Part 9 (2/2)
”Exactly,” Suter said. He picked up a clipboard.
”How many people are here?”
”One hundred and twenty.”
”How did these people die?”
”Bohannon, these bodies were recovered from the plane wreckage.”
”How can that be? Everyone survived.”
”That's what we're here to figure out.”
CHAPTER 15.
”I DON'T HAVE A brother,” Mara said.
Ping and Sam did another double take as if Mara had grown horns out of her head. They looked at her but didn't say anything.
”I think we're done here,” she said, standing up. ”I've got places to do and things to be... I mean, you know. Anyway, my plans don't include sitting around here smoking whatever the two of you are on.”
”I'm sorry, Mara. I a.s.sumed you had a brother. I didn't know,” Ping said.
”I guess what I meant was the Mara you saw is my sister,” Sam said. ”It would make sense that you would have a brother-your own version of me, somewhere around here.”
”I guess I should count my blessings. I'm an only child.” She walked toward the front of the store, paused and turned back to them. ”Well, come on, I'm locking up, and I'm certainly not leaving the two of you in here.”
Sam frowned. He looked at Ping and said, ”I told you that she wouldn't listen, that she wouldn't help.”
Ping held up his hand. ”Give us five minutes, and we'll let you go. I promise.”
Mara rolled her eyes and walked back to the table. ”Five minutes. And I would suggest you fill it with something other than this time-travel stuff or whatever it is. I've got more than enough voodoo in my life already.”
”Not time travel, dimensions,” Sam said.
”I prefer to think of them as alternate realities or realms,” Ping said.
”Five minutes. Then I'm out of here, in this reality.”
”I don't think I can explain all the concepts involved in five minutes. Just suffice it to say, I am not the Ping you know, that I am from an alternate reality and that I was pulled here by the events on the airplane. You came in contact with your counterpart-”
”My sister, Mara,” Sam added.
”Right. When you touched her, it was like crossing positive and negative jumper cables. You sparked, resisted each other. When two people from different realms touch, it causes an explosive reaction, tearing the fabric of reality. Theoretically the person out of place is thrown back into their own realm. Because the other Mara held the Chronicle at the time, I suspect it magnified the effect, damaging the plane and creating the rift that pulled me here.”
”The Chronicle? What's the Chronicle?”
”Remember the ball of blue light I had? That's the Chronicle,” Sam said.
”It's called the Chronicle of Creation,” Ping said. ”It's the record of existence. Think of it as a combination database and GPS device for creation.”
”Okay. A record of how the universe was created. Got it. Where is it now, the blue ball?”
”How existence is being created, not past tense,” Ping said.
”So let me get this straight. When I grabbed the other Mara while she was holding this Chronicle, that caused an explosion that caused the plane to crash. So I caused the plane crash. Is that what you are saying?”
”Well, it's not like you did it on purpose, sis,” Sam said.
”I am not your sis. Don't call me that,” she said, sterner than she had intended. She turned to Ping. ”Let's just a.s.sume all of this is true, and, believe me, I'm a long way from there. Why are you telling me this? You want me to turn myself into the authorities?”
”No,” Ping said. ”We need your help.”
”Help with what?”
”We need to find the Chronicle and make sure other people, or creatures, don't use it.”
”People or creatures? What are you talking about? More castaways from other realms?”
”Or worse,” Sam said.
”Why don't you and the boy blunder here just go find the thing? What do you need me for? How hard can it be to find a blue ball of light?”
”We won't be able to activate it. We think you might be able to.”
”Tell him to do it,” she said to Ping, pointing at Sam. ”It looked to me like he had it powered up on the plane.”
”My Mara did that. I grabbed it from her after she had activated it. That's why she chased me on the plane,” Sam said. ”She wanted to get it back.”
”So you stole it from your sister. Why?”
”To stop her from crossing over to this realm, but I grabbed it too late, and we both crossed over. That's when you saw us.”
”Why did the other Mara want to come here?” Mara asked, looking at her watch and then changing her mind. ”No, ignore that. This is not a rabbit hole I have time to go down. Your five minutes are up, and I need to get on the road.”
”We really need your help, Mara. Please take some time to think about it,” Ping said.
”Look, Mr. Ping, I've got my own problems. I don't really have the bandwidth to help you two work out your issues. If you want to go on a wild goose chase for the blue doodad from another dimension, by all means, help yourself. Just count me out.”
”So that's it. You're just going to walk away,” Sam said, his face reddening. He squeezed his eyes shut, clearly trying to hold back tears. ”I told you that she wouldn't help.” He looked away.
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