Dark World

by George Ivanoff

  ‘We are from another world,’ insisted Newt.

  ‘Well, assuming that you really are from another world, and not sneaking, lying imposters … you’re never going to find a way back to that world on your own. Surely you realise that. You’re just kids. But I have the equipment to assist you. It’s simply a matter of finding the correct combination of frequencies. So play nice. Of course, I can’t spend time doing that until I know this world is safe.’

  ‘Safe?’ said Newt incredulously. ‘It’s already destroyed!’

  Dr Bloom laughed.

  Newt thought her laughter had a nasty edge to it.

  ‘One city and its surrounding area has been partially destroyed. That’s hardly the whole world. It’s not even the whole country.’

  Heat rose to Newt’s face. She felt stupid for thinking the whole of this world had been devastated.

  ‘But why has no one come to help?’ asked Rowan.

  ‘The area has been cordoned off until I have resolved the situation,’ explained Dr Bloom. ‘There is no sense in risking more people and equipment. I have been in contact with the government, and that’s what I told them. Better to not have them snooping around, anyway.’

  ‘Snooping?’ said Rowan. ‘What –’

  He was interrupted by a moaning from behind them. He and Newt whirled around, shocked to see a zombie – that wasn’t really a zombie – shambling through the hole in the wall. They began backing away.

  ‘We’ve got to get out of here,’ hissed Rowan.

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ huffed Dr Bloom, striding up to the man. ‘This is Brian.’

  Brian wore a blue cleaner’s uniform, with a little feather duster tucked into the belt. A name tag over the pocket read, Hi. I’m Brian. His sad, blank eyes were sunken into a wasted face, with puckered skin and a misshapen nose. One of his ears was missing, but other than that, he seemed more or less whole.

  ‘Where have you been?’ Dr Bloom berated him. ‘I sent you for coffee over an hour ago.’

  He grunted in response.

  The kids watched in astonishment as Dr Bloom snatched the coffee cup out of Brian’s outstretched hand. She took a tentative sip, pulled a face and spat it out. ‘Urgh! Cold! And instant. For goodness sake, I’ve shown you how to use the espresso machine.’ She thrust the cup back into his hands. ‘Why do I bother?’

  She turned back to see Newt and Rowan cowering.

  ‘He’s perfectly harmless,’ she explained. ‘Almost no mental capacity, but he is useful for fetching and carrying.’ She sighed. ‘And I had hoped he might be able to handle coffee.’

  ‘But … but the ones outside ch-chased us,’ stammered Newt.

  ‘They just want human contact,’ said Dr Bloom dismissively. ‘They wouldn’t have hurt you.’

  ‘Oh.’ Newt suddenly felt sad for Brian and the other zombified people. And again, appalled at the scientist’s attitude.

  ‘Now,’ said Dr Bloom. ‘Everything is set up and ready, apart from the Volt Cannon. You can help me get it out of storage.’

  She turned on her heel and headed into the corridor, Brian ambling along behind her, cup in hand.

  ‘I feel really sorry for Brian,’ said Rowan. ‘Is it just me?’

  ‘It’s not just you,’ Newt assured him.

  ‘And what’s with the Volt Cannon?’ continued Rowan. ‘She just happens to have some massive electric weapon in storage?’

  Newt shrugged.

  They followed Dr Bloom down the unobstructed part of the corridor to a large metal door at the end. A palm scanner on the wall unlocked it and they entered a warehouse. There was row after row of wide shelving, divided into aisles.

  Dr Bloom operated a set of controls to the left of the doors, which manoeuvred a machine that ran along rails on the ceiling. It looked like an inverted forklift. After lowering several large crates onto one of the trolleys parked to the right of the doors, Dr Bloom led them to it.

  ‘I’d normally get workers to fetch any equipment I need, but we’re a little short staffed.’ She chuckled at her own bad joke. ‘So, you can help Brian with this.’

  The three of them pushed the trolley down the corridor to the hole in the wall, while Dr Bloom walked beside them, repeatedly telling Brian to either be careful with the delicate equipment or to move faster. Newt felt even sorrier for him. Being reduced to this zombie-like state was bad enough; but having Dr Bloom as a boss made it so much worse.

  Debris made it impossible to get the trolley into the Portal Chamber, so they had to lift and heave the crates through manually.

  After the crates were opened, Dr Bloom barked instructions at Newt and Rowan for the assembly of the Volt Cannon. This was beyond Brian, so Bloom sent him for more coffee.

  It was quite large when finally put together, sleek and menacing, upon a swivel base. There was a stool and control panel that moved with the barrel.

  ‘I supposed that’s the firing mechanism.’ Rowan pointed to a large red button.

  ‘Keep your hands off the controls,’ snapped Dr Bloom. ‘I’ll be operating it by remote.’

  ‘Why do you even have this thing?’ said Newt, getting up the courage to ask. ‘I mean, isn’t this a science facility?’

  ‘Oh my, you are naive, aren’t you,’ responded Dr Bloom. ‘Multiverse research is my pet project – what I’m really interested in. But there’s no money in it. Not yet anyway. If you want to make science pay, there’s no better way to do it than with a nice, fat government weapons contract.’

  ‘What? No. You mean …? What?’ Newt struggled to get her words out. ‘What about ethics?’

  ‘Ethics are an impediment to research,’ said Dr Bloom, as she strode over to a control panel on a smaller raised metal dais to the side of the large one. As she pushed buttons and flicked switches, machinery began to move around them.

  ‘I do not like her,’ Rowan said quietly to Newt.

  Three large metal arms lowered from the ceiling, each ending in a device that looked like a cross between a radar dish and a fancy high-tech speaker. The three arms converged around the main dais.

  These must be the frequency oscillators, thought Newt.

  ‘Okay,’ Dr Bloom called back to them. ‘I’m about the open up the portal. You might want to take cover. My control sphere only has room for one.’

  A bubble of energy crackled around the Doctor and her controls.

  ‘What do you mean?’ said Newt. ‘What’s a control sphere?’

  ‘It’s my own personal energy field,’ explained Dr Bloom. ‘Quite impenetrable. Keeps me safe.’

  ‘What about us?’ yelled Rowan.

  ‘You can’t leave us out here,’ shouted Newt.

  ‘Yes I can,’ answered Dr Bloom. ‘Powering up.’

  A high-pitched whine filled the chamber, and began to get louder.

  ‘Five!’ Dr Bloom began to count down.

  ‘Outside,’ cried Rowan.

  ‘Four!’

  He and Newt raced for the hole in the wall.

  ‘Three!’

  The whine grew louder and higher.

  Rowan and Newt jumped through the hole.

  ‘Two!’

  The wall was vibrating with sound as Newt leaned against it and peered back into the chamber.

  ‘One!’

  The whining reached a pitch beyond the capacity of the human ear. But Newt could still feel the sound around her.

  ‘Activate!’

  Reality fractured above the dais.

  Malevolent darkness roiled within it, surging forward.

  Newt held her breath.

  Rowan screamed.

  The Volt Cannon blazed into life, firing a crackling surge of energy towards the newly opened portal. It sizzled into the dark world within, exploding in a turmoil of lightning.

  The shrieking from the darkness was almost deafening. Out in the corridor, Newt and Rowan clasped their hands over their ears.

  As the sound and light subsided, the churning darkness stayed within i
ts own world.

  ‘It’s not coming out,’ breathed Rowan.

  ‘I think it worked,’ said Newt. ‘I think she’s stopped the darkness.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Rowan pointed to another mechanical arm that was lowering from the ceiling.

  ‘No idea,’ said Newt. ‘But why is the portal still open? If the darkness has been stopped, why hasn’t she closed it?’

  Energy crackled from the end of the arm. Not a lightning bolt like the Volt Cannon had discharged, but a more focused, concentrated beam. It stabbed forward into the portal. Inside the dark world, light flared and energy cracked. A screeching, far more intense than earlier, filled the air.

  The energy beam withdrew from the portal.

  Newt gasped. The beam was pulling something out … a bubble of energy, like a smaller version of the one that protected Dr Bloom. Within the bubble was a tiny amount of churning darkness. Contained. Captured.

  ‘She’s stealing bits of it,’ said Rowan.

  More darkness surged after it through the portal.

  ‘And the darkness isn’t happy about it,’ Newt pointed out.

  The Volt Cannon fired again, electricity arcing into the dark depths.

  The pursuing darkness withdrew.

  The arm with the captured bit of darkness disappeared into a compartment in the ceiling.

  And then another arm lowered.

  ‘She’s doing it again,’ gasped Rowan.

  ‘She doesn’t care about this world’s safety,’ said Newt. Horrified, her mind ran through the possibility of the darkness escaping and attacking this world again. And of more darkness forcing its way in, seeking revenge. ‘She doesn’t care about anything other than her research. This is not what science is supposed to be like.’

  ‘If only we could stop her,’ said Rowan.

  ‘We can!’ Fuelled by her sense of scientific morality, Newt sprang into action.

  I can’t believe I’m doing this, she thought, racing across the chamber to the Volt Cannon.

  As the metal arm lowered into place between the cannon and the portal, Newt slammed her hand down on the firing control.

  The cannon flared into action, a surge of energy striking the mechanism. With an explosion of sparks and smoke, the metal arm fell to the floor – useless.

  ‘What are you doing?’ screamed Dr Bloom from her protective bubble. ‘You are a saboteur.’

  ‘I am not!’ declared Newt. ‘I’m just trying to keep this world safe.’

  ‘I’ll teach you to interfere with my experiments.’ Dr Bloom wrenched at her controls.

  The Volt Cannon spun around, its barrel knocking Newt off her feet. She sprawled across the floor and looked up into the nozzle of the weapon.

  Her mouth went bone-dry as she thought, this is it!

  ‘No!’ Rowan shouted and sprinted the length of the chamber, throwing himself between the cannon and Newt.

  Newt stared in disbelief. Was Rowan willing to get zapped in order to save her?

  Then something unexpected happened.

  A point of light appeared in the dark world beyond the portal. It moved towards them.

  Newt saw Dr Bloom’s attention and priorities shift in a fraction of a second. The scientist frantically began operating her controls. The whine of the frequency oscillators returned, powering down. And the vibrations in the air ceased.

  But the portal remained open, wavering at the edges as if it were about to collapse.

  And the ball of light grew larger and nearer.

  ‘What’s happening?’ yelled Newt.

  ‘I don’t know,’ cried Dr Bloom. ‘The oscillators are powered down, but the portal won’t close.’

  The Volt Cannon swivelled back around to face the portal.

  For a moment, Newt thought that this time Dr Bloom might indeed be the cause of this world’s destruction. If the portal wouldn’t close, how long would it be before the darkness got through? Surely the Volt Cannon would run out of power eventually.

  The darkness, however, made no further attempt to get through the portal. Instead, the ball of light came nearer and nearer until it popped out onto the dais. Almost immediately the crack sealed up behind it.

  The portal was closed.

  ‘Scanning.’ Dr Bloom continued to operate her controls with a frantic enthusiasm. ‘It’s radiating energy. Powerful energy. Beyond that, my equipment is unable to fathom it.’ She kept up a stream of commentary to herself. ‘Energy is slowly reducing. But what’s the source? What is it?’

  She finally gave up and regarded the sphere. Dr Bloom gaped, hesitated, then switched off her energy field. Jumping down, she approached the dais.

  As Rowan helped Newt to her feet, she saw Dr Bloom shoot her a venomous look – but then the scientist’s attention was back to the sphere.

  Better to be shot with a glare than a cannon, thought Newt.

  The silence stretched, as all eyes focused on the sphere with anticipation.

  ‘Hello.’ The voice came from the sphere of light. It was squeaky, but loud, as if being amplified. ‘I’m going to come out now. Okay?’

  No one responded.

  After about half a minute, the sphere of light began to gradually dim. As it did so, a figure became visible.

  ‘It’s a person,’ said Newt.

  ‘It’s a boy,’ said Rowan.

  A pimply teenage boy in purple robes. Looking all of sixteen, he had bright orange hair, green eyes that seemed too large for his face, and a long, thin nose. His back was hunched. He was sweaty and red-faced. He appeared exhausted.

  ‘I am Stygian Glimmerloss, the one hundred and thirteenth. Heir to the House of Glimmerloss. Mage of War to the Queendom of Zanak. Advisor and confidant to Her Royal Highness Queen Xanxia. And …’ he seemed particularly chuffed about this one. ‘… Traverser of Worlds.’ He spread out his arms in a grand gesture. ‘Behold my greatness!’

  He sneezed, resulting in a string of snot dangling from his nose. He sniffed it back up.

  ‘Sorry about that.’

  Newt and Rowan were lost for words.

  ‘Thanks for opening the portal,’ said Stygian. ‘I’ve been stuck in the Dark World for ages.’

  No one said anything.

  ‘And for flashing the beacon,’ continued the young mage. ‘A portal’s all well and good, but I’d never have locked onto it without all those bright flashes.’

  ‘That wasn’t a beacon,’ Dr Bloom said. ‘It was discharged electrical energy, used to keep the darkness from coming through the portal.’

  ‘You were trying to stop it?’

  ‘Of course,’

  ‘Okay. So … what’s electrical energy?’ asked Stygian. ‘Is that, like, you know … an alchemical process?’

  ‘No,’ said Dr Bloom flatly.

  ‘Oookaaay.’ Stygian looked from Bloom to Rowan and Newt, who were only now cautiously approaching. He gazed around at all the technology, then focused his attention back on Dr Bloom. ‘So … I’m going to take a wild stab in the dark here and say, this is a world without magic.’

  ‘Magic,’ whispered Rowan.

  ‘Magic isn’t real,’ said Newt, more to convince herself than anyone else. ‘It’s fantasy.’

  Stygian held out his hand. Flames danced on his palm. ‘Really?’ He grinned at Newt. Then winced, rolled his shoulders and arched his hunched back. The flames sputtered and petered out. ‘Sorry. I’m tired. Getting out of there took a lot of effort. I need a rest.’

  ‘You kept the portal open with magic after I tried to close it?’ said Dr Bloom, almost accusingly.

  ‘You tried to close it?’ Stygian expression saddened. ‘You weren’t trying to rescue me?’

  ‘I didn’t even know you were there,’ said Dr Bloom. ‘Even after I saw the light of your … sphere. I thought it might be some other attack, so of course I tried to close the portal. But it stayed open.’

  ‘I thought you were having trouble keeping it open, so I helped.’ He sighed with a half-hearted smile. �
�Oh well. I’m here now. And I’m still grateful.’

  ‘So, you come from a world with magic,’ said Dr Bloom suspiciously.

  ‘You might say that.’

  ‘You might say that?’ Dr Bloom regarded him shrewdly. ‘Or you do say that? There is a difference.’

  ‘I like you!’ Stygian grinned. ‘I do indeed come from a world with magic … although that Dark World is not it. That’s a place I got trapped in, you might say.’ He held up his hand with a flourish. ‘In fact, I do say.’

  ‘You managed to somehow survive in that Dark World … using magic.’ Newt could almost see the thoughts in the scientist’s expressions. She went from mistrust (which seemed to be her default position) to a realisation that the newcomer could probably be used to her advantage. ‘So, you have some control over the darkness.’

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  ‘You used magic to keep the portal open, after I tried to close it,’ she continued, joining the dots in her mind. ‘But you weren’t able to open the portal yourself.’ A sly smiled crept onto her face. ‘You’re probably going to need my help if you ever want to return to your world.’

  ‘Probably.’

  ‘I suspect an alliance may be in order,’ concluded Dr Bloom.

  ‘Consider negotiations opened,’ said Stygian. He coughed and staggered down from the dais. Dr Bloom moved to help, but he held up a hand. ‘I’m okay. Just weary. And thirsty. I don’t suppose you have any mead?’

  ‘No mead. Sorry,’ said Dr Bloom. ‘Probably best you just have some water, anyway.’

  ‘Water?’ Stygian screwed up his face in disgust. ‘Full of icky germs. People get all sorts of diseases from drinking water.’

  ‘Oh.’ Dr Bloom looked uncertain. ‘I suppose you could have coffee. Or soft drink?’

  ‘What’s soft drink?’

  Dr Bloom turned to glare at Rowan. ‘You. There’s a kitchenette three doors to the right. There should be something in the fridge. Fetch it!’

  ‘Hey,’ complained Rowan. ‘I’m not your servant, you know. You could at least try saying please.’