Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
HUMPTY DUMPTY
“Tie her up, would you please, Hatter?” The General called out. He set the white rabbit on top of a wide trestle table at the other end of the clearing, then moved to climb the scaffold platform again. “And a cage for our little friend here. He might provide some entertainment for later.”
My heart pounding in my ears, the queasiness in my stomach would not let up.
Rabb…
I had to get the Hatter to undo the spell somehow.
Stepping away from the control panels, the Hatter let out a sigh.
“I always get the difficult jobs.” He waved his hand and a small steel cage materialized around the little rabbit on the table.
The Hatter waved his hand again, purple ribbons of magic bursting from his fingertips, zigzagging wildly through the air.
One transformed briefly into a flock of birds.
Another exploded into confetti. A third tied itself into a knot.
I narrowed my eyes. I imagined that wasn’t supposed to happen.
Mumbling under his breath, the Hatter wrung his hands out. “Such randomness. Of course, the generation of true random numbers remains an unsolved problem in science.”
I blinked in realization. “Your magic… It’s affected by the machine too, isn’t it?”
No doubt being around the machine’s strange energy every day must have taken its toll on the Hatter as well.
He didn’t respond.
Several bowties wrapped themselves around my wrists, ankles, and torso. “Whoa—” I toppled sideways on the grass with a yelp.
“There.” He dusted off his hands, just as one of the ties immediately unraveled. He hastily tied it again. “Mostly there.”
“Hatter, you better not set off those explosives again by accident,” the General chided from the platform above. He clearly didn’t care about the Hatter’s deteriorating state. He probably considered all his ghostly followers dispensable.
I gave the crate marked ‘EXPLOSIVES’ nearby a wary sideways glance. I glared at the bastard before trying to catch the Hatter’s gaze again. “Hey,” I hissed. “Hatter, why are you even helping this monster? Don’t you realize how dangerous this all is?” I couldn’t help the bewilderment in my question.
“Hmm? Oh, why, yes. But his ideas are quite fascinating.”
Overhearing our conversation, the General’s grin was sly.
“Well, let’s give credit where credit is due, shall we?
I confess all this science mumbo jumbo is terribly boring to me.
This was all inspired by Dr. Carter’s own designs.
” He gestured to the fantastical machine behind him.
“It’s a shame you do not even recognize your baby.
” His eyes gleamed with mischief. “The Hatter was utterly fascinated by your premise. He was also fascinated to hear about the lengths to which you had gone to accomplish your greatest achievement.”
As though forgetting anyone else existed at all, the Hatter bustled about the machine. Drawing tools from his belt, he tightened joints and adjusted valves and rivet plates into place.
“The Hatter is quite dedicated,” the General remarked. “I was very fortunate to have met him after I escaped from the wastes.”
My eyes widened at his declaration. I was found near-dead in the wastelands as well, but I had no memory whatsoever of how I had gotten there. “Do you remember how you arrived there?”
“No, but I do remember it was freezing.” His eyebrow rose. “Do you really not recall, Doctor? You don’t remember anything about our world?”
I gritted my teeth in helpless aggravation. I hated to admit it, but the General was the only person in the world who could give me this information. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of lording it over me, but my overflowing curiosity was reaching its limit.
The General must’ve sensed the same thing, his grin widening.
“Shall I tell you the tale of Dr. Eleanor Carter?” He spoke in a sing-song voice.
“Awarded for your groundbreaking experimental research on string theory and quantum universes, subsequently leading your team to successfully develop the first working prototype allowing safe, stable, and educational inter-dimensional travel.” He grinned.
“Together, we built the most extraordinarily powerful weapons.”
I racked my brain to try to remember, my breath starting to come out heavy. Was it true? Could he be making this all up? How was he managing to make my accomplishments sound inherently malevolent?
I struggled against the magical restraints whilst the bustling work continued around me, yet every attempt ended with the bowties tightening further.
“Come now, Doctor. Is nothing coming back to you yet?” He swung under a metal beam to cross the platform.
“You worked on this machine for years. You were on the pinnacle of success. Of course, what they never say in your glowing biographies is the cost of this success. The strategy that propelled your work in leaps and bounds. How you were happy enough to sacrifice everything, even human lives, for the sake of your research. You’ve endangered trillions of lives, killed billions—all for the sake of science. ”
“What?” My stomach hollowed. I did all that? How could I have possibly…?
“And now, here you are. Doing it again with this world.”
I shot him a dark look. “I didn’t create this machine here. You did. You are the cause of all the instabilities in this world.”
“Maybe so, but we are building on your genius. Everything we have done so far is because of you. If there is a monster here, it is most certainly not me,” he huffed. “Besides, I am simply trying to accomplish what I am almost certain you have also been attempting to do these past eight months.”
My breath caught in my throat.
“The machines you’ve seen so far are small-scale. You might have noticed. They only allow travel within this little world. But this…” He gestured ceremoniously to the metal beast behind him. “This one should be able to punch through the dimensional barriers and replicate your original masterpiece.”
My heart plummeted to my feet.
“That’s right, Doctor. With this machine, you and I will finally have a way back to our own world. This shall allow us both to go home.” The expression on his face was full of pride.
Home.
At long last.
I should have been relieved. I should have been excited. Except the only thing running through my veins was dread, dismay, and the inklings of cold panic.
I still wasn’t sure where I truly belonged.
I wasn’t sure I yearned to return to my own world.
But while I was indeed fascinated by the prospect of witnessing such an unprecedented, fantastic machine allowing travel between worlds, I knew one thing for sure.
This man, the General, should not be allowed to possess this capability.
“This is a very interesting land, isn’t it?” the General went on, as perhaps he liked the sound of his own voice. “Very magical. It’s taking an extraordinary amount of energy to power the machine. Luckily, we have more than enough resources to compensate.”
“Resources?” I swallowed the stinging sourness in my throat. “Are you talking about siphoning the land’s mystical energy? Is that how you’re powering this machine?”
“We drain some people first, then the land,” the Hatter thought to put in as if it made this nightmare more tolerable.
Eyes wide, I couldn’t contain my horror as I put the last pieces together.
“It’s what’s causing the ghosts, isn’t it?
You’re siphoning the magic from within the citizens of Wünder too.
The magical tide is what keeps this whole world alive.
Without it, everyone will die. How could you possibly think this is sustainable, let alone acceptable? ”
He folded his arms across his chest. “You didn’t seem to be much concerned with the same sort of consequences before. You’ve done it before with the multiple worlds you’ve already sacrificed for the sake of your discoveries.”
My gaze flicked toward the rabbit in the cage, darted around the villagers in the clearing, and landed on the Hatter. My stomach dropped with every accusation that echoed across the forest. “It’s not true.”
Even though a part of me desperately wanted to believe it was all a lie, a deeper terror clawed at my chest. Did these forgotten sins truly belong to me? I felt an overwhelming urge to disappear.
“The best part is, once my machine is operational, we will have a way to access every other world we could possibly ever want.” His grin widened.
“I have finally recreated my invasion army. With this world as our new base of operations, we will be able to complete our original mission. We shall have sole command of all the worlds in existence. Don’t you remember, Doctor? ”
I couldn’t tamp down the revulsion on my face. “You’re delusional. There’s no way I wanted this.” My head spun, my chest tightening. Was this the sort of person I used to be? Had I truly intended to take over all the known worlds?
He gave me a dark, annoyed glare. “Hey, did you think I wanted to be sucked into this ridiculous other world in the first place? None of this would have even happened if not for your sudden attack of guilty conscience. We would have already been masters of all the dimensions. Together, we would have ruled over everything.”
My eyes lit up. Guilty conscience? Hope bubbled in my heart for the first time. Perhaps whatever evil I had done in my past, I had tried to undo it. Perhaps I had tried to redeem myself. Perhaps I wasn’t truly as vile as the General was saying.
I clenched my jaw in determination. “General, please. It’s not too late. We have to stop this before we hurt any more people.”
A piercing burst of feedback shrieked across the forest, causing all the ghostly workers to wince as they clapped their hands over their ears.
I flinched at the sting. I wanted to cover my own ears, but my hands were still bound.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” the Hatter called out from beneath a control panel.
Whatever he was doing, it was wrong.