“I know, it sounds strange. Sarina is our most powerful manipulator of the stuff our world is losing—it’s called rem—but even she will have dark rem in her system. At the moment, that dark rem is out of balance in our world, and we’re worried even a trace more of it entering the Professor’s machine will send our world into a permanent nightmare. What we’re hoping is that we can inject a massive surge of super-rem and trigger a spreading wave of corrective energy that brings the rem balance back. A chain reaction.”
“So how do you stop this dark rem from going through the portal?”
Nathan twisted his mouth. “That’s what we’re not really sure how to do yet. The Prof and I were working on that exact problem in our project. He thinks that’s the key to understanding what happened in the accident—”
He slapped his head. “What am I saying! Sorry. Too much information. All I know is that when we find a way to somehow create some sort of rem mask, we’ll be able to work with one particle of rem and not the other.”
Sarina looked at him sharply. “Did you just say ‘create a mask’?”
“Er, yes. Why?”
She ignored his question. “And then we mask off the rem we don’t want? That’ll fix it?”
“Er, yes, again. In theory.”
She shook her head. “Unbelievable. The things you scientists miss. I think you need to go out more.”
He groaned. “If this is another one of your protests against—”
“It’s not. Between you and Paolo, you just gave me the final puzzle piece. Now let’s get on and make the portal and I’ll explain what you and I will do.” She looked over her shoulder. “Andreas?”
The man turned to her and raised his eyes. “Yes?”
“Can you leave those two lying there for a few more minutes?”
He shrugged. “I do not think they will mind, do you?”
She smiled. “Good. But stay clear. I’m not sure how this will affect anyone near us.”
She walked closer to the two prone and unmoving figures, and surveyed them. “I think I can remove their power at the same time as fixing our own problem.” She chewed her lip, then looked back up at the dim portal in the sky. “Nathan, can you please move next to me. You too, Paolo and Lucio.” The boys edged over to her, Lucio with one eye warily on the captives.
“Okay, this is what we’re going to do. Nathan will help me open the portal. Both of you help by holding my left hand and joining your energy with mine. We’re going to need a lot of controlling power for this. I’ll use the dark energy from Makthryg and Valkrog to paint a very fine mask around and across the collider. That’s where we need the delicate control. If I’m right, it will repel the dark energy in the plasma stream. Once the mask is in place, Nathan and I will blast as much energy through as we can, and blow out the rem leak at the same time as creating a wave of fresh super rem. We’ll need raw power for that, so it will be all hands on deck.”
Nathan leaned over to her and whispered. “I hope you know what you’re doing?”
She fixed him with a stare. “I’m going to punch our power through a fine-mesh mask made from dark-origin energy, which will act as a repelling stencil—in the same way a waxed canvas would—to the wrong type of plasma. The super rem will pass straight through the mesh. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Uh, yes, come to think of it. Exactly.”
“But I have no idea if the repelled energy is dangerous. So we should clear the area. Only we few to remain—and our prisoners.” She turned to Andreas for confirmation.
Andreas nodded. “I will remain a safe distance, but close enough to be of assistance should these two require subduing. The rest must be moved away.” He gestured to Rocco, who moved to shift the onlookers back.
“So.” She looked at her small team. “Are we ready?”
They each nodded. Nathan moved in front of Sarina again and she slipped her sling off so she could move her arm under his, and hold his other hand. Paolo and Lucio in turn clasped their hands over theirs.
She closed her eyes and guided her right hand to where it needed to be. She felt the back of Nathan’s hand supporting her palm. She took in a deep breath and summoned the powerful orange energy. Carefully they traced around the portal, bringing it to life once more.
She opened her eyes. “Again,” she murmured. They breathed together, and drove bright plasma across the portal. The hole sprang into focus again. She waved her hand, ignoring the pain, and adjusted the field of view until the vision inside the portal zoomed in to only that of the collider, propped on a wooden box and blinking down at them.
“Here we go. This is the bit where I need help to control the flow.” She pulled her left hand out of theirs and pushed Nathan’s and the boys’ hands firmly onto her side to keep the connection. She turned her hand palm out, and faced it towards the two figures on the ground. She adjusted her right hand so it pointed up at the portal and set to work.
A stream of crackling black energy broke out from both the prone figures and leaped across to Sarina’s outstretched left palm, where it jolted her violently, and some of the blackness engulfed the lower part of her arm. She flicked her hand and redirected the continuous black stream up to the portal, which was being held in place by her right hand. She looked up at the opening and used light pressure on Nathan’s hand to guide her. A low energy beam of orange plasma sprang from her right hand, and connected with the crackling black stream, and began to control it, weaving it back and forth across the distant opening of the portal window. Fine black strands of energy stuck across the portal like a daintily painted spider’s web. Eventually the entire surface was covered in a fine mesh, rendering the view beyond almost obscured.
The black energy stopped and Sarina dropped her arms down, and slumped her chin to her chest.
“How can we help?” Nathan whispered.
“Drained. Hard. Need energy.”
She felt the warm glow again from Paolo and Lucio. She lifted her chin.
“This could get a bit tricky. I’m not sure how much more energy I have left inside me. If I ...” she trailed off and stared at Nathan. “If I don’t make it for some reason, try to get a message back. My mum would want to know ...”
He nodded.
She looked at them all. “Ready? Whatever you have, we’ll need it all.”
She gazed into the dark sky and took a deep breath. “Here we go.” She held her hand out, supported by Nathan’s, and called the energy stream into life. A fine orange jet struck the portal and Sarina stepped up her efforts.
Then stopped. She craned around to look at Nathan. “It’s not working. The jet is bouncing off the mask. Look.”
Nathan looked up to where she was indicating with her head. The last of the orange energy hitting the portal was not passing through the mesh, but bouncing back and falling to earth, extinguishing itself on the way down like thousands of burned out firework sparks. “What’s wrong?”
“I think my creative ability is linked to my right hand. I need to fine-tune the plasma jet, but I don’t have the control.”
She looked down at her wrist in the splint, supported by Nathan’s hand underneath. “I can’t believe I’m doing this again.”
She turned her head to see Paolo and Lucio, who had said nothing and were grimly holding her tight. “Can you stop me feeling any pain? Just for a short time?”
They both shook their heads. “We cannot stop it,” Paolo said, “only soothe as much as we can.”
“Then do that. Nathan and I will focus on the plasma stream. I don’t know how long I will be able to keep this up; we may only have one chance at this.” She shrugged herself out of the sling completely and started to unwind the ties holding the splint to her wrist.
“What are you doing?” Nathan was staring at her wrist.
“The only thing left. I need both hands.” She grimaced as the last splint fell off. “Okay, maximum soothing power please. I’m going to need it. Nathan, this time you hold onto my should
ers and concentrate on the power going into the portal.”
She ignored the searing flame in her wrist. The warm, soothing glow bathed her arm, but it only dulled the pain. She focused again up into the sky, and, gritting her teeth, raised both arms. In her mind, she adjusted the stream of energy to become particle-like. She let it flow into the fingers of her right hand and delicately manipulated the jet. Fine glittering-gold particles sprang to life within the stream. She braced herself and aimed the jet at the portal.
The dull pain flared into excruciating agony and she wondered if she could stay conscious. She tried to stay focused and tap into the soothing energy from Paolo and Lucio.
She took a deep breath and felt Nathan’s hands tighten on her shoulders. The brilliant gold-glittering plasma had reached the portal, and with one violent, agonising gesture using both arms, she flung the entire stream through the fine-mesh mask.
The energy splashed against the mask, but this time Sarina saw most of it passed through. The mask repelled the dark energy which fell from the sky and vaporised well before the ground. The falling energy looked different; it had a darker, more angry appearance. She smiled through her fog of pain. The mask had worked. What they were witnessing was the dark-energy in the plasma being repelled by the mask. Like watercolour paint running off masking fluid, she thought. Exactly where her idea had come from. And the weirdest negative painting she’d ever done.
The last of the speeding stream of energy vanished into the portal, leaving them in darkness. She peered into the sky. Coming from behind the mask she could see what resembled sheet lightning, flickering and flashing, but it was hard to make out. Was this what happened when you blew out the leak? Had they saved her world, or destroyed it? She shrugged. They would never know. Her right arm throbbed and she let it hang. She would deal with that later. Now they had to seal the portal. Forever.
She looked at Nathan, who had moved around next to her and had one hand on her right shoulder. The two boys on the other side were now clutching her other hand. “Ready for those vault doors?”
He nodded. “Let’s do it. Can you still paint?” He looked down at her useless arm.
She smiled. “Between the two of us, even if I’m using my left hand, compared to what we just did, a vault door will be a cinch.” She repositioned Paolo and Lucio’s hands around to her back to free her left hand—and recoiled at what she saw. Even in the dark, her left forearm and hand were obviously discoloured, the skin blackened. And worse, the dark stain was creeping up towards her elbow. She stared around at Nathan in horror and held up her arm. “I think we’d better hurry.”
She felt her distress mounting, and knowing they could not afford any delay, she shook the image out of her mind and faced the task in front of them. She started to draw in the air, concentrating hard. Up in the dark sky, around the shimmering edge of the portal window, they saw the beginnings of an object obscuring the fine-mesh. She glanced at Nathan. “Well, help me then!”
“Oh. Okay.” He lifted his right hand, and copied her motions. The object in the portal took shape. This vault door would be crude and wouldn’t win any art awards, but it would do its job. Soon only one small hole remained. She thought she saw a glimpse of a young face peering anxiously through it ... but they couldn’t stop now. Not even for goodbyes. The connection needed to be severed.
They completed the vault door, and started work on the final imagery; plugging the entire hole in the sky with some molten lava. She wasn’t sure how this would work and briefly wondered if their imagined painting of molten rock would rain vicious fire down on them, but it didn’t.
Now the portal window was glowing, but the ‘rock’ they had painted was starting to cool and fade to black. “Do you see that?” Nathan said. “It’s shrinking.”
They watched as the portal gradually shrank, until their final connection with their own world became a dark pinprick in a dark sky, and then their last window to their world was gone.
“I have to sit down.” Sarina sat, exhausted, then screamed in agony as the connection with Paolo and Lucio broke. They quickly placed their hands back on her and the pain abated. She felt herself fading. She sighed and fell forward as the world around her slipped away.
Paolo looked at Nathan. “Can you find my mother? We need her help now.” Nathan nodded and ran over to the subdued crowd standing some distance away. Andreas and Tomas had moved back to stand guard over Makthryg and Valkrog, who remained unconscious and securely bound.
“Where is Eva?” he called out as he ran past, “Sarina needs her!”
Andreas nodded his head down to the street. “She is tending to the injured.”
Nathan ran down and searched for the woman, and found her kneeling next to a prone figure, with her hand held lightly on their head. She caught the panic in his eyes.
“One moment.” She closed her eyes and the man under her hand eased visibly. She opened her eyes. “Take me to her.”
Sarina was supported by Paolo, but still slumped forward and breathing shallowly. Everything had gone dark and the people speaking around her sounded like they were talking to her from the end of a very long tunnel. She had to ... sleep.
She fell backwards and lay on the grass. It was cool and soothing. She could drift away and be in the cool dark forever. She heard someone calling her. It sounded like Nathan. Why was he yelling down the tunnel? What was he saying? ‘Come back, Sarina! Don’t leave us!’ She sighed and started to float upwards into the dark. The last few days had been very tough, and at last she could let everything go. Maybe forever.
Nathan’s voice was in her ear now, whispering, and a pair of strong, warm hands rested on her shoulders. She accepted the warm flood of bliss flowing from them and into her body.
“Sarina.” A woman’s gentle voice spoke softly in her ear. “Stay with us. You are going to recover. You need energy and rest.”
Sarina smiled, opened her eyes and looked at Nathan. She opened her mouth to speak, but he shook his head. “Don’t try to speak. You’re back, that’s all I need to know.” He wiped something from his eye. Some dust from the park, she thought.
The bliss infused her entire being. She felt herself being lifted and placed on something hard and sturdy, and carried somewhere; strong arms lifted her onto a comfortable bed. Someone was attaching something to her right arm, ever so gently. She lay back against the pillow, smiled at the blurry faces hovering over her, and lost consciousness.
~ 29 ~
A New Home
The next few days passed in a blur.
She slept, she woke, was bathed and fed by Eva; attended by Nathan and Paolo, and was barely aware of much else in between.
She had hardly any energy, and on several occasions when she was drifting in and out of consciousness, she caught fragments of conversation from the visitors.
“... slow. The damage from their black power was too great ....”
“ ... hope so. She deserves to live.”
“Please save her. She’s my best friend.”
The last from Nathan, the one voice she recognised.
But most of the time, she faded in and out, not caring who or where she was. Each day, she had times where she suddenly felt better, as an influx of beautiful, blissful warm energy flooded her body. But it never lasted long enough.
And then one day, she managed to stay awake longer after breakfast. A young boy sat at the end of her bed, weaving some coloured threads. She frowned. Who was that? His name was faint—then she remembered and whispered the word: “Lucio.”
The boy jerked up and stared at her for a moment, then ran outside shouting. “Mother! Paolo! Sarina is awake!”
The room filled with smiling people. A lanky boy pushed through to the side of the bed and knelt down. He grabbed her hand and grinned. “You’re back!”
“Nathan.”
“And you remember my name. That’s a good sign.”
Another boy, bigger and stockier, joined Nathan at the side of the bed.
> “Paolo?” She managed to croak the word out.
Paolo clapped his hands. “Yes!”
The rest of the group smiled and nodded. A calm woman came forward. “Let us clear the room. Let the girl breathe and have some space. She has awoken from a deep healing. Nathan, you can stay. You too, Lucio, I need your healing power.”
The rest moved out. She thought she recognised them, which she supposed was a good thing. She pushed herself up on her elbows. “Where am I?”
“In my cabin!” Lucio beamed at her. His huge smile reminded her of a young girl and some fragments of memory returned, along with a feeling of panic in her stomach. She looked at Nathan. “Did we?”
He nodded. “The portal is sealed. The townsmen imprisoned Makthryg and Valkrog separately in the fortress while they construct a stone prison behind the town hall. I think they want to keep them under close supervision, and they don’t trust the fortress.” He peered at her. “But speaking of the sorcerer and his chicken-friend: You did something to their powers. They look defeated; as if someone took away a vital part of them. When you used their dark energy, some of it infected your arm. You’ve been really sick for some time. It was like the life was being sucked out of you and we thought it was killing you from the inside.” He smiled. “But obviously it hasn’t.”
She lay back against the soft cushion behind her head. “I have no energy.”
Eva’s soft voice caressed her ears. “You have passed the crucial time, fortunately. Your energy will now return rapidly, with our help”—she nodded to Lucio, and held her hand to her chest—“Then we must get you moving, and into some sunshine, now the blackness has left you.”
One day, she would love to hear that woman sing.
She looked down at her hand. Her wrist and forearm were now covered in a rock-hard dark-brown substance.
“It will be a few more weeks before this can be removed. You will have much work to do, to regain your strength. Your friend, Nathan here, has taught us this new medicine and the men were able to make a cast.”
She glanced at Nathan, who dropped his eyes. “Ah, it was nothing. I just thought if I could help you get better ... and that splint looked so ... old-style. If we’re going to be stuck here, then I wanted to do something useful to help. Our knowledge can help the township.”
The Dreamer Chronicles Trilogy Boxed Set Vol I - III: A Sci-Fi Parallel Universe Adventure (The Dreamer Chronicles - Science Fiction For Kids And Adults) Page 62
