The Reality Bug

VEELOX

Saint Dane stood facing us in the dark room. His sharp blue eyes cut through the gloom like cold fire. He was in his normal form, standing seven feet tall with long gray hair that fell over his shoulders. To say I was shocked to see him doesn’t cover it.

“I’m surprised, Pendragon,” Saint Dane continued. “After your embarrassment on First Earth,

I thought you would have given up your foolish pursuit.”

I couldn’t talk. I was in total brainlock. “No matter,” he continued. “My work here is complete. Veelox is on the verge of crumbling. I must say, I didn’t expect Veelox to be the first territory to fall, but in the end it won’t matter, since all of Halla will ultimately meet the same fate.” “Veelox is about to crumble?” Gunny asked, stunned. “I don’t believe you,” I said, finally kick starting my brain. Saint Dane smiled from one corner of his mouth and said, “You say that as if I should care. Now, please, step aside. I have business elsewhere.”

“You’re not leaving,” I announced defiantly.

Gunny gave me a quick, nervous look. That was a pretty bold threat, especially since I had no idea of how to back it up.

“What are you going to do?” Saint Dane chuckled. “Hold me here?”

“If we have to,” I said, trying not to let my voice crack. I meant it too. If Saint Dane ran for the flume, I was ready to tackle him. We had to know what happened on Veelox.

“Isn’t that a little unimaginative?” Saint Dane said. But the words didn’t come from his mouth. They came from our right. Huh? Gunny and I both turned quickly to see…

Another Saint Dane was standing there. There were two of them! “Certainly you can be more creative than that,” the second Saint Dane said.

“Or maybe you’ve reached your limit for resourcefulness,” came another voice.

Uh-oh. Gunny and I spun to our left to see a third Saint Dane.

“Press would be so disappointed in you.”

We turned to see yet another Saint Dane behind us, standing in the mouth of the flume. “They’re not real. Gunny. They’re holograms,” I said. “Like movies.”

“Correct!” Saint Dane announced. The fifth Saint Dane. We were now standing in a circle of Saint Danes. There were twenty of them, all the exact duplicates of one another. They started to move together, circling us.

“The question is,” they all said in unison, “which one of us is real?” They let out a chilling laugh. “What to do? What to do?” they sang together.

Gunny and I stood back to back, trying to spot any sign that would tell us which was the original. It was impossible.

They were perfect clones. Then, in one unified voice, they all shouted, “Eelong!”

Uh-oh. The flume came to life. If we were going to do something, it would have to be fast. Gunny made the first move. He jumped forward and wrapped his arms around the closest Saint Dane. But all he got for his trouble was an armload of air.

The Saint Danes laughed. This was fun for him. Or them, or whatever.

Light from the flume lit up the room and the musical notes were nearly on us. Gunny lunged at another Saint Dane, but his arms swept through the hologram like it wasn’t even there. Because it wasn’t. In seconds Saint Dane would escape to another territory and we’d be left to pick up the pieces. As scared as I was, I lunged at one of the Saint Danes…

And wrapped my arms around the demon Traveler. The real one. I had guessed right. First try. Lucky me.

It’s hard to describe the feeling. Yes, I was petrified, but I guess that’s obvious. What I remember most is that Saint Dane felt cold. It was like hugging a block of ice. With my chin stuck in his chest, I looked up into his eyes. For an instant I was afraid the blood in my veins would freeze solid. Maybe it did, because I couldn’t move. When he opened his mouth to speak, his breath smelled like something had crawled in there and died.

“Does this mean you’re coming with me?” he asked with a wicked sneer.

That threw me. I felt as if holding on to him wasn’t going to stop him, but instead make me his prisoner. The thought was so gruesome, I automatically let go. Bad move, because Saint Dane instantly bolted for the flume. Gunny lunged at him, but the demon was too fast. He leaped into the flume at the exact instant the light came to take him. All that was left was the echoing sound of his laughter as he flumed away. Saint Dane was gone.

So were the holograms. Gunny and I were left alone in the big empty room, staring at a dark flume.

“I’m going after him,” Gunny announced.

“No!” I shouted. “We’ve got to figure out what he did here on Veelox.”

“He’s going to start in on a new territory, Pendragon,” Gunny declared. “What’s done here is done.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” I countered. “Just because he said it, doesn’t mean it’s true. He’s not exactly an honest guy.”

We were at a crossroads. What was the best thing to do? Stay here and do damage control, or stop Saint Dane from digging into a new territory called Eelong?

“You’ve been here before,” Gunny said. “You know the Traveler. What’s her name?”

“Aja Killian.”

“Right. The floating head. I think you should find her. She’ll know what Saint Dane has been up to.” “What about you?”

“I’ll follow him to Eelong and see what we’re up against there. Then I’ll be back.”

“I don’t like splitting up,” I said. “Remember what happened on First Earth when Spader took off on his own? That was nearly a disaster.”

“I know,” Gunny reassured me. “But this is different. Spader had his own ideas. You and I are working together,”

I didn’t want him to go, but if we had the chance of heading off Saint Dane before he could get started on Eelong, we had to take it.

“Promise me you’ll bolt if something wacky happens,” I demanded.

Gunny laughed. “Shorty, seems to me like everything is pretty wacky.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Course I do. Don’t you go worrying; I’ll be fine,” Gunny said.

The two of us hugged, then Gunny pushed me back and asked, “What was the name of that territory again?”

“It sounded like ‘Eelong,’” I answered.

Gunny stepped into the mouth of the flume, stood up straight, and faced the tunnel. “Eelong!”

On cue, the flume sprang to life. The moment before he was taken away in the shower of light and music, he smiled at me and said, “What is it that Spader always says?”

“Hobey-ho, Gunny.”

“Hobey-ho, Pendragon. See you soon.”

I hoped so. An instant later he was gone and I was alone. I stood there, trying to collect my thoughts. The idea of Gunny being lost to me was horrible. I was a fraction of a second away from jumping in the flume and going after him, when I heard a familiar voice.

“What took you so long?”

I spun quickly to see a giant face. It was Aja Killian. The hologram-head was back. I looked up at the bizarre image and said, “You called. I’m here. Now what?”

The head vanished. A second later I heard a faint sound from across the room. I looked to see a door opening, by itself. Light spilled in from whatever lay beyond.

It was time to meet Aja Killian and get my first look at the territory of Veelox.

(CONTINUED)