Hours later and Mom still hadn’t returned. She had Lina’s sympathy. No doubt Director Selachi and the people from the grant committee didn’t value her time or contribution enough to think they were keeping her from anything. Lina expected to hear all about it when Mom returned — the pointless banter, the meaningless flattery, and heaven forbid they conscripted her into a meal or cocktails. Lina shuddered. Mom would be in a foul mood for sure, but maybe seeing her machine up and running would improve it.
Lina finished mopping up the last of the coolant after replacing all the misplaced parts and repairing the damage. At the opening of the access panel, she leaned against the handle of her paintbrush-turned-mop and surveyed her hard work. Every piece back in its rightful place, every inch gleaming and clean. All that was left to do now was close it up and test it.
It was the test that gave her pause and sent a tremor of excitement thrumming through her veins. If this worked, it would be big. Not just for Mom. For both of them. Lina hated this basement lab with its tiny, dirty window near the ceiling. She wanted to be somewhere with sunlight and soft breezes and the smell of flowers.
She closed her eyes picturing it and finally sighed. No use putting it off any longer. She should probably wait for Mom to come back, but what if it still wasn’t working? What if she’d forgotten something simple and her big surprise was ruined?
No. She needed to test it.
She climbed out of the machine and replaced the screws, carefully turning the washer in hand to tighten them. And then she hopped up on top of the rectangular base that held the machinery and examined the control panel.
The machine consisted of two main parts: one, the base, which was the relative size and shape of a cinder block, and two, the upright ring mounted to the top of the base — the transporter. In theory, she’d turn it on — she pressed the right sequence of buttons and the machinery below started to hum — and then send something through the ring. Hopefully nothing would explode.
The whole base trembled under her feet, the gears and motor whirring to life, powering the electronics inside. A crackling purple light started at the inside perimeter of the ring, pushing in toward the center, creating a translucent film of energy. Electricity arced around the edges like lightning, but so far, no explosions.
There was another part of this whole thing that Mom hadn’t worked out yet: the receiver. It was sitting, in the middle of being disassembled, on Mom’s desk. The receiver hadn’t mattered much when they couldn’t even get the transporter up and running.
Lina waited, holding her breath, for any ominous sounds coming from below, but all seemed to be going well. The only thing left to do was toss something through the ring and see if it disappeared.
She jumped down to retrieve her washer-screwdriver and hoisted herself back up.
“Here goes nothing,” she muttered, tossing the ring.
As the washer touched the energy barrier, the purple light expanded and brightened until it was nearly white. It crackled and sucked the metal ring in and when Lina didn’t hear it clatter to the table on the other side, she finally felt like it was safe to celebrate.
“Yes!” she cried, pumping her fist in the air. Mom was going to be so happy. She turned in place, shaking her hips in a victory dance that thankfully no one could see.
But when she stopped dancing and turned back to the matter transporter, she saw that the light hadn’t dimmed. It still pulsed bright and hot, reaching out from the transporter ring like it was hungry for more.
The base of the machine rattled and shook and Lina fell to her knees, fighting for balance. The diode attached to her headband fell and bounced over the quivering surface toward the transporter. Lina leaped for it, cradling it close to her chest. That was the one gift Mom had given her that she took with her everywhere. She wasn’t about to let it get sucked away to who-knows-where.
But the transporter was still hungry. It sucked in air, pulling her towards it, bringing up terrifying memories of the time she was nearly inhaled by the vacuum cleaner. How had she escaped that time?
Carpet. She’d grabbed hold of the carpet fibers and held on for dear life. But the smooth metal beneath her didn’t offer anything for her to hold onto.
Lina flattened herself against the floor and fought against the pull, belly-crawling toward the control panel. Wind whipped her hair around, undoing the knot she’d tied earlier and blinding her.
Whether she could see or not was irrelevant. The controls were too far away. The pull was too strong. She slid backwards, her skin squeaking against the metal as she tried to fight the tornado whirling around her.
As strong as it felt to her, it wasn’t strong enough to stir any of the things on the workbench. The vast intake of air didn’t even rustle any of Mom’s carefully-organized papers. But still, it sucked Lina in, dragging her, her fingernails fighting for purchase.
Tingles and pinpricks broke out on her skin as her feet were sucked into the purple light. She grabbed for the edge of the transporter ring, praying the thing would shut off and she’d be left here with her feet intact.
Lightning arced and zapped her fingers and Lina’s hand jumped back, too fast to stop herself from letting go as she went tumbling through the transporter.
Colors swirled all around her in a dizzying kaleidoscope where up and down had no meaning. She was simultaneously tumbling and floating, though no wind rushed around her. Instead, it was pure energy that crackled on all sides, the raw electricity pulling her hair to straight points and prickling on her skin.
The sound was unlike anything she’d ever heard, too. Something between a frying pan sizzle and a rake over metal. It was both deafening and hard to hear over her own internal panic.
There was nothing to see, no landmarks, no other objects floating in the colorful void, and Lina wasn’t sure she was being transported at all. It seemed to her like she was stuck, trapped in a place that wasn’t a place, going nowhere with no way to go back. No matter how hard she tried to move, no matter how loud she tried to scream, nothing happened. She didn’t move and she didn’t make a sound.
What had she done? This was it, now. She’d be lost forever. Floating and falling, in an endless rainbow, until she just starved or something. It would take forever.
She should have listened to Mom.
But at least she still had that reminder of her. The diode clutched in her hand to keep her company and keep the darkness at bay. Not that it seemed like there was any darkness in this place.
Then, strangely, she swore she heard voices. Birds chirping. The rustling of wind through leaves. She was going mad. Losing her mind already. That didn’t bode well for her slow and agonizing demise.
But it wasn’t just the noises. There were smells, too. Damp earth and citrus-spiked sunshine. Flowers and fresh green wood. Perhaps dying here wouldn’t be so bad. At least at the end, she wouldn’t be trapped in that dank basement.
She just had so many questions still, about who she was and where she came from. She’d brushed them aside for so long, thinking that she’d eventually find answers, but eventually seemed to have come without warning and it didn’t bring any answers with it.
And Mom… Her chest tightened with the thought. Mom would be devastated. She’d scrap the whole project. She’d give up on her experiments and never get the recognition or accolades she deserved. Lina’s gut twisted. It was all her fault. She only wanted to help…
Wind rushed through her hair now, fighting against the pull of static, pushing the silken strands around her face and neck. Maybe she’d strangle in her own hair before she starved. At least that would be quicker.
The colors began to fade and the humming electricity died off to an insistent whine that gave way to the droning buzz of insects.
All at once, like a bubble popping, Lina tumbled forward and face planted in the dirt.
“Oof,” she groaned, spitting soil out and scrubbing a hand over her face. She wouldn’t be trying that again any time soon.
She tried pulling herself to her feet, but the ground wavered under her and for a moment the whole world seemed topsy turvy, like she was hanging from the ceiling. Then, like someone took the universe by the corners and turned it around, everything was right again.
This time, she stayed on the ground, her arms splayed, long blades of grass tickling her skin. Dappled sunlight filtered through a canopy of trees and kissed her back, warming her through. So this was heaven. She took a deep breath and inhaled the scent of life, of green things and nature.
A bird whistled somewhere high above and Lina smiled at his song, her limbs feeling heavy and exhausted. Dying could really take a lot out of a girl.
“What is it, Petey bird?” a voice said, light and musical, almost laughing.
There were others in Lina’s heaven. That shouldn’t be so surprising, but after falling through the transporter and resigning herself to never seeing Mom ever again, she’d forgotten that others could be… here. Anywhere. She’d just thought she’d be alone forever. Thinking about it now felt a little ridiculous.
She turned her head toward the sound but still didn’t pick herself up or make any attempt to move from the spot she landed. The grass was so soft, the soil too, like a feather bed. She didn’t want to move.
The bird whistled some more and fluttered its wings, jumping from one tree branch to another, shaking the leaves.
“What are you trying to show me, you silly boy?” the voice asked again, laughing in earnest now. “Do you want to play?”
“Suriah! Where have you gone?” another voice rang out, this one more serious, deeper, decidedly masculine. “Mother is looking for you,” he said, sounding exasperated.
Lina tried to prop herself on her elbows now, wondering who the people were and how close they’d gotten, but she plopped down again, her strength and energy sapped. At least the ground was warm and soft, she thought, her eyes sliding closed.
“Shh,” the girl giggled again while the bird tweeted and hopped. “You’re going to give me away!”
But it wasn’t the bird that was giving her location away, it was the laughter. So free and unfettered.
“Suriah! This isn’t funny. It will be my rear in danger if you miss another engagement.” The grass rustled nearby. Too near. Lina hoped she’d be concealed by its long blades. She didn’t want to meet strangers or try to explain how she’d arrived in this place. When she’d pictured the afterlife in the past, she always imagined boundless energy, but all she wanted now was to sleep.
“Suri— SURIE!” The sound through the grass was fast, urgent, like he was running. A touch on her shoulder startled Lina and she blinked turning her head as the man shook her gently.
A man with a gentle touch… A man her size…
“You’re not…” he breathed, sounding both relieved and more alarmed all at once.
“What’s with all the serious— whoa… Who is that?” the laughing girl didn’t sound so happy now, but Lina couldn’t make out either of them. Her eyes wouldn’t open again, and sleep tugged her under its unforgiving tide, never giving her a chance to come up for air.
“I don’t know, but we should get her to Farita. She doesn’t look good. Help me,” he said, rolling Lina onto her back and propping up her shoulders.
All she could think of before unconsciousness claimed her completely, was how nice it felt to be touched by someone her own size.