Authors: Lorijo Metz
Placing his left hand on top of the main disrupter node, he allowed his mind to fall into a deep, meditative state. If he were going to search for Revolvos, he would need to weave a bubble of present time around himself before initiating the disrupter nodes. Remaining in the present while time paused all around you was not an easy task, even for B.R. Provost. It required a weave of great complexity. Particles manipulated around particles, allowing one layer to remain active while the others slept.
A dangerous and delicate trick!
If his bubble of present time collapsed, Provost would instantly become woven into the time displacement field, trapped along with everyone else in Avondale—one loonocks, three hundred and sixty five days—until the disrupter nodes wore off. B.R. Provost took a deep breath.
Now it begins…
Beneath the very molecules that formed the air, beyond the range of human hearing, a deep, low vibration emanated from the main disrupter node. Silently, it spread like fog creeping along the ground, thickly, covertly, covering everything and everyone in its path, with the exception of a few inches around B.R. Provost, until it reached the smaller disrupter nodes located around the outer limits of Avondale.
Outside Principal Provost’s bubble of present time, and within the boundaries of Avondale, everything stopped. Miss Chantos had just made up her mind to go talk to Nurse Prickel about Principal Provost—now she stood, motionless, half turned toward the nurse’s office, lips pursed in determination. Nurse Prickel had finally found time to have that sip of lemon tea. However, at the exact moment the teacup met her lips, the currents washed over her, leaving the tea hot—yet tantalizingly out of reach.
The exposure happened so quickly that no one had time to notice the person next to him or her freeze into place. No one noticed a thing. Approximately three hundred and sixty five days from now, when the time field withdrew, all of Avondale and anyone who passed within its boundaries would be surprised to find themselves one year behind the rest of the world; thoroughly confused, but none the wiser.
Provost withdrew his hand; the air shimmered and moved around him. Once again, time was the enemy. Three hundred and sixty five days, give or take an Earth day. He must find his old mentor, Petré T. Revolvos. Together, they would find a way home.
Chapter 10
FBI TRANSCRIPT 21204
Agent Wink Krumm and H.G. Wells
Thursday, April 16th
KRUMM
: The math does not add up.
WELLS
: Twenty-first day of September, Eighteen hundred and sixty—
KRUMM
: Dear God!
WELLS
: Amazing, isn’t it. I look younger than you. However, having spent over a hundred of those years on Circanthos—
KRUMM
: Provost’s planet?
WELLS
: The same. B.R. Provost, himself, is close to two hundred years old. Circanthians abide well into their three fifties.
KRUMM
: Professor Wells, would you be…
agreeable
to some tests?
WELLS
: I have nothing to hide.
KRUMM
: Excellent.
Now
…tell me about those two species, the Circanthians and the…?
WELLS
: Tsendi.
KRUMM
: Am I correct in assuming you’re referring to two distinct species?
WELLS
: Distinctly distinct. Make no mistake. The Tsendi, however, are the more human of the two.
KRUMM
: Tell me more.
***
AWAKENINGS
Monday, March 16th
Planet of Circanthos
H
ayes’ arms and legs were frozen stiff, while his head moved up and down, and all around, like a bobble-head doll.
“Yip, yip, yip!”
“Hayes. Snap out of it. It’s just a puppy.”
Strands of lights had begun popping on along the cave walls, wiggling and jiggling and—seemingly alive. They had just covered bioluminescent cave creatures in Mrs. Slade’s class, so the alive part didn’t concern McKenzie. Well…not much, anyway.
“Yip, yip, yip!”
Something moved; a large squatting or sitting lump at the right of the pool.
“HARRUMPH,” said the Lump.
McKenzie backed up so fast she bumped into Hayes. “IT’S ALIVE!”
“OW!”
The Lump moved again, this time giving two more “harrumphs.”
“I don’t think we’re dead yet.”
McKenzie looked over her shoulder. “Welcome back.”
“You did this,” Hayes murmured, his eyes wide, staring at McKenzie as if
she
were the talking lump. “You did something, and you’ve done it before! You change things, but…” He looked away. “You don’t like to. It scares you.”
Hayes had been reading her mind in the particle stream. He’d been reading her mind and—
what if he knew everything.
“How dare you!” she cried, whipping around. “You pretend you’re sick so you can go see Nurse Prickel. You wish she was your mother.”
Even in the dim light, McKenzie could see Hayes’ face turn bright red.
Snaps. I’m such an idiot!
“I’m so sorry,” she began, but her apology was cut short by a growl and a bark. Then, whatever or whoever was in the corner, made another loud, “HARRUMPH!”
McKenzie and Hayes forgot about their argument and turned. The creature was stretching its human-like arms. Then, whatever it was sitting on began to rise.
“Welcome,” said the Lump rolling towards them.
“Oh my,” whispered McKenzie, her eyes glued to the creature’s sphere-like appendage.
“My goodness, I hadn’t realized there would be two of you. But, of course, two is better than one.” Coils of kinky, gray hair sprang from the creature’s head in all directions, but her smile (for the voice was distinctly feminine) was broad and inviting. Layered with wrinkles, she looked something like a Cheshire cat with curls. She paused to pluck the bowling ball puppy off of the long, shirt-like garment she was wearing. “You arrived with Bewfordios. Yes?”
Hayes grabbed McKenzie’s hand.
The creature stopped rolling. Then once more she began to rise, her sphere becoming more oval than round. Higher and higher she rose until she towered at least a foot above them. Turning this way and that, she seemed to be searching for someone. When she dropped back down her smile was not so broad, but McKenzie could now see two, surprisingly bright, sparkling blue eyes. “Appears he’s gone out and left you alone, then.”
Placing one hand on the rim of McKenzie’s chair, the other on McKenzie’s knee, the creature closed her eyes and began to breathe deeply.
“It has a British accent,” whispered Hayes.
McKenzie wiggled her fingers free of Hayes’ grasp. She’d noticed the accent. She’d noticed the creature’s breath, as well. It smelled like coconuts. If this wasn’t the strangest dream, then it was the strangest reality she’d ever experienced.
Finally, the creature leaned back and withdrew her hand. She began tapping her chest. “Pietas. Pi-e-tas. My name is Pietas.”
Apparently, she was telling them her name. McKenzie felt like pinching herself; instead, she began tapping her own chest. “McKenzie. Ma-Ken-zie Wu. And this is Hayes—I mean, Rudy Hayes. We come from the town of Avondale. From Earth.” And just to be safe, she added, “We come in peace.”
“Peace? PEACE!” Hayes roared with laughter. McKenzie leaned over and jabbed him with her elbow.
“OUCH!”
Pietas began to laugh, a huge hearty laugh that shook her all the way from the top of her human-like head to the bottom of her most nonhuman-like sphere. “Well, well, so you are indeed from Earth. You,” she pointed to McKenzie, “must be the One. Wells never mentioned anyone like you. Very devious of him. Tell me,” she continued, “where is Bewfordios Provost?”
“Provost? Provost! I KNOW!” Hayes went from catatonic to cataclysmic, and began jumping up and down. “I KNOW! I know what’s happening!”
Pietas backed up, bumped into the puppy, and sent him tumbling into the water. The puppy yipped angrily, shook himself off and rolled out of sight.
“This is a dream,” said Hayes, “Remember when I hit my head on Principal Provost’s chair? I passed out, see. And now I’m dreaming. I’m not real,” Hayes pinched himself, “and neither are you!” Then pinched McKenzie.
“OW! Rudy Hayes, I’m gonna—”
“Perhaps I ought to begin again,” said Pietas. “Did you travel here alone, or did someone who looked like me,” she pointed to her sphere, “accompany you?”
McKenzie rubbed her arm. She had an uneasy feeling she was forgetting something. “We came alone.”
Pietas’ brow wrinkled. “Dear me!”
“I touched a box. We were in Principal Provost’s office. The box is why we’re here.”
“Aaaahhhh,” said Pietas, lingering over the vowel, “Then it would appear Bewfordios will have to find another way home.”
“Who…is Bewfordios?” Though McKenzie feared, she already knew the answer.
“Bewfordios Provost? Why,” Pietas smiled, “he is a very good friend of mine.”
“Principal Provost lives in a cave?” said Hayes.
“Don’t be ridiculous. He resides in the Gathering.” McKenzie and Hayes must have looked confused for, after a short pause, Pietas added, “Here. On this planet. Circanthos.”
McKenzie felt as if she’d fallen into a bad sci-fi movie.
My Principal is an Alien!
She had the urge to ask Hayes to pinch her again. Yet, something didn’t add up. “How do you speak our language?”
“Indeed, I do speak Earthian. After the Wellsman arrived, we found it useful to speak a common tongue with the Tsendi.”
McKenzie nodded her head, wondering how Principal Provost, or the Wellsman, or whatever Pietas called him, could arrive, leave, and yet live here.
“If I heard you correctly,” said Pietas, looking pointedly at McKenzie. “You activated the pinicolis.”
“The box,” murmured McKenzie. Had she activated it? Not really. Not intentionally. “I don’t think so—”
“She did,” said Hayes. “McKenzie can change things.”
“And you should go back to not talking,” she snapped.
“Well then,” said Pietas, sounding very pleased, “As the Corona-Soter, the savior of our people, you are a being more complicated and powerful than even H.G. Wells could devise. It is no wonder he did not mention you.”
McKenzie waited, expecting Hayes to laugh or say something sarcastic, but not even a smirk crossed his face. Worse, he was staring at her as if she were…special. Alien special, that is.
“If Bewfordios did not return with you,” continued Pietas, “there must be a very good reason. Welcome McKenzie and…?”
“Hayes. Just Hayes,” said Hayes, giving Pietas one of his winning smiles.
“Just Hayes.” Pietas bowed in his direction, and before he could correct her, turned to McKenzie and began flailing her arms in a ritualistic gesture ending in a bow. All this, while reciting something in a language that sounded familiar, but like everything else here was different.
Hayes placed his hand on McKenzie’s arm. “You okay?”
McKenzie shook her head. No. If she was ‘special’, if she could change things, make holes in car doors and arms disappear, then her nightmare—but, of course, it couldn’t be true. The incidents with the particles had only begun a few days ago. “I’m okay,” she said pulling her arm away. Dreams were like that, weren’t they? They played tricks, weaving events together that didn’t belong. Besides, her dad had told her what happened.
“Did Bewfordios mention why you were chosen?” Pietas paused. Waited. McKenzie didn’t know what to say. “Did he tell you about Circanthos? H.G. Wells? The Tsendi? Anything?”
Hayes cleared his throat.
McKenzie shook her head. “Hayes and I were in Principal Provost’s office because we’d…” But Pietas probably wouldn’t understand. “It was a mistake. That’s all. I wasn’t supposed to touch the box.”
“Mac’s only half right,” said Hayes. “I’m the mistake, not her.”
“Nonsense.” Pietas spun around as if making a quick inspection of the cave. “The universe does not make mistakes. Everything happens for a reason. Now then, this dusty old cave could use some light, wouldn’t you agree.” Torches along the walls lit up in colors of red, yellow and blue. Fire-like flames crackled, the cave sparkled; it shimmered. Pietas had simply closed her eyes, taken a few deep breaths and—
“Moved particles,” murmured McKenzie.
Pietas rolled over to the right of the pool where the slightly soggy bowling ball puppy was snoozing contentedly beneath a pale-blue pedestal. “I believe the job of explaining your destiny has been left up to me,” she said solemnly.
Closing her eyes, Pietas leaned forward and placed her left hand against the wall. Seconds later, a rectangular opening appeared. Pietas opened her eyes, reached inside, and with a grunt and a great deal of effort, withdrew a large book. As soon as she placed it on the pedestal, the book radiated with life, catching and holding light then casting it out again. Colors bounced from book to wall, through the torches and back again.
“It’s like a rainbow,” said Hayes.
The Aurora Borealis,
thought McKenzie.
“Our greatest treasure and mystery,” said Pietas, “the Circolar. Within its pages lie predictions of our doom,” Pietas looked deep into McKenzie’s eyes, “and hope for our future. It is the reason you both are here. You see, McKenzie, your presence is not a mistake. Loonocks ago, the beings who created the Circolar predicted your arrival. ‘Out of the land of the two legged comes the Corona-Soter.’ In the Earth language, Corona-Soter means Wheeled Warrior.”
If McKenzie had had any idea where a hole on this planet would lead, she would have wished for one. “But how—”
“The journey’s begun, the goal is clear, how we get there and who we choose to help us along the way is up to us,” Pietas continued. “The Circolar reveals only the coming of the Corona-Soter. I cannot tell you how you will help our people, for it is not written. It is not even clear that you will succeed. Only one thing is clear, you are our only hope.”