Episode 25

The verdant hues of the sky with burnt orange clouds did little to calm Sharp’s grumpy disposition. Behind him was chaos with smoldering tech, overlapping voices on the intercom, and a dark, evil horned lady enveloped in red, smiling cheerfully while she chatted with Novell and Darity. Her eyes danced as she interacted with the tablet, obviously a magical device to her. Darity had succeeded in calming her down, but there still weren’t any solutions.

Sharp didn’t actually think the girl was evil, and most devils in Western culture tended to have goat horns, but still. A girl with horns. A royal girl with horns. The jury was out on whether she was evil or not, but he was absolutely convinced that she was going to give him an ulcer.

On cue, his stomach growled angrily at him.

I’m starving! But I ate my last protein bar for lunch earlier today.

Sharp looked forlornly at the miles of sand in front of him in the portal’s view. The shadows were long. It would be dark there soon, which meant that foraging for food would be difficult. There was a beach, and those weird mounds at the water’s edge, but would he have time to fish for food before the portal changed again? That was assuming he had a fishing rod, which he didn’t. He couldn’t go clamming either. First of all, he couldn’t be sure that the world in front of him had clams. Then there was the lack of a shovel that was a slight hitch in his plans.

How would I even cook any food I caught?

The sound of laughter erupted over the speaker. He could see the lab workers mingling together and socializing. He was used to feeling out of step with others, but today this feeling had taken on a surreal note, as if he were the only person with perfect pitch in a choir of tone deaf peers. He watched the silhouettes at the observation window with a leery eye. They were far too excited about the portal to think through the problems. All Sharp could think about was food, escape, and the one thing that he tried hard not to dwell on…if he could cross the portal to enter another world, couldn’t something from the other side do the same?

I need to get out of here.

He couldn’t remember if it was his grandmother or his grandfather who always told him that the way to get started it to quit talking and begin doing. Either way, it was good advice. When the sun set in the other world, the red lights of the WMD lab would shine out into the darkness as a bright red beacon, beckoning who knows what to come give him a visit. Maybe nothing. Maybe the clams of this world loved red lights and walked around on feet. They’d make foraging for food easy for him as they marched up to him to be collected. He didn’t plan on being around long enough to find out.

If there are parts to build another wormbox, then there should be tools stored with them—tools I can use to knock a hole in the wall and get out of here.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Sharp walked away from the portal across the room to the other rolling door. This one didn’t have an inset door, but it was just as wide as the door on the other side of the room. He grabbed the handle at the floor and heaved the metal slats up into the ceiling. The penlight he had pulled from his tool bag illuminated the dimly lit closet space far better than the red emergency lights, but the stacked contents were hard to discern with the limited spotlight his pen gave off.

Sharp could see parts that matched the wormbox outside, but he was surprised there wasn’t more. Then he remembered that Isabelle had claimed one of their trucks went missing. Somebody’s head should have rolled for that. How like Wudgepuck to fixate so much on Sharp that he’d let a truck vanish on his watch. He laughed to himself while running his light around the closet.

There you are!

With a hammer and crowbar in hand, Sharp marched back across the room, but this time to a space between the observation window and the portal.

“Sharp?”

He raised the crowbar to just under his chin, and began hammering it into the wall.

“Sharp!”

“Stop!”

“Knock it off!”

“What?!” he yelled back at the voices.

“Sharp, you can’t knock a hole through the wall,” Isabelle explained with a gentle voice, as if talking to a child. That irritated Sharp more.

“I believe I can. See? Just like this!” Sharp began hammering the crowbar again.

“Sh, Sharp!”

This time Lady Primguard was shouting. She held the tablet at him, arm length and awkward.

“That’s right, Lady Primguard. Just a little higher. Good!” Novell said. “Bro, you can’t knock a hole through the wall to get out of here. The hallway is sealed off.”

“Well, then open it.”

“We can’t. It’s protocol. The lab is physically sealed of with a double set of doors that close off the exit.”

“Then just…”

“No, Sharp. We can’t. It’s too dangerous.”

“Dangerous? We don’t know what’s going to come through that portal when the sun sets, or when the portal changes again! I haven’t eaten in hours. I’m tired. I’m cranky. I just want some to go home and work on my project. And maybe find the person who locked me in here and ruined my weekend. You know, just have a nice chat. Right after I ruin their life.”

Novell was quiet while he let Sharp rant, then when Sharp had come to a stop, he spoke again. “Bro, I’m already in contact with Isabelle. The entire security team and IT department has been called in for overtime. Everyone with proper clearance is working on a way to restore power, deal with the quarantine, and get you home.”

“You haven’t called Wudgepuck in, have you? That’s the last thing I need to deal with.”

“Wudgepuck is in Vegas for a convention.”

“Right.”

“What about me?” said Lady Primguard.

Sharp looked at her and sighed, letting his shoulders drop for dramatic effect. How was he going to get this girl back to where she belonged? Until he had more information, he had zero ideas.

“Right, I haven’t forgotten about you. I just thought I could solve your problem better if I was back at home in my favorite shirt, sitting in front of my own AR Deck, with a cold glass of chocolate milk at my side.”

“What type of animal is a chocolate?”

Sharp snorted.

“Chocolate isn’t an animal. It’s a flavoring for milk.”

“Yeah, for five year olds!” piped up Darity from the tablet.

“You’re the one who tells me I’m childish all the time. I’m just living up to your expectations.” Novell laughed while his girlfriend scowled.

“Well, if I’m stuck in here until you guys work things out, let’s get something in front of that portal. With it wide open like that, I feel like I’m at a bear convention covered in jam holding a “Please Eat Me” sign.”