“I guess everybody around here is supposed to know where he is,” Aja said.
“Yeah, everybody but us,” I said. “What’s a Barbican?”
“Pendragon?” Loor said softly.
She stepped out onto the sidewalk, staring down the street with a dumbfounded expression.
“I do not know what a Barbican is, but if I were to wager, I would say that is it,” she said in awe.
Aja and I turned to see what she was pointing at. What we saw was about as incredible a sight as I could imagine.
The rain had stopped. The storm was moving through quickly and the foggy mist was blowing away. We could now see a long way down the wide street. The buildings on either side were different sizes and styles, but all were made of the same, shiny black material. As the fog lifted, more people were revealed. They were all dressed in the same dark green jumpsuit style, going about their business. It was an incredibly drab city. But what we saw at the end of the street was anything but drab.
It was another black building. Actually, it was more like a skyscraper. I’m guessing it must have been about eighty stories. It was way bigger than any of the other buildings on the street. But its size alone wasn’t what made it stand out. The breathtaking thing about it was that this huge building was floating on its side!
Actually, it wasn’t exactly floating. There was a massive, triangular brace that held it in the air. You know that big Gateway Arch thing in St. Louis on Second Earth? That’s what this brace looked like. Imagine that big arch with a huge, horizontal building attached to the top. That’s what we were faced with. It looked like a seesaw for a giant.
The three of us stood and stared at the impressive structure. Nobody knew what to say. It was Aja who moved first. Without a word, she began walking. It was like she was being drawn toward the bizarre building. I gave Loor a quick look and we followed. We walked along the sidewalk in a daze. I’d guess that by the time we got to it, we must have walked a mile.
As we stood under the monstrous structure, the clouds parted. Bright sun shone through and hit the side of the floating skyscraper, making its black skin sparkle.
Loor finally broke the silence, saying, “How are we to get inside?”
“Aja?” I said. “You said there were two codes?” “Yes,” she answered. “Try the second one.”
Aja shrugged, looked at the silver square, then input Zetlin’s second code into her wrist controller. After hitting the final key, she said, “That’s it.”
Nothing happened. I glanced back at the street, afraid that the second code would refreeze the fantasy. But the drab people continued to move, going wherever they were going.
I said, “Try it again-“
And that’s when it happened. At first we only heard the sound. It was a loud, grinding noise that hurt my ears. It sounded like giant pieces of metal were screeching against each other because, well, that’s what it was.
“It is moving!” Loor exclaimed.
We all looked up at the black building to see it was beginning to rotate. Like a monstrous Ferris wheel, the massive building slowly began to turn on its axis. I looked to the ground under the giant brace to see the outline of a huge square.
“It’s the footprint!” I shouted. “The building is righting itself!”
That’s exactly what was happening. The building was slowly rotating to vertical. The only trouble was, we were standing inside the giant square.
“Back off!” I shouted.
All three of us hurried back out of the danger zone. The screeching and grinding continued as one end of the building dropped nearer to the ground. It was incredible that something that big could actually move like that. But then again, this was the fantasy of a genius. I guess in Zetlin’s mind, it was possible.
The whole event took about a minute. With a final rush of air that sounded like the brakes on an eighteen- wheeler, times about a thousand, the base of the building settled onto the square on the ground. The ground shook with the deep rumble of an earthquake as the base touched down. We then looked up to see an eighty-story-tall skyscraper reaching vertically toward the sky. Its black skin sparkled with rainwater. There didn’t seem to be a single window in the whole structure. But at the base, looking like a flea on a dog, was a single doorway.
“Man,” I said. “This guy really makes it tough to pay a visit.”
“That must be the way in,” Loor said, pointing to the door. “Follow me.”
“Wait,” Aja said. “I should go back.” “Why?” I asked.
“It’s the Reality Bug,” she explained. “I have to keep putting up firewalls to keep it out of this jump. I need to be focused in the Alpha Core to do that.”
“What if we need you?” I asked.
“Believe me, Pendragon, you need me in the Alpha Core a lot more than you do here. If the Reality Bug gets into the alpha grid-“
“I get it,” I interrupted.
Aja looked to the ground. Something was troubling her. “What’s the matter?” I asked.
“I… I’m sorry, Pendragon,” she said softly. “I hate that I’ve put you and Loor in this position.”
“We’re here because we’re Travelers, Aja,” I said. “Don’t be sorry. Just keep that freakin’ Reality Bug away from us, okay?”
Aja nodded. She then reached out toward me. I think she wanted me to take her hand. I looked into her eyes and actually thought I saw compassion. Did Aja really care about me? A little while ago she hated that I had ever set foot on Veelox because she feared I would steal her thunder. What a difference a few death-defying escapes can make.
“I believe,” Aja said, “this is truly the way it was meant to be.”
I reached out toward her, but my hand passed right through hers. After all, she was only an image of herself.
“Good luck to you both,” she said sincerely. “I’ll be watching.”
She then disappeared in a ripple of light.
I stood there with my hand in the air, looking stupid.
“I believe she likes you,” Loor said.
I quickly put my hand in my pocket. How embarrassing was that? I really didn’t want Loor to think Aja and I had a “thing,” because we didn’t.
“Will you include that in your journal to Courtney Chetwynde?” she asked.
I couldn’t believe it. Loor was teasing me. “There’s nothing going on,” I assured her, though I think I said it with such force that she didn’t believe me.
“Very well,” Loor said. “You do not need to convince me.”
“Let it go, all right?” I said.
Loor looked up at the looming skyscraper. “He is in there somewhere,” she said.
“Right,” I added. “Let’s go find him.”
The two of us then walked together toward the small door that would lead us inside the strange, fantasy world of Dr. Zetlin, genius.
The creator of Lifelight.
(CONTINUED)
VEELOX
We stepped into a jungle.
I’m not kidding. It was a tropical rain forest full of palm trees, dense foliage, and mosquitoes. The ground beneath us was soft, dark dirt. The temperature had to be at least ninety degrees. It was so humid, my jumpsuit was already sticking to me. I swear I even heard the sound of a distant waterfall.
“How can this be, Pendragon?” Loor asked.
I turned back and saw the black door we had just entered through. We were definitely inside the strange
