by Stucky, Pam
“So the stones don’t work here then?” said Chuck, looking at his own bracelet with suspicion. “We were able to breathe under water, though. For sure some of the stones work, because in ordinary life, I can’t breathe under water. That much I know.” He sat down. “I’m confused.”
“Maybe we don’t have the right stones. I have no idea,” said Kata. “All I know is that it’s obvious they knew we didn’t belong. They brought us here, and clearly the beings who live in this house don’t live in water. If the octopuses had meant to hurt us, they could have. I think maybe they brought us here for someone else to find.”
“But the person or people who are bringing you food,” said Emma. “Why won’t they show themselves? What are they waiting for? Who are they?”
Kata shook her head. “I have no idea. All I know is, based on these clothes, I’m pretty sure they have four arms.”
“I’m not really concerned with who’s who at this point,” said Charlie. “What I want to know is, how do we get out of here? We lost everything. Our Dark MATTERS, our pigeons, even the iPerts. Have you tried the opal and magnet again?” he asked Kata.
A flush of red burst over Kata’s cheeks. “I … I dropped the opal when the octopus creatures grabbed me,” she said. “I have the magnetic bracelet still, but not the stone.”
Charlie looked at Eve. “What about our opal and stone? Do you have them?”
A blush creeping up Eve’s neck mirrored her mother’s. “I dropped both of them. The octopuses, the net …”
“It’s okay,” said Emma. “It was chaos. I would have dropped them too, I’m sure.” She shot a look of warning at Charlie, and he backed off. “We’ll find a way home. We always do.”
Not knowing what else to do, the group waited in the hopes the beings who lived there would return.
On the first day, Kata showed them around the home.
“Did you notice?” said Eve. “There are no pictures.”
“Weird,” said Chuck. “Maybe it’s a vacation home?”
“Underwater vacation home?” said Ben. “Could be, I suppose?”
“Maybe they hide the pictures when they’re away?” said Emma.
They had many questions but few answers.
They’d figured out that the panel in the bedroom that matched the panel by the windows to the ocean world had the same function: different buttons brought up different views from around the sea.
“Do you think there are, like, TV channels in there too?” asked Charlie. “Underwater soap operas? Cop shows? Cartoons?”
“You’d think, right?” said Ben. “I can’t imagine a world without something like TV.”
“At the very least to get news,” said Eve. She poked and prodded the panel buttons, but couldn’t bring up anything other than the silent views of what they assumed was the underwater world around them.
Eve, having opened every drawer and cupboard that could be opened, was particularly fascinated by the clothes. “All the shirts have four sleeves,” she noted. “So they must have four arms. Pants have two legs but they’re really long. And the shoes, they’re pretty much just shoes. But no high heels. Maybe only men live here?”
“Or maybe there’s just one gender?” suggested Ben.
“Or maybe the women here don’t subject themselves to the ridiculousness that is high heels,” said Kata. “That would make them very smart women, in my opinion!”
The colors of the clothes also intrigued Eve. Many items had subtle ocean designs on them, but many others were simply one solid color.
“I wonder if that’s a trend?” said Eve.
“Or maybe they don’t see color the same way we do,” Kata pointed out. “We don’t know.”
“Don’t see color the same?” said Chuck. “What do you mean?”
“Eyes are different,” said Emma. “Like a fly’s eyes are different from our eyes. Or a dog’s eyes.”
“We did wonder about those octopuses’ eyes,” said Eve. “I mean, after all, there had to be some way they knew we weren’t like them.”
“Aside from the fact that they swim like Olympic athletes and we were practically dead in the water, you mean?” said Charlie.
“Well, there’s that,” Eve admitted.
Later that day when they were gathering up the items they’d left behind in the box the creatures had locked them into, Ben discovered his iPert in his jacket pocket. When he picked it up, water dripped from its core. As the others watched anxiously, he tried making a call, but heard only silence.
On the second day, Chuck asked Emma whether she couldn’t just think them home.
“Well, there’s this thing called telomeres …” she said, and Charlie explained that the previous travel had possibly shortened Emma’s life.
“We’ll wait,” said Chuck decisively. Emma hugged him.
On the third day, Emma tried.
“You can’t, Emma!” said Charlie. “That’s just for emergencies!”
“Is this not an emergency?” said Emma. “I don’t know what you call an emergency, but I think this might be it.” She tried to calm her mind, to imagine them all back at the Hub, safe in the lounge, playing with Rupert and laughing at Dr. Waldo’s antics. She visualized them on the couches and chairs they’d created, recounting their tales from the peaceful security of the place she was starting to think of as a second home. She squeezed her eyes tight and imagined with all her might.
The others looked on, holding their breaths.
Nothing happened.
“I don’t know,” said Emma. “Maybe I was too stressed. Or I did it wrong. I’ll try again.” Or maybe I’ve forgotten how to do it, she thought silently.
She tried again. Nothing.
“It’s okay, dork,” said Charlie, punching his sister lightly on the shoulder. “We will find a way home. We always do.”
On the fourth day, they discussed universes.
“We’ve always thought the universes were layered,” said Kata, stacking one hand over the other to show what she meant. The others nodded. They remembered Eve’s father’s explanation, that the universes were like layers of batting in a quilt, all piled on top of each other. “I have a new hypothesis, now,” Kata continued. “I think maybe some universes are layered, like yours and ours. And other universes, I think, might be interwoven.”
“Interwoven?” said Emma. “What do you mean?”
Kata pushed a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. “I’ve been trying to figure out what happened when we used the opal and the magnet. It’s possible that the labyrinth was at a thin spot and we opened up some kind of elevator. After all, we’ve never seen an elevator from the outside, right? Maybe that’s what it looks like. But I think it might have been something else. I think instead … have you ever wondered about atoms? There’s so much space within an atom. Have you ever wondered what’s in that space?”
“I knew there was space, but I’ve never wondered what’s in that space,” said Charlie.
“Yes!” said Emma. “Yes! An atom is about 99.999999999 percent empty space!” She recalled having that very thought back when she and Charlie were discussing Dr. Waldo, how everyone on Earth could fit into a sugar cube if you took out all the empty space in their atoms.
Kata nodded and smiled at Emma. “Exactly, Emma, that’s exactly right. My hypothesis is that maybe what’s in that space is other universes. The atoms and molecules from other universes are interspersed with the atoms and molecules of our own. All the universes together take up all the space, but we only ever see one universe at a time. The opal and magnet together somehow revealed the different atoms from the other universes. They’re all there, all the time, but normally we can’t access them. That’s my hypothesis, anyway. If we get back to the Hub, I’m going to start exploring the idea.”
“When,” said Chuck. “When we get back to the Hub.”
“When,” agreed Kata with a smile.
“Multiple universes existing right here in the exact same space?” said
Ben. “That’s an amazing idea. Somewhat unbelievable, but amazing. So you think some universes are layered, and some are interwoven?”
Kata shrugged. “I don’t know, could be. That’s why I want to study it. There are infinite universes. They all have to fit somewhere.”
Every morning when they awoke, more food awaited them.
“It’s enough for all six of us, so obviously someone is paying attention,” said Ben.
They tried to catch the provider by taking turns staying awake, but whoever was bringing the food was too clever. The person on watch would fall asleep for just a few minutes, or go to what they had decided, and hoped, was the bathroom, and the food would appear while they were away.
“It’s like trying to catch Santa Claus,” said Charlie. “Only harder.”
“At least someone’s feeding us,” said Chuck. The others agreed.
On the fifth day, the house’s residents came home.
chapter ten
When Emma first heard the sound, she wasn’t sure whether she was awake. She’d been dreaming about the underwater world they were trapped in, her mind re-living the terror of the capture, the net, the box they’d been pushed into, the water rushing in and filling the room with darkness and fear. In her dream, she was gasping for air, but her lungs were taking on water. In her dream, she was panicking, frightened, drowning. In her dream, the octopus beings were closing in on her with fury and venom and giant saber-tooth-tiger-sized fangs, their tentacles tipped with vicious-looking claws. In her dream, there was no escape.
Therefore, when she heard the sound, at first she thought she’d awakened herself with her own screams. Which might have been true, too, but there was another sound, this one definitely not human. This was mechanical. Something in the house was moving; something that had not moved before.
Quietly, so as not to awaken Eve in the other bed, Emma pulled back her covers and padded softly to the door. Her heart filled her throat as she silently turned the doorknob. Peering out into the hallway, she wished they’d left more lights on. She’d wanted to suggest it, but hadn’t wanted to seem scared. But she was scared, and now her fears were heightened.
“Emma!”
Emma jumped on hearing a whisper from her left, down by the room the boys were staying in. Emma blinked in the darkness. “Ben?” she whispered back, willing her heart to calm down. “Is that you?”
“Did you hear something, too?” whispered Ben, creeping down the hall toward Emma.
“I thought I did. I wasn’t sure if it was a dream.”
“It sounded … almost like an elevator,” said Ben. He switched on the flashlight on his iPert, which had finally dried out. He’d tried several times to make calls on it with no results so far. But the flashlight, at least, was working again.
The hairs on Emma’s neck stood up as the sound began again. “It’s … is it coming from that room we can’t get into?” she asked. Her heart raced. “Should we wake the others?”
But Ben was already on his way to the code-protected door that led to parts unknown. “It’s definitely coming from there,” he said, moving along like a leopard in the night.
Emma followed, more so that she wouldn’t be left alone than because she wanted to find the source of the noise. “Maybe it’s just the person who brings the food?” she said.
“Could be,” said Ben. He stopped outside the locked door and flipped on a nearby light switch. “We’ll find out.”
As they stood waiting, the seconds felt like hours. Emma realized she was holding her breath and forced a deep inhale. As she exhaled, she heard noises from behind the door. She grabbed Ben’s arm. “That … that sounds like voices,” she said. “Like people—beings—talking.”
Ben nodded, straining to hear. “And they’re getting closer,” he said.
Footsteps echoed on the other side of the door, then stopped.
Ben and Emma stepped back from the door, alert.
They heard a “click,” and the door slid open.
Emma’s bloodcurdling scream awoke the others.
It wasn’t that she was afraid, really. She’d faced aliens and alien worlds before; she’d battled them and won. It was more that she, like the others, was bone-tired from sleeping sporadically and not sleeping well, and her nerves were shot with worry and fear. And there was that dream she’d just had, which she couldn’t quite remember anymore, but she knew that in it, she had not fared well. Seeing two alien beings come through the door put her over the edge. She screamed. And then she fainted.
The aliens, for their part, had been informed that odd, unfamiliar creatures were inhabiting their home, and were better prepared. They reacted to Emma’s scream not with threat but with kindness, helping Ben lift her up and carry her to the living room, while all the others came running from their various bedrooms.
Now they were all gathered together, seated on the couches and chairs, in the borrowed clothes they were using as pajamas, bundled in blankets. Eve sat with Emma, holding her in her arms, in part to comfort Emma and in part to comfort herself. One of the aliens had brought Emma a glass of water, which she accepted with embarrassment and a great deal of apology.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “We’ve just been … we don’t know where we are and we can’t figure out how to get home.”
“Shhh,” said the being who had brought the water. “Our fault, we should have sent warning that we were coming.”
“We’ve been away at our daughter’s wedding,” said the other being. This being’s voice was deeper, richer, than the first, so Emma assumed the first was female, and the second, male. “My wife is the Science Ambassador to the Klyvnini. This is our home while she is Ambassador,” he said. “Our caretaker let us know you were here, but we could not get home sooner. Our apologies.”
Emma wasn’t sure what she’d expected these alien beings to look like. On the ghost planets she’d visited, she’d seen ghosts from dozens if not hundreds of planets and universes. While the life forms certainly ran the gamut in terms of body shape, a good majority more or less conformed to the same basic shape as the Earthlings and the Leroians: a head (or two), some arms, some legs, most walking upright; these features were all surprisingly common. These new beings were in the same general category. As they’d guessed, the people (it was easier, Emma thought, to call them people) had four arms and two legs. They were slightly taller than your average human, she decided, but with only two people to judge by, it was hard to know if that was true of just them or of the whole species. Their torsos, however, were shorter. It was their legs that added height. As Eve had suspected, their legs were very long, as were their arms. At the end of each hand they had six digits—but rather than a thumb and five fingers, it seemed they had two thumbs and four fingers, with a thumb on either side of each hand. Four hands, eight thumbs, thought Emma, imagine how many things you could do at once!
Their skin was smooth, like human skin; the color was a deep shade, dark brown-black with a tinge of green, like twilight mixed with the forest. Or, thought Emma, like silky smooth, dark seaweed. She couldn’t get a good look at their eyes without staring, but she thought they were a little larger than her own, and the pupils seemed to be wide rectangles rather than circles. Their noses were similar to human noses, but their mouths had only the vaguest hint of lips, and while Emma assumed they must have some way to hear, she could not see evidence of any ears.
“I am Alykas,” said the woman. “Ambassador Alykas Aantu. People call me Aly. My husband is Bek, Doctor Bek Aantu. We welcome you to our home.” Her tone was pleasant and kind, but it was clear she expected some explanations to be forthcoming soon.
“I’m Kata,” said Kata, extending her hand to Aly. “Thank you for your welcome, Ambassador, Doctor. Your husband said you’re the Ambassador to the Klyvnini? Is that a country?”
Aly stared at Kata’s extended hand.
“Oh, sorry,” said Kata. “A handshake. It’s a way of greeting people.”
Aly nodded. T
his, too, would need an explanation later.
“We cross hands here,” said Bek jovially. It was clear that as an ambassador’s husband, he was used to diplomacy and to easing uncomfortable situations. He held out his lower set of arms, hands palm down. Aly placed the hands of her lower arms on top of Bek’s. Bek then put his other two hands on top of Aly’s, and she finished the hand-piles with her last pair of hands.
“That is a lot of hands,” Charlie said under his breath, elbowing Chuck in the ribs. Chuck laughed softly.
Aly noticed. “You’ll excuse me, please,” she said with calm and grace—and directness. “There seems to be a trick of the eyes here. You seem to look like us, but at the same time I think you are not. And furthermore, everyone knows the Klyvnini. Forgive me for being so forthright, but you’ll understand, you are in our home. You are welcome, but we need some answers.”
“Of course,” said Emma. She held out her two hands the same way Bek had held out his. Aly placed her lower hands on Emma’s. “I’m Emma. The first thing I guess we should tell you is that we’re not from this planet. We only have two arms. I can’t do your greeting right.”
Aly blinked with surprise, but quickly recovered her serene demeanor. She wrapped her upper set of hands around Emma’s and smiled. “Thank you for your honesty, Emma. Honesty builds trust. And if you are not from our planet, then yes, indeed, we have many long conversations ahead of us.”
“Aliens from another planet! Just like our caretaker thought!” said Bek, his smile beaming as wide as ever. “We thought she was joking. You’re lucky. Aly is, as I said, the Science Ambassador. You couldn’t have landed anywhere better. Anyone else might have hurt you, but we, well, let’s just say we are prepared. Aly may pick apart your brains, but only metaphorically.” He winked. “This is going to be good.”
Aly smiled at Bek and shook her head. “It’s my duty and responsibility,” she said.
