The Genie and the Engineer 3: Ravages of War (25 page)

Unknown location

Unknown time

F
loating
weightlessly. Darkness everywhere. Those were the first things that commanded
his attention. And an overwhelming sense of disorientation, of being lost in a
vast nothingness.

The roar of the wind was gone. Paul noticed that as well. No
more rain either.

But there was the scream of an Oni.

With a twinge of fear, Paul raised his shields with one
spell, asserted a gravity field with another, and then enhanced his vision, the
better to see things around him. Even then, it was difficult to see anything,
mostly just shadows and vague shapes against a deeper darkness. Paul didn’t
dare create any light, lest he become an instant target of the Oni that was
somewhere in his vicinity.

There to his left, a shape spinning helplessly, another
spine-tingling roar of anger, fear, and aggression. Concentrating hard, Paul
cast another spell to render the Oni unconscious. And surprisingly, this time
it worked instantly, the form of the Oni ceasing to struggle against its
weightlessness, slowly cart-wheeling away.

And, without warning, there was light all around him.

“Dad? Are you okay?” Arcee 77 asked anxiously, a small ball
of intense light parked next to her.

Paul wiggled his arms, legs, fingers and toes. “Yes, I think
so,” he replied but inwardly suppressing his feelings of disorientation and loss.
“What is this place?” he asked indignantly.

More light appeared in different directions, allowing him to
see the strangest sight he had ever laid eyes on.

Hundreds of Scotties, all floating weightlessly—in a vast
space of nothingness.

Paul looked around, in several directions, his level of
confusion actually becoming even more acute. The background was the same
everywhere. A darkness that the light seemingly didn’t penetrate. With a spell,
Paul created a strong beam of light in his right hand to aim into the distance.
And saw nothing. It was as if there was nothing there to be seen, nothing at
all in this whole area of existence that could be seen, nothing except himself
and the Scotties around him. And nothing to give reference to the distances
involved.

It was like being in a vast cave where the walls were too
far away and could not even be glimpsed. For that matter, neither could the
floor or the ceiling. Indeed, it felt creepy that his personal spell of gravity
gave him an “up” and a “down”, but his feet were still searching for solid
ground beneath him.

“Dad, where are we?” Arcee 77 moaned.

That was an extremely good question.

“I wish I knew,” Paul replied honestly but with a wince.
“There is air here to breath. The temperature seems a little cool but otherwise
pleasant. But there is no gravity. How very strange.”

“This can’t be anywhere on Earth,” Arcee 77 concluded, fear
evident in her voice. “Not without gravity. Nor can we be in deep space since
there is air here.”

“Perhaps another dimension?” Andy 444 (from the TV series
Eureka
)
asked warily, floating a little closer to Paul.

“I don’t know,” Paul replied to the Scottie. “What was the
last thing you saw before you arrived here—wherever here is? Show me.”

A six foot wide by three foot tall display appeared in the
air in front of Paul. Scenes of the battle flashed across the screen, followed
by the sight of a huge portal snapping open, a total blackness visible through
its breach.

Then, nothing.

“That is what I saw too,” Paul admitted candidly. “Arcee 77,
please perform a roll call of everyone here. Find out if there are any injured
Scotties and see to their needs. After that, ask everyone what they saw just
before they came here. See if they can add any details to what you and I saw.”

“Okay, Dad,” the Scottie acknowledged briskly and then moved
off.

The vast nothingness beyond their group continued to disturb
him. So the wizards of
Errabêlu
had used a portal to transport them
someplace. But where? No place that Paul had ever heard of.

He reached out with both hands and attempted to create a
small portal, one leading back to the Manassas Regional Airport. The air in
front of him sputtered, the silver ring of a portal trying to form. But the
entire portal broke into a thousand tiny pieces and vaporized. He tried again,
with more power behind it, but the result wasn’t any different.

So. Wherever they were, they could not portal back to
Virginia.

Paul tried again, this time to different locations around
Earth. Potsdam, Moscow, Algiers, California, and Flint Island. Paul even tried
a portal to the Moon and one to Mars. The results were all the same. The
portals refused to form.

The panic threatened to return. They were trapped. He
thought of the other groups of Scotties, such as Jarvis 186 and I Corps that
had gone missing. And yes, even Bishop 911 and his platoon. Had they all been
portaled to someplace like this? Perhaps even this same place, just a little
farther out there somewhere, beyond their immediate vicinity?

Memories of various science fiction stories, films, and TV
programs came back to him. Were they in subspace? Hyperspace? Or some sort of
parallel universe? Or maybe some new dimension of space-time in their own
universe? How had the wizards of
Errabêlu
transported them here and,
more importantly, how could Paul and his Scotties escape?

The words of the wizard in Moscow, Dusha, came back to him.

Well, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you how bad it
could be. Trust me; you don’t want to find out. Surrendering now is your best
option…

Paul felt like screaming in rage. Yes, perhaps this was what
she had meant. This place certainly fit that description.

“Dad,” Arcee 77 came floating back. “There are 567 Scotties
here. And you are right, some of them are injured, seventeen of them badly so.
And there are a few others that are unconscious. I’ve set up teams to help them
as much as possible, but without supplies or special tooling, we will probably
lose some of them.”

Paul took a deep breath. “Please do what you can.”

“Sir, several of the Scotties tell me that they have tried
to portal out of here. They can’t get a stable portal to form.”

“Neither could I,” Paul openly admitted. “Arcee, ask for a
few volunteers. Send them out in various directions. Let’s see what is out
there around us. Perhaps we will find other groups of Scotties that were
snapped up by portals.”

“Good idea,” Arcee 77 said approvingly. “Six volunteers then,
one in each direction. How far out should I send them?”

“Tell them to take no chances. If they see anything, they
are to report back immediately. Anything that looks dangerous and they are to
come right back here immediately.”

“Yes, Dad.”

“Merlin?” Paul said, in a half whisper. “Are you here?”

The familiar form of Merlin appeared, this time dressed in
his purple robe and his purple pointy wizard hat, the one adorned with yellow
stars.

“Merlin, we’ve got a problem,” Paul explained to him.

“But of course!” the hologram replied, glancing around. “My,
my, my! You are in a pickle this time, are you not?”

“I don’t suppose you could tell us where we are?” Paul asked
optimistically.

“Hmm, sorry, but I don’t recognize the place. Having said
that, hmm, it does seem vaguely familiar. Something I once read or maybe
something someone told me about once.” The ancient wizard shook his head.
“Sorry, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

Arcee 77 returned. “Just about everybody volunteered, Dad,
even some of the injured. I selected six uninjured volunteers and sent them
out, each in a different direction.”

“Please keep me informed,” Paul asked of her. Where the
devil were they? Paul turned back to Merlin.

“It’s not Earth or any other planet,” he logically pointed
out to the sage. “And it isn’t outer space. Are there any magical places like
this? Some place in the mythology of magic or fantasy that fits the
description?”

Merlin shook his head. “Sorry. Nothing that comes to mind.”

“Sir!” Arcee 77 exclaimed in alarm. “I’ve just heard from
Tima 333,” (the anime film
Metropolis
, 2001) “and Leela 555,” (TV series
Futurama
) “two of our volunteers! They can see each other in the
distance, sir! And they started out in opposite directions!”

Paul flinched in surprise. “You mean…?”

“I’m getting reports from Robby 747 and Andy 444 as well,”
Gort continued. “They can see each other too! And they went off in opposite
directions as well!”

“Ah! A closed space!” Merlin cackled. “What do you call it
in this century? Yes, a pocket universe! That’s it! Yes, that makes complete
sense now! A pocket universe!”

Paul was too stunned to say anything, too taken off guard to
know even what to think let alone to say.

“But how…?” Arcee 77 asked, bewildered.

Merlin slapped a knee, a huge grin on his face. “By George,
they did it! They honestly did it!”

“Did what?” Paul finally was able to ask.

“You came through a portal, didn’t you?” asked Merlin, his
face all lit up.

“Yes, we did,” a puzzled Paul confirmed.

“There’s your answer!” the old wizard boomed, throwing his arms
wide as if to imply that the whole situation was self-explanatory.

“Merlin!” Paul said, in exasperation.

“Okay, okay, I’ll explain,” the other said, chuckling. “It’s
one of those magical questions that we young wizards used to debate, back in
our heyday. Like how many angels can you get to dance on the head of a pin?
Well, this question was a little more intricate. Suppose you open a portal from
Point A to Point B. Then you open a second portal, from very close to Point B—say
a tenth of an inch from Point B—to Point C. Now, open a third portal, from a
tiny distance from Point C back to a tenth of an inch from Point A. Now, what
do you have?”

Paul blinked in surprise, the idea having never occurred to
him before. “A ring of portals?” he asked. “Could that be done?”

“Why not?” asked Merlin, grinning broadly. “I myself tried
doing it a time or two. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of magical energy to
convolute space in that fashion. It sort of resists being twisted that way.
And, to make a pocket universe, it must be self-sustaining, at least for an
hour or more. That takes a great deal more energy. In my day, we couldn’t get
it to work, not even with small portals. But these wizards of
Errabêlu
seem to have it figured out! And on a large scale too! Large enough to capture
several hundred of your Scotties!”

Paul’s head roared with the concept. A ring of portals? All
positioned tightly together? His confusion factor went up yet again.

“That doesn’t make sense!” he objected loudly. “If it is a closed
ring, how did they put us inside the ring?”

Merlin shook his head at him. “It wasn’t closed—not until
after
they put you inside. Then they formed the last portal to close the ring.”

Paul put his hands to his temples to try to lessen the
headache developing there. “Merlin, three portals that close together—we would
be coming out the last one before they could seal the ring closed!”

“You are thinking too small,” Merlin countered. “True,
portal transport is nearly instantaneous. But if the 2nd portal is a fraction
of an inch beyond the first, that introduces a time delay in transit, perhaps a
few milliseconds long.”

“A few milliseconds?” Paul asked. And then it hit him. If
one transition from the first portal to the second could delay a transport by
milliseconds, what would it take to delay total transport through the entire
ring by several seconds?

“It’s a ring of thousands of portals,” Paul breathed in
disbelief. “But the energy required—”

“Would be enormous,” Merlin finished for him. “I am almost
positive that I said that already.
Errabêlu
would need a lot of very
powerful talismans or one really huge talisman.”

“The Earth’s upper mantle,” Paul said, dropping the last
piece of the puzzle into place. “Of course, that explains the tornadoes, the
hailstones and the earthquakes! Zounds! The energy required!” He glanced around
the entire location. “And the air?”

“Was trapped with you when you entered the portal,” Merlin
added. “And, strictly speaking, this pocket universe is not completely sealed.
There are the gaps between portals. That will let in a little light and air,
although probably not much.”

Paul frowned. “Then why does it not let in gravity too?”

“Sir?” Rachael 222 (1982,
Blade Runner
) asked,
floating a few yards away.

Paul noticed then that their discussion had drawn the
attention of most of the Scotties.

“You have a question, Rachael?” Paul asked.

“If Merlin’s hypothesis is correct, is there any reason it
has to be a ring of portals?”

Paul blinked. “Huh? What do you mean?”

“We have created multi-ended portals before, Dad,” she
pointed out. “Theoretically, you could create a whole series of Y portals and
link them together in several geometric forms. Or X portals, for that matter.”

“Oh!” reacted Tima 333. “Like a cube?”

“Or a triangular prism?” asked Andy 444.

“Or perhaps a decahedron, or a dodecahedron, or a—”
volunteered Leela 555.

Paul held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, everybody, we
get the idea.” He turned to Rachael. “What does that have to do with gravity?”

“Well, Dad, if we are in some incredibly complex polyhedron,
then the direction of gravity would be dependent on which portal leg of the
geometric form we are moving through. And if we are moving among a lot of
different legs of the geometric form—”

“Then all the various vectors of gravity would cancel out,
leaving us weightless,” Paul concluded, noting with admiration how simple the
answer was, as soon as it was explained to him. “Very good, Rachael 222.”