The instant the cat image was revealed, I felt Loor stiffen beside me.
“What’s the matter?” I asked her.
“It is a zhou beast,” she exclaimed. “From Zadaa.”
“Uh-oh,” I said. “Dr. Zetlin, have you ever seen something like that?”
“Never,” was his emphatic reply.
“Then it came out of your head, Loor,” I said. “You know what that means?”
“It means it’s here,” came a sober voice near us.
We all turned to see Aja’s image standing there. “It broke through the firewall,” she said, sounding as if she were in shock. “I couldn’t hold it back.”
The black cat beast then mutated. It folded in on itself, once again becoming a formless mass. But there was a difference. It was subtle, and I wasn’t sure if I was seeing it at first, but once the goo started to squirm again, there was no mistake.
The thing was growing.
“The firewalls have collapsed,” Aja said. “Huge amounts of data are streaming into the alpha grid. It’s feeding that thing.”
The growing black clay then squirmed and grew, and took on the form of another animal. It was now the size of a small dog. The creature was still solid black, but when it turned toward us, its eyes flashed yellow and my knees went weak.
It was a quig from Denduron.
“I know what this is,” I said, barely able to get the words out.
“It is a quig,” Loor said.
“No,” I said soberly. “It’s the Reality Bug. It’s taken physical form.”
And then it attacked.
(CONTINUED)
VEELOX
The black little beast sprang.
We scattered. The odd creature missed everybody, and when it hit the ground, its legs collapsed. It reminded me of Bambi when he didn’t have the strength to stand on his own legs. But this little demon was no cute Disney deer. My guess was, it was going to get the strength to stand up pretty quick, and when it did, we’d be in trouble. Already the black skin was transforming into the dirty-brown fur of a quig. And it was still growing. In just a few seconds it was the size of my golden retriever.
“You’re done, Pendragon,” Aja demanded. “Get out of the jump.”
There was nothing I wanted to do more than press the bailout button on my wrist controller and kiss this fantasy good-bye, but we couldn’t leave yet.
“You first. Dr. Zetlin,” I said. “Time to abandon ship.”
Zetlin looked like he was in shock. He stared at the groggy quig, not believing what he was seeing.
“This can’t be happening,” he said, stunned. “The jumps don’t allow it.”
“They do now!” I shouted. “You’ve got to get out.”
“You go,”he said. “I’ll be right after you.”
I didn’t believe him. I was afraid he would stay here and try to do damage control.
“Come on. Doctor, let’s go!” I shouted.
“It doesn’t work that way, Pendragon,” Aja corrected. “When he leaves, the jump is over. You and Loor have to go first.”
I looked at the mutant quig. Its body shivered as hair grew from the oozy black mass.
“Promise me you’ll leave the jump. Doctor,” I begged. “You can fight this thing from the Alpha Core.”
“I will,” he assured me. “Get going.”
The quig slowly rose to its feet. It was now twice the size of my dog, Marley, and getting stronger. I looked to Loor. She had moved behind the control chair and was holding tight to the back of it. She was ready to move if the quig attacked again.
“We should go,” she said to me without taking her eyes off the quig.
“With pleasure,” I said, and hit the right button on my control bracelet. “We are outta here.” It didn’t work.
“Why are we still here?” Loor asked. “Aja?” I screamed.
“I don’t know,” Aja’s image answered. “Loor, try yours!”
Loor poked the right button on her control bracelet, but nothing happened. No! I tried hitting the button on mine rapid-fire, like one of those idiots who keep hitting the elevator button, thinking it will make the elevator come faster. That never works, and hitting my wrist controller didn’t work either.
The quig stood on shaky legs, reared back and pounced.
Loor pulled the control chair right out of the floor and heaved it at the charging beast. The black chair nailed the quig, knocking it back to the floor. It lay there, breathing hard, still growing.
“Aja!” I shouted. “Get us outta here!”
“Hang on,” she called back. “I’m going back to the Alpha Core.”
Her image disappeared.
“C’mon!” I shouted at the others.
Until Aja figured a way to yank us out of this jump, we had to stay alive. Hanging around with this mutating, growing monster wasn’t the best way to do that. Loor grabbed Zetlin by the arm and the three of us ran across the floor and through the doorway that led to the big kitchen. When we entered, the first thing I noticed was that the chefs were gone. Can’t say I blame them. They may have been fantasy creations, but they were smart enough to beat feet when there was trouble.
Loor saw the empty kitchen and had a different thought. “Weapons,” she exclaimed.
She vaulted over a stainless-steel counter and ran to a table that held several nasty-looking kitchen knives. She quickly tested the weight of a few and picked two that she liked.
“If that quig gets any bigger,” I said, “those knives won’t do squat.”
“You doubt me, Pendragon?” she asked, pretending to be insulted.
She flipped a knife into the air, spun it a few times, then plucked it in midspin with the blade ready to go. She looked like a gunslinger. Or knifeslinger. Loor had been off balance ever since she arrived on Veelox. She had to deal with technology and events that were impossible for her to understand.
But now we were in a battle. Now we were in Loor land.
The mutant quig leaped into the kitchen. It had become the size of the quig from my fantasy of Davis Gregory High. Worse, it had gotten stronger. It stood in the doorway and let out a grisly bellow. The mutant quig was officially ready for action.
So was Loor. She quickly threw a knife, then another while the first was still in the air. I never should have doubted her. Both knives found their mark. The first hit the quig in the shoulder, the second in the neck. It was kind of gruesome, but I didn’t care. Better him than us. The beast reared up on its back legs, bellowing in agony. I thought this fight was over before it could get started.
I was wrong.
The quig reached for the knife in its neck with a paw, and brushed it away. It didn’t pull the blade out, it pushed it out of its body, as if its flesh were made of Jell-O. It did the same with the knife in its shoulder. Both knives clattered to the floor. No blood. No wounds. Whatever damage the knives had done to the beast’s body, it had regenerated.
We were in serious trouble.
“That cannot be,” Loor said, stunned.
“Yeah, it can,” I said. “That’s not a quig, it’s the Reality Bug.”
As if to prove my point, the mutant quig growled, shuddered, and grew bigger. This thing was now getting close to the size of the quigs on Denduron.
“Outta here!” I yelled, and grabbed Dr. Zetlin.
The three of us ran for the doorway that led to the video game room and charged through. This room was empty too. The cleanup crew had fled.
“Perhaps it will grow too large to follow,” Zetlin said hopefully. The quig smashed through the doorway behind us, taking out a piece of wall as it forced its way through.
“Let’s not count on that,” I said, and kept running.
We made it through to the giant Skittles game. Standing in the center of the court was Aja’s image. We all ran up to her.
“What’s going on?” I demanded.
“I can’t stop it,” she said nervously. “Data is flooding in from everywhere on Veelox. It’s feeding the Reality Bug and making it stronger.”