As he sped across the long span, the truck bumped them again, this time pushing from the left rear corner. Nathan tried to correct with one hand, but the Volvo slid toward the low concrete barrier that served as the bridge’s protective railing, slowing both vehicles to a crawl. “Kelly! Help me hold the mirror!”
She thrust her body forward and lay prostrate while bracing the mirror. “Got it!”
Nathan grabbed the wheel with both hands and fought back, jerking to the left and banging the truck. “Nikolai! Keep playing!”
“I still see the sky!” Kelly shouted. “What does it mean?”
“Just hang on!” The steering wheel froze. As the passenger’s side squealed against the concrete, the truck turned toward the Volvo at a ninety-degree angle and locked them in place, roaring its engine as it shoved again and again.
Kelly rocked back and forth, grabbing the wheel to keep from rolling. “He’ll push us over the edge!”
“The cops are running this way,” Nathan said, still fighting the wheel. “They’ll never make it in time!”
Kelly latched on to Nathan’s arm. “What’ll we do?”
“Dust off the ‘Our Father’ prayer!”
Nikolai switched from Beethoven to Handel’s Messiah. “If I die,” he shouted, his bow swaying wildly, “I will die in the arms of Christ!”
“The mirror’s changing!” Nathan called, still fighting with the wheel and pumping the accelerator. “I see Mr. Bunn!”
With a deafening rumble from its engine, the truck gave a final shove. The car rolled over the barrier and dove headfirst toward the Mississippi River.
Still clutching the mirror, Kelly screamed. As the plunge shoved Nathan against his seat, he laid an arm over her back, gritting his teeth. “Just … hang … on!”
Nikolai hugged the violin and case, closing his eyes as he prayed out loud. “Our Father, who art in heaven…”
The water raced toward them. The car began a slow spin. Nathan reached for the door, pulled its handle, and kicked it open. The interior light flashed on. As a splash erupted in front of him, a fierce jolt rattled his bones. Then, everything fell dark.
15
TICKETS TO DISASTER
A painful thump on his backside snapped Nathan’s eyes open. His vision pulsed with photonegative blackness. “Kelly! Nikolai! Where are you?”
An excited voice shot back from somewhere close. “Nathan! Where did you come from?”
Nathan stared at a stuffed rabbit in his hand. “Gunther?”
“Yes. Can’t you see me?”
Nathan rubbed his eyes. Apparently he was sitting cross-legged on the back cargo floor of the delivery van. Gunther sat in the driver’s seat next to Francesca, driving through light fog on a rural highway.
“Yeah. I can see you now.” He looked around the dim van. Kelly lay facedown next to him, moaning. Beside her, Nikolai sat with the violin and case in his lap, leaning against the side window. His eyes were open, but he seemed in a daze.
“How’d we get here?” Nathan asked as he reached for Kelly.
“I was going to ask you that. I heard a loud bump, and you just showed up.”
“I guess we got transported again.” Nathan turned Kelly over. As her arms tightened, clamping the mirror against her chest, she fluttered her eyelids and winced, accentuating a bloody gash across her forehead just below her scalp. Using his thumb, he wiped away a trickle of blood oozing toward her ear. “It was just in time, too. That pickup pushed our car over the side of the bridge, and the last thing I remember was splashing into the Mississippi.”
Gunther flashed a thumbs up. “That’s exactly what we need. It’s perfect!”
“Perfect? We’re pretty beat up, especially Kelly.”
“I don’t mean that.” Gunther looked back at the trio. “Is everyone okay?”
“I think we will be.” He glanced around the cargo area. “Do you have a first aid kit?”
“You bet.” Gunther touched Francesca’s head. “Hey, sweet-heart, can you look under your seat for a white metal box?”
While she looked, Gunther slowed the van and pulled into the grass at the side of the road. “What I meant was, they’ll think Francesca’s dead, so they won’t try to find her anymore.”
Nathan let Gunther’s words sink in. He was right. Not only that, the stalker would think Nikolai and himself were dead as well, so they were in the clear. Still, Nikolai and Francesca might have to hide out somewhere; he couldn’t just show up back at home and start teaching again.
Francesca handed him the first-aid kit. “Found it.”
“Thank you.” Gunther passed it to the back.
Nathan ripped open a sterile pad and dabbed Kelly’s three-inch-long wound. He looked up at Nikolai. “Are you okay, Dr. Malenkov?”
Setting the violin and case down with shaky hands, he nodded, his eyes wide and fixed straight ahead. “It was…” He swallowed and licked his lips. “It was very much like a nightmare I have had the last several nights. I fall toward the water, and when I near the surface I feel a great wind and see a bright light. Then, I wake up.”
“I just felt a bump on my backside.” Nathan gently removed the mirror from Kelly’s tightened fingers. Blood stained the top edge. “Looks like she clocked herself with the mirror, but I can’t tell if she hurt anything else.”
A low whisper rose from Kelly’s lips. “I’m just sore all over.” Her eyelids fluttered again, this time staying open as she glanced around. “We survived?”
“Looks that way.” He pulled out three adhesive bandages and tore open the first one. “And we’re still on Earth Yellow. The Quattro mirror kept us in the same dimension, just like always.”
She sat up and turned toward the front. At the sight of Francesca, she smiled, though a tremble in her lips revealed her pain. “So, our plan worked perfectly.”
“Except for an unscheduled plunge into the Mississippi … yeah, it was great.”
“What about Nikolai’s car?”
Nikolai finally shook himself out of his empty stare and waved his hand. “It is nothing. A big piece of metal.” He smiled at Francesca. “But she is a flesh and blood treasure.”
Kelly gazed through the windshield. “Where are we going now?”
Gunther pointed at the map, still attached to the sun visor. “No place in particular. I just started driving toward where we met, but now that you’re all here, you can plot the course.”
Nathan leaned over the seat and looked at the map. “We have to get back to the transport site. It’s in the middle of nowhere right now, but the Interfinity observatory is going to be there someday.”
“I can get us real close,” Kelly said. “I’m not sure if all the roads will be the same here, but if we find the path of the tornado, all we have to do is follow the damage.”
Gunther set his finger near the border between Illinois and Wisconsin. “The news said the twister first touched down out in the boonies just west of Rockford. I’ll start heading that way.”
“Nikolai,” Kelly said, turning toward him. “Why don’t you ride up front with Francesca? You’ll be more comfortable.”
“Very well.” After setting the violin in its case and snapping the lid closed, Nikolai extended his hand. “May I have the rabbit, please?”
Nathan gave it to him. “Sure. I guess Mr. Bunn belongs to Francesca now.”
“For Francesca, yes, but also for me.” Nikolai held the rabbit close to his chest. “I think Mr. Bunn is the only occupant of this vehicle who understands what is going on less than I do, so he will be my partner in ignorance.”
Nathan grinned. “I’ll explain as much as I can on the way, but we’d better get going.”
After Nikolai settled into the front seat with Francesca, and Nathan and Kelly arranged themselves comfortably on the floor in the cargo area, they cruised down the road, still cutting through light fog. Nathan explained everything he could remember, asking for help from Kelly at times to fill in the gaps.
&n
bsp; Nikolai clasped his hands together, his eyes sparkling. “I am very curious about how music seems to open the passage between the dimensions. Have you noticed any pattern? Are some pieces more effective than others?”
Nathan shifted his gaze to the van’s ceiling. “Not that I can think of. I’ve seen classical, rock, and country do the job. But the strange thing is that the Interfinity radio telescope picked up a lot of noise from space, and Francesca was able to hear the music inside all that racket.”
“Is it so strange that melodies and harmonies are inherent in creation?” Nikolai asked. “The precision and order of the cosmos comprise a multitude of symphonies, each one playing hymns in praise of their Creator’s magnificence.”
Nathan pondered those words for a moment. Although their meaning seemed clear enough, they also seemed elusive. Something was missing. He gazed into the maestro’s deep gray eyes. “But wouldn’t that mean Vivaldi or Beethoven or Dvořák didn’t actually write their music? I mean, if they just heard it in creation and pulled it out of the air, they aren’t the geniuses we think they are. They’re just great copycats.”
“Oh, no,” Nikolai said, waving his hand. “Such a conclusion is not necessary at all. If man, made in the image of God, creates a masterpiece ex nihilo, he celebrates the creation of God, the one who did the same when he fashioned the world.”
Kelly cocked her head to the side. “Ex nihilo? What’s that?”
“Out of nothing,” Nikolai explained. “God is able to form matter where matter didn’t even exist. Man also has creative power, so he can design architectural wonders, paint an abstract mosaic, and compose music out of nothing, creations that have never existed before.”
“So how does the music get into space?” Nathan asked.
“I can offer only a guess, but when a man decides to reflect God’s creative majesty is it not reasonable for creation to echo man’s offerings of worship?”
Nathan bobbed his head. “Yeah. I suppose so. But how could music open a dimensional door?”
“I have no idea, but here is something that might help, something my teacher taught me when I was Francesca’s age back in my mother country. When a musician composes, he is a translator of the divine voice. He sets the majesty of creation into a combination of notes that has never been heard before, yet it tells a story that has been spoken by God ever since the beginning of time.”
Nathan looked at his knuckles. It seemed as though a breathy kiss had brushed by. “My mother used to say something like that.”
After navigating back roads strewn with debris from tornado damage, Gunther stopped in front of a large sign with red block letters that said, Future Home of Interfinity Labs — 1986.
“Now that’s convenient,” Kelly said. “It’s still going to be seven years until it’s built.”
“Too convenient, if you ask me.” Nathan jumped out of the back of the van and jogged up to the sign, a four-by-four foot square that stood a few inches higher than his head.
Kelly joined him. “What do you make of it?”
“Look.” He kicked up a clump of dirt where one of the posts entered the ground. “Freshly dug.”
She pushed on the sign, tilting it back an inch or two. “Not very sturdy. It couldn’t have survived the tornado.”
Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he gazed at the surrounding landscape. Uprooted oaks and snapped pines littered the field. Hardly a tree stood upright as far as the eye could see, a stark portrait of devastating fury. He shook off a shiver. That same fury had come within seconds of making kindling out of him and the two girls.
While Nikolai and Francesca got out and stretched their legs, Gunther trudged over the flattened grass and joined Nathan. “The sign’s new all right. No way it should still be standing.”
Kelly picked up a three-foot-long branch stripped of leaves and, squinting in the glare of the midday sun, touched the letters with the pointed end. “Daryl said the company used to be called StarCast. Shouldn’t the sign say that instead of Interfinity?”
“You’re right.” Nathan touched the red paint at the bottom of the I in Interfinity. It was still tacky, not more than a few hours old. Obviously someone was helping them find this spot, someone who thought Interfinity was the only name they knew. Could Dr. Simon be setting up a meeting? Or maybe an ambush?
Gunther broke off a blade of grass and narrowed his eyes as he searched the devastated forest. Kelly shuffled close to Nathan and leaned her head against his shoulder. He set his feet to support the added pressure. The weight of her head felt good; it meant she trusted him. But what a responsibility! He had to make decisions that affected two lives hanging precariously in the portent of a catastrophic dimensional collision. And if he decided wrong, who could tell how many people would suffer and die? Sacrificing himself to save others was scary enough, but could he ask Kelly to do the same? Yet what choice did they have? They had to get back to Earth Red as soon as possible.
He shielded his eyes and looked into what was left of the forest, skinny trunks broken like matchsticks, their upper halves either lying on the ground or hanging on by tufts of exposed wood fibers. Crouching, he pointed between two clusters of shrubs. “If this road is in the same place as the one back home, the mirror should be right about there, maybe a hundred yards back, if it’s still standing.”
Kelly crouched with him, then stood again. “I can’t see it from here. I hope it didn’t break.”
“I’d better stay with Francesca and Nikolai,” Gunther said, “in case we get some unexpected company. If you’re not back in half an hour, I’ll assume you crossed dimensions again.”
Gesturing for Kelly to follow, Nathan headed toward the van. Francesca stood next to the passenger door, once again clutching Mr. Bunn with both arms, while Nikolai stood at her side.
After retrieving the violin, Nathan stooped in front of Francesca and stroked her dark locks. “Kelly and I have to go. You know we’re leaving you in good hands, right?”
With new tears welling, Francesca nodded. “I wish you could stay.”
Kelly bent over and took her hand. “We have to go back to our world. Gunther and Nikolai will make sure you’re safe.”
Francesca embraced Kelly. “Don’t go! I love you!”
Kelly heaved a quick breath, pausing for a moment before prying Francesca’s tightened fingers away. Her voice squeezed to a high pitch. “I have to go, honey. But we’ll see each other again, I promise.”
“You do?” Francesca’s eyes flashed a glimmer of hope.
Pressing her lips together tightly, Kelly nodded.
Francesca’s chin quivered, shaking loose her gathering tears and casting them to the ground. “I can’t ever go home, can I?”
Closing her eyes, Kelly shook her head.
Her slender fingers trembling, Francesca lifted Kelly’s hand. “Then will you pray for me?”
“Yes … Yes, of course I’ll pray for you.”
Francesca blew on Kelly’s knuckles, mixing her breath with a dripping tear. “Love is the breath of God,” she said softly, “and prayer is the melody that makes it sing.”
Kelly drew her hand back. “I’ll … I’ll remember that.”
Blinking away his own tears, Nathan hugged Francesca. “When your son’s born, don’t listen to his complaints about practicing his violin. Okay?”
She patted him on the cheek. “Don’t worry, Son. I’ll chain him to his music stand.”
“Thanks, Mom.” He gave her a wink and backed away. Now barely able to speak, he nodded at Kelly. “Let’s go.”
As they circled around to the driver’s side, Francesca crawled to the middle of the front bench, while Nikolai sat by the door.
Gunther had already slid behind the wheel. “Don’t forget this,” he said, reaching the mirror through the open window.
Setting the violin down, Nathan grasped the mirror with one hand and Gunther’s shoulder with the other. His tightening throat squeezed his voice higher. “You watch over them, o
kay?”
“Like you said, I’ll be a guardian angel.” After Francesca settled into her seat, Gunther pulled the belt over her lap and buckled it. “Keep in touch if you can.”
“We will.” After picking up the violin, Nathan handed the mirror to Kelly, and they headed back toward the strange Interfinity sign and the ravaged field, the sun now at its zenith. Puffy white clouds streamed from the horizon and drifted across the blazing disk, giving them relief as they marched onward.
Kelly took Nathan’s hand. “Do you think we’ll ever come back to Earth Yellow?” she asked.
“We have to. Simon Blue’s probably hanging around in Earth Yellow, so we’ll have to figure out how to contact him.”
He picked up the pace, stepping high over broken branches. It took only a few minutes to locate the tri-fold mirror, flat on the ground and covered with green leaves, some still clinging to fallen branches.
“The mirror side’s down,” Nathan said, lifting the edge. “Maybe it survived after all.”
Kelly dropped to her knees and peeked underneath. “It’s dirty, but I don’t see any cracks.”
After clearing the debris, they pulled the mirror upright and angled the three panels, balancing it until it stood on its own. Then, standing in front of the smudged glass, they stared at the image, an aerial view of the telescope room.
“Looks like Daryl Blue still has us tuned in,” Nathan said, “but I can’t see anyone.”
“It’s kind of dark. Maybe they’re in trouble and had to hide.” She bent forward slightly, narrowing her eyes as she studied the image. “I see a bug of some kind. Is that a fly?”
Nathan stepped closer to the mirror. “Yeah, but it’s barely moving at all, like it’s hovering.”
“So time’s still a lot slower there than here. That’s a good sign.”
“Maybe. But that’s Earth Blue. We need it to be slower on Earth Red.” Pulling up the hem of his shirt, Nathan stepped right up to the mirror. “If I have this all straight,” he said, wiping the center panel with his shirt, “we’ll go back to Earth Blue first, and then we’ll have to catch another bus to Earth Red.”