crashing through this wall, I don’t care how strong it gets.
“I hope you’re right,” I said.
He wasn’t.
The proof appeared at the bottom of the door that Zetlin had just closed.
“It doesn’t need to break down the wall,” I said, pointing to the door.
An ink-black liquid was leaking its way into the room through the edges around the door. Like oily poison it oozed through the seams, poured onto the floor, and continued to move across it.
The Reality Bug had gone liquid.
“This way, hurry,” Zetlin said, and ran off.
He didn’t need to add the “hurry.” We were right after him. There was no telling how long it would take the Reality Bug to ooze into the room and reform as something nasty. We had to keep moving.
“We’ll take the zips,” he said.
“Zips?” I asked.
We followed Zetlin through the giant machinery. I felt like an ant running through a monstrous engine, that’s how big the mechanism was. He led us to a row of vehicles that I recognized from when we first arrived. They were the motorcycle-looking speeders that we saw racing underwater and in the air. Zetlin grabbed a helmet from the seat of one and jumped on.
“Whoa, we don’t know how to drive these!” I complained.
“Not a problem,” Zetlin answered. “A child could drive them. Watch.” He grabbed the handlebars and said, “Right grip is speed, left grip is brake.” He then pointed down. His right foot was resting on a pedal. “Heel back gives you nose up. Toes down, you dive. Keep your foot flat for level flight. Steering is obvious.”
We then heard a gruesome scream coming from back in the machinery. It was a loud, metallic, tearing sound. The Reality Bug had reformed. Loor and I gave each other a nervous look. We then each grabbed a helmet and jumped onto a zip. We were going to have to learn how to drive these babies, fast.
“Buckle in,” Zetlin said while pulling a bar around his waist. “If you’re not locked in when you hit the water, you’ll be thrown.”
“Hit the water?” Loor asked nervously.
Zetlin then flipped a switch under the handlebars and his zip whined to life. Loor and I did the same. I could feel the hum of power coming from the zip. It felt like being on a motorcycle, like Uncle Press’s. But I had never driven one myself. The closest I had come was one of those kiddie rides at the mall that you put a quarter in and it bucks around a little bit. Something told me this was going to be a little bit different. I glanced at Zetlin and he pushed his heel down. The nose cone of the zip tilted up into the air like a missile getting ready to fly.
317 325 “Let’s go,” he shouted, and hit the throttle. Instantly his zip launched. He shot into the air, turned sharply, and stopped, hovering over us. “C’mon!” he yelled.
I looked to Loor. Loor shrugged and followed Zetlin’s lead. She pushed her heel down, the nose lifted up, and she took off. She shot past Zetlin, nearly hitting him.
Note to self: Avoid hitting things.
Zetlin turned his zip and chased after her. I had to go too, or I’d lose them. I dropped my heel and felt the front of the zip lift up. I was now pointed to the ceiling.
“Hobey-ho,” I said under my breath, and twisted the throttle. The zip bucked forward and I shot into the air. The ride was incredible. It turned easily and I quickly got used to the throttle and brake. The foot pedal was a little trickier. I couldn’t keep the zip level at first, and it was making me seasick. But after playing with it for a while, I was able to level out. Man, I would love to have one of these for real. Too bad it was just a fantasy vehicle.
I saw Zetlin and Loor hovering together ahead of me and quickly joined them. The three of us floated there among the giant gears, fifty feet in the air.
“Are you two all right?” Zetlin asked.
“I’m good,” I said.
“I am as well,” Loor said.
“Then let’s keep moving.”
He was about to throttle up when Loor said, “But I cannot swim.”
“You won’t have to,” Zetlin answered.
We then heard another roar coming from deeper in the machine room. We all looked down to where we had come from, but saw nothing. The Reality Bug wasn’t down there.
It was up with us.
“There it is!” Zetlin shouted.
From far back among the gears and cogs, I saw a shadow swoop up from below. I only got a glimpse of it, but what I saw I won’t forget. It had the head of a bird, with a long, sharp beak. Its body looked human, with a wide, strong chest. Its legs were birdlike as well. And it had wings. Huge, black wings, like a bat.
The Reality Bug was airborne.
We all turned and pushed the zip vehicles forward. We flew in formation, with Zetlin in the lead and Loor and me together behind him. Zetlin led us on a wild ride through the incredible machinery. I guess he wanted to lose the flying Reality Bug, but Loor and I had a heck of a time trying to keep up. He flew low to the ground, under some steel beams. He then took a sharp right and led us through a narrow corridor. We had to fly single file because it wasn’t wide enough for two across. We then shot out of the corridor and climbed steeply until we were near the ceiling. From up there, the round gears below us looked like curved, steel mountains.
It was amazing that we were able to keep up with him, but the zips were easy to handle. I think part of it was because these were fantasy vehicles, and in our minds we knew we had to fly them, so we did.
We were fast approaching the far wall of the machine room. There was a square opening that glowed with bright, white light.
“We’re going to the glacier!” Zetlin called back.
I figured the next room in this incredible building was going to be the snowy ice field where we raced Zetlin in slick-shot. That was good; we were getting closer to the jungle.
But then a shadow appeared far off to our left and in front of us. All of our crazy stunt flying was a waste. The
Reality Bug had found its own route and was racing us to the opening. We were on a collision course. We were headed straight for the opening; the bird was coming from far to our left. We had to beat it. All three of us throttled up. The freakish, giant bird sped closer. I tried to calculate who would get to the opening first. Either way, it would be close. The three of us were side by side going flat out. I squeezed the throttle, hoping it would make the zip go faster. This was totally dangerous. There was no way we could pull out going this fast. We were either going to escape, or crash right into the Reality Bug. It all depended on who got to the opening first.
A second later the three of us flashed into the white light. We had made it. The bird flew right past the opening. There was no way it could have made the sharp turn going that fast. It was going to have to circle around and hit it square on. We were going to need those few seconds to gain some ground.
We now found ourselves speeding high over the icy racecourse. Zetlin didn’t try any hot, evasive maneuvers this time. I think he simply wanted speed. That was cool by me. Speed was good. I didn’t even look around to see if the Reality Bug-bird had made it into the ice world. This was all about getting across this frozen wasteland as fast as possible. It was a flat-out race.
After a minute Zetlin motioned that he was going down. He dipped his nose and shot for what looked like a sheer wall of ice. We had reached the far side of the ice room. But I didn’t see any openings. We had to trust that Zetlin knew where he was going. I didn’t think he wanted to splat against the ice like a bug on a windshield.
On the snow below, I saw a winged shadow. The bug was behind us and moving up fast. “There!” Loor shouted.
I saw it too. There was an opening cut into the ice. It was our doorway to the next room.
“We’ve got to go underwater!” Zetlin shouted back to us. “I doubt the bird can follow us.”
What made him think that? From what I’d seen, the Reality Bug could do anything it wanted. Still, maybe the extra few seconds it took to transform into something else would give us the edge we needed.
But Loor couldn’t swim.
“Loor?” I shouted.
“Do not worry,” she said. “I will make it.”
