“Uhh… who are you?”
“’sthat a rhetorical question? I know you know the answer.”
Turning to Mike, he talked again, making the trialogue similar to a combined dialogue.
“Ugh… she’s right now what should I do?”
“Well, you know, we’re really wrong…” Mike said, now talking to the old lady, “Sorry we barged in, but I thought there’s no one here since there’s absolutely no one around here, save for one.”
“’kay then, since you don’t mean it, I’ll ‘ccept it. ‘specially with the ‘ellish thing out there.”
“You know what is going on?” Tony sneaked in into the discussion.
“Basically, yea.”
“So –”
“What? You’re ’xpectin’ me to spout it all?”
Now we know that she knows something, Tony thought, I hope Mike’s not oblivious to what I’m getting at.
However, Mike was truly oblivious to it.
“Well, first, we don’t have anyone else to ask. Who knows where we’ll end up if we went thru another portal, and don’t you know how rare people other than us is out there? It’s weird that this thing is happening and no one is to panic else than –”
“Both of you, wasn’t it? And finally you stumbled to someone else.”
A serious tone entered her speech, and that made Mike aware of the situation. Tony continued his plea.
“Yes. Now please speak of it.”
“Well, if you insist. I know you’re here for som’ reason.”
An important unfolding of information incoming, Tony prepares his ear, and his mind. Without being reminded by Tony, Mike does so. Thus, a narration ensues.
“Ya ready? Okay. Now, listen closely. You haven’t found anyone, right? The truth is, you won’t find anyone.”
“Why is that?”
“Because, you guys, and I, have quite a strong tie to the spacetime continuity. We’re just destined to be. Know that you’re lucky to meet easily. One wrong step would make you lost in the other hemisphere.”
“What do you mean with spacetime tie?”
“It’s simple. You’re destined to fix it. And I’m destined to fathom it, so you won’t go astray. This is like another dimension, or maybe a parallel world, so normal people won’t get caught in it.”
Unbelieving the task bestowed upon him, Mike was caught in utter shock. Tony continued. “Now what should we do?”
“Go to the Altar of Space, it is where the Space Jewel is kept. The integrity of space is bound to the Space Jewel. Mess it up, and you’ll mess space up. I have the navigation key that will help you go there. Wait a sec…”
The old lady went to her box and rummaged through it. She gave Tony two objects: A circular device, radar-like in appearance, and another object that could simply described as a mysterious device.
“What are – no, how do we use them?”
“Simple. The radar will show you the most likely warp point that leads to the Altar of Space. The other one will increase the possibility. Just place it on a door.”
“Yeah, but finding the warp point won’t be simple.”
“Right. You gotta go now. Time is getting less, friends!”
“I know. Mike, let’s go!”
Mike was still crunching the new details in his head, but all that was cleared thanks to Tony’s sudden yank.
Wait… I think I’ve heard that line somewhere… distant, Mike thought for a moment. He looked behind, at the old lady, before trailing Tony’s dash.
“Now, which door?” Tony asked that obligatory question.
Mike offered a not-so satisfying suggestion. “Dunno. Check one by one?”
Surprisingly, Tony goes by that one. “Let’s see… what about that one?”
Both approached the appointed door. Just as Tony touched the handle, the familiar purple blitz appeared inbetween the door and its frame. Taken aback, Tony responded quick and simple. “No, thanks.”
“How about this?” Mike asked.
Pointing the radar to the door, Tony activated it. And fortunately, it reacted stalwartly. “Nice.”
“Let’s put this on.” Mike stuck the device and pressed the button. A burst of bluish light appeared again. Mike took the device off. “Ready?”
Turning the handle, Tony responded. “Here we go!”
What appeared before them was indescribably incredible. Such a surreal setting, it rivaled the best surreal artists. One thing for certain though, it maintained a definite color scheme. Pink. Or maybe pinkish purple or something around that.
They took a few steps, and suddenly the entrance closed, and the door dematerialized. Mike was the first to react.
“No! How could we return?!”
“Remember, we opened that passage forcibly, so it’s natural for it to close on itself.”
The pathway floating on the void was pretty straight, soon they found a pedestal. Light illuminated whatever object that’s placed on the pedestal. They approached the pedestal and surprise caught Mike off guard. It didn’t take him long to notice the same expression on Tony’s face.
“So… this is the Space Jewel?” Mike rhetorically asked as horrid disbelief covers his mind. He was about to lift it, but Tony interrupted dead ahead.
“Stop! Look, it’s a bit depressed, something may trigger if we take it recklessly.”
“But without lifting it, how could we solve it?”
Solve? Yeah, the Space Jewel hasn’t been described to you. Simply, it’s like a Rubik’s Cube. Glittering as if made from jewels, it was slightly rounded, and its sides are flat. Call it “pillowed with flat faces”.
“Let me study its colors…”
“You can solve it?”
“Yeah, but really slow, even though I memorized the shortest algorithm.”
Mike observed the pedestal and noticed that it has some kind of meter on it. It was filled with some kind of pinkish purple fluid, akin to the Altar’s color theme.
Tony reported his details. “No use! Without the sixth face I can’t figure it out!”
“Let’s lift it a while, just a split second. Then I’ll put it back and put the sixth face on top.”
Tony nodded. Mike prepared himself. “Ready? Go!”
It really was split second. “I’ll study the last face and think of an algorithm.”
Mike realized that the gauge contents was decreased. Judging by the time, the limit may be around 10 seconds, Mike thought for a moment. It all depends on how effective is Tony’s algorithm.
Tony took his cellphone from his pocket. “I’m done, let me write the algorithm here.”
He handed the phone to Mike. “Okay, let’s put it here, and I’ll – what? This is so short!”
“Yeah, I know the shortest algorithm, but my hands are slow.”
“Gosh, it’s the reverse for me!”
“So… this is destiny, isn’t it?”
“Seems to me like that. Let me try this.”
Mike picked it up and solved it real quick. Tony approximated 6 seconds. However, the gauge was still decreasing.
“Why?!” Mike exclaimed in protest.
“I think it's because of foreign object! Take the phone off!”
“Here!” Mike grabbed it and threw it to Tony. There was just a small fraction of the gauge left.
“Ugh… almost…”
“Just in the nick of time!” Tony said in relief. “We did it!”
“Yeah!”
A few minutes later, the tension came undone. Silence went instead and Mike asked one very important question.
“Uhh, Tony, how could we get out of here?”
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