The Quantum Door

by Jonathan Ballagh

  THE QUANTUM DOOR

  Jonathan Ballagh

  THE QUANTUM DOOR

  Copyright © 2015 by Jonathan Ballagh

  ISBN: 978-0-9967138-0-1

  All rights reserved.

  Edited by David Gatewood

  www.lonetrout.com

  Cover design and internal illustrations by Ben J. Adams

  www.benjadams.com

  Formatting by Polgarus Studio

  www.polgarusstudio.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  for Dylan, Connor, and Reese

  Table of Contents

  Part One Chapter 1: Remote Control

  Chapter 2: Pursuit

  Chapter 3: The Electric Flame

  Chapter 4: Chaos at Dawn

  Chapter 5: Gutenberg’s

  Chapter 6: Blitz Realm

  Chapter 7: Nocturnal SOS

  Chapter 8: Rescue

  Chapter 9: The Collectors

  Part Two Chapter 10: Nyx’s Way

  Chapter 11: Unwilling Passengers

  Chapter 12: Mesh Brain

  Chapter 13: The Valley and the Lake

  Chapter 14: Sudo’s Domain

  Chapter 15: The Box in the Cell

  Chapter 16: Ajax

  Chapter 17: Thorn’s Tumult

  Chapter 18: A Watch for a Life

  Chapter 19: Felix’s Escape

  Chapter 20: The Heap

  Chapter 31: Achilles’ Mind

  Chapter 22: Surfacing

  Part Three Chapter 23: Breadcrumbs

  Chapter 24: The Nowhere Home

  Chapter 25: Orion

  Chapter 26: Heavy Metal

  Chapter 27: Telepresence

  Chapter 28: Mind Control

  Chapter 29: March of the Golems

  Chapter 30: Parallels

  Chapter 31: What If?

  Chapter 32: AJ’s Bargain

  Chapter 33: From the Ashes

  Part One

  Chapter 1: Remote Control

  THE AFTERNOON SUN reflected off the sign and shined into the boy’s eyes. He took a step closer and held a cupped hand against his forehead to filter out the light. The metal plate’s bold red letters stood in sharp contrast to the glossy black finish coating the surface. Even with his eyes squinted, the message was clear.

  No Trespassing.

  Several other signs just like this one were hung every quarter mile or so along the tall chain link fence that ran the stretch of land next to his yard. The fence, like the signs, felt oddly out of place to the lanky boy standing beside them—an artificial border that separated him from the unknown wilderness on the other side.

  Brady Banks turned away from the sign and looked up at his younger brother, Felix, hanging on the fence beside him. The tips of his sneakers were crammed snugly through the metallic links high above the ground. Felix clambered up another few feet and came to rest near the top.

  At fourteen, Brady was a little over two years older than his brother and almost a foot taller. It wasn’t that Felix was short; rather, Brady was just exceptionally tall for his age. Next to his brother, he felt like stretched silly putty with a lighter complexion and closely cropped auburn hair. His early height gave him a very slender appearance; way too much so for his own liking.

  Felix shook the fence as if to test its soundness, and it rattled violently in protest. He nodded with satisfaction as Brady rolled his eyes and turned his attention back toward the strange woods on the other side.

  The two boys stood quiet for a few moments, taking in the dark sea of evergreens in front of them. In the distance, waves of branches rose and fell as gentle eddies of wind twisted through the trees. The restless forest was beckoning them forward, waving them in.

  Try as he might, Brady couldn’t help worrying about what they were about to get into. It was his nature to overthink everything. By contrast, such matters never concerned Felix, who seemed completely at home in even the most precarious situations.

  Brady wiped the sweat from his forehead and thought about how they had ended up here in the first place.

  10100110

  For the longest time, the land across the fence had belonged to the Willoughbys, an older couple with no children—much to the boys’ dismay. Brady and Felix would occasionally catch Mr. and Mrs. Willoughby driving their old Wrangler through town. The vehicle was a piece of art in its own right: it was adorned with colorful bumper stickers that left little of the original paint job exposed. The boys would always stop to watch as it passed by.

  But the Willoughbys seldom socialized and never lingered. While Mrs. Willoughby was pleasant enough, Mr. Willoughby appeared not to be particularly fond of either of them. Either that or he had a twisted sense of humor. When they were much younger, he would arch an eyebrow steeply and curl the corner of his mouth downward into a threatening snarl whenever they approached—and then would chuckle deeply as the brothers ran away, fearing for their lives. At six foot four with a wild mane of silver hair, he was imposing enough without the need for added intimidation.

  Their mother had long ago explained to them that the Willoughbys’ property covered miles of the mountain hillside. Exactly how far she couldn’t say for sure, but somewhere in the far recesses of the woods was a small cottage the couple called home. Because they were private and didn’t appreciate visitors, their mother had told them they were best to mind their manners and stay far away.

  This, of course, was an invitation for trouble.

  Unsurprisingly, their mother’s warning went unheeded. One time, long before the fence went up, the brothers had ventured deep into the woods in search of the cottage. After nearly getting lost, they’d heard the crack of a gunshot somewhere nearby. They took off running and never looked back. When they arrived home, Brady managed to convince Felix that Mr. Willoughby was out hunting them, and that it was best if they never set foot on the property again.

  When they got a little older, Felix decided to try to find the cabin using his phone. With Brady by his side, he punched his address into a maps app and watched as pictures taken by a satellite stitched seamlessly together into a bird’s-eye view of their house. Felix zoomed and scrolled around the imagery, but he couldn’t find what he was looking for. There was too much land to cover, and the dense trees made it difficult to see much of anything. The issue of finding the cabin remained unsettled and was eventually forgotten.

  The last time the boys saw Mr. Willoughby, it was a month after his wife passed away. His white hair and beard had grown long, and his sunken eyes had become hollowed pools of grief. He had come by the house to tell their mother that he was putting the land up for sale and moving to California—somewhere warmer, near the coast, he said. Their Mom hugged him tightly and wished him well. They exchanged their final goodbyes, and the boys watched the Willoughbys’ Jeep, packed tightly with boxes and an overflowing carrier strapped to the roof, drive away for the last time.

  After that, the property was left alone. At first the boys were excited about the prospect of a new, younger family moving in next door, but no one ever did, and the boys gradually lost interest as time went by and the land remained up for sale.

  That all changed a few months ago.

  One morning, out of the blue, they woke to find the fence, complete with ominous No Trespassing signs, standing near their back yard.

  Their mom figured someone had purchased the property, but she wasn’t sure who it was or if they had any children. She quickly shrugged off the question when Brady asked why someone would put up such a high fence
, chalking it up to a matter of privacy, although both boys would later recall that she looked unsettled. Everyone agreed, however, that it was unlikely that a nice family with kids would attempt to seal off the perimeter of their yard with a chain-link fence.

  And strangely, no one could recall ever seeing a car coming or going on the Willoughbys’ old driveway.

  But that wasn’t all. There had been the bizarre power outages that began shortly after the fence went up. At first, lights in the house and around town would flicker briefly. Over time, the problem grew more severe. The power would go out for minutes at a time before being restored. Ms. Banks inquired into the problem, but unfortunately, not even the power company could put their finger on what was going on.

  Several nights ago, Felix had stayed up late writing a mod for his favorite virtual reality game, Voxelverse. He was only a few lines away from completing his script when the power went out—taking the last unsaved hour of his life with it. In a fit of frustration, he’d pounded his fists on the desk; it was the third time in a week they had lost power. Minute after excruciating minute ticked by as he waited for the power to be restored so he could wrap up his code and get down to business.

  An hour later, he was still waiting.

  Finally, feeling the urge to stretch his legs, he went into the back yard for some fresh air. It was only seconds later that he was back inside, searching desperately for his brother. He swore up and down to Brady that he had seen something strange in the neighbors’ woods, some kind of blue light.

  Brady dismissed his story offhand, calling him crazy, but Felix vowed to get to the bottom of whatever was going on across the fence, once and for all. And he would do so with or without his brother’s help.

  So that morning, over a breakfast of cheddar eggs, orange juice, and buttered toast, he hatched an idea. He even managed to convince Brady that they should investigate together. After all, it was a foolproof plan—just like every other one of Felix’s ideas.

  They waited until late afternoon, and then Felix, with a backpack full of high-tech wizardry, set out on a journey to the fence with his older brother in tow.

  11001110

  Still hanging on the fence, Felix called down to Brady, “I know this is going to work. It should have plenty of juice to make the trip. You ready?”

  “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this, Felix. Am I the only one who can read? Can’t you see all the No Trespassing signs? If we get caught—”

  “Like I told you before, we’re not actually going over there,” Felix replied.

  “I think you’re missing the point. They put the fence there to keep people like us out. This is a terrible idea, Felix. Something will go wrong; it always does.”

  Felix shook his head and released his grip on the fence. His mop of sandy blond hair lifted into the air as he landed next to his brother with a thud, sending a cloud of dirt up around them. Felix dusted off his jeans and made his way over to his latest project, which waited for him next to his backpack.

  It was the latest in hobby drone technology. Felix had built the quadcopter himself, piece by piece, with equipment he had ordered from a series of obscure websites. It was financed by over a year’s worth of chores and odd jobs around the house.

  He picked up his prize possession and turned it over in his hands. It was not much larger than his fist and had small carbon fiber blades in each of the four corners. Felix had drawn a shark face on the front with model paint, and the sharp, painted teeth stood out against the dark gray hull. Twin cameras protruded from the intimidating eyes and allowed the copter to perceive depth.

  There was no denying that it was an impressive piece of work.

  Felix held it out for his brother to admire. Brady waved his hands in front of him. “It’s great, Felix. Really. Just be careful and try not to get us in trouble—again. You’ve already gotten us grounded twice this summer.” He grew more anxious with each word.

  “Relax,” Felix replied, his hand fumbling around the bottom of the craft for the power switch. “This thing can pretty much fly itself.”

  “Sure it can,” Brady said dryly. He realized his brother was probably telling the truth, but why not give him a hard time anyway?

  Brady knew his brother was too smart for his own good, although he would never admit it. Felix had been just six years old when he’d managed to construct a ten-foot triceratops skeleton with a software-modeling program and a 3D printer a relative had lent them. The brothers had thoughtfully placed the dinosaur in the kitchen, right near the mud room door, for maximum shock value. Felix had superglued LED strobe lights deep within the eye sockets and installed a motion-activated alarm to turn them on when an unsuspecting victim entered the room.

  An unsuspecting victim had arrived right on cue.

  Their mother, arriving home from the grocery store one evening, screamed in fright when the monster welcomed her in a blaze of flashing lights, dry ice fog, and ferocious jaws. She dropped her bags to the floor, and food rolled across the dinosaur’s feet in slow motion as the gas from the ice engulfed the groceries in a dense fog.

  Felix was smart, yes, but he also had an uncanny penchant for ending up in hot water. Brady had lost track of how many times his brother had gotten him into trouble over the last twelve years. Nevertheless, Brady had to admit that Felix did manage to keep things interesting in a town with not much to do.

  Brady enjoyed seeing the results of his brother’s various projects, but he didn’t usually involve himself in them. It wasn’t that Brady shunned technology; it was just a question of priorities. School, sports, and the outdoors left him with little time for such hobbies. His brother, on the other hand, prioritized gadgetry—and trouble.

  Click.

  The hull lights flashed and the blades locked into alignment with a succession of soft clicks. The quad was alive.

  Brady could swear he saw one of the shark’s eyes glisten forebodingly as the aircraft powered up.

  “I’m pretty sure this is against the law,” Brady muttered to himself, half under his breath.

  Ignoring his brother’s protests, Felix extracted twin pairs of sleek glasses from his backpack. He passed Brady one set and kept the other for himself.

  “You brought our Orbatures all the way out here?” Brady complained. “You know they’ll get ruined.”

  “They’ll be okay. Just trust me for once, Brady. You’ll see in a minute.”

  Only slightly larger and heavier than normal sunglasses, Orbatures were the most popular virtual reality glasses around. Small screens were embedded inside the lenses, displaying stereoscopic video received wirelessly from a phone. Everything was in realistic 3D, and it made you feel like you were actually inside the game.

  Felix slid the glasses over his head and motioned for Brady to do the same.

  “I’ve got the video feed from the quad streaming to both our glasses.”

  “What?” Brady asked, perplexed.

  “It’s pretty simple. We get to see what the quadcopter sees. In full 3D, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  Felix pressed a few buttons on his phone, and the craft’s four tiny blades spun up with a whoosh, scattering leaves and debris in all directions. The drone lifted a few feet off the ground and hovered in mid-air, waiting for further instruction. The breeze caused it to wobble unsteadily for a few seconds before the stabilization circuits kicked in.

  Felix couldn’t help but grin as his creation levitated in front of him. There was no turning back now.

  Brady had expressed his objections, as he always did; but his curiosity got the better of him in the end—as it always did. He took a deep breath and pulled his glasses down over his eyes. The lenses crackled to life.

  Brady was staring back at himself and Felix. It was like looking in a mirror. He raised a hand, and the other Brady raised the same hand. It took a second for him to realize that he was looking at the world through the drone’s point of view. He was seeing what the quad’s camera s
aw.

  A speaker located near the back of his glasses amplified the quad’s audio feed, but it was currently nothing more than the soft hum of the rotor blades whirling through the air.

  Felix swiped his finger upward on his phone, and the drone climbed higher, mirroring his motions. It stopped just above the fence. Suddenly dizzy, Brady reached down and touched the dirt to convince himself that he was still safely on the ground.

  “Okay. Here we go—hold on.” Felix tilted his phone forward. The quadcopter mimicked the position of the phone, so that the front of the aircraft pitched down as well. The drone advanced forward, slowly at first, then picking up speed and taking off into the forest. Thanks to his Orbatures, Brady felt like he was flying as well.

  As the woods grew denser, the quad’s artificial vision systems allowed it to dodge trees at a breakneck pace. It took some getting used to. At first, Brady recoiled with each passing branch, fearing an impact.

  “I told you this thing was awesome,” bragged Felix as he pounded Brady’s shoulder with his fist.

  Brady wanted to push Felix back, but he was too busy fighting back the beginnings of motion sickness. The quad’s camera was doing its job perfectly—so well in fact that it managed to capture all of the quad’s jerky motions as it bobbed and weaved along its path.

  “It might be awesome, but your flying is going to make me heave.”

  “I’m barely guiding it at this point. It’s doing most of the work by itself. Hopefully things will smooth out at some point. There are a ton of trees back here.”

  “Why don’t you just fly it over the treetops?”

  “Oh, come on, this is way more fun. Just hold on, it’ll get better in a minute or two.”

  The craft ventured deeper into the forest. The scenery remained mostly unchanged: long, passing smears of dark green mottled with somber browns. Everything blended together at high speed.