Chapters 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

Chapter Ten:

Back to Rearn They Go, for Giana has a Plan

“I’d say that was surprising,” Giana’s husband, Rumple’s Uncle Erring, said, once he heard the story of how Linae and Lynne ended up with Benedict and brought him back, “But very little that involves my wife surprises me any more.”

They had met Erring in a small diner right at the edge of the village, one that his wife and he often frequented, simply because it was so close to both of their jobs.

“So you’re going to be conducting research in this other world?” he asked his wife.

“Don’t worry, it’ll only be a day trip,” she reassured him.  “Maybe we’ll get some dinner over there, if things work out well enough.”

“There’s no guarantee that we’ll be able to get into the area where they conducted the experiment, whatever it was,” Linae pointed out.

“Nonsense,” Giana said, “Where there’s a while, there’s a way,” and after that, she only paid attention to the sandwich she had ordered, or so it seemed to everyone else.  In truth, she was thinking very hard about what could happen in another world, and what she would do to counter it.  But only her husband recognized this.

“I’m really not that hungry,” Linae said, declining to order.  She still felt full from the tea and biscuits (if that’s what they were) she had eaten back at Benedict’s house.

“I’ll have what she has,” Lynne said, pointing to Giana.  “And so will he,” she said, ordering for Grayson.  Again, there was something about Giana that made her want to keep the fact that they couldn’t read the language from getting out.  She really wasn’t sure that letting Giana into their world (that was the only way she could think of it, as an intrusion) was the wisest thing to do, but it did make a little sense.  She doubted that they could keep her out, anyway.  Now that Giana had set her mind to it, she would find one way or another to get to a world, if not Rearn, then another one.

While the others ate and made small talk, Giana dutifully finished her sandwich.  Once it was gone, she started to think out loud, regardless of who was actually listening.  “Benedict has to come, too.  We should leave as soon as possible.  The five of us.”

“We have to pay first,” Erring reminded his wife.

“Then do so, my husband, while we go forth,” Giana said, leaping out of her chair and striking a dramatic pose.

“But I’m not done yet,” Benedict pointed out, “And you said I have to come.”

“I’m almost done,” Lynne said.

“I don’t suppose there are any restrooms in here?” Linae asked.

“Right over there,” Benedict’s mom said, and Linae got up to use the facilities.  Giana sat back down and waited.

Before too long, all was said and done, and they lined up as before, but with the addition of Giana.  “Be ready,” Linae said, “We only get one shot at this.”  That was patently untrue, but she liked to say it sometimes before walking.  It made things more interesting.  “On three: one, two, three.”  And they all were back in Linae’s office in Rearn.

“Fascinating, simply fascinating,” Giana exclaimed as she looked at their new surroundings.

“It’s not that interesting,” Benedict told her, “I was here for two days, hardly anything happens.”  Lynne wondered what his definition of something fascinating was, if what happened in the past couple of days didn’t even rank into ‘something happening’ territory.

“I meant the process of walking,” Giana corrected him.  “I really would like the chance to study it more closely.  But first, we have work to do.”

“Correction: I have work to do,” Linae said, “If I don’t contact Mr. Elwood ahead of time, there’s no way we’ll be allowed into Omnion.”

“True, very true,” Giana said.  She cocked her head and waited.

“And I’d really like some privacy when I call him,” Linae said.  “Lynne, why don’t you and Grayson take these two somewhere.  I’ll call you when I have everything set up.”

“Actually, I have to get back to work myself,” Grayson said.  “This trip really took much longer than I thought.  Although the amount of field research I picked up should more than make up for it.”

“I’m glad you could come with us,” Lynne said.

“It was a pleasure meeting you,” Giana said, barging up to him and forcing his hand into hers as she shook it.  “And thank you for the startling insight into other world technology.”

“You’re welcome,” Grayson replied, “I’ll see you later, I guess,” and with that he was gone.

“Good, that’s one,” Linae muttered, and made a shoo-ing motion at Lynne and the others.

“But what I am supposed to…?” Lynne started, but she was quickly cut off by Linae.

“I don’t care what you do, just get out of here.  Go see a movie, take them back to your office and fill out some paperwork, it doesn’t matter.  I’ll call you when I have an arrangement over there, but for the time being, just go!”

“We’ll sightsee in the meantime, then,” Giana said, taking Benedict by the hand and leading him out the door.  

“Wait,” Lynne called after them, and Giana stopped outside the door, meaning Benedict stopped, too.  “I’ve just thought of something,” she said, which was a lie, because she hadn’t thought of anything at all.  Quick thinking had never been her strong suit.  So she stood for a moment, looking at the two creatures, and tried to will a plan into her head.  She didn’t want to take them back to her office; somehow she just knew letting Giana in there was a bad idea.  And letting her loose on the city seemed an even worse idea.  But there had to be someplace she could take them where it wouldn’t matter what Giana did, didn’t there?

Out of nowhere, she suddenly remembered something, “Benedict’s clothes are ready!”  Thank goodness she remembered that.  She could take them both to meet Rachel, and together they’d be able to handle Giana.  Probably.

“She said five days,” Benedict said, “That’s not for another two days.”

“Actually, she said we could check in three days, which is today,” Lynne said.

“Well, you certainly were busy around here,” Giana said, “Gone all of two days, and already you have people buying you things.”

“But I was naked,” Benedict protested.  “And it was her idea, anyway.”

“And I didn’t pay for them,” Lynne said, not realizing how that sounded, “I asked my friend to make them and she agreed.  I just thought this would be a good time to go and see if she has anything ready.”

“Sounds dreadfully mundane,” Giana said, although she was actually partially interested.  “But I’ll go.  Seeing any part of this world is better than seeing none of it.”

  “Actually, she lives in a different world,” Lynne explained, “Although it is pretty similar to this one.  She won‘t be able to understand you, though, like Grayson.”

“Mmhm,” Giana murmured, not entirely convinced.

“If you’re ready…” Lynne started to say.  Bennington interrupted her with, “I’m ready!”

“As am I,” Giana said, taking Lynne’s proffered hand.  Bennington took Lynne’s other hand, and on the count of three, they walked.

“Hey there, good to see you again,” Rachel said as they appeared in front of her door.  “And you brought a relation this time around.”

“This is Giana, she’s…a friend of the family, I guess,” Lynne said as a way of introduction.

“Is that what they call it these days?” Rachel asked, grinning.  She bent down to shake hands.  “Nice to meet you, Giana, I‘m Rachel Wright.  Are you a science mom, or are you dressed for Halloween?”

Lynne translated for her friend.  “I’m not entirely sure what you mean,” Giana replied.

“Don’t worry about it,” Lynne told her, and then she explained to Rachel what had happened earlier that day and why Giana was now two worlds away from her own world and still wearing her lab coat.

“I see, that does make more sense,” Rachel said, “I didn’t think they had Halloween in other worlds, anyway.  Come on in.”

“We really came to see if you’ve finished anything yet,” Lynne said, as they followed Rachel inside.

“Not yet, unfortunately,” Rachel told them.  “I have a lot of work still to do on everything.  I’ve been flipping from project to project, and I think five days was a little optimistic.  Plus work called me up yesterday, and I couldn‘t get out of picking up some hours.  Somebody called out, or something.”

Lynne told this to Benedict and Giana.  “But I don’t really need the clothes now that I can just go home again,” Benedict pointed out.

“That’s true, I suppose,” Lynne said, and told Rachel what Benedict had said.

“Oh, don’t worry about it.  I’ve already started, so I might as well finish,” Rachel said.  “I mean, maybe I won’t finish everything now, but I’ll definitely keep working on the stuff I like the most.”

Giana had gone straight into inspecting all the of the electronics in the immediate area.

“Is that all right?”  Lynne asked, watching as Giana looked over the Cds stacked on a bookshelf.

“Yeah, it’s all right,” Rachel replied.  “I don’t listen to most of those anyway.  I keep everything in my mp3 player these days.  Hold on, I’ll get some snacks.”

“Well, we just had lunch, so I don’t think anyone’s very hungry right now,” Lynne replied.

“Huh.  Oh well, then.” Rachel seemed a little put out at not being able to put out snacks.  “More for me later, then.”

At the same time, Linae was finally getting down to calling Mr. Elwood.  She might have called as soon as the others left, but after the morning she’d had, she felt like she needed to decompress.  Grab a cup of coffee, check her messages, see if her favorite sites had updated, that kind of thing.  Mostly, she just wanted to be by herself for a little bit.  But eventually she had to stop procrastinating and get down to business.  If not calling Mr. Elwood, she would have to start working on the paperwork she had promised My in order to get the time off to go on the morning’s trip.  Generally, anything could be excused as long as the right paperwork was filled out, but the solution to their problem had come so suddenly, she hadn’t had a chance to fill it out in advance.  Granted, she might have been able to, but it hadn’t really sunk into her brain what was going on until the previous night, which was too late for her to do anything about it in advance, unfortunately.  But that would come later.  For the moment, her focus was on calling Mr. Elwood.

And she got his message service.  “Of course,” she thought to herself.  So she left a voice message, explaining the situation and urging him to call her back as soon as he possibly could.  “Guess it’s the paperwork after all,” she sighed once she had finished leaving the message.  “Nothing to it but to do it,” she said, quoting the poster that someone had hung in the break room ages ago.  And so she got down to the paperwork, all the while keeping an ear out for her phone to ring, saving her from the tedium.

“Eight, nine, ten!” Rachel crowed, as she moved her piece forward.  With nothing better to do, and with Rachel forewarned of Giana’s forthright tendencies, they had all settled in to playing Parcheesi, since there was four of them.  Lynne had explained to Benedict and Giana about how the game was played, and they’d taken to it pretty quickly.

“I used to have a computer game that had all these games on it,” Rachel said at one point in the game.  “Parcheesi, backgammon, dominoes, checkers.  I think there were more, but that’s all I can remember right now.  Anyway, it was pretty cool, but the computer players were so mean sometimes.”

“How could you tell?” Lynne asked.

“Well, there were a bunch of different players, and they all had a picture of their face that changed expression when they were winning or losing.  I don’t really remember, but I think the players were different levels, so if you wanted to play easier or harder, you had to choose certain players.”

“I used to play an online card game that was like that,” Lynne said, suddenly remembering.  “You could name the players, and I named them after my favorite cartoon characters, so it was like I was playing with them.”

“What are you talking about?” Giana asked.  She asked that whenever Lynne didn’t bother to translate.  Since they weren’t talking about anything all that important, this was most of the time.

“Nothing, really,” Lynne told her.  “Rachel was just talking about how she used to play this game on the computer, that’s all.”

“An awful lot of words for something that simple.” Giana said with a sniff.

“Oh really?” Rachel replied when Lynne told her what she said, “Well, when you wax nostalgic, I bet you go on and on, too.  Everyone does.”

“It’s your turn, Lynne, go already,” Benedict said.

“You’re right,” Lynne answered, and rolled the dice.  “Three,” she said, and moved her piece along the board.  Not that she got very far in only three spaces.  

“Anyway, on the computer game, there were all these options for the games.  Like when you played Parcheesi, you could either roll dice or shells.  I could never get the hang of figuring out which shells were up or down, but it sure looked cool.  And if you played checkers, you could use regular pieces or frogs.”

“Frogs?!” Lynne couldn’t even imagine how that would work.  

“Pixelated frogs, red ones versus green ones,” Rachel explained.  “And they were animated, so they hopped over each other.”

“Naturally,” Lynne said, still not quite able to picture it.

“I wonder what happened to that program,” Rachel thought out loud, resting her chin in her hand.  “Not that I’d be able to install it now, though.  I mean, I had that when I was just a kid.  No way it’d be compatible with the system I’ve got now.”

Giana again inquired about what they were talking about, and Lynne translated again, starting to feel irritated on Giana’s need to butt into their conversation.  She wasn’t used to having anyone else around when she hung out with Rachel, especially not someone that she had to translate for.  Or one that she had to stop and explain what frogs were to.  And so the game and conversation went on.  After what seemed like ages, just as Rachel was closest to winning, Lynne’s special phone went off.

“Hello?”

“Yeah, I should have known to try that phone first.  Where are you?” It was Linae, as if it would be anyone else.

“Oh, I’m on Earth,” Lynne didn’t generally share the fact that she made regular visits to Earth to see her friend to anyone in particular, so she kept the reason for her visit to herself.

“Didn’t feel safe showing the Force of Nature around the office?  Can’t say I blame you.  Listen, I-”

But Lynne cut her off before she realized Linae was still talking, “Force of nature?”

“You know, Giana,” Linae clarified.  “Note to self,” she thought, “Try not to mince words around Lynne.  She won’t catch on.”

“Oh,” Lynne said.  She wouldn’t have thought to give Giana a nickname, and she wasn’t sure that Force of Nature was really the right fit.  But she understood where Linae was coming from.

“Anyway,” Linae said with emphasis, before there were any more derailing comments, “I just got a call back from Mr. Elwood, and he said that we can come in this afternoon at three thirty.”

“That’s good,” Lynne said.  “I was afraid we’d have to wait until tomorrow.”

“Yes, it’s good, but it’s also in ten minutes.  You’d better hightail it back here or we won’t make it on time.  And since he made it sound like he’s doing us a huge favor, we’d better not make him wait.”

“Right, we’ll be back asap,” Lynne said.

“Good, I’ll be waiting,” Linae said, and hung up.  She’d mention some other time that you weren’t really supposed to pronounce ASAP as a word, but right, she had to get her stuff together to go.  Not that she had a lot to put together, actually.

After getting off the phone with Linae, Lynne turned to the others and explained what Linae had just told her, first to Rachel and then to Benedict and Giana.  “I’m sorry, but we really have to go right now,” she said to her friend.  “Normally I’d stay and help clean up.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Rachel said, “It’s no big deal, and it sounds like what you’ve got going on back there is.  I’ll see you some other time.”

“Thank you very much for your hospitality,” Benedict and Giana said together, and Lynne translated.

“It was my pleasure,” Rachel said, “But get going or you’ll be late.”

“Right,” Lynne said, and joined hands with the others.  A quick step, and they were back in front of Linae’s office.  

“It’s about time,” she said, “Come on, we’ll take my car.”

“Couldn’t we just walk there?” Giana asked.

“On foot?  It would take ages!” Linae said, hurrying down the corridor.

“No, I mean walking walking,” Giana clarified, running a little to keep up with Linae.

“What? Oh, right.  No, walking on the same world generally doesn’t work.  Don’t know why, so don’t ask.”  They exited the building, and came to Linae’s car in the parking lot.  “You two in the back, Lynne in the front, got it?” she said as she clicked her key remote twice to open the doors.  Once everyone was in and had their seatbelts on, Linae drove off into the afternoon, heading for Omnion Industries.

“So glad you could make it,” Mr. Elwood said.  He had been waiting outside in the parking lot, ready to meet them.  “You’ll need to sign in the guest registry and get guest badges, of course,” he told them as they walked into the building.  

“Name, A number, time, and reason for visiting, please,” a friendly looking receptionist said as they all filed in.  

“Right,” Linae said, taking the book first.  She passed it to Lynne, and turned to Mr. Elwood.  “What about them?” she asked, pointing to Benedict and Giana.  “They haven’t got A numbers.”

“Just tell them to put in 158394,” Mr. Elwood said.  “That’s the number we usually use for our more high-profile guests when they visit.  Otherwise anyone could know that they’re here.”

“Why would celebrities be visiting here?” Lynne asked, genuinely curious.

“Not necessarily celebrities,” Mr. Elwood corrected her, “Just any guest wishing to hide their identity.”

“Seems like you give it out pretty freely for something that powerful,” Linae pointed out.

“Well, it’s not like our logs get checked for that kind of thing all that often,” Mr. Elwood admitted.

Lynne passed the book down to Benedict and told him and Giana what to put in each slot.  Once the book was signed by both of them, the receptionist took it back and handed them each a visitor badge and a pair of glasses.

“Those are our filter glasses,” Mr. Elwood explained.  “They’ll keep you from seeing any projects that are too top secret to be seen.”

“I see,” Linae and Lynne said.  They both started to tell Benedict and Giana what Mr. Elwood had said, but Linae stopped when she heard Lynne was saying it, too.

“Okay, just follow me,” Mr. Elwood told them, and began to lead the way to the room where the experiment that brought Benedict to their world had occurred.

Linae looked around as they traveled through the building, as did the others, but just as Mr. Elwood had said, the glasses kept certain areas out of her line of vision, even if she was looking right at them.

“They’re a specialty to our company,” Mr. Elwood told them as they walked along.  “Although we have licensed their use to a few other places.  But I can’t tell you where, otherwise I’d have to kill you.  That’s not a joke, by the way.”

“Oh,” Lynne was the only one who answered him.

They were silent the rest of the way, until Mr. Elwood stopped in front of a door.  “You can take off the glasses now,” he told them, and he typed in a number of numbers on a keypad beside the door.  With a soft ‘shoom,’ the door slid open.  “Please, go in,” Mr. Elwood told them.  He watched as they filed into the room, and then typed another number of numbers into the keypad and stepped into the room himself before the door slid shut.

To Linae, the equipment in the room looked just like a larger version of the console in Giana lab, and she said so.

“Ah, so there is some resemblance,” Mr. Elwood said.  “I figured as much, from what you said before,” he told her.

Giana wasted no time in examining the equipment the best she could from her position.  This yielded very little results, so she told Lynne to tell Mr. Elwood to get her something to allow her to get a better look.

“Giana says she needs to get a better look at this,” Lynne told Mr. Elwood, “Do you have a stool or something?”

“I could get one,” Mr. Elwood said, and turned to go.  “Please don’t touch anything while I’m gone.”

“He’ll be right back,” Lynne said to Giana, “And he said not to touch anything.”

“Of course,” Giana replied.  “Really, I’m surprised you have this level of technology here.”

“What do you mean by that?” Linae asked, her tone slightly dry. 

“Well, no offense,” Giana said, “But on our world, we’re the highest level of sentience.  As far as we know, anyway.”

“That makes no sense,” Linae thought to herself, but out loud she only said, “What is the name of your world, anyway?  We tried asking Benedict, but he didn’t know.”

“I’m surprised at that,” Giana said, “but to answer your question, our world is called Anone.”

“Anonay, I see,”  Lynne said.  “That sounds almost musical.  Anonay, ano nay, anoney” she hummed to herself.

“What’s wrong with you, boy, that you don’t even know the name of the world you live in?” Giana asked Benedict, giving him a light smack on the head.

“I was flustered when they asked,” Benedict replied, shielding himself from Giana‘s attack.

“Anonay, that sounds familiar,” Linae thought.  She didn’t have time to remember where she heard it, though, since Mr. Elwood had returned with a pneumatic stool for Giana.

“Thank you very much,” Giana told him, but he didn’t understand her, so Lynne translated for him.

“You’re welcome,” Mr. Elwood replied through Ariana, “I hope that you can glean some information that would be beneficial to us.”

“What exactly where you doing with this machine?” Linae asked.  “Giana here was trying harness aerinths with hers, and I remember you said this was trying to harness something, too.”

“Yes, well, I really can’t tell you,” Mr. Elwood replied, “Just in case, you know.  Again, the having to kill you thing.  Still not a joke, yeah.”

“So what was the purpose of this machine?” Giana asked.  Lynne told her what Mr. Elwood had just said, and Giana, predictably, did not take kindly to this information.  “Who does he think he is, withholding scientific information from me?” she complained, “How am I supposed to learn anything from this visit if I don’t have even the basic information?”

“I’m sure that if he could just tell you, he would,” Lynne said, “But since it would have to go through me or Linae, he can’t take the chance that we.. might leak the information?”

“Oh, that just sounds weak and you know it,” Linae said, indignant.  “And you know it, too, Mr. Elwood.  What in the world would we possibly do with the information?”

“Anything is possible in this world, Miss Baker,” Mr. Elwood told her, “You may not think that you have anyone to tell this information to, but there are any number of rival agencies that would kill to get their hands on any information about what we’re working on in here.”

“So why don’t you tell us who these rival agencies are so we can avoid them, hm?” Linae said.  She was sick and tired of his secrecy and “I’d tell you but I’d have to kill you” attitude.

“I really can’t do that,” Mr. Elwood said, shaking his head.

“Because you’re too low-ranking to even know who these rival agencies are, aren’t you?” Linae said, narrowing her eyes at him.  

“In a manner of speaking…” Mr. Elwood replied.

“Hm, I thought so,” Linae said, with the slightest hint of a smirk on her face.  “I knew it the first time I saw you.  The only reason you were assigned to this is because you’re the low man on the totem pole.”

“Though you have no right to say that, you are correct,” Mr. Elwood said, looking her in the eye.

“I have no right to say that?” Linae said, incredulous, “I call it like I see it, Mr. Elwood, and if you admit to it, that just gives me all the more right to say it.”

“Really, there’s no need to get worked up over this,” Lynne said, trying to calm them both down.  “But Giana is right, she really needs to know what’s going on if we’re to get to the bottom of what’s going on here.  After all, there are still three more… um… of them out there somewhere, and it really doesn’t do them any good to fight like this.”

“That’s true,” Linae said, calming down just a little.  “Isn’t there some kind of confidentiality form we can sign.  One that says you can kill us if we leak any secrets or something?”  She was only half joking.

“I suppose,” Mr. Elwood said reluctantly.  “I’ll be right back, then.”  And he left the room again.

“Well, that’s one step closer, then,” Linae said.

“You shouldn’t rile him up like that,“ Giana said when Lynne told her what Mr. Elwood and Linae had been arguing about.

“You’re one to talk,” Linae muttered, more to herself than to anyone else.  “I got caught up in the heat of the moment,” she said to Giana.  “You’re right, I should have been more professional.  But there’s something about that type of man that really rankles me.  Hiding behind his policies and superiors, hmph.”

“I understand your sentiments,” Giana told her, “But cooler heads must prevail if we’re too get the missing children back.”

“I thought you were more about learning what you can about our technology?” Lynne said.  She hadn’t considered Giana’s actions to date to be at all altruistic.

“That is merely a side benefit of my main mission in your world,” Giana said.

“What are aerinths, anyway, by the way?” Linae asked.  She had wanted to ask earlier, but this seemed like as good a time as any.

“Aerinths are a positive energy that flows through all things,” Giana told them.

“So what to do you call the negative energy that flows through all things?” Linae asked.

“There isn’t a proper name for that,” Giana said, “It’s merely a lack of aerinths.”

“So if the absence of light is dark,” Lynne mused, “then the absense of aerinths is what?”

“I just said, there isn’t a technical term for that,” Giana said.  “I think of it as anti-aerinths, though.”

“Why wouldn’t there be a term for it?” Benedict asked.  He didn’t really understand what they were talking about, but wanted to get in on the conversation anyway.

“It’s still an underdeveloped field,” Giana explained.  “In truth, aerinths themselves were only discovered within the past ten years, so most of the research done has been on the positive side of things rather than the negative.  Simply put, it’s easier to poke something that is there than something that isn’t.”

“Who the heck does any research besides you?” Benedict asked.

Giana closed her eyes and made a very frustrated face.  “Despite what you may believe, I’m not the only one who works in the laboratory outside of town, you know.”

“What, really?” Benedict asked.  It had never occurred to him that anyone else ever worked there.  “Who else works there?”

“No one you’d know,” Giana said, brushing him off quite literally, as she ran her hand through the longish fur on the top of his head.  Their conversation was brought to a halt by the return of Mr. Elwood.

“Okay, I got clearance to tell you about what we’ve been working on here.  Just read through these forms and sign at the bottom,” he told them, as he handed them each a sheet of paper.

Though Linae read the paper carefully, her eyes didn’t really take it in.  She assumed she’d be all right as long as she kept what she saw and heard to herself, and went ahead and signed.  Lynne read all the legalese to Benedict and Giana, and then they all signed their papers.  Seeing as Benedict and Giana would be going back to their own world soon, they were probably safe, even if they didn’t fully understand it.

“Right then,” Mr. Elwood said, once he had collected the signed papers from everyone.  “The purpose of this machine was the harness the electromagnetic waves that emanate as a byproduct from all the electrical equipment that is used all over the world on a daily basis.  A recycling program of sorts,” he seemed nervous to be revealing this.  “However, on our first attempt using the machine, we did not get the anticipated results.”  He looked halfway at Benedict, then looked away again.

“What were you planning to do with the waves?” Giana asked, with Lynne translating as usual.

“I’m still not authorized to tell you that,” Mr. Elwood said, “It’s bad enough that I’ve told you all I have already.”

“I see,” Giana said to herself, scratching her cheek as she thought.   “So these machines are not quite as similar as I first thought.  And yet…”  She stood stock still in concentration as she put together what she had been able to observe of the machine with what she knew about her machine back in her world.

“But the output or something like that must have been the same,” Lynne pointed out, “Otherwise, why would it have brought Benedict here?”

“That is the question we’ve been trying not to worry about,” Mr. Elwood said.

Hearing this, Giana couldn’t help scoffing.  “And you call yourself a scientist!  If you ignore something like this, you have no right to the title!”

“That’s kinda harsh,” Linae said, even though she had been thinking the same kind of thing.  “There’s probably legal ramifications, or something…”

“Indeed there are,” Mr. Elwood said, nodding.  “Or rather, there could be.  Why do you bring that up?”  He looked like he was trying not to look nervous.

Linae explained what Giana had just said, and Mr. Elwood looked noticeably relieved.

“Ah, I see.  But I’m not a scientist, nor did I ever claim to be.”

“That’s true,” Linae said, not necessarily feeling like defending him, but definitely feeling like not siding with Giana.  “After all, he’d be Dr. Elwood and not just mister in that case.”

“Well, that explains it, then,” Giana said with a distinct tone of smug self-satisfaction.

“What do you do here, anyway?” Linae asked Mr. Elwood, “Or are you not authorized to tell us that, either?”

“I write grants for funding for the most top secret projects,” Mr. Elwood told her, “Including this one.”

“I see,” Linae said, but she was thinking that that was probably the dullest job actually related to the projects that one could conceivably have.

Benedict watched as Giana studied some data on nearby monitor screens that Lynne was translating for her.  “Can you actually tell anything from all that stuff?” he asked.

“Not very much,” Giana told him, “I’d need to figure out the conversions for certain measurements here,” she pointed at the screen, “before I’d have any idea of how closely the results match my own.”

“So is there any point in us staying here any longer?” Linae asked.  Mr. Elwood really was not that interesting a person to talk to, and the machinery meant nothing to her.  The sooner they could get out, the better.

“Let me take some of this down,” Giana replied, pulling a notepad and pen out of her coat pocket.  She scribbled down some notes, and replaced the pen and notepad.  She turned to face Mr.Elwood.  “Thank you for your time and cooperation,” she told him, “Hopefully I’ll be able to discover something and make this trip not a waste of time after all.”

“She said thank you for letting her look around,” Lynne told him, feeling it was better not to translate too literally here.

“You’re welcome,” Mr. Elwood replied, “I take it you’re finished here?”

“We are,” Linae said.

“Then let me take you through the exit procedures,” he told them all.  “Please put your filter glasses back on and follow me.”

Although he had said exit procedures, all they really had to do was follow him back to the lobby, turn in their badges and glasses, and sign the log book again, this time on the Out page.

“I sincerely hope that you will have no more need of Omnion Industries in this matter,” Mr. Elwood said, obviously thinking this was an appropriate parting statement.

“We sincerely hope that as well,” Linae replied, with just a trace of sarcasm in her voice.

Chapter Eleven:

There is Dinner, and Once Again Rachel is Consulted

“So, do we have to take you back to your lab to consult something or other or what?” Linae asked Giana as they drove back to the Tulin-Walker Travel Agency.

“No need for that,” Giana told her, “I can tell you everything you need to know right here.”

“What, everything?” Lynne asked, “Just from that short visit?”

“Well, not everything,” Giana admitted, “But I can tell you the most relevant part.”

“Which is?” Linae asked.  She was considering pulling over, in case “the most relevant part” was actually codeword for “the longest part.”

“The missing children are not in your world,” Giana said.

“Just wonderful,” Linae muttered, although she really wasn’t sure whether it would be more work to look in other worlds.  In theory, it seemed like that was the harder choice, but considering how little information she had turned up on just Benedict earlier, it was conceivable that trying to find three others would be just as fruitless.  

“How can you be sure about that?” Lynne asked. 

“There’s a definite connection between these two machines,” Giana said, and began to ramble off another burst of techno babble that neither Lynne, Linae, nor Benedict really understood, finishing with “So it’s not unimaginable that there were similar machines running similar experiments at the same time in three other worlds.  Find the machines, you’ll find the children.”

“That will take forever!” Benedict exclaimed.

“Only if you do it wrong,” Giana said.

“I’m with the kid, it’ll take ages,” Linae said, “Are we supposed to go and inspect every world personally?  And what if they’re in worlds we don’t even know about yet?”

“We could get all the Walkers in the Federation to help,” Lynne said.

“That’s true, but that would only work if they all agree to help,” Linae countered.  “Any thoughts on how to do this ‘right,’ Madame Scientist,” she asked Giana.

“Of course not,” Giana said, “Why should I have to come with something on such short notice?”

“She’s got a point,” Lynne said, “We need to take some time and think this through.”

“Well, we’ve got plenty, because we’re back now,” Linae said, pulling into the parking lot.

“I’m sorry that I cannot be of more help to you at this point in time,” Giana said as she got out of the car, and she did seem genuinely sorry, “But I need to get back to my lab to figure something out further.  Benedict also needs to get home.”

“Actually,” Benedict said, “I want to stay and help Lynne.  Please tell my parents not to worry about me.”

“It isn’t wise for you to stay here any longer than necessary,” Giana said, “But another day probably won’t hurt.”

“Probably not,” Lynne said.  “But you really should go back home for the time being, Benedict.”

“If there’s anything I can do, I want to do it here,” Benedict told her, “I feel responsible for my friends, and it wouldn’t feel right for me to be home while they’re off who knows where.”

“Give the kid credit,” Linae said, “His heart’s in the right place.”  She suspected that he really wanted to avoid answering any questions back in his hometown, and really, she couldn’t blame him for that.  She’d probably react the same way.  “All right, I’ll take Giana back, you and Benedict try to figure something out,” she said to Lynne.  And to Giana she said, “If you’re ready?” as she held out her hand.

“I’m always ready,” Giana replied, taking the hand being offered to her.

“All right, then, on three,” Linae said.

“Here in the parking lot?” Lynne asked, slightly bemused.

“Why not here?  It doesn’t matter where we do it,” Linae replied.  Then she counted to three, and she and Giana were gone.

“Well, let’s you and I get back to my office and we’ll see what we can figure out,” Lynne said to Benedict, and the two of them headed back into the building.

Although it was still a little early, Lynne ordered in some pad thai takeout for dinner.  While they waited for it to arrive, she worked on a draft of the request for help that she planned to submit to the IWF.  Benedict was very quiet as he thought seriously about what they should, which was not an easy task.  He had barely had a concept of his own world before a few days ago, and now to try and think about the myriads of other worlds that his friends were possibly stuck in taxed his brain to the limit.  

“How many worlds are there?” he asked Lynne after a while.

“Oh, hundreds of thousands,” Lynne said, as she revised a sentence for the third time.  “But that’s just the ones we know about.  As you proved, there are still a number of worlds that are essentially unknown to all Walkers.”  She stopped to think for a moment.  There was a word she wanted to use in her proposal, but she just couldn’t think of it, even though she knew she had used it on multiple occasions.  

“Hundreds of thousands?” Benedict thought.  He really couldn’t think of any way to find his friends other than to visit them all, and as he had said before, it would take forever to do that.  “How many Walkers are there?”

“Well, as Linae pointed out, we don’t know how many will actually help, if any at all, but the Federation has records of all known Walkers, so if they accept our request, and every Walker agrees to help, we should have at least one Walker for every five worlds.”  But she didn’t sound very optimistic about it.

“What if we can’t get anyone to help?”

“Then we’ll have to figure something else out.”

“But what if-”

“If I don’t finish this, we definitely won’t get anyone to help us,” Lynne pointed out, “Please be quiet for just a little longer.”

There was a knock on the door.  “Come in,” Lynne said.

Linae opened the door and came in.  “How’s it going?” she asked.

“It could be better,” Lynne said.

“How are we going to search hundreds of thousands of worlds?” Benedict asked her.  He still couldn’t quite wrap his head around the concept.

“Good question,” Linae said bitterly.  “The better question is how can we foist this on someone else?”

“I wouldn’t have put it that way, but I am working on a formal request for help from the IWF,” Lynne told her.

“Oh, who knows how long it’ll take for them to actually read it,” Linae complained, taking a seat as she did.  “I’ve never gotten anything useful out of the IWF, and you shouldn’t expect their help, either.”

“If the IWF isn’t there for situations such as this, then what is it for?” Lynne asked.

“Heavens if I know,” Linae replied.  “Seems they aren’t really good for anything in my view.”

“Well, maybe you’re just cynical.”

“Realistic is more like it.  Think about it, they’re one federation for all the Walkers in the world.  How many requests do you think they get per day?”

“There are different branches,” Lynne reminded her.

“Fenh,” Linae muttered. 

“Well, what do you propose we do, then?” Lynne asked, growing more and more tired of Linae’s defeatist attitude.

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be here,” Linae said.  At that point in time, there was a knock on the door.

“One order for Lynne Zink,” the delivery boy said, poking his head in the doorway.  The pad thai that Lynne ordered arrived.  

“I’ll chip in if I can have some of that,” Linae said, suddenly realizing she was hungry.  Understandable, considering she hadn’t had anything since she was at Benedict’s family’s home.

“Sure,” Lynne said, and told the delivery boy to split the order.  They both swiped their debit cards on his portable reader in turn, Lynne took the bag holding her order, and then the boy left.

“Mm,” Linae murmured as she ate straight from the container.

“Hold on, I’ll get some paper plates from the break room,” Lynne said.  “Don’t eat any more until I get back.”

“’k,” Linae said.

“All right,” Benedict replied.

Lynne was back in just a few moments.  She split the order between three plates and gave one each to Linae and Benedict.  And for a few moments, everything was quiet as they ate.

“Most people would have gone home by now,” Linae pointed out.

“Most people aren’t in the situation we’re in,” Lynne said.

“True, true, true,” Linae replied.  She wasn’t sure why the situation was true three times over, but she just knew it was.

“This is really good,” Benedict pointed out.  “What is it?”

“Vegetables and noodles, mostly,” Linae said.  “I’m not a huge fan of pad thai, but it’s all right.”

“It’s not too spicy for you?” Lynne asked, suddenly realizing she should have asked if he liked spicy food earlier.

“Nah, it’s pretty good,” Benedict told her.

They ate in silence for a while, each one thinking about the predicament they were in, and how to best find Benedict’s missing friends.

“If only there we just knew which worlds to visit,” Linae griped out of the blue.

“That would make things a lot easier,” Lynne agreed, “if we knew exactly what we needed to do.”  

When she had finished her share of the food, Linae went back to her own office for the rest of the day.  “We’ll figure something out tomorrow,” she said, but she didn’t sound very optimistic.

Lynne finished writing up her proposal and then she and Benedict went back to her apartment.  It had been a long day, and neither one felt like staying up very late, although Benedict expressed this by simply falling asleep on the couch while Lynne looked through her mail.

That night, Lynne lay in bed, her mind still churning on what they should do.  The task at hand seemed insurmountable.  Even with help, there was no telling how long it could take.  And she probably couldn’t put her other walking jobs on hold for very long, even for a good cause.  And this was only a moderately good one at that.  But still, the toll of the day was sinking in, and soon her mind started to unwind and head toward REM sleep.  Just as she was starting to drift into slumber, a thought came to her mind almost out of nowhere.  She remembered Linae saying something like, “If only we just knew what to do.”  And it hit her, she did know someone who “knew” what to do most of the time.  She sat straight up in her bed and reached over to the nightstand by her bed, where she kept a pad and a pencil for whenever she thought of something that she wanted to make sure she remembered in the morning, be it reminding herself she was out of eggs, or that she needed to call someone the next day.  She hastily jotted down a note to herself at best she could in the dark, and placed the pad back on the nightstand.  She reset the alarm on her alarm clock and settled back down to get some sleep.

The next morning, Lynne rolled over and glanced blearily at the alarm clock, wondering why it was going off already.  Then she noticed the pad propped up next to it and read what was written on it.  It took a few tries to decipher the lopsided handwriting that she recognized as her own, but eventually she remembered what she had written in the first place.  “Go see Rachel for knowing what to do.”  That was why she was already awake, she was going to see her friend before going to work.  

She quickly dressed and washed up, grabbed a few bites of cereal, and wrote a note for Benedict explaining where she was.  She really intended to be back before he woke up, but she figured it was better to be safe than sorry.  With everything taken care of, she walked straight to the door of Rachel’s house on Earth.  She knocked on the door, and a few moments later, Rachel opened it.  Her hair was up in a ponytail and she was wearing a pink bathrobe.  “Good morning,” she said, “I had a feeling you’d show up.  Come on in.”

“That’s just what I want to talk to you about,” Lynne said as she followed her friend inside, “How is it you always know when I’m coming?”

“Mm, it’s not so much that I know you’re coming,” Rachel replied, “I just get a feeling for the most beneficial course of action to follow.  And anything that’s a little out of the ordinary generally has to do with you, no offense or anything.”

“Most beneficial course of action?” Lynne asked.

“Like last night, when I was getting ready for bed, and I was thinking about when I needed to wake up.  I just knew I would need to wake up earlier than I usually do, and sure enough, here you are bright and early.”  She yawned, and headed for the kitchen.  “Sorry, but I haven’t even had my breakfast yet.  I knew I had to get up early, but that doesn‘t mean I wanted to do it.”

“So this ‘most beneficial course of action,’ it’s whenever you make a decision?” Lynne continued.

“Or whenever I’m thinking about what to do.  And sometimes for no real reason at all,” Rachel replied.  “I don’t know, I’ve had this ability for so long that I don’t even really think about it any more.  Why are you so interested in it all of a sudden?”

“Well, there’s this situation at work…” Lynne explained about what had happened after they’d left her house yesterday, and the comment Linae had made that made her think of asking for her friend’s help in the matter.

“That certainly sounds like fun,” Rachel said, “But I can’t do it today, at least, not right now.  I’m working nine to three today, and I’m scheduled as a bagger, but I’ll probably go on a register for at least part of the shift.”

“That’s all right,” Lynne said, “I’ll have to make sure Linae’s okay with bringing you in, anyway.  When are you working tomorrow?”

“One to five on the self-scan registers for the first time in months,” Rachel replied.  “So I could go in the morning.  And I have the next day completely free.”

“I’ll come by tonight and let you know what I find out,” Lynne said.  “But I better get back, or Benedict will wake up while I’m gone.”

“Okay, I’ll see you tonight then,” Rachel said.

“Yeah, see ya,” Lynne said, and then she walked from the living room back to her own bedroom in her apartment.

Chapter Twelve:

Lynne and Linae Both Have Ideas about What to do, but Linae’s Idea Wins Out

Seeing that Benedict was still asleep, Lynne tossed out her note to him, and kept her early morning traveling to herself.  Later that morning, as Lynne and Benedict came to work, Lynne decided to see if Linae was in yet, and sent Benedict ahead to her office.  She knocked on the door of Linae’s office lightly.  She didn’t really think she’d find her co-worker in her office yet, but at least she could write her a quick note.  But to her surprise, she heard Linae say, “Come in.”  Not only was she already in, but she appeared to have been in for some time.

“Oh good,” Linae said when she saw Lynne, “I already sent you a message, but it’s better if I can tell you in person.  I was looking into this all night, and I think I may have gotten a lead on how to cut our searching time considerably.”

“Oh really?” Lynne asked, wondering what exactly Linae could have come up with so quickly, and at the same time half hoping it would be something that wasn’t very good.  It may have been a bit perverse, but she wanted her friend Rachel to be the big lead in their case.

“I was thinking about our problem last night and I just had an epiphany,” Linae continued.  Although what she said was not entirely the truth.  She had actually just been browsing on WalkerWiki, hoping that she would stumble onto something promising, but not really believing she would find anything.  “What if there was something that we could use to track them down?  Some sort of device or magical map.  So I went online and did a little research.”  Except she had really just flipped from article to article, clicking on anything that looked interesting.  Eventually, she stumbled on a page that detailed a strange and wondrous artifact that changed cheese into gold.  She hadn’t thought too much of this, as it wasn’t all that useful, but then she noticed the artifact was part of a series of articles on a certain collection.  A few more clicks, and she knew all she needed to know to make her certain that this was the break she’d been looking for.  “And I came up with the location of someone who might just own the very thing that would let us track down the missing kids.”

“Really?” Lynne was surprised that Linae had been able to find something like that so quickly.  Then her mind hit the key phrase in Linae’s last sentence.  “But it’s just ‘might?’”

“Well, yes,” Linae replied, “But I really think that this could be the place to go.  According to this,” she pulled up the official site and started reading from the paragraphs she’d read so many times already.  “The Author’s Museum of Marvels is the largest collection of rare and unique items from across the globe.  Some pieces have to be seen to be believed.”  She gave Lynne a very pointed ‘so what do you say to that’ kind of look.

“It would be worth checking out,” Lynne admitted, “But I don’t think we could go today.  I have-” but Linae cut her off.

“Yes, yes, I can’t go today, either.”  Linae sighed, “I still have to finish up the paperwork I promised Myrna on our travels in the unknown world.  At least we found out what it’s called.”  The last part was mostly directed to herself.

“I’ll let you get on that, then,” Lynne said, and excused herself.  She hadn’t been able to bring herself to bring up Rachel, not then.  Besides, she had a couple of clients to take to different worlds, and that was more than enough to occupy the rest of her day.

It was a little later in the day, after Lynne had gotten back from escorting her second client for the day to her vacation destination, that Linae showed up in her office unannounced.

“I changed my mind, we’re going today,” she said, almost but not quite breathless.

“Wha?” Lynne was too surprised by Linae’s sudden appearance to have any idea what she was talking about.

“Where are you going?” Benedict asked.  Lynne hadn’t bothered to tell him about what Linae had told her earlier.

“To Deteila,” Linae told him, and then Lynne realized what Linae meant.

“What, now?”

“The sooner the better,” Linae replied, with a determined nod.

Lynne eyed her co-worker suspiciously.  “What’s gotten into you?”  She had never seen Linae this determined about anything work-related for the entire time she had known her.

What had gotten into Linae was simple.  She was trying to avoid getting a “special” assignment from My.  When she’d brought the finished paperwork to her supervisor (the only way to guarantee that My got any of the things sent to her and avoid the inevitable “where’s that thing you were supposed to send me?” was to hand deliver them), My had given her a bit of a run around talk about “big things” and “certain people” which Linae recognized as My-speak for “a client is coming who is trouble” and she wanted nothing to do with it.  She’d quickly mentioned having something coming up that afternoon that demanded her closest attention, and immediately hightailed it out of the other woman’s office and went straight to Lynne’s office, praying to all the gods she knew that she wouldn’t find it empty.

But what she said was, “My schedule cleared up, and I figured, ‘hey, the sooner the better,’ right?”

“I guess so,” Lynne said, warily.  She hadn’t realized that going to the museum was so important to Linae that she would start using phrases twice.  “But I still have to-”

“If it’s something that can wait until after the trip, please, please, postpone it,” Linae said, nearly begging.  “I promise, this won’t take very long.”  Long enough, though, she hoped, for My to find someone else to take on the “special client.”

“Well, I guess it can,” Lynne said reluctantly.

“Good, I’ll do the walking.  I’ve been to Detalia before, so I know how to get there,” Linae replied.

“Will someone tell me what’s going on?” Benedict asked.

It was Linae‘s turn to be confused. “Lynne didn’t tell you?”

“I didn’t really have time,” Lynne said, which was half-true, anyway.

“We’ll tell you when we get back,” Linae said, starting to reach out for Lynne’s hand.  But Benedict took it instead.

“No way you’re leaving me out of this,” he said, “Now tell me what’s going on.”

“There isn’t time for that,” Linae insisted, and tried to wrest out of Benedict’s grip, the small creature held firm.  “Fine, you can come, but just don’t ask too many questions.”

“All right, I guess,” Lynne said, still mystified by Linae’s need for quickness in this affair.  But they all joined hand, and with a hip and a hey they were on their way to Detaila.

When they arrived, Linae was immediately struck by how much the surrounding area looked like something you’d see in a storybook.  The sky was an almost perfect shade of blue, with the fluffiest, and though she wasn’t sure how she knew this, but also the friendliest looking clouds she’d ever seen.  They’d landed in a courtyard filled with toparies depicting all manner of fantastic beasts, some she recognized, some she didn’t.  The landscaping was alive with birds, butterflies, squirrels, and other friendly animals.

“What is this place?” Benedict asked, his eyes fixed squarely on the impressive building in front of them.  At the top of a set of stone stairs was a building that looked to be equal parts ancient temple, homey cabin, and modern architecture at its finest.

“The Author’s Museum of Marvels,” Linae said, her voice catching in her throat.  The very site of it filled her with a sense of wonder and optimism.  

“That doesn’t look very practical,” Lynne pointed out.

“It doesn’t have to be,” Linae said, starting up the stairs.  There were more of them than there appeared to be.

“And why are we here?” Benedict asked, following her up the stairs. “I mean, it looks awesome, but not like something we had to rush over to see.”

While they climbed, Linae and Lynne explained about why they were there and what they hoped to find.  Benedict, like Lynne, was slightly skeptical, but unlike Lynne, he was excited to see what there was, anyway.  After all, if the courtyard was any indication, then what was inside was sure to be interesting, even if it wasn’t entirely amazing.

“How long do these stairs go?” Lynne wondered after a while.  “It feels like we’ve been climbing for a long time.”

“It can’t have been that long,” Linae said, “We haven’t gone that far yet.”  She pointed to the distance behind them, which did indeed seem very small.

“Look, there’s a sign,” Benedict said, running over to a little plaque mounted on the stair railing.  “Stairs of Infinite Climbing,” he read.

Linae and Lynne also went over to where the plaque was and read along with him.  “These stairs hold a powerful charm that prevents those who climb them to ever reach the top.  In the same way, once they begin climbing, they will no longer be able to reach the bottom.”  

“What?!” Linae felt all her optimism draining out of her feet, like she was standing in a puddle of pure defeat.  “So we’re trapped here?”

“Maybe we can still go down,” Lynne said, and started to take the stairs in the opposite direction.  Linae and Benedict watched her going down a few steps, but soon all they saw was her seeming to walk down the same two steps over and over again.

“Lynne, cut that out, you’re not getting anywhere,” Linae told her.  She sat down on the steps and cupped her chin in her hands, her elbows resting on her knees.

“Are we stuck here now?” Benedict asked, sitting down next to her.

“Maybe,” she replied.

“Who would build stairs that trap the users?” Lynne wondered.

“Any number of people,” Linae replied.  She had been thinking about that same kind of thing herself.  “People who don’t want anyone to visit them.”

“Someone who doesn’t like traveling salesmen,” Benedict said.  That was the only reason he could think of.

“I wonder why this wasn’t mentioned on the wiki page,” Linae said, trying to rack her brain to remember if it had been mentioned and she just hadn’t seen it, although she didn’t know how that was really possible, with all the times she’d read the article and its accompanying pages.

“So if we go up, we keep going up without reaching the top, and if we go down, we keep going down without reaching the bottom,” Lynne said, scratching the side of her cheek as she thought.

“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Linae grumbled.  She couldn’t think of a better line than that, as she was trying to figure out how to get out of the trouble they were in.  But there didn’t seem to be a solution.

“What if we weren’t on the stairs?” Benedict suggested, “Maybe that would help.”  

“What do you mean?” Lynne and Linae asked at the same time.  “All there is is stairs,” Linae added.

“Well, there’s the railing, isn‘t there?  Maybe that‘s not part of the stairs and we can climb up it.”  To prove his point, he tried to climb up onto the railing.  Lynne and Linae had to give him a boost, but he got up there.  “Now watch,” he said, and he started shimmying up the railing.  At first, it looked like he was getting somewhere, but all too soon it became obvious that he was not going anywhere at all, although he was still going through the motions.  He looked back to see how far he had gone, and was shocked to see Linae and Lynne standing just a few feet from him.  “Aw man, I’m right where I started.”

“Sure looked funny, though,” Linae commented.  Lynne didn’t say anything at all.

“I don’t get this place,” Benedict complained.  “If it’s a museum, how are people supposed to get there if they get stuck on the stairs?”

“Maybe it’s a test,” Linae said.  “You only get the see the exhibits if you’re smart enough to figure out how to get off the stairs.”

“Or not stupid enough to get on them in the first place,” Benedict added.

“What was that?” Linae said, giving him a sidelong glance.

“Nothing,” Benedict said innocently.  He was out of ideas.

“So, if we think we’re getting somewhere when we go up, and think we’re getting somewhere when we go down,” Lynne continued her thought process from before, “then we aren’t going very far at all.”

“Yes, I think we’ve established that pretty well,” Linae said.

“But when we were going up, it looked like the top was getting closer,” Lynne went on, “And when I was going down, it looked like I was getting closer to the bottom of the steps.”

“And your point is?” Linae asked, but Benedict was listening carefully.  He had a feeling that Lynne was on to something, even if he had no idea what it was.

“Well, we obviously aren’t going anywhere when we try to go up or down,” Lynne pointed out.

“We aren’t going anywhere by staying here either, if that’s what your idea is,” Linae said dryly.

“No, actually,” Lynne said, “I think that we may not be very far off the ground, that’s all.  Not as far as we think we are.”

Linae still looked unconvinced as she processed this information.  “So you’re saying we’re closer to the bottom steps than the top steps, is that it?”

“More than close,” Lynne said, “I think we’re just going up the very bottom steps themselves.”

“And what can we do with this information, even if you’re right?” Linae asked.

“Jump!” Benedict said, “We can jump off the steps and then we’ll be free!”

“Probably,” Lynne said.  While she was fairly certain of her hypothesis, she didn’t want to be the one to test it, and had secretly hoped that one of the others got it without her having to spell it out, thus saving her from testing it herself.  

“All right, let’s do it!” Benedict said, and just like that, he jumped.

“Wait!” Linae called as he got up and leapt, “You don’t know how far-” for by all appearances, they were too far up to jump without getting injured.  But her voice died out as she and Lynne watched Benedict appear to ripple through the air and suddenly appear at the bottom of the steps.  

He waved at them.  “Hey, it worked!” he called up.

“So it did,” Linae said, feeling a bit shaken, even though she hadn’t been the one to jump and had merely watched it happen.

“Oh good, it worked,” Lynne said, and then took a leap herself.  Just as Benedict’s had before her, her body shimmered like the surface of a lake, and then she was suddenly at the bottom.

That just left Linae.  “Well, here goes nothing,” she said, closed her eyes and jumped.  She was surprised to find that the trip took less than a second.  When she opened her eyes, she was off the steps and on the ground.  “Well, that was anticlimactic,” she said.

“As I suspected, we were on the bottom step all along,” Lynne said, with a small smile.

A thought suddenly occurred to Linae, now that they were all on the ground again.  “You know,” she said to Lynne, “We could have just walked back home and then walked back here again.”

“You’re right, we could have,” Lynne said, “Or maybe we couldn’t have.  After all, we have to walk a step to do it.”

“Right, a step, that’s all it takes, and that’s all we were doing there,” Linae replied.

“No, I think we weren’t moving at all, we just thought we were,” Lynne said.

“Who cares how we could have gotten out, the point is we got out,” Benedict pointed out.

“That’s true, very true,” Linae said, “Now, how do we actually get in?”

“You don’t,” said a voice from behind them.  They all turned to see who had spoken and saw a man standing at the top of the steps.  He was dressed in a simple button down shirt and khaki pants.  His hair was slightly shaggy and  brown, with an equally shaggy beard.  He walked down the stairs with ease and soon reached the bottom.  “The museum is closed,” he told them.

“How did you do that?” Linae asked.  “How did you get down the stairs without getting caught in the loop?”

“It only works that way if you’re going up them,” the man told her.  “If you’re going down, they contract, and you reach the bottom faster than walking alone.”

“You said the museum is closed?” Lynne said, “When will it be open again?”

“It won’t be,” the man said.  “The museum is closed permanently.”

“What?!” Linae exclaimed.  “And after all we went through?!”

“Most people can figure out the stairs fairly quickly,” the man told her.  “I wouldn’t really consider it a huge ordeal.”

“And just who are you anyway?” Linae asked.

“Isn’t he the curator?” Lynne said.

“I am,” the man said, “and I am The Author.”

Chapter Thirteen: 

The Author Listens to Linae’s Tale and Makes A Proposition

“Really? Can you get us in?” Linae asked.

“Weren’t you paying attention?  The museum is closed,” the man told her again, “Just go home.”

“Well, if we can’t go in, can you at least tell us if there’s something in there?” Linae asked, her voice a little lighter than usual.

“There are lots of things in there,” the man said, dryly, “It’s a museum.  Just because it’s closed doesn’t mean any of the inventory has been removed.”

“So it’s just a storage bin now,” Lynne pointed out.

“In a manner of speaking,” the man agreed.

Linae squeezed her eyes shut in frustration for a moment, then put on a perky attitude.  “No, no, I meant is there something specific in there?”  She nearly clasped her hands together in fake glee, but felt that might hurt her more than help at the moment.  “Something that could help us with a really big job we have?”  She gave him the roundest-eyes, ‘please please please’ kind of look that she could muster up.

He looked at her warily, “What kind of job?” he asked.

“Well, you see, sir,” Linae began, “Through a variety of circumstances, this young lad’s,” she put her hand on Benedict’s shoulder, “friends were sent across dimensions, and my friend and I,” she indicated Lynne and herself, “haven’t the faintest idea of where to start in order to find them.”

“And why do you need to find them?” The Author asked them, bluntly.

“Because we’re the only ones who can,” Linae said, with a suddenly deeper, more determined voice than before.  She even made a fist to show her determination.

“Oh really, and what qualifies you over any others?” the man asked.

“Actually, when you put it that way, anyone at the agency could do it,” Lynne admitted.

“But it’s my client, and therefore I’m the only one who can do it,” Linae said.  With her claim to it questioned, she suddenly felt very possessive, though only a day ago, she would have gladly given it up.

“Maybe you should detail some of those circumstances you mentioned,” The Author said.  “I have all day, if need be.”  He lead them to a stone bench nearby, and they all took a seat.  “Perhaps we should have some introductions first,” he said.

“Certainly,” Linae told him, taking her claim to be first.  “My name is Linae Baker, and I’m a Walker for the Tulin-Walker Travel Agency.”

“I’m Lynne Zink, and I’m also a Walker at the Tulin-Walker Agency,” Lynne said.

“And don’t tell me you’re a ‘walker,’ too?” The Author said to Benedict.

“No,” Benedict said, looking at the man like he was crazy, “My name is Benedict, and I have nothing to do with the Tulin-Walker Agency at all.”

“Then what are you doing with these two, if I may ask?” The man said, grinning slightly.

“It all started a couple of days ago,” Benedict said, and related the same story he had told his parents and Lynne and Linae a few day ago.   He threw in a few new details, but still kept his complete involvement a secret.  “And the next thing I knew, I was in this weird place with all these creatures that were like nothing I had ever seen.  They grabbed me, took my clothes, and placed me in a box for the night.”

“And that’s where our part comes in,” Linae jumped in.  She had already heard Benedict’s story, so it was a little tedious for her to hear it again.  “It turned out that Benedict had ended up in our world, called Rearn in case you were wondering, and so a man from the company took him to the Tulin-Walker Travel Agency to get him back where he belonged.” 

She paused, and Lynne jumped in to ask the man, “Do you know what Walkers are?”

“Haven’t the foggiest,” the man said, although he didn’t sound as if he really cared, either.  

“Well, in the simplest terms, we can travel to different worlds without special equipment,” Linae explained, then got back to her story, detailing how they had first learned how to communicate with Benedict, and then gone back to his world.  She glossed over their time with Rumple’s Aunt Giana for the most part, and explained about the gargantuan task (her own words) that they now faced.  “You see, they could be in any of all the known worlds, or even in ones that we don’t even know about.  So we were hoping that you would have something we could use to maybe help us pinpoint the locations of the three others.”

“I see,” The Author said, stroking his beard thoughtfully.  “So you came here hoping I would first have something you could use to cut down on your own work, and secondly that I would actually give it to you.”

“It’s a long shot,” Linae admitted, “but we need all the help we can get.  I didn’t really think there was an actual Author,” she added, “I thought that was just a figurehead to tie the whole place together or something.”

“That is the usual story,” The Author told them.  “If the museum were still open, that would be true.”

“If you’re The Author, that means you’ve written a book?” Benedict asked.   Linae made a face at him that she hoped conveyed the level of stupidity she thought that question held, but the Author merely gave him a pat on the head.

“More than just one book, but yes, I am an actually author.”

For a moment, all was quiet, and a peacock walked past them, making its way regally across the courtyard.  The Author watched it pass with a small smile.

“So,” Linae said after a minute or so, “do you have anything in there that will help us or is this a lost cause?”

“In a manner of speaking, I do,” he said, and got up.  “Please wait here.”  And he walked to the wall by the stairs and pushed a switch hidden by some ivy.  A door opened, and he went through it, leaving them for the time being.

“I wonder how that works when the museum is actually open,” Lynne commented.

“Maybe someone stays down here who knows how to let people in,” Benedict suggested.

“Hm,” was all Linae said.  She wasn’t sure what to make of this man who called himself the Author.  But if he really did have something that could help them, then he was all right in her book.

It was a while before he came back again, and Linae and Lynne were both starting to wonder if he hadn’t decided to ditch them.  

“What if he never comes back?  Should we wait, or what?” Linae asked the others.

“He might come back.  And if he doesn’t, we know where the switch is, so we can go in there after him.”

“We should totally do that now!” Benedict said.  He was getting particularly tired of just sitting around.  “This story needs some action!”

“Well, maybe we should wait just a little more,” Lynne said, “He might get mad if we go after him.”

“He did tell us to wait here,” Linae pointed out, although she was starting to feel more and more like agreeing with Benedict and just going on in after him.  Either that, or making a break for it.  In the meantime, she sat back and enjoyed the most beautiful sunset she had ever seen, a veritable masterpiece of reds, blues, purples, and oranges that nearly took her breath away just to look at it.

“Sorry, that took a little longer than I thought,” came the Author’s voice from the wall.  The door opened and he walked out, holding a pendant in his hand.  “This is a magic jewel that will grant your desires,” he said.

“But it isn’t a jewel,” Lynne said.  

“It isn’t?” The Author looked at the pendant he was holding and nodded with acknowledgement.  “Ah, that was a different story.”  He was in fact holding a necklace with a very detailed pendant, full of intricate crossing wires, and with four beads set into it at seemingly random locations.  “This necklace is the one you need, though.”

“Do you really have a jewel that will grant your desires?” Linae asked.  That kind of thing would probably make their whole story go a lot faster.  She caught herself when she thought that.  Story? When did I start thinking about the situation like that?

“No, I do not,” The Author said.  “Such a thing is notoriously hard to hold onto, you know.  Whether you want to or not.”

“What will this necklace do?” Benedict asked.  He didn’t think that there was much a necklace could do if it couldn’t grant wishes, but after his experience on the stairs, he was willing to give it a chance.

“As it is, nothing,” The Author said, “In order for it to help you, I need to take it to a friend of mine.  Since you ladies can easily travel to different worlds, this shouldn’t be a problem for you, should it?”

“It depends on the world, but I would say no, it shouldn’t be a problem at all,” Linae replied. “What will it do when you take it to your friend?”

“If my friend is able to help us, then this necklace will be able to lead you to your missing children with little trouble.”

“What, really?” Linae exclaimed.  Even though that had been her express purpose in coming here, she hadn’t really believed they would find anything so easily.

“Where do we need to go, sir?” Lynne asked.

“To the Golden Kingdom of Losslieta,” The Author said, and Lynne and Linae nearly choked. 

“Losslieta?!” Linae nearly yelped, “You can’t be serious!”

“All walkers are forbidden to go there.  It isn’t safe at all,” Lynne said.

“That’s where we need to go if you want to use this,” The Author said.  “I’ve been there before, so I know I can survive at least.”

“But can we?” Linae wondered.  “Could you give us a moment?” she asked the Author.

“Take as much time as you’d like,” he said, affably, “I can wait all night if need be.”

Linae led Lynne a little way away and conferred with her quietly.  “I don’t know if we should trust him.  He could be sending us to Losslieta in order to get us out of his hair.”

“But why would he do something so obvious?” Lynne asked.

“What are you talking about?” Benedict came over and butted into their conversation.  “What’s wrong with Loss-whatever place?”

“It’s dangerous, that’s what’s wrong with it!” Linae exclaimed quietly.

“No walker has ever come back from there, and neither have the rescue walkers sent after them,” Lynne added.

“But he didn’t know what walkers were, so he probably didn’t know that,” Benedict pointed out.

“He said he didn’t know, that doesn’t mean he didn’t really not know,” Linae said.

“But if he’s telling the truth, then that means that he has been there before and come back,” Lynne said.

“If only we knew whether or not to trust him,” Linae said.  This man was an enigma, she honestly did not know whether to go with him or run far away.

“If only,” Lynne echoed.  Then a thought hit her, “We could know,” she said.

“Hm?” Linae looked up from her thoughts.

“I have a friend,” Lynne explained about her friend Rachel.

“Well, bring her in,” Linae said, not wanting to waste any time.  It was already getting late, after all.

“What, right now?” Lynne asked, “It’s a little late.”

“And it’s only going to get later,” Linae pointed out.

“Maybe we should go back and think it over while we sleep,” Benedict suggested.

“I really think that might be our best option right now,” Lynne said.

“Oh, you mean ‘sleep it over,’” Linae said to Benedict.  “I thought that sounded a little weird.  And I’d rather get this over with, if it’s all the same to you,” she said to Lynne.  “I mean, he’s already heard our case and agreed to help us.  If what we need to make the final decision is the okay from your friend, then go and get her.  She doesn’t have to stick around or anything, and I don’t mind pulling an all-nighter if that’s what it takes.  Besides, if she tells us not to go with him, then we can all go home and go to bed then.”

“I don’t know if it really works that way,” Lynne said.  “I really think we should come back tomorrow.”

“Look, how about we do shoot for it?” Linae suggested, “otherwise we’re just going to go round in circles.  You win, we’ll go home for the night, I win, you go get your friend.”

“I suppose,” Lynne said, seeing that Linae wasn’t going to back down.

“Okay, get ready,” Linae said, holding out her fist.  Lynne did the same.  “Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!”

Linae held out an open palm.  Lynne held out a closed fist.  “Paper beats rock, Lynne,” Linae said, wanting to cover up the other woman’s fist, like she did when she was a kid, but keeping this desire to herself.  It was enough that she had won out and Lynne had to follow her bidding.

“Okay,” Lynne said, putting her hand away.  “I’ll be back soon,” she said, and walked away from them.

Chapter Fourteen:

Rachel is Brought into Things by Linae Through Lynne and a Secret is Revealed

“I haven’t seen you this often since I don’t know when,” Rachel said.  She was already standing at the door when Lynne showed up again.

“I have a quick favor to ask you,” Lynne said.

“Well, come in and tell me about it,” Rachel said.  Lynne noticed that she was in her pink bathrobe again, but she didn’t seem to have her pajamas on under it.  She sat on the couch next to her friend and told her all about what they had discovered about the missing children being in different worlds, and the ordeal they’d gone through at the museum, and they strange man who called himself The Author and the proposition he offered them.

“If he’s really been to Losslieta, then we have no reason to worry,” Lynne said, although she wasn’t one hundred percent certain of that either, “But if not, and he’s just trying to lead us into a trap…”

“That does sound like a problem,” Rachel said, after listening to all her friend had to say, “But I don’t really see what I have to do with it.”

“Well, we were hoping that you’d be able to tell us what to do, since you have, you know,” Lynne suddenly realized how presumptuous it was to ask Rachel to drop what she was doing and tell them whether they should trust The Author or not.  “But if you don’t want to, that’s perfectly fine,” she said, trying to backpedal a little, “I mean, we’ll just figure something out on our own.”

“No, I don’t mind,” Rachel said.  For inside of her, she knew that she had to go with Lynne.  “Just let me grab a few things, and I’ll be ready to go with you.”

Lynne waited, wondering what her friend was up to, but figured it was better not to ask, or worry about it.  She trusted that Rachel knew what she was doing, especially since that was the exact reason she had come to see her tonight.  Soon Rachel reemerged from the back room of her house, her bathrobe shed and a crocheted messenger bag slung over her shoulder.  “All right, let’s go, then,” she said.

“Okay,” Lynne said, “Take my hand, and when I say ‘three,’ take a step forward with me.”

“You got it,” Rachel said, putting her hand in Lynne’s.  

“One, two, three,” Lynne counted, and then the two of them walked back to the museum courtyard.  

The Author applauded their return.  “Bravo,” he told Lynne, “Lovely to see that in action.”

“Is that?” Rachel asked, pointing surreptitiously at The Author.

“Uh huh,” Lynne replied just as surreptitiously. 

“I can see why you wouldn’t want to trust him,” Rachel told her, then she addressed The Author.  “Hello, my name is Rachel X. Wright.  I understand you can help my friends here?”

“That is correct,” the man told her, “And you may call me The Author, if you wish.”

“What if I want to call you something different?” Rachel asked.

“You may do that, too, if that’s what you want.”

“But what if I have to warn you that something is coming at you and about to hit your head, or a monster is sneaking up behind you and will eat you if I don’t warn you in time?  What would I yell to get your attention?”

“In the first case, ‘duck’ would be sufficient, and in the second one, a simple ‘look out’ would do the job.”

“But then you would look and the monster would just get you even faster.  And how would I lament your death then?”

“Is something wrong with her?” Linae asked Lynne.

“I think she has a plan,” Lynne replied.  She wasn’t entirely sure herself.

“You could set a tombstone on the place where I fell,“ The Author told Rachel, “and write on it ‘here lies The Author -- he died as he lived.’”

“You live being chased by monsters?” Benedict interrupted the conversation.

“Not all the time,” The Author admitted, “but it has happened in the past, so it would be a true enough statement.  Besides, I’ve always wanted that on my tombstone.”

“I’ve never thought about what I want on my tombstone,” Rachel said, “You must think about dying a lot.”

“On occasion,” he told her, “when one’s life is threatened, it tends to become a rather pressing matter.”

“Who threatened you?” Benedict asked.  

“How is this getting us anywhere?” Linae griped, but no one paid any attention to her except for Lynne, who put her finger to her lips and shushed her.

“Let’s see how this plays out,” she said quietly.

“Fine, but if this goes on for more than ten minutes, I’m going to bust into there, I swear it.”

“For the whole story, see my published work, particularly The Rat Basin of Geraboum and Hey Hortitia.”  The Author told them.

“Oh, I’d love to read them.  Where can I get a copy?” Rachel asked, eagerly.

“Any of the bookstores around here carry my work, of course, but you can also check the local libraries,” he said, trying a little too hard to be modest.

“Oh, but I don’t know if I have the currency used here,” she told him, “And it would take too long to register for a library card.”

“The Museum gift shop also carries a few of my titles, although not those particular volumes.”

“How many titles have you written?” Rachel asked.

“Oh, thousands,” he said, waving his hand dismissively.  “Titles are easy.  It’s the stories that go with them that’s hard.”  And he and Rachel laughed lightly at the bad joke.

“That does it,” Linae said, “I’m not going to stand here while these two banter themselves into a coma.”  She walked over and forcefully introduced herself to Rachel.  “Good evening, Rachel, I’m Lynne’s co-worker, Linae Banks.  It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Rachel replied.

“I was wondering if you could perhaps get a move on?” Linae asked.  In her mind, the time for tact had passed.

“An excellent suggestion,” The Author said, pushing Linae and Rachel back a little bit.  “You all really should be getting home.”

“Wha?  But I thought-” Linae began.

“Yes, I know, but as they say, ‘he (or in this case, she) who hesitates is lost.’  The time for action has passed.”

“We can just come back tomorrow, right?” Lynne said to Linae.  

“I guess so,” Linae said, but couldn’t help feeling disappointed.  “Bring your friend back to our world so we can talk,” she whispered to Lynne.

“No, when the time for action passes, it doesn’t just come back again the next day,” The Author said.  

“Says who?” Rachel asked.

“I do,” the man replied, “I am The Author, after all.”

“So just like that, you’re not going to help us now?” Linae asked, feeling a slow burn of rage starting to form.  “Answer carefully, Mr. Author,” she thought, “your next response may just be your last.”

“But I came here,” Rachel knew she had to say something, even if it didn’t make sense to her, “just so I could see the fairies.”

The Author, Lynne, and Linae all whipped around suddenly to look at her.  “Who said anything about fairies?” Lynne and Linae asked.

“What fairies?” Benedict asked, glad for a chance to get back in the conversation.

“Didn’t he mention them?” Rachel said, pointing at the author.

“I never said anything of the sort,” The Author told her.  But it was too late, the damage had been done.

Lynne and Linae conferred together.  “So there are fairies in Losslieta?” Lynne said, “That explains why no one has come back.”

“But if he’s been there before, he must have come back.  So what does he know that no one else does?”

“Sir, I want to see the fairies, too,” Benedict said to the Author, giving him his most innocent look.  He really did want to see fairies, mostly because he didn’t have any idea of what they were.

“Then perhaps you should have persuaded your friends to act a bit more swiftly,” The Author told him curtly.

“This makes no sense,” Linae said, a little louder than she meant to.  “First he was all gung-ho to help us…”

“I don’t think he was ever that enthusiastic, actually,” Lynne pointed out, but Linae just continued.

“And now suddenly he’s kicking us out and turning us away!”

“Aren’t those the same thing?” Lynne asked.

“Does it matter?  The point is, if we leave now, we may never get this chance again, and seeing as your friend there hasn’t run away screaming, I’d say there’s a good chance that things will work out in Losslieta.”

“She has a point,” Rachel said to the Author, “This doesn’t make sense.  I mean, first you take the time to listen to their backstories, and then you offer to help them, but then you…. banter with me…” She realized that she was starting to put things in a rather odd light, and faltered.

“Isn’t a fellow allowed to change his mind?” The Author asked simply.

“It may be a woman’s prerogative to change her mind,” Rachel started to say, when something suddenly clicked in her mind.  “Wait a minute…”

“I wouldn’t exactly say we were giving him our backstories,” Linae pointed out now that there was a bit of a lull in the conversation.  “More like we were filling him in on exposition.”

“Exactly,” Rachel said, “But why did you put it like that?”

“Like what?” Lynne and Linae asked.

“There’s something really weird about this place,” Rachel said.  “And there’s something strange about you, Mr. Author Who Cannot Be Named!” She pointed at The Author in a classic accusing pose.  “I think the reason you’re suddenly reneging on your offer is that you don’t think we’ll make very good characters for your next story!”

“WHAT?!” Lynne, Linae, and Benedict exclaimed, although Benedict mainly said it because he didn’t know what Rachel was saying, only that it was apparently dramatic.

“This so-called author uses his reputation and this museum to draw in people who go on interesting adventures, then writes up their exploits as fiction for his repetoire!” Rachel revealed with a cocky grin.

“To a degree, you are correct,” The Author told them.  “Although that is not the reason why I’m trying to get you all to leave.”

“Wait, wait,” Benedict said, for he had just realized something rather important.  “How come I can understand him, but I can’t understand her?” He said, pointing in turn to The Author and then Rachel.

“Probably the same reason we started talking in strange terms,” Lynne told him.

“I can explain this whole situation to you, if you just come inside,” The Author said.  He walked over to the wall by the stairs again and pushed a hidden switch, activating a different door.  But none of the others moved.  “You don’t trust me,” he stated.  He did not look hurt.  “I can understand your trepidation, but you should know one thing, everything I will tell you in the upcoming scene will be completely true.”

“We should go with him,” Rachel told the others.

“If you think we should, then I’ll go,” Lynne said, and the two women headed for the door.

For some reason, this was good enough for Linae, and she also went toward the door.  “Well, if she’s going, I should go, too,” she said to Benedict.

Benedict followed her, and The Author hit another switch once he was inside.  The door closed behind him, leaving them all in a dark passageway.

“You fools!  You should have run while you had the chance!” The Author cried, and then he laughed like a maniac.  After a moment, he stopped, and cleared his throat.  “Sorry,” he said, “That was just a joke.”

“You’re not very good at this, are you?” Linae asked.

“Do you have a flashlight?” Lynne also asked.  “It’s too dark to see anything in here.”

“Can’t even have a little fun,” The Author grumbled, and flipped the light switch.  They were in a simple stone passageway.  “Just walk forward and you’ll get to the front room.  We’ll talk more there.”

“Do you really think we can trust this guy?” Linae whispered to Lynne.

“If Rachel says so, then I think yes,” Lynne said, “But I have a feeling we’re going to be wondering that a lot…”

Soon they were all situated in the front room, which was a nice if nondescript room with a loveseat and two armchairs.  Once everyone was seated, The Author began his explanation.

“You have to understand, I have been a writer for a very long time.  Since I was a child, really.  And like most children, I made a foolish wish.  Unlike most children, my wish was actually granted.  It was all years ago, but I remember it as if it were this morning….”