D. MacHale - The Reality Bug

I had run out of breath and Zetlin was about to take over, when the quig stopped hollering. That’s because it was changing. Through the doorway we watched in horror as the quig’s head began to grow and squirm and change shape. The fur disappeared and it once again became the slick, black color it began with. Zetlin took a deep breath, but I put a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t bother,” I said. “It’s not a quig anymore.”

The shape of the head flattened out. The black, oily skin took on a new texture that looked like scales. The eyes changed from having the round pupils of a quig, to the vertical pupils of a snake. I hate snakes. Suddenly a pink tongue flicked into the room. It had to be three feet long.

The Reality Bug had changed itself into a snake, and snakes weren’t bothered by whistles.

“The elevator!” Loor exclaimed.

We all ran to the door that led to the blue elevator. Zetlin pulled, but it didn’t open. “It’s not here,” he announced with dread. “The players must have taken it.”

I glanced over my shoulder and immediately wished I hadn’t. What I saw made my stomach dance. The snake’s head was too wide to fit through the doorway, but that didn’t stop it. It simply turned sideways and slipped through. I stared in awe as this giant black snake slithered onto the court. Its eyes were focused on us as the rest of its long body slid in.

“Can we get the elevator here? Like soon?” I asked, trying not to sound like I was about to panic, which I was.

“It’s coming,” Zetlin answered.

“So is the snake,” Loor said.

The mutant snake slid to the center of the court and stopped. At least its head stopped. The rest of its snaky body kept coming.

“It is coiling,” Loor announced.

As the long body slid through the door, its head rose as it formed a coil. That was bad. When snakes coil, they strike. “How much longer?” I asked. “Almost here,” Zetlin answered. “Almost might be too late.”

The snake must have been twenty feet long, the body four feet thick. It was now in a perfect coil. Perfect for striking. It dropped its jaw and hissed, revealing a couple of nasty-looking fangs that had to be a foot long.

“Dr. Zetlin?” I urged.

“It’s here!” he exclaimed, and pulled the door open. That’s when the snake pulled its head back, opened its jaws, and struck.

(CONTINUED)

We dove into the small, blue elevator and I quickly pulled the door behind us. At that exact instant the snake hit with such a force that it slammed the door shut the rest of the way, knocking me into Loor and Zetlin. “Look!” Zetlin shouted.

Imbedded in the door, having cut clean through, were two snake fangs. A second later a stream of liquid shot from each of the huge teeth.

Venom.

We all scrambled to the side of the elevator to get out of the way. Zetlin’s hand was splashed with the poison and he screamed in pain.

“Get us out of here!” I shouted at Loor.

She reached for the control buttons. I don’t think she knew which was the right one, but it didn’t matter so long as we got moving. The elevator lurched and we were on our way. The fangs didn’t move, though. The snake was hitching a ride. Luckily the flow of venom had stopped. It must have shot out all that it had.

“We’re moving sideways,” I announced. “Why aren’t we going down?”

“Because the Barbican is horizontal,” Zetlin winced through his pain. “All the floors are on the same level.” Oh, right. I’d forgotten.

Loor took Zetlin’s hand and wiped away the venom with her sleeve. I saw that the poison had left a nasty-looking red slash on the back of his hand.

“I’m fine,” Zetlin said.

“How do we get out of here?” I asked, deciding to save my sympathy until after we were safe.

“We’ll take the elevator across to the jungle where you first entered,” Zetlin answered. “I can right the Barbican into a vertical position from there, and we can walk out the door.”

“That’s fine,” I said, then pointed to the fangs that were still imbedded in the door. “But as long as that thing’s got its jaws in us, we won’t even get out of the elevator.”

Suddenly, the car shuddered and stopped.

“Is that normal?” I asked.

“No,” answered Zetlin. “It must be-Before he could finish, the elevator began to shake. I looked at the fangs of our hitchhiker and saw them moving. The snake had decided to take control. A second later the fangs pulled out, leaving two holes in the door.

“Now what?” I asked.

The elevator began to rock. It felt like we were inside a small ship in rough seas. Zetlin looked at the control panel and announced, “We’re in the weight room.”

Weight room? Did Zetlin have a personal gym? He threw open a panel below the elevator controls to reveal a compartment with a series of odd-looking devices like the slippery skate pads we used to race across the ice. They had the same kind of wire frames that fit over shoes, but there was only one pad on the heel. It was a thicker pad, with a hole in the center.

Zetlin pulled out three pairs quickly and handed them to us.

“Put these on your shoes,” he commanded.

We did as we were told. The elevator was now rocking so hard, we couldn’t stand up anymore. The Reality Bug was trying to pull the car off its track. He was doing a good job. The three of us were being tossed around like kids in a carnival bounce. Only it wasn’t soft and fun. It hurt.

“What are these?” I managed to ask while struggling to pull the wire over my shoes.

“It’s the only way to get around in the weight room,” Zetlin answered.

That didn’t explain anything. He then handed us each a small controller and showed us how to slip it over our middle finger like a ring. There was a button attached to the ring that rested in the palm of your hand.

“Once we’re out,” Zetlin instructed, “press the button. It’ll activate the inertia jets.”

“Inertia jets?” Loor questioned.

She never got an answer because the elevator toppled and started spinning. The Reality Bug had pulled it from its track and tossed it. It felt like we were inside a washing machine as the little car rolled over and over on its side. I braced myself as best I could, waiting for an impact. But it didn’t come. We just kept spinning. It seemed impossible, but the rotating elevator didn’t slow down.

Zetlin went for the door handle. “Follow me!” he ordered.

“Don’t!” I yelled. I thought he’d kill himself for sure. But he had no fear. He pushed open the door and heaved himself out. Loor followed right after him. I figured if we were going to go down, we should do it together, so I dove for the door and launched myself out.

“Launch” was the perfect word to describe it. As soon as

I cleared the door I covered my head and curled up, ready to land hard. But I didn’t. I realized after a few seconds that I wasn’t going to, either. That’s because I was floating. I took a cautious peek out from between my arms to see it was pitch black, with stars everywhere. I was drifting in outer space! This wasn’t a weight room, it was a weight/ess room. Far off to my right, the elevator car was still spinning out of control. I watched it in wonder for a second, then felt something touch me on the shoulder.

“Ahhh!” I spun around fast, expecting to see the fangs of the black snake about to close on my head. But it was Dr. Zetlin. He was hanging next to me with Loor. He held her hand. They were both upside down. Or maybe I was the one upside down.

“The inertia jets shoot from your heels,” he explained. “Point your body where you want to go, and touch the button in your palm. You can maneuver by adjusting the direction your heels face.”