He gave me a small smile, then stepped into the mouth of the flume. “Veelox!” he shouted and the flume came to life. The rock walls cracked and groaned as if they were stretching out the kinks after a long sleep. Deep in the tunnel a faint light appeared that would soon come to sweep Gunny away. Along with it came the faint jumble of sweet musical notes that always accompanied the spectacular light show.
Gunny turned to me. I saw a hint of tension in his eyes. “Did I ever tell you I’m not a big fan of this fluming business?”
I laughed. “Gunny, there’s plenty of stuff out there to be scared about. The flume isn’t one of ‘em.”
As the light grew closer, the dark rock of the tunnel began its transformation into clear crystal.
“I’l1 hold you to that,” Gunny said. The light flashed nuclear, music echoed throughout the space, and Gunny was gone. I dropped my hand in time to see the light disappear into the depths of the tunnel. The flume had returned to normal, waiting for its next passenger. Me.
“Veelox!” I shouted, and the process began again.
As the light and music came for me, I closed my eyes, waiting for the first tug that would signal the beginning of my trip.
Here we go again.
The flume ride to Veelox wasn’t different than any other. I crossed my arms, kicked back, and enjoyed the sensation of shooting through the crystal tunnel. I gazed out through the clear walls at the star field beyond, trying to pick out a constellation, but none looked familiar. I still didn’t know exactly what happened when a Traveler went through a flume. I was beginning to understand that it wasn’t like moving through the regular old three dimensions of space that we’re used to. You know: up, down, forward, back. I believe a flume trip sent you through a fourth dimension, which was time. That’s why the Travelers are able to show up where they need to be, when they need to be there.
Uncle Press explained to me about Halla. It was everything… all times, all places, all people, and all things that ever were. And they all still existed. If that were true, then maybe there was a fifth and even a sixth dimension, and the flumes were interdimensional highways between them. Something like that would make sense, or the universe would be getting pretty crowded.
Did I say that made sense? Who am I kidding? Does any of this make sense? There was only one thing I knew for sure: All this thinking about multiple dimensions was ruining my cool flume ride. I had to lighten up.
Too late. The jumble of notes grew more furious, which signaled I was nearing Veelox. A few seconds later gravity kicked in and I was gently set down. The first thing I saw was Gunny’s back. He stood at the mouth of the flume a few feet in front of me. The second thing I saw was…
Saint Dane.
Whoa.
“Hello, Pendragon,” the demon said with an oily smile. “Welcome to Veelox.”
(CONTINUED)
VEELOX
Saint Dane stood facing us in the dark room. His sharp blue eyes cut through the gloom like cold fire. He was in his normal form, standing seven feet tall with long gray hair that fell over his shoulders. To say I was shocked to see him doesn’t cover it.
“I’m surprised, Pendragon,” Saint Dane continued. “After your embarrassment on First Earth,
I thought you would have given up your foolish pursuit.”
I couldn’t talk. I was in total brainlock. “No matter,” he continued. “My work here is complete. Veelox is on the verge of crumbling. I must say, I didn’t expect Veelox to be the first territory to fall, but in the end it won’t matter, since all of Halla will ultimately meet the same fate.” “Veelox is about to crumble?” Gunny asked, stunned. “I don’t believe you,” I said, finally kick starting my brain. Saint Dane smiled from one corner of his mouth and said, “You say that as if I should care. Now, please, step aside. I have business elsewhere.”
“You’re not leaving,” I announced defiantly.
Gunny gave me a quick, nervous look. That was a pretty bold threat, especially since I had no idea of how to back it up.
“What are you going to do?” Saint Dane chuckled. “Hold me here?”
“If we have to,” I said, trying not to let my voice crack. I meant it too. If Saint Dane ran for the flume, I was ready to tackle him. We had to know what happened on Veelox.
“Isn’t that a little unimaginative?” Saint Dane said. But the words didn’t come from his mouth. They came from our right. Huh? Gunny and I both turned quickly to see…
Another Saint Dane was standing there. There were two of them! “Certainly you can be more creative than that,” the second Saint Dane said.
“Or maybe you’ve reached your limit for resourcefulness,” came another voice.
Uh-oh. Gunny and I spun to our left to see a third Saint Dane.
“Press would be so disappointed in you.”
We turned to see yet another Saint Dane behind us, standing in the mouth of the flume. “They’re not real. Gunny. They’re holograms,” I said. “Like movies.”
“Correct!” Saint Dane announced. The fifth Saint Dane. We were now standing in a circle of Saint Danes. There were twenty of them, all the exact duplicates of one another. They started to move together, circling us.
“The question is,” they all said in unison, “which one of us is real?” They let out a chilling laugh. “What to do? What to do?” they sang together.
Gunny and I stood back to back, trying to spot any sign that would tell us which was the original. It was impossible.
They were perfect clones. Then, in one unified voice, they all shouted, “Eelong!”
Uh-oh. The flume came to life. If we were going to do something, it would have to be fast. Gunny made the first move. He jumped forward and wrapped his arms around the closest Saint Dane. But all he got for his trouble was an armload of air.
The Saint Danes laughed. This was fun for him. Or them, or whatever.
Light from the flume lit up the room and the musical notes were nearly on us. Gunny lunged at another Saint Dane, but his arms swept through the hologram like it wasn’t even there. Because it wasn’t. In seconds Saint Dane would escape to another territory and we’d be left to pick up the pieces. As scared as I was, I lunged at one of the Saint Danes…
And wrapped my arms around the demon Traveler. The real one. I had guessed right. First try. Lucky me.
It’s hard to describe the feeling. Yes, I was petrified, but I guess that’s obvious. What I remember most is that Saint Dane felt cold. It was like hugging a block of ice. With my chin stuck in his chest, I looked up into his eyes. For an instant I was afraid the blood in my veins would freeze solid. Maybe it did, because I couldn’t move. When he opened his mouth to speak, his breath smelled like something had crawled in there and died.
“Does this mean you’re coming with me?” he asked with a wicked sneer.
That threw me. I felt as if holding on to him wasn’t going to stop him, but instead make me his prisoner. The thought was so gruesome, I automatically let go. Bad move, because Saint Dane instantly bolted for the flume. Gunny lunged at him, but the demon was too fast. He leaped into the flume at the exact instant the light came to take him. All that was left was the echoing sound of his laughter as he flumed away. Saint Dane was gone.
So were the holograms. Gunny and I were left alone in the big empty room, staring at a dark flume.
“I’m going after him,” Gunny announced.
“No!” I shouted. “We’ve got to figure out what he did here on Veelox.”
“He’s going to start in on a new territory, Pendragon,” Gunny declared. “What’s done here is done.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” I countered. “Just because he said it, doesn’t mean it’s true. He’s not exactly an honest guy.”
We were at a crossroads. What was the best thing to do? Stay here and do damage control, or stop Saint
