Zetlin looked Aja up and down, then said, “Yeah, whatever.”
He slid off the table onto wobbly legs. We all rushed to keep him from toppling over, but he pushed us away. “I’m a little rusty,” he said gruffly. “Not feeble.” We backed off.
Zetlin took a couple of unsteady steps, then stopped, and stood up straight. “I’d forgotten what it was like to be in this body,” he explained. With every step he took, he got more sure of himself. He made his way out of the jump cubicle and headed for the Alpha Core. By the time he made it to the control chair, he was looking pretty steady. Suddenly, seventy-nine didn’t seem so old anymore.
Zetlin dropped himself into the chair as if he owned it.
Actually, he did. He glanced up at the data on the monitor, looking for something. I’m glad it made sense to him, because to me it was nothing but a jumble of numbers and symbols. “Killian!” he barked.
Aja ran up to him and stood at attention. “Yes, Doctor?” she said professionally. She was now working for the master.
“You’ve examined the entire alpha grid, and the main grid?” Zetlin asked.
“Yes,” she said. “Lifelight is back online. The jumps are performing normally. I don’t see any sign of the Reality Bug. Anywhere.”
Slam!
The entire room rocked. It was such a strong, sudden impact, I lost my balance. Loor had to catch me and hold me up. Slam!
The room was jolted again. I heard something crash to the floor in the jump cubicle. What I saw through the door was impossible, yet there it was. A hole had been blasted into the ceiling beyond. Debris covered the floor. But it wasn’t the damage that rocked me. It was what I saw peering down from the hole above.
It was the hollow socket of a giant skeleton head. The bug wasn’t dead. It had just broken through to reality.
None of us could move. We were frozen in shock. The head moved away and a second later a massive, black fist slammed into the hole again, smashing it open wider.
I looked back to the control console where the monitor was suddenly going haywire. Numbers flashed by incredibly fast. Aja and Zetlin were furiously hitting buttons, trying to get control.
“Where did it come from?” Aja screamed.
“It must have fled to another part of the grid when my jump ended,” Zetlin said quickly. “But it found its way back.”
Oh, yeah, it found its way back, all right.
The pounding continued. The ceiling was collapsing and the hole was growing wider. The monster now started grabbing at the damaged area, ripping up pieces to make its entry way into our world bigger.
Loor glanced around the room, searching for a weapon. But it was futile. There was no weapon any of us could use to stop this thing.
Another crash. I looked into the cubicle to see its fist had broken all the way through. It wasn’t going to take this beast very long to tear apart the entire pyramid.
“Look,” Aja said, pointing to the data on the monitor. “It’s drawing data from all over Veelox. That’s how it got so powerful. It’s still feeding on the fears of all the jumpers.”
“Then stop feeding it!” I shouted.
Aja and Zetlin shot me a look like I was crazy.
“It’s feeding itself, Pendragon,” Aja answered impatiently. “We don’t have a whole lot of say in the matter.”
I heard a guttural growl and turned toward the cubicle. What I saw made me forget to breathe. The giant skull had pushed its way down through the hole and was peering at us. Being so close, I could smell its decay. We all watched in stunned fear as flesh began to grow on the skeletal head. Eyes grew from the sockets and oily skin spread out over the face to form features. In seconds, the beast had become a hideous baboon-looking head with white, pupil-less eyes. The monster grunted, and pulled back up into the ceiling. It was about to start its final assault.
If we were going to do something, it had to be now.
“There’s gotta be a way!” I argued. “Can’t you cut off the power supply?”
“Didn’t you hear me? It’s coming from every jumper on Veelox,” Aja answered.
“So what!” I shouted back. “Shut it down! Shut it all down. If people aren’t jumping, the Reality Bug can’t feed on their fears!”
“I told you, we can’t do that!” Aja shot back. “It’s too dangerous!”
“More dangerous than this?” Loor asked calmly. Boom!
A foot crashed through the ceiling. It was birdlike, with huge saber claws.
“That’s why we suspended the grid before,” Aja argued. “We can’t shut Lifelight down.”
“But if we don’t stop it, it’s going to destroy the pyramid and turn on the rest of Veelox,” I yelled. “If it’s getting strength from the jumpers, we’ve got to cut it off!”
“The grid cannot be shut down, Pendragon!” Aja shouted back.
Crash!
The huge bird leg was now kicking at the doorway into the Alpha Core, smashing it wider, opening the portal between fantasy and reality.
“Dr. Zetlin,” I screamed. “It’s a machine! There’s gotta be a way to shut it down.”
Zetlin didn’t answer. He didn’t even look at me. He was hiding something.
“Dr. Zetlin!” I screamed. “Can we shut this down?”
The beast kept kicking at the doorway, cracking it open. Chunks of material flew across the room. Zetlin was hit by a flying particle. It jolted him and made him look up at the horror that was fighting to get at us. To get at Veelox.
“My whole life has been about Lifelight,” he said in a daze.
“If I shut it down, my life will have been worthless.”
“That means it can be shut down?” Aja asked with surprise.
“Dr. Zetlin,” Loor said calmly, “your life has not been worthless, and it is not yet over. But unless you do all you can to stop this horror, it will be over and you will forever be known as the man who let Veelox die.”
Zetlin winced. Loor’s words had gotten through to him. But he continued to stare at the beast that was nearly on us.
“Doctor,” I said, trying to will him to listen to reason. “If you can do something, you have to do it now.”
Zetlin gave me a quick look, then spun back to the control console. He had made a decision. He was shutting down Lifelight.
“What can I do?” Aja asked.
“Nothing,” Zetlin said with sadness as he made some rapid-fire entries on the console.
“Will this cut off the data feeding the Reality Bug?” I asked.
“Theoretically,” Zetlin shrugged. “But I truly don’t know. I’ve never encountered this situation before.”
Yeah, no kidding.
The Reality Bug began mutating again. The giant birdlike leg began to twist and mold until the foot transformed into a repulsive insect head. Most of the head was made up of a round mouth that was ringed with multiple rows of gnashing, pointed teeth. The leg itself grew into a snakelike body.
In this form, the hole from Lifelight was now big enough for the Reality Bug to slither into Veelox.
“Hurry!” I shouted at Zetlin.
Zetlin was calm. He reached around his neck and pulled out a red plastic card on a chain, like the green one Aja had used to suspend the grid.
The Reality Bug dropped farther into the jump chamber.
Its snaky body made wet, squishing sounds as it hit the floor.
Aja, Loor, and I huddled together near the control console as the nasty-looking creature slithered into the Alpha Core, its teeth making a revolting sucking sound as it sought its prey. Us.
Zetlin stayed focused. He jammed the red card into the slot and made quick keystrokes on the control pad.
“Do you need verification?” Aja asked, without taking her eyes off the bug that was slipping closer.
