SNAP! and the Alter Ego Dimension by Ann Hite Kemp Read Free Book Online Page A

eye. She was glad that she had this curtain-dress on or else she would have been very self-conscious all the time. To sit here dressed only in her bikini, would have been bad. With Ulrich watching her all the time, she felt a little uneasy, but not too much. In fact, she liked it.
    She pulled the curtain over her bare, cold feet and looked into the grayness.
    “At this stage we don’t have a clue as to how to get out of here, Ulrich,” Hiroshi said. “We only know we must defend ourselves against our alter egos. We must stay together. Back to back. We’ve got only one weapon, my sword. Now we must make a thorough search of this place to find food and other weapons. Maybe something really useful came with somebody else. Like a fridge.”
    Ulrich searched through the pockets of his jacket. He brought forward his cell phone and a packet of cigarettes. He took a cigarette from the packet and put it between his lips. Out of his other pocket he produced a cigarette lighter.
    “
Matte!
Wait! Do not smoke here,” Etsu called. “Where will smoke go? We not know. We perhaps all die.”
    “Good point,” Ulrich agreed and put the cigarettes and lighter back in his pocket. He looked at his cell phone and pressed a few buttons.
    “There’s no signal here,” Hiroshi said. “The rest, like the flash light, will only work until the battery goes flat. And the flash light doesn’t really help. It only shines five meters in any direction. Etsu and I already tried everything. Here visibility is limited, just five meters all around. After five meters it’s like a wall of grayness. As one walks, the five meters moves with you. It’s very strange.”
    “Yes, no signal.” Ulrich switched his cell phone’s light on. The light stopped against the grayness as if something solid was surrounding them. He switched it off, shook his head and slipped the phone into his pocket. “Okay, let’s go and find a door somewhere that leads out of this place.” It sounded as if he was in a hurry.
    “First of all we need to find food and water,” Tammy suggested. “I’m thirsty and a little hungry. Does it get dark here? You know, day and night?” She looked towards her window. There was still blue light in the cube through the branches.
    Etsu shook her head. “No, our watches are keeping time as usual, that is how we know that it is three days since we got here.”
    “My laptop is also working,” Hiroshi said. “Batteries are working here. It’s only the cell phones. They need a signal.”
    “
Ach nein!
Are we trapped here forever?” Ulrich said anxiously. “I’m in grade twelve and busy with an international science expo. I haven’t got time to hang around here. The final is in a month’s time. There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done.”
    Tammy burst out laughing, although she wasn’t feeling cheerful. Ulrich used the right word to described the predicament they were in. They were indeed hanging around—or so it seemed. It did look as if they were floating, even though they were sitting or standing on something solid.
    “I really hope we’re not imprisoned here forever,” Tammy said thinking of her mother. “Why did you get a
Snap
message? What did you wish for? To be like Albert Einstein?”
    Ulrich looked ashamed of himself.
    “Yes, I wanted to be as clever as Albert Einstein and wished that I could read as fast as my dad. My dad wants me to be as good as he is, but I can’t . . . I’m not.”
    “Was that what your alter ego said to you? The only word I could understand was Einstein,” Tammy asked.
    “Yes, I keep wondering how he knew that . . . ”
    “Apparently, they know everything we are thinking, everything, because they are us,” Tammy explained. “Come on, let’s explore this place. I’m going to get more hungry, and sitting here is definitely not going to help . . . ”
    Ulrich got to his feet and stood in front of her. Tammy looked up to him and in his eyes she could see something like