The Missing Link (11 page)

Zack smirked. "A thought disease."

"Isn't that why you three were immune to the effect? Your thoughts are different."

"I suppose so, but--"

"So it does behave like an illness," Amanda concluded. "It has a cause and a cure."

"You're not going to make Professor Rizzo very happy," Carole said. "He won't
appreciate a renegade theory coming out of his class."

"I like Amanda already," Zack said.

"Oh?" Lilly raised her eyebrows.

"That's not what I meant," he mumbled, his face turning red.

Amanda seemed oblivious to the exchange between the twins. "Can we talk more about
this in the library after school?"

"I guess," Carole said.

"So long as you write something about it being an attitude not a virus," Lilly said.

"Great. I'll put some questions together. Later." Amanda skipped off.

Carole had to smile at the way Zack stared after Amanda. When he noticed Lilly
watching him, he quickly turned his attention to the remaining crusts of his sandwich.

Out of all her classes, Carole hated Professor Rizzo's Troubles with Travel, the most. The
room was bad enough, piled high with dirty beach-sand that smelt of dead fish, but the professor
seemed to be annoyed by everything and everyone.

The squat, bald man glared at the class like an irritated sand crab. His protruding eyes,
settled unsympathetically on Carole. "Misss Ssylphwood, perhapss you have a ssolution for
uss?"

"My solution is not to have jumped in the first place. The leaper wasn't prepared."

"That iss obviousss. Sso what do you do about it, now?"

"Either make a run for it, or return to the Hub."

"Either? Either? There iss no either. Return at oncce and facce your punishment."

"Unless there is no up to date information on that dimension, in which case, wouldn't
you try to gather as much information as possible before returning?"

Professor Rizzo looked ready to explode. "And I sssuppose you feel qualified to make
sssuch a determination?"

"We're not talking about me. We're talking about the multitasker in the problem. I'd
have been better prepared before making that jump." The professor's eyes bugged out even
further.

Carole was certain they were going to pop out of his head at any moment.

"Sso you do consssider yourssself an expert."

"Not at all." She fought to control her rising irritation. "I'm just trying to give as
complete an answer as possible."

"Did I assk for completenesss?"

"You asked for a solution."

"A ssolution. That'ss one anssswer, not two. And cccertainly not one which containsss
your ssso expert opinion."

Giggles broke out from more than a few students.

"I thought dimensional travel, by its very nature, required flexibility and adaptability.
Isn't it possible to get into trouble even if you're totally familiar with the dimension you leap
to?"

The girl next to Carole gasped.

Professor Rizzo blinked several times. His jaw muscles worked furiously but no words
came out of his mouth.

Carole forced herself not to look away.

Ever so slowly, the man's eyes retracted into his skull. "Classs, continue with your
current asssignment. Misss Ssylphwood, come here pleassse." He scuttled through the sand to his
desk.

Carole casually walked over, but positioned herself so the desk and a mound of sand
created a barrier between herself and him.

Speaking barely above a whisper, Professor Rizzo said, "What did you mean by that
remark?"

"Sorry?"

"Don't play coy, girl. What did you mean about getting into trouble in familiar
dimensssionss? About whom were you ssspeaking?"

She pointed to her still blood red eyes. "Myself."

He scrutinized her face. "That happened during a dimenssional vissit?"

"Yes."

"A dimenssion you are familiar with?"

"Yes."

"I ssee." The purple drained from Professor Rizzo's cheeks and his face no longer
resembled the active part of a volcano. "Return to your dessk."

Carole walked back to her seat, conscious that everyone, including Professor Rizzo, was
following her every move.

Carole bolted out the door as soon as Professor Rizzo dismissed class. She went directly
to Professor Philamount's office, but was surprised to find his door locked. Then she saw the note:
"Meet me top floor."

She stuffed the note into her pocket. Joining the mass of students moving up the
spiraling granite staircase to the second floor, she followed a smaller crowd over the crystalline
archway and up to the third floor. She was alone on the simple stone steps leading to the fourth.
The hallway at the top of these stairs was also empty.

In the first room two graduate students were walking amidst an enormous
three-dimensional display of an ocean and island world. The second room was locked, the third was
empty. In the last a group of seniors was clambering over a rickety wooden scaffold, appearing like
so many walking sticks. So where was professor Philamount?

As Carole walked back down the hall, she noticed a narrow, fifth door situated between
the stairwell and the far wall. It looked like a broom closet, but when she pulled it open she saw a
steep, dingy flight of stairs leading upwards. There was a fresh set of footprints in the dust.

Midway up she came to a grimy window and, peering out, realized that she was in one of
the two school towers. Funny she hadn't noticed a similar stairway at the other end of the hall. The
door at the top was open.

Professor Melodious T. Philamount was seated on an ornately carved chest in the center
of a cluttered room with a domed ceiling. "At last," he said, with his nasally twang.

"What is this place?" Carole said, as she picked a path through the disorder.

"The meeting space for The League of Graduate Studies."

"Not for a while, by the looks of it."

"The league was disbanded before my time."

"So what are we doing here?"

"Practice. I wish you to jump from corner to corner."

"There's barely enough room to move, and I've no food with me."

Professor Philamount sighed. "Did I not tell you to carry food with you at all
times?"

"I thought that was just for when I was, you know, traveling."

"Always carry food with you as a precaution. Is that clear?"

"Crystal."

"Fortunately, I came prepared." He patted his coat pocket. "Now create four landing
sites and begin."

Carole cleared space around an ugly stone statue, next to a stack of wooden crates,
beside a gilded wardrobe, and atop a chest similar to the one Professor Philamount was sitting on.
She focused her subtle sight on the statue, imagined a connection between it and her mind's eye,
and leaped. Her accuracy was a little off, and she stumbled slightly on the landing.

"Again," the professor said.

Carole leaped to the crates, and this time landed perfectly.

"Again."

She leaped to the wardrobe.

"Again."

She landed perfectly balanced on top of the chest.

"Any ill effects?"

"Nothing yet."

"Good, you are beginning to adapt. This time do all four in quick sequence."

Carole completed the circuit in less than five seconds.

"Faster."

"She finished in just over three seconds."

"Any chills or dizziness?"

She shook her head.

"Continue until you feel ill or I stop you."

She took a deep breath and began. At first she tried for speed, but the transition
between normal space and void became nauseating, so she concentrated on creating a steady
rhythm, like jumping rope. Soon she wasn't even thinking about what she was doing.

"Umph!" Carole found herself beneath a pile of musty old clothes. "What'd you do that
for?" she said when she'd dug herself out.

Professor Philamount wiped his hands nonchalantly. "Suppose that laundry had been an
avalanche crashing into your landing site? Never take anything for granted. Look ahead and
anticipate." He produced a brick of cheese from his pocket, broke off a large chunk and held it out.
"Eat."

Carole was suddenly aware that her hands were shaking and that she was breathing
hard. She collapsed onto a nearby crate and gnawed hungrily on the cheese. "It comes on fast."

The professor's expression was serious when he nodded.

"Was the school here at the time of the Great Fire?"

His caterpillar-like eyebrows arched up slightly. "It was one of the few structures to
survive. Why do you ask?"

"No particular reason. Do you know much about it?"

"Few relevant documents remain."

"There aren't any records about the tunnels, either? Don't you find that odd?"

Professor Philamount cocked his head to the side and peered at Carole with a hawk-like
expression. "Look about you, Miss Sylphwood. What you see are the remnants from a time when
multitaskers visited dimensions with such frequency and in such numbers, that lineups at popular
tunnels were not unusual. Undoubtedly there are items of great historical significance in this very
room. Alas, their value is no longer recognized."

"Don't people care?"

"The Hub has never been a large community, and with each passing generation, those of
us with the ability or desire to leap, grow smaller. We simply cannot do it all."

"But the tunnels? Aren't they what define us as multitaskers?"

"Certainly they are one of the defining elements. But even at the time of the Great Fire,
there were more tunnels available than leapers to use them." Professor Philamount stood up. "If
you are ready, begin again."

In the ensuing hour Carole learned to avoid obstacles at her landing site, to reverse
direction and even to change her destination in mid-flight.

The professor finally dismissed her for the day. "Same time tomorrow, and bring food
and a jacket with you."

Carole stumbled down the stairs exhausted and with teeth chattering, but she still took
time to examine the wall at the far end of the fourth floor. It was as she'd thought. There was no
stairway to the second tower.

When Carole went to the library after school. she found it empty except for the Deville
twins and Amanda Cleroux. Zack was sitting between the girls, talking animatedly to Amanda. Lilly
was scowling.

All three of them turned as she came in.

Zack all but crowed. "Way-ta-go, Sylphwood."

She slumped into a chair and raised one eyebrow in question.

"Can the false modesty. Amanda told us what you did to Rizzo in your Travel's
class."

"Oh that." Carole said, as she rubbed the fatigue out of her neck.

"Take on Hotspot's sidekick like it was nothing? You got guts, girl. Course we already
knew that."

"The man gets into trouble once in his life and swears off leaping for good. He's
supposed to be preparing us for transdimensional travel, not scaring us off it with all his horror
stories."

"But you're the only students who've ever made a real jump, Carole," Amanda said. "The
rest of us haven't even faced Point Puke, yet."

"That's my point. Rizzo makes it seem like every leap will be your last. So he was
attacked by a bunch of crabs, big deal. If he treated them like he treats us, it's no wonder they
turned on him. Heck, we made it here without any training at all."

"How did you do it?"

A look of alarm crossed Lilly's face.

"Ah...it was a fluke." Carole wished she'd kept her mouth shut. "They say it was because
of an overlap of the fluxing dimensions. Something similar happened to Professor Philamount.
That's how he found me in the first place."

"Oh, I see." Amanda looked thoughtful. "So that can't happen anymore."

"Not since the tunnels have all been reconnected and the dimensions have stopped
wobbling."

"Too bad. I'd really like to see another dimension."

"You'll get your chance after graduation."

"Only if I pass the 'Dive of Destiny'."

"I'm sure you'll do that," Zack said.

Lilly gave her brother a piercing glance. "Oh really, and you have a crystal ball?"

"I'm just saying, it's obvious Amanda can think for herself."

Lilly snorted. "Right."

"So what've you got for me?" Carole said quickly.

Amanda reached into a folder. "Just two pages for now. Lilly and Zack have already
finished."

"Some good questions, too," Zack said. "Interesting the local eggheads didn't think to ask
them."

Carole picked up the papers and began to read.

"So, are we still going?" Zack said into the silence a short time later.

Lilly's foot bumped Carole's as she kicked him under the table.

Carole pretended not to notice. "I suppose so." She spoke with deliberate disinterest, as
if Zack's question was of no great concern.

Amanda regarded Zack with obvious curiosity. "Going where?" she finally said.

"To--" he began.

"To help Carole do a little History research for Melamine's class." Lilly smiled and
caught Carole's foot again as she gave her brother another solid whack on the shin. "We're really
just keeping her company so she won't be so bored."

"Here?"

"No, in the archives," said Carole.

"Oh, you're doing real research. I could help if you'd like?"

"Why'd you want to do that?" Lilly said, a little too sharply.

"Never been to the archives. Besides, you're helping me out."

"You don't mind being seen in public with monobrains?"

Amanda looked a little embarrassed. "Multitaskers used to pride themselves on linking
with beings from different dimensions."

Zack snorted. "So long as it isn't us."

"Well Professor Hotspot says we have to be careful not to trigger another Conundrum,
and it was a ,monobrain who caused the first one."

"And you agree?" Lilly said.

"No. At least not totally. I suppose we do need to be careful, but I want to visit different
dimensions, and so do my friends. It's just... Professor Hotspot does have a lot of influence."