Chapter 2
1429 Words
Chapter 2
Vinny placed his hand on the switch and looked at Regina. She was standing next to the copper ring with her arms crossed. The penny sat on the small platform inside the ring, looking dull under the garage lights.
“Start the countdown,” Regina said.
Vinny took a breath and pressed the button. The capacitors made a loud whine, and the copper ring started glowing orange. The air inside the ring shimmered like heat rising off asphalt in summer.
“3,” Vinny said. “2. 1.”
The shimmer turned into a hole. It was not a circle of light or a fancy movie portal. It looked like someone had cut a piece of the air out and left a dark, wobbly patch behind. Vinny could see the workbench through the hole, but the workbench looked wobbly and wrong.
“The penny,” Regina said. “Push it through.”
Vinny grabbed a long wooden stick from the floor. He had taped a small scoop to the end of it earlier. He pushed the scoop under the penny and slid it forward until the penny touched the wobbly hole.
The penny disappeared.
“It went through,” Vinny said. “I think.”
Regina walked to the other side of the copper ring. She looked at the floor behind the ring. “There it is,” she said. She picked up the penny. “It came out the other side. No damage.”
Vinny let out a breath he did not know he was holding. “1 down. 3 to go.”
Regina put the penny back on the workbench. She picked up a small sunflower seed from a glass jar. The seed was brown and tiny, almost too small to see. She placed it on the platform.
“Same thing,” Regina said. “Push it through.”
Vinny used the stick to push the seed into the wobbly hole. The seed disappeared. Regina walked to the other side and looked down.
“Got it,” she said. She held up the seed between her fingers. “Still a seed. Not burnt or anything.”
“2 down,” Vinny said. “The light pulse next.”
Regina picked up a small laser pointer from the workbench. She taped it to a block of wood so it pointed straight at the hole. “Turn off the garage lights,” she said.
Vinny walked to the light switch and flipped it off. The garage went dark except for the orange glow of the copper ring and the red dot of the laser pointer. The wobbly hole looked bigger in the dark.
“Turn it on,” Regina said.
Vinny pressed the button on the laser pointer. A red beam shot out and hit the hole. On the other side of the ring, a red dot appeared on the wall. Regina walked over and touched the dot with her finger.
“It passed through,” she said. “Light works. Sound did not pass, though. I did not hear anything.”
“We figured sound would not work,” Vinny said. He turned the garage lights back on. “Sound needs air. The portal might be a vacuum between points.”
“Or the portal just blocks sound,” Regina said. “Either way, 3 down. Drone time.”
Vinny picked up the small drone from the workbench. It was a cheap one they bought online for $40. He had attached a tiny camera to the front and a microphone to the bottom. The drone fit in the palm of his hand.
“You sure about this?” Vinny asked. “If the drone breaks, we do not know what is on the other side.”
“That is why we send the drone 1st,” Regina said. “Not us.”
Vinny placed the drone on the platform. He connected his phone to the drone's camera feed. The screen showed the inside of the copper ring and the wobbly hole.
“Ready?” Vinny asked.
“Ready,” Regina said.
Vinny started the drone's rotors. The little propellers spun up and made a high pitched buzzing sound. He lifted the drone off the platform and guided it toward the hole.
The drone touched the hole and disappeared from sight.
Vinny looked at his phone screen. The camera feed was static for a second, then it cleared up. He saw a blue sky and green grass. Trees were everywhere, big ones with thick trunks and wide leaves. The drone was flying over a field.
“It made it,” Vinny said. “There is grass and trees. Looks like a forest.”
Regina leaned over to look at the phone screen. “Any animals? People?”
“Not yet,” Vinny said. He flew the drone forward a little. The camera showed a dirt path cutting through the grass. “There is a path. Someone made that.”
“Keep going,” Regina said. “See where it leads.”
Vinny flew the drone along the dirt path. The camera feed was choppy and the colors were a little off, but he could see enough. The path went through the forest for a few minutes, then opened up into a clearing.
In the middle of the clearing was a city.
The city had stone walls and wooden roofs. Smoke rose from chimneys. People walked on dirt roads between buildings. Vinny could see horses and carts and market stalls. The camera was not good enough to see faces, but he could tell the people were dressed in rough clothes, like something from a history book.
“Regina,” Vinny said. “This is not another country. This is another world.”
Regina stared at the screen. Her mouth was open a little. “Fly it lower,” she said. “I want to see the people.”
Vinny lowered the drone. The camera feed got clearer. A group of children looked up at the drone and pointed. A woman screamed. A man threw a rock at the drone.
The camera feed went black.
“The drone is gone,” Vinny said. “Someone hit it.”
“Did you see where it fell?” Regina asked.
“No,” Vinny said. “But we saw enough. There is a city. There are people. They have stone walls and horses, so maybe medieval tech level.”
Regina was quiet for a moment. Then she said, “We have to go through.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Vinny said. “We do not know if humans can survive the trip. The drone made it, but a drone is not a person.”
“The coin made it,” Regina said. “The seed made it. The light made it. A drone with electronics made it. A human is just a bunch of meat and electricity, Vinny. Same as everything else.”
Vinny wanted to argue, but he could not find a good reason. She was right. Everything they sent through came out fine.
“Fine,” Vinny said. “But we go together. At the exact same time. No waiting.”
“I would not go without you,” Regina said. She walked to the copper ring and stood next to him. “Hold my hand.”
Vinny grabbed her hand. Her palm was warm and a little sweaty. His was too.
“On 3,” Vinny said. “1. 2. 3.”
They stepped into the wobbly hole together.
For a second, Vinny felt nothing. Then he felt everything. His skin buzzed. His ears popped. His stomach flipped like he was on a roller coaster. The world around him was dark and loud and quiet all at once, which made no sense.
Then his feet touched grass.
He was standing in a field under a blue sky. The air smelled like dirt and flowers. Regina was next to him, still holding his hand. She looked around with wide eyes.
“We made it,” Regina said.
Vinny looked back. There was no portal behind them. No copper ring. No garage. Just grass and trees and the dirt path leading to the city.
“Regina,” Vinny said. “The portal is gone.”
Regina turned around. She stared at the empty space where the portal should have been. Her hand tightened around his.
“Then we find another way back,” Regina said. “Or we do not go back at all.”
End of Chapter 2
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