“Like him?” Penny said, pointing to the Robot.
“No, this is different.”
“You mean different aliens?”
“I don’t know, exactly. It’s easier to show you, but it might be sort of, like, a time machine or something? Maybe an Einstein-Rosen generator?”
“Both of those things are impossible,” Judy said immediately.
“Yeah, but so was he,” I said, pointing to the Robot, “until we found him.”
Judy kept looking at my cheek. “Push up your sleeves.”
“Why?”
“Do it. Doctor’s orders.”
I did, and was surprised to see red streaks on both my forearms.
“Where exactly is this thing you found?” Judy asked.
“It’s in a cave, north of those ones where we spent the night that time. And there are these battery things and footprints and…”
“And what?” said Judy.
Just thinking of it made my throat tight again. “I saw my old room. Our old house.”
Penny squinted at me. “Did you also bump your head or something?” She motioned to Judy. “You should check his head.”
“I’m fine.”
Penny snapped her fingers. “I heard about these mushrooms once where just stepping on them could make you hallucinate. There could be something like that on this planet, especially in a cave—”
“I’m not making this up, Penny! I really saw it!”
“Saw it how?” said Judy.
“Through this machine.” I got out my camera. “Look.” I played my most recent video. “It’s kinda hard to see, but it’s there.” Both of them leaned forward, squinting at the dark picture.
“What is that thing?” said Penny.
“It’s like a doorway.” The video ended. “And when I touched it, it showed me our house from, like, a month before we left. And I think… I think if you went through it, you would be there.”
“Be where?” Penny asked. “You mean on Earth?”
I shrugged. “I know that sounds impossible, but…”
“You have to take us there.” Penny’s face had suddenly gotten even more serious than Judy’s. “It could be a way off this planet.”
“Okay, hold on. Obviously you found something weird,” said Judy. “But there’s no way that some door in a cave is going to get us off this planet. Besides, there’s clearly significant danger of radiation exposure. At the very least, we should wait for Mom and Dad.”
“Those burns aren’t that bad—” said Penny.
“Excuse me, and you got your medical training where, exactly?”
Penny’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, you love to bring up how special you are.”
“Guys!” I shouted.
“I’m just saying,” said Penny, “if there’s any chance of finding a way off this planet, we need to check it out, and soon.”
I peered at her. “How come you sound so serious? Do you know something we don’t?”
Penny looked away. “I just know that we should check it out.”
“I have no idea if it really can get us off this planet, but I think you’ll like seeing our old home. And also”—I turned to Judy—“these burns are why we should go now. Once Mom sees them, she’ll probably never let us near it again. It’s not that far.”
Neither one of them responded for a moment.
“You’re right about Mom,” Judy said quietly. “And I’m done with my list.”
“Oh my god, seriously?” said Penny.
“Okay…” Judy stepped to the central table and picked up Penny’s whiteboard. “How about we make a deal: We work together to finish Penny’s jobs, and then you show us.”
“You’re serious?” I said.
Judy nodded. “Whatever technology you found, we’ll be saving Mom and Dad time by doing some recon on our own. And I know you guys think I’m, like, all business, but I miss home, too, kind of all the time.”
I grinned. “Thanks, Jude.”
She ran her finger down the list. “Will, you and the Robot do the ration reorganizing. Mom wants the packets arranged by food group rather than alphabetical. I’ll take air filter changes, and we’ll meet outside when we’re done. Cool?”
“Deal,” said Penny.
I led the Robot out of the common room. On the way to the galley, I stopped at the gear locker and gathered two lengths of safety line and a climbing harness and stuffed them into my backpack. “Just in case we decide it is a good idea to go through that doorway,” I said to the Robot, the vision of my room still right there in my mind.
It only took ten minutes to reorganize the food packets, which seemed like kind of a silly job considering that all the freeze-dried foods basically tasted the same, and then we waited outside for Penny and Judy.
Soon we were on our way back to the caves, following the trail along the lake and then through the woods.
“We have to watch out for the mothasaurs,” I said after we crossed the log bridge and neared the clearing, but when we arrived, they were nowhere to be seen.
Judy stepped cautiously toward the pit and peered inside. “These are the source of the radiation?”
“Yeah, I thought they might be batteries or something.”
“They do look sorta like energy cells.” Judy removed a short, silver wand-like device from her bag and waved it over the pit, then checked the readings on the thin screen on its side. “It’s an unknown radiation signature, but it’s strong.”
“My scanner didn’t recognize it, either.”
“That should be impossible,” said Judy. “Unless this is made of some radioactive element that has never been discovered on Earth or Alpha Centauri.”
“The universe is a big place,” said Penny.
Judy just pursed her lips, then she pointed at the batteries. “These were clearly arranged this way on purpose. Look, there’s a coating of dust on the first three, but then these two are a lot cleaner, like they were brought here more recently. Maybe whoever places them only comes once in a while.”
“But comes from where?” said Penny. “Out of that cave? Or…” She looked toward the sky.
“The tracks go to and from the cave,” I said. “They might use the doorway.”
“And what if they decide to use it while we’re down there?” said Judy.
I shrugged. “They weren’t there before. And, like you said, if they only come here once in a while, and they were just here, then we should be okay.”
Judy crossed her arms and looked from the cave to the pit. I was sure she was about to call this off.… “Lead the way,” she said.
They followed me around the pit and into the cave entrance.
“Whoa—check it out,” Penny said in a whisper. “Alien tic-tac-toe.”
“That was me and the Robot,” I said.
“Still alien.”
We walked on and the darkness closed in around us, the air growing cool as the tunnel descended.
“I can’t see a thing,” said Penny.
“Your eyes will adjust,” I said. I was just starting to make out the greenish glow from up ahead.
There was a scuffling sound. “Ow!” Penny hissed. “Can’t we use a light?”
“You won’t need one in a second,” I said. “Just a little farther.”
We walked in a close line down the sloping tunnel and reached the cave. Seeing it again, with its smooth, almost-straight walls, it felt more accurate to call it a room.
“Whoa,” said Penny, heading straight for the doorway. “Are those stars?”
“And galaxies.”
She peered through it at different angles. “How is that possible?”
“Did you guys see this?” Judy had crouched and was running her gloved finger over those sharp patterns on the floor that I’d noticed before. She pinched a piece and picked it up, and then blew on it. A layer of dust came free, revealing a triangular transparent object. It had jagged edges, as if it had been broken.
“It almost looks like
a circuit board,” I said.
“Yeah, except look at the materials and surfaces.” She came over and held it up beside the doorway.
“It’s really different than this doorway,” she said, “and both of them are different than anything human-made.”
“So what?” said Penny. “Are you saying there have been two different kinds of aliens in this cave?”
“I have no idea what I’m saying,” Judy said quietly.
“Well, there’s nobody here now, so, Will, show us how this thing works.”
“Okay.” I stepped up to the doorway. “Oh, wait.” I fished my video recorder out of my pocket, started it recording, and held it in one hand while I reached toward the doorway with the other. “I am about to officially activate the doorway,” I narrated. My heart pounded and my fingers were shaking, and even though I’d been thinking about it since the second we left here, now that I was right in front of it again, I almost didn’t want to touch it. But I pressed my fingers to the liquid-like surface, and the stars rippled and blurred, the view hurtling through space and time. There were the spirals of the Milky Way, huge stars flying by, then our solar system…
And my room. Just like before. Seeing it made a shock run through me all over again.
“No way,” said Penny.
“That’s impossible,” said Judy. Both of them stared, eyes wide, mouths half-open.
“I’m glad you guys can see it, too,” I said. “I was wondering if maybe I’d been losing my mind.”
“If you are, then we are, too,” said Penny.
“Now, just watch.” We waited a moment, and the old me came into the room, calling over his shoulder.
“Whoa, you look younger,” said Penny.
The past version of me narrated his video, found the memory card, and hurried out.
Once the room was still, I stopped my own recording and put my recorder back in my pocket. Then I reached for the doorway.
“What are you doing?” Penny asked.
“Will, don’t—” said Judy.
I pushed my fingers through the energy field and flexed them in the amber light of Earth. “It’s all right, see? I did this before.”
“Does it feel weird?” said Penny.
“Maybe a little tingly. Not bad for reaching across the universe, right?”
“If I touched it, would it show this same thing?” Penny asked. “I mean, probably not, right? It would show me somewhere in my past instead.”
“How can it possibly be doing this?” Judy said. “And why?”
“Maybe it’s, like, a default setting,” said Penny. “Like when you’d get on the Resolute’s network and your favorite pages would automatically load.”
“So this thing is showing us a favorite memory?” said Judy.
“It’s not a memory, though,” I said, “not exactly. Because it’s not from my point of view. And if I can put my fingers through, it must be an actual connection to that spot. But you’re right, this is a favorite moment. The night Dad came home… or maybe I should call it an important moment. You know, to me, like—”
“Emotionally,” said Penny.
“That was a fun night,” Judy said quietly.
“Maybe it uses our memories like coordinates,” I said, and when they both just looked at me, I said, “You know, in space-time. To guess where we might want to go.”
Judy shrugged. “But to do that, this thing would have to have essentially scanned your entire brain and translated your memories, as well as the emotions connected to each one—”
“You could just say it read his mind,” said Penny.
“My point is that it did all that in the second when you touched it. I mean, the processing power alone that you would need to do that…”
“So maybe those things outside really are its power cells,” I said. Except there wasn’t any port or outlet or anything on this doorway, and there wasn’t one of those batteries connected to it now.
“I wonder what other spots it could open up to,” said Penny.
“Will, you should pull your hand back,” said Judy. “We don’t know what effect that’s going to have, and you already got those radiation burns.”
“Those were from those cells outside. My fingers feel fine, see?” I moved them around.
“Okay, but what if your old self comes back and sees random fingers twiddling in space in his room? Won’t that create, like, a paradox or something? And mess up the fabric of the universe?”
“Jeez, way to be a downer,” said Penny.
“We have to think about this stuff!” Judy nearly shouted. “We are messing with something we literally don’t understand.”
“Yeah,” I said quickly, “but if old me had walked in and seen fingers like that, me-of-right-now would remember it, wouldn’t I?” I said. “The fact that I never remember seeing anything strange in my room is proof.”
Judy nodded but she was still pursing her lips. “That makes sense… if that’s how this kind of thing works. There’s no way to be sure because no one’s ever found a time doorway in a cave before.”
I started taking off my backpack. “You’re right, and that’s part of the reason why”—I removed the safety line and the climbing harness—“I was thinking this time I should try going all the way through.”
“Uh-uh,” said Judy. “No way.”
“Definitely yes,” said Penny, her eyes lighting up. “Then we’ll know if this really is, like, a way home.”
“That’s not home,” said Judy. “That’s the past. Our home is here.”
“This place isn’t home!” said Penny. “It totally sucks, and not only that—”
“I mean now is home,” said Judy. “Like, the present. Going back there risks messing with physics in ways we can’t understand.”
“But clearly it’s not dangerous,” said Penny. “Will already put his hands through and nothing changed. And like he said, he doesn’t remember anything strange from his past, so we’re good.”
“For the moment,” said Judy. “But we don’t know how our actions might change the past, or what even a little change could lead to.”
“But that’s not really possible, is it? Like, actually changing the past?” said Penny. “I thought those sci-fi ideas like bootstrap paradoxes, while awesome by the way, were impossible. Isn’t the past, like, finished?”
“There are competing theories,” I said, “but nobody knows for sure.”
“Which means it’s dangerous,” said Judy. “Like, existentially dangerous.”
I knew she had a point, but I bent and pulled the harness over my legs. That view, my room, it was like a magnet drawing me in. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll be super careful.”
As I snapped the buckles into place, I felt my heart pounding and I wondered: Was I crazy? Because I definitely believed in the possible dangers that Judy was describing. And yet, after all this time thinking I’d never see my room, our home, Earth, ever again, I mean, I had to go, right? At least for a minute?
“I’m just going to step through,” I said, clipping the rope to my harness. “I’ll come right back. And you guys will be able to see me and you’ll have the line, so you can pull me back even sooner if you need to.”
“But what about the you in the past?” said Judy. “What if you—I mean, he—sees you?”
“I think I have a little time,” I said. “I remember that I was making a video about Dad coming home, so I should be out in the living room filming for a little bit.”
“Maybe I should go,” said Judy, putting her hand on my shoulder. “You’re the youngest; it’s not fair.”
“Here she goes again,” said Penny.
For a second I almost said Okay, just like I always did when Judy stepped in to help. But then I pictured her in the ice—my fault. “No,” I said. “It should be me. It’s my room, and I found this place.”
“Will—”
“We should both be here to pull him back if we need to,” said Penny. She picked up the lin
e and tugged it. “Sorry, you don’t get to be the hero, Jude.”
Judy’s face scrunched. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Okay, okay,” I said. “I’m going.” I looked at the Robot. He was staring into the doorway, and then turned toward me. “If this is the worst idea ever, now is the time to say so.” He cocked his head, and I was sure he would say Danger, or even hold me back—did a part of me even want him to?—but he didn’t say a word.
“All right, here we go.” I moved my foot toward the barrier. My toe made the surface ripple, and then it was on the other side. Now my whole foot, and I was standing half in and half out of the past and, if we were right, basically straddling the galaxy.
“Does it hurt?” said Penny.
“No,” I said. “It doesn’t feel like anything. Just tingly again. Okay… here we go.”
I took a deep breath and put my weight on that foot, and then my hands pushed through the barrier, then my arms, and I closed my eyes and stepped through.
CHAPTER
There was a bright flash, and a buzz of electricity shot through me. I blinked, and for a second there were only green spots in my eyes, but as they faded, I saw that I was—
Home. Standing in my room on Earth. I felt the afternoon light through the window and the smoggy sky. I heard the hum of the air purifiers that made the whole house vibrate, and the low murmur of a TV out in the living room. The clinking of dishes. The smell of the sweet-salty noodle dish that Mom was making—Dad’s favorite.
I breathed deep, and then reached out and ran my finger over the edge of my desk. It was real. I was really here!
There was a tug on the safety line.
I turned, and there was the doorway behind me. Instead of seeing my loft bed, I saw Penny and Judy standing in the cave. Penny raised her arms as if to say, So?
I gave them a thumbs-up and took another step, my foot pushing through my old clothes scattered all over the floor. I had this dizzy feeling, like my head were an inflated balloon. Probably because I had just literally traveled through space and time, but also because this was completely crazy!
A light flashed on my communicator. It was displaying a warning message: INCOMPATIBLE NETWORK. It must have been trying to log on, but this communicator was designed for the Resolute’s advanced system, not the older networks we’d had on Earth. I tapped the message and swiped it away.
Lost in Space Page 4
