The Traveler

“Well, that sounds promising.” Hollis smiled slightly and that made her feel better. He wasn’t like her father or Mother Blessing, but he was beginning to think like a Harlequin. You had to accept your fate, and still be brave.

Nothing happened when they forced open the steel door. They were at the bottom level of a concrete emergency staircase with lightbulbs on each landing. Maya took the first step, and then started moving quickly.

Find the Traveler.

57

Kennard Nash spoke to one of the technicians monitoring the quantum computer. He gave the man a pat on the back like a coach sending a player back into the game, then crossed the room and sat down next to Michael.

“We’ve received the preliminary message from our friends,” Nash explained. “That usually means that the main transmission will occur in five or ten minutes.”

The general’s bodyguard, Ramón Vega, refilled both wineglasses as Michael nibbled on a cracker. He enjoyed sitting in the shadowy room and watching the sealed glass tank filled with liquid helium. Little explosions kept going off inside the green liquid as the electron switches at the heart of the computer were manipulated within a cage of energy.

The electrons existed within this world, but the quantum property of superposition enabled these subatomic particles to be on and off, up and down, spinning left and spinning right-all at the same time. For an almost imperceptible moment, they were both here and there, crossing over into a parallel dimension. In this other realm, an advanced civilization was waiting with another computer. The computer captured the electrons, arranged them into a packet of information, and sent them back again.

“Are you waiting for anything in particular?” Michael asked.

“A message from them. Perhaps a reward. Three days ago, we transmitted the data obtained when you entered the Second Realm. That’s what they wanted from us-a road map from a Traveler.”

Nash pressed a switch and three plasma-screen TVs were lowered from the ceiling. A technician on the other side of the room was staring at a computer monitor and he began typing commands. Seconds later, points of light and patches of darkness appeared on the left-hand TV screen.

“That’s what they’re sending us. It’s a binary code,” Nash explained. “Light and non-light is the basic language of the universe.”

The computers translated the code and numbers appeared on the right-hand screen. Another delay and Michael saw an arrangement of straight and angled lines on the center screen. It appeared to be the blueprint of a complex machine.

General Nash was acting like a true believer who had just seen the face of God. “This is what we were waiting for,” he murmured. “You’re looking at the next version of our quantum computer.”

“How long will it take to build it?”

“My staff will analyze the data and give me a delivery date. Until then, we’ve got to keep our new friends happy.” Nash smiled confidently. “I’m playing a little game with this other civilization. We want to increase the power of our technology. They want to move freely between the realms. You’re the one who shows them how it’s done.”

Binary code. Numbers. And then a design for a new machine. The data from the advanced civilization flowed across the three screens and Michael was swept away by the images flashing in front of him. He barely noticed when Ramón Vega approached General Nash and handed him a cell phone.

“I’m busy,” Nash said to the caller. “Can’t you wait until…” Suddenly the general’s face changed. Looking tense, he stood up and began to pace around the room. “You did what? Who gave you permission to open the cages? So where’s Boone? Have you contacted him? Well, hurry up and do it. Tell him to come to the computer center right away.”

“Is there a problem?” Michael asked when Nash switched off the phone.

“Someone has entered the research facility. It might be one of those Harlequin fanatics I mentioned to you. All this is highly unusual. Those people don’t have the resources to enter our facilities.”

“Is this person in the building?”

The possibility startled General Nash. He glanced at his bodyguard, and then controlled his fear. “Of course not. That’s impossible.”

58

After wandering through the dark city, Gabriel had finally found the passageway home. Now he felt as if he was at the bottom of a deep pool of water, looking up at the shimmering surface. The air in his lungs pulled him upward-slowly, at first, and then with growing acceleration. He was close to the surface, only a few feet away, when he entered back into his body.

The Traveler opened his eyes and realized that he wasn’t lying on a folding cot in a church camp dormitory. Instead he was strapped to a hospital gurney, being pulled down a long hallway with recessed lights. Protected by its scabbard, the jade sword lay on his stomach and chest.