J. Mitchell - The Severed Tower

Mira put the pencil to the notepad and started drawing. A grid, ten-by-ten squares, with a rough map of the freeway and the cars in front of her. She only drew the immediate ones now; anything in front of that, the perspective was distorted. She had to wait until she got closer.

When she was done, she knelt on the ground and pulled something else from her pocket. It was her stopwatch, tarnished and old, but it worked flawlessly. The sight of it was comforting. She and it had been through a lot.

Her hand froze on the watch. It was now or never.

She took a breath… and clicked a button. The watch clicked as it began to count time. Mira hung its cord around her neck, then threw one of the washers forward into the air.

It traveled just a few feet before it was yanked hard right and disappeared in a flash of energy as the Condenser Sphere flared to life, lighting up the night.

She marked its location on the pad, then threw another washer. Another sphere flared brightly, this one closer, and she felt the slight tingle of static electricity before it vanished out of sight again.

She marked it, too, then hammered in one of the metal pegs through the asphalt at her feet.

Mira tried to stay calm. She could do this. Another breath…

…and she moved forward into the blank air between the two invisible Condensers just feet on either side of her.

The hair on her arms stood on end from the Spheres’ proximity. It was the only indication of the hovering death surrounding her. But she’d routed it correctly. It was only the first step into the Anomaly, but it filled her with relief all the same.

Mira knocked another peg into the asphalt then started the process all over, throwing more nuts and washers, finding the flaring Spheres, marking their locations, moving forward in a zigzag pattern between the Anomalies and the cars, and laying down pegs and red wire to mark the route.

Time seemed to slow, but her heart never stopped beating wildly. Eventually, she found herself so far ahead that the flashlights from the Menagerie were just pinpricks of light behind her.

Mira threw another washer. This time nothing happened. She threw another. The same result. She threw a handful of nuts in a cloud in front of her. There was nothing but blank air now, no giant crackling spheres of deadly light.

Mira exhaled and looked down at the stopwatch. Fifty-four minutes. Not bad, she thought, even Ben had done it slower a few times. But it wasn’t over. Now was the most dangerous part.

She turned and headed back into the Anomaly, following her path of metal pegs and red wire back through. Each step was nerve-racking. What if she laid it wrong? What if she miscalculated? Figuring out the drift of Condenser Spheres required a lot of math. She kept moving, one foot after the other. She could see Ravan ahead, sitting on the hood of an old pickup, her men nearby. Mira concentrated on seeming confident, on looking like she actually wasn’t—

The hair on her arms stood up. A Condenser Sphere flared to life right next to her.

Mira gasped but froze in place like she’d been taught. In a Stable Anomaly like this, going still was the best idea if something went wrong. And something was definitely wrong. The gleaming ball of energy was literally only a few inches from her shoulder. She felt her heart thudding in her chest.

Mira swallowed, staying as still as she could, and looked down at her notebook. She could see which Condenser this was, and there was supposed to be another to her right, about five feet away.

Slowly, very slowly, Mira took a step in that direction. The flickering sphere disappeared as she did, fading away to nothing. Nothing materialized on her right. She was back in the safe zone.

She exhaled, knelt, picked up the peg and moved it about a foot over.

Her heart continued to pound, and she felt a surge of doubt and fear that replaced any sense of victory she might have felt before. How did she think she could do this? Mira forced herself to stand and move forward again, following the rest of the path. No other Condensers appeared, the rest of the route was safe. For now.

Ravan hopped off the car as she approached, and Max lazily opened an eye. The damned dog had been napping the whole time.

“Well?” Ravan asked.

“It’s ready,” Mira said. She was surprised by how little her voice shook. “I just tested it, but we need to hurry. Tell your men to stagger their entry about twenty steps per person, and keep that distance. Walk, don’t run, and follow the path. Any deviation… and they’re dead.”

“My men can be precise and fast,” Ravan replied. “We don’t have to stagger them that much. Might save us time.”

Mira shrugged. “Your call. I’ll go last, follow behind and collect the pegs. If things go bad in there, that’s where I need to be.”

Ravan gave her an unreadable look, then shouted for her men to line up, yelling instructions.

In moments, the Menagerie were moving, filing past Mira and Ravan. Just like the Captain had said, they were making good time, following the path precisely. Ravan joined the line in the middle, walking into the Anomaly and disappearing into the dark.

Mira looked at Max. “Come on, it’s our turn.”

The dog looked back but didn’t move.

Mira sighed. “Look, mutt, this is dangerous,” she told him. “I have to hold your collar. You go running off course, you’ll get us both killed. If you want to see Holt again, you have to trust me.”

Max stared back with a noncommittal look. Then he hopped off the Mercedes and stood next to Mira. She slowly reached down for his collar. He stared up at her, but didn’t object when she grabbed it.

Mira smiled. How about that. She moved forward after the pirates, and started down the path, stepping into the Anomaly after the others. The hair on her arms stood up again, and the effect felt stronger. But there was no way to know if it was just her imagination or if the Spheres really were closer.

As she moved, she gathered the pegs from the ground, wrapping them up. Max walked next to her without complaint, and the Menagerie kept moving ahead, even faster than they had before. They were about three quarters of the way through, and, to her surprise, they hadn’t triggered a single sphere. Mira smiled, maybe they were going to make it out of this in one—

The old mirror of a crashed motorcycle reflected bright light behind her.

Mira turned and saw the Condenser Spheres flashing to life at the far end of the Anomaly, where they’d started. Had they left someone behind? No, she’d checked. The spheres were exploding to life, though, one after the other, and moving forward, which meant something was approaching and triggering them, as it did.

A second later she saw what it was.

A group of dark figures, maybe a dozen, rushing through the Anomaly at full speed. Flashes of different colored light glowed around them as they moved, and they weren’t just running, they were leaping and flipping through the air like gymnasts.

“What the hell…” Ravan mumbled from ahead. The pirates froze and turned, staring behind them as the spheres continued to flare to life and the figures darted between them with almost superhuman agility. It implied a perception of the Anomalies that was like a sixth sense. And it could mean only one thing. A chill ran down Mira’s spine.

“Ready weapons!” Ravan yelled, and the pirates instantly unstrapped and cocked their rifles.

“No!” Mira shouted back desperately. “No guns!” If what was coming saw a threat, they would all be dead. But the pirates were raising their rifles anyway.

The figures kept flipping forward, tumbling through the Anomalies in rapid-fire progression. They made it look easy. They made it look like a dance.