The Reality Bug

VEELOX

Hiya, Mark. Hey, Courtney. Greetings from the territory of Veelox. What you’re seeing and hearing right now is my journal number thirteen. Pretty cool, aye? I’ll bet it beats having to read my lousy handwriting. Heck, it beats having to write everything down, too. I’m loving this. But this projector thing is a toy compared to the science fiction stuff they’ve got going on here. It’s totally incredible.

Just to tease you a little, imagine the most amazing video game you ever played. You know, great graphics, realistic sound, 3-D environments, excellent challenges, the whole deal. Now, imagine that game being about twelve billion times better. That’s what they’ve got on Veelox. I’m not exaggerating. There’s no way I could give you a quick description beyond that. You’ll have to learn about it the way I did, a little at a time. Be patient. It’s worth it.

But before we dive into the wonders of Veelox, I want to tell you what happened after I left you guys on Second Earth. Borrowing one of Spader’s phrases, I found myself in the middle of a tum-tigger.

Again.

Gunny and I were given a limo ride to the Bronx by the old gangster, Peter Nelson. We were headed for the abandoned subway station and the flume to the territories. Our ultimate destination was Veelox. Where Saint Dane goes, we go.

Unfortunately.

As we rode toward the Bronx, my head was in a strange place. It was because of what happened on First Earth. Simply put, I failed. On First Earth Saint Dane tried to prove I wasn’t worthy of being a Traveler, and that’s exactly what happened. It all came down to the moment when the airship Hindenburg was about to be destroyed. As horrible as that was, the Hindenburg was supposed to be destroyed. If history was changed, it would have been Armageddon for Earth. As I stood over the rocket that was about to shoot into the air and blow it up, I knew I had the future of all three Earth territo- ries in my hands.

And I choked. In that horrible moment, I couldn’t bear to let the innocent people in that zeppelin die. So I made a move to kick over the rocket, save the Hindenburg, save those people, and send the Earth territories spiraling toward doomsday.

But Gunny held me back. He stopped me from making the worst mistake possible. The rocket took off and the Hindenburg exploded. Gunny saved the Earth territories. That was the way it was meant to be.

Though the Travelers had beaten Saint Dane, Saint Dane had beaten me. Call it what you want: a moment of truth, a test, whatever. But I blew it. From that moment on I questioned whether or not I was up to this job. Heck, I’ve questioned it from day one, but my screwup on First Earth totally rocked me. I think Saint Dane expected me to shrivel up and crawl into a hole, never to bother him again in his quest to rule Halla. Believe me, I thought about it.

But that wasn’t going to happen.

My screwup on First Earth had the opposite effect. It got me mad. I wanted to prove to that monster I’m not the loser he thinks I am. Or maybe what I really wanted to do, was prove it to myself. Whatever. Bottom line was, for the first time since I left home to become a Traveler, I felt like I wanted the job. Seriously. I wanted to live up to the trust Uncle Press had in me. Saint Dane’s plan had backfired. Rather than making me go away, he fired me up. If he thinks I’m too weak for the job, that’s cool. That means he won’t see me coming.

And I am definitely coming.

After the limo dropped us off at the abandoned subway station. Gunny and I stood on the sidewalk, enjoying our last few moments of Second Earth sunlight. Gunny’s a great guy and I’m proud to call him my friend. There’s a lot of great things I can say about him, but probably the most important is that he was strong enough to take the heat for me on First Earth.

But at that moment, standing on a Bronx sidewalk, he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to go Saint Dane hunting. He was a tall, African-American guy, about 6‘4”, who looked pretty happy being there with his eyes closed and the sun on his face.

“What’re you thinking?” I asked the Traveler from First Earth.

Gunny opened his eyes and glanced around at the busy city intersection. It must have looked strange to him. After all, he was from 1937.

“Tell me, shorty,” he said. “Do you think the day will ever come when we can all go home and get back to normal?”

I had been asking myself that same question from the minute I first left home with Uncle Press.

“Don’t know,” I answered truthfully. “But then again,

I’m not so sure I know what normal is anymore.”

I led him down the garbage-strewn stairs of the closed station. It was a familiar route. The entrance was boarded over with wooden planks that were plastered with flyers and advertisements. But I knew the way in. Two of the boards were loose and a quick tug revealed our entrance.

The empty station looked the exact same as it had the first night Uncle Press brought me here. It was a long forgotten piece of New York history-forgotten by everyone but us, that is. A subway train rumbled through, kicking up pieces of crusty paper full of yesterday’s news. Once it passed we quickly jumped down onto the track and made our way along the oil-stained wall toward the wooden door with the star symbol. A few seconds later we entered the rocky cavern that would be our last stop on Second Earth. The first leg of our trip had been cake. Now things would get interesting. The two of us stood there for a moment, silently gazing into the long, dark roadway to the territories… the flume.

“Tell me about this Veelox place,” Gunny said.

“Not much to tell,” I answered. “I was only there for a few minutes and never left the flume.”

“That floating-head girl?” he asked. “You sure she’s a Traveler?”

“So she says,” I answered.

Gunny shook his head in wonder. “Heads floating in space,” he said philosophically. “What next?”

“I think we’re about to find out,” I answered.

He gave me a small smile, then stepped into the mouth of the flume. “Veelox!” he shouted and the flume came to life. The rock walls cracked and groaned as if they were stretching out the kinks after a long sleep. Deep in the tunnel a faint light appeared that would soon come to sweep Gunny away. Along with it came the faint jumble of sweet musical notes that always accompanied the spectacular light show.

Gunny turned to me. I saw a hint of tension in his eyes. “Did I ever tell you I’m not a big fan of this fluming business?”

I laughed. “Gunny, there’s plenty of stuff out there to be scared about. The flume isn’t one of ‘em.”

As the light grew closer, the dark rock of the tunnel began its transformation into clear crystal.

“I’l1 hold you to that,” Gunny said. The light flashed nuclear, music echoed throughout the space, and Gunny was gone. I dropped my hand in time to see the light disappear into the depths of the tunnel. The flume had returned to normal, waiting for its next passenger. Me.

“Veelox!” I shouted, and the process began again.

As the light and music came for me, I closed my eyes, waiting for the first tug that would signal the beginning of my trip.

Here we go again.

The flume ride to Veelox wasn’t different than any other. I crossed my arms, kicked back, and enjoyed the sensation of shooting through the crystal tunnel. I gazed out through the clear walls at the star field beyond, trying to pick out a constellation, but none looked familiar. I still didn’t know exactly what happened when a Traveler went through a flume. I was beginning to understand that it wasn’t like moving through the regular old three dimensions of space that we’re used to. You know: up, down, forward, back. I believe a flume trip sent you through a fourth dimension, which was time. That’s why the Travelers are able to show up where they need to be, when they need to be there.

Uncle Press explained to me about Halla. It was everything… all times, all places, all people, and all things that ever were. And they all still existed. If that were true, then maybe there was a fifth and even a sixth dimension, and the flumes were interdimensional highways between them. Something like that would make sense, or the universe would be getting pretty crowded.

Did I say that made sense? Who am I kidding? Does any of this make sense? There was only one thing I knew for sure: All this thinking about multiple dimensions was ruining my cool flume ride. I had to lighten up.

Too late. The jumble of notes grew more furious, which signaled I was nearing Veelox. A few seconds later gravity kicked in and I was gently set down. The first thing I saw was Gunny’s back. He stood at the mouth of the flume a few feet in front of me. The second thing I saw was…

Saint Dane.

Whoa.

“Hello, Pendragon,” the demon said with an oily smile. “Welcome to Veelox.”

(CONTINUED)