by R E McLean
“I’ll see the sites with you today, Dad. Rik can get home to his kids. Or to the lab.” She’d lost track of what day it was. “But just give me half an hour. I need to check something out here.”
“Something physics related? On Fisherman’s Wharf?” said Rik.
“No. It’s… it’s to do with that case I’m giving evidence for.”
“Ah, that. Dragging on, isn’t it? Poor you.”
“Yeah.” She found herself unable to meet Rik’s eye.
“Nothing to do with those numbers you got me to run last month?”
“Not really, no.” The figures Rik had run for Alex had helped her work out why she smelled glue when she was near someone who’d jumped between worlds: gluons.
“Ah. Good. They were well dodgy. You could be punching holes in the universe with that kind of thing.”
“Don’t worry.” She put a hand on Duncan’s arm. “I’ll be back soon, Dad. Promise.”
She sped toward the waterfront, knowing the delay would mean another roasting from Monique. But when she got there, Monique was nowhere to be seen. The pier was empty.
The morning was still chilly, with a touch of mist. All the tourists were wrapped up inside coffee shops, getting some breakfast. Like her dad, she hoped.
She stepped onto the pier. She could smell it: glue. Something had happened here.
“Hello?” she called, not sure if she was expecting to see Monique or someone from Silicon City. “Anyone here?”
She blinked as a disc of light appeared in front of her. It shimmered and shifted in midair, about three feet off the ground. She took a step toward it. A chill caught her in the face, ruffling her already tangled ginger hair.
“Who’s there? Madonna? Prof?”
The patch of light twirled and grew. The air became colder. She could hear sounds coming from it, like a tiny thunderstorm in midair, hovering over the Fisherman’s Wharf pier.
She looked behind her. Was she the only person who could see this?
A girl was leaning on the wall of a cafe, engrossed in her phone. She was slim and blonde, and alone. Alex wondered where her parents were.
She looked back at the anomaly. It had grown to about twenty inches in diameter. She watched it, unsure what to do. Could this be Mike, finding his way home?
“Whoah.”
The girl had lifted her gaze from her phone and was staring at the anomaly. There was still no one else in sight. The girl’s mouth widened. She pulled her phone up in front of her, videoing.
“Please don’t do that,” Alex said. The girl gave her a look and carried on filming.
The anomaly was the size of a large dog now, swirling purple clouds in the air. At its center was a patch of bright white light. Alex shielded her eyes.
“This is awesome.” The girl was next to her, her phone up and her eyes reflecting the light.
“Please. Stand back.”
The girl shook her head and took a step forward.
“Lacey!”
Alex turned to see a man running out of the coffee shop. “Lacey! Get back here. What the—?”
The man stopped and raised his arm to shield his eyes. His jaw hung open.
“You need to get back here,” Alex said. The girl was between her and the anomaly now, muttering to herself. The smell of glue was overpowering.
The anomaly spun clockwise and then quickly counterclockwise. It pulsed and grew to about four feet in diameter. It was almost touching the planks of the pier.
Alex reached out to grab the girl’s arm.
“Lacey? Is your name Lacey?”
No response. The girl shrugged her off.
“You need to step back. It’s not safe.”
“Alex. Alex lass, what’s that?”
Alex felt her shoulders slump. “Go back to the coffee shop, Dad! I’ll be with you in a tick.”
“Whoah. Is that some kind of freak weather system?” Rik’s voice.
“Yeah,” she called over her shoulder. “That’s exactly what it is. Don’t worry.”
“Lacey, step back please,” Alex muttered. She stepped forward, feeling a gust of wind on her face. The anomaly was darkening now, shades of red and purple swirling at its center.
Lacey glanced back at her. “No one told me they had this kind of thing in San Francisco.”
She stepped away from Alex. Alex opened her mouth to speak. There was a flash and a sucking sound and Alex felt herself being pushed away by the wind. She leaned into it, determined to save Lacey.
“Lacey? Lacey?”
The anomaly flashed once, then twice. The light was blinding. Alex thought she saw a shape at its center. A human shape? Lacey’s silhouette swayed and shifted, the light flickered out and the anomaly was gone.
She stared at the spot where it had been, mesmerized.
“Laceeeeyy!” Steps thundered toward her; the girl’s father.
But it was too late. The girl had gone, swallowed up by the anomaly.
6
Glue
“What did you do with her?” Lacey’s father was grabbing Alex by the shoulders.
“Leave my friend alone!” called Rik.
“Please, sir,” said Alex.
“Where is she?”
The man let her go and ran to the spot where Lacey had disappeared. There was nothing there except the lingering smell of glue.
He ran to the edge of the pier and leaned as far as he could over the railing. “Lacey! Lacey come back now! This isn’t funny.”
He turned back, his eyes blazing. “What did you do with her? I’ll have you arrested.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
Alex turned to see Monique heading toward them. She wore stiletto heels and a cashmere coat. She staggered along the pier, her heels slipping into the cracks between the planks. It gave her a lopsided gait that she did her best to counter with the steadiness of her stare.
“Sir. I’m Lieutenant Monique Williams from San Francisco Police Department. Let me assure you that my associate has not hurt your daughter.”
The man deflated. “Associate?”
“Yes.”
The man looked between the two of them. “Find her.”
“We will, sir.” Monique drew level with Alex and gave her a warning look. She passed her gaze across Rik as if he wasn’t even there. “Now, I’ll need you to go with my colleague there and tell him everything you saw.”
Monique handed the man to a guy Alex had seen getting a roasting in her office a few days back. He put an arm around the man and led him away.
“What happened?” snapped Monique.
“There was an anomaly. A shifting, swirling patch of light. The girl—Lacey—disappeared into it.”
“Aw, hell.” Monique looked over Alex’s head—something that was easy for her to do, with Alex being so short—and beckoned two uniformed cops over. “Seal the area. No one in or out.”
The cops nodded and started pushing the growing crowd of people back. In their midst was Duncan. Alex sent him an apologetic wave. He shrugged his shoulders and withdrew into the crowd.
“I need to go after him,” said Alex. “My dad.”
“Oh, no you don’t,” said Monique. She glanced at Rik then back at Alex. “You’re a witness. Your pal here can look after your dad.”
Alex raised her eyebrows at Rik.
“Yeah, sure,” he shrugged. “Call me when you’re done, OK?
“OK.” Alex hated herself for lying to her best friend.
“And tell them there’s something fishy about that thing,” he added. “Physics-wise.”
“Yeah. I will.”
He ambled off. Alex hoped he’d be able to find her dad, and that Duncan wouldn’t go off on one of his adventures.
“Right,” said Monique. “Describe what you saw.”
“It was a disc. It was pale to start with, then it grew. It darkened.”
“Any wind?”
“Er, yes. Have you seen this before?”
“How big was it, be
fore she disappeared?”
“About four feet in diameter. It was red and purple by then, like there was a storm in the center of it.”
“And there was wind, you say?”
“Yeah. Right in my face.”
Monique had paled. Her voice had lost its normal fingernails-on-a-chalkboard quality. If anything, she sounded scared.
“Did you see anything on the other side? Anything inside it?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Anything, Alex. No matter how bizarre.”
“I might have seen a person. A child.”
Monique closed her eyes. She took a few deep breaths then opened them again.
“Alex Strand, please let me offer my apologies in advance.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m gonna have to send you to the most dangerous place in the multiverse.”
7
Wine
Alex crossed the parking lot and pushed open the door of the van housing the MIU. Inside, Nemesis was hunched over a console, muttering to himself. Madge was nowhere to be seen.
“Hey guys. I assume you’re expecting me.”
Nemesis swung around in his chair, almost toppling in his haste. “You caught me in the midst of an experiment to turn water into wine.”
“Did it work?”
“Sadly, no.” Something clanged behind him. “Ah, fizzsnoggle.” He turned back to his desk, batting at a growing plume of smoke.
Madge appeared from the back of the van. She gave Alex a nod then went to her own screen.
Alex watched her, Madge was normally full of bustle and cheerfulness, like a Disney grandma. And not the kind who poisons your apple. But today she was pale, and her Brooks Brothers sweater was a dull shade of gray instead of the normal baby blue or lime green.
Mike’s disappearance had hit her hard.
“I’ll go get kitted out, OK?” said Alex. “I’ll need to jump. Monique said I need to go via Silicon City as usual.”
“Absotootlyootly. No problem,” said Nemesis, grinning at her as he sucked a throbbing finger. She hoped he knew what he was doing.
She headed for Sarita’s workspace, a pale room at the front of the van which seemed bigger than a football field and where light emanated from the walls. “Hello?”
“Down here.”
Alex could see the top of Sarita’s head below her. This van had trans-dimensional properties, and housed the central workspace that reminded her of a gentleman’s library, Sarita’s glowing white room, and the Spinner itself. Plus the most luxurious bathroom Alex had ever had the pleasure to use.
Sarita was arranging some clothes on a rail. “I’ve got your outfit.”
Alex stepped onto a platform, gliding down to join Sarita who pulled a hanger off the rail. It sported a skinsuit painted in a cacophony of colors like the most gorgeous rainbow Alex had ever seen.
“I wish you’d given me that for Greater Castro.”
“Huh?”
“Is that where I’m going?”
Sarita’s face darkened. “No. This is protective. Put it on.”
“Looks manmade to me.” Only naturally occurring materials could travel between dimensions, something Alex’s predecessors had apparently discovered to great embarrassment the first time they had arrived in Silicon City.
“Uh-uh. Made of finely-spun mercury.”
“That’s a liquid.”
Sarita’s eyes narrowed. “I’m a materials scientist. If anyone can spin mercury, it’s me.”
“Isn’t it toxic?”
“Not when it’s woven like this. Just put it on, huh? I gather you’ve got a girl to find.”
Alex took the hanger from Sarita’s hand.
She headed toward a hidden changing room in a corner. She crashed into it, something she managed to do every time. She inched round the partition and started to undress.
Back in the central space, Nemesis was waiting. He looked her up and down but didn’t comment on her protective suit. It was made of a dark clingy material and made her look like a six-year-old doing school gymnastics.
“Where’s Madge?” asked Alex.
“She had to take some time out,” said Nemesis.
Poor Madge. Alex knew that she and Mike were an item, however well they hid it from Nemesis and Monique. And here she was going after Lacey instead of Mike.
“Don’t worry,” said Nemesis. “She’ll be back soon. Probably needed to powder her nose.”
Alex frowned. She looked toward the vast bathroom with its disco lights and fountains. It was like Ancient Rome crossed with Boogie Nights in the back of a van. She hated leaving Madge like this.
But she had a job to do.
Nemesis gestured toward the central console which concealed the Spinner. It was already descending.
8
Unicorn
The platform descended toward basement level.
Nemesis was dashing between screens on the central console, muttering under his breath and pushing his already wild blond hair into bizarre shapes that made Alex think of the time her dad had entered his dog Nettie in a poodle beauty pageant. Something that might have worked if Nettie hadn’t been a spaniel.
“Wait for me!”
Madge was peering over the edge, looking down on them. She didn’t look pleased.
“Why didn’t you wait for me?”
“We need to hurry,” said Nemesis.
“You can’t control that thing on your own.”
Nemesis harrumphed.
“How am I supposed to get down there?”
“Jump,” said Nemesis. “I’ll catch you.”
Alex looked up at Madge, seventy-three if she was a day, blue rinse hair set so solid you could build houses with it. “You’ll catch her?”
“Don’t look at me like that,” said Nemesis. “I’m more sprightly than I look.”
“It’s not you I’m thinking of.”
“Alright then,” said Madge. She sat on the edge of the precipice. Nemesis reached up for her.
“Stop!” cried Alex. The central floor was still moving downward. “This isn’t safe. She’s got to be six feet above us.”
Nemesis gave her a wink. “It’s alright.”
Above them, Madge pushed a button. “Silly me.” A ladder emerged from the wall below her. She eased her way down, putting a hand out to Alex. “Thank you for worrying about me.”
Madge was more of a hugger than a hand-shaker, but this was enough for today.
Madge went to her console and started flicking fingers across the screen. She looked more like an artist than a technician. Alex stepped into the Spinner.
The door slid closed and she braced herself against the wall. She took a few deep breaths, the spinning gearing up. She closed her eyes.
The movement stopped. This was getting easier.
The door slid open behind her.
She stepped out to find herself on the roof of the headquarters of Hive Earth’s Multiverse Operations Organization. Madonna and the Prof were waiting.
“Welcome,” said the Prof. “Good to see you again.” He looked grave.
Alex breathed in the sweet air of Silicon City. “Any news on Mike?”
Madonna shook her head. “We’ve looked everywhere.”
Alex nodded. “Have you been told my mission?”
“Yes,” replied the Prof. “You’re looking for a girl. We have to send you to… to a new universe.”
“Lacey,” replied Alex. “She was snatched from Fisherman’s Wharf in our San Francisco. I’m pretty sure she was taken through some sort of rift between dimensions. I need you to tell me where you’re sending me, though.”
“There’s plenty of time for that,” said Madonna.
“No. There really isn’t.”
Madonna looked her up and down. “What the hell is that?”
“Sarita spun it from mercury. She said it would protect me.”
“It’s a rainbow.”
“I know.”
“
You’re going to the darkest place in the multiverse, and she’s decked you out like a toy unicorn on acid.” Madonna sighed. “For an intelligent woman, sometimes she really has no clue.”
“Sorry.”
“Not your fault, darling. Come on, let’s get you changed. That thing will kill you soon as look at you. Then we need to hurry. Your girl, Lacey, she’s gonna be in danger.”
9
Rhino
“Tell me,” Alex said. “What are we looking at here? This world no one will talk to me about.” She thought of some of the worlds she’d visited in search of Mike. “Angry mustache wearers? Farmers with dogs that look like purple rhinos?”
“No, honey,” Madonna said.
“Worse?”
“Much worse. At least, that’s what we believe.”
“Tell me. Please.”
Madonna avoided Alex’s gaze. “It’s volatile. Might not be the same from one moment to the next. There’s not a lot I can tell you, because whatever I do tell you could be wrong.”
“Has Mike been there? Any of my predecessors?”
“It’s much too dangerous to send anyone there,” replied the Prof.
“Except me.”
“Monique has given us clear instructions. You’re to find Lacey and bring her back. As quick as you can. I have no idea how long that suit will protect you.”
“It’s radioactive, then.”
“No. Worse.”
“What’s worse than radioactive?”
“Just get over there quickly,” said Madonna. “Lacey was taken from Fisherman’s Wharf, right?”
“You know Fisherman’s Wharf? That doesn’t exist in Silicon City.”
“I make it my business to know these things. You’ll have to walk two-point-six miles north. The street layout is similar to in your world, except…different.”
“Different how?”
“Less… complete. There’s a lot of wreckage.”
Alex felt her chest tighten. “What from?”
“We’re not entirely sure. Something quantum. Physical effects. Without sending researchers in, it’s difficult to know much about the place. And sending researchers in has proved dangerous.”
