“Is that going to work?”
“Maybe not.”
“Are they going to be waiting for us?”
“Probably.”
“Well, that sounds promising.” Hollis smiled slightly and that made her feel better. He wasn’t like her father or Mother Blessing, but he was beginning to think like a Harlequin. You had to accept your fate, and still be brave.
Nothing happened when they forced open the steel door. They were at the bottom level of a concrete emergency staircase with lightbulbs on each landing. Maya took the first step, and then started moving quickly.
Find the Traveler.
57
Kennard Nash spoke to one of the technicians monitoring the quantum computer. He gave the man a pat on the back like a coach sending a player back into the game, then crossed the room and sat down next to Michael.
“We’ve received the preliminary message from our friends,” Nash explained. “That usually means that the main transmission will occur in five or ten minutes.”
The general’s bodyguard, Ramón Vega, refilled both wineglasses as Michael nibbled on a cracker. He enjoyed sitting in the shadowy room and watching the sealed glass tank filled with liquid helium. Little explosions kept going off inside the green liquid as the electron switches at the heart of the computer were manipulated within a cage of energy.
The electrons existed within this world, but the quantum property of superposition enabled these subatomic particles to be on and off, up and down, spinning left and spinning right-all at the same time. For an almost imperceptible moment, they were both here and there, crossing over into a parallel dimension. In this other realm, an advanced civilization was waiting with another computer. The computer captured the electrons, arranged them into a packet of information, and sent them back again.
“Are you waiting for anything in particular?” Michael asked.
“A message from them. Perhaps a reward. Three days ago, we transmitted the data obtained when you entered the Second Realm. That’s what they wanted from us-a road map from a Traveler.”
Nash pressed a switch and three plasma-screen TVs were lowered from the ceiling. A technician on the other side of the room was staring at a computer monitor and he began typing commands. Seconds later, points of light and patches of darkness appeared on the left-hand TV screen.
“That’s what they’re sending us. It’s a binary code,” Nash explained. “Light and non-light is the basic language of the universe.”
The computers translated the code and numbers appeared on the right-hand screen. Another delay and Michael saw an arrangement of straight and angled lines on the center screen. It appeared to be the blueprint of a complex machine.
General Nash was acting like a true believer who had just seen the face of God. “This is what we were waiting for,” he murmured. “You’re looking at the next version of our quantum computer.”
“How long will it take to build it?”
“My staff will analyze the data and give me a delivery date. Until then, we’ve got to keep our new friends happy.” Nash smiled confidently. “I’m playing a little game with this other civilization. We want to increase the power of our technology. They want to move freely between the realms. You’re the one who shows them how it’s done.”
Binary code. Numbers. And then a design for a new machine. The data from the advanced civilization flowed across the three screens and Michael was swept away by the images flashing in front of him. He barely noticed when Ramón Vega approached General Nash and handed him a cell phone.
“I’m busy,” Nash said to the caller. “Can’t you wait until…” Suddenly the general’s face changed. Looking tense, he stood up and began to pace around the room. “You did what? Who gave you permission to open the cages? So where’s Boone? Have you contacted him? Well, hurry up and do it. Tell him to come to the computer center right away.”
“Is there a problem?” Michael asked when Nash switched off the phone.
“Someone has entered the research facility. It might be one of those Harlequin fanatics I mentioned to you. All this is highly unusual. Those people don’t have the resources to enter our facilities.”
“Is this person in the building?”
The possibility startled General Nash. He glanced at his bodyguard, and then controlled his fear. “Of course not. That’s impossible.”
58
After wandering through the dark city, Gabriel had finally found the passageway home. Now he felt as if he was at the bottom of a deep pool of water, looking up at the shimmering surface. The air in his lungs pulled him upward-slowly, at first, and then with growing acceleration. He was close to the surface, only a few feet away, when he entered back into his body.
The Traveler opened his eyes and realized that he wasn’t lying on a folding cot in a church camp dormitory. Instead he was strapped to a hospital gurney, being pulled down a long hallway with recessed lights. Protected by its scabbard, the jade sword lay on his stomach and chest.
“Where…” he whispered. But his body was very cold and it was difficult to speak. Suddenly the gurney stopped moving and two faces looked down at him-Vicki Fraser and an older man wearing a white lab coat.
“Welcome back,” the older man said.
Looking worried, Vicki touched Gabriel’s arm. “Are you all right? Can you hear me?”
“What happened?”
Vicki and the man wearing the lab coat pushed the gurney into a room filled with empty animal cages and unfastened the straps. As Gabriel sat up and tried to move his body, Vicki explained that the Tabula had raided Arcadia and flown them to a research facility near New York City. The man wearing the lab coat was a neurologist named Phillip Richardson. He had released Vicki from a locked room and then they had found Gabriel.
“I didn’t really plan this. It just happened.” Dr. Richardson sounded both scared and exhilarated. “A security guard was watching you, but he was called away. Apparently someone is attacking the research center…”
Vicki stared at Gabriel, trying to judge his strength. “If we can reach the underground parking lot, Dr. Richardson thought we could drive away in one of the maintenance vans.”
“What happens after that?” Gabriel asked.
“I’m open to any ideas,” Richardson said. “I have an old college friend who lives on a farm in Canada, but it might be difficult to get across the border.”
Gabriel’s legs felt weak when he stood up, but now his mind was clear and focused. “Where’s my brother?”
“I don’t know.”
“We need to find him.”
“That’s way too dangerous,” Richardson said. “In a few minutes the staff is going to realize that you and Vicki have vanished. We can’t fight them. It’s impossible.”
“Dr. Richardson is right, Gabriel. Maybe we can come back later and save your brother. But right now, we have to get out of here.”
They had a whispered argument until Gabriel agreed to the plan. By now Dr. Richardson was starting to panic. “They probably know everything,” he said. “They could be searching for us right now.” He peered through a crack in the door, and then guided them down a long hallway to the elevator.
They reached the parking level a few seconds later. The entire floor was nothing but concrete and support pillars. Three white vans were parked about twenty feet away from the elevator bank. “The staff usually leaves a key in the ignition,” Richardson explained. “If we can get through the front gate, we have a chance.”
The doctor approached the first van and attempted to open the door on the driver’s side. It was locked, but he kept pulling on the handle as if he couldn’t believe that fact. Vicki stood beside him. Her voice was calm and soothing. “Don’t worry, Doctor. Let’s try the next one.”