Chapter 14
The purple Volkswagen, cloaked in a vacuum of sub-atomic phenomenon, catapulted through the dimensional portal. Jerry Garcia’s guitar blared through the cabin, drowning the VW’s cosmic engine. The Woodstock -Star Wars-décor was illuminated with twinkling crystals, glowing tubes, and an aquamarine lava lamp mounted on the alien navigation dashboard. Dangling rows of beads separated the tie-dye trimmed rear section from the violet vinyl captain’s chair. A tattered army blanket covered a bench style seat along the back of the bus, with a cushy, violet shag carpet lining the floor. On top of it all, the space-hippie-mobile reeked of patchouli. The wild-haired pilot guided the enigmatic craft, muttering to himself. He appeared to be in conversation with at least one other person. And right now, it looked like they were having an argument. Outside, spiraling waves of blue surrounded them, like whirlpools in an undersea storm.
“Where the hell are we?” Norm rolled to his knees, the pilot oblivious to his question. “Hey buddy! Hello? Anybody up there? I asked where we are.” The man driving the bus continued to mumble, adjusting the instrumentation. Tired of being ignored, Norm poked his head through the wall of beads. “Yo! Dude? You gonna answer me or what?”
“Hold on.” The pilot’s toothy grin broke through his deep orange beard.
“Listen, if you’re trying to help I -whoa!” The vehicle zoomed up like a missile into a field of multi-colored light. Dylan rolled helplessly into the side wall, while Norm backward somersaulted hard into the rear bench seat.
“Now don’t go breakin’ anything back there,” the pilot hollered.
Norm gripped the cushion like a bull rider. “Warn me next time!” The bus leveled out into what felt like a slow-motion hover. Small stars, mini-nebulae, planets and assorted swirls of energy adorned the backdrop of the inter-dimensional space.
“I told ya to hold on.” The pilot turned the music down and spun his chair around. His ridiculously thick eyebrows wiggled up and down on his forehead, independent of the other. “Seriously sorry ‘bout the rough treatment, gentlemen. Allow me to introduce myself. Chevro Buffer’s the name, inter-dimensional navigation, is m’claim t’fame! Next stop, Mount Shasta! Now if you’ll all-” The bus bucked and dropped into another vortex. “Hang on!” The rear of the bus pulled sideways. Chevro shifted gears, put his foot to the floor, cosmic engines roaring to life. The bus shot straight up before settling into a gentle cruising orbit again.
Chevro shook his head, making sure it was altogether. “That was a close one.”
“Was that an explosion?” Dylan asked, regaining his strength.
“An implosion.” Chevro held up a gangly index finger.
“What’s an implosion?” Norm’s head tracked from side to side, marveling at the scene beyond the window.
Chevro pointed at a yellowish ball of crackling energy. “See those mini stars? When one goes micro-nova in the inter-dimensional space, it literally collapses on itself, creating a negative vortex that pulls everything within spittin’ distance into it. That’s an implosion. We were outta range.”
“Cool. I guess.” Dylan propped himself against the side of the bus, craning his head to get a good look at his rescuer. “Chevro Buffer? Is that a name? Inter-dimensional what?”
“Inter-dimensional navigation and transport, son! We take my-ways through the by-ways!” Chevro cast a hand toward the psychedelic daydream outside. “And sorry, I can’t do a thing ‘bout the name. Dad liked Chevys.”
Norm crouched toward the front of the bus to get a better look. “What is this? Space?”
“Not exactly.” Chevro cocked his head. “It’s the inter-dimensional space, but others, they call it Limbo. It’s the space between the dimensions. Kinda like the glass in the mirror, the sliver between reality and the reflection.”
“How did you get here?” Dylan hoisted himself up, studying the bizarre man.
“Well, when I was still livin’ on earth, I was a scientist, a professor of physics actually, at U-CAL Berkley. I specialized in particle conversion. Y’know, wormholes and tryin’ to see what’s on the other side. I was working on it back in the sixties, but eventually, someone gave me the key.”
“Someone?” Dylan gazed out the windows, mesmerized by the earth below as he had seen it in a thousand photos. Only this Earth was surrounded by a bunch of different sized and shaped planets, three stars and even a nebula.
“You’ll meet’em soon enough.” Chevro smiled, watching Dylan take in his first views of Limbo. “Max used to love to look down on the world, too.”
“You knew Max?” Dylan asked somberly.
“Know him! Hell, I’ve been with Max since the day he became the Scion. He’s sorta the reason I do what I do! It seems like only yesterday I picked up Max and his buddy hitch-hiking up to Shasta. I consider him to be a true friend. The truest. Dylan, I’ve heard so many stories about you and, of course, Nan. I figured this must be your pal, Norm. Pleased to meet ya, guy.” Chevro saluted in the rearview mirror. Norm smiled, surprised that Chevro knew his name. “I’ve heard about you since you were born, seen pictures. Hell, I feel like I’ve known you both your whole lives. We’re old friends in my book.”
His words struck Dylan’s heart. “It’s nice to meet you, Chevro.” Dylan’s lips quivered. He dropped his head into his hands, fighting tears.
“I’m sorry, Dylan. Don’t know where my head’s at. I wish you understood how much Max meant to me and you being here could only mean one thing. And I’ll miss him more than I can tell you, Dylan. The whole galaxy will. But he’s told me enough about you and how you’ve got what it takes to do the job. And make no mistake, we got a serious job to do.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Dylan straightened himself. “I miss him.” A single tear slid down his cheek. “And I don’t know what I’m supposed to do besides go to Mount Shasta. I don’t want to mess up.”
Chevro took a breath before speaking. “I get it. It’s tough to wrap your head around. All Max got was a note.”
“Anything you can tell me will help.”
“The main thing you need to know is, the Earth needs you and you need her. Right now, your job is to get up the mountain. You and the world gotta to come together. Synchronicity is kinda like bein’ reborn and findin’ your true self.”
“What happens then?” Dylan asked.
“You’re askin’ me? All I know is it’s my job to get you to Shasta fast or the black hole bad guy is gonna end it all.”
“Necromanos?”
“Yep. He’s so bad. He makes the devil look like sunshine. He has cronies everywhere. Like those Terovian raiders. Mercenaries, doin’ his dirty work. And he wants everything to be nothing. Not dead. Nothing. A black hole, like him. And since you can’t destroy nothing, the only thing you can do is try to protect, preserve, and create the life around you.”
“So why me? I just want to live a normal life. I didn’t even get time to be sad about my grandfather.”
“Dylan, I really don’t have an answer except that you were meant to do this. So was Max, and there was no mistake. Your family is special, and their history goes beyond the history in this world.”
“Look, I really don’t get what you’re talking about and don’t really want to,” Dylan huffed. “But up until two weeks ago, my life was completely normal. I had-”
Chevro turned, getting face to face with Dylan. “How many trips did Max take to conservation retreats and animal trapping courses?”
“A lot.” Dylan slumped back. “
“He never went to a single one. He was protecting the world. And keepin’ it a secret. He sacrificed everything and lived in pain for years. Max had to bear so much you’ll never know, just to carry on this torch until you were ready. It’s responsibility, Dylan… to the world that gave you a chance to live. I’ve got a lot to tell you, but we’ll be on Shasta in a few seconds. And this time, I think you guys should grab the holy-you-know-what bars before we land.”
“You’re not coming with us?” Norm popped up alongside Dylan.
“I would if I could, but I’m sort of trapped in Limbo. The same poison that killed Max. If I leave here for too long, it’ll eat my soul.” Chevro shook his head. “When you get synched up, you’ll understand a whole lot more. Now listen, after we come through the rift, you guys jump when I turn. Then I gotta get back in before it closes. We good?” The boys nodded nervously. Chevro turned up the Grateful Dead and revved the engines. “Remember, if you need me, ring the chime. I’ll find you anywhere. Just make sure I got some room to land and take off, unless it's life and death. Here we go!”
The bus rattled, reverberating until the sound faded into break-neck descent. The vibrations intensified. Limbo blended like an electric kaleidoscope. Within seconds, the bus passed into the vacuum of the rift. Dylan and Norm held the tiny plastic handles on the side of the bus as it hyper-sped through the rainbow tornado.
A tiny light grew rapidly in the distance until it engulfed the bus in its brilliance. “Get ready.” Chevro clutched the wheel and braced himself. The bus hit the ground, bucking and bouncing across a small clearing. “Go! Go! Go!”
Norm tightened the backpack and slid the door open. The VW bus puttered along the dirt path. The boys exchanged a worried glance. The bus slowed, hooking back toward the rift. Norm leaped first and took a few steps before tumbling to a stop. “It’s now or never, kid!” Dylan jumped and landed hard on his first step. He shot up into the air like a pogo stick, landing flat on his back before he skidded to a stop. “Good luck, boys! You need me. Ring the chime.” The cosmic roar revved before shooting upward into the vortex. The rift closed like a television turning off.
Norm ran to check on Dylan. “Dude, are you ok?”
“Yeah, but my butt is totally numb right now.” Dylan pulled himself to his knees, adjusting the seat of his pants. “And I got a wedgie from hell.” He brushed the dirt off his shoulders and out of his hair.
Norm pointed toward the sun, still sitting high above the horizon. “Wasn’t it just dark out a few minutes ago?”
“We’re really here. In California. It’s three hours earlier.” Dylan’s words trailed off, absorbing his first glimpse of the majestic Mount Shasta. An intense buzz instantly charged within the deepest centers of his being; a feeling that could only be described as a long overdue homecoming. Dylan marveled at the massive rock eminence jutting forth from the belly of the Earth. The lower third of Shasta was cloaked in a thick carpet of trees, creeping around its base. Bushy, green patches gave way to the brownish-orange torso of the mountain before finally fading into the angelic snowy apex just beneath the clouds.
“Holy mother of- we gotta climb that thing?” Norm shook his head. “You gotta be kidding. We’re still at least a mile from the bottom and there’s a freakin’ iceberg on top of it.”
“It’s a glacier.” Dylan whispered; the knowledge of the mountain suddenly present within him, taking in the trees that skirted the base. “We have to find the oak now.”
“Well, how do we do that? There’s like ten thousand trees out here. We need a map or something.”
Suddenly, the Twilight Zone theme played in Dylan’s pocket. He pulled out the cell phone, not sure who or what to expect. “Hello?”
“D-Max! Where the hell are you?” Weird’s nasal voice pierced the serenity.
“Oh hey, Weird. We’re… uh… just camping.” Dylan said, motioning to Norm to do something.
“Yeah, you were gonna call me when you got there. Remember? But I didn’t realize you were going to California and that you could get there in less than five minutes.”
“Dude, what are you talking about?” Dylan tried to play it cool. “We’re just in the backyard in a tent.”
“Dylan, please don’t BS me,” Weird scoffed. “There’s a military GPS on that phone and right now it says you’re in Northern California and, by the way, you disappeared off the planet for a few minutes, so you better tell me what’s up.”
Dylan remained silent for a few seconds before speaking. “Okay, listen, Weird. If I could tell you, I would, and I will when I can…but honestly, I don’t know. For now, can you just help me and don’t say a word to anyone? We need you.”
“Bro, c’mon! Of course! You and Norm are about the only guys who are ever cool to me. What can the Weird do for ya?”
“Thanks, man. Well, we are in California. You got a GPS on me. Can you tell if I’m on the east side of Mount Shasta?”
“That’s Shasta? Holy shmolies!” Weird’s voice cracked with excitement. “You must be into something crazy. Shasta has military satellite eyes on it constantly because of supposed, um… alien activity.”
Dylan sighed. “Great, maybe they can abduct me.”
“Hang on a sec.” Weird clacked away on his keyboard. “Kay, man. I just have to superimpose your position onto my macro-earth program and, yup, you guys are on the southeast corner.”
“Weird, you are the man,” Dylan said, giving thumbs up to Norm. “Thank you! Now I’ve gotta go find a needle in a haystack.”
“Can I help?”
“We have to find this black oak along the east side of Shasta. It’s pretty much my problem from here.” Dylan rubbed his chest, the buzz in his center drawing him upward.
“Oh, contraire, mon fraire,” Weird laughed. “Ironically enough, I’ve been working on a little hacker program that might help us. I call it, skyjacker.”