“Yeah, it’s a near duplicate all right,” Lucas said, looking at the reactor sitting in the middle of the room. However, unlike in their lab, it wasn’t in its own sealed chamber with a twin-door air-lock system. But it did appear to have most of the same components—the ring of electromagnets, the cold neutron beam, and all the coolant pipes, power cables, and other equipment. To the right was Kleezebee’s version of the Primary Control station, with its twin consoles, video screens, and control instruments in between.
“There’s the E-121,” Drew said, pointing at two familiar looking metal containers in the corner. A three-ring binder was sitting on top of them.
“I’m assuming the containment receptacles are around here somewhere, too?” Lucas asked.
Bruno nodded. “In the bottom container. But DL had us pre-load the reactor with one of the E-121 spheres. You should be all set.”
“Awesome,” Drew replied, rolling over to the containers. He opened the binder sitting on top. “Here’s the procedure manual.”
“Where’s the computer equipment? I need to recompile Trevor’s code,” asked Lucas.
“Our Linux servers are on the first floor, in the data center. Trevor’s up there now, prepping the servers.”
“How’d he know to do that?” Lucas asked.
“You installed the signal boosters, didn’t you?”
Lucas thought about it for a second. “Oh, DL called ahead,” he said, nodding as if he should’ve known the answer. Kleezebee must’ve used a channel other than forty-four since he didn’t remember hearing anything on his radio.
“All Trevor needs is your user name and password to download the code from your cloud storage space,” Bruno said with a hint of impatience in his voice.
“My user name is DRLREMC2 and the password is CATSRULE3X. Do you need the IP address?”
Bruno wrote on a slip a paper before answering. “Trevor already knows your stuff’s on Bitwise Server Group Twelve.”
Lucas figured Trevor must’ve been looking over his shoulder when he accessed his storage space from the lab. It wasn’t a big deal. The source code was his anyway. “Actually, it’s Server Group Eleven. They moved me to a different cloud last week. His stuff’s in a folder called Gigantor, with an upper case G.”
“Got it,” Bruno said, scribbling one more time on the paper before walking to the door. “I’ll get this to him right away.”
Lucas waited for Bruno to leave the room before speaking to Drew. “How do you think Kleezebee’s inter-dimensional beacon works?”
“They’re probably going to open a micro-rift to their home universe, and then send a compressed data stream through it.”
“ET phone home,” Lucas wisecracked.
Drew laughed. “I’d bet it’s an S-O-S that’s encoded with our coordinates within the multiverse.”
“I wonder how long it will take ‘em to respond?”
“The real question is where? I don’t think they’ll send a communiqué back. They’re most likely going to open a portal from their side.”
“Probably down here where it’s secure and out of sight.”
Both of them looked at each other, before staring at the open section of the floor right behind the Primary Control Station.
“You don’t think?” Lucas asked.
Drew smiled. “We’ll know soon enough.”
Five minutes later, Bruno returned. He looked at his watch. ‘Trevor says he’ll be ready in three minutes.”
“That was quick. Damn, those must be some lightning-fast servers,” Lucas said.
“You ready to get started?” Drew asked, flipping through the procedure manual.
“Let’s light the fires and kick the tires, Big Daddy,” Lucas quipped with a military inflection in his voice.
* * *
Forty-five minutes later, they had completed the startup procedures and the reactor was humming along.
“Man, I love that sound,” Lucas said. “So what’s next?”
“There’s a new page of instructions added onto the back,” Drew replied, handing the binder to Lucas.
Lucas looked them over. “Seems simple enough. Let’s get ‘er done.”
Drew entered the new command sequences into his console, while Lucas followed up by adjusting a few of the riser panel’s instruments. It only took another minute to complete.
“That should do it. All we need to do now is wait for DL to call,” Lucas said.
“Let’s hope he got NASA’s reactor working,” Bruno said.
“Yeah, otherwise, we’re all fucked,” Lucas said, leaning back in his chair.
“What’s the word on Larson?” Drew asked Bruno.
“Last I heard, he was in surgery, but he’s expected to pull through.”
“That’s a damn shame,” Lucas replied. “You do realize the first thing he is going to do is call the general and tell him we’re alive.”
Bruno nodded. “Yes, assuming his memory’s intact and he’s able to speak. You cracked his skull pretty hard. There could be permanent damage.”
“Imagine that, a self-serving attorney who can’t think or speak.”
“Just goes to show you, there is a God in Heaven,” Drew added.
Bruno walked out of the room without saying anything.
“I hope we didn’t offend him,” Drew said.
“I don’t see how,” Lucas replied. Then he smiled when a new string of thoughts entered his mind. “Maybe he had one too many spicy burritos today? You may have to loan him your extra can of air freshener.”
Drew laughed.
“So what’s your take on this whole Kleezebee-from-outer-space thing?” Lucas asked, trying to stop his own laughter.
“It’s pretty wild stuff. But when you look at everything we know about him, it all fits.”
“It certainly explains all his toys . . . and his cash.”
“He does seem to always be two steps ahead of everyone else.”
“Well, I’d be, too, if I knew the future.”
“There’s no guarantee his past and our future are always going to be the same. Not when we’re from two different universes.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s not always a slam-dunk.”
“It’s probably a good thing he’s smarter than everyone else.”
“Everyone, except maybe you,” Lucas replied.
Drew looked a little embarrassed when he smiled.
The radio activated with Kleezebee’s voice. “You guys ready?”
Lucas depressed the transmit button on the radio. “Yes, sir. We’re powered up and ready to proceed.”
“On my mark, wait precisely ten seconds, and then engage your neutron beam.”
“Roger that,” Lucas replied in his most military-like voice.
Once Kleezebee gave his mark, Lucas and Drew waited exactly ten seconds, then proceeded with their experiment, firing the neutron beam right on cue. Both Lucas and Drew reviewed the chamber’s video feed to verify the E-121 canister had vanished.
“Looks like it worked,” Lucas told Kleezebee over the radio. “E-121 is on its way.”
Their radio squelched with Kleezebee’s next communication. “Excellent work. Go ahead and power down. I’ll meet you in the surveillance room in one hour.”
“Ten-four,” Lucas responded, before turning down his radio.
“DL can’t be serious,” Drew said. “How’s he going to climb up those stairs on crutches and still get here in an hour?”
“The guards up top must be helping him up the stairs.”
Drew nodded. “So what do you think DL stands for?”
Lucas shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. Next time we’re alone with Bruno, let’s ask him. He probably knows.”
Drew looked at the door behind them. “Let’s go check on Mom while we have some time. I’m sure she could use the company.”
“Good idea. Let’s stop at the mess hall on the way. I’m starving.”
* * *
Ninety minutes later, Lucas
and Drew were chatting in the silo’s surveillance room with Kleezebee, Bruno, and several video technicians after eating and then checking in on Dorothy. Two armed guards had just joined them, taking positions on either side of the elevator doors. Energy domes were still terrorizing the planet, filling the video screens with scenes of destruction and mayhem.
“This had better work; we’re running out of time,” Lucas said, haunted by the activity on the screens. Even though Drew and Kleezebee wanted him to let the guilt go, he couldn’t. It was staring him in the face and he knew it would follow him for the rest of his life.
“How long will it take for your people to answer, Professor?” Drew asked.
“It all depends on their ability to decrypt my message and follow the instructions I sent them.”
“What did you tell ‘em?” Lucas asked.
“I gave them the exact spatial coordinates of this room, as well as my equations.”
“Equations?”
“To open the bridge from their side. When we were marooned on Earth, we had only just begun to explore the possibilities of the new rift-slipping technology. I continued to refine the equations here, but we have no way to know if our people back home have done so as well. The equations I sent will ensure they have what they need to make this happen.”
“Assuming they won’t need some time to build the equipment they need to open the rift. You might be stuck here for a while longer.”
“Certainly a possibility.”
“Maybe they’ve spent the past fifty years perfecting the technology on their own and building the hardware.”
“If that’s true, all they needed to know was that we’re still alive, and our location in the multiverse.”
* * *
Four hours later, Lucas was leaning back in his chair, watching the video screens, when he nodded off for a second. His nose snorted once, waking him up. He looked around to see if anyone noticed. Everyone seemed to be focused on other things and nobody was looking at him.
He stood up and walked briskly around the room, swinging his arms to get the blood flowing. He needed caffeine. “I’m going to run down to the mess hall and grab a soda. Drew, you want one?”
Drew nodded.
“Anyone else? Coffee? Soda? Bagel?” Lucas asked.
Both Bruno and Kleezebee declined.
The video techs ignored him.
As he walked to the elevator, his shadow suddenly appeared ahead of him and started jiggling along the back wall, jumping from one place to another with no predictable pattern. At the same time, Lucas noticed the look in the guards’ eyes changed, as if something had caught their attention. The men leaned to the side and looked past him as he approached the elevator.
Lucas turned around to see what they were looking at and saw a flickering bright light near the center of the room. It resembled a tiny lightning storm, maybe six inches wide, and it was expanding gradually.
“Guys!” Lucas yelled, pointing at the phenomenon. Kleezebee and Bruno turned to face him, as did Drew, whose eyes seemed to grow to the size of ping-pong balls.
The security guards ran past Lucas with their weapons drawn.
Kleezebee scrambled around from the far side of the light and held out his arms. “Stand down,” he told his guards. “They’re our friends.”
The security guards lowered their guns and moved to the right of Kleezebee, who was now standing on crutches a few feet in front of the light. Bruno slipped between the guards and Kleezebee, while the video techs got up from their stations and waited to the far right of the security guards. They all seemed eager to greet their long-lost brethren.
Lucas moved to the left of Kleezebee and put his hand on his mentor’s shoulder as a gesture of solidarity.
Kleezebee looked at him and smiled.
Lucas nodded as Drew rolled in next to him, on his left.
The portal, now six feet in diameter, seemed to stabilize as its oscillating light rays slowed their pace. A trio of green laser beams appeared from the rift’s center, spreading out horizontally across the elevator doors.
“Don’t be alarmed, they’re just following safety protocols and scanning the area,” Kleezebee said.
The beams danced independently around the room, like spotlights piercing the night sky above a Hollywood movie premiere. Their pattern seemed random, moving quickly in multiple directions, until every inch of the surveillance room had been mapped. Then they vanished.
“Here we go,” Bruno said with excitement in his words.
Fifteen seconds later, murky silhouettes of three tiny figures began to take shape at the center of the portal, as if they’d just stepped into view at the far end of a giant funnel.
The figures moved forward, toward the portal’s event horizon, slowly growing in size. The figures thickened and solidified with each passing second. Even though they were no longer hazy shadows, Lucas still couldn’t make out much in the way of detail. Their heads were larger than he expected, perhaps because they were wearing spacesuits or helmets of some kind, and it looked like they were carrying something in their hands.
Lucas looked at Kleezebee and then Bruno. Both men seemed to be mesmerized with anticipation, each smiling like a groom-to-be, enjoying his last night of freedom at a local strip club. Lucas was proud to be sharing this moment with his friends, who had toiled for decades to reach this epic milestone.
It was too bad History hadn’t been invited to this reunion. If it had, Lucas’ name would’ve been forever etched into the annals of time for something positive and historic, never to be forgotten. But he knew that wouldn’t be his future. His would be one of shame and persecution for being the asshole who brought the Krellians and their energy domes to Earth in the first place.
Lucas turned off the self-pity party in his head and turned his focus to his mentor. He wondered what Kleezebee was thinking right now. He couldn’t imagine what it was like for the professor to be without his wife and son all these years, dreaming of them and longing to hold them close again.
Would they be waiting for him on the other side with loving smiles and open arms?
What if they weren’t? What if Caroline was dead or had remarried?
Would getting his people home be enough for Kleezebee, or would it tear his guts out, leaving him a shell of a man?
Drew was sitting next to Lucas’ hip in his wheelchair, looking like a kid waiting for a hot fudge sundae to be delivered, completely oblivious to the complexities of Kleezebee’s homecoming. Drew was a glass-half-full kind of person, always looking on the bright side, always expecting things to work out.
He admired his little brother for having that type of blind faith in the unexpected, but he wasn’t wired that way. Lucas dealt with life’s twisted sense of humor by planning for the worst and hoping for the best. It might seem like an overly simple concept to some, but it allowed him to sleep at night. Especially now, with all the blood on his hands. Fate had a funny way of finding him, often with harsh results.
Lucas looked back at the portal just in time to see the visitors stepping through to his universe. He gasped and his chest tightened forcefully when he realized what had just came through wasn’t human. He wanted to run for cover, but his feet wouldn’t move.
In an instant, his brain recorded what his eyes were seeing: three nine-foot tall creatures had arrived, each with a pair of giant claw-like appendages extended out in front. Their bodies were burnt orange in color and made of stacked layers of donut-shaped modules—like exposed vertebrae—held together by thin connecting tissue or bone. Their heads were stretched back horizontally into an elongated sphere, with two sets of glowing, compound eyes along the front. Mucus dripped from the creatures’ mouths, sliming down to the floor as the aliens moved. A collection of tentacles hung down from the rear of their exoskeletons like dreadlocks, maybe twenty feet long, with a pulsating orifice on each end. Stinger-like tails thrashed about behind the creatures, with barbs or serrated edges along the pointed tips.
&nb
sp; Two of the creatures advanced forward, standing in front of the third like a football team’s offensive line moving to the line of scrimmage to block access to the quarterback. The first two aliens were carrying grappling devices mounted to their claws.
Before the two security guards could get off a shot, the aliens fired, impaling the men with the jagged hooks. Almost immediately, the creatures retracted their weapons, ripping the men apart from the inside. Blood and guts splattered everywhere.
The third alien raced forward, using the back of its mighty claw to knock Bruno, Kleezebee, and Lucas across the room in one swing. Lucas landed upside down with his back against the wall, knocking the wind out of him. He was dazed, gasping for air, but alive. Bruno landed on top of Kleezebee, just to Lucas’ right. Neither of his colleagues was moving.
The aliens’ tentacles snaked quickly along the floor and began siphoning the human remains through the pliable opening on the ends. When some of the bigger hunks were ingested, the tentacles bulged like a boa constrictor swallowing a rabbit for supper.
Lucas tried to stand, wanting to protect Drew, who was sitting helpless in his wheelchair, but his legs wouldn’t cooperate. The alien was much quicker than Lucas could’ve predicted. It snatched Drew from his wheelchair and wrapped him inside a web of tentacles before carrying him back to the portal. Drew was hanging horizontally against the creature’s side, looking back at Lucas, with his leather pouch hanging free outside his shirt. Lucas cried out for Drew just as the creature disappeared through the rift with his brother in tow.
Two of the techs picked up the security guards’ handguns and fired at the two remaining creatures. The invaders raised their claws to protect their heads while the techs fired a continuous volley into what Lucas guessed were their torsos. A gooey orange substance gushed from their bodies each time a bullet hit its mark. The creatures backed up single file toward the rift, with their tentacles continuing to suck up the last few chunks of the guards.
The creature nearest to the techs took the brunt of the weapons’ fire, while the other one slipped through the portal. The remaining creature appeared to be succumbing to its wounds as it stumbled sideways into the portal’s event horizon. The rift closed around it, chopping off one of its claws and legs. It flopped to the floor.
Linkage (The Narrows of Time Series Book 1) Page 36
