SNAP! and the Alter Ego Dimension (10 page)

The boys relaxed visibly and went to sit at the tree again.

Tammy felt much better after her nap and the food, but she was still terribly thirsty and her hands felt dirty. Her fingernails appeared horribly stained by the reddish-brown soil and all over her hands there were little brown spots and stripes.

She plucked a few leaves from the tree, squeezed them with her fingers, tore them to pieces and then rolled them between her hands. It didn’t work. The moist leaves didn’t help clean her hands, it just made them sticky. She threw the leaves away and wiped her hands in the loose soil to get rid of the stickiness.

Rather dirty hands than sticky hands, she decided.

“Would you two like to take a nap while I keep watch?” she asked the boys who were busy scratching the metal trays clean with their fingernails for leftovers.

“I guess we should,” Ulrich said and yawned. “Then we’ll have the strength to go and look for our alter egos, forage and explore this place. But who’s going to stay and guard the tree?”

“I shall,” Hiroshi said. “You can take the sword and I’ll keep the spear. Nobody will get past me through this opening.”

“I think you should make me a weapon, too, Hiroshi,” Tammy suggested. “A short, wooden spike like the ones they use to kill Dracula. I don’t think I’ll be able to handle a long spear.”

“The more weapons we have, the longer we’re going to be here without food and water,” Hiroshi said while looking up in the tree for a suitable branch. “So far, the alter egos only attack people who don’t have a weapon. But eventually they will overpower us. It’s only a matter of time.”

“I know, Hiroshi, but I need to defend myself until one of you can kill my alter ego. My mixed martial arts is of no use, because my other self knows exactly what I’m planning to do. You saw her. She had almost overpowered me when you showed up.”

Hiroshi heaved himself up into the tree and stamped on a thick branch. It broke off and fell to the ground. Hiroshi jumped back to the ground and started to cut a short, thick spike with his sword.

In the meantime Ulrich had gone to sit with his back against the tree and shut his eyes.

Hiroshi quickly finished making the spike and gave it to Tammy.

“Here, but take the sword also. I’m going to sit next to Ulrich and take a nap. Shout if you see the alter egos coming.”

Tammy took the spike and the sword. Now she felt like Xena, the female companion of the unconquered and immortal Hercules of Greek and Roman mythology. She had followed the rather old series of
Xena: The Warrior Princess
, on television and thought it was most entertaining. She could only hope that she’d be able to defend the boys as well as Xena had repeatedly defended other people from TV villains.

Tammy went to sit on the slope of the little hill facing the open doorway. She wished she knew what was happening back on earth. Did her mother realize she was missing? If she did, she would be distraught. How was she coping? And had Etsu reappeared at her parents’ home again? Would the young Japanese girl be able to remember anything, or would it be a total blank?

The fire! Tammy suddenly remembered she must put some more wood on the fire. Without heat they won’t be able to make enough water.

She stood up and walked towards the wastepaper basket at the back of the cube. She took a few of the bigger pieces of wood and, taking care not to burn her hand, added them to the now flickering flames.

Satisfied, she went to sit on her old spot.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement.

She tried not to think.

Her hand clutched tighter around the sword’s hilt.

Whatever it was, was coming closer.

She waited nervously.

“Ah, hello Tammy! I’ve been wondering if I would ever see you guys again,” she heard Nick, the murderer’s, voice.

She relaxed immediately and stared at him. Murderer or not, at least he was obviously not an alter ego, because he still carried the gun in his hand—ready to shoot. He lowered the gun.

“Where were you?” she whispered, because she didn’t want to wake the boys unnecessarily.

“I did some exploring. There is a lot of furniture, walls and doors and things left around. I have also seen a place with thousands of bright, miniature lights. Perhaps millions. It was beautiful,” Nick described his explorations.

“Millions of tiny lights? Like specks?” Tammy asked. Was that one of those specks that she had seen in the grayness?

Suddenly, it was as if light dawned on her.

“The alter egos! It must be the place where they’re stored. Did you say there were millions? Only lights? No names of who they are?”

“Nothing, just miniature lights. Well, not even lights, really. They’re too small,” Nick answered.

“Then it wasn’t my imagination. Twice I’ve seen specks of light in the grayness. But they vanish very quickly.” Tammy frowned. “Can the lights move, Nick? What exactly did they look like? These millions of lights?”

Nick looked about him—towards the big bloodstain that was now almost black and the two boys breathing heavily in their sleep.

“Where’s Chris?” he asked, frowning.

“The boys dragged him away. We didn’t want to look at him all the time.”

“Oh. Is there something to eat? Or water? I’m as hungry as a hunter. And thirsty.”

“There’s only this tree. We ate slices of its roots. It’s rather nice. Want to try a piece?” Tammy asked and stood up to cut a slice off the roots that were lying in a heap. Luckily they had eaten the cooked food when they did. The well-armed Nick would have wanted a share or even demanded all of it.

“A piece of root from this tree?” Nick didn’t look impressed with the idea.

“Unfortunately it’s all there is. I don’t think our other selves need to eat or drink. I think this is only a storage place for them. As a speck of light. You must show us where they are when the boys are awake.” Tammy handed Nick some root, peeling the outer bark off first. “Try it, Nick. It’s not so bad.”

“Really? Thanks.” Nick took the slice. “I’m so hungry, I could eat old Chris.”

“What!” Tammy exclaimed and shuddered. The man in front of her had taken someone else’s life. How could he speak so lightly of the dead man?

“Not really!” He smiled at her shocked expression. “At least, not yet. It’s just a manner of speaking. But some years ago there were people who ate their dead co-passengers. They made a film about it.” Tammy shook her head to show that she didn’t know the story. Nick continued, chewing root as he did. “An aircraft went down in the Andes Mountains in winter. The survivors had to melt snow for water and ate some of the dead for food. No choice or they wouldn’t have survived until the search-party found them weeks later.”

“Oh, how gross!”

“But Chris’s body will decompose here. It’s not cold enough to keep like it was in the Andes. I bet rigor mortis had set in already.” Tammy asked what he meant and he explained: “Rigor mortis is when the muscles in a dead body go stiff. I think that’s why the Americans sometimes refer to dead people as stiffs. Hard to tell when someone is really dead, rigor mortis is taken as proof.”

Tammy stared at Nick while he was eating. He didn’t look like a murderer. Perhaps his version of events was really the truth. He seemed like an ordinary, friendly office worker. With a middle-parting in dark-brown hair and a short fringe, eyes a lively brown and a broad chin. Tammy guessed he was no more than average height.

“May I sit with you?” he asked.

“Of course you can, if you like,” Tammy said. For some reason, she didn’t feel threatened by Nick anymore.

“Thanks. The root tasted nice. Can I have another piece, please, or are you rationing food yet?” Nick asked as he went to sit by Tammy.

Tammy cut another piece from one of the roots in the pile. This time a bigger slice. Cutting the root was tough, so, because she knew she must save energy, it made more sense to cut larger pieces.

“Thanks,” he said, removing the bark with his teeth and then biting into the root. “Strange that these things transferred to this dimension. If the alter egos keep on storing people here, this place will eventually be filled with stuff. I wonder how big it is?” He paused to swallow, and, as Tammy didn’t interrupt, he carried on. “I didn’t come across a solid wall, even near the lights. I could move my arm through them. It was as if they were floating in midair. They moved apart and closed as I moved my hand through them. I tried to feel an end, but couldn’t find one.”

“Interesting,” Tammy said. “It could be important. Perhaps they are guarding the door to this dimension. You must show us where they are. Do you remember which direction they were?”

Tammy knew she should explore this place while she was here. If she went back to earth, it will most probably mean that her alter ego was dead. And with her alternative self dead, there would be no coming back. It was like a dream. A dream very seldom, if ever, repeats itself.

“There, over to the right,” Nick indicated with his hand. “But it’s quite far. And I think nearly all the alter egos hide there. I saw mine and the two boys’.” He paused and frowned deeply, remembering. “But they hid in the lights. They are definitely scared of the gun. Your alter ego wasn’t there, though. I haven’t seen her anywhere.”

“I think she’s close by. A little while ago she had tried to catch me. Like Etsu. Oh, yes. I think we’ve had one good result, the Japanese girl that was here, is gone. She’s gone home I think. Her brother hit her alter ego with his sword and then Etsu vanished,” Tammy told Nick.

“Really?” Nick tapped his head with the palm of his hand. “Of course, you were two boys and two girls. Oh my.” Nick stared at his shoes. “That means she’s going to tell about me and Chris. The murder . . . ”

Tammy looked at Nick’s face. There was a little twitch in his cheek.

“You told us it was an accident.”

“It was. You may believe me, but who else will? Nobody is going to believe me, Tammy. Chris and I were quarrelling over an increase in my salary. Everybody saw us. Everybody knows that his wife had a crush on me. How am I going to prove that I didn’t set out to kill him that night? If the girl talks and I go back to earth, I’m going to prison for a long, long time.”

Tammy suddenly felt sorry for Nick.

Ulrich came to sit beside Tammy and put his arm around her shoulders. He looked questioningly at her—perhaps wondering if Nick had done her any harm.

On the spur of the moment she leant over and planted a kiss on Ulrich’s cheek.

Ulrich’s free hand came up to her face and he kissed her gently on her lips.

Tammy’s heart beat wildly in her chest. This wasn’t right. It wasn’t the right time or the right place to be falling for Ulrich. And what about Wayne? She hadn’t given him much of a chance yet. The urge to surrender to Ulrich’s kisses was almost overwhelming. She could be with Ulrich, right here and right now. It seemed a wonderful, crazy, idea. And, in her heart, she knew it wasn’t to be. It could never be. Their being together would be so very short lived, wouldn’t it?

And if they were to leave this place, she would go back to South Africa and Ulrich to Germany. How on earth could such a long distance relationship continue? It would only bring unnecessary heartache and longing, to Ulrich as well as to her.

Yet there was no guarantee that they would ever leave this dimension.

She should push him away, at least she should not return his kiss, but . . . but she enjoyed his attention, his protectiveness, his closeness and the wonderful fluttering inside her. In this wretched grayness she needed somebody to really care about her. Somebody who would, who may have to, risk his life for her. How could she even think of stopping it?

Her mind said she should stop it right now. But her heart said she mustn’t.

Nick cleared his throat.

“Sorry,” Ulrich said. “I’m so glad Tammy is still alive. That’s all.”

Nick frowned at him.

“I . . . mean . . . to see that’s she’s still here,” Ulrich quickly added.

“It’s alright.” Nick waved his hand. “I come with a history.” He smiled wryly. “I’m terribly thirsty . . . ”

Ulrich jumped up.

“The fire! It will be dead by now,” he said, upset.

“No, I put some more wood on it while you slept,” Tammy withdrew her hand from his.

“Why did you make a fire? Are you cold?” Nick asked and stood up.

“No, we want to make water. Ulrich, do you think there will be water in the trays by now?” Tammy asked. She was very thirsty, too. It felt as if her tongue was glued to her palate.

“That’s why you’ve put this plastic on the ground!” Nick said.

“Yes, it’s got to be worth a try. We so need it to work. We all need water,” Ulrich answered.

Nick turned around and stared at the two thick, shiny, silver colored tubes that came with him into this dimension. They still hung strangely in midair, not anchored to anything.

“Talk about water . . . The aluminum tubes that came with Chris and me . . . There should be two water pipes inside one of them. One hot and one cold. Maybe the water came with them,” Nick said thoughtfully. “The other aluminum tube’s no use though, it was just for air-conditioning.”

“Really? Are you sure about the water pipes?” Ulrich asked standing to examine the huge silver tubes. He climbed from the hill and started to jump up and down to see into the tubes. They were too high.

“Yes, and if the pipes are sealed off like this tree and the air around it, the water in the pipes should be sealed off, too,” Nick said. “All we need to do is to get the water out of the pipes.”

“We are getting good at foraging,” Tammy said excitedly and stared at the tubes. The mere thought that there could be water so near made her want to sing and dance. “We’ll think of something to get the water out. But first we must find some more buckets to collect it in.

“Hiroshi! Wake up!” she shouted. The last thing they needed now was for the alter egos to come and steal the tubes. They were almost five meters away.

Hiroshi woke up abruptly and jumped to his feet. He was confused but still instantly alert, assessing everything for danger. Tammy always needed a few seconds to realize where she was, then a bit more time to work out what she had to do.

“Sorry I had to wake you,” she said, “but we need your help, Hiroshi.”

“There might be water pipes inside the big aluminum tubes that came with Nick. We must get that water out before the alter egos prevent us, but they’re too high to reach.” Ulrich interrupted.

“How are we going to reach the pipes and who is going to stay by the tree?” Hiroshi asked, thinking aloud. “I’ll go . . . ”

“You can’t,” Ulrich said. “If the alter egos decide to work together, they will overpower you, sword and all, before we can reach you. Then we’ll be without the sword, too. Hiroshi, I think you should stay here. Let us three try and find a way to get to the water.”

“We’ll need a bucket, Ulrich. Should we take one of the plastic drawers out of the soil?” Tammy suggested.

“No!” Hiroshi cried out. “There is a steel-cabinet in that room that we built. Bring it here. If one of you climbs on it, you can reach the tubes and use the drawers to collect the water. A steel drawer ought to be without holes.”

“Of course! The steel-cabinet,” Ulrich said. “If we stagger the drawers open, we can use them as a staircase. Then we can take out the bottom drawer and fill it with water. Come on, Nick, and you, Tammy. Let’s go.”

Staying close, Tammy and Ulrich ran in the direction of the room. Nick trotted along behind them. The room looked just like they had left it—without the wall and the door. They walked towards the dark-gray steel cabinet and pulled it forward. It was heavy, but moved easily. It had four, big, deep drawers.

Tammy pulled open one of the drawers and looked at the contents. There were lots of different colored paper files in the drawer, paper useful for the fire, but the drawer was made of two steel-plates. It wouldn’t be watertight.

“Sorry, guys,” she said and wanted to cry out of frustration. “This cabinet will only do as a staircase.”

The drawers were made from steel-plates hammered down together. There were holes in the corners.

“We’ll have to dig up a plastic tray,” Tammy said.

Ulrich and Nick also looked at how the drawer had been made.

“Wait,” Nick said. “Let me think. Somewhere I’ve seen a bowl with a few pieces of popcorn around it. Somebody was transferred here while having popcorn. It was a fairly big bowl.” Nick showed how big it was with his hands. “But I’ll have to go and look for it again. Let me go alone. I’ll be much quicker, before ‘you know who’ can stop me.”

“Bring the popcorn too,” Tammy called after him as he ran from the room.

“What? Are you going to eat it?” Ulrich asked, surprised.

“Yes, you bet. Do you think this grayness is dirty?” Tammy asked.

Ulrich looked down at the grayness beneath his trainers. There wasn’t a speck of dust to be seen.

“No, but . . . ”

“There’s almost no food, Ulrich, we can’t afford to be choosy,” Tammy chipped in.

At home she would never eat popcorn off the floor. Especially someone else’s popcorn. And now she’d happily eat it with her incredibly dirty hands! Back at home she wouldn’t have dreamt of eating with hands this dirty. She knew you risked getting very ill when you eat with dirty hands, but in this place she would eat whatever she could get. Even if it’s gross. And she’d happily drink water from another person’s popcorn bowl, not really caring how hygienic it all was.

“I suppose you’re right,” Ulrich reluctantly agreed and together they pulled the cabinet back to an anxious Hiroshi—with one hand on the cabinet and the other on the spear and the spike at all times.

Hiroshi was instantaneously alert as he saw them approach.

“Where’s Nick?” he asked while they were still a few meters away, pushing and pulling the cabinet.

“He went to fetch a popcorn bowl, because the drawers aren’t watertight,” Ulrich answered.

“We must get out of this place fast,” Hiroshi said and he sounded tired. “I cannot go on like this much longer. I’ve been here four days already. I’m getting weak. I need a drink, proper food and rest.”

“We need to make a plan to outwit our alter egos. We need to come up with more than one plan and write them all down. Then we must decide on one plan while we try to think of something else,” Tammy suggested. “Perhaps then, they won’t know what we’re thinking and won’t know what plan we’ve decided on. Maybe we can sing or something to distract them.”

“Maybe that’ll work,” Ulrich said, although he sounded a little dubious. “We can work together to eliminate one another’s alter ego. And when there are only two of us left, we can try to take out the last two alter egos together, so there won’t be only one of us left here. It would be horrific to be alone in this grayness,” he added as an afterthought.

Tammy could easily imagine what it would be like. The fear that she experienced when she had first landed here was horrific. And fighting with her alter ego was a terrifying fight to the death that she would have lost if Hiroshi had not intervened. Tammy shuddered.

“As soon as Nick comes back, we’ll try and get water from the pipes and then we’ll start making plans,” Hiroshi said. “Start thinking of something. The singing might work. I’ve got karaoke songs on my laptop.”

Tammy and Ulrich pulled the filing-cabinet beneath one of the aluminum tubes. Ulrich pulled the drawers open one by one and Tammy laid the files flat. One would not be able to stand on files that were upright.

Ulrich climbed up the open drawers and examined the big pipe.

“It feels thin,” Ulrich said. “Thicker than household aluminum, but I’ll be able to cut it open with your sword, Hiroshi. But we’ll have to wait for Nick with the bowl. If there’s water, we’ll need the bowl.”

Suddenly there was a soughing sound like wind through a tunnel.

Tammy stiffened. Somebody was coming to this dimension. . .

A petite little girl, with two long, black strings of plaited hair, appeared so close to Tammy that it gave her a fright and made her jump to one side. Big, brown eyes stared at her in bewilderment.

“¿Dónde estoy?”
asked the little gypsy-like girl in a frightened voice, but Tammy couldn’t understand her. Behind the little girl, next to the aluminum sliding door appeared a roughly finished, white wall. There was a picture of a nicely clothed matador with his red cloth and a raging bull.

“¡Cierre!”
Tammy heard and saw the girl’s alter ego approaching. It must mean “
Snap
!”, she decided.

The alter ego grabbed the girl by her neck while the girl’s hands went for the alter egos throat.

“¡Ayúdame!”
shrieked the girl and looked at Tammy with big, pleading eyes.

Tammy plucked the short spike from behind her belt and held it in her hand like a dagger. She didn’t understand the little girl’s language, but she knew she must help her.

Suddenly the alter ego swung the girl around and around in a circle. Their black hair swirled about their heads. Now both of them screamed and Tammy couldn’t make out which was which. Both looked terrified, but Tammy knew the alter ego was only pretending. It was enough to fool the watchers. The two girls looked like identical twins playing merry-go-round.

Hiroshi stormed closer with his sword ready above his head, but came to a standstill. Tammy could see that he didn’t know who was who either. If he hit the real girl, they would both die, like Chris and his alter ego.

A shot cracked through the grayness.

Tammy was paralyzed with fright.

Hiroshi swung around.

Nick walked into their field of vision. The pistol ready in his right hand and a white bowl under his left arm.

“
Matte!
Wait!” Hiroshi cried out. “Don’t shoot! We don’t know who’s who ... . . . ”

He turned around to look at the girls.

Tammy too.

The two girls had disappeared into the grayness.

“Where . . . where are they now?” Hiroshi asked. He looked at Nick. “Did you shoot one of them?”

“No, I fired into the air. I thought it would frighten the alter ego.”

“Ach nein!”
Ulrich exclaimed from where he was still standing on top of the filing-cabinet. “The shot gave me a fright. I almost fell off. But that means the alter ego had taken the girl into the grayness. Damn! It seems to me the alter egos are getting smarter. Luckily we all have weapons by which we can be recognized and Tammy has her strange clothes. Shame about the little girl. How old do you guys think she was? Ten, twelve?”

Tammy nodded. She felt close to tears. She would never forget the fear in those beautiful, wide eyes. The little girl appealed to her for help, but she had failed her. She couldn’t prevent the poor girl being snatched away, stored in this horrible place forever. To think that her nasty alter ego is probably already on her way to earth! A creature that shrieks and goes crazy just to get what she wants.

Goodness, when will they escape this horrible place? And how will they manage it?