“Why are we going back?” Casey asked, confused.
“We’re not,” Athena answered. “We’re going through.”
The Spectacle began moving faster, the descent seeming much more intense than the ascent. Casey looked out the window and watched the stars pass by faster and faster. Had they blasted off into outer space so they could get some kind of running start? Why would they need a running start of any kind? Unless…
Just as Casey figured out that it was not going to be ordinary return to orbit, the Spectacle jerked forward. Another blast of blue energy poured out of its engines, and in seconds, the ship was hurtling toward Earth at a ridiculously high speed.
And then bam!
As fast as the ship had just been going, it was slowing as quickly. The air around Casey began to grow hazy. Casey watched as Athena’s and Frank’s bodies appeared to stretch and contort. Time seemed to slow. It was as though they were suddenly going in slow motion as they pushed their way through an invisible barrier.
Just when Casey was sure she was going to be squished or her body twisted into some unrecognizable form, there was a loud pop and time snapped back into place. Relief flooded Casey. They had made it to the other side!
And then the alarm began to blare.
Casey couldn’t help it: she screamed. Looking out the window, she saw that they were now falling among clouds as they raced way too quickly toward the ground.
“Hold on!” Frank shouted.
This is it, Casey thought, squeezing her eyes shut. I’m going to die. I’ll never get to see Tomorrowland. Or say good-bye to my parents. Or hug Nate and tell him it is okay to have a wubby. Nope, I’m going to be smashed into a billion pieces and—
“Casey, wake up,” Athena said, shaking her gently. “Wake up. We’re here.”
Cautiously, Casey opened one eye, then the other. Then she blinked. She was alive! She must have blacked out and missed what had happened and how they had landed, but she didn’t care. She was alive, and even better, they were there. They were in Tomorrowland!
STEPPING OUT of the Spectacle, Casey turned and looked at the ship that had brought them there. It was pretty beaten up but in one piece, which, Casey figured, was a good thing if that was their ticket home.
Moving shakily down the platform, Casey quickly realized she was in the SpacePort from her vision. But something was off about it. True, spacecraft were docked next to various platforms, but they were clearly not in service. There was no one rushing to hop a flight or disembarking with specimens from faraway places. The whole area had the air of having been abandoned—for a very long time.
Still…“It’s real,” Casey said as Athena came and stood next to her. “I’m really here.”
Athena nodded slowly. Her reaction to being back was nowhere near as enthusiastic as Casey’s. She was troubled by what she had seen so far. And Frank, standing at the edge of the SpacePort and staring out over the city, seemed troubled as well.
It was true. Frank was troubled. The city he looked out on was not the glittering, bustling city he remembered from his youth. No monorails flew past. No one hovered in jetpacks. Still, despite that, Frank was overwhelmed with emotion. This was the one place he had ever well and truly thought of as home. And he was back. Finally.
Absorbed in his memories and the view in front of him, Frank didn’t hear Casey until she spoke right next to him.
“It’s beautiful,” she said softly.
“It was,” he said, sighing. And maybe it can be again, he thought. He looked at Athena. “So now what?”
“You tell me,” she replied.
The words were like a slap across the face to Frank. Was she kidding? She had to be kidding. “I tell you? This was your idea!”
“I don’t have ideas,” Athena said, shrugging. “I just find the people who do.”
“So there’s no plan,” Frank said.
Athena shook her head. “There is a plan. You just haven’t come up with it yet. But you should do that soon.” As she spoke, she nodded over her shoulder.
Turning to follow her gaze, Frank swore under his breath. Approaching from the heart of the city was the MAGrail. It was no longer the shiny, translucent monorail it had been. The white sides had been painted black and the windows tinted so that no one could see the passengers traveling within. Shooting toward them, it looked like a shark closing in on its prey.
“They know we’re here?” Casey asked.
Frank nodded. “They know just about everything.”
Casey gulped nervously. From the tone of Frank’s voice, and the look of the approaching MAGrail, she knew that that was not a good thing. Was the MAGrail full of robots ready to kill her on sight? Or something even worse?
Kneeling down, Frank took off his backpack and began to rummage around inside. “Athena,” he said, searching for something. “Do you still have a reserve battery compartment?”
She nodded. “Yes. Why?”
He lifted the pinball device. “Hide this, will ya?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” Athena replied. Then, lifting her shirt just enough to expose her stomach, she gently pushed her belly button. There was a soft whir, and then a small compartment opened in her side. She pulled out what looked like an ordinary AA battery, dropped the pinball in its place, and then sealed the compartment back up.
Casey watched the whole thing, intrigued. But then something occurred to her. “Wait,” she said. “Isn’t that the one-kiloton explodey thingy you told me not to play with?”
Frank nodded, which did nothing to calm the growing storm of nerves in her stomach. “It’s our insurance policy. There’s a chance they’re going to try and kill us right out of the gate.”
A moment later, the MAGrail pulled in front of them, the only noise to mark its arrival the soft hum as it hovered in the station. Casey watched, a mixture of curiosity and fear rushing through her. Her visions had always made that place seem so beautiful and peaceful, a bastion of scientific advancement and wonder. But the place of her vision was clearly no more.
Finally, the front window of the MAGrail lowered, revealing the interior. Inside, three guards wearing crisp uniforms stood at watch, determining the threat level posed by Frank, Athena, and Casey. Apparently satisfied the threat was low, they stepped aside.
Frank muttered under his breath as a man, roughly the same age as him, stepped out of the MAGrail and approached their group. This was David Nix. And he hadn’t aged a day since Frank had met him over forty years earlier. His blue eyes were still bright and his skin relatively unlined.
“Frank. You look well. Age becomes you,” he said, his tone welcoming, but his meaning clear—why had Frank come back? He was not welcome there.
“Thanks,” Frank said, his eyes filled with undisguised hate. “You should try it.”
Nix shrugged. He had no desire to age. That seemed so primitive. Turning his gaze on Athena, he smiled. “Hello, Athena. I was starting to think you were never coming home. Where have you been?”
Casey watched Athena closely to see if his words triggered any sort of emotional response. As usual, the robot betrayed no hint of anger or confusion. “Doing my job,” she answered.
“Your job?” Nix repeated, raising an eyebrow. “Were we not clear when we suspended your recruitment protocols?”
That time, Athena’s response was less tempered. In fact, if Casey hadn’t known any better, she would have guessed the robot got a kick out of what she said next. “I got that sense when you called me ‘bloody obsolete’ and tried to disassemble me, yes.”
The smile Nix had plastered on his face faltered for a moment. No one had talked to him like that, at least not in a long time. He had forgotten how much he disliked sarcasm. Sighing, he moved the conversation on. “Well, you’ve certainly made quite a commotion by launching an antique rocket ship out of the Eiffel Tower. Under normal circumstances, we’d be working overtime to convince everyone it was an elaborate hoax. But”—he turned, his next words directed at Fr
ank—“fortunately for all of us, it doesn’t really matter, does it?”
Casey had been watching the whole reunion unfold like she would if she started watching a movie midway through. She knew vaguely who the players were and that they had a history, but she didn’t know the details. And it was infuriating. “Uh…” Casey said, unable to stop herself. “Why doesn’t it matter?”
For the first time, David Nix turned his attention on Casey. “And who might you be?” he asked, raising a curious eyebrow.
Casey was somewhat surprised. She had figured that when Frank had said they knew we were there, he had meant her, too. “I’m Casey Newton. And, uh, who might you be?”
“David Nix.” Amused, the man held out his hand. “Pleasure.”
Casey warily held out her own hand and they shook. “Are you a robot?” she asked.
“God, no,” Nix said, laughing. “Despite being accused of being heartless on occasion, I’m one hundred percent organic.” He paused, looking at Frank. The smile left his face. Formalities were over. It was time to get down to business. “It’s been wonderful catching up, but I have to ask…what are you doing here?”
Frank had to admit it was a valid question. When Nix had thrown him out of Tomorrowland, he had told Frank in no uncertain terms that if he violated his exile, the punishment would be severe. Until recently, he had dreamed of returning but never dared to. Then he had met Casey, and Athena had come back into his life. No matter how hurt his pride had been or still was, he couldn’t deny that he had to help Casey fulfill a destiny she didn’t even know was hers. He also couldn’t pass up the ticket back, no matter what the cost. “I think she can fix it,” he finally said.
“I’m sorry?” Nix said, not understanding.
Frank nodded at Casey. “Her. I think she can fix it,” he repeated.
“Wait…what?” Casey asked as she became the topic of discussion. Ever since she had met him, Frank had seemed completely dismissive of her. And now he was saying she could help with something? It made no sense.
To Nix, however, it did seem to make sense. He stepped up to Frank, his eyes intense as he waited for Frank to go on.
“I’ve been pirating your signal,” Frank said. “Every time you turn it on here? I see it there. And it…flickered. The percentage dropped, David.”
Nix blinked. “Impossible.”
“You think I’m lying?” Frank asked, daring Nix to challenge him. “Let’s go look for ourselves. Right now.”
For a moment, the two men continued to stare at each other, locked in a silent battle of wills. It was Casey who broke through to them. She walked over and tugged Frank’s sleeve. He didn’t pay attention. So she tugged harder. “Uh, what is it I can fix, exactly?”
But it was Nix who answered, not Frank. And when Nix spoke, his voice was oozing with cynicism. “The world, Ms. Newton. He thinks you can fix the world.”
DAWN WAS just breaking as the MAGrail carried Casey and the others into the heart of Tomorrowland. The light from the rising sun was beautiful, bathing everything in subtle hues of orange and red and yellow. Unfortunately, the objects the dawn light touched were not nearly as beautiful. Watching the landscape zip by, Casey began to see just how different this Tomorrowland was from the Tomorrowland of her visions.
What she had seen—the harmonious blend of nature and architecture that resulted in a balanced and thriving city—was gone. In its place, technology had taken over. Everything seemed darker, colder, less alive, and more metallic.
“Not as green as I remember it,” Frank said, echoing Casey’s thoughts aloud. He and Nix were standing at the front of the monorail, both staring ahead.
Nix shrugged. “Grass and trees are beautiful to look at,” he said. “But they don’t generate the kind of power we need.”
It wasn’t just the flora and fauna that were missing from Tomorrowland, Casey noticed. “It’s so empty,” she pointed out. “How many people live here?”
“Just enough,” Nix answered.
Just enough? Casey repeated to herself. Hadn’t the plan been to share this place with the whole world? Make it a place that gave people hope and showed the power of possibility? “What happened?” she asked.
But of course, she should have known a question would only be answered by another cryptic response. “The Oracle happened,” Frank said, looking up through the window.
Following his gaze, Casey saw a huge tower that loomed over the city. She recognized it! It had been in her pin-induced visions. Only then, the tower had been shorter and not covered in the thick wires that now ran into and out of it. And in her vision there had definitely not been an enormous sphere hovering at the top of the tower, crackling with energy. Casey shivered. There was something very unsettling about that sphere.
Before she could ask Frank to explain, the MAGrail came to a smooth stop and the doors opened. She stepped onto the platform and followed Nix as he led them down what she remembered being called Bridgeway Plaza. The gates she had once seen were still there, only now most of them were dark. No exotic locales flickered on the other side. No one passed through.
As they made their way by one gate, Frank frowned. A large group of AAs emerged from the gate, carrying various pieces of art. One held a huge canvas alive with vibrant colors, while another had several ancient parchments clutched under his arm. “What the hell is this?” Frank asked, clearly disturbed.
“History. We’re salvaging it,” Nix answered. Frank’s frown deepened. “It’s Earth’s culture. You’d prefer it be lost forever?”
“Lost?” Casey repeated, having had enough ominous mystery for one day. “Where’s it going? Is that…a portal to Earth?”
Nix shook his head. “No. It’s a Bridgeway to Earth,” he said as they arrived at their destination—the base of the tower. It was even bigger than it had looked from the MAGrail station. Casey craned her head all the way back, her vision turning blurry, as she took in its intimidating height. The wires that ran up into the sphere were of varying widths, but they all crackled with energy. Nix tapped a few buttons on a remote-like device on his wrist, and the sphere began to descend toward them, reminding Casey of the ball dropping on New Year’s Eve in Times Square.
“Looks like you made some upgrades,” Frank said, watching the sphere come closer. It did not, Casey noticed, sound like a compliment.
Nix took it as one, though. “The tower now generates more energy than every wind, solar, and photosynthetic power source we had combined, rendering them more or less obsolete. It runs the entire city.” Nix smiled smugly, clearly impressed with himself. “It’s something, isn’t it?”
“Oh, it’s something,” Frank said.
At that moment, the sphere finally came to a stop, hovering about a hundred feet above the group. With a loud clack, the bottom of the sphere disconnected, revealing a circular platform. There was a whir and then the platform descended the final hundred feet. When it finally set down, Nix gestured the group aboard.
Casey eyed the platform uneasily. She was all about adventure, but she was also a big fan of physics, and this thing seemed to defy the laws of gravity. On either side of her, Frank and Athena seemed hesitant, as well. But when Nix walked on and nothing happened, they tentatively stepped aboard.
Instantly, the platform began to rise. Casey raised her arms, reflexively trying to steady herself. When she was sure she wouldn’t topple over the edge, she relaxed slightly. And that was when she noticed something strange.
All around the platform, a faint blue energy pulsed. And flashing randomly amid the energy, were what could only be described as ghostlike people. They were transparent and fuzzy, some clearer than others. Staring at them, Casey let out a gasp when she saw a “ghost” that looked just like her. “Ghost Casey” was pointing right at her!
Grabbing hold of Frank’s arm, Casey pointed at the flashing ghosts—the exact same motion the ghost Casey had made a moment earlier. “What are those?” she asked.
It was Nix who answered.
“Flashes of the future,” he explained. “Us…a few seconds from now. This whole tower funnels energy via tachyon—a particle that moves significantly faster than light.”
Goose bumps rose on Casey’s arms. She wasn’t sure she liked the idea of seeing the future—even if it was only a few seconds ahead. It seemed wrong somehow. Looking up, she saw another ghost of herself, craning her neck upward. Instinctively, Casey did the same thing, noticing that they had almost arrived at the top half of the sphere.
As the two pieces of the sphere got closer and closer, Casey squeezed her eyes shut, convinced she was about to be squished. When nothing happened, she cautiously opened one eye, then the other. They were in a huge, wide room with ceilings that curved down. Almost everything was white—the geometric floor, the smooth walls, even the pedestal in the middle of the room. The only thing that wasn’t white was the large clear globe that rested in a cradle on top of the pedestal.
Frank stared at the pedestal as though trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Noticing his look, Nix smiled.
“We’ve enhanced the interface significantly,” he said. “Though it still functions on your original algorithm.”
Casey cocked her head. Frank’s algorithm? Frank had designed whatever that crazy-looking globe thingy was? Why? And when?
Nix gestured at the globe. “You have something to show me, Frank? Well then, show me.”
Frank hesitated. When he had brought Casey to Tomorrowland, he hadn’t known what it had become. He hadn’t known that what he had created for good years earlier would become something so foreign to him. And frankly, it scared him. He looked at Casey. He didn’t want to do it, but if there was even a glimmer of a chance that he was right…
Taking a deep breath, Frank stepped up to the globe and put his hands gently on top of it. Instantly, the globe lit up while the lights in the room dimmed. There was a hum as the globe powered up, and then Frank turned to Casey. “Pick a place,” he said.
“What?” Casey asked.
“A location,” Frank said. “Anywhere in the world. Pick one.”
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