her clothes. Her face, it’s … lizardish.”

  Tessa peeked between the fronds. Sure enough, Scopes’s face was covered in scales. As they watched, her body morphed from human to something more reptilian. “She’s a shape-shifter!” Isaiah breathed.

  The Arboretum door opened again and the cadets heard someone else approach. A moment later, they spotted Quirg through the dense screen of leaves.

  “What are they doing together?” Maeve whispered.

  “They must be in cahoots. Shhh.” Dev held a finger to his lips.

  Tessa strained to listen. “They’re speaking in another language. I can’t understand what they’re saying.”

  “She doesn’t look too pleased with him,” Dev noted. Scopes was pointing a finger at Quirg, her reptilian face twisting angrily. She shoved a lynk in his doughy hands and stormed away.

  Quirg looked down at the device and shook his head. He exited the Arboretum, shuffling back toward the Station’s core.

  66

  EARTH

  Dr. Khatri aimed the long, cylindrical tube at Dr. Scopes’s shattered paperweight, the thirteen-sided one they had found on her desk earlier. Dr. Khatri figured it was an easy enough repair, a good way to run some preliminary tests and warm up the Syntropitron. The machine hummed, then shot an arc of light across the room, instantly repairing the paperweight. Not a scratch or crack could be seen on its faceted crystal surface.

  “Remarkable!” Mayor Hawthorne said.

  Zoey, who hadn’t been at the NASA field trip, was equally impressed. But the destroyed quantum collider was much bigger and more complex than a paperweight. Could Dr. Khatri’s invention really fix that and bring her sister home?

  “Everyone, protective visors up! Safety measures, engaged. Cross your fingers and your toes,” Dr. Khatri said, walking over to the damaged collider. Wishful thinking was by no means scientifically effective, but it couldn’t hurt. Especially in dire circumstances such as these.

  Mayor Hawthorne reached for her daughter’s hand.

  “Ready? Aim. Repair!” Dr. Khatri pulled the trigger.

  The room exploded with light.

  67

  STATION LIMINUS

  Quirg reluctantly walked down Gate Hall, stopping in front of a heavily barricaded door. He checked the message on the lynk once more, then slid the titanium bolt aside. He unlocked the steel bars and entered a passcode, disarming the shock field.

  He opened the door. He inhaled, then whistled. A pack of hideous, six-headed wolves approached, sniffing and snarling. Their matted gray-green fur was flecked with dried blood, and their fangs were sharply pointed. Their forked tongues flicked, their eyes a glowing amber.

  Quirg held out the Earthlings’ musical instruments, letting the beasts find the scent. Their noses twitched, their ears pricked. Then Quirg whistled once more—the hunting call—and set the beasts loose. They set off at a brisk trot, their claws clicking on the polished moonstone floor.

  “This way!” Tessa insisted. Ever since Dr. Scopes and Quirg had left the Arboretum, the cadets had been searching the expansive greenhouse and grow rooms for a back door where they could escape and sneak off in search of Duna.

  “No, this way!” Maeve shook her head, her red hair falling into her eyes. She brushed it aside and pointed to a room full of lush tropical orchids in every
imaginable color.

  “We’re going in circles.”

  “We are not!” Tessa marched toward a metal stairway that twisted like a curling grapevine and ascended to an upper level.

  “Ugh. You are just as stubborn as your sister,” Maeve huffed, ducking behind a large jade plant.

  Tessa scowled. “I’m sure I saw a doorway up here. Are you coming, or not?” She continued to climb.

  “We already looked there!” Maeve threw up her hands. “You have absolutely no sense of direction!” She stomped up the metal staircase behind Tessa, with the other cadets trailing behind.

  Isaiah stepped onto the landing, glancing down at the riot of colorful wildflowers below. “If you two keep arguing, we’re all going to get caught,” he said anxiously.

  “She always wants to be the boss, but I’m sick of it!” Tessa rolled her sleeves up, feeling hot from climbing the steep steps and agitated from arguing with Maeve. “I remember seeing an exit up here. I’m sure of it.” She spun around, nearly bumping into a blue-and-white porcelain vase with a creeping vine spilling from its mouth.

  Maeve gritted her teeth. “Why should we believe you? You lied to us before.”

  Tessa scoffed. “You said you forgave me! And why would I lie about something like this?” she said. “Don’t you think I want to get out of here alive, too?”

  “Enough!” Lewis said. “I know this is stressful, but we have to work together.”

  Maeve turned, surprised that Lewis was the voice of reason for once. Then, out of the corner of her vision, she spotted a pack of hideous, wolf-like creatures weaving between some prickly cacti.

  “Uhhh, guys?” She slowly raised her hand and pointed, slack-jawed. The kids swiveled around.

  The animals froze, tails rigid, noses high. They locked eyes with the kids.

  “I don’t remember seeing those in the Menagerie,” Dev whispered.