SNAP! and the Alter Ego Dimension (12 page)

“Are the water condensers working?” Nick asked.

“I’ll check,” Ulrich said and went to crouch next to some plastic sheeting. He took out two of the wooden pins they’d made from branches and peeked underneath. As he raised the plastic everyone could see water trickle down toward the tray.

“Yes!” Tammy shouted, pointing, “Look, look at all the water droplets hanging on the plastic. My goodness, Ulrich, you’re a genius.”

Everybody stared at the visible signs of moisture on the inside of the clear plastic, although Hiroshi soon turned back to watch the entrance. The soil was definitely sweating from the heat of the fire.

Ulrich straitened up, beaming.

“Let’s break some more wood before we explore this place properly. When we come across wooden doors we should bring them back with us. We’ve got enough paper. A whole cabinet full.”

“We’ll have to empty the metal basket, soon. It’s getting full of ash,” Tammy said. “Then we’ll have to start the fire again. We’ve lots of clothes to hold the hot basket with. We won’t have to wait for it to cool down.”

“Better still would be a second bin,” Nick observed.

“Sorry, folks, but I need the bathroom,” Tammy said, again looking slightly embarrassed.

“I’ll come with you,” Ulrich proposed and picked up his spear, “and stand guard.”

He lifted an exercise book from the ground, took Tammy’s hand and pulled her close to him. Again Tammy thought fleetingly of resisting, but in the end she didn’t. Together they went behind the aluminum doors.

Leaving Hiroshi on guard, Tammy, Ulrich and Nick walked close beside each other into the unknown grayness. After Tammy and Ulrich had gone behind the aluminum sliding door, they had rinsed their hands with a little water in one of the CD-holders’ lids. Tammy’s hands felt a little cleaner than before and they recycled the dirty water by pouring it into one of the holes where they had the trays set up.

Tammy’s right hand was held protectively in Ulrich’s left. His right hand was clutching the wooden spear. Tammy held her short, wooden spike in her left hand. The fingers of Nick’s right hand were folded around the handgrip of the pistol. The safety clip was down. They were going to explore the place, and if they were lucky, Nick would lead them to the location of the hordes of little light spots.

Unfortunately Hiroshi had to stay with the tree and their precious water, but he really didn’t mind, he assured them. Now that he had drunk two full mugs of water, he was satisfied that he could take on his own alter ego or all of them at once with the sword.

They came across wooden doors, wooden tables and wooden cupboards wherever they went. As they collected the furniture they talked about things unconnected to their plans. They hoped that this would stop their other selves knowing exactly what these plans were. Perhaps the alter egos had to be physically watching them to know exactly what they were thinking.

Every now and then Tammy thought she saw a light speck somewhere. She felt as if she was watched constantly, but as soon as she tried to concentrate on the light, it vanished.

After what felt like hours, they arrived at the place with the myriad tiny lights Nick had told them about. There were bright, tiny specks of light as far as they could see to the left, right and upwards. Whenever Tammy moved a few steps to either side, new lights would appear and others disappear. Even with all the lights they could only see five meters in all directions, except downwards. But the specks of light didn’t seem to make any light, they didn’t illuminate the grayness. All was still a mind-numbingly dull gray.

Tammy let go of Ulrich’s hand and tried to touch them. She failed. As her hand closed around lights they trickled through her fingers. They reacted like water or, more accurately, like mercury. In her science class she had played with mercury once. She had put her finger on top of a drop of mercury and had watched the silvery substance glide away to another spot on the flat plate.

While she gazed at the lights she wondered who in the world’s alter ego was just brushed by her hand. Her mother’s? Wayne’s? A whole school somewhere? Were these alter egos stored according to age, or geographic area? Who’s in charge of this place? Angels? Was this place part of the creation? A heaven or a hell, maybe?

Not a heaven, Tammy decided immediately. Rather a hell, because these alter egos were definitely evil. Had these alter egos gone out of control like in science fiction story books?

They obviously wanted to take over the world, but why? Why hadn’t they already? How was she ever going to know, because there was nobody to ask here.

“I wonder what lies behind these specks?” she wondered aloud and looked at Ulrich and Nick who were also playing with the tiny lights. “Or do you think they keep on into infinity?”

“That’s the million dollar question,” Nick said and sniffed at the lights.

“I want to walk in them,” Tammy said.

“Better not, your alter ego may be close, hidden amongst them. Stay with us,” Ulrich suggested, protectively.

“Hold my hand,” Tammy said. “I’ll only take two steps. I want to feel what it’s like to be surrounded by thousands of tiny lights.”

Ulrich clutched Tammy’s hand and let her walk into the lights.

She could feel how the speckles closed around her body, touched her arms, her face . . . They engulfed her completely . . . covered her mouth, filled her ears, blocked her nose, hurt her eyes. She couldn’t breathe! She was suffocating! She . . .

She was pulled, then yanked from the lights.

“
Donner und Blitzen
. What’s happened?” Ulrich demanded. “The specks turned red!”

Tammy shook her head and gasped for air.

“They . . . were trying to . . . wanted to suffocate me,” she answered and stared at the apparently lifeless lights. The sight was calm and serene again, no hint of redness remained. The thought crossed her mind that these lights looked like thousands of wicked eyes that were staring at her.

“Let’s get away from here!” Nick exclaimed, his voice edged with fear. “These things may come alive!”

“They are alive,” Tammy muttered and ran her fingers through her hair, subconsciously checking that no lights lingered where she couldn’t see them.

They turned around and ran back towards the place where they had gathered the wooden items.

But they came to the cube with the tree first.

“No!” Nick exclaimed. “We shouldn’t be here yet. Where’s all the stuff that we found? Did we walk straight past it?”

“Impossible,” Ulrich stated. “We walked back by the same route. There was a lot of stuff. We would’ve seen something. I think the alter egos moved it. That means . . . That can only mean . . . ”

His voice tailed off as he was probably lost in thought.

“Means what, Ulrich?” Tammy asked.

“That our alter egos are working together!”

“But they couldn’t make the things disappear. They must still be here somewhere,” Nick insisted.

“We’ll just have to find some more. The door of my room was close to your window, Tammy. Let’s go and get it before the alter egos hide that, too.”

Ulrich pulled Tammy forward and together they ran as fast as they could through the cold grayness. In their free hands they clutched their weapons.

“There! There’s a piece of my window,” Tammy cried, almost out of breath.

They carried on forward and the window with its branches and patch of blue sky came fully into view. So did Ulrich’s bedroom door.

Suddenly there was the sound of wind through a tunnel.

Ulrich pulled Tammy close to him and kept the spear ready. Tammy held her spike defensively in front of her body.

Someone with a huge rucksack on his back appeared right beside them. Scared and tense, Tammy waited expectantly for that person’s alter ego to show himself.

Then he came.

But . . . It was . . .

“Wayne!?” she yelled surprised.

The real Wayne swung around. The bulging rucksack made him lose his balance. He toppled in slow motion sideways, landing on top of the pack. Behind him a wall with posters of motorbikes appeared.

With outstretched hands the alter Wayne advanced through the grayness towards Wayne.

Immediately Tammy plucked her hand free from Ulrich’s grip and stormed towards alter Wayne. She waved the wooden spike in front of her.

“Leave him alone!” she screamed and stabbed with all her might at Wayne’s double.

He jumped out of the way.

And she missed completely, almost striking the real Wayne as he tried to rise to his feet!

Before the alter ego could say:
Snap
! he turned and disappeared from view.

Tammy went to kneel next to Wayne.

“What are you doing here?” she asked in Afrikaans, her native language.

Wayne’s face brightened up. “Looking for you,” he said, smiling. “I found you, I really found you!”

He reached for her face and stroked her cheek gently.

“You’re ice cold,” he said, concerned.

“Yes, it’s cold here, always.”

“I brought you warm clothes. Some of my old clothes.”

Ulrich came to crouch by them and put his hand possessively on Tammy’s back.

“Do you know one another?” he asked, although the answer was obvious.

Tammy looked at him with her head tilted sideways.

“Yes,” she answered in English. She saw a hint of jealousy in his eyes. Then she looked back at Wayne. “You’ll have to speak English. This place is multi-national.”

She sounded like an old hand to herself. A veteran of this dimension.

“Meet Ulrich. He’s from Germany,” she said, again in English. “This is Wayne. He’s with me in grade twelve, in the same school.”

She saw Wayne’s frown, followed his gaze and realized he was looking at Ulrich’s hand on her back.

Oh goodness! Did Wayne come here to look for her? To rescue her? Had he put his own life in danger for her? The idea of a knight in shining armor coming to rescue his damsel in distress really appealed to her romantic side. Did he care so much for her? That was so very nice, but it hadn’t looked that way the last time she had seen him. Well, that’s his bad luck. She’d moved on, but . . . she needed confirmation.

“Did you come here looking for me?” she asked.

“Yes, I had to, because I laughed at you. I felt so bad and . . . who did you wish you could be?” he asked in Afrikaans, unfastening the strap around his waist and waggling the rucksack from his back.

“English, please,” Tammy demanded, “or else nobody will understand you.”

Wayne repeated his conversation in English for the benefit of Ulrich.

“So, what do you mean by, ‘who did I wish I could be’?” Tammy asked.

“The
Snap
game only appears when you feel really bad about yourself and wish you could be like somebody else,” Wayne lapsed back into Afrikaans. “I had a really tough time trying to get the
Snap
message on the screen so that I could come here, bring you some stuff and rescue you.”

“Food! Did you bring food?” Tammy wanted to know excitedly.

“Yes, but who did you wish you could be?” Wayne persisted.

Tammy pressed her lips together and blushed a little. Well, quite a lot, because for the first time in the Alter Ego Dimension she felt her cheeks were hot.

“That’s my secret,” she answered, coyly.

Then another important thought struck her. If Wayne had come here to look for her, she had vanished from earth. Was there a hole in the wall where her window was? What about her poor mother?

“My mother? How is she? Is she coping okay? Is there a hole in my room where my window was? Because my window is here.” She spoke English, he answered in Afrikaans.

“Your mother is not too bad now, since the Tanaka girl sent an email to your mailbox and she knows you’re still alive. And there is no hole in your room. What do you mean?”

Tammy smiled so widely Wayne thought her face would split.

“Etsu! So, Etsu’s home, alive?”

Wayne wasn’t sure if it was a question or a statement, but he answered anyway. “Yes, it was on the news. She warned people all over the world not to play
Snap
on the Internet.”

Tammy turned to Ulrich. “Did you hear that, Ulrich? Etsu made it. She’s safe at home. Come on, we must tell Hiroshi.” She turned back to Wayne. “Do you have a weapon with you? Anything to defend yourself with?”

“A hunting knife.”

“Take it out and keep it ready all the time,” she raised her spike and used it to point at Ulrich’s spear. “Here you have to fight for your survival. The alter egos can all be hiding in the grayness just five meters away. Give them a chance and you’ll be overpowered and stuck here forever.”

Tammy paused to give Wayne a minute to absorb the news of the incredible danger he was in. “And Wayne, there’s no day or night here. Tell me, what’s the time now?”

Wayne looked at his wrist watch. “Ten o’clock at night. It’s the second night that you’re not at home. I suppose cell phones don’t work here?”