A Key to Worlds: A Parallel Worlds Novel

by Mara Amberly

  Nessa didn’t want to do that. She didn’t want to be forced into doing something bad or that hurt someone unnecessarily. She felt bad enough for entering their home and bringing trouble their way. Nessa turned back to the balcony and tucking her handbag under her arm, she ran to the railing to climb over... and felt a sudden rush of wind brush past her outside.

  Did someone just try to shoot me?

  Her survival instinct kicked in and she threw herself over the edge of the balcony and grabbed on to the wall. A sudden wave of pain hit her from the waist down, but by then she was halfway over the wall. She let herself fall over on to the walkway and then she knew she was out of sight from the guards for now. She saw no other guards on the walkway – checking was the first thing she did, but her friend James was collapsed there. He was awake and conscious, but he looked injured.

  She knew she was injured too, but it felt more like bruising than anything more serious. There was no break in her skin that she could see, but she hurt. “We need to get off this wall now before they catch up with us.” Her voice trembled with fear but she couldn’t help it.

  James managed to climb to his feet, crouching beside the inner wall so he could stay out of their line of sight. He was worried and it showed. “It’s time to go, Nessa.”

  They hurried along the walkway, and she unzipped her handbag and pulled out a small coil of rope.

  “Wait a minute. You call that rope?” he asked with a tone of disbelief. “How would that support anything, let alone a person’s bodyweight?” It was the thin nylon kind.

  “I specifically asked for one in the store that was thin and light but strong. How else did you think I was going to fit it in there, James? Magic?” Even with their differences in technology, this worried her.

  “There’s also not much of it,” he said, “but if it means not falling as far, that’s better than jumping from the top or trying to climb down without it.”

  She handed it over to him, and he started tying it around one of the parapets. Nessa hadn’t needed to use the rope before but she sometimes brought it with her as a safety measure.

  James started tying knots at intervals along the rope, and Nessa helped, but it was taking a long time. Soon they spotted a guard distantly climbing over the inner wall. It was this world’s James and he was armed with the pulse gun.

  Her friend James dropped the rope down over the outer wall. He insisted that Nessa climb down first and she didn’t have time or the inclination to argue. She moved to the parapet and it was a long way down, but what choice did she have? Nessa climbed straight over the side, taking hold of the rope. She slipped part of the way, until her grip tightened on one of the knots James had tied. It was really hard to hold on to the rope. It felt like it was burning her fingers.

  She would’ve got a cloth or something better to grip it with but they had to hurry, so she climbed down as fast and as best she could. It didn’t feel safe, but she was halfway down the rope before she saw James climbing over, gripping it high above her. If he fell or the rope broke, he’d fall on top of her. It was incentive to climb down faster. While she and James hung from the rope, they’d be in danger and easy targets. Even running away, how hard would they honestly be to hit?

  She climbed down as fast as she could, and as soon as she was within easy jumping distance of the ground, she dropped down and took cover against the wall, out of James’s way.

  The weapon was fired again and James, her friend, lost his grip on the rope. He fell the final distance to the ground and landed awkwardly on his side.

  “GO!” he shouted to Nessa.

  His meaning was clear, but she didn’t know if he would follow if she ran. If not, then that wasn’t acceptable. She grabbed his arm and got him on his feet, because she didn’t want him to have any bright ideas about sacrificing himself or staying behind on his own. She got him moving, but they were both limping as they made for a gully up ahead. Beyond it were woods that would offer better cover.

  James looked back over his shoulder as he half-ran, half-stumbled, but the other James wasn’t pursuing – at least via the rope. There was no sign of him.

  Nessa felt something whiz by her head but she couldn’t pinpoint where it had precisely come from. She didn’t have time to think about it – she ran as best she could until they reached the gully. They climbed over a small stream, then stumbled into the woods and kept going, so they’d be that much harder to find.

  James was in poor condition and Nessa could tell that he was struggling. Purple-blue bruises were blossoming all along his arms. Nessa was struck by the most intense feeling of guilt, because she felt responsible for this. She wouldn’t wish what he’d been through on her worst enemy and yet bad things kept happening when she was trying to help him. It just seemed like everything she did to help went wrong and she didn’t know what to do.

  “We have to keep going!” James said.

  Nessa nodded to him, and while he hadn’t known what she was thinking – perhaps, he was right. In all ways they had to keep going and maybe, she hoped, things would be better for it in the long run. Right now it seemed like there wasn’t any choice but to try.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Pandora's Home Dimension;

  Terania Settlement, Alverron – 9:14 a.m.

  Not many locations in Terania Settlement required the presence of security, because they didn’t need it. People worked together toward the common good and they socialised together. Even though some people put themselves first above others, it was known that everyone had a part to play for the good of the settlement. The Council had its own security, because they were the leaders of the settlement and not all decisions they made were viewed positively. The exit out of the settlement’s dome was heavily-guarded, as were the old transport tunnels that had once run between settlements, and which were no longer in use, or so was commonly believed.

  Bastian had told Pandora to go to building J-7, by the gate. She and Kailen made their way toward it now, both of them experiencing a general sense of uneasiness. They were near the edge of the dome now, and Pandora paid attention to the mountains in the distance. She wondered what it would be like to be up there, and then all of a sudden she had a flash. She was standing on top of the tallest peak and looking down at the land, including the dome of Terania Settlement. It felt like she was almost in two places at once, only it wasn’t such an all-encompassing vision as that. She was seeing it in her mind’s eye, but the level of detail surprised her. The terraformed areas stood out starkly against the red-brown soil. Somehow she knew something was out there for her. It wasn’t just a desire to leave; something was waiting. She wondered if this would be the opportunity she needed to discover it or if these people would do her harm.

  “Dora?” Kailen’s voice drew her out of her reverie. “If it’s the building I think it is, then that’s it just down the way there.” The laneway where they were ran down beside a non-descript building, which was some kind of warehouse. Kailen pointed out their possible destination ahead. Pandora could make out the number ‘7’ painted on the front of the building in blue paint, and this was J sector. Two guards stood outside.

  “It has to be. Why don’t you wait here and I’ll walk down. Once I reach the door, come closer. That’s unless you want to just come in with me?” A hint of a smile on her face contrasted the nervousness she felt.

  “That would defy the point, don’t you think?”

  Kailen decided to stick with the existing plan.

  “You go ahead. I’ll lurk around and see what I can see. They wouldn’t have guards unless they might be needed.” Kailen looked around for anything else that stood out, but the area was otherwise quiet and nothing else seemed unusual.

  “Be safe.” He kissed Dora with passion and energy, and more than a little fear for her wellbeing.

  Pandora felt it, and she gave him a reassuring smile before she left his side and strode down the laneway to the building, showing more confidence than she felt. As she drew cl
oser, she saw that the building was labelled J-7, just as she thought. Their view of the ‘J’ had just been obscured by the building on the corner.

  There were three guards outside the building’s perimeter that she could see; not just the two she’d noticed at first. They didn’t question Pandora as she approached; in fact, they didn’t stop her at all. One opened the glass door for her, and she walked inside and made her way toward a woman at the desk. She was dressed no differently to much of the population – the same standard clothes, only in dark red, but Pandora thought she had the bearing of a soldier about her. Her auburn hair was swept back and tied into a tight ponytail, she wore no jewellery and she had a firm attitude.

  “What can I do for you?” she asked, waiting for Pandora to explain her reasons for being there.

  While the woman had an intimidating air about her, it was also reassuring to know that not everyone knew who she was. It leant the world a greater feeling of normalcy.

  “I was told to ask for Bastian.”

  “Oh,” the woman answered.

  There it was; that one word triggered Pandora’s paranoia again.

  “I’ll go get him.”

  Pandora didn’t have to wait long. Bastian entered through the inner door no more than a minute later, with a grin that told her that he knew she’d be coming. There were few people she found truly annoying, but already Bastian was one of them. He had an innate ability to piss her off and she blamed it wholly on him.

  “Please come through. The rest of the team will want to speak with you and I think you’ll like what we have in mind.”

  She’d envisioned a worst-case scenario of being dumped out through the gate, at least beyond the terraformed zones, and left to thrive or not. This definitely seemed at odds with that.

  Pandora was shown to a room where she found three Scientists seated and talking. She wasn’t familiar with any of them already.

  “This is Karen Everleigh, our biologist,” Bastian said by way of introduction. She was a tall, slender woman with straight black hair so long that it reached her waist. Her eyes were dark like the night sky, and Pandora was momentarily transfixed by her beauty. She just looked so different to anyone else she knew.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Pandora. I’ve heard a lot about you. I suppose that may be a bit off-putting when we don’t know each other but Bastian has told us good things.”

  Pandora smiled back but she knew the look was there; Karen could already tell she was uncomfortable.

  “Hello,” she said, smiling nervously.

  These were unusual circumstances so it stood to reason that they’d need some adjusting to. She found herself more wary of Bastian, who seemed to know too much about her.

  “Are you from Davenport Settlement too?” she asked Karen, wondering if there were more people like her there.

  Pandora realised she must be in her mid to late thirties, but she seemed much younger than that somehow.

  “No, I’m from Candera Settlement,” she said, glancing cautiously toward Bastian, as if he might disapprove of her sharing her origins.

  “Wow, so far away.”

  Candera was thousands of miles away across the mountains toward the east coast. The settlement was more often mentioned in a historical sense than a current one.

  “How is that possible?” Pandora asked. She wondered what else they hadn’t been told.

  “First we should make the introductions, if it’s all the same,” Bastian said.

  It wasn’t, but Pandora realised it would’ve been rude to say so.

  Bastian introduced another of the Scientists, who sat with his data pad in hand. “Meet Anders Karelli. He’s a computer and technical specialist, and he’s been assessing technologies used by ourselves and the outsiders.”

  Outsiders? Oh my. Pandora nodded in greeting “Hello.”

  He was a short but sturdy-looking man in his twenties with light hair, grey eyes and a ready smile. She didn’t know where he’d come from but he seemed like the kind of person who would seem at home anywhere. ‘Personable’ and ‘affable’ were words that sprang to mind.

  “I’m from Davenport Settlement,” he confirmed for her. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  So far, Pandora was finding the Scientists to be good, genuine people. By comparison, Bastian seemed like a creep. She wondered if the Scientists had been brought into this in much the same way she had, only for different reasons.

  “I’m Olsen Denrees,” the third Scientist said, introducing himself before Bastian could do it for him. He looked enough like Anders that the men could be brothers, only his hair was darker and he was much older – in his forties or fifties.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” she said with a smile.

  “Thanks. I suppose you could call me a jack-of-all-trades. I’m equal parts geologist, botanist, herbalist and biologist. I typically study the soil, plant and air quality. I’m also from Davenport, but I never met Anders until we were out here.”

  Pandora looked surprised, considering they were both Scientists. “Is Davenport Settlement much larger than Terania Settlement?”

  “No,” he said. “It’s about the same. My family were stationed to Lanwel Settlement – studying the ruins of it – when I was still a child, and they took me with them. I’ve been out of Davenport for most of my life.”

  As if she wasn’t surprised enough already, Pandora realised there was likely a lot more she didn’t know. “What happened to Lanwel? This is the first I’ve heard of ruins.”

  Bastian sighed. ”That’s enough of that. Let’s go through the situation and how we’d like you to work with us. Pull up a chair. This may take a while.”

  Pandora did as he asked. They weren’t so much chairs as high stools; each with a padded seat. She sat beside one of the benches in the room, so she and the others were gathered more or less in a circle.

  “We want you to leave the dome with the Scientists and take part in several carefully-managed tests to measure your body’s reaction to the planetary environment,” Bastian explained. “We can assure you that all risks will be minimised.”

  A wave of terror swept over Pandora, even though she’d long wanted to see the world outside.

  It must’ve shown, because Bastian smiled at her reassuringly. “There are fully-terraformed, moderately-terraformed and minimally-terraformed areas, as well as the planet’s natural environment in its current state. Variances in terrain may also have an impact on the body’s tolerance for those environments. We’re wondering how you would fare in different environments, and we assure you that you will have fresh air and protective clothing available immediately if you need it. We’re not going to put you at risk doing anything we wouldn’t try ourselves. Most of our Scientists have run through these tests themselves already. I have a contract here for you to sign and I would like you to review it.”

  Bastian slid the paper along the table in front of Pandora and set down a pen. “I’m afraid we need a decision today on this, but otherwise take your time.”

  Pandora looked over the contract and it was much as she expected to be. It seemed to take away her freedoms while making vague assurances about her safety.”

  She wondered if she’d be safer if she signed it or if she didn’t.

  “I’ve decided that I’m not going to sign your contract or agree to a transfer to another settlement, but I still want to work with you.” She didn’t tell them that she’d already made up her mind on the matter before she got there.

  “There’s no convincing you of this? The contract is here for your safety and wellbeing, as much as ours,” Bastian said, his tone more than a little condescending.

  “No, but as I said, I’m prepared to work with you on my own terms.” Across the room, she noticed a smile from Karen.

  “If that’s what you prefer, we’ll consider it.” Bastian seemed annoyed, but he wasn’t going to argue the point right now. They either must be desperate or hurrying to get the project underway. Pandora couldn’t he
lp wondering why. It occurred to her then that Bastian may have been following orders, and he’d been told to accept her terms.

  “You may explain,” Bastian said to the gathered Scientists.

  “Thank you, so much,” Olsen said in a friendly tone that carried the merest hint of sarcasm. “The planet’s in better shape than is common knowledge, but it’s still heavily-contaminated. What’s interesting is we’ve noticed a trend over the generations that some of us are adjusting to it better than others. The radiation is actually the least of our concerns. There are only a few areas we’ve found that pose a genuine risk now. The environmental radiation has reduced and at the same time we’re under the impression that the population’s tolerance for it might have grown. It’s simply no longer a danger in most areas.”

  Pandora smiled. “That’s incredible. It’s been my hope that the world was regenerating and finding its way back to what it once was.”

  Olsen nodded, “Yours and everyone else’s. The good news is it’s getting there.”

  “So the main issue is air quality and toxicity?” she asked, noticing glances exchanged between the other scientists.

  “Yes that’s right,” Bastian said.

  “So you hope I’ll tolerate it better,” she said, growing nervous. She’d heard a thing or two about what air toxicity could do to a person. “My mother died bringing me back to the settlement. What makes you think it won’t make me ill too?”

  Karen answered this time. “It caused you no damage as a baby, and at that age you would’ve been a lot more sensitive to it than you are now as an adult. The woman who brought you to Terania Settlement and subsequently died wasn’t your mother either, Pandora.”

  Pandora froze. It wasn’t that she hadn’t considered the possibility but she was certain they had no real proof. “What? How do you know?”

  Karen’s expression was apologetic. She didn’t want to be hard on Pandora, but she also knew Pandora had never had the opportunity to grow close to the woman who claimed to be her mother.