The Memory of Darkness (on hold until October)

30 - Weird Science

Another flash of lightning lit up the tavern guest room, causing Felix to jump, before cursing under his breath. Gretchen rolled her eyes in disapproval, but understood his frustration as she reconnected a copper wire to the fixings on a small silver coloured cube. "This storm is ridiculous!" she complained.

"Agreed," said Felix. "There's too much static in the air. I can't get proper readings. Try a different crystal in the reactant chamber."

Gretchen opened a hatch on the cube and removed a small crystal from inside, replacing it with another. "That's A5 out, C2 in."

"C2?" queried Felix. "Any particular reason?"

"Aethrentic polarity," she said. "Reversals aren't working as we'd hoped, so let's try altering the micronic flow by shifting the transfer unit by, maybe, fifteen degrees."

Felix nodded. "I see, though perhaps make it twenty."

Coren sat in a corner of the room, not understanding any of the scene before him. Two metal globes were positioned on tripods on a table around two feet away from each other. Each globe was linked by wires to a cube containing a crystal. To the left of this sat various dials, gauges and switches. Occasionally, the right hand globe would give off sparks of various colours, at which point Gretchen or Felix would make note of some readings, frown in disapproval, and change one or both of the crystals.

So far, nothing had exploded, though he feared that it was only a matter of time. A rumble of thunder built up to a roaring crescendo that seemed to reverberate in his chest. He glanced out of a nearby window and saw that it was not raining heavily, as if the storm god was putting so much effort into the sounds and lights that he'd forgotten about something as mundane as water.

"Micronic flow up to sixty cronins," announced Gretchen.

"Excellent," said Felix. "We might be getting somewhere. Adjusting to twenty-five degrees."

"Seventy-five cronins," said Gretchen, her voice rising in excitement. "Eighty."

Coren sat forward, his eyes wide, as the right hand globe gave off sparks, before an arc of green lightning shot across to the other globe, and remained there, a flickering line of light between the two.

Gretchen laughed in triumph. "Stable at ninety cronins!"

Another flash of lightning was accompanied by a loud crash and the sound of breaking glass from somewhere nearby. The atmosphere in the room became charged, so much that all three thought that their hair was about to stand on end. The flickering ribbon of light began to widen in the middle until it split, forming a frame around a small patch of... something else entirely.

"Gods be buggered!" gasped Felix as he peered at the lights.

"Careful Uncle!" warned Gretchen.

"There's something through there!" declared Felix. "It's like a window. We've managed to break through to... wherever that is!"

Gretchen joined Felix, staring at the patch of light in astonishment. Wherever lay beyond looked barren and rocky, with a blood red sky, and a crescent moon low in the sky, many times larger than they had ever seen. "Looks a bit grim, doesn't it?" asked the girl.

"Just a bit," said Felix, the reality of what they had achieved not yet sinking in. "What... I don't... How..."

They both shrieked as a hideous something shot out of the portal, landed on the floor, scuttled to the nearest wall and began to climb it with alarming speed. Coren leapt to his feet, drew his dagger from his belt and threw it and the creature, impaling it to the wall. Its many legs twitched for a moment and it let out a high pitched hiss, before falling still and silent.