Eric and the Quantum Dragon
Chapter 22

Somewhere else entirely

Saturday December 22nd, V26 (2046)

Sarah was surprised at how hot the sun was as she stood on the beach. Water lapped at her feet, surging back and forth across the yellow sand. She had lost her shoes at some point and she was sure her mom would give her hell for that.

She did wonder how she had got here though. Sarah turned and looked up and down the beach, seeing no-one else here. There weren’t even any seagulls flapping about, which was one of a number of things that made her wonder what was going on.

Looking at her feet, she could see only unbroken sand in all directions. Not a single footprint marred the pristine beach, not even hers. A cry from behind made her turn and she saw a lone figure walking along the sandy shore, waving an arm energetically in her direction.

When the man saw he had her attention, he pointed to a building built close to the sand dunes. She hadn’t noticed it before, but now she looked it had a familiar appearance. With a start she recognised it as the beachfront house that Uncle Rex used to rent for the summer holidays.

“Hi Sarah, come and sit in the shade” said Uncle Rex and walked to the long porch that faced the sea. Sarah slowly trod her way across the beach, her feet tingling with the warmth of the sand between her toes.

“Uncle Rex?” she asked as she reached the beach house. Up close it was exactly as she remembered it, except it was only her uncle and her there. It had always been a fun and noisy adventure, joining her Uncle Rex and his family at Port August for a summer vacation. The house had overflowed with the four adults and swarm of children but now was silent other than the wind blowing across the covered porch.

“Good to see you, Sarah” her uncle said with a smile. He reached into a chiller box at the side of his chair and drew out a can of beer. She stepped up onto the porch and sat in the second chair, the chiller box between them. Rex popped open his beer with a loud crack and he drained it in one go.

“Man, that hits the spot!” he declared cheerfully and put the empty can at his feet. He wiped his mouth and regarded her carefully, that smile growing a little more serious. “Guess you are wondering what is going on, hey?”

“Yeah” Sarah agreed. “The sky is not quite the right shade of blue and the sand feels really strange. Where are we, Uncle Rex?”

“I think you know already, Sarah” he replied. He reached into the chiller once more and drew out another can of beer and a familiar red and yellow striped can of Panic Cola. “Looks like this is your favourite, if I recall our last holiday”

She took the proffered can of cola and it was cold to her touch. “I don’t drink it much these days” she told him. “Mom says it makes me far too crazy”

Sarah opened the can and it sounded like a gunshot too, with a gentle fizz of cola coming from within. She jerked in shock at the noise, then Rex opened his can and they both laughed at the sound.

“Must be because they are imported!” Rex advised his niece, “I don’t remember them being this loud in the old days”

“You mean the days back when you were alive?” Sarah asked, holding the can of cola untouched in her hands.

“Yeah, back then” he agreed and drank a long swig from his own can. He looked sideways at her and nodded at the soda. “It’s safe to drink, Sarah. You won’t be trapped here like in some fairy tale”

“Uncle Rex, how did I end up in the After?” she asked. “Am I dead?”

=====

Archimedes Tower, Pan City

“I got through to Achmed” Eric announced as he disconnected his call. “Lilly and he ended up in the lake down below, but they are Okay. They were out of the water by the time the Maze collapsed”

“What about Sofia?” demanded Fiona. “Has she been located?”

“Still looking” Eric responded. “She may be down at the aid station as there are a lot of injured being treated. Carmody has taken Angelina there to get her hands checked out”

Fiona and Eric met each other’s eyes, both once impassive yet now showing so much more of their humanity.

“So where is Sarah?” Fiona wondered.

Eric broke away from her gaze and looked deeply worried.

“I don’t know” he admitted. “She was right behind me when those people attacked, but then I lost track of her” He had already tried her phone but it was giving him an ‘Out of Range’ message and would not connect.

The alarms had finally been silenced and Police Auxiliaries and Guards had flooded through the whole Tower, quelling disturbances peacefully where possible and violently when they couldn’t. It would be some hours before the situation was likely to be settled.

“Do you think she fell?” Fiona asked flatly, looking towards the broken edge of the walkway where the balcony had once projected into the atrium.

“Maybe” Eric said and his voice caught for a moment. “But Sarah is not a person who would let something like gravity get her down”

“Was that an attempt at a joke?” Fiona enquired.

“It’s what she would have wanted” Eric responded with a smile. Fiona regarded him blankly so he tried to explain.

“She has been an unstoppable force since the day I met her” he told the woman. “There are so many things about her I don’t understand, but I know one thing for sure”

“And that is?” prompted Fiona.

“She’ll be back. Wherever she has ended up, she’ll come back and tell me what a stupid boy I was for worrying about her”

=====

The After

“You’re not dead, Sarah” her uncle laughed. “But you are correct, this is the After. Not my usual spot, because this was created just for you. They asked me to come over and be your host while you are here”

“What, this was created just for me?” Sarah asked in astonishment. Then another thought percolated to the top of her mind. “Hang on, what do you mean ‘They’?”

Uncle Rex smiled and tapped the side of his broad red nose. “I’m not allowed to tell you that” he said. “There are all kinds of people in charge of the After and they don’t like the Living messing about with their homes”

“So why this place?” she asked. “This is the holiday house we spent those summer vacations in, right?”

“Yep” he agreed and bent to fish another can of beer from the chiller box. “Damn, last one. Must be about time for you to head on back”

He pulled the tab on the can and it sounded as loud as the previous ones. With a wink at his niece he took a long, hard drink of the beer. Rex burped appreciatively and set the can against his t-shirt, looking out over the sea to the distant horizon.

“They are worried about what you can do” he told her, eyes still fixed on the distant view. “This time it was an accident, a result of unexpected events in the Now. However, your powers are already growing, developing under the guidance of that Sister”

“You know about Sister Domenica?” Sarah wondered aloud.

“Yes, They know all about her” Uncle Rex acknowledged. He turned his face to her and gave Sarah a speculative look. “What do you think of the Necromancer?”

“She has been trying to teach me stuff, so I guess I trust her”

“Do you like her?” her Uncle asked, sipping from his beer, making it seem an innocent question.

“No” Sarah answered. “She is not a likeable person I think”

“Hmm, your mother always said that about me” he laughed.

“She didn’t know you as well as I did” Sarah declared and that brought another small laugh from her Uncle.

“You always were my favourite” he told her and then stood up, putting his last empty can on the wooden floor of the porch. He had stacked the last can on top of the other two to make a small triangle like pyramid. “Okay, squirt, it’s time to go”

Sarah got up from her chair and laid the can of soda on the porch floor boards, noticing how the drops of condensation running down the can sides left no mark on the dry wood. It was still full, the cola untouched inside the can.

“It really was safe to drink” her Uncle gently chided her.

“I know. But mom would kill me if she found out I drank Panic Cola this late in the day”

Uncle Rex chuckled at that and extended his hand. She took it without hesitation and followed him as he led her onto the sand and around the side of the beach house. His hand was cool and dry, feeling as light as a feather in her own. At the rear of the house was a trail leading into the dunes, scrubby bushes lining either side of the sandy path.

“That’s the path to Port August, isn’t it?” Sarah asked.

Her uncle nodded.

“It’s the way home” he said. “Just follow the trail and you’ll be back before you know it”

He took a mint from his pocket and unwrapped it, popping the white candy into his mouth.

“Gotta make sure your Aunty Lydia doesn’t smell the beer on my breath” he explained.

“You know we could always tell you had a drink!” laughed Sarah.

“Yeah, I know. Still, you liked the mints didn’t you?”

“Uh-huh. Have you got any to spare, Uncle Rex?”

“Sure” He dug around in his pocket and handed her a mint. She unwrapped it and popped the strongly flavoured candy into her mouth. Without thinking she slid the wrapper into her pants pocket, meaning to drop it into a rubbish bin when she had the chance.

“Catch you next time!” she said and headed up the path. She reached the crest of the dunes and looked back to wave one last time. Her uncle waved at her and with that she stepped over the crest and out of sight.

=====

Archimedes Tower, Pan City

“She’s here!” shouted the Guard and Sarah looked up into his handsome face.

“Stop yelling, Lucky” she admonished him and sat up groggily. Sarah heard answering shouts and soon she was surrounded by the other Guards from the Post, with Eric and Fiona pushing past to check it was really her.

“Where have you been?” Eric demanded, kneeling at her side. She looked about and saw she was on a section of broken concrete with pieces of metal reinforcing bar sticking out at odd angles. “We searched everywhere but no-one could replace you!”

“Lucky did” she replied and wondered at the strong taste of mint in her mouth. “I guess I must have fallen down here” she added, noting she was some levels below the shattered balcony.

“We already searched here, so how come you didn’t call out to us?” insisted Fiona.

“Sorry, I am a bit fuzzy about what happened” Sarah told her friends. “Did it take long to replace me?”

Eric and Fiona exchanged glances.

“You’ve been missing for over four hours” Eric told her. “The Guards made their own way here from the school to help search for you and we have been combing the area. Do you remember anything about where you have been?”

“I’m not sure” she mumbled. “Anyway, can’t you be glad you found me?”

Eric sat back on his heels and gave her a weak smile.

“Yes, I’m glad we found you”

Sarah let them get her upright and guided her to one of the Aid stations. Despite her protests she did feel a bit strange and was rather thirsty. Her feet felt cold on the tiled floor and she noticed her shoes and socks were missing, lost somewhere in the fall she supposed.

“Any chance of a Panic Cola?” she asked Eric, who nodded absently and asked one of the Guards to locate a can for her.

“I thought you told me you didn’t drink that stuff anymore?”

“Yeah, I know” she answered. “I just have a real hankering for a can all of a sudden”

They sat her down at the station and a tired looking female Paramedic ran a check over her with a portable medical scanner.

“A little dehydrated but she is otherwise fine” was the professional assessment. She gave her a bottle of water and the group moved off, allowing the exhausted woman the chance to finally take a rest.

Nero returned with a can of Panic Cola, so Sarah opened it and took a big swig. For some reason she thought of her Uncle Rex and smiled at the memory.

“Hey guys, after Christmas we should all go to a beach house I know in Port August!” she announced. “It would be a great field trip for the Project!”

“Sure” Eric agreed. “Once we fix all the other stuff going on, a trip to the beach sounds nice”

The group filled her in on everything that had happened since she had vanished and by the end of it she was in tears.

“Poor Miss Abrams!” she wailed and Eric folded her into his arms. She sobbed for a while and eventually she sniffled and leaned back. “Sorry about the snot” she apologised and fished about in her pants for a tissue. She found a piece of something and pulled it out into the light.

It was a peppermint wrapper, exactly like the ones her Uncle Rex used to give her.

=====

“Hey Nata, it’s me Carmody” she said when the other woman answered her phone call.

“Carmody! Are you Okay? I heard the Tower was having some kind of terrorist attack in the middle of the Levitator Races!”

“Um, yeah, I am fine but things are really crazy here” Carmody replied. “Look, I know this is out of the blue, but can I come and see you?”

Nata did not hesitate to reply.

“Of course. You are always welcome here! What is the matter?”

“It’s Angelina” Carmody confessed. “I think her butler, Hammerton, is possessed by something from the Dark Side. And he wants to take Angelina away”

To her credit, Nata barely paused before answering.

“Bring her here right now” she said. “Do you need me to come and get you?”

“No, we can get there by ourselves. We are leaving the Tower now”

“Okay” Nata concluded. “I’ll be waiting at the entrance to my apartment building”

Carmody disconnected the call and glanced at Angelina on the public seats beside her. The girl’s hands were bound with gauze and medical tape after the harried Paramedic had assured Carmdody there was no permanent damage. A couple of painkillers and a drink of water completed the treatment and they had been released back into the mass of frightened and confused people still crowding the lower levels of the Tower.

“We are going to see my friend, the one who fights monsters” she told a drowsy Angelina. “She will know what to do”

She lifted her friend into her arms and together they went searching for an Auto-cab to take them away from the chaos.