“We did want you to go back and talk to the inn itself,” Cid began, “but after hearing your story, I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”
“That’s what you were talking about when I arrived. Talk to the Dew Drop, now that’s novel,” Mia said. She pushed her hand through her hair as she thought.
Ted looked over at his wife and was mesmerized by her. It wasn’t her Nordic blonde hair and soft green eyes that made her so beautiful to him, it was her mind and her heart. He could tell that she was thinking through the situation before speaking. She was examining all the data she had stored in her head on haunted houses, ghosts and ley lines. He caught Cid looking at him looking at his wife and winked. “Quiet, computer is processing.”
“You’re asking me to make an appeal to the inn for what reason?”
“We think that you could convince it to step out of the ley line.”
Mia walked her fingers in the air. “Walk out?”
“Move out. We don’t think it’s trapped,” Cid clarified.
“It stands to reason that if it can leave, why didn’t it?” Burt asked.
“Self-preservation,” Mia said quietly.
“There’s that word again,” Ted said.
“Actually it’s two words hyphenated,” Cid corrected.
“Really, you’re going to get all pedantic right now?” Ted accused.
Mia smacked the console table lightly. “Remind me why the inn has to leave the ley line segment again?”
Ted took her through the scenario of the built up energy and the difficulty of releasing the energy from the ley line without disastrous consequences. “Millie and Mrs. Brewster will cease to be. Them going on to their reward isn’t probable. Mia, there is also the possibility that the destruction of this ley line segment could affect the earth. Minimally, the town of Ashville will be gone. Quite possibly it will start a chain of earthquakes…”
“Stop! I think you’ve made your point. Talk about scary,” Mia complained. She looked over at Murphy a moment. “What do you think? Is it possible to talk to the building?”
“Through Brewster,” Murphy said for all to hear.
“Yeah, I feared that. She’s not exactly a fan of mine right now,” Mia said.
“Your oobed self,” Murphy reminded her.
“But how much different am I?”
“You’re flesh and blood,” Ted reminded her. “Not a persona.”
“Of course, this means you’ll have to wait for the Dew Drop to reappear,” Cid reminded her.
“Hopefully Audrey informed our hostess that they need to leave by eight in the morning, which is ten hours from now,” Mia said absently.
Cid wanted to correct her and tell her that it was nine hours and fifty-three minutes, but he held his tongue.
“Did we ever find out what’s stopping it from moving on to Itasca?” Mia asked as she walked over to the monitor and placed her hand on her seated husband’s shoulder.
“We’re guessing another meteorite,” he said, pulling up the data he had worked on. He turned and looked up at her. “Even if we are able to find it and release it, I worry that it may cause the same kind of difficulty that releasing it from the Ashville end will. What do you think?” Ted asked.
“Not too many oobers travel to northern Minnesota this time of year,” Mia said. “But if we release the dam while the inn is holding here, I’m betting there will be a lot less disruption of the remaining northern segment. I think I could make a case for the inn to travel to Itasca and leave the line there, more than I could convince it to leave it here.”
“Explain it to us first,” Cid coaxed.
“To stay on the line means that it will explode and cease to be. To exit here may put the inn in jeopardy, depending on what it becomes when it leaves. If it is still a building, what happens when it suddenly shows up on someone else’s property? In Itasca, the line exits in the wilderness. And if the inn should be discovered by lost hikers, perhaps it can provide the hospitality it was once so famous for.”
“What if it’s no longer a building?”
“Then it would be energy. Aside from blowing a few feet of snow and cracking some ice, I think it would be best sent in that direction. From what Paul told us, a tiny meteorite flattened several acres of corn when it hit.”
“Most of that could be from the impact, not dissipating energy,” Ted said. “You look like you’ve formed a plan. Care to share it with us?”
Mia took a moment to make sure she was up to following through with the idea that came to mind. She looked at her husband, Cid, Burt and then over to Murphy who this plan would impact the most. “I’m proposing to bilocate and travel with Murphy north of the inn and enter the ley line there. We’ll take it to the end, exit and look around and see what we find there.”
“Aren’t you exhausted?” Ted questioned. “You need to recharge.”
Mia looked down at Ted, her eyes shining with pleasure at his protectiveness. “I do, but I think that I can manage a saunter up the line. Murphy will need some recharging though. Me, I’m going to lie back and have a snooze just like Maggie.” She pointed to the sleeping dog under her lounge chair. “Before I go, Burt, can you show me where the furthermost reported sighting of the inn was? It will give Murph and me an indication of what we may have to deal with.”
Cid walked over to the file box labeled T for Transformers and pulled out two energon cubes. He activated them one at a time just outside the truck. Murphy pulled all the energy out of the cubes and began to sharpen his axe for the journey.
Ted brought up Burt’s research figures along with a photo of his wall.
Burt looked sheepish and said, “Kind of looks obsessive, doesn’t it?”
“When I saw it, dude, I was thinking serial killer,” Cid admitted. “You stalked the Dew Drop. No wonder the two of you didn’t get along.”
Burt ignored him and looked over the material. “There, the Dew Drop Inn stopped on Bushey Road north of Devils Lake. Ted, pull up a topographical map of the area.”
Ted did as instructed.
“Please overlay the ley line map,” Mia asked. She took a look at the series of lakes the original line went through on its way to Itasca. “Murph, how are you at swimming?”
Murphy tilted his hand back and forth.
“This time of year, doll, he can walk on that water,” Ted said.
Mia let the doll comment go and stored it for another time. Instead, she said, “I propose going up there, taking it as far as we can and picking up the other segment to take it south. We should be able to pinpoint the disruption within a few yards. There won’t be much time to get this done. Hopefully the inn will stay in place, if not…”
“Smasharoo!” Murphy said.
“He sounds too happy,” Mia observed. “It’s your call, Cid. This is your investigation. I’ll abide by your decision.”
Ted snaked an arm around Mia’s waist, drawing her to him. Pleased as he was that she was supporting Cid’s leadership, he didn’t want her to put herself in any more danger. He knew when they had married that he would face many an anxious moment when they were doing their jobs. Mia herself mentioned how difficult it was when she couldn’t hear his voice in her ear, that she too worried about losing him. But they had a job to do and people to save. The life of superheroes wasn’t for the weak. Batman would have to wait in the bat cave while Wonder Woman flew off with the Axeman.
Cid started to speak. Ted pushed away his fanciful thoughts and concentrated on what he was saying.
“We may not get another chance at this. I worry about Mike and Audrey. What happens if the inn takes off with them in it?” Cid pondered.
“There’s that,” Mia agreed.
“I think if they don’t break cover, the inn will stay put until eight in the morning,” Burt said.