D. MacHale - The Reality Bug

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

“This is where I work,” Aja explained. “It’s called the ‘core.’ The phaders troubleshoot the hardware, upgrade when necessary, and monitor the jumps to make sure everyone is okay.”

“And what do the vedders do?”

“They take care of the jumpers physically. That’s why they took your blood. They make sure the jumpers are safe and healthy.”

“What are the movies they’re watching?” I asked.

“Those are the jumps,” Aja answered, trying not to sound too impatient.

I looked through the glass at one of the banks of monitors and saw that the action on the screens wasn’t continuous. Every few seconds each screen changed to another bit of action, like turning the channels on a TV. I focused on one screen to see a hot sailboat gliding through tropical waters. The image then changed to the point of view of a skier flying down a snowy mountain, expertly dodging through trees. On the screen next to that I saw what looked like a stadium full of people watching a game that was like soccer, but played with a big orange ball the size of a monster pumpkin. That screen then changed to the quiet scene of a cozy fireplace and an older woman drinking tea.

“People come here to watch movies?” I asked.

Aja chuckled. “Something like that. Come on.”

She led me down the long corridor of cubicles. I glanced into the different workstations that made up the core to get an idea of what kind of movie I’d choose when it came my turn. I figured I’d want to watch a movie about basketball. I hadn’t played in a long time and missed it. I hoped they knew what basketball was on Veelox.

When we reached the end of the corridor, Aja said, “Are you ready for this?”

“Uh, yeah. I guess.” I had no idea if I was ready or not because I didn’t know what to expect.

Aja shook her head again, amused by my innocence… or stupidity. We pushed through the next revolving door, and what I saw beyond proved only one thing…

I wasn’t ready for it.

We stepped into the central chamber of the pyramid. Everything up to this point had been pregame. This was the main event. I took a step inside, looked up, and my knees buckled from seeing the sheer size of the place. The pyramid was pretty much hollow so I could see all the way up to the point. In the center of the structure was a tube that ran from the floor right up to the uppermost tip. Off this central tube were hundreds of walkways that spread out like spokes of a wheel in different directions and levels. They attached to the inside walls of the pyramid, which had hundreds of levels, with walkways ringing all the way around.

Aja didn’t say anything at first. I guess she wanted me to get my mind around it all. She shouldn’t have bothered. There was no way I could get my mind around any of this.

“You asked me before where everybody was,” she finally said. She then pointed up to the walls of the pyramid.

“You’re telling me everybody from Veelox is up there, right now?”

“No,” she said. “But most everybody from Rubic City is. There are at least eight hundred more of these Lifelight pyramids all over Veelox.”

The idea was staggering. “So, everybody’s in here watching movies?” I asked.

Aja lifted her arm to look at her wide, silver bracelet. She touched a few buttons while staring intently at the high-tech device.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Looking for a vacant station,” she answered, and started walking. Like an obedient puppy, I followed. She led me to the center of the pyramid, which was not a short walk. Along the way we passed several phaders and vedders who were ferrying equipment or supplies of some sort. Nobody said much to anyone else. To me, they all seemed a little depressed. Maybe not as bad as the miners of Denduron, but these guys weren’t exactly whistling while they worked, either. We got into an elevator and quickly rose up the central tube.

When Aja stopped and opened the door, my palms instantly went wet. We were seriously high up in the air. Worse, the guardrails on the walkways were only about knee-high. Aja stepped out. I didn’t.

“It’s safe, Pendragon,” she said. “Look straight ahead and follow me.” She walked out on one of the bridges that led to the far wall of the pyramid. “Don’t look down.”

Yeah, right. That’s the first thing I did. Yikes. We were about halfway up the pyramid, but that was plenty high. It felt like I was standing on a rickety Lego structure. I could only hope these walkways were sturdier than they looked. I didn’t want to be on that bridge any longer than I had to, so a few seconds later I caught right up with Aja and blew past her. I made it to the far end and the balcony that ran the length of one side of the pyramid.

Aja gave me a disapproving look. “Are you sure you’re the lead Traveler?” she asked.

“No. Where are we going?”

Aja checked her high-tech bracelet once more, then walked along the balcony. I followed, hugging the wall to stay as far away from the edge as possible. There were doors every few feet. If you figured this was only one side of one level of the pyramid, there must have been hundreds of thousands of doors just like it. Each door had a small round, white light next to it. Most were lit. Aja stopped at a door marked The light over the door was out so I guessed that meant nobody was home. Aja touched the door and it instantly slid back into the wall like we were about to step onto the bridge of the starship Enterprise.

The room inside was pretty bland. It reminded me of a doctor’s exam room because it looked simple and sterile. There was no furniture or anything, just a round, silver disk on the back wall about three feet wide. Next to it on the wall was a square silver panel that looked like a bigger version of the control bracelet Aja wore. On the panel were several rows of flat, silver buttons, none of which were marked. Above the rows of buttons was a narrow black section that I guessed was some kind of computer screen that gave readouts of… whatever. Aja went right to this silver panel and began hitting buttons. The narrow computer screen flashed with green numbers.

“This pyramid is operating at about eighty-seven percent capacity,” she explained.

She touched one button and, with a slight hum, the round silver disk slid sideways into the wall to reveal a circular tube that stretched back into the wall space for about seven feet. Another touch of a button and a white table slowly emerged from the tube.

“Lie down,” Aja ordered.

Yeah, right. If she thought I was going to lie on that table and get sucked back into this sci-fi-looking tube without an explanation, she was dreaming.

“Tell me what’s going to happen first.”

“Don’t you trust me?” she asked with a sly smile.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” I said quickly. “It’s just that this is all… I mean, I’ve never seen… I don’t understand… uh, no, I don’t trust you.”

“Even though I’m a Traveler?”

“Look,” I said. “I don’t know why you have an ick against me, but if you want me to trust you, you gotta start acting a little more human.”

It bugged me that Aja had such disdain for me. I had no idea why. Yeah, she was a Traveler, but I didn’t see her out there fighting quigs or getting shot at or jumping out of airplanes or doing any of the scary things I’d had to do. What made her so special?

“Sorry,” she said. “Lifelight is such a normal part of life that it’s hard for me to understand how someone doesn’t know all about it.”

“Fine. Start explaining or I’m not lying down on that thing.”

“It’s totally safe,” Aja began. “Nothing happens to you physically. It’s all about expanding your mind into areas of your own choosing. You lie on the table, the table slides back into the tube and I close the round disk. To be honest, some people get a little nervous because it’s dark and the space is closed. But the sensation doesn’t last long. I promise.”