The Missing Link (19 page)

Zack walked with Lilly as far as Middle Road, before continuing on to the park ringing
the Celestial Nexus. He spied the pig lounging next to the foundation stones. "Hey Runt. Carole
sends her regrets. Seems she had a run in with our friends from the Demon world. Remember those
guys?"

"Rit?" Runt's expression was horrified as he jumped to his feet.

"Don't worry, she's okay. Just too tired to go exploring."

"Reet?" The pig looked to the east.

"Uh, yeah. She's at our place, if that's what you're asking."

Runt sprinted off.

"Hey, there's no rush. Tell me about your day or something..." But the pig was already a
pink blob, racing through the grass. Sighing with resignation, Zack turned for Seafeather's institute,
but a flurry of activity caught his attention. The rainbow tails were leaving for their evening flight.
He watched as the birds poured into the sky.

Wait a minute
. He squinted at the cliff face.
How can there be so many?
As
he stood puzzling, a solitary bird popped into view from below the nesting nooks and launched
itself into the air.
Where did he come from?

Zack looked from the nesting nooks, down to where that last bird had appeared, and
back again. Understanding dawned.

* * * *

Melodious Philamount turned up at the Deville cottage shortly behind Runt.

"So?" Carole said, before he could even sit down.

"There are no records of such a dimension on file. No dimension devoid of light. No
realm with horned, tailed, bipedal humanoids. No realm ruled by a single malevolent entity."

Carole looked between Professor Philamount and Runt. "What does that mean?"

"Either the records have been removed from the official registry, or that realm has
never been connected to the Hub."

"Is there a way to find out?"

"We could cross-reference the number of connector posts with the number of
dimensions currently on record. If there is a discrepancy, then we know the records have been
altered. If the numbers match up, we'll know your Dark realm has never been attached to the
Hub."

Carole thought a moment. "But you've spent ten years reattaching broken connectors.
Wouldn't someone have noticed a mismatch by now?"

"Not necessarily. At the time we began reconnecting, our energies were focused solely
on those dimensions that had broken free of the Hub. Though all connectors were inspected for
damage, doing so didn't require knowledge of the realm to which they were linked. It was routine
maintenance."

"So how do we do it?"

Professor Philamount's mouth stretched into a face-spanning grimace. "By counting
them...one at a time"

"But there must be thousands."

"I'm open to suggestions."

"We could get Lil and Zack to help."

"They would attract too many eyes. In fact your presence in the connector field will do
likewise. I'm afraid this affair must be left to me."

"Not necessarily." Carole looked at Runt. "Most of the herd can count, can't they?"

The pig nodded.

"Think you can gather a bunch to do a tally for us?"

Runt nodded again.

"There you go. Now all we need to do is find out how many connectors are on
record."

"I already have that number." Professor Philamount produced a slip of paper.

* * * *

Zack stood in the shadows across from the Center for Transdimensional Studies,
watching people come and go. Each time the door popped open, a raucous clamor disturbed the
quiet of the street. By the sounds of it, Professor Seafeather had hired his favorite group,
Dissonance Clash, to be the evening's entertainment. The band usually set up in the front annex,
where there was plenty of space for people to mingle and dance.

Unexpectedly Ferdinand Dalimar walked up to the door. Zack backed deeper into the
night shadows.
What's he doing here?

Zack gave the senior a few seconds head start, before hurrying across the street. As he
popped the door open with the pressure of his palm, his ears were assaulted by what sounded like a
mix of squawking geese, grinding gears and opera. He studied the crowd. If not for the smiles on
their faces, he would have thought the dancers were all having seizures.

Dalimar wasn't among them.

He ran along the wall to a corridor opposite the dance floor, but found the way blocked
by a curtain of water pouring out of the ceiling. This was new. He had to admit the water was an
improvement over the previous barrier, a revolving door made out of flat cactus pads. Professor
Seafeather must've received too many complaints about the three-inch spines.

When he looked around for a way through, he saw a huge umbrella stand to one side. He
pulled out a gray, nondescript umbrella and carefully examined the device. It looked safe enough.
He thumbed the spring mechanism and the umbrella popped open, flashing hot pink with
lime-green polka dots. "Cute."

Stepping under the falls, he found that the water was much lighter than expected and
stuck his hand into the spray. It wasn't water at all, but some type of silky fluid. He had to flick his
wrist to get the stuff off.

It was much quieter on the other side of the fluid barrier, though the floor was wet and
slippery. Cubbyholes had been cut into the nearby walls, presumably so people could sit and watch.
The sound
was
relaxing, but it was totally unlike anything Seafeather usually did.

Zack began to get an uneasy feeling. He turned in time to duck a fist sized fluid ball that
splattered against the wall. Something was swimming inside the falls. He backed quickly away.

Beyond the wet, was a wickerwork rack with a few umbrellas dangling from it, and
many more lying on the floor beneath. He tried to hang up his own umbrella, but as soon as he
touched the wood, it began writhing like a mass of snakes. With a startled yelp, he dropped the
umbrella and hurried off.

He came to where the hallway ended in a T. The left branch angled steeply up towards
the second floor; the right continued straight towards the main theatre. Zack choose left.

As he climbed, the passage narrowed into a prismatic tube lined with hundreds of
glowing neon lights. Wincing at the combined effect of the lights, he ran as fast as he could. The tube
opened into a room that had, until recently, been filled with sand and cacti. Now it was an
arboretum with hanging shrubs and a large central pond full of floating plants and trickling
fountains.

Zack hopped across the pond on steppingstones, followed a winding path through a
grove of abstract sculptures and entered another corridor with doors spaced irregularly along its
length. No two doors were alike, either in shape, size or color. Many had observation windows, and
a few came with ominous warning signs.

In front of the first room was a small stand containing bubble-eyed sunglasses. On the
door was a large sign stating that blindness was likely if one preferred not to use the eye shields.
The door handle was placed at an uncomfortable height and had a special locking mechanism that
ensured youngsters couldn't sneak in, even if they tried to use their Long-Legs.

Zack had been in this room once. It was a replica of a crystalline world, beautiful but
inhospitable. The crystals concentrated and reflected light, at times creating beams so powerful that
they could burn flesh. He still had a small scar on the back of his hand from the visit.

The next room was full of colorful bouncing blobs. This too was new. He cracked the
door an inch, and a stench of rot brought tears to his eyes before he could close it again.

Farther along, a door had been left slightly ajar and a thick mist, smelling of popcorn,
was spilling into the hall. Zack looked for a warning sign, before wading cautiously through the
mist. As he neared the door, he heard a familiar voice from inside.

"...just be ready."

"But Dal, he spun us all! Squim's still laid up. Everybody's laughing."

"He got a jump on us, is all. It won't again."

"There were five of us."

"Four. You ran off like a wobble-legged preschool snot."

"Maltz hit him hard and Deville never even flinched. What was I supposed to do?"

"Next time we plasticate."

"What good'll that do? You can't hit worth a link when you're stretched."

"He doesn't know that. Let him tire himself out first, then shorten up and hit back
hard."

A plasticate feint, eh? Thanks for the heads-up boys.
Zack quietly shut the door
and moved on. The corridor eventually opened into a balcony that ringed a large theatre hall.
Speaking from a stage directly opposite and below, stood Professor Meron Seafeather.

The professor was a slip of a man with enormous protruding eyes, droopy eyelids and
sagging cheeks. A circlet of blonde hair surrounded his gleaming dome of a head, like a swath of dry
grass. A limp mustache hung from his upper lip and joined a thin beard that hung from the corners
of his mouth. Today his clothes were electric yellow, as were his finger- and toenails.

Zack hadn't seen the center so full since those first days when he and Lilly had been put
on display
. A necessary evil
, Professor Seafeather had apologized at the time.
We must
convert as many multitaskers as possible. Sway them from Professor Hotspot's way of thinking, whilst
the advantage is still with us
.

Although Zack appreciated the way Professor Seafeather stood up for monobrain rights,
he couldn't actually bring himself to like the man. The man was always too nice.

Zack saw Lilly at a table closest to the stage. Sitting at the same table was Amanda
Cleroux. His stomach did a funny little flip.

The quickest way to the first floor was to slide down a thin transparent tube that, like a
fireman's pole, ran from the ceiling above through a hole in the balcony, and into the floor behind
the stage. A spindly rail surrounded the hole in the balcony floor. Zack eyed the tube
suspiciously.

A sludgy fluorescent green fluid was moving through it. He grasped hold and gave a
shake. The tube seemed solid enough. Not sure if it were actually allowed, he looked to see that no
one was watching, before sliding down to the main floor.

He made for the girls, deliberately keeping his back to professor Seafeather. However,
before he could reach their table the professor sung out, "Ah, here's our intrepid Mr. Deville, now.
Please Zack, join me for a moment will you." The background buzz of chatter quickly
dampened.

Professor Seafeather beamed amicably. "Tut-tut to you for your tardiness, Zack, though
I understand you were charged with a small errand that delayed your arrival, so I forgive your
delinquent ways." He reached out and dropped his arm over Zack's shoulders, pulling him close.
Zack forced himself not to shudder at the man's clammy, eel-like touch.

"Not to worry. I won't keep you in the spotlight for long, dear boy," Professor Seafeather
said. "Just wanted those who might have missed you in the past, the opportunity to get a good look
at you now, to notice, as I've said on numerous occasions, how alike multitaskers and monobrainers
truly are." He tapped a finger against Zack's bruised cheek and added quietly, "Even if your deeds
are at times less than exemplary."

Professor Seafeather looked over his audience. "We know the Monobrain planet is in
dire need of remedial work and must break from its fixation with primitive attitudes, but look about
you. In this institute are we not striving to do the same? Are we not we constantly challenging
ourselves with the new?

"The trick is not to mire ourselves in the past whilst the present sweeps on by. But I
don't wish to give away all of my gems before the big day." The professor smiled. "Off you go, Mr.
Deville. Plenty to do, plenty to do."

He added for Zack's ears alone, "I'll speak with you shortly, hmmm?"

Zack stalked over to the girls and sat, fuming with anger.

Lilly looked from him to Professor Seafeather, who had bounced from the stage and was
Long-Legging towards a group on the far side of the room. "What's up?"

Zack's glance flicked to Amanda and back. "Later."

Lilly pushed a stack of paper his way. "In that case, leaflets to be given out at the town
hall." She pointed to the master copy. "Here's what goes on them. Grab a pen and start
writing."

Zack looked over the master sheet. It was the program for the town hall, as well as a
paragraph full of the usual Seafeather drivel, about the glorious history of the Hub and the lofty
goals of interdimensional unification. "Fat chance," he muttered, and picked up a pen.

Much later, Zack pushed his final leaflet aside, leaned back in his chair and massaged a
cramp out of his hand.

"Not a very wise thing to do, getting into a mix up with Misters Dalimar and Squim on
the eve of the town assembly," Seafeather practically hissed as he leaned over Zack's shoulder.

Zack nearly tumbled backwards off his chair. "They went for me," he said, and leaned
forward to put more distance between himself and the professor. "What was I supposed to
do?"

"It's true," Amanda said. "Everyone knows it."

"The details are irrelevant. The fact remains that Professor Hotspot will seek to turn this
conflict to his advantage. Have you the slightest idea of how precarious our position actually is? I
have spent my career fostering transdimensional co-operation, and you two representatives offer
us the most unique opportunity to advance the monobrain position. Now, after months of careful
preparation and redecoration, and on the very eve of our show, Mr. Deville, you..."

The smile he gave Zack was just a little too wide. "Well, I must think of a way to turn this
little bump in the road to our advantage." He tapped his forehead. "Or at the very least, prevent my
colleague from profiting by it.

"Could you three oversee the gathering of materials from the other tables? And Mr.
Deville, try to keep your nose clean between now and the assembly. Under no circumstances tread
anywhere near those senior students." Professor Seafeather waved flamboyantly to a couple
leaving the hall, and moved off to chat with the few people still in attendance.