SNAP! and the Alter Ego Dimension (9 page)

The holes they excavated to get at the roots of the tree were also intact. Tammy unloaded her “dress” and Ulrich put his sheet, with all the stuff, next to the tree trunk. Hiroshi maneuvered the piece of wall to close off half of the open side of the cube. The door they were going to use as firewood.

Ulrich started upon his scheme to make water. They needed holes in the soil, but the two already there were too big to use. The holes were far larger than the plastic drawers they’d brought. Starting afresh, they eventually dug four smaller but deeper holes. Hiroshi cut off any roots in the way and put them against the tree trunk, some being sliced up to eat as they worked.

At long last the four holes were deep enough to fit the plastic drawers, but Ulrich took them out again.

“We need to add extra moisture,” he said smiling and looked specifically at Tammy. “The soil is already a little moist, but more liquid will help. Go on Tammy, you know what to do!”

“We won’t look,” said Hiroshi. “Use the hole behind the tree. Ulrich and I will stand watch.”

Tammy nodded, but also blushed. She felt like a . . . cave dweller. It was all so primitive. But in reality that was what survival is all about. Going back to the basics of nature. They needed moisture in the soil to make a decent quantity of pure drinking water.

“Okay, I’m done,” she said after a while. “I think we should add leaves to the holes. A plant in a warm spot in a closed container also makes water drops form. As soon as we make the fire, the leaves in the ground will start to sweat.”

“You’re right,” Ulrich said, nodding.

Sometime later the holes were prepared. The plastic drawers were put on top of a thick layer of green leaves in all four holes to catch the drops of water that they hoped would form. The plastic book covers were put over and on top of the holes and were kept in place by sharpened twigs pushed through the corners. The edges of the plastic book covers were covered with loose soil and heavy schoolbooks to keep the moist air from escaping. In the middle of the covers the smaller objects: the key ring, pencil sharpener, rubber and the cellophane tape, were placed to let the plastic bow a little to make the droplets trickle down and drip into the drawers below.

Ulrich came upright from where they had prepared the last hole. He took Tammy’s hand and pulled her up after him. Together they stood and admired their handiwork.

“Brilliant!” Ulrich sighed with relief. “I would never have dreamt that the day would come when I would actually need to make water like this.”

“Now we must make a fire?” Hiroshi asked.

“Yes. Heat will increase the speed of condensation,” Ulrich answered. “Not too big a fire, though. We don’t want to scorch the tree.”

Tammy walked to the tree-trunk, picked up a wastepaper-basket and held it out towards Ulrich. It was a modern, aluminum and tin basket decorated with beautiful flower designs.

“That’s why I brought this,” she held up the basket proudly. “On television homeless people make their fires in bins.”

“You astonish me more and more,” Hiroshi said with a little smile and put the sword down next to the wall. “I’m glad I saved you from your other self. Let’s tackle the door.”

While Ulrich and Tammy kept the wall still next to the cube of the tree, Hiroshi stepped back three paces and came running forward. With a cry he jumped up and kicked the door. The door broke loose from its hinges and fell without a sound onto the gray flooring.

Quickly Hiroshi picked his sword up again and gave it to Tammy.

“You keep watch.”

Then Hiroshi and Ulrich jumped on the door and slammed their heels into the panels. The hollow door cracked and split in all directions.

Thereafter they started to break the flat pieces off the damaged door. In their haste they scratched and cut themselves. Tammy saw blood speckled here and there, but they kept on, despite knowing that there were no bandages or water to clean or dress the wounds.
But were there even infectious microbes in this place?
she wondered.

At long last there was enough wood and splinters to start a fire.

Tammy took the compass, pierced some holes in the wastepaper basket then forced the holes bigger, until they were about the diameter of a pencil. The boys looked on with interest.

“The holes let the fire draw in air. Without oxygen it will quickly die,” she explained not knowing if they knew that.

Hiroshi picked up a few pieces of wood, but Tammy stopped him.

“First, four or five crumpled balls of paper. Then a few thin splinters of wood and on top of all that, a few thicker pieces,” Tammy lectured and started to crumple two pictures of some Hollywood actors. “I’ve made fire more often than I care to remember.”

“Why’s that?” Ulrich asked. “Are you a scout of some kind?”

“No, in South Africa everyone has
braais
, barbeques you call them, nearly all year round. At home it’s always my job to start the fire. My father taught me.”

“Okay, that’s cool. You’re in charge of fire-lighting here, too. Here’s my lighter,” Ulrich said giving her the lighter.

Tammy threw some of the splinters into the wastepaper basket. Then she put her hand into the basket and lit the balls of paper one by one. She watched as the small yellow flames licked at the splinters and put a few pieces of the thicker wood on top of them. The wastepaper-basket wasn’t that big. Every now and then they should add fresh pieces of wood to keep it going. She gave Ulrich’s lighter back.

“Now we can relax for a while and hope this fire generates enough heat to produce enough condensation for us,” Tammy suggested. She felt so very tired.

“From now on one of us must always stay here,” Ulrich said. “I think it will get warm enough for water drops to form against the plastic. We won’t be able to bathe or wash, but we shall be able to live.”

A weary tiredness took hold of Tammy and she moved some of the stuff that they had put next to the tree. Then she sat down with her back against the tree trunk.

“I’m so tired,” she yawned. “It must be way past midnight in Pretoria. I have to sleep. Can’t keep my eyes open.”

She didn’t hear the boys answer. As soon as she put her head back, she was asleep.

The way she felt now, she could sleep forever. And if something happened and she was stored here, she wouldn’t even know it. To be stored permanently asleep may not be so bad . . .

Tammy woke up with the smell of food in her nostrils. She opened her eyes and looked around, totally confused.

Food!

Where was she?

Oh, heck! Her neck. It was so sore. And her buttocks, too.

“Hallo, pretty girl!” she heard and saw Ulrich step from behind the tree.

The Alter Ego Dimension! She was still here. It wasn’t a bad dream. She had fallen asleep with her back against the tree trunk and she had woken up in exactly the same position.

Oh, goodness gracious!

But she had smelled food. Where did the smell came from?

“We’ve been cooking while you were sleeping,” Ulrich said and sat down beside her.

He took her hand in his. She realized that someone had covered her body with some of the clothes and sheets that they had brought with them. For the first time in the Alter Ego Dimension, she felt warm and snug.

“Did you sleep well? Feeling any better now?” Ulrich enquired. “It’s nice and warm by the fire. We kept it going nicely.”

“I slept like a baby, thanks. Should have lain down, though. My neck is stiff from sleeping in a sitting position,” Tammy said and stroked her neck with her other hand.

“Should I kiss it better?” Ulrich asked, his brown eyes gazing into her blue ones.

“Like my mother used to do when I was little?” Tammy whispered.

“Yes, like my mother did too. Come, turn around. Put your back towards me.”

Tammy turned around with her back towards his chest. He put his hands on her shoulders and started to massage her neck and shoulders with his fingertips. After a short while she felt his lips on the back of her neck. It felt wonderful. Shivers and thrills charged up and down her spine. For a short while Tammy closed her eyes and wished that she could sit like this forever. She could feel the tension slipping away. As if Ulrich was draining it out of her.

“Better?” he wanted to know.

“Much.”

“Come, the food is getting cold. Let’s eat. The tin pencil trays are red-hot. Don’t touch them, but the food won’t stay warm forever.”

Ulrich pulled her upright and they walked around the tree, cautious not to disturb the covers on the waterholes.

Hiroshi was crouching next to the wastepaper-basket. Next to him on the ground, were the pencil-trays with roast meat in them. Beside each bird was a cooked egg. The eggs were about the size of a golf ball.

“How did you manage to cook everything?” Tammy asked.

“I had put the flat side of the sword across the wastepaper basket and the pencil-trays balanced between the sword and the edge of the basket. Two small pans over an open fire. Like you do it in South Africa, right?” Hiroshi smiled.

Tammy raised an eyebrow and started to laugh.

“Right,” she said even though it was not quite the way she would
braai
the food. It was close enough.

“Here,” Hiroshi said and gave her a pair of scissors. “Use the two points to pick up the meat.”

“Ingenious. Scissors for a fork,” Tammy said and sat down close to the pencil trays. She waited for the boys to sit before thrusting her scissors into a morsel of red meat. The color reminded Tammy of ostrich meat, but she doubted either of her companions had ever tasted the African delicacy. The meat was stuck to the metal tray, but she managed to lift it.

Carefully, she transferred the meat from tray to mouth, holding it between her teeth to let it cool before she chewed. It was delicious. Without salt, without flavoring, without any gravy but its own juices. She could see that the boys also loved what they were eating.

One third of each egg was for her. Never in her life did she dream that the most basic food, with no added flavoring, could possibly taste so good.

Again she thrust the sharp points of the scissors into a tiny piece of meat. This time there was gristle inside, but she even chewed that up and swallowed it. They were in no position to be fussy.

“This is great,” Ulrich said, licking his lips then wiping his mouth with the back of his dirty hand. “I hadn’t realized that I was so hungry after all the roots I had. I feel much better now.”

“Me too,” Hiroshi agreed. “But this is the last meat, unless some other
Snap
player brings something through.” He removed a tiny bone from his mouth. “I hope we’ll be out of this place soon. I must know if Etsu is safe.”

Etsu!

Tammy was secretly glad that Etsu wasn’t there anymore, or else she would have much less food. She didn’t think she could live on tree roots for long.

Suddenly she got a strange prickly feeling at the back of her neck. For a moment she thought Ulrich was tickling her, but it was a much more sinister feeling, the sensation that she was being watched . . .

She gazed through the opening of the cube. Was it her other self? She strained to see into the grayness. There was nothing that resembled an alter ego.

Then she saw it. A bright white, miniature speck in the grayness.

“Look!” she cried and pointed towards it. “A tiny light!”

“Where? Where?” Ulrich asked and he and Hiroshi jumped to their feet. Weapons in hand, ready to fight.

“It’s gone,” Tammy said and squinted her eyes to see better. “There was a very small, bright light like a white laser-light over there, right in front of us, but it’s gone now. I saw it before, some time ago, but I thought it was my imagination.”

Wayne kept a roll of thick rope with a hook at each end and a long-bladed hunting-knife in the rucksack. There were also a waterproof jacket and a multi-bladed Swiss Army penknife. He left out his small tent to leave more room for food and water. There was also a compact first aid kit which contained a pair of scissors, pain pills, antiseptic ointment, dressing and bandages of different sizes.

Yet he was not planning on a hiking trip this weekend. He was hoping to vanish to a place where boys and girls go to when they feel bad, weighed down and trying to lose themselves on the Internet.

He’d been planning it all day. It was a place, he reasoned, where food and water might be vital. So, he planned to take high calorie, cooked food that keeps well and which you can eat cold. He was sure it was a place where people were held against their will, otherwise Tammy would have returned. And when someone is held under duress, the kidnappers always ration their food and water.

Wayne put a small box of matches and a lighter into the pack and attached a small axe for chopping wood to the outside. The hunting-knife was for slicing meat and for self-defense. He was going to ask his dad what else he thought he should take to an unknown and very likely hostile, place.

At long last Wayne’s dad arrived home and Wayne told him everything he knew about Ben and Diekie’s brother’s disappearances. He also showed his dad his rucksack and everything he had packed. His dad suggested that he take another mobile phone with a fully charged battery and an extra flashlight and spare batteries.

The risk involved was worrying for Wayne’s father and he said so. He didn’t want to lose his youngest son. And what would Wayne’s mother say?

“What if you don’t come back, Wayne? What am I going to say to your mother? That I let you disappear on the off chance you could find Tammy Delport? She’ll never go for it, Son,” Wayne’s dad tried desperately to change his mind.

“Ben and Diekie’s brother appeared again, Dad.”

“Yes, but not Tammy. And you want to find Tammy. There’s a big difference. The other two boys weren’t trying to find anybody. When you get to some . . . I don’t know what . . . place inside a computer, and you have to choose between coming straight back or looking for Tammy, you’ll go and look for Tammy. So, you’ll be gone much longer than those boys. We don’t even know if she was taken to the same place as them. We know nothing. You are acting on some dubious hunch derived from two boys’ comments about their brothers. Disappeared and reappeared. The more I think about it, the more ridiculous everything sounds. People don’t just disappear into thin air and reappear again, Wayne. That’s an
X-File
theory. Science-fiction. Matter cannot be transferred. Science hasn’t progressed anywhere near that far. All other theories are fiction.”

“I know, Dad,” Wayne pleaded, “really I do. But I’ve got a gut-feeling that something very weird is going on. Tammy disappeared without her phone, without money and even without clothes and shoes. Mrs. Delport had said she thought Tammy was in her swimsuit.”

“Then, Wayne, you should take some clothes for her. And a hairbrush. A new toothbrush and a towel,” Hans suggested and patted Wayne lightly on the shoulder. “Let’s go and have supper and watch the news. Then you can talk to your mother and fetch clothes from Tammy’s mum.”

“Really? Are you saying that I can try and disappear?” Wayne asked, his excitement growing.

“Not really,” Wayne’s dad’s expression darkened, “but you’re eighteen now. I can’t stop you, though you mother will most certainly try.”

Then he smiled at his son, put his hands on his shoulders and said: “I was eighteen once, and in love. I would have done anything, risked everything, to rescue a damsel in distress. How can I ask you not to try?”

Over supper Wayne tried to explain his plan to his mother. She did not react quite as he’d hoped.

“Wayne! Are you out of your mind?” His mother was furious. “And you, Hans? How could you be so . . . so . . . stupid? I can’t believe you’re actually encouraging him!”

She was a petite, lean, blonde woman in her mid-forties. She wore her hair shoulder length at the sides, but on top it was much shorter and almost stood upright. It looked modern and cool and Wayne felt a touch of pride whenever she met his friends.

“How did you come by this nonsense? Disappear! Good heavens, I thought you were brighter than this,” she kept on. It was obvious that she didn’t believe her ears.

“But, Mum, it was in the papers. And Ken and Ben are with me in grade twelve. You know them. I want to go and see what’s going on,” Wayne was trying to persuade his mother to give her blessing.

“Through disappearing? And what if I never see you again, like Tammy? How can you expect me to give my permission to this lunacy? Hans!” She looked at his dad. “You didn’t tell him he could go, did you?”

“No.” Wayne knew his father was intimidated by nothing in this world, except his wife. “Not really, Santie.” His mum was glaring at his dad, but Hans averted his gaze and carried on. “But I don’t think it’s that risky. Tammy will be back sometime. The other two boys came back.”

Wayne knew his dad was trying to keep both his son and his wife happy.

Hans lifted his hand for silence. He was staring at the television set and took the remote control from the dining table. Wayne put his knife and fork down and switched his attention to the TV. There was a small, flat screen television on the sideboard where they could watch the news while they were having supper. Hans hated eating from his lap, but he didn’t want to miss the news because they were around the table.

The news report covered the story of a Japanese girl, Etsu Tanaka, from Tokyo, Japan, who had been missing, with her brother, for three days. She had made a sudden, totally inexplicable, reappearance in her home. The house had been under police guard, but she had re-entered without being spotted. She had told the media an unbelievable story about how she had played
Snap
on the Internet and had been transferred to an alter ego dimension where her brother was still trapped. According to her, alter egos lured people through the game to their dimension where the original person was overpowered and the alter ego then goes back to earth to take the original person’s place, permanently. Her brother had killed her alter ego, which was why she is back home. Ms. Tanaka had insisted on talking to the international media in an effort to warn people across the world not to play
Snap
on the Internet so as to prevent more people to be trapped there, perhaps forever. Interpol was looking into the matter.

Some other news report came on and Hans froze the picture.

Wayne looked at his mother. Her complexion had faded from an angry red to a ghostly pale. He went to fetch his mother a glass of water and the rest of the meal was finished in almost total silence.

“These disappearances are more serious than we thought,” Wayne’s father said after a while and took his wife’s hand to comfort her.

“Dad, do you think that Ben and Diekie’s brother are not their own selves anymore? That’s why they are acting strange?” Wayne asked. “Did their other selves take their place here on earth?”

“I don’t know, Wayne,” his father answered. “We’ll only know when Interpol has questioned the girl thoroughly. She was gone for three days and her brother is still missing.

“I don’t think you should have anything to do with this
Snap
game, Wayne. Leave it to Interpol to see what they can do. It seems to me that science fiction has come true. Finish your supper, go and do your homework and try to forget everything for the time being. Tammy will reappear sometime.”

Wayne sighed and started to eat again, but the food had lost its taste.

It would take forever before anyone in South Africa would know what Interpol decided to do. And it would be a miracle if they ever heard anything about this Japanese girl again. He just knew it.