Anomalous Readings and Other Worlds: Old Map, New Dimension

Old Map, New Dimension

Agent Gray had been correct.

 

Together they had reamed the duo out for accidentally knocking Agent Gray into their adventure. Literally.

 

The duo was named Malachi - the mess of silver and tan feathers - and Zeb - the middle aged Attaraxian techie - and the anomalies were their fault. At least, partially their fault. Nikola supposed it was their fault in the way it was an engineer’s fault for directing water down one path versus another during a flood. The water was going to go somewhere no matter what, the engineer just needed to direct it where it wouldn’t cause as much harm.

 

Or that’s what it made him think of as Zeb explained the strange occurances of the anomalies to Agent Gray as they flew through the sky.

 

“Are you okay?” Malachi asked.

 

Nikola looked over at the smaller creature flying just above the edge of his far larger wing and followed his eye line to the gaping lacerations in his chest. “Yes. I’m quite resilient to bacteria and within a few days it should be mostly healed over. It’ll take longer for the feathers to grow back in, though.”

 

“She took a run at me, too,” Malachi said. He gestured with his beak to the jungle below. “But it’s easier for me to get in and out of tight spaces. Must’ve been hard for you to maneuver.”

 

“Not as hard as I had initially feared, but yes, more difficult than I would have liked, especially with a passenger,” he said.

 

Malachi nodded vigorously. “I’m always terrified of losing Zeb somewhere. One time he got shot with an arrow while I was scavenging. I’ll never forgive myself for leaving him alone.”

 

“Agent Gray is highly trained and capable of taking care of herself and others,” he said. That’s what his programming had attempted to tell him when it wrote her off as an acceptable loss, but he still couldn’t stomach the thought of leaving her to fend for herself.

 

“So is Zeb. Doesn’t mean I don’t want to protect him,” Malachi said.

 

“Unless there’s a snake,” Zeb chimed in.

 

Malachi’s green eyes widened and he echoed, “Unless there’s a snake. Hey, that last snake was actually big enough to eat the both of us, so I feel justified in my fear.”

 

“I would have called it a morbid terror,” Zeb said.

 

Malachi grumbled and flew the rest of the way with a pinched look on his face.

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Malachi and Zeb led them to a makeshift camp against a cluster of red rocks in the open, rolling fields of grassland to the south of the jungle. A small lean-to constructed out of scraggly sticks provided a tiny amount of shade against the merciless sun. Nikola’s temperature gauge was reading ground level temperatures close to one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, or nearly thirty-eight degrees Celsius. Two other feathered creatures huddled in what meager shade was provided by the shabby shelter.

 

The darkly colored one stood up when they landed and the heat of the ground registered against his footpads.

 

“Took you long enough. Did you bring back any water or just two more bodies to slowly dehydrate in this burning wasteland?” she questioned in another tongue, an avian based one if his translator was right.

 

A second one slowly emerged from the shelter.

 

Nikola scanned the two. They both appeared to be in the raptor family, one male and one female. She was an earthy brown with swirls of oily color all over. Even her eyes were nearly black. The male, on the flip side, was a unique menagerie of sage green, burnt orange, and lilac that had been faded by the dust.

 

“I see we weren’t the only ones to fall victim to your rather unorthodox way of traveling,” Nikola commented and shot a look at Malachi and Zeb.

 

“No, you two were the only ones that wound up here because of us. These two got here on their own,” Zeb said.

 

He dismounted Malachi and Nikola stooped low for Agent Gray to slide off.

 

“Nikola, Agent Gray, this is Arroyo,” Malachi gestured to the dark feathered raptor while handing a cantina to the colorful raptor, “and Reggae. They ran through rogue anomalies and we’ve been trying to locate Reggae for the last forty-eight hours and found Arroyo, too. We’ve been tracking a string of anomalies that cropped up recently. Came across Reggae’s brother who was very concerned that he’d just seen his brother get eaten by a bolt of lightning while he was surfing.”

 

Reggae gulped the water like a drunken man and then passed the cantina to Arroyo. He scrubbed his wing knuckle against his eye. “Brah, I didn’t willingly run through anything. I got sucked through and have been baking in this dry heat for the last two days with no company except the storm chaser here.”

 

Arroyo glared at him as she drained the cantina.

 

“Anomalies don’t suck things through them,” Malachi objected.

 

“Well I was in the water and it sucked in the water and sucked me in with it,” Reggae said, voice still tired but calm.

 

Nikola sat back on his haunches with his back to the blazing sun. Agent Gray had peeled away to talk with Zeb. The both of them were hunched over the brace on Zeb’s wrist and there appeared to be no immediate danger in their vicinity.

 

He turned his attention to the others. “Where are all of you from?”

 

“Zeb and I are stationed on an outpost on Tazeeckial,” Malachi said.

 

“Ah. One of the moons of Cassian,” he said.

 

“Yeah. Us two are from the same period of time and are located in a similar neck of the woods.”

 

Nikola looked at Arroyo and Reggae expectantly.

 

“Earth,” they both said.

 

“Apparently different versions of Earth,” Arroyo clarified, still in the avian tongue. “Mine post-apocalyptic, his not so much.”

 

“How’d you wind up here?” Reggae asked.

 

He glanced over at Agent Gray and Zeb and then down at Malachi with a narrowed look. “Wrong place, wrong time, it seems.”

 

“Oh.”

 

He lifted his head and scanned the distance. The grasslands offered a much better advantage where sight was concerned. Black mountains poked out of the ground to the east, the jungle rose to the north, and to the south and west the land simply went on forever until it met the horizon. Waves of heat rose in shimmers. The blue of the sky undulated and bled into the red and yellow of the grassland, ribbons of white light reflecting on surfaces curving to and fro between sky and land in a soundless dance. The only sound out here was the monotonous drone of cicadas.

 

“You know, that map may be no good here.” Malachi’s voice broke his staring at the rippling horizon.

 

Leaving his sensors on a low level alert mode, he turned his attention back to the three other creatures. Arroyo had picked up a roll of parchment from the ground and held it close to her chest like Malachi was going to try and take it away.

 

“No, you see, I think this map not only led to the anomaly, it led through the anomaly,” Arroyo said. “Someone before me must have gone to the center of the storm and found it.”

 

“But I thought these things just popped up randomly?” Reggae asked.

 

Nikola looked at Malachi. He had assumed the same until Zeb had explained he could exert a minor influence over where they opened up, much like how one could erect a metal rod on top of a building to draw lightning during a storm, but couldn’t produce the lightning.

 

“Not exactly randomly, but Zeb can explain the science better than I can,” Malachi said. He flapped his wings about and paced while he talked. “Basically, there are certain points where they’re prone to opening up, but for someone to find one, make a map, have someone else follow the map to that exact location years later, and for it to still be open? That’s weird.”

 

“As if everything so far has been normal,” Arroyo deadpanned.

 

Malachi shrugged. “Welcome to my life.”

 

 “A stable disturbance in time and space,” Nikola mumbled. He turned to the darkly feathered raptor and put his translator to use. “Arroyo, how did you come across the map?”

 

Arroyo eyed him warily. “My brother and I found it while scavenging an old weather station.”

 

“And where did it lead?”

 

“Into the heart of the Never Ending Storm,” she said.

 

“And you waltzed right into it?” Reggae asked. “Instead of saying nope, and turning around like any sane person?”

 

“Storm chasers don’t hide from storms,” Arroyo said. “We follow them. Study them. Find out where they come from. And the Never Ending Storm has been a mystery for decades.”

 

Reggae pointed. “Can I see the map?”

 

Arroyo hesitantly spread it out on the ground, but kept her thumb claws firmly planted on the corners. “You know how to read maps?”

 

Reggae rolled his eyes. “Shoots, my brother and I had to map our island years ago, so yeah. I can.”

 

Nikola shuffled closer and twisted his head to get a look at it.

 

The parchment was well-worn and tattered at the edges. A spot along the upper left was blackened from a close encounter with flames and a few water stains smudged some of the ink. His GPS system took the flat image of the map and interpreted the keys to produce a 3D image in his head.

 

“All of this right here?” Arroyo swept a short wingtip over the upper right of the map. “That’s from my Earth. I know these mountains and this ravine."

 

“Aha, I found your problem,” Reggae announced.

 

Nikola looked at him with interest as did Malachi and Arroyo.

 

Reggae pointed. “You went toward the skull and crossbones instead of away from it.”

 

Arroyo growled and moved the map away from him. “That’s the heart of the Never Ending Storm. That’s where I found the anomaly.”

 

Nikola narrowed his eyes and intently examined the 3D map displayed in his mind’s eye. “The terrain changes too abruptly to be a continuation of the same map.”

 

Arroyo looked up at him. “Precisely. It turns into a completely different map.”

 

“Maybe the guy ran out of paper,” Malachi said, even if he didn’t sound very convinced of that explanation.

 

“No, wait, hold up,” Reggae said and leaned over.

 

Arroyo slid the map closer to him again, a sour look plastered on her face.

 

“Those?” Reggae tapped a series of squiggles. “Don’t you think those could be that wacky canyon we were in yesterday?”

 

Arroyo squinted at the map and shot a look to the east at the black mountains. “Holy crap. They could be.”

 

“And these triangles would be those,” Reggae said and pointed at the mountains.

 

Nikola gazed at the rugged peaks of the ridge of mountains, his systems attempting to match up the angles on the map and in real time.

 

“We could get a more accurate idea from the air,” he said.

 

Arroyo and Reggae looked up at him.

 

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” Arroyo huffed and flapped a flightless wing.

 

Nikola’s face warmed up, and it wasn’t from the sun. “I meant I could fly up and take a scan of the area.”

 

“A scan?” Reggae asked.

 

Nikola already had his wings spread and had lifted off before he could answer the raptor.

 

The hot air rising off the ground pushed him upward and with the lower gravity, he climbed higher and higher, faster and faster than he ever had before. Mechanics and flesh worked in harmony to propel him like a rocket into the wild blue yonder. He tipped his wing, spiraling higher and higher. Higher until the air became cooler and the cluster of rocks with the others was an indiscernible shadow on in the dry yellow and red of the grassland.

 

Higher and higher. Higher until cloud vapors trailed off his wings and the air stung with its cold.

 

He leveled out in the deserted ocean of sky and cast his eyes downward.

 

His altitude revealed the odd striped canyon that lay in the valley of the mountains. Shorter peaks flanked the western side and taller ones rose to the east. While the peaks were black, the valley itself was pale with shallow ruts weathered into the surface of the rocks, creating the striped effect.

 

At the head of the valley was a deep red lake that let its water drain off in a single stream southward. A swath of ashen clouds piled north of the lake, illuminating like billowing lanterns with bolts of lightning.

 

His scans completed the 3D map, filling in for things like elevation, patches of foliage, compass directions, minute rises and falls, boulders, predicted weather patterns, and everything else. And there between the lake and the valley was an oddity in gravity. Though he was too far away currently for his sensors to register it, he had a feeling it was another anomaly.

 

He tucked his wings. His descent was speedy, but controlled, a reverse spiral down to the ground, condensation dribbled off his feathers as he abruptly went from the cold high altitudes to the desert heat.

 

Red dust puffed up around his feet as he landed. Droplets splattered the dust in dark dots and the rest evaporated from his black feathers in a haze of steam. Malachi, Arroyo, and Reggae all stared at him with dropped jaws. He folded his wings and turned so they couldn’t see his wound, hoping that would discourage the stares.

 

It didn’t.

 

“Dude,” Reggae breathed.

 

Arroyo continued to stare in silence.

 

Nikola fluffed his neck feathers in confusion. “What?”

 

Malachi jumped in. “Do you not realize how high up there you got?”

 

His eyes flicked upward and then back. “High enough to get a proper scan?”

 

“Normal birds can’t get up that high,” Malachi said. He hopped from one foot to the other. “That was awesome! You were as high as a jet!”

 

“And so fast.” Zeb joined the conversation. Nikola clamped his wings tighter against himself. “I knew they were attempting to make organic flight for the Synths more seamless, but that was breathtaking. I wonder what leant itself to the speed for such a big frame?”

 

Agent Gray planted her hands on her hips. “Don’t go praising him too much. He might get a big head.”

 

He cocked his head to the side and zeroed in on Zeb. “Are you praising me or assessing me?”

 

Zeb held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Pardon me, Nikola. I didn’t mean to objectify you. I was just amazed, that’s all.”

 

Arroyo cleared her throat and changed the topic, not that the Attaraxian or human understood her. “Did you get a better look at what we’re dealing with?”

 

Glad for the change, Nikola nodded and projected a hologram of the 3D map from the projectors on his right wrist and above his left eye. Reggae and Arroyo jumped in surprise, but Malachi leaned in closer to examine it. The riders understood the conversation must have shifted and leaned in as well.

 

Arroyo overcame whatever reservations she had and scooted closer.

 

“Wild,” Reggae whispered, but followed Arroyo.

 

“I came down into this canyon here.” Arroyo thrust a wing claw into the projected map where Nikola estimated the anomaly sat.

 

“She said she came down at the head of the valley below the lake,” Malachi translated for Zeb and Agent Gray. He shot a look at Arroyo. “Why didn’t you turn and head back home?”

 

“Probably had something to do with the egg sized hail coming down on my side of the anomaly,” she snapped. “The storm worsened right as I got to it, and it was either take my chances and dive through or get clubbed to death by ice chunks.”

 

“If you came through by yourself, where did you meet up with Reggae?” Nikola asked.

 

“Here.” Reggae pointed at a point further south down the canyon. “A got spit out in a fountain into the creek. Nasty smelling red water. Arroyo was standing right there when it happened.”

 

“Never seen anyone more confused in my life,” Arroyo chuckled.

 

Reggae shared her laugh. “I said some things I’m not proud of. But my anomaly disappeared right after it dumped me here. We started traveling together from there.”

 

“Why head down the canyon?” Agent Gray asked.

 

“A storm was brewing and we needed to get out of the flash flood zone,” Arroyo answered.

 

“They were in danger of being swept away in a flash flood,” Nikola said to the riders. “According to what I saw, it looked like another storm was preparing to hit the area tonight.”

 

Arroyo made a sound somewhere between distressed and frustrated. “I need to get back to that anomaly and get back to my dimension.”

 

“I’m sorry, Arroyo. It will be too dangerous tonight,” he said. “And if there was hail as big as you say when you came through the first time, who’s to say it won’t still be hailing like that? Or worse?”

 

“But my brother is waiting at the base camp for me,” she said. “He’s going to think I’m dead.”

 

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you home. Right, Zeb?” Malachi looked over his shoulder at his rider.

 

“We are going to try our best. But we do need to get to that canyon. It seems to be a weak point prime for anomalies to pop up,” Zeb said.

 

“Then let’s get to it before it starts pouring, brah. I’ve been in floods before. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, not interested in doing it again,” Reggae said.

 

“We’re not going to get there very fast on foot,” Arroyo said.

 

Nikola looked down at Agent Gray. After their run-in with the murderous bird, he wanted to keep her close, but not too close to the two raptors he still didn’t know much about. Close at hand or safely at a distance? He already knew the answer. He tried to convince himself that she would be fine away from him.

 

“I can carry the two raptors. Agent Gray, you ride with Zeb and Malachi,” he said.

 

Malachi grinned. “Let’s ride.”

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Warning. Anomaly detected.

 

The storm had already broken loose by the time they had climbed the peaks and dropped into the valley. Clear membranes slid across Nikola’s eyes to shield against the stinging rain. The two raptors crouched low on his back between his shoulders while Agent Gray clung to Zeb on Malachi’s back. He periodically checked her life signal just to assure himself. On his back, Reggae clutched his feathers with a death grip and Arroyo held on with such a light touch that he was afraid he was going to lose her without noticing.

 

“This is bad,” Arroyo yelled over the din of the wind. “These winds are going to start producing hail.”

 

“And I don’t have a helmet,” Reggae added.

 

He looked over at Malachi and yelled, “Hail is likely. We need to get out of the storm.”

 

“Standby! We’re having technical difficulties,” Malachi yelled back.

 

Zeb balanced on Malachi’s back with just his knees holding on while he fiddled with the brace on his wrist. Agent Gray buried her face against his shoulder to protect it from the sheets of water hammering them. A flash of lightning washed out all colors for a breath and thunder rattled his bones in the next breath.

 

“I think I’ve got a lock on it and can trigger an anomaly,” Zeb hollered.

 

Nikola winced as a pellet of ice pelted him in the head.

 

Warning. Storm worsening. Seek shelter. Threat of lightning strike high.

 

“Not sure how I feel about riding on a guy with metal bones through a lightning storm,” Reggae said, making Nikola wonder if he had heard his internal warning system.

 

“You’re basically a flying lightning rod, big guy,” Arroyo said.

 

“I’m built to handle a surge like that,” he said.

 

“I’m not!” Reggae squawked.

 

Another blinding light split the air, but it didn’t fade. His eyes adjusted to the brightness quickly and he recognized it as another anomaly, similar to the one that had interrupted his journey to The Epitome.

 

“Go, go, go!” Malachi screeched and dove headfirst through the anomaly.

 

Nikola tucked his wings and followed after just as the hail started to pummel him in earnest. The light overwhelmed him momentarily before color exploded all around him. His sensors went haywire and messages from the Hub rapidly came in.

 

A cluster of cursing came from Malachi and Zeb as they landed.

 

Nikola touched down and let the raptors slide off of him. Arroyo cast her eyes around the foreign world with its planet and sister moons hanging in the darkened skies. Reggae huddled closer to his leg. Agent Gray hopped off and did a slow turn on her heel. She locked eyes with Nikola.

 

“We’re not in Kansas anymore,” she muttered.

 

Nikola shook his head. His systems were well aware of that.

 

Warning. Blacklisted planet. Evacuate immediately. 

Warning. Dangerous fauna detected.

Warning. Dangerous flora detected.

Warning. Evacuate immediately.

Warning. Warning. Warning…