by Pam Stucky
contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Untitled Document
chapter one
chapter two
chapter three
chapter four
chapter five
chapter six
chapter seven
chapter eight
chapter nine
chapter ten
chapter eleven
chapter twelve
chapter thirteen
chapter fourteen
chapter fifteen
chapter sixteen
The Balky Point Adventures
more by pam stucky
connect
acknowledgments
THE SECRET OF THE DARK GALAXY STONE
Pam Stucky
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 Pam Stucky
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For information and permission requests, contact www.pamstucky.com.
Published in the United States by Wishing Rock Press.
Cover design and artwork by Jim Tierney jimtierneyart.com
ISBN: 1-940800-09-9 (print)
ISBN-13: 978-1-940800-09-7 (print)
eBook ISBN-13: 978-1-940800-10-3
eBook ISBN: 1-940800-10-2
www.wishingrockpress.com
for you, dear reader,
and for all the aliens from outer space secretly living on Earth
perhaps the two groups overlap
everything is possible
“We are made of starstuff.”
“We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.”
~ Carl Sagan, Cosmos
chapter one
“I think Rupert needs a friend.” Emma Nelson stared at the two-dimensional life-sized elephant off in the distance, in a space called “the Hub” that stood undefined between “inside” and “outside.” Emma picked subconsciously at the edges of a fresh bandage on her left upper arm, and tucked her legs underneath her on the lush cushion of the sunshine-yellow chair she was sitting on. “I don’t want him to be lonely.”
“A friend?” said Eve. Her long blond hair swayed as she sat down on a midnight-blue couch across from Emma. After months apart, they were together again, enjoying a small but comfortable lounge area they’d created earlier that day in the Hub.
The Hub, a place where all the universes converged, was both a part of every universe, and apart from every universe. Inside the Hub, everything was possible—including the ability to create things with the power of one’s mind, like a couch, or a two-dimensional elephant.
Eve followed Emma’s gaze to study Rupert. “He doesn’t seem lonely?” she said, her words more a question than a statement. She settled a plate of carrots into her lap and picked one up. A wide bracelet, set with several small rocks of various types, slipped down her arm as she brought her hand up to her mouth.
“It’s hard to say,” said Emma, still watching as the paper-thin pachyderm swung his trunk and munched, in his own way, on the tall grass. “I was reading up on elephants last semester. They like company. The girl elephants especially like to be part of a herd. But the boy elephants like to travel alone sometimes. So I’m not sure, since Rupert is a boy. Maybe he likes being alone. Still, I think he needs a friend.” She rubbed the area around her bandage again and frowned at the slightly bruised feeling. The scientist who had drawn blood had told her it wouldn’t hurt. The scientist had lied.
Emma’s twin brother, Charlie, overheard this conversation as he and their friend Ben Stewart joined Emma and Eve in the lounge. Charlie rolled his eyes and punched his sister lightly in the shoulder as he squeezed himself next to her in her chair. “Dork. Point One: Rupert is not a real elephant. Point Two: there’s really not room for a herd here, don’t you think?”
Emma punched her brother back with slightly more force. Charlie and Ben had gone off to the Hub’s new Experimental Building without her, while she was left behind to be tested and prodded. “Dork. Point One: who’s to say whether Rupert is ‘real’ or not? Just because he doesn’t fit your definition of ‘real’ doesn’t mean he’s not completely and totally real. I mean, he exists, right? That’s real. And Point Two: we are in the Hub. The Hub is infinite. By definition, there is plenty of room here for pretty much anything. And in the Hub everything is possible. Therefore, if we want to give Rupert a herd, we can. Hmph.” She would forgive her twin soon enough; she always did, and besides, he had meant no harm. Still, she wished they would have waited for her. All those tests had been disconcerting and a bit scary, and had put her on edge.
Ben sat down next to Eve and grabbed a carrot from her plate. “Emma has a point there, Charlie. It’s the Hub. We can do pretty much anything. Within reason.” He looked at the bandage Emma was still picking at and frowned sympathetically. “More tests today?”
The young girl twisted her neck to peer down at her shoulder. “Yeah. Dr. Waldo wanted blood drawn. He also wanted to know if I just happened to have some blood saved from before I traveled through the universe. Like I keep vials of blood around! What they drew today will just be a control, I guess. Something to compare my future blood to if I ever travel like that again.” Which I sort of hope I don’t, she thought. She glanced at Ben and thought she saw a quick look of concern pass over his face, but when she looked again, it was gone.
Twins Charlie and Emma had returned to Dogwinkle Island for their two-week winter break of their senior year of high school, having spent the previous summer on the island. The previous summer had brought them far more adventure than they’d ever imagined—discovering a portal to other universes just a few miles from their vacation cabin, and subsequently traveling with Eve, who was not from Earth, and Ben, who was, to other planets and universes. Among the many incredible places they’d discovered was this Hub. Dr. Waldo, a man from Eve’s planet Lero who led scientific operations in the Hub, had explained to them that anything that was possible anywhere, was also possible in the Hub. With each universe being infinite, and the number of universes being infinite, that meant pretty much everything was possible somewhere. And, by extension, within the Hub, everything was possible.
Their adventures had opened up their minds in more ways than they could have imagined—especially Emma’s. The scientists had discovered methods to travel through space and time with the aid of portals such as the one at the island’s Balky Point Lighthouse (called “elevators”), or with devices they’d invented. Emma, however, had discovered the ability to travel through space and time using nothing but her own mind and energy.
And it had nearly broken her.
When the summer had ended, the twins had gone back home. Ben, who lived on the island, had stayed on as an apprentice to Dr. Waldo, commuting to the Hub from his home at the south end of the island, in the town of Wishing Rock. Each day he drove up to Balky Point and walked through the lobby of the lighthouse into what looked for all the world like a storage closet, and then walked out the other side … into the Hub.
Since leaving the island, Emma and Charlie had spent most of their time thinking about getting back. They’d given their parents almost no choice bu
t to return for the winter vacation, and had just gotten in the day before. Immediately on Emma’s return, she had been scuttled away for testing. MRIs, CAT scans, Emma had no idea what all the tests were. All she knew was that the scientists in the Hub were intensely interested in her ability to transport herself and others anywhere in the universes.
But she just wanted to visit with her friends.
Well, visit with her friends … and explore.
While Emma had been whisked away to be prodded and scanned, Ben had taken Charlie to see the new Experimental Building. Last Emma and Charlie had seen it, the building—and everything else in the Hub—had been completely destroyed by a man who was under the influence of The Void, a dark entity that was spreading throughout the universes. Over the last few months, Dr. Waldo and his colleagues had undertaken the enormous task of recreating the science lab, the housing cabins, the lawn, everything, right down to Dr. Waldo’s favorite “elephant in the room,” Rupert. Ben, as Dr. Waldo’s apprentice, had been allowed to help, and Emma was beyond jealous. To know that Charlie had seen the new Experimental Building before she had—a building where Dr. Waldo played with ideas, creating rooms such as a maze of thought and a garden of secrets—had put her into quite a mood. Ben and Charlie were lucky Eve was there now, to help ease the tension.
Emma bit her tongue and reminded herself it was no one’s fault that she and Charlie had been forced to go back to school. They were here now, after all. But come next summer, Emma was determined to return and work at the Hub for good.
“Did Dr. Waldo find anything in all those tests?” Eve asked. Sensing how much it had bothered Emma that Charlie and Ben had gone off without her, Eve had stayed behind. She spent most of her time at the Hub, anyway, and had already seen its marvels. Eve patted her own shoulder in sympathy with Emma’s. “Your poor arm.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Emma lied, averting her eyes. “Not yet.” She looked across at Ben, who was still chomping away on carrots from Eve’s plate, and changed the subject. “So what’s it like working here? Do you love it? I’m so jealous.” She smiled.
“It’s amazing, Em,” said Ben, enthusiasm beaming out of him. He spread his arms wide and looked up at the sky. “All of this. I watched them create all of this, just from the power of intention. It’s trickier than you’d think. So easy to get it wrong and mess up. Took me a while to figure it out, but I’m starting to get the hang of it. The Experimental Building is great for that. Dr. Waldo gave me a whole wing of the building. It’s mine to just try things out and practice and learn. When I’m not inputting data and logging information, that is.” He laughed. “It’s not all exciting and glamorous. I mean, the creating stuff and the travel to other planets and stuff, that’s incredible. But sometimes, it’s just computer work.”
Emma’s heart jumped to her throat. “Travel to other planets? You’ve done more of that?” she said, trying to sound nonchalant. She finally noticed that Ben was wearing a bracelet that matched Eve’s—bracelets that she knew were much more than met the eye. The stones embedded in their bands enabled their wearers to camouflage themselves amongst aliens, breathe in foreign atmospheres, translate other languages, and much more. She subconsciously rubbed her wrist where she, too, once wore a bracelet.
Ben noticed the subtle movement. “I’m sure Dr. Waldo will let you have your bracelet back,” he said. “And yeah, just a few planets, mostly to stand there and take down information while the scientists do their work. I’m just an apprentice. But it’s been pretty cool.” He couldn’t help but smile.
“That’s awesome, Ben,” said Emma. “I mean, I’m totally jealous, but, you know, we had to go to school. So.” She turned to Eve. “What about you and your dad? Any luck? Any more clues leading to your mom?”
Eve and her father, Milo, had originally come to Earth with a mission: to find the man who was threatening to destroy the universes, and stop him. With the help of Emma and the others, that task had been completed. However, in the course of events, it came out that they had another goal, as well: to find Eve’s mother. She had disappeared without a trace more than a year before. Searching all the ever-expanding universes was an impossible task; still, Eve was determined. After Emma and Charlie returned to school, Eve hadn’t taken on a full-time role at the Hub as Ben had; after all, she was a year or two younger. (The difference in their ages was difficult to say, exactly, given the tricky nature of time, and the fact that they were from different planets with different-length years.) But she’d spent plenty of time in the Hub, as well.
Eve sighed heavily. “Not really.” She hesitated. “There’s one thing, but we can’t really figure it out.”
Charlie leaned forward. “One thing? What’s that? Maybe we can help! We’re the smartest people we know!”
Eve laughed. “I’m sure it’s nothing,” she said, digging through the red-and-yellow-striped oversized bag next to her feet. “She just left us some notes, is all. The weird thing is that it seems like some notes are missing.”
“What do you mean?” asked Emma. She squeezed herself out of the chair she was sharing with Charlie and re-situated herself on the arm of the couch, peering over Eve’s shoulder.
“Well,” said Eve. She pulled some envelopes out of her bag and handed one to Ben and one to Emma. “Look at the top of the notes. Mine says ‘Read this second,’ and Dad’s says ‘Read this third.’ But we can’t find the first note. And that’s got to be the key. We’re supposed to read it first.” She scrunched her face in a look of frustration and shook her head. “We’ve looked everywhere.” Finishing the last of the carrots, she moved the plate to a low table beside the couch.
Emma quickly scanned the envelope Eve had given her. She read out loud the words written along the back of the envelope, just a few words per line:
Remember:
Your mother
will always love
her girl
and nothing
can EVER
change that.
She looked at Eve, whose eyes were glistening. After pulling out the note, Emma handed the envelope to Charlie for his inspection.
“READ THIS SECOND,” Emma read from the note. “That’s what it says at the top, in all caps.” She paused. “Wait a minute. I can read this. I don’t have a bracelet on, with the translating rock. Why can I read this? Isn’t it written in your language? Is my brain …” she trailed off. Was her brain starting to change somehow? Had traveling through space knocked loose something inside her head, making her now capable of translating alien languages? Could she …
“Dork,” Charlie said to Emma, reading the envelope she’d handed him. “It’s written in English.” He looked at Eve. “I’m right, right? It’s written in English? My brain hasn’t changed, and I can read this. But why is it written in English?”
“You’re right, it is. And that’s a good question,” said Eve. “I know Mom visited Earth at least a few times. She worked with Dr. Waldo a lot, and your Earth is his favorite planet along this elevator’s track. I’m sure she picked up on his enthusiasm for your planet. But why would she write the notes in your language instead of ours? We don’t know. We hadn’t found these letters the first time we visited Earth. But now that we have, I’m all the more convinced there’s some connection. We just have to find it.”
Mildly disappointed but also a little relieved that her brain had not changed into an automatic translator, Emma continued reading the note. She began again.
READ THIS SECOND
My darling,
You are always on my mind. I’m so sorry I’ve been gone. When we
are reunited, I will explain everything. I miss you, but
I know you are smart and clever and will be all right. You have such
a good mind. I smile when I think of you, as a child, solving puzzles.
We’d all watch as your mind whirred, putting pieces together.
I loved watching you. Seeing you grow into a brilliant young woman has
been a blessing. I will see you again soon. In the meantime, may the
Planet Xylia shine on you at night.
Ever yours,
Mom
Emma looked at Eve for her reaction. Eve’s face was woven with resolve: she would not cry. Emma looked away out of courtesy.
“Huh,” said Charlie. “It doesn’t say a whole lot, does it? But she’s thinking of you, that’s good?”
Eve nodded.
“What is the planet Xylia?” asked Ben. “Is that a clue?”
“It’s just a really bright planet in the sky. I used to ask Mom to help me find it at night when I couldn’t sleep,” explained Eve. “We made wishes on it. Seeing that it was still there made me feel safe. But it’s not a clue, I don’t think.”
“What does that note say?” Emma said, nodding at the note in Ben’s hands.
“It’s short,” Ben said. “Nothing written on the envelope.” He put the envelope down next to him on the couch, and read from the letter.
READ THIS THIRD.
Milo, remember when we met?
Our trust and our love were so strong. I hope we can
return to that trust and love. You and Eve
are my everything. I shouldn’t be gone long.
When I return, I hope we can talk. I still love you.
Kata
“Kata, that’s your mom’s name?” Emma asked softly.
Eve’s face was hidden behind the waterfall of her hair. She nodded. Ben reached over and gave her a silent hug.
“That’s deep stuff there,” said Charlie.
“Mr. Obvious,” said Emma, rolling her eyes.
