D. MacHale - The Reality Bug

Loor had the answer. She reached into her jumpsuit and pulled out a vicious-looking kitchen knife. I didn’t know she had kept one, but I was glad she had.

“Help me, Pendragon,” she ordered. “Go below him.”

I eased my zip down and underneath Zetlin. Loor went to work cutting away the web. I grabbed hold of Zetlin’s legs, ready for him to drop down onto my zip. While Loor sliced away, I snuck a look back down. The Reality Bug was getting closer. If it decided to change into a bird, it could fly right up and have us. But it didn’t. The giant bug just kept charging through the jungle.

A few seconds later Zetlin fell loose from the web and Loor eased him onto the zip in front of me.

“Are you with us?” I asked him.

“Yes,” he said, but sounded loopy. We didn’t have time to rescue his zip, so Zetlin leaned forward into the nose cone of my zip, giving me a clear view forward.

“I suggest you hurry,” Zetlin said.

I looked up to Loor and asked, “Is the web clear?”

“Clear enough,” she answered.

The two of us then pulled away from the web, made a wide circle back, and gunned the vehicles toward the hole she had cut. Loor was first and sailed through with room to spare. I was right behind her and shot through the tendrils and into the water.

Speed was everything now. Loor and I drove our zips side by side, squeezing the throttles, coaxing every last bit of power out of the strange but cool fantasy machines. Loor made the first move to surface. Zetlin and I were right behind. We both launched up and out of the water, headed for the icy opening that would lead us to the slickshot course.

Minutes later we blasted through the ice tunnel and shot out over the bright, frozen glacier. We kept pushing the zips forward, not even taking a second to turn and see if the Reality Bug was on our butts.

Zetlin never looked up from inside his position in the nose of my zip. Just as well. Both Loor and I knew where we had to go, and a short few minutes later we were sailing over the giant gears of the machine room.

“There’s the trouble,” I said while pointing down.

Sure enough, two massive metal bars had been jammed between a set of gear wheels. When the Barbican started to move, it jammed up the works. Not only was the Reality Bug vicious, it was smart.

I motioned to Loor for us to land, and the two of us guided our zips down to the floor.

“Dr. Zetlin,” I said. “We’re in the machine room. How do we get out of here?”

Zetlin pulled himself up from the nose of the zip. He looked groggy.

“Are you hurt?” Loor asked.

“Just rattled,” Zetlin answered. He looked around, scanning the vast machine room. “There!” he announced. He pointed to a round, vertical tube not far from us that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. It was made of the same light blue aluminum as the inside of the elevator.

“That’s the dead center of the Barbican,” he said. “And our way out.”

“We should leave these vehicles and travel on foot,” Loor said. “We do not want the monster knowing where we are.” Excellent idea.

“Let’s go,” I said and the three of us hurried across the floor of the machine room, headed for this blue cylinder. We kept looking back, expecting the Reality Bug to appear. But it didn’t. I was beginning to think it had run out of tricks and was trapped back in that jungle. Good. I hoped the vine-shooting cactus plants were gnawing away on it.

It only took us a few minutes to get to the cylinder. It was about four feet wide and shot straight up. Zetlin directed us to a square hatch that had a wheel built into it.

“This leads down into the arch that braces the Barbican,” he explained while spinning the wheel. “We can climb all the way to the ground inside the arch.”

He pulled open the hatch and entered first. Loor went next and I followed last. It was dark inside the round tube, especially after I closed the hatch and spun the wheel that locked it. Our eyes adjusted in a few seconds and I saw a metal ladder that ran the length of the tube. Zetlin got on the ladder and climbed down. Loor and I followed quickly. The ladder went down several feet to a platform.

“This platform is the very top of the arch,” Zetlin explained. “There are metal stairs on either end that will take us down.”

Yikes. I thought back to seeing this arch from outside. It was huge, which meant it was a long way down. I was beginning to realize why this wasn’t Zetlin’s first choice of escape route.

Loor was thinking the same thing. “If the Reality Bug follows us in here…”

She didn’t have to finish the sentence. We knew we’d be trapped.

“I know,” Zetlin said. “But it’s the only way down.”

I didn’t want to waste any more time, so I started walking toward the end of the platform. I must have gone about thirty yards when I came upon a set of metal stairs with metal handrails. The stairs curved down and away into the dark. Gulp.

“Be careful,” Zetlin said. “It’s a long way down.” I didn’t need that reminder. I turned around and went down the stairs backward, with a death grip on the handrails to either side. Loor followed me and Zetlin was last. It was tough at first because the stairs weren’t very steep. It was like walking on my hands and feet. I thought back to the shape of the arch to remember it curved at the top. I figured that the farther down we got, the steeper it would get and that is exactly what happened. Soon I was climbing nearly straight down, as if on a ladder. I moved as fast as it felt safe to go. Speed was good, but if I tripped… splat. I didn’t know what scared me more: falling into this dark hole, or having the Reality Bug attack from above. Either way, it was good motivation to keep moving.

None of us spoke on the way down. There wasn’t a whole lot to talk about. But I knew we were all thinking the same thing. Keep moving, get down and out of here before the bug finds us.

Suddenly the entire structure shook. It was so fast and hard, it nearly pulled me off the stairs. We all stopped, clutching the handrails for safety.

“What was that?” I called out.

“I don’t know,” answered Zetlin. “Keep going, but use caution.”

I started down again. Another minute went by and the structure shook again. We all held tight and didn’t move.

“It’s gotta be the bug,” I said. “Maybe it’s trying to break through one of the walls.”

We started moving again, but now with the fear that at any moment we could get thrown off the stairs by these mysterious jolts. It happened three more times, and each time we held tight. Then, finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, we made it to the ground. Nobody stopped to celebrate. We were now at the base of one side of the arch, in the widest part of the structure.

“There is the way out,”Loor said, pointing to a door not far from us. We all ran to it and Loor pulled it open.

It was pouring rain outside, but I didn’t care. We were out! We hurried away from the arch, trying to get as much distance between us and the Reality Bug as possible. We must have run at least a half mile down the wide street before we felt safe enough to stop. The three of us found refuge in the entry way of one of the black buildings.

As we stood there, catching our breath, I looked back at the incredible structure that was the Barbican. What an impossible, amazing, breathtaking building. It hung in the air, on its side, offering no clue as to the wonders inside. It seemed both spectacular, and sad.

I glanced to Dr. Zetlin and saw he wasn’t looking at the building. He was actually looking down the rainy street of his dreary fantasy city. It was a place that was here to remind him of a life he had fled. Now it was his refuge.