SNAP! and the Alter Ego Dimension (5 page)

Then she thought of home and the smile vanished. She felt so guilty.
Wayne, mum, Wayne
. . .

Wayne!
Had he came around the house looking for the stuff she was supposed to print for him? Was her alter ego there with him now or was that evil woman still stuck in this dimension? Did Wayne even know she was missing? But, more importantly, did her mother know she’s missing? Poor mum would be worried sick.

Ulrich pulled her up and she stood close to him.

“Thanks,” she said.

He held her hand a little longer than was necessary, and he was still looking into her eyes as Tammy’s gaze shifted from their hands up to his face.

“That we had to meet here . . . ” he whispered. “Tammy from South Africa.”

Tammy blushed even more. She could feel the warmth in her cheeks. She felt real heat for the first time since coming to this cold place. Suddenly she wanted them to stand this close to each other with her hand in his for all time.

“I’ll walk in front,” Etsu suggested, bringing Tammy back to reality, back to the dire trouble they were in. This wasn’t the place for romance. This was going to be a fight for survival.

“Hiroshi will walk at the back with the sword. He will protect us. You see something, you shout,” Etsu said and started to walk.

Tammy walked next to Etsu and Ulrich was by Hiroshi. They walked purposefully, hoping to find something useful. It felt as if there was no limit to the grayness. It went on and on and on. Tammy felt as if her legs were moving, but she was staying in the same spot. She looked over her shoulder. No, they had definitely moved, because she couldn’t see her window or Ulrich’s wall anymore.

“Are you sure we’re walking forward, Etsu?” Tammy asked.

“Yes, even if it doesn’t look so. We will come to place where pieces of rooms are. Hiroshi and I had put it together to make room where we sleep. We take turns to sleep.”

While Etsu was still talking, a huge structure loomed into view. It appeared to be pieces of walls pushed next to each other to form angles. Walls that differed from each other because they were copied from different rooms in different homes. Different sizes, but all square, rectangular or very slightly curved. Tammy noticed the structure overall was a lighter gray than the surrounding grayness. She presumed it must be the backsides of the walls that came here with other people. The backsides of the walls had a sameness of color; could it be because they had not been reflected in the computer monitors?

“This is outside of the ‘room’ that we had put together,” Etsu said, confirming Tammy’s assumption.

They advanced towards the gray walls and turned right. There was a gray door with a gray doorknob that was attached to a piece of gray wall. It was similar to the piece of wall that came with Ulrich.

Etsu turned the knob, pushed the door open and peered inside.

“Nobody inside,” she said and walked in.

Everybody followed her.

Inside the structure everything was as colorful as Tammy supposed it had been in the original rooms. There were walls of white, yellow and light green. There were two beds; a small modern desk with a laptop; a television set; windows with drawn curtains; windows with blinds; cupboards; a steel filing cabinet and a sofa. Against some of the walls were posters, pictures from magazines and even one painting. One of the walls even had a piece of ceiling attached to it.

Tammy saw that everything was arranged in a sort of hexagonal shape. She guessed it must have been made from pieces of five rooms from victims of
Snap
and the sixth wall looked to be from Etsu and Hiroshi’s own home. On that wall were two empty hooks where she imagined the sword had hung. The things that were in front of the walls, like the television, Hiroshi’s desk, the chairs and the beds, looked like they floated on a gray floor. She lifted a book from one of the desks and flicked through it.

“Did you see any of the owners of these things?” Tammy asked.

“No,” Hiroshi replied. “There were two that we saw emerge, but their alter egos grabbed them and disappeared too fast into the grayness. I couldn’t help them. This dimension is big. If someone appears now, right outside your window, Tammy, we wouldn’t know.

“And given the fact that we can see about five meters to the left and five to the right, the same to the front and back, we made this room this size, or else we wouldn’t see the walls.”

“I suppose it’s too much to ask for a fridge?” Tammy joked, giving a wry smile.

“Hiroshi and I would have eaten everything by now. Nothing left for you and Ulrich,” Etsu said, returning Tammy’s smile.

“There is more stuff left around,” Hiroshi said. “But no fridge. Or water. If something like that comes through, I think the alter ego of that person will take it away. They know we need food and water to stay strong.”

“Goodness,” Tammy sighed. “We’re in deep trouble!”

“No,” Ulrich sounded determined. He squeezed Tammy’s arm encouragingly, “Let’s walk on. We must find out what’s going on here.” He paused before continuing: “If every person on earth has an alter ego, and there are seven billion people on earth, then there must be seven billion alter egos here somewhere. We should look for them. Find out where and how they hide. Find out for ourselves if there really is no food and water in this place. ”

A most practical boy,
Tammy thought. The type who always investigates things thoroughly and doesn’t take anything for granted. Ulrich should be a useful addition to their group.

She too wanted to know what was going on here. No, more than that, she
needed
to know what was going on. She wanted to get out of here at all costs. To go back home. That was why she would follow Ulrich wherever he went. He was her best hope. He and Hiroshi’s sword. But at the moment she was very tired, very hungry and her feet were very, very cold.

She walked to the cupboard and opened it. Inside were four shelves with boy’s clothes. Quickly she searched through them. She sighed disappointedly. There were only summer clothes and all were way too small for her. Hiroshi had warned her that they wouldn’t fit. These clothes looked as if they were for a boy of about ten, with strange markings on the labels that she couldn’t read. But unfortunately, that they wouldn’t fit, was indisputable.

Where was she? What had happened to her? Why hadn’t she called her mother to tell her what had happened? Or was she unable to do so? Was she in a place where she couldn’t make contact with anyone? Had she been abducted . . . by something like aliens? Was that why her mother hadn’t seen or heard anything? How were they going to find out? Would the people in Sabie be able to help them find her? Would she just reappear again? If so, how long would he have to wait?

Wayne shook his head. He had to concentrate on his work. He was going to get detention.

His cell phone started to ring. Flustered, he made a grab for it.

Heck! It wasn’t Tammy’s name on the screen.

“Hallo, Ken. What’s up? How is your assignment going?” Wayne asked with forced gaiety. There wasn’t time for chat.

“Weird, Wayne. Something very weird just happened. I locked myself in the bathroom so that I could phone you,” Wayne heard Ken whisper. “My folks went to the state theater this evening. I suppose their phones are on silent. That’s why I’ve phoned you.”

Ken was Wayne’s best friend and he could hear at the tone of his voice that something was indeed very wrong. Ken was a young giant of a man who played lock-forward for the school rugby first team. Wayne knew he was a brave soul, not easily frightened.

“What’s going on, Ken? Are there burglars in your house?” Wayne asked hastily.

“No, man, it’s Ben. My brother, Ben. Loser Ben . . . ”

“Yes, yes, I know who Ben is. Your twin brother. Go on. What’s wrong with him?” Wayne asked irritably. He hated the way Ken would run his brother down. Ben had a much smaller build than Ken and loved music. Piano music. The last few years Ben had won several major competitions for his playing. It seemed that almost every Monday in school assembly, Ken had to listen while the principle read aloud Ben’s latest successes. He had won a trophy for a piece of Beethoven, then a scholarship for a piece of Mozart. Ben had even played as the youngest ever soloist with the cities’ symphonic orchestra. Then Ben this, then Ben that. But no rugby for him. But so what! Ken was a jock and Ben was a nerd. And a very nice guy. Perhaps a little bit dry, but nowhere near as bad as Ken made him out to be.

“Ben and I were playing
World of Warcraft
on the Internet. Of course I won all the time. He sat there moaning and groaning . . . then wished he was as good as me. All of a sudden a message appeared on his monitor. Something about
Snap
, I think. It wouldn’t go away,” Ken paused, but Wayne urged him on. “He called me to come and help, because he couldn’t keep playing WOW. You know our computers are next to each other in our room?”

“Yes, I know,” Wayne said. He was playing computer games with Ken over much of the Christmas holidays.

“On Ben’s screen were the words: Do you want to play
Snap
? Yes, No and Help. Ben had clicked on ‘No’ but the message just said he could do with a game of
Snap
. He clicked on ‘No’ again and the message repeated. We didn’t want to switch the computer off, because we were doing well in the game. So, I told Ben to click on ‘Yes’.” Wayne heard Ken take a deep breath.

“At that exact instant Ben disappeared from his chair. Pop! Gone! Nowhere! I got such a fright.”

“What? He just disappeared?” Wayne was all ears. He sat up straight.

“Gone, I’m telling you, Wayne. For almost ten minutes. I called out, shouted, even called him on his cell. Nothing! Gone, like in gone with the wind. And then, plop! There he sat on his chair again. But then he smirked and said: ‘Let’s play, Ken my stupid Jock bro’. From now on you’ll never beat me again.’”

“Ben never calls you Jock, or even Bro, does he?”

“Too right, Wayne. I’m so scared I can pee in my pants. This guy looks like Ben, sounds like Ben, but he isn’t Ben. He uses different speech and his whole attitude is wrong. Wayne, my brother didn’t have attitude. Ben is still missing!”

“What did he say? About where he was, I mean?” Wayne demanded.

“Nothing,” Ken answered, sounding increasingly dejected. “He implied he went nowhere. According to him, I’m just imagining things. But, here’s the bit where I know I’m not going crazy, the game said we didn’t play for thirteen minutes. Thirteen minutes! Wayne, I’m scared to death. Something very weird is going on. I was the one that always had to beg Ben to play the game with me. Sometimes I even promised I’d let him win. Now this guy wants to play non-stop. And he’s much better than Ben ever was. He’s waiting for me in our room. You know what I think, Wayne? Ben has been abducted. You know, like in
The X-Files
. The guy in our room is an alien. I’ve locked myself in. I’m too scared to leave the bathroom.”

“Listen, Ken, Tammy’s also disappeared. But she hasn’t come back yet!” Wayne said. “It seems she was in front of her computer when she vanished, too. She went without taking anything, without her purse or her phone or any clothes.” Ken must have been scared for, as Wayne realized what he’d said about the lack of clothes, he expected Ken to make some wisecrack about Tammy being naked. Instead, Ken kept quiet, listening. “Her chair wasn’t pushed in. It looked as if she was sitting down when it happened.”

“Tammy? She’s gone?” Ken gasped.

“Yes, and there’s more. There was an article in Sunday’s newspaper. A boy claimed that his older brother had disappeared and after a few minutes appeared again. Like Ben,” Wayne named the newspaper.

“On which page? I think we have that paper.”

“Page six. What are you going to do? Stay in the bathroom until your parents come home?”

“Maybe. I’ll take a shower in the meantime. It’s half past nine already.”

Ken rang off.

Wayne stared at his monitor.

Snap
? How could
Snap
make Ben disappear, he wondered.

He Googled “
Snap
.” His computer was working this time. It did that. One moment it worked and then ten minutes later it would refuse to start up. It depended on luck.

Hundreds of hits appeared on the screen when Wayne Googled
Snap
. Not one of them asked . . . What had Ken said? “Do you want to play
Snap
?” Ken and Ben had been busy playing
Warcraft
. They hadn’t Google anything.

Okay, he thought, clicking on “Back” to go to the Google home page. He typed in, “I want to play
Snap
”.

Again the same articles about
Snap
or
Snap
s appeared.

Back. He typed: Do you want to play
Snap
?

Again the same articles appeared.

He was wasting time. His assignment had to be finished by tomorrow, he remembered, and tried to concentrate on his homework.

But numbers and weapons wouldn’t keep them safe for long,
Tammy thought. She knew that they would grow weaker and weaker without food and water. Luckily it was cool in this place and they would not dehydrate quickly. Tammy was used to the dry heat of Pretoria where sometimes even a day without water was enough to stop someone functioning normally. Yet, if they failed to drink soon, they were all doomed. She knew two-thirds of a human body is made up of water. She had learned that in Biology. That lesson and a growing thirst convinced her that they needed water urgently.

After having looked through Etsu and Hiroshi’s refuge, they had decided they had no option but to explore the grayness—to find a door, as Ulrich said. They had to uncover anything of survival value, and estimate just how big this dimension really was. They guessed that this place wasn’t anywhere near as big as earth, because why else had the Japanese, a German and a South African all appeared so physically close to each other? On earth these three countries were thousands of miles apart. They passed some wooden doors and walls adorned with and without pictures. Tammy recognized Brad Pitt, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Shakira, Beyoncé and several other celebrities.

Then they came to a sudden halt. In front of them was a cube of grassland with branches hanging in midair. They stepped closer and a five meter high tree came into sight. The piece of land on which the tree was standing reminded Tammy of a rather flat-topped little hillock, overgrown with grass. Between the branches of the tree was a clear blue sky. Tammy wondered if the person who had brought with him or her, this tree, had been in a field when he or she played
Snap
on his or her laptop.

“I think this tree is new,” Etsu said, stepping forward. As she moved towards the tree, some invisible barrier blocked her way.

She said something in Japanese, rubbed her shoulder and continued towards the next side of the cube. There she was able to step onto the grass and walked straight to the tree and touched it. Then she walked to the other end of the grassland and stretched out her hand. Again it was as if she had touched an invisible wall. The cube had access from only one side, Tammy realized. Invisible barriers blocked the others.

Tammy understood it was the same as it had been with her window. The birds had struck an invisible “wall” when they had tried to fly away.

Hiroshi examined the tree, flexing the branches and moving leaves aside.

Tammy realized that he was looking for birds. Her stomach turned a little. Never before had she been as hungry as she was now. She imagined herself eating a bird for supper. But not raw, at least, not just yet.
Or was it breakfast-time by now?
Who would have thought that she, Tammy, could ever consider eating a tiny, uncooked songbird? She pictured a delicious, freshly roasted chicken in her mind. That thought definitely didn’t help. It made her mouth water and her hunger took on a new intensity. She needed to eat in order to survive. And Ulrich had a cigarette lighter. There were lots of paper, magazines and school books and wooden doors and window frames. Perhaps they could make a fire and cook the birds?

She and the others could breathe normally in this dimension, but did that mean that a fire would also burn normally? A fire needs oxygen to burn, and if the fire didn’t take all the oxygen, would they still be affected by the smoke?

Tammy walked closer to the tree and tried to see past the many leaves in search of birds.

“We are all very hungry,” she said to Ulrich when he looked questioningly at her. “We’re looking for birds to eat.”

“What?” There was disapproval on Ulrich’s face.

“Wait until you’ve missed two or three meals, then you’ll eat absolutely anything too,” Tammy protested and saw Etsu smiling at her.

“Maybe,” Ulrich admitted, and Tammy saw something like pity in his eyes. Perhaps he now felt some sympathy for her.

“This tree’s branches and the ground is only five meters wide,” Hiroshi said. He had quickly walked around the tree and came to a standstill in the opening. “It seems to me everything in this place fits into a five meter square. Past that the grayness takes over. There are three different birds in the tree. One is very little. A finch, or something. The other two look like doves. Then there’s also a nest. If we’re lucky, there can be eggs in it.”

Hiroshi looked at Tammy.

“I don’t know how we’re going to catch these birds. This tree is bigger than the few branches in your window. Here the birds will easily give us the slip. And here’s this big opening in front.”

Tammy nodded. She knew exactly what Hiroshi meant. Her window had glass in front of the branches. This tree had a huge opening through which the birds could escape. And if they flew off into the grayness, they would be lost forever.

Hiroshi turned towards Ulrich.

“Take the sword, Ulrich. I’m going to see what’s in the nest.”

Ulrich took the sword. Catlike, Hiroshi jumped onto a low branch and without much effort climbed into the tree.

Tammy saw the three birds now. Hiroshi had scared them and they tried to fly away as high as possible. There they struck the invisible roof and soon settled on the nearest branches.

We have to chase them into the corners and knock them down with something,
Tammy thought while watching the birds.

Immediately she reprimanded herself. How wrong such thoughts felt! Was this what survival does to someone? Can a little hunger make folk so barbarous? Create killers and destroyers of helpless, harmless creatures? Will civilized people, the highest form of life on earth, the top of nature’s food chain (as her Biology teacher said), do absolutely anything to survive?

She watched Hiroshi as he climbed from one branch to the other. At last she saw the nest. It consisted of a few twigs that were artistically woven into a perfect little basket. And this basket was attached soundly to the fork of two thinner branches.

Hiroshi put his hand into the nest.

“Here are two eggs inside.” He sounded excited. “It’s better than nothing.”

Cautiously Hiroshi put the eggs one by one inside the pocket of his shirt and climbed down again. As soon as he landed on the little hill next to the tree, he broke a twig from a branch and looked at it closely. Then he plucked a leaf, put it in his mouth and chewed it. Tammy froze. One should never eat anything from a tree if you don’t know what type of tree it is. Leaves and fruits can be poisonous and even deadly, like the Ceylon rose, that a kindly neighbor in Pretoria had pointed out and warned her about.

“If my stomach starts to ache or I die, you will know not to eat from this tree,” Hiroshi said. “If nothing happens to me, we can dig here and try the roots. Maybe they’re edible!”

“Hiroshi! How could you?” Etsu gasped. “You can’t die and leave me here, alone.” She hammered with her fists on his arm.

“We need food, Etsu, and this tree may keep us going. The tree in Tammy’s window came without roots. Someone must try these things,” Hiroshi answered, protecting the precious eggs as his sister’s anger abated. He looked at Tammy and Ulrich. “Besides, Japanese are very brave people. I’m honored to be the guinea-pig.” Then he paused. “But I’ve some bad news. . . ”

“What? Your stomach aches already?” Etsu asked anxiously.

“No. We will not be able to explore this place any further.” The others looked at him in bewilderment, so he continued to explain. “We’ll have to stay here and protect the tree. Our alter egos now know of the birds and that we are planning to eat this tree’s leaves and roots. They know whatever we think!”

“Do they really know?” Ulrich asked. “Are you sure?”

Hiroshi frowned, struggling to articulate his thoughts.

Tammy answered for him. “Oh yes. My other self knew I would use martial art moves when we fought. She knew every move before I did. She would have easily beaten me if sword-wielding Hiroshi hadn’t shown up when he did.”

“
Schweinhund!
” For the first time Ulrich looked forlorn. “We’re never going to get out of here, then.”

Etsu ignored Ulrich. “We’re not going to sleep on our beds?”

“Not before we eat something.” Hiroshi answered.

Tammy nodded. She felt very tired. Sleepy tired. It must be way past her bedtime. It wouldn’t even help asking her friends for the time, because she had no idea what the time difference between their various countries was. Perhaps Germany was on the same time zone as South Africa. But Japan? Six hours, twelve hours difference? She didn’t have a clue. But sleep was the least of her problems, hunger and a grumbling stomach would keep her awake for hours. Food was her priority.

Moving about two meters away from the tree trunk, she crouched down on her knees and started to clear the grass from the ground. Hiroshi handed the eggs to Etsu and went over to help by making a hole in the dark ground with the tip of the sword.

“Be careful not to break the sword, Hiroshi,” Ulrich said. “It’s our only weapon. I’ll help with the digging. Are you looking for roots, Tammy?”

“Yes. I’m going to be useless to you all if I don’t eat soon.”

Ulrich joined Tammy on his knees and helped dig the hole deeper and wider. There were lots of grass and thicker plant roots being exposed as they cleared the soil.

Etsu put the two precious eggs against the tree trunk and then she began to dig a hole a short distance from where Tammy and Ulrich were digging.

The digging went faster than they thought it would because the soil was light and damp. Tammy knew that her fingernails would be in a poor state later, but at this moment she couldn’t give a damn. She had to eat and survive and make plans to escape from this godforsaken place.

“Ulrich,” she spoke hesitantly to him as she worked. “Do you have a friend . . . a girlfriend back home in Frankfurt who’d be missing you . . . perhaps wondering where you are?” She glanced shyly at him, noticing tiny beads of sweat on his upper lip and the strong, soiled hands he scooped the dirt away with.

With his head bent sideways, he looked back at her. “No one special,” he replied. “No time, I’m too busy with my schoolwork. I’m not nerdy, just busy. If I want to be a top physicist like my father, I need to work real hard. There’s not much time left for parties.” He scraped soil from his hands before continuing. “And you? Someone special in your life?”

Before Tammy could formulate an answer there came a sound like wind through a tunnel and she stiffened. For a second she stopped digging and listened, then jumped up and rushed close to Hiroshi. He was already on his feet with the sword clutched menacingly in his hands. Combat ready.

“Ulrich! Come closer!” said Tammy.

Ulrich didn’t ask why. He scrambled over on all fours before standing poised, copying Hiroshi.

“What’s going on?” he hissed, fully alert.

“Somebody’s just lost at
Snap
,” Tammy said, laconically.

In front of them, just inside the radius visible from beside the tree, appeared a man in a bright, white shirt and dark brown pants, holding a coffee mug in his left hand. At first, he appeared to be squatting, as if on an invisible chair, and for a moment appeared to be trying to stand, his body convulsing as his arms went up and out. The mug tumbled from his hand as he overbalanced and fell forward.. His white shirt turned crimson as a bloody stain spread across his back.

Seconds later, another man appeared behind the first, pointing a handgun at the body on the floor. He held the gun firmly in both hands. He looked around startled, saw Tammy and her friends and raised the weapon threateningly at them. Hiroshi’s sword swung back, as he stepped forward.