The Missing Link

by David Tysdale

Professor Philamount wiped his hands nonchalantly. "Suppose that laundry had been an avalanche crashing into your landing site? Never take anything for granted. Look ahead and anticipate." He produced a brick of cheese from his pocket, broke off a large chunk and held it out. "Eat."

  Carole was suddenly aware that her hands were shaking and that she was breathing hard. She collapsed onto a nearby crate and gnawed hungrily on the cheese. "It comes on fast."

  The professor's expression was serious when he nodded.

  "Was the school here at the time of the Great Fire?"

  His caterpillar-like eyebrows arched up slightly. "It was one of the few structures to survive. Why do you ask?"

  "No particular reason. Do you know much about it?"

  "Few relevant documents remain."

  "There aren't any records about the tunnels, either? Don't you find that odd?"

  Professor Philamount cocked his head to the side and peered at Carole with a hawk-like expression. "Look about you, Miss Sylphwood. What you see are the remnants from a time when multitaskers visited dimensions with such frequency and in such numbers, that lineups at popular tunnels were not unusual. Undoubtedly there are items of great historical significance in this very room. Alas, their value is no longer recognized."

  "Don't people care?"

  "The Hub has never been a large community, and with each passing generation, those of us with the ability or desire to leap, grow smaller. We simply cannot do it all."

  "But the tunnels? Aren't they what define us as multitaskers?"

  "Certainly they are one of the defining elements. But even at the time of the Great Fire, there were more tunnels available than leapers to use them." Professor Philamount stood up. "If you are ready, begin again."

  In the ensuing hour Carole learned to avoid obstacles at her landing site, to reverse direction and even to change her destination in mid-flight.

  The professor finally dismissed her for the day. "Same time tomorrow, and bring food and a jacket with you."

  Carole stumbled down the stairs exhausted and with teeth chattering, but she still took time to examine the wall at the far end of the fourth floor. It was as she'd thought. There was no stairway to the second tower.

  --14--

  When Carole went to the library after school. she found it empty except for the Deville twins and Amanda Cleroux. Zack was sitting between the girls, talking animatedly to Amanda. Lilly was scowling.

  All three of them turned as she came in.

  Zack all but crowed. "Way-ta-go, Sylphwood."

  She slumped into a chair and raised one eyebrow in question.

  "Can the false modesty. Amanda told us what you did to Rizzo in your Travel's class."

  "Oh that." Carole said, as she rubbed the fatigue out of her neck.

  "Take on Hotspot's sidekick like it was nothing? You got guts, girl. Course we already knew that."

  "The man gets into trouble once in his life and swears off leaping for good. He's supposed to be preparing us for transdimensional travel, not scaring us off it with all his horror stories."

  "But you're the only students who've ever made a real jump, Carole," Amanda said. "The rest of us haven't even faced Point Puke, yet."

  "That's my point. Rizzo makes it seem like every leap will be your last. So he was attacked by a bunch of crabs, big deal. If he treated them like he treats us, it's no wonder they turned on him. Heck, we made it here without any training at all."

  "How did you do it?"

  A look of alarm crossed Lilly's face.

  "Ah...it was a fluke." Carole wished she'd kept her mouth shut. "They say it was because of an overlap of the fluxing dimensions. Something similar happened to Professor Philamount. That's how he found me in the first place."

  "Oh, I see." Amanda looked thoughtful. "So that can't happen anymore."

  "Not since the tunnels have all been reconnected and the dimensions have stopped wobbling."

  "Too bad. I'd really like to see another dimension."

  "You'll get your chance after graduation."

  "Only if I pass the 'Dive of Destiny'."

  "I'm sure you'll do that," Zack said.

  Lilly gave her brother a piercing glance. "Oh really, and you have a crystal ball?"

  "I'm just saying, it's obvious Amanda can think for herself."

  Lilly snorted. "Right."

  "So what've you got for me?" Carole said quickly.

  Amanda reached into a folder. "Just two pages for now. Lilly and Zack have already finished."

  "Some good questions, too," Zack said. "Interesting the local eggheads didn't think to ask them."

  Carole picked up the papers and began to read.

  "So, are we still going?" Zack said into the silence a short time later.

  Lilly's foot bumped Carole's as she kicked him under the table.

  Carole pretended not to notice. "I suppose so." She spoke with deliberate disinterest, as if Zack's question was of no great concern.

  Amanda regarded Zack with obvious curiosity. "Going where?" she finally said.

  "To--" he began.

  "To help Carole do a little History research for Melamine's class." Lilly smiled and caught Carole's foot again as she gave her brother another solid whack on the shin. "We're really just keeping her company so she won't be so bored."

  "Here?"

  "No, in the archives," said Carole.

  "Oh, you're doing real research. I could help if you'd like?"

  "Why'd you want to do that?" Lilly said, a little too sharply.

  "Never been to the archives. Besides, you're helping me out."

  "You don't mind being seen in public with monobrains?"

  Amanda looked a little embarrassed. "Multitaskers used to pride themselves on linking with beings from different dimensions."

  Zack snorted. "So long as it isn't us."

  "Well Professor Hotspot says we have to be careful not to trigger another Conundrum, and it was a ,monobrain who caused the first one."

  "And you agree?" Lilly said.

  "No. At least not totally. I suppose we do need to be careful, but I want to visit different dimensions, and so do my friends. It's just... Professor Hotspot does have a lot of influence."

  "But, of course he doesn't scare you?" Lilly said, almost like a challenge.

  "I never said that." Amanda clasped her hands together and stared at them for a time. "I wouldn't be much of a leaper if I couldn't even talk to you guys, but it's hard. People are becoming more rigid. You know...the virus. And like I said, I'm not the only one. My friends would love to get to know you."

  "So long as it isn't in public."

  "Take it easy, Lil," Zack said.

  "Why haven't we seen her at any of Professor Seafeather's gatherings. Aren't they considered respectable?"

  Amanda looked uncomfortable. "You weren't here before. You don't know what it was like. Leapers got blamed for everything. A lot of them left. My parents are both leapers, but they still protected me from becoming one of 'Feather's Flakes.' They said it would make life easier in case my dive wasn't successful."

  "Isn't being seen with us, just as bad?" Lilly said.

  Zack screwed up his face at his sister. "You're such a grouch today."

  "No, she's right. It's just... I've realized that being a leaper is more important to me than worrying about what others think. More important than being a 'flake'."

  Carole stood up and handed the completed questionnaire back to Amanda. "We'd best be going, if we want to catch the archives before they close."

  "I'd still like to help," Amanda said.

  "Great," Zack said. "The more the merrier."

  --15--

  Carole pushed through the ornate set of double doors at the archives. They opened into a cavernous auditorium. Ringing the stadium-sized space, and rising floor upon floor towards a domed ceiling, were thousands upon thousands of book-lined shelves.

  "Look at the size of this place," Zack said. "We'll be here all night."
>
  "Oh come on!" Lilly snapped as she pushed past him. "Just ask the librarian."

  A pinch-faced woman was seated behind an enormous desk to the side of the doors, just within the hall. "Yes?" she said in a frosty tone when Carole stepped in front of her.

  "We'd like to research some archives," Carole said.

  She stared owlishly. "For what reason?"

  "History class. Professor Melamine."

  "I see. Epoch?"

  "The time of the Fire."

  "There's not a lot from that period. Exactly what is it that you're looking for?"

  "Anything on the fire itself."

  The librarian flipped through her files. "Here, if anywhere. Follow me." She went to a wall containing banks of colored records and thumbed through various groupings before selecting and studying one group. "Hmm. Section forty-three."

  "We don't often get undergraduates in here." She looked pointedly at Zack, Lilly and Amanda. "...of any sort. Take the central stairway behind the fountain." She indicated a gigantic crystal sphere spinning in a shallow pool of water in the center of the hall. "Three levels down, corridor C, section 43. No staff are on duty in the sub-levels so you'll be on your own. I'll likely have left by the time you've finished, but since the material's all reference, you can't check it out. If you need assistance, evening staff can be found on the upper levels."

  Unlike the main floor, the sublevels were cramped and dingy. On the way down, Zack stepped off the spiral stairway, slipped, and made a wild grab for the railing to keep from falling. "You think they could clean once in a while," he said, wiping the dust caked floor with his foot.

  Eventually they reached the third level down. "There's corridor C." Lilly pointed to one of the passageways fanning out from the stairway. She led the way.

  Halfway down the narrow corridor was a small reading alcove with a table and chairs. Lilly scanned the nearby shelves and closed in on those opposite the table. "Forty-three." Amanda slid a ladder over and climbed it to search the highest stacks. Zack squatted in the dust, taking those closest to the floor.

  Carole waited until Amanda was thumbing through the books before she stood back, unfocused her eyes and scanned the area with her subtle sight. There wasn't much to see, except a hint of red in the area where Lilly was already searching. She noticed a similar reddish pulse farther down the corridor.

  "Back in a sec," she said, and continued on to where the passageway ended in a second circular alcove. Here the shelves were stacked with parchment, scrolls and a single oversized book. Like the rest of the passageway, everything was covered in dust. She relaxed her vision. A weak red aura glowed faintly around the book.

  It might have meant nothing but still... Carole pulled the book from the shelf and dropped it on the table, grimacing at the rank cloud of dust that billowed into the air. She opened the hard, ratty cover and read the faded title: Proceedings and Minutes of Special Council meeting 8888873. Boring stuff.

  She glanced over the table of contents anyway. One entry midway down caught her eye. She went back and reread it slowly. Order of business with respect to Malcour Udiken, suspected arsonist responsible for the destruction of The Hall of Records. Pp. 219.

  Carole tried to turn the page, but the paper was so rotten that it crumbled beneath her fingers. The next page also disintegrated. How strange.

  She returned to the shelves and pulled out a piece of parchment. It held together. She rolled it into a tube and unrolled it again. The sheet didn't even crack. She studied the parchment more closely and saw that it was covered with a shiny coating.

  Carole examined a paper fragment from the book. Definitely no coating. So now what? How could she find the page she wanted without destroying it in the process?

  She looked at the parchment still in her hand. It was thin enough. Maybe it'd be strong enough. Carefully, she slid the parchment between two pages of the book and lifted. The upper page fell apart at the binding. She tried again, sliding the parchment all the way in, but not opening the book as far. This time the pages remained intact.

  Carole repeated this process until she located page 219. There was only one entry.

  Motion: That as Malcour Udiken, suspected member of heretical group, Sanctum, suspected arsonist responsible for destruction of Hall of Records and majority of the Hub community, has not been seen since the time of the fire, and is now believed to have either died in the fire or escaped to an unknown dimension, proceedings against said Udiken shall be stayed until such a time, if any, as he returns to the Hub or is apprehended. Motion carried.

  She closed the book and returned it to its place on the shelf.

  Zack looked up as she returned to where he and the two girls were searching through a great pile of books, scrolls and parchments. "Penny for your thoughts."

  "What've you got?" She indicated the scroll he'd been studying.

  Unrolling it, Zack showed her a drawing of a community ringing a solitary mountain. "I can't make out the writing."

  "Neither can I. Amanda?"

  Amanda slid down the ladder and came over to the table. She studied the drawing. "Ancient text," she finally said. "Can learn dead languages in graduate school if you like. Not much point to it, though."

  "Found something," Lilly said, holding up a parchment. "Apparently the community was originally built around the base of the Celestial Nexus. The fire started at the Hall of Records and spread in both directions until most everything burnt up."

  "That agrees with this scroll," Zack said. "The buildings are really close together, except for some housing and... Hey is that the school? See, the same place as now and it has two towers."

  "Which one was the Hall of Records?" Carole said.

  "I'm guessing this one." Zack pointed to a pyramidal structure that seemed to be partially carved from the mountain. "It's the largest of the bunch and looks kinda libraryish."

  "So, assuming the Celestial Nexus hasn't changed much since then, would you agree the steep part here..." Carole pointed to a spot on the mountain directly overtop the Hall of Records. "...is the same cliff face that now has a railing across it?"

  "That's it, all right," Amanda said. "On the eastern face of the mountain. The railing cuts across the rents in the rock where the rainbow tails nest."

  "Rainbow tails?" Zack said.

  "The birds that fly at sunset. You must've seen them."

  "I thought they were funny looking bats."

  "Are their feathers really rainbow colored?" Carole said.

  "Dull gray, though they're supposed to reflect the light of the setting sun when they fly over the mountain. I've never seen it myself, though."

  "And they nest on the Celestial Nexus?"

  "Just that one section, as far as I know."

  Carole considered. "So if the hall was below that cliff, it should be easy to find."

  "Why are you looking for it?" Amanda said.

  "She's into historical sites," Zack said quickly. "Picked it up while living on the Monobrain realm."

  "Oh. Not into ancient stuff myself."

  "Here's something else," Lilly said, still studying her parchment. "Apparently there was fire damage to some of the connectors, but it doesn't say which ones. Hmm, that's all."

  Carole yawned. "I guess we should call it a day. I'm supposed to be home early, anyway."

  They refiled the documents and headed for the main floor. "Thanks for your help, Amanda," Carole said, once they were standing on the front steps, outside the library.

  "It was fun. See ya."

  Zack watched Amanda skip away until Lilly slapped his arm. "Ow! What was that for?"

  "You don't find it strange the way she attached herself to us all afternoon? No one gives us the time of day for months and suddenly we've got a new best friend."

  "She's doing research and needs our help, and she's against Hotspot, for crying out loud. That alone should count for something."

  "I don't trust her. How do we know she's not a spy?"

  "W
e don't," Carole said. "Just be careful what you say around her."

  "She's talking to you, Zack."

  "I never said a thing."

  "You told her about the archives, and you couldn't keep your eyes off her all afternoon."

  "I also saved Carole's butt back there."

  "If you'd kept your mouth shut in the first--"

  "Hey," Carole interrupted. "I just realized, the herd's living where the ruins should be. I'll get Runt to check it out for us."

  "That's a plan," Zack agreed.

  --16--

  The air was thick with delicious aromas. Carole's mouth started to water. She had to hand it to her parents; everything else aside, they were exceptionally good cooks.

  She closed the front door, tiptoed down the hall and peeked into the dining room. Black china had been laid out overtop a white lace tablecloth, and two candles flickered at opposite ends of the table. That wasn't good. Candles were never lit until after the guests had arrived.

  She darted for the stairs, only to find her way blocked by the approach of her mother and Professor Snively Hotspot. Judith Sylphwood was the picture of stiff elegance. Her hair had been pulled into a tight bun from which not a single strand escaped. Her burgundy gown clung to her statuesque figure like a second skin, with the hem dusting the floor as she walked arm-in-arm with the professor.

  Hotspot's appearance was a direct contrast. Greasy hair tangled with mangy beard, to spill onto his chest and shoulders like an unkempt shrub. The one remaining button on his dinner jacket strained against the pressure of his belly, like a dam struggling to hold back a flood.

  Mrs. Sylphwood shot Carole a cool, disapproving look.

  "Ah, here she is at last," Professor Hotspot wheezed, while attempting a bow. "Our most famous multitasker, heroine of the Hub, protector of porcines and messiah of the monobrains."

  Carole wondered how long it had taken him to think up that line.

  "Well?" her mother said.

  "Good afternoon, professor. I understand you've prepared quite the show for us."

  "The duties of office." He sighed theatrically. "Fame is a wicked taskmaster, young Sylphwood. She requires her subjects to constantly struggle for loftier heights. You would do well to consider your own precarious position on her slopes."