D. MacHale: The Reality Bug

She couldn’t argue with the logic but still wanted to fight. So she changed her tack.

“How could you let your ring get stolen?” she demanded to know. “Do you know how important these rings are? If you’re not-“

“Stop!” I yelled. “I got here as soon as I could. Let it go at that, all right?”

“Fine,” Aja said, sounding snotty. “But everything’s fine now, so you can flume off with that Gunny person and worry about some other territory. Good-bye.” She turned and walked away.

My head was spinning. What just happened here? Was she blowing me off?

“Time out,” I said while running after her. “Did you hear what Saint Dane said?”

“Of course. I have the flume monitored, remember? I know everything that happens down there.”

“Good, then you know he said Veelox was ready to crumble.”

“He was wrong,” Aja said without looking at me. “Explain, please.”

Aja came to an abrupt stop and I nearly ran into her. “Technically he’s right,” she explained. “Veelox is ready to crumble. But it hasn’t yet, and it won’t. I made sure of that.”

“So what was he up to?” I asked. “Is there some kind of battle going to happen? Are there armies going to march on one another? Who’s fighting here?”

Aja shook her head like she pitied me for being totally pathetic. “No, Pendragon. There is no big war. There are no guns or bombs. Nothing is going to explode, which I’m sure is disappointing to you.”

I let that comment slide. “So then what’s the conflict? What’s the turning point on Veelox?”

Aja stepped up to me and touched my forehead. “The turning point is in the head of every single person on Veelox. There are no good guys or bad guys here. This is a war that is being fought in people’s minds, not on any battlefield.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I admitted.

Aja smiled. I think she liked feeling superior.

“It doesn’t matter. Everything is under control. I contacted you because that’s what I was supposed to do, but you aren’t needed here, Pendragon. Veelox is safe. Go away.”

She turned and walked off again. I wanted to believe her. One less territory to worry about was, well, one less territory to worry about. But I couldn’t just take her word for it. So I ran after her again.

“What do you mean, you were supposed to contact me?” I asked.

“Because you’re the lead Traveler,” she said, throwing me a look of disdain. “Hard to believe.”

Yikes. New twist. Lead Traveler? Nobody told me that. “Uh… who said I was the lead Traveler?”

“Everyone,” she answered.

“Everyone who?”

“The Traveler from Denduron, for one. Alder was his name. Did you really blow up an entire castle?”

“Yes. Alder told you I was the lead Traveler?”

“I first heard it from Press Tilton. Now that guy I could see being the lead Traveler. Do you know him?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “Press was my uncle. He’s dead.”

Aja stopped walking. It was kind of harsh to give her that news so abruptly, but at least I had gotten her to stop being annoying for a few seconds. “I… I’m sorry, Pendragon,” she said with sincere sympathy. “I didn’t know.”

I didn’t want to have to battle this crazy Traveler girl. So at the risk of getting insulted againy I decided to put it all on the table. “I’ll be honest with you, Aja,” I began. “Up until you just said it, I had no idea I was a lead Traveler. I don’t even know what that means. But whether it’s true or not, I’m not your enemy. So cut me a little slack, all right?”

I looked her in the eye, trying to will her into trusting me. I wasn’t sure if Traveler mind persuasion worked on other Travelers, but I was willing to give it a try.

“Come with me,” she finally said, and walked off.

Phew. That was a start. The two of us walked along the center line of the empty street. The block reminded me of those big movie sets I saw on the tour of Universal Studios. Everything looked normal, but totally without life.

“Where is everybody?” I asked tentatively.

“Most everyone is in Lifelight,” she answered.

“Lie flight?”

“No, Lifelight.”

“Sorry,” I said. “I don’t know what that means.” Aja stopped walking and touched her silver bracelet to my head. I felt a short, warm buzz, then she pulled it away. “What was that?” I asked nervously.

Aja then pointed her hand, hit a few buttons, and said, “Look.”

I looked to where she was pointing and saw something that made me want to laugh and cry at the same time. It was Marley, my golden retriever. She stood facing me, wagging her tail so hard her whole backside wiggled. She had a goofy grin on her face and wore the green collar I got her for Christmas two years before. This wasn’t just any golden, this was my golden.

“Marley?” I called out tentatively.

Marley wagged her tail harder and ran to me. She was all set to jump and I was ready to catch her, but the second her front paws left the ground, she disappeared. Poof. Gone. All I caught was air. After a frozen moment, I looked to Aja and squeaked out a stunned, “How did you do that?”

“Lifelight,” she answered. “It pulled that from your memory.”

“Huh?” was all I could get out.

Aja smiled. She was back in charge again. “Veelox is the perfect territory, Pendragon, because we can live any existence we choose.”

I was sinking deeper into the land of confusion. “Now I’m totally lost,” I said.

“Imagine the perfect place,” she continued. “It could be anywhere you want and populated with the people you choose. Like that dog. That’s Lifelight. People here can live a life tailored specifically for them.”

“So Lifelight sends people all over the territory and sets them up in whatever perfect life they want?” I asked.

“No,” she answered. “I said people live any life they choose. They don’t go anywhere.”

“Still not getting it,” I complained.

Aja motioned for me to follow her. She took a few more steps, rounded a corner and pointed to a sight that actually took my breath away. No kidding. For a second I couldn’t breathe. That’s how awesome it was.

Sitting in the center of the city, maybe a mile away from us, was a huge, four-sided pyramid. It dwarfed the buildings around it, looking as if a massive, alien spacecraft had set down in the center of town. The shiny black walls reflected the sun toward us, making the immense structure seem more like a shadow than a building.

“You’re telling me everybody from this city is in that pyramid?”

“Not everybody. Most.”

“Why?”

Aja shook her head like I was a lousy student, then walked to the side of the road. Parked near a lamppost was a strange, two-seater pedal car. The seats were side by side and it had three wheels, like a tricycle. Aja climbed on to the left seat and said, “I could tell you, or I could show you. Which would be easier?”

Man, this girl really thought I was a dimwit. But I didn’t want to argue anymore, so I took the right seat. Aja kicked off and the two of us pedaled toward the monster pyramid.

“Is Lifelight some kind of virtual reality game?” I asked.

“It’s no game,” Aja scoffed.

“But it’s all just holograms, right? Like my dog, and your big floating head.”

“Don’t pass judgment until you know what you’re talking about.”

Fair enough. I decided to see what Lifelight was about before asking any more questions. The two of us rode in silence and I took the chance to check out more of this forlorn, deserted city. We passed grocery stores and clothing shops and office fronts. All very normal, but empty. Looking closer, I saw that the buildings were run down. Signs were turning yellow, garbage was collecting in corners, windows were thick with grit. It was like the people had just… walked away.