Out of This World (6 page)

“Nothing you can do will deter it,” said Hirth. “Believe me, anything you could possibly try has been tried before. It’s harmless to us, but I infected you with it exactly five minutes ago, when Wyland here was being far more friendly to you than you deserve.” He glared crossly at his companion once again.

“The infection begins on the ankles,” continued Hirth. “But it will spread. In exactly—” he glanced at his watch, “and I do mean exactly—forty-nine minutes, the fungus will complete the first phase of its growth. At that time it will send tendrils down into the ground, growing from your ankles at the rate of several inches every few seconds. The tendrils can penetrate anything, so it will not help you to be standing on concrete. If you have not stepped through one of the portals, forty-nine minutes from now, the fungus will anchor you to the ground and then gradually wrap around your entire body.”

Jenna and Zachary’s faces curled up in horror.

“You will remain the unwanted guests of this world,” continued the man with disdain. “Permanently.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Escape Route

The two humans shrank back in revulsion. What a horrible, horrible way to go.

As if reading their thoughts, Hirth continued. “It won’t kill you, that’s the worst part. It feeds off energy produced by your bodies. It will keep you alive for a long, long time, exposing us to your repulsiveness all the while.”

Zachary gulped. “What happens to the fungus if we reach a portal before it, ah . . . roots?”

“Nothing happens to it if you
reach
a portal before then. If you go
through
a portal before then and leave Orum, it will die instantly and you will suffer no after effects.”

“Why would you do this to us?” demanded Jenna in horror.

“I want you off Orum as soon as possible,” replied Hirth. “And yet you seemed to be in no hurry to get anywhere. I believe that you will now be more . . . motivated . . . to leave.”

“No kidding,” snapped Zachary bitterly. “So tell us how to get to the portal. We choose the one that will get us to our parents faster.”

“Follow me,” said Hirth, and without another look behind him made his way to the car he had been driving, while the kids and Wyland followed.

“You don’t have time to make it to a portal on foot,” said Hirth. He gestured to the car. “So take this ground vehicle we were using. The citizens of Orum all share the few vehicles we have, since nobody really needs one.”

“Why don’t you need them?” said Jenna. “What? Are you saying that you can just, you know . . . magically . . . travel wherever you want?”

“That is correct,” said Hirth.

“
Right
,” said Zachary skeptically. “Then why don’t you just transport us to the portal now and save some time?”

“Because you’re uninvited visitors to our world. You’re lucky I’m letting you use the ground vehicle.”

“If you don’t need them,” said Jenna. “Why do you
have
them?”

“Using magic too often can be tiring,” replied Wyland. “So we don’t use it for everything. We have imbued some devices, like ground vehicles, with magic crystals, so we don’t have to always make efforts of our own. For many trips, a ground vehicle works just fine.”

Sure it does
, thought Zachary in disbelief, but he decided not to challenge them any further. “Okay. Whatever you say.” He shook his head. “But here’s the problem. Jenna and I haven’t learned how to drive yet.”

“Don’t be stupid,” snapped Hirth. “This ground vehicle responds to verbal commands from whoever is inside. Just tell it what you want it to do and always stay in the right lane.”

Zachary raised his eyebrows but said nothing. He quickly opened the door and settled into the driver's seat while Jenna sat beside him.

Zachary cleared his throat. “Lower window,” he said tentatively, wondering if Hirth was trying to make a fool of him, but the car carried out his command immediately.

He nodded approvingly at the transparent man through the open window. Hirth was still repulsive, but Zachary could now look at him for long periods of time without looking away. And while Wyland looked almost exactly like Hirth, his more friendly nature somehow made his appearance slightly easier to take.

“Okay. Direct us to the portal,” said Zachary. He was going to add, “and we'll get out of your hair,” when he decided not to. Hirth would just tell him that they were never
in
his hair.

Hirth came forward, shoved a pad of paper and a pen into Zachary's hand, and then quickly retreated to a tolerable distance once again. “Write this down,” he ordered. “Continue on the road you’re now on. Six miles from here it will branch into five different roads, numbered one through five. At the branch point you’ll find a wooden beam, sticking out from a booth. The beam is twenty yards due west of an old-fashioned well, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it. On this wooden beam you’ll find a ping-pong ball.”

“Did you say a ping-pong ball?” said Jenna in disbelief.

“Yes I did. You really should pay closer attention,” scolded Hirth once again. “Where was I? Oh yes. Inside the ball you’ll find a small piece of paper with the number of the road you’ll need to take.”

“Why don’t you just tell us the road we need to take
now
?” asked Jenna from the passenger’s seat. Directions inside a ping-pong ball? It reminded her of a fortune cookie. It seemed more than just a little odd.

“Because the local portal appears in one of five locations each day, but we never know which one. Once we know, this information is imbedded in the ball, which is then placed on the wooden beam—using magic, of course. That’s just how it’s done. Since your imagination is too limited to even
use
magic, I would suggest not spending time criticizing how we do things here. I don’t
have
to be this nice,” he finished.

This nice?
thought Jenna. Was he kidding?

But of course he wasn’t, she realized. He wasn’t the type to
ever
kid—about anything.

“Yeah,” she said sarcastically. “You’ve been
super
friendly. I’ve never met anyone with a bigger, um— ” she hesitated and made a show of staring at the throbbing organ beating away inside Hirth’s chest. “Heart,” she finished.

“Should I go on or do you want to waste more time asking questions?”

“Go on, go on,” said Jenna unhappily.

“One of the five roads has a very low bridge—an overpass—running over it that is too low for this vehicle to pass beneath. If this happens to be the road to which the ball directs you, lower the vehicle’s airplane and continue.”

The vehicle's airplane? Both listeners were confused but knew better than to interrupt. Not with the fungus growing stronger every second. Zachary continued scribbling everything the man said furiously on the pad.

“Whichever of the five roads the message in the ball directs you to, the portal will be inside a building you’ll find on the right side of the road, eight miles from the branch-point. The door responds to verbal commands, just like the ground vehicle. When you have said today's correct passwords the door will open automatically. The passwords needed to enter the building are the four words you can make, without any rearrangements, from the letters that you find in there.”

Hirth stopped abruptly. “That’s all. Now get going and get off our world. This has been most unpleasant.”

“But wait," said Zachary, totally confused about the passwords. “I don't understand what you mean by— ”

“I said that’s all!” interrupted Hirth with finality. “I’ve told you everything you need to know.” He handed Zachary a watch. “You now have forty-two minutes,” he announced. “Now leave!”

 Zachary pulled up his pant leg and noted uneasily that the fungus had been making obvious progress even in the short time since he had last looked. He took a deep breath. “Before we go, can you tell us what happened to our parents? What this is all about?”

Hirth blinked in disbelief. “Have I failed to make myself understood? Even if you leave immediately you’ll be fortunate to escape Orum in time. You can’t afford to waste a single second.”

“Since we’re the ones infected, why don’t you let us worry about that,” insisted Zachary. His parents had reported failing to learn what was happening to them. If he and his sister were to have any chance of staying alive and rescuing them, they would have to learn exactly what they were up against, no matter what the cost.

 “Look,” said Zachary. “
You
want us off your world and
we
want us off your world. So tell us what you know really fast and we’ll leave. Everyone will be happy.”

Hirth folded his arms against his repulsive chest with an expression that made it clear he would not say a single additional word to the two humans.

“We really can’t help you,” said Wyland, and unlike the bitter tone of his taller companion, his tone was almost apologetic. “But I can tell you this: your parents are still alive. And there is a small chance you can find them. And finally, there is an explanation for all of this.”

“Once again, Wyland,” snapped Hirth, “You are wasting time. These beings are far too stupid and unimaginative to have any hope of finding their parents.”

Zachary’s hands balled up into fists. Hirth thought he was
so
superior. It was
maddening
. Hirth was so . . . arrogant. Was this how Zachary came across to others? It was a troubling thought. No, he decided. He may have been confident, but he was friendly and cheerful most of the time. This Hirth was rude and unpleasant at all times.

“We’ll see who is stupid and unimaginative!” hissed Zachary, unable to contain his rage any longer. “If there is a way to find them, we’ll figure it out,” he insisted. “I promise you that.”

“No,” said Hirth. “You will flunk miserably.” He turned to Wyland. “Let’s go,” he said.

Zachary still wasn’t ready to give up. Why wouldn’t the man tell them what he knew? Or let Wyland tell them? What was the big secret? Their parents had obviously run into the same problem, having talked to numerous aliens, most likely with the help of a language transformer, without getting any answers. “Can you at least tell us—”

“Enough!” barked Hirth. “This conversation is over.” With that, he turned and strode briskly away, pulling his reluctant companion with him.

Zachary’s face turned red with fury but he knew they would get nothing further from this man and they couldn’t afford to waste another second. “Go forward along this road as fast as possible,” he said quickly to the car. It immediately began moving forward. Driving a voice-controlled car would have been very cool if not for the horrible circumstances they were in.

“Do you know what I liked about Hirth?” asked Jenna.

Zachary shook his head. “No, what?”

“Absolutely nothing,” she said impishly. “He was pretty much a complete and total jerk.”

Zachary smiled. At least Jenna had kept her sense of humor, despite being infected with a fungus that would soon root them in the ground of this world forever.

After driving for a few minutes they saw a sharp bend in the road ahead. “Reduce speed to thirty miles per hour,” said Zachary hurriedly, knowing they’d never make the turn at their current speed. The car began slowing immediately.

The road beyond the bend was hidden from view by a large farmhouse. As they approached the bend another car shot around it from the opposite direction and came into view.

The car was in their lane.
 
And it was headed straight for them.

Zachary and Jenna had only an instant to brace themselves for a bone-crushing impact they could do nothing to avoid.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Hole in One

With an ear-piercing screech of its tires the oncoming car swerved violently to their left, avoiding a head-on collision by mere centimeters and shattering their side mirror as it whistled by.

“Stupid Hog!” shouted the transparent driver to Zachary through an open window as he passed.

Zachary's blood boiled in rage. This reckless driver had been in
his
lane, not the other way around. This maniac had almost killed them all by not controlling his car and he had the nerve to call
Zachary
a stupid hog.

Zachary had had more than enough of these transparent people. He stuck his head out of the window. But just as he opened his mouth to yell, “Reckless idiot!” at the other driver at the top of his lungs, he heard Jenna beside him yell, “
Immediate stop!
” as loudly as she could.

The car slammed on its breaks to carry out Jenna’s order and both passengers were thrown into their seatbelts and shoulder restraints with great force.

And not a moment too soon.

As they rounded the bend a massive hog, the size of a large hippo, appeared in front of them, completely blocking the road. It was just as transparent—and disgusting—as the men they had met. But as hard as the car was braking they were still traveling too fast.

The car continued screeching to a halt, so close now that the monstrous pig filled up the entire windshield.

And then, miraculously, the car stopped. Just inches from the gigantic hog.

The disgustingly transparent animal considered them, bored, gave them a snort, and then lazily continued on its way across the street.

If Jenna hadn't called a stop when she did they would have definitely crashed into the massive pig, possibly killing them, certainly destroying the car and any chance they had to leave this world before falling victim to the Anchor Fungus.

“How did you know to stop the car?” said Zachary, his heart still racing madly.

“Well,” said Jenna, “the people here are very literal, right? So when the driver yelled out,
stupid hog
, I realized he wasn’t trying to insult you. He was trying to
warn
you. Warn you that a
stupid hog
had wandered into the road. That's why the driver was in our lane—he had to swerve to avoid the hog.”