Coin #2 - Quantum Coin by E.C. Myers Read Free Book Online Page B

spray-painted plywood. The lion sculptures on either side of the steps, which Ephraim thought of as Bert and Ernie, were no longer identical—Bert was missing his head. Ephraim looked around, but the broken granite wasn't in sight. Who would steal a stone lion's head?
    Jena had volunteered at the library since junior high, and worked there part-time ever since she was legal. She would have spent all of her time there anyway, so it was just gravy to get paid to be around all those books. It was practically a second home for her.
    Zoe put a hand on her shoulder. “It's been a rough night, but we should get back to my house.”
    Jena shrugged Zoe off. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her arm and took a deep breath.
    Ephraim fingered the coin in his hand. He tucked it safely into the front right pocket of his slacks at the same time that Zoe stowed the controller in her own pocket. Just like old times.
    Not quite. As awful as the evening had turned out, it could get even worse if he didn't watch himself with Jena and Zoe. He suddenly felt very alone.
    I wish I were anywhere but here.

 
    Zoe's bedroom hadn't changed much in the last year, aside from the addition of the massive black radio sitting on her desk and tangles of wire and microchips scattered among the familiar landscape of books.
    Ephraim sat next to Zoe and examined the radio while she pulled a pair of old metal headphones around her neck and placed a microphone carefully in front of her. The polished tin plate screwed into the front of the machine read “RCA AR-88 Radio Receiver.”
    “This is how you've been communicating with Nathaniel?” Ephraim asked. He glanced at Zoe's reflection in one of the three glass panes covering the large dials on the radio's face.
    “Beautiful, isn't it?” she asked, patting the radio's chassis with her right hand. He noticed a tattoo on the inside of her wrist: a barcode with a string of numbers printed beneath it. His gaze traveled along her bare arm, up to her shoulder, then her face.
    “Yeah,” he said, finally meeting her eyes.
    She tilted her head and smiled. “What is it?”
    “Um. I was just wondering, what happened to your nose ring?” he asked.
    “The piercing got infected,” she said. “And I guess I never bothered to put the stud back in. I only got it to piss off my father anyway.”
    “Too bad. I liked it,” he said. “But the new tattoo's nice. Have they started tagging citizens here?”
    She jerked her arm down to her lap and held it against her stomach to hide the tattoo.
    “Did you get that to piss off your dad, too?” he asked.
    “No. This was for me.”
    “Let me guess: A library thing? The barcode from your favorite book?” he asked.
    “Something like that. It's private, Ephraim.”
    Then it shouldn't be on your wrist. “Okay. I'm sorry,” he said.
    He turned back to the radio, the only safe thing to look at when she was sitting this close to him.
    “Let me show you how this works,” she said. She sounded relieved.
    She twisted the knob in the lower left corner from “Off” to “Rec. C.W.” It clicked into place, and an amber glow lit each of the dials.
    “It takes a little time to warm up,” she said.
    The large dials on the left and right of the radio panel were labeled “Tuning” and “Tuning Meter.” Their purpose seemed clear enough, but the smaller dial in the center above the round red and white RCA logo was marked for something called “Vernier.”
    He counted ten small knobs labeled things like “Tone,” “Noise Limiter,” “Range,” and “Audio Gain.” The big knob in the center was also labeled “Tuning.”
    “I can't believe this old radio can contact another universe,” he said.
    “It's not old, it's vintage. Respect my ham shack,” Zoe said.
    “So how can a vintage radio receive signals from another dimension?” Ephraim said.
    “I made some custom modifications to the radio and mounted a thirty-foot homebrew antenna on the roof that boosts the