“Are you two ready?” Dad asked. We were all crammed into the upstairs bathroom. “It’s almost time for you to travel to Dimension Four. From my other self’s notes, the animals are very aggressive here. Please be careful, and at least try to get along.” He knew all about our squabble, and the whole reason behind it.
“I’m ready,” I replied. I had said my goodbyes.
“Yes, I’m ready,” Girl Taylor told him. Dad looked both of us in our eyes, nodded, and pressed the hidden button. When it was ready, he helped us step onto the counter, where we slipped into the portal.
The squeezing and stretching happened for the third time in my life, but slower this time, as if the system itself was slowing down. We spend a good two minutes in the portal, as opposed to the thirty seconds of last time. Something had gone wrong, and I could feel it.
Finally, we arrived. I climbed out, and immediately covered my ears at the loud music and the hubbub downstairs. I wondered how in the world the people here survived with all the attacking animals. And what’s with the loud music?
We came out of the bathroom to find a bustling house. Music played loudly, and almost made me want to cover my ears. People came in and out, talked together, and hung around. A gray parrot with a red tail flew overhead. Hey? Aren’t all the animals here supposed to be aggressive? Why was no one doing anything about the parrot? All who were frequently going in and out wore body armor over padded jumpsuits, which protected them from the larger animal assailants. From the smaller, they wore a reinforced mesh helmet and gloves, with boots attached to their pant legs. All were pale and thin, looking sickly. What did they eat, if none of the animals would cooperate?
Someone noticed us and started talking. Others noticed and bombarded us with questions that we could not answer: “You’re supposed to be in a meeting! Wait, why are there two Taylors?”
“Where’s Taylor? We need to talk to her, or her parents,” the other Taylor said.
“Why don’t you look next to you?” One wearing what seemed to be a gas mask sneered. A gas mask? This seemed like a full-on war.
“Excuse me? Hello? Can anyone tell me what’s going on here?” I eventually spoke up, talking loud over the chatter.
A young woman looked up. Her skin glowed olive-colored. She answered, speaking quickly. “This is the Animal Peace Embassy headquarters. We call it APE for short. Coincidence. If you’re looking for Taylor, she’s probably busy in the meeting room. I wasn’t aware that she was a triplet, but Taylor’s kind of a private person.” She shrugged and flipped her tied-back brown hair over her shoulder.
“Where’s the meeting room?”
“The room right next to the downstairs bathroom, at the end of the hallway. Used to be a garage, before the first Attack. Don’t go in, but it should be done in,” she checked her watch, “ten minutes.”
She started to walk away. “Don’t mention it.”
“Wait! What’s your name?” I asked.
“You can call me Indie,” she said, then walked into the kitchen.
“Okay, Taylor, what should we do for now?”
“Let’s see who occupies these bedrooms.”
“Should we really go snooping around in their stuff?”
“They won’t know. Plus, how else are we going to find out?”
“Okay, fine.”
The master bedroom appeared to be occupied by Dad only. “What happened to Mom?” I wondered aloud.
Our bedroom, still occupied by our other self, looked about the same. Very few wood products, and no books. Instead, a metal bed frame held a thin mattress, more like a pad. The metal desk, free of papers, had an electronic tablet on it. Rather than a window, an iron grate with a shutter and mesh protecting it let light and air in.
The closet revealed only a few jumpsuits and one set of armor, carefully hung up. The many dents and scratches told us that she used it often, but what for? Gloves took up much of the drawer space.
The boys’ room was much the same as it had been in my dimension. Just as messy, only with a bunk bed instead of two separate beds. The closets were identical to Taylor’s, with some green and red jumpsuits filling in the space.
We heard a bell ring, and people filed out of the garage/meeting room. At the back of the line was our other Taylor. She stood the same height as us, but she felt taller because of her commanding presence. That, and combat boots, gave her the edge. Everyone seemed to know her, and all looked respectfully at her. She wore no glasses, but probably contacts. Her hair, cut shorter than I’ve ever had it, gave her an almost boyish look. She looked as pale and thin as the rest. “Taylor!” I got her attention.
She immediately spotted us on the landing and said a few words to a tough-looking guy. She climbed up the stairs. “What are you two doing here? Why are you wearing masks that look just like me?”
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“We’re not. We’re Taylors from another dimension, and we’ll be here for four days until we can get back to my dimension.” Taylor/Zoe explained quickly.
She nodded curtly, and then explained the situation with the animals (how did she know about the portals?). Apparently, seventeen years ago, the animals, all of them from whales to mosquitoes, got fed up and decided to fight back on the summer solstice of that year. Many people died. No one tried to use diplomacy, only to slaughter all the animals. The governments implemented procedures to make food without animals and started manufacturing jumpsuits, armor, and weapons.
“This life, it’s all I’ve known. Mom started a diplomatic group, but a few years later she was ripped apart by wild dogs one accidental evening.” Her voice wavered. “So I took over. I’ve expanded APE and its purpose. I’ve recruited many more people to join my cause. And I’ve done this all without the government taking notice.”
“So you’re the leader of a rebel group?” The other Taylor gushed, completely excited. This development reminded me of countless YA books that all followed the same plot. Hopefully this one didn’t involve some cheesy, stereotypical romance.
“I guess you could say that,” she replied with a twinkle in her eye.
“That’s pretty cool,” I tried to tone her enthusiasm down. “Can you tell us a bit more?”
“I have a few close advisors, like Indie, Finnigan, and Torrin. We are currently negotiating with the animals’ representative. Turns out, they understand most human languages, and parrots can speak intelligently back. We have an African Gray as our interpreter.”
“That’s interesting. What sort of animal is their representative?”
“A house mouse.”
“Are you kidding?! A mouse?!”
“Yeah, I think that the animals wanted to show that they don’t want to be against the humans, they just want peace, but they felt driven to retaliate because of the global mistreatment. His name is Casper, and he’s actually really nice. Of course, when we meet, he’s guarded by these huge grizzlies, but it’s just a precaution.” She bit her lip. She seemed unsure whether it was right to divulge so much information about her secret organization.
“Where do you meet?” I asked, trying to milk the situation for all it’s worth.
“We would meet in the woods across the street, but lately the bird scouts have been reporting some government activity there. So we meet twice a month in the backyard, under the trees so that the scout planes can’t see us.”
“Do the neighbors know?”
“They’re all part of APE. They’re not going to report us.”
“That’s good. You said something about scout planes?”
“Yes, they fly over once a day randomly. After too many families sued the government when their family members were killed by animals outside, a new law passed that only allowed you to go outside if you were wearing a government-issued jumpsuit and set of armor. So they send their planes out to enforce the law.”
“Oh. How did the animals coordinate even though they might be halfway across the world?”
“We’ve asked Casper, but he won’t give a specific answer. Animals are very slow to trust, even though we’ve been negotiating for almost a year now. We think migrating animals, and scent markers spread by them. Now that you’ve asked me so many questions, it’s your turn. I know how you got here, but why?”
We filled her in, taking turns, admitting everything, ending with our experiences when we were in Dimension 3, where we were a boy. I realized how confusing it is to have three Taylors in one dimension. Saying “Taylor,” brought two people looking at me, plus the weirdness of saying my own name.
“What should we tell everyone?” I asked. “This brown-haired girl thought we were identical triplets, but I don’t know if we could make that work. Plus, we would have to give ourselves different names.”
“Brown hair? Was she wearing a bright orange jumpsuit?”
“Yeah? India, I think her name is? Also, why is everyone so pale here?”
“That’s Indie, my advisor. We’re not allowed to go outside without a full set of armor, remember? That includes a helmet.”
“She mentioned you being really private. If she’s close to you, why don’t you talk to her?”
“I do!”
“But only about APE. Be her friend! I think that you should become a better friend to her and your other advisors.”
“Pfff. I try not to make friends. They usually die.”
I laughed, thinking she had made a joke, but she hadn’t. A cold stare silenced me, and I blushed. “Sorry.”
Her niceness disappeared, and her leader mindset reappeared. “I think I have some extra jumpsuits you two can wear. You are my triplets.” She said she would call me Byrd, and the other Taylor she would call Zoe. “Remember not to go outside.”
We changed into lemon-colored jumpsuits with the combat boots attached, which took a minute to get used to. The jumpsuit looked rather like Princess Leia’s, with a little collar and Velcro belt made out of the same quilted material. Zippered pockets scattered along the arms and legs. The inside lining, made of the same material as the outside, kept me at just the right temperature.
When we finished, we mingled with all the people downstairs. The jumpsuits seemed to come in only a few colors: red, blue, and yellow. At least you get to pick, I thought. It seemed some had different colors than that. I asked someone about it: “What’s with all the colors?”
He replied, dragging a hand through his black hair: “Blue, red, and yellow are the main colors of jumpsuits. You can pick between them, or you can pick based on your job. Usually, you have 2 different colors; one for your job and one to wear out and about. The secondary colors, like orange, green, and purple, are for the 3 different categories of jobs. Darker colors are reserved for government officials and soldiers. I thought you knew this already, Taylor.”
“I’m not Taylor, I’m Byrd, Taylor’s triplet from out of town. And so this color differentiation has been in place since the law of wearing jumpsuits outside, right?” I stuck to our story, hoping they would buy it.
“I didn’t know Taylor is a triplet, but yes, this has been in place for quite some time. This is supposed to be a free country, but they separate us by our jobs. That’s one reason I joined APE.” He wore a crimson jumpsuit. I wanted to continue the conversation, but someone called his name, Torrin, and he moved on. Torrin. Wasn’t that the name of one of Taylor’s advisors? He seemed nice enough, and really observant. I would enjoy having him on my advisory board, if I was the Taylor here. And I guess I sort of am.