“Is that okay with you, AJ?” Nova asked, bending down so she could look the child in the eyes.
“Sure—um, no problem,” AJ said. Brady detected a hesitation in his voice, but couldn’t be sure.
Nova hugged AJ tightly. “We’ll never forget everything you’ve done today. For all of us.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“No, seriously, you’re not so bad—I guess…” Brady said, giving the Artifex a slight shove.
Achilles bent his head down and pushed his muzzle into the side of the boy’s face. The dog dwarfed the child. AJ jumped up and patted the dog on the side of the face.
“I owe you a huge thanks too, AJ,” Felix said. “Without you I’d still be waiting on the side of the road. Maybe we’ll meet again sometime.”
“You can count on it,” AJ said.
“Alethea,” Nova said, “take care—and thank you. Perhaps our paths will cross again as well.”
“I’m sure they will,” Alethea replied. “And please tell your father what happened here today. There is much he should know.”
11000110
With Alethea’s directions uploaded, the locomotive thundered down the rails and headed back toward the power station. They were alone except for the Collector bodies that littered the floor.
Nova sat by Achilles with her hand on his side, while Felix lay down on the hard floor with his arms behind his head. Brady, still too nervous to relax, stared out the window and paced back and forth. After everything that had happened, they were finally going home.
“I’m starving,” Felix said.
Brady and Nova laughed at the same time.
“What? What’s wrong with that? I haven’t eaten in over a day now. What do you expect?”
Brady looked out the window. In the darkness of the tunnel, he could have sworn he saw a bright flash of light pass by suddenly. He watched for it again, but whatever it was, it was gone.
At last the train pulled into the station, and the four friends climbed out.
“Do you know how to get us back to the portal?” Brady asked Nova.
“No, but Achilles does.”
“What about the Rariis?” Brady asked. “They’re probably still upset about what happened earlier.”
“There’s another way into the room,” Nova replied. “Have you ever wanted to be a battery?”
Brady and Felix exchanged a confused glance.
They followed Achilles through the station until they came to a steep conveyer ramp loaded with Evercells.
“This conveyor belt transports the spent Evercells,” said Nova. “If I’m right, it should take us back to the storage room where the portal is.”
One by one, they lay down on the wide belt. As they slid through a hole in the wall, they rolled off the belt and lowered themselves onto the shelves below.
With all four safely on the ground, they breathed a collective sigh of relief. After all this time, the portal still burned as brightly as ever. Nova, Felix, and Achilles stepped through.
Brady looked around the room one more time before walking through and leaving the alternate reality behind.
11110110
It was late afternoon when they took their first steps back in their world. Even though clouds muted the sun, Brady squinted; they had been without real light for so long. Almost a day had passed since their adventure began the night before, and his relief at being home was overcome by the sense of worry he felt for his mother.
Nova made her way over to the side of the gateway and knelt down next to the power amplifier and battery.
“Those cells lasted a lot longer than I thought they would,” she said as she dialed back the amplification control. “Remember to cover your ears for this,” she warned.
A boom escaped the portal as it collapsed.
Nova stood up and dusted her hands off. Achilles made his way over to her side.
“I guess that’s it then,” said Brady, somewhat regretfully.
“I guess so,” Nova replied. “But I’ll never forget how you both helped us out.”
They stood facing each other for an awkward moment, and then Nova ran over and hugged Brady and Felix.
“Will we see you again?” Felix asked.
“What kind of question is that?” Nova asked, trying to make light of the moment. “Of course you will. We are neighbors, after all.”
Felix rested his hand on Achilles’ back. “Thanks again for keeping me alive. See you around then?”
They remained together for a few seconds, just enjoying each other’s company. Their unspoken words said more than they ever could.
Finally Nova broke the silence. “Your mom must be beside herself by now. What will you tell her?”
“I guess the truth,” Brady said. He hadn’t given it much thought yet, and to be honest, she would probably have a hard time believing it. “By the way, you never did tell me what you were using those Evercells for.”
Nova considered it for a second. “Maybe some other time. Goodbye, and thanks again—for everything.”
00110110
On the walk home, Felix took out his phone and powered it on. “That’s strange,” he said, pressing a few buttons. “This thing still isn’t working—maybe the batteries are worn out or something.”
“I’m more worried about Mom than I am about your phone,” Brady said. “What are we going to tell her?”
He was interrupted by a sound in the distance. He stopped and turned in the direction of the noise. His eyes went wide. His heart racing, he tapped his brother on the shoulder.
“Felix?”
“What?”
Felix turned to look. His jaw dropped.
The robot child’s back was to them, but there was no mistaking who it was.
AJ was here, and their world would never be the same.
Part Three
Chapter 23: Breadcrumbs
THE SUN HAD DIPPED behind the clouds, leaving a chill in the afternoon air, and the sky was a colorless gray that was out of place for this time of year. The brothers stood once again on the sloping hills deep in the woods, their journey home cut short by AJ’s unplanned arrival. Somehow the small Artifex had managed to find his way into their world.
Brady and Felix watched the child bot tread cautiously across the woodland floor, patches of grass growing in the few spots where sunlight reached the ground, with dirt, ferns, and stones filling in the rest. AJ took slow, careful steps, and his eyes flittered about nervously; the flashing lights on his head betrayed the fervent activity beneath his plastic skull. Even the slightest sounds of the forest made him uneasy.
AJ wandered over to the narrow stream, not far from where Felix’s quadcopter had crashed weeks before, bent over, and extended a cautious fingertip into the water. The current had been made strong by the overnight rains, and Brady found himself wishing the water would pull the bot in and whisk him back to where he had come from. But he knew he would never be that lucky.
Brady wondered what was going through AJ’s head. Forever a child, AJ lived his life wishing only for the company of other humans, to live and to grow as a person would. It was ingrained in the deepest recesses of his programming—the random seeds that provided him with the spark of life. It was all that really mattered. And now here he was, his lifelong dream on the verge of being fulfilled.
Brady asked himself if he would have done the same thing given the chance. Would he leave his home, his world, behind to fulfill a fantasy that meant more to him than life itself? He wasn’t sure if he would, or even if he could. Maybe AJ was just braver than he was.
Brady narrowed his eyes and studied the bot standing next to the rushing water. For a second he actually felt bad for AJ. The bot must have expected to find something different here: a skyline of the future, a city bristling with people, their arms wide open to welcome his arrival. Instead he had walked blindly into the deep woods of Vermont.
And as much as Brady wanted to simply turn and walk away, he knew that
AJ’s presence here left too many loose ends. There were important questions that needed answers—like how AJ ended up here in the first place. They would have to deal with the Artifex before they could go home.
Brady called out to the child. “AJ?”
The Artifex pulled back from the water and froze at the sound of Brady’s voice. His back was to the brothers, and for a second he reminded Brady of a small plastic statue—a misplaced toy left behind by an uninterested child.
But he did not reply.
A breeze blew through the trees, bringing life and motion to a scene frozen in time.
Brady looked at his brother with a puzzled expression, and then turned back to the child bot. “AJ?” he yelled out again, this time taking a few steps forward.
Still leaning over, the Artifex turned his head and locked eyes with the brothers. Then he took off in a blur alongside the stream. Despite his size, his legs carried him swiftly. The brothers knew they had no chance of catching him.
Brady scowled. “He may mean well, but I’m telling you—this robot is serious trouble! He’s even worse than you are, Felix.”
His brother glowered and shook his head. “Maybe so, but remember, we couldn’t have saved Achilles without his help.”
Brady knew his brother was right. AJ had helped them time and time again. They owed him.
“Well, we can’t just wait here forever. We need to get home, remember?” Brady said, grumpily.
“Give him some time,” Felix said. “Let’s see what happens.”
They stood there patiently, hoping that AJ would make a move. Just when they were ready to give up, they spotted the robot peering out from behind a large tree. AJ disappeared back behind the trunk.
Even Felix was beginning to lose his patience. “AJ, this is ridiculous. Why are you hiding from us?” he called out. “We’ve already seen you—we know you’re here.”
“You’ll send me back home,” came the child’s voice from behind the tree.
Brady rolled his eyes at Felix, but his brother ignored him and spoke up again. “Just come out and talk to us.”
“We’re your friends, remember?” Brady added. He couldn’t believe those words had left his mouth.
There was a long pause before the bot crept sullenly away from the old sugar maple, his head hunched forward and his arms dangling loosely in resignation. The brothers eagerly ran up to greet him.
“What are you doing here?” Felix asked as he skidded to a stop in front of the bot.
The lights sparkled on AJ’s head. “Isn’t it obvious?” he replied wistfully.
“Not really,” Brady muttered under his breath.
“Ever since the day I was born, I felt like I had no purpose, no meaning, no reason to live. I’ve lived my whole life wanting to be someone else.” The bot paused. “But I am programmed so that my mind cannot grow—I am stuck as a child forever. When you showed up in my world, I knew something had changed. That there was a different place with actual people just like you. A place that was much, much better than my world. I knew my purpose was to find a way to get there.”
Brady felt a chill run down his spine. The Artifex’s fascination with humans went far beyond obsession. I should have expected this, he thought to himself.
“But how did you get here?” Felix asked.
“I just followed you,” AJ replied.
“You followed us?” Brady asked, disapprovingly.
“Sure did. On my cycle—until I passed you and left the train in the dust. I snuck off in the power station before you arrived so you wouldn’t see me.”
“But how did you find the portal?” Felix asked.
The Artifex stared at his feet and shuffled timidly across the wet ground. The mud oozed over his plastic boots.
“I didn’t.”
“AJ—what did you do?” Felix asked, his concern growing.
“I, um…”
“Spit it out,” Felix said.
Brady couldn’t take it. “What happened, AJ?”
The words came all at once as the bot spilled the truth. “Okay, okay! Calm down! I stole the data from Nova’s watch!”
Brady’s mind flashed back to when AJ had repaired Thorn by disassembling Nova’s watch. He remembered the bot acting suspiciously when he had interfaced with the device’s internals. AJ had clearly been doing more than just “adjusting the power supply”: he had been downloading all of her data into his memory banks.
“It was like a recipe. So easy, I couldn’t resist…” the bot continued dreamily.
“Easy? You’re not making sense. A recipe for what—” Brady stopped himself mid-sentence as the realization dawned on him. “You didn’t… Please tell me you didn’t do it. What recipe, AJ?”
“Um… The recipe for the blue portal,” AJ replied nervously. “I opened my own door. That’s how I came here.”
“You what?” Brady barked. The color drained from his face and the fear began to creep in. He remembered what Nova had said about the portals leaving a trail of breadcrumbs between worlds.
A path from one reality to the next.
“Why, AJ?” Brady continued. “Do you know what a bad idea that was? You know you don’t belong here—no offense.”
“No more than you belong in my world,” AJ quipped.
“He’s got a point,” Felix said.
“Don’t take his side!” warned Brady, shooting his brother a nasty look. “It’s not like we even wanted to go there in the first place. At least, I didn’t.”
“Listen, AJ,” Felix said, interrupting his brother’s rant. “People in this world, they won’t understand who or what you are, because you’re different. They’ll take you away, study you, and you’ll never be free again. It isn’t safe for you here. I mean it. Seriously.”
“But why would they do that?” AJ asked. “Humans created us before they left our world. They would never hurt us.”
“Remember, this is a different place, and you have much to learn. Look, people sometimes do bad stuff to things they’re afraid of. And they would be afraid of you because they won’t understand what you are, where you came from. I really mean it. Am I making sense at all?”
“Sort of.”
Brady was more direct and far less measured than his brother. “Do you have any idea how much trouble this is going to cause?”
Suddenly the frown on Brady’s face grew even more pronounced. “You did close the portal, right?” he asked nervously.
“Your brother is always worrying, isn’t he?” AJ said to Felix, dodging the question.
“Seriously, AJ. Tell me you closed the door!” Brady demanded.
“Well, as a matter of fact… no. It’s still open,” AJ grumbled reluctantly.
Brady and Felix just stared at each other. Finally Brady closed his eyes and shook his head.
“Where is it?” he asked.
“It’s by a house, not too far away from here.”
Brady let out a long sigh. He was tired, hungry, achy, and his head was starting to pound. They were so close to home, and now they had to deal with this.
“We need to go back and close it.”
01110110
With AJ leading the way, they began their long hike to the portal. AJ listened with wonder as the boys reminisced about past outdoor adventures, about school, and about life in general. AJ, in turn, related the story of their escape from the Artifex cave, Invidia, about his father, Sudo, and about how he spent his days trapped inside the strange Victorian house. It felt almost surreal, like they were reliving a half forgotten dream, and for the better part of the journey, AJ felt the joy of a companionship he had never before experienced.
As they traveled, they saw the giant harpy eagle, Nyx, soaring overhead, a speck of silver nearly lost against the pale sky. Brady shouted up toward the bird and waved his arms around, trying to catch the bird’s attention. She circled overhead a few times before flying off, hopefully to alert Nova to their change of plans.
“What was that al
l about?” Felix asked as they resumed their hike.
“That was Nyx,” Brady said matter-of-factly. “She’s another one of Nova’s friends that lives here in the woods. Just like Achilles.”
“Cool,” Felix said.
They continued on until they came upon an empty cottage nestled among dense pines that had been limbed up just enough to allow spears of light to pierce the canopy.
The Willoughbys’ home, Brady thought to himself.
It was even smaller than the brothers had imagined. The years had not been kind to the dwelling, and it was in dire need of some caring for. Nevertheless, they could see how it could have been cozy and inviting in its better days.
The home’s mossy exterior was built from roughly cut fieldstones with wide channels of grout running between them like aged veins. A humble chimney rose from a roof covered in weathered cedar shingles, the color grayed by years of rain and snow. A large oak door anchored the front of the house and was flanked by two copper lanterns that competed with cobwebs for space. Clusters of overgrown azaleas formed a natural border around the sides.
“No wonder we never found this place,” Felix said, looking around with a sense of exhilaration. “It’s so much farther back than I thought. There’s nothing around here for miles.”
Brady crept slowly up to the house, contorted himself around a shrub, and peered into a broken window. The inside was bare, and the floor was warped and discolored where water had leaked in. What little light there was shone on dust particles that were stirred by a sudden rush of wind.
“Yeah, and what’s even weirder,” Brady muttered as he stared inside, “is this house is empty. I guess I figured Nova had moved in here.”
“Me too,” Felix said, working his way around the waxy evergreen to join Brady by the window.
“So where did you open the door, AJ?” Brady asked, looking over his shoulder toward the bot.
“Just beyond the house, out in the back yard.”
“Then why are we are standing here? Lead the way, AJ!”
The Quantum Door Page 18
