The Dreamer Chronicles Trilogy Boxed Set Vol I - III: A Sci-Fi Parallel Universe Adventure (The Dreamer Chronicles - Science Fiction For Kids And Adults)

by Robert Scanlon

  She pressed the mike button. “You did it. Thank you. What happened—will they try again?”

  “What happened? I did what you asked. They even made it easy for me—someone forgot to encrypt a password on a laptop. Idiot. Anyway, they won’t do it again.”

  “Why?” She heard what she thought was a snigger.

  “Well, for one, the satellites seem to be losing orbit quite rapidly.” He chuckled. “I couldn’t think why that would suddenly happen. They’ll burn up in the atmosphere pretty quickly. And second, whatever idiot left his or her laptop so open to attack had not realised their entire contact database is also pretty easy to crack. I’m downloading it now, and pretty soon Quentin Tabernacle will have the second biggest story of his life: all the names and identities of the up-until-now secret group called the Consortium. Now the Ex-Consortium.”

  “Second biggest story? What do you mean?”

  “Yep. After you save the universe, what can top that? Oh—did Colonel Hadfield say anything about me at all?”

  “No,” she said. “Only that he owes you one. Now shall we get on with saving the universe?”

  ~ 77 ~

  Ghostly Planets

  Sarina closed her eyes, and called up an image of Paolo, Rona and Andreas. “Nathan—do you and Lena see them too? And are you holding hands?”

  “Yes, we see them,” the disembodied voice said in her ear. “And my hand is being gripped so tight I’ve lost circulation. Now what?”

  “Now we have to try to sense where they are, through the rift. Once we know that, then we have to send some rem into it to make the opening detectable to the Professors’ scanners so they can aim the rem-focusing dishes. After that ... we blast the thing closed.”

  “Simple then.”

  “Right. So let’s find where Paolo is.”

  She brought the image of Paolo, Rona and Andreas closer, and tried to reach out to them—to sense them, as she had done with Paolo before. Nothing. “You getting anything?”

  “I’m not, but Lena says she is.”

  “Can you give her a mike then?”

  “Oh yeah, sorry.”

  She heard rustling and crackling noises, then Lena’s small voice. “Hi, Sarina. I think Andreas is hurt. His picture is not together with the others. And the other two are walking up a mountainside somewhere. They’re worried.”

  “Can you make contact with them?”

  “I’ll try again. I couldn’t before. Maybe if we imagine this together”—a picture of Rona and Paolo battling their way along a rocky ledge appeared in her mind—“it will make it easier to talk to them.”

  Sarina concentrated on the new image. Andreas was injured? What had happened? She gritted her teeth and tried to make the images brighter, closer, stronger. A faint voice faded in and out. ‘... almost there ... tough ... less than ... hour ...’ The voice drifted away.

  “Did you get that?” she said.

  “We did. Was that less than an hour, do you think?”

  “Let’s hope so.”

  Malden’s voice floated across from next to her. He’d been listening in to the interchange. “If they are close, and you can locate them, it might be enough to reveal the rift and we can get to work to find rough coordinates. We can be more precise once they are closer.”

  “I heard that,” Nathan said. “Let’s try to see where they are.”

  Sarina allowed the image of the woman and the stocky boy climbing the mountain path to expand in her mind’s eye, taking in the whipping winds and the gravel and dust blowing past them. Carefully, she drew back, as if zooming out, but still holding her focus on the two figures, which decreased in size as she moved further back. Control. Control what? Control your focus. But on what? Frustrated, she opened her eyes briefly—and saw the Earth through the port in front of her. And then she glimpsed the image of another world within her own. Smaller, with more orange-brown areas compared to their Earth, but there was no doubting the ghostly image within: Paolo’s world. So that’s what she had to control her focus on. Her great-aunt’s words came to her again: The fire that lives within. Whatever that meant. But she had a suspicion it meant Great-Aunt Samantha had also seen into other worlds.

  “Nathan.” She kept her focus on the two worlds suspended in space. “I can see their world. Inside ours. You won’t be able to see it from where you are.”

  “I can see it a little bit in your head.” Lena’s voice.

  “Great. Then I’m going to concentrate on finding the rift. Let’s send our energy into it together.”

  She allowed her mind to explore the ethereal other-world and to send feelers of what felt like colour from the ISS and down into the space between her and the two superimposed planets. She sensed, rather than saw, a pale wash of energy floating up to her from Lena, and she redirected it to the other world, intermingling with her own extended senses.

  And there it was: a shimmering distortion of the space between her and the planet. Much narrower than she had imagined—she’d thought the rift would be some giant tear through the fabric of space itself, but this hard to see image was more like a solar-sized worm—narrow at the end where it disappeared into the other-world, and widening like a horn as it left the planets and extended towards the ISS—and it moved! Snaking and twisting; writhing and looping, it was hard to see if she looked directly at it. She had to defocus, like deciphering one of those infuriating 3D computer images. She kept her gaze on it and waved her left hand to get Professor Malden’s attention. “Do you see that?”

  “Yes—faintly. I wonder if the others can. Chris?” He called over his shoulder to the group behind him. “Would you mind coming over here, and tell me what you see through the observation port?”

  Colonel Chris Hadfield floated across, and peered through the port. “Earth? Beautiful isn’t it. I only hope we can save it. Any progress?”

  Malden nodded, his eyes fixed on the rippling distortion. “Some. Be ready with the rem-focusing dishes.”

  “So it’s only us that see it?” Sarina said.

  “It’s your power manipulating the rem, Sarina.”

  “Then why do you see it?”

  “Barely. And I suspect that’s only because I spent so much time there. And playing with things I should have known better not to. I must have some type of connection.”

  “So what do we do now?” She breathed deeply, not daring to take her eyes off the rift in case it disappeared.

  “If you can intensify it a little, then we can set up the rem-focusing dishes, at least for this end of the rift. We’ll need Paolo and Rona to confirm the location of the other end. If we try too soon, I fear we’re in danger of creating a second opening on their world. We need everything to line up.”

  “Okay.” She concentrated hard, feeling her brow crease, and allowed waves of energy—the same waves that flowed through her fingers when she painted—to stream out to the snaking rift.

  “Um, Professor?” She stared at the twisting line of power, which had moved and was changing direction.

  “Yes?”

  “Is it supposed to be doing that?”

  “Oh good Lord.”

  “So it’s not supposed to be doing that.”

  The widened bell-like end of the rift, which up until now they could not see from their observation port, was slowly turning. Like a giant, one-eyed slumbering snake might raise its head and turn its gaze on its prey. She shivered, suddenly feeling very tiny. “I think we might be in trouble,” she said in a small voice.

  “Professor Malden!” It was Tatiana, calling from across the deck. “What is happening? We are being pulled towards something.”

  Sarina felt the deck lurch and groan underneath her, causing all the occupants to float up a little until they secured themselves.

  “Professor! It’s sucking us in. It means to eat us!”

  ~ 78 ~

  Otherworldly Resistance

  “We have to try to seal the rift now,” Professor Malden said. He glanced at Sarina, who
was still staring out the port. “Sarina! Time to reel in all the Dreamer Kids. I’ll get the dish array in place. Hurry!”

  She looked at the enormous maw of the rift, advancing with an inescapable destiny towards them—or were they being drawn to it? She was looking down the barrel of the rift now, and noticed strange specks of un-material swirling inside. Was this a door to another universe she was seeing? She gulped.

  Control your focus instead of letting fear control it for you.

  She drew a deep breath. “Nathan—open up the broadcast. We’re ready for all the kids to join together ... and just in case this thing eats us all ...” she stopped. What to say? “Thanks for being such a good friend.”

  “You too. Now go for it. Let’s kick this rift’s posterior to infinity.”

  She spoke carefully into her microphone. “Hello all Dreamer Kids, this is Sarina from the International Space Station. We need your help a bit sooner than we thought, and we’ll have to work fast. We’ve found the rift opening and it’s dragging the entire Space Station into it. I’m going to try to focus all your rem-power onto it and seal it up. I don’t know exactly how that will work, but I need to explain quickly what I need you to do. It won’t be hard, but you’ll have to concentrate and use your imagination. That feeling you had when you saw my pictures on the broadcast is what you have to tap into, so however you like to use your imagination—writing, painting, drawing, inventing worlds, making things—that’s what you need to let flow in your mind. It’s best to be quiet and close your eyes, so please do that now, because I have to work fast to fix this. If you are with other creative kids, it will really help to hold hands. Okay. Take a deep breath, and imagine you are sending a stream of energy up into the sky towards a space station in orbit. It doesn’t matter what it looks like, only that you feel you’re sending it towards me. Like you felt before, or anytime you’re being creative.”

  She felt a sudden tingling up and down her body, and her skin prickled. “Brilliant, everyone, it’s working. Now we need to make it really strong. As powerful as you can, but wait for my signal. Take a deep breath and keep giving me your energy until I say stop, or”—or we’re all doomed, she thought—“or until you hear otherwise. On the count of three: one ... two ... three!”

  A rush of energy flew through her, enough to knock her off her feet if she hadn’t already been floating. “Professor? We’re ready for that rem-focusing thing. Umm, now?” She looked around. The Professor was frantically tapping the keyboard, Chris Hadfield at his shoulder. Malden looked over at her with panicked eyes.

  “The dish array isn’t responding. The rift appears to be jamming it. We’re doing our best. Give me a moment.”

  The rift opening was growing in size as they moved towards it. No—as they were accelerating towards it.

  “Professor, we don’t have time!”

  “Sarina!” It was Nathan in her ear. “What’s happening?”

  “The Professor can’t get the focusing device to work—and this thing will swallow us up in a few minutes. How can we control the focus?” There they were again, those words: control the focus. But on what? She moved a little to face the rift square-on through the observation port. Something rustled in her space suit close to her chest. The drawing. She smiled.

  “What about if you—”

  “Wait, Nathan. I have it. Can you train a camera on me?”

  “Of course. I’ve been trying to stop them from pointing at you. How many do you need?”

  “All of them. Everyone across the world. As many as can see, not just hear.” She heard a click and saw a red light activate on a small console above the observation port.

  “You’re on air.”

  She nodded, looked at the red light and smiled. A positive smile, she hoped. Control your focus. She’d give them something to focus on alright. She remembered the photo from her mother’s purse: A noble face and bright eyes. Thank you, Dad.

  She reached down inside her suit, pulled out the drawing and held it up. “This beautiful picture of a baby sleeping in an orchid was painted by my father before he died. He never got to meet his daughter. But he drew this in appreciation of all that is beautiful about life, our planet, each other, you and me. I want you to visualise this orchid in a blaze of vivid colour; to bring it to life with your creative ability and imagine you are pouring all your heart’s desires for our Earth and for your friends into it. Use it as your point of concentration and I’ll be your receiver. I will focus your positive energies and together we will seal the rift. Let’s go—make this picture come alive!”

  She held the picture up, braced her feet under the grab-rails on the floor, and closed her eyes. The picture—even though she was seeing it from behind—sparkled in her mind. A wave of powerful creative essence flooded her as the kids started to fulfil her request. She concentrated hard on channelling all their energy into the image. Furious colours swirled and mingled, until the picture became huge. Huge in her mind, until it was too big to contain and she pushed it beyond the Space Station, allowing the incoming power to continue to metamorphose it, nurture it, and make it tangible. The rapidly-growing image was now skyscraper-sized, and she made it move: burning bright, it descended on the massive open mouth of the rift, still dwarfed by the monstrous opening, but expanding fast in every direction. A vast, vivid, vibrant likeness of life and love. No longer a two-dimensional image on paper, but a living, growing hologram bursting with the hopes, dreams and aspirations of millions of Dreamer Kids, willing their world to survive.

  Something caught the corner of her eye, and she glanced to her side. Malden wasn’t there. She heard a commotion behind her, and an insistent warning buzzer. Malden must have gone over with Colonel Hadfield to the other workstation to try to fix the dish array. She shook the distraction away. If there was ever a time she needed to focus, this was it.

  She steeled herself, ready for the final push. “Nathan, I need you and Lena for this. I’m not sure how I know this, but I think we have to push this ... this image into the rift’s opening to seal it. I think I need your help. I can feel it resisting. Can you feel that?” She could feel her hands gripping the paper image, as if to push it, to shove it down that thing’s throat.

  “Yes. We’ll try to join you from here. Hold on.”

  She sensed, rather than felt, the presence of extra pairs of hands steadying her effort. “Got it. Now let’s move it in.” The mental effort made itself known in her body—her muscles strained against nothing; the sweat produced for no reason hugged her face; her heart was racing its own sprint.

  But the brightly burning orchid had stopped.

  “I ... can’t ... do it ... Nathan. It’s—”

  “It’s resisting us,” the crackling radio sounded in her ear. Professor Malden. She opened her eyes and glanced behind her: he was nowhere to be seen in the main control deck.

  The voice continued. “I felt it the moment you released that wonderful living avatar of life. There’s something from the other world still holding the rift connected to this world, and I believe the thing seeks it in order to rebalance the energy between our universes.”

  Where was he? The radio sounded like ... like when they were in the Soyuz rocket and communicating using their helmet radios. Her heart plummeted, and she peered out of the observation port. Sure enough, a tiny space-suited figure was floating away from them.

  “Something holding it? Something it seeks? But what are you doing, Professor?”

  “I put two and two together. You correctly deduced back in the other world the collider’s demise had severed my connection back to Lena. Unfortunately, I have arrived at the recent conclusion that, while in the other world it was the collider holding the connection open, in this world it is me. My tampering with rem in both worlds has created some conduit between them both. Once we remove the conduit, you’ll be able to break the rift’s connection and seal it.” He hesitated. “In some way perhaps I may make amends to those who were previously harmed at my hand. I’
m going to give it what it wants—the thing that’s holding it here. When I do that, that’s when you must bring all your effort to bear. And Sarina?”

  “Yes?” Her voice shook.

  “Don’t let Lena lose her father again for no reason. Lena, I assume you are listening: I love you.”

  The earpiece went dead and the man waved once, then a puff of smoke appeared from a steering jet, and the small space-suited figure turned around and propelled itself into the rift’s mouth, momentarily disappearing through the continent-sized shimmering image before it reappeared on the other side.

  “Noooo! Daddy, come back!” Lena’s scream speared her soul.

  An image flashed into Sarina’s head and her heart swelled. She saw her father, bent over the drawing of the orchid, painstakingly sketching details with precision. She may never have known him, but now she understood him. She understood his hope for the world, his love for nature’s infinite detail, his love of life. He had also sacrificed himself so she could live. She would make sure Lena would not lose her father for the second time in vain.

  She would make certain Malden’s actions would make amends for his dark alter-ego killing Paolo’s father.

  And she would prevent the destruction of two universes.

  The tiny spacesuit accelerated towards the rift’s hungry mouth.

  She felt, rather than heard, a whoomp. Like someone had been punched hard in the stomach. Then Malden’s tiny figure was gone, stretched up and down along the rift’s tube-like interior into a long glittering golden strand that ran all the way down the writhing monstrosity and into the ghostly image of Paolo’s world.

  “NOW!” she screamed. “NOW!” and closed her eyes and pushed with all her might.

  ~ 79 ~

  A Fuse To A Bomb

  Rona stumbled down the slope. The dust scratched at her eyes, and blood dripped from a cut courtesy of a flying stone. Paolo was in front of her, lurching along in the crazy roar of the swirling gales that continued to whip up around them, as if something alive was trying to stop them from regaining the cave.