The Rock

ANSWERS

"What’s going on?" Fran asked, her eyes mesmerized by the massive image of Ayers Rock in front of her.

Pencak grabbed her arm. "There's not much time. We need to go back down." She pressed the horizontal button and the armor plating resealed around the glass capsule. She punched the down button and they began their descent. The elevator came to a halt at a different level from the one they had gotten on at.

Fran tried to clear her head. "What about Debra?"

"Debra will find out on her own," Pencak replied succinctly, "if she hasn't already."

"And Don?"

"We're going to him now," Pencak impatiently answered. "There's not the time to explain things twice."

She nudged Fran forward and they stepped into the corridor. A door at the end slid open into a brightly lit chamber with white walls. Don Batson was seated on a bench and leapt to his feet as the two appeared. "I wondered when I would see you again," he said as he stepped forward to Fran. He turned his gaze to Pencak. "So what now? Have you let her in on your secret?"

"I saw Ayers Rock, Don," Fran said, the shock evident in her voice. "It's above us. But it's not the same."

Don shook his head. "I know. The only mistake I made was telling the wrong person that I knew," he said, again staring hard at Pencak. "You're one of them, aren't you?"

Pencak nodded impatiently, as if that was not a serious matter. "I apologize for locking you up, but we couldn't allow you to tell the others. We didn't take into account your background when we brought you through."

"Tell the others what?" Whatever patience Fran had had was long gone now.

Don was still staring at Pencak. "It shouldn't surprise you that a geologist would recognize his own planet. When I saw the wall of the cavern below us, I knew exactly where we were-after we'd been cutting through the same sandstone feldspar for the past several days."

Fran blinked. "But I don't understand. How can we be back at the Rock? Where are all the people that we left? And the sky-it was…" She paused and then plaintively asked, "Where are we?"

Pencak sighed. "Not where, my dear. When is the key question." Pencak grabbed her shoulder. "There isn't time right now to answer all your questions. Things are happening and we're losing control-not that we had that much to start with."

The old woman suddenly staggered and Fran and Don watched in amazement as she seemed to fade slightly and then come back into focus. Pencak gripped her cane fiercely and regained her balance. "We have to get you two back to the right time while we still can."

"But I don't-"

"Trust me." Pencak cut off Don's question. "I'll explain all shortly."

A door on the side of the room slid open and three robed figures strode in. As they stepped forward, they pulled their hoods down, revealing faces as disfigured as Pencak's. The first one had no eyes at all; a thin metal plate was wrapped around his forehead with wires leading out of it directly into the back of the skull. The second's head was completely smooth-no ears or nose protruding. The eyes were recessed farther than normal and glinted with a strange color Fran had never seen before. The third held his-her? — head at a cocked angle, a twisted cord of distended muscle bulging out on the right side and disappearing into the robe.

The little glimpse that Fran had of their hands showed deformities such as missing fingers and melted skin. The lead figure's scarred face twisted in a sad smile as he wrapped his arms around Pencak. "Good-bye for the second and final time, Lois."

Fran watched as they hugged the old woman, paying no attention to either Don or herself. Done with their parting words, the three stepped back and another door opened to the side. Inside it gleamed the black Wall of a portal.

"Let's go," Pencak insisted, grabbing Fran by the arm again. As she stepped forward with Don toward the shimmering black, Fran was surprised to see tears flowing out of the old woman's one good eye.