Out of This World by Douglas E. Richards Read Free Book Online Page B

you’ll find a wooden beam, sticking out from a booth. The beam is twenty yards due west of an old-fashioned well, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it. On this wooden beam you’ll find a ping-pong ball.”
    “Did you say a ping-pong ball?” said Jenna in disbelief.
    “Yes I did. You really should pay closer attention,” scolded Hirth once again. “Where was I? Oh yes. Inside the ball you’ll find a small piece of paper with the number of the road you’ll need to take.”
    “Why don’t you just tell us the road we need to take now ?” asked Jenna from the passenger’s seat. Directions inside a ping-pong ball? It reminded her of a fortune cookie. It seemed more than just a little odd.
    “Because the local portal appears in one of five locations each day, but we never know which one. Once we know, this information is imbedded in the ball, which is then placed on the wooden beam—using magic, of course. That’s just how it’s done. Since your imagination is too limited to even use magic, I would suggest not spending time criticizing how we do things here. I don’t have to be this nice,” he finished.
    This nice? thought Jenna. Was he kidding?
    But of course he wasn’t, she realized. He wasn’t the type to ever kid—about anything.
    “Yeah,” she said sarcastically. “You’ve been super friendly. I’ve never met anyone with a bigger, um— ” she hesitated and made a show of staring at the throbbing organ beating away inside Hirth’s chest. “Heart,” she finished.
    “Should I go on or do you want to waste more time asking questions?”
    “Go on, go on,” said Jenna unhappily.
    “One of the five roads has a very low bridge—an overpass—running over it that is too low for this vehicle to pass beneath. If this happens to be the road to which the ball directs you, lower the vehicle’s airplane and continue.”
    The vehicle's airplane? Both listeners were confused but knew better than to interrupt. Not with the fungus growing stronger every second. Zachary continued scribbling everything the man said furiously on the pad.
    “Whichever of the five roads the message in the ball directs you to, the portal will be inside a building you’ll find on the right side of the road, eight miles from the branch-point. The door responds to verbal commands, just like the ground vehicle. When you have said today's correct passwords the door will open automatically. The passwords needed to enter the building are the four words you can make, without any rearrangements, from the letters that you find in there.”
    Hirth stopped abruptly. “That’s all. Now get going and get off our world. This has been most unpleasant.”
    “But wait," said Zachary, totally confused about the passwords. “I don't understand what you mean by— ”
    “I said that’s all!” interrupted Hirth with finality. “I’ve told you everything you need to know.” He handed Zachary a watch. “You now have forty-two minutes,” he announced. “Now leave!”
     Zachary pulled up his pant leg and noted uneasily that the fungus had been making obvious progress even in the short time since he had last looked. He took a deep breath. “Before we go, can you tell us what happened to our parents? What this is all about?”
    Hirth blinked in disbelief. “Have I failed to make myself understood? Even if you leave immediately you’ll be fortunate to escape Orum in time. You can’t afford to waste a single second.”
    “Since we’re the ones infected, why don’t you let us worry about that,” insisted Zachary. His parents had reported failing to learn what was happening to them. If he and his sister were to have any chance of staying alive and rescuing them, they would have to learn exactly what they were up against, no matter what the cost.
     “Look,” said Zachary. “ You want us off your world and we want us off your world. So tell us what you know really fast and we’ll leave. Everyone will be happy.”
    Hirth folded