by D. H. Dunn
“No problem, big brother,” Nima said with a wink.
Her tone carried the same high altitude of confidence he had heard her use a hundred times in the Himalaya. Most of those times worked out.
“It’ll be just like the grun, though I’m sure it will go better than that did.”
Grun? Drew had no time to ask what a grun was, Nima was already striding to the intersection, where Kater and Upala also stood.
“I still do not like this plan,” Upala said. “It is filled with risk, especially to Nima. I am also not certain I can manipulate two portals at the same time, if that is even what is required here. In truth I will not know what needs to be done until I am there.”
“I will assist you,” Kater said. “While watching the running of the Rakhums would be amusing, we are likely better served with me at your side.”
“What do you know about opening portals, Kater?” Merin asked. Lhamu was now tightly strapped to her back, but Nima still stretched to her tiptoes to give the child an additional check.
Drew noticed a green tinge of light, growing on the floor at his feet. He turned around to look back into the depths of the machine chamber behind them as around him Merin and Kater began to argue.
“More than you do, quicklife. I concede that-”
“People!” Drew yelled. “Whatever those cubes are, I think they are gathering on the other side of the machine. There’s a lot of green light coming from back there.”
“Unlikely they can find their way through those narrow confines,” Kater said.
“Do you want to bet all of our lives on that?” Drew asked.
“Nope!” Nima cried, running forward almost before Drew had finished asking the question.
Caught off guard, Kater and Upala stood still for a moment just watching her run before they backed away from the intersection. As a group they all watched Nima charge toward the cube. She began to yell, the words unfamiliar to Drew.
The cube reacted immediately, a vibration shimmering across its surface as it leaned forward toward Nima. Drew heard Merin’s shocked gasp at the sight as they both stood farther back from the intersection of the cross, closer to the opening of the machine chamber.
Nima ran back toward the center of the cross, sneaking glimpses over her shoulder to confirm the cube was indeed turning end over end in pursuit. Drew was shocked at its speed.
He ran toward the center, he needed to be ready to assist Nima if this went south. Nima hit the center of the intersection at full speed, turning sharply and heading to the right where she had a long run to reach the wall of pipes.
The cube arrived at the center only an eye blink after Nima, flipping onto its side and proceeding down the passage in pursuit.
The path to the portals was open.
“Go!” Drew yelled. As Kater and Upala rushed toward the portals, Drew watched her run through the intersection and towards the end of the platform, wishing he could feel better about her chances.
Drew held his breath as he waited for the cube to turn, to head back to the post it was assigned to guard, but it stayed in pursuit of Nima.
It began to slow, Nima gaining distance as she approached the wall she intended to climb. Kater and Upala were scrambling onto the portal platform as the cube came to a halt, exactly halfway between Nima and Drew.
The cube spun in place, turning a new side toward Drew as he felt Merin’s hand on his shoulder.
A line formed on the side of the cube. Drew’s mind took one second too long to understand it for what it was.
A seam.
The cube split without a sound. The two halves quickly reshaped themselves into two, smaller green cubes, one of which resumed its pursuit of Nima while the other began tumbling toward Drew and Merin.
“Shit!” Drew said. He grabbed Merin’s hand and ran for the left side of the intersection, the smaller cube immediately in pursuit.
Upala stared up at the pair of swirling portals, one larger than the other but both now active. She had blue crystals in both hands and ran them gently alongside the edge of what she was certain was the portal back to Aroha Darad. She could feel the azure essences, after all the travelling she had done between worlds, the vibrations of her home world were an unmistakable sensation. The problem was not the portal home, the problem was the larger portal behind it.
It worked like no portal she had ever encountered, and seemed to have a mass of essences intertwined all at once. It felt both warm and cold to her, sending chills up her spine as sweat formed on her brow. She could sense a presence inside the darker swirling mists behind the blues that led home. It was powerful and seductive; it wanted to bleed over into this world, into all worlds.
“Things are not going well back there,” Kater muttered, doing exactly what she did not need him to be doing.
“Focus, Kater!” She had him in contact with the larger portal, using two red crystals to apply the opposite resonance of the Aroha Darad portal, forcing their energies apart.
Thus far it was working, but only barely. Kater fumbled where finesse was needed, he was at the limit of his experience, yet Upala could not manage both.
There was a shower of sparks and colored lightning as the two portals briefly made touched one another. Straining, Upala was able to push a hairsbreadth of shield energy between the two, ceasing the contact.
“We have a problem,” Kater said, staring above them. Upala stole a glance upward.
Carved into the ceiling was a square-shaped opening the same size as a cube. The slightest hint of green light began to color the darkened orifice as she turned away.
“Oh, shit,” she said, appreciating the usefulness of Drew’s word. Things were about to get worse.
Drew pulled Merin down the right intersection from the center of the cross, the clomping sound of the cube gaining behind them. He had only a second to look at the object. About half the size of the original cube, it came up to about his chest. If it was willing to stand still, he might be able to jump over it if he had a running start. It was unlikely the cube would give them those opportunities.
Ahead of them was an open doorway leading somewhere, the room too dark for Drew to make out more than the slightest shadow. At this speed they would be through the doorway in a few seconds, Drew hoping that there was nothing worse on the other side.
“Why this way?” Merin yelled. “Why not back into the machine?”
“More of them back there!”
On either side of them the stone passage gave way to a yawning drop into the darkness. Drew wondered why Orami or Feram never put railings around any of these drops.
Coming too close to the edge, his foot dangled over the nothingness for a second. Merin pulled him straight, nearly pushing him down in her effort to keep him from falling.
The dark entryway loomed, the light from Lhamu’s crystal starting to provide a little more detail. Drew could see something low at the bottom of the doorway, some object at ground level. The pounding of the cube’s surface hitting the stone behind them was like a persistent drum on their heels.
What is that in the other room? He squinted as he ran. Can we jump it?
As they got nearer, the object grew, it was taller than Drew thought at first. It blocked the passage to at least waist level. Drew felt his heart lurch into his throat as he recognized it, his feet carrying him forward.
“A wall!”
Nima ran toward the pipes, her eyes already looking to select the best one to grab first. She could hear the cube’s sides pounding on the stone floor behind her, it had gotten quieter for a second but now it was as loud as before. She could hear the others yelling and saw a flash of blue light out of the corner of her eye to her left. Hopefully that was Upala getting the portal working.
Just a few more steps and she would be at the wall. She began to time her jump, remembering the days when she and Pasang used to race to the old juniper trees at the edge of their farm. He’d usually get to his tree first, but Nima would beat him to the top. It w
as all about knowing which branches to pick.
She leaped, her eyes fixed on a brass pipe long enough for both of her hands, about half a meter higher. She caught it, yet her fingers nearly slipped away. She had not expected the pipe to be moist, the air in the temple was so dry. She held on, pulling herself up and bending her knees to keep her body as far from the ground as possible.
It was only an arm’s length to a higher pipe from there, a quick stretch and swing and she was three pipes up, about two meters off the ground. She pulled herself into a sitting position, looking down.
Stuck on the ground with no hands to climb with, the cube had come to a stop directly beneath her and just quivered. Nima frowned. The cube looked smaller than before. The quivering continued, the cube now violently shaking. Nima’s anxiety increased as she wondered if it was about to explode.
All at once the shaking stopped, the green object as motionless as when she first saw it.
Nima gasped as the cube became narrower, the sides contracting. At first she had thought it might be shrinking, yet it became clear that was not the case.
It stretched, becoming thinner as it grew taller.
Nima frantically looked for higher pipes she might swing to. None looking reachable as the thinning, green device grew closer, the acid-covered surface reaching for her skin.
The green glow above Upala was getting brighter, he emerald cube in the ceiling would be on them in moments. Sweat poured into her eyes as goose bumps and shivers ran through her flesh. The two competing portals each pushed their energies into her as she tried to manage them.
Kater had done enough, after a fashion he had settled into his own rhythm and had stabilized the larger, darker portal to the point where Upala was able to keep the two separated. The portal back to Aroha Darad was open and ready, they now just needed the others back so they could pass through.
The green glow above her became far more intense, and then she was cast in a deep red light. The larger portal spun, newly out of control as Kater dropped one of the crystals he’d had in contact with it so he could shield them.
She glanced up, seeing the green square rendered darker against the dancing crimson energy of Kater’s shield. The cube’s surface bristled with miniature versions of itself, each small square pounding against the shield, making dozens of different impact points for Kater to struggle against.
Upala could hear him grunting in effort as, with one hand, he kept the green cube at bay, and struggled to control the dark portal with his other. All of Upala’s energies were focused on maintaining the Aroha Darad’s blue portal’s isolation from the other and keeping it open.
She cast a hopeful look out at the stone intersection, hoping to see the others running toward them. There was no sign at the crossroad of paths of Drew, Merin, or Nima, and no time to look for them in the shadows.
A fresh wave of exhaustion ran through her. Like Kater, she was running out of strength and they were running out of time.
With Merin at his side, Drew stared at the green shape as it toppled toward them, end over end. Faintly, far across the room, he could see the tiny form of Nima hanging from the pipes on her wall.
His mind worked frantically, trying to think of an option. There was a narrow space on the stone walkway on either side of the cube, but not enough to stand on. One slip and they would fall to their deaths.
The cube was too high to jump. If he knew how to create the shields Upala could, he might be able to move it, but he had no idea if he could, let alone how.
One option remained. He bent his knees, pressing his boots into the stone. If Kater had moved it, maybe he could too.
Just pretend it’s a tackle dummy. That’s made of acid.
With a yell he ran forward, turning his head away and leaning his shoulder in. He prayed he had picked an angle that might knock the cube right off the stone platform, and took one last breath before impact.
He slammed into the side of the cube, arresting its movement with the force of his blow. The acid began burning into his arm and shoulder instantly. He screamed from the pain, his mind overwhelmed by the agony, but the cube was moving.
Yet they were slowing. He could see the edge through his blurred vision, the green shape was about a quarter off the side. Just a little more would do it. He strained everything he had against the pain, but the cube would move no further.
Then a new shout joined his own, a female scream in his ear. Merin appeared alongside him for just a moment, her sturdy form hammering into the cube. Drew felt the object moving and leaned in even harder, the acid eating into his side.
After another heartbeat, the cube toppled over the side of the stone passage and tumbled into the dark depths below.
Through pain and blurred vision, he looked around for Merin. He was on one knee, his right hand on the stone. His left arm was bunched against his chest, his whole left side was on fire. He could feel his pulse pounding in his veins.
“Drew!” she yelled, but it was hard to hear her over the rush of energy running through him, his new healing trying to put him back together. Her right arm came under his, helping him up.
“Baby?” his voice sounded like a wheeze.
She said nothing, or if she answered, he did not hear her. Yet over her shoulder he could see Lhamu’s tiny head still looking back and forth, the glowing crystal casting moving shadows as she did so.
Merin offered her shoulder, Drew throwing his arm around it and allowing her to lead him back through the intersection.
He could see the swirling blue of the portal through his blurred vision. A small relief built inside him even as more waves of exhaustion crashed upon the shores of his injury.
He prayed Nima had made it, his last thought as his mind shut down.
Nima hung from the copper tube, feeling the metal continuing to bend as it struggled to support her weight. There was a second pipe just out of her left foot’s reach. If she could brace herself on that, she might reduce the strain on the metal tube she held on to.
There were no more pipes in reach, nowhere left to go. She was at least three meters above the stone floor. The green cube had stretched and thinned itself into a pole and still it bent toward her, wobbling back and forth as it tried to reach its prey.
No matter how far up she moved, it continued to twist toward her. She felt like she was right back in the trees of the forest again, an angry grun waiting for her, but there was no Tanira here to save her.
She stretched with her left leg, but there was no reaching the other pipe without letting go of the one she was on. The green pole continued to twist toward Nima, it would reach her in moments.
The pipe in her hands twisted again, it would break at any moment.
She would have to jump, have to hope that when she let go of the pipe, she might be able to grab the one by her left foot and slow her fall.
Protect me Chomolungma, Nima prayed. She waited until the line of green wobbled away from her and released her grip.
She fell, heart pounding. Reaching out with her right hand, she managed to catch the second pipe, slowing her fall but wrenching her arm in the process.
She cried out, landing roughly on her side on the stone.
Nima scrambled to her feet, the green pole whipping into the stone behind her just as she did so. It brushed against her leg, searing through her pants and eating into her flesh.
Yelling, she charged toward the intersection and pushed herself to move even faster. She could only hope it would take the cube enough time to put itself back together.
She took the corner of the intersection as fast as she could. She could hear voices calling for her. Looking up at the end of the platform Nima could see the mists of the blue portal twisting and arcing.
Relief washed over her as she saw Drew along with Merin bearing Lhamu, the three of them entering the portal and vanishing. Upala and Kater were waving for her to hurry, shouting over the noise of the magical vortex.
Nima scrambled onto the platform,
Upala’s arms pushing her forward. Her face touched the cool, blue mists and she was transported away.
Upala watched as Nima ran through the portal, vanishing in a burst of azure energy. She was injured, as Drew and Merin had been, but they had all made it.
A quick glance back at the intersection behind them showed the split green cube reforming itself, even as a second cube pounded above them against Kater’s shield.
Behind them, the large, dark portal continued pushing against her. She could feel its hunger to be opened, to allow free whatever might be pushing on the other side.
“Kater!” she yelled. Just the effort of speaking exhausted her. “We have to go! Get in there!”
She could see his teeth gritted, he always did that when he was most frustrated. Crimson energy poured from his hands, reinforcing his shield.
“When you nod you’re ready,” he shouted back to her. “I will drop the shield and we go. You have to move right away!”
She glanced up at the second cube pounding against his energy and out in the chamber where the reformed green cube now toppled toward them. She took a deep breath and nodded.
“Now!” she yelled, turning to twist toward the portal opening. The red light above them winked out as Kater turned as well, a sinister green object now hanging overhead. The dark portal roared into life as she released her control of it, streaming to infect the crisp-blue swirling in front of her eyes.
She jumped into the portal right after her brother, the edges of her vision turning green and blue, hoping she had held their path home open long enough.
The energy of the translation took her away, her body and essence twisting and turning, stretched between worlds as her very being was torn and reformed.
There was an audible rush as she landed on the other side of the translation, her body dropping down onto the cold, brown dirt, landing flat on her stomach.
