Chapter 25 #2
The fantastic machine was sending out pulsing waves, jarring vibrations across the clearing, bits of scrap metal and tools shook on top of tables, shivering across every surface, rattling the rabbit’s cage.
Hissing, I wrinkled my nose. “Hatter, what in the fresh tides are you doing? Are you modifying the Grand Harmony Widget?”
Blinking, I stopped short. I was sure I intended to say ‘primary harmonic regulator.’ “The Grand Harmony Widget,” I tried again.
Huh. Either reality was unraveling, or the mystical land of Wünder preferred to redefine language to suit itself. Possibly both.
The Hatter didn’t seem to notice. His tool clanged loudly. “Not to worry. It’s merely unpredictable.”
My jaw dropped at his nonchalant response. “Unpredictable?” The last thing one should want in any experiment was something unpredictable. The operating principles of the fantastic machine, messing with otherworldly energies, were already delicate as they were. This was even worse than I’d thought.
“Did you remember to tweak the Resonance Teapot? You also need to disable the Topsy-Turvy Twister, otherwise, it’s not going to work,” I called out my warnings—regarding more technical terms which I imagined the mystical land didn’t care to understand.
“It absolutely will,” the Hatter insisted.
“It absolutely won’t.”
Finally pausing his task, the Hatter frowned and turned to me. “How sure are you?”
I gave him a flat look. Who did he think he was dealing with here? “Completely.”
He scratched his chin. “Would you show me?”
I wriggled my arms behind my back. “Well, sure, if I had hands available.”
The Hatter shot the General a quick, prompting look.
The General’s eyes narrowed at me in suspicion. “Can you fix it?”
“Of course I can.” My glare was decidedly self-assured, mocking. “Look, if you truly knew me at all, you would know I cannot simply stand by shoddy work.”
He wagged his finger. “No tricks.”
“Please.” I lifted my shoulders in meaningful emphasis. “I have no desire to stand beside an unstable, reality-ripping device.”
The Hatter waved a hand to untie me.
“Tannis, watch her,” the General snapped.
As soon as my hands and feet were unbound, Tannis’ shadow fell over me. Tamping down my scowl of displeasure, I approached the open panel on one side of the machine. All at once, my displeasure found an entirely new focus.
I easily identified a critical assembly whose removal would render half the machine useless, harmless. But I also couldn’t help but groan at the internal configuration. “Look at this mess! You installed these contraptions backwards. And those thingamabobs shouldn’t be routed into the same chamber.”
The Hatter crouched beside me with a pair of pliers and a solder.
“Do you see the problem?” I gestured to the twisted machinery, directing the Hatter where he needed to make adjustments, before stepping toward the dials. “I’ll watch the readings and compensate for you.”
A high-pitched abrasive screech pealed everywhere.
Everyone on the forest floor cringed.
I winced at the brief sting.
Grimacing, Tannis put his hands to his ears.
“Almost there.” Watching the gauges as the Hatter tweaked inside the machine, I carefully turned a few dials.
A wave of nausea ripped through me. The machine’s indicators all flicked dangerously red for a few moments. My body phased in and out of existence even as the readings bounced up and down. “Aah—” I grunted at the pain that was pressing against every side of my head.
“It’s doing it again,” the General barked. For some reason, he wasn’t affected by whatever the Hatter was tinkering with.
I narrowed my eyes. The General was clutching at something under his collar, as though for reassurance. Some kind of tarnished, ornate gear talisman was laced around his neck.
Another vague sense of recognition washed over me.
That necklace. Was it providing the General with protection against the phenomenal forces being put out by the machine? Was it the reason why all the ghosts, the villagers, and the Hatter, had all been affected in some way—except for him?
My pulse began to race.
There was a soft beep as everything stabilized.
Panting, I braced my hand against the metal panel, my body phasing back into its solid state. “There. That should reduce the impact altogether.”
The General couldn’t help but laugh. “Dr. Carter, as usual, you are a marvel.”
“We had trouble with the Harmonious Whirligig,” the Hatter continued to mumble to himself. “At first, the machine would start up fine, then after eighty-four percent warm-up, everything came to a grinding halt.”
A vague notion clicked in my head.
The Hatter was the key to all this.
I didn’t need to stop the General.
I needed to contain the Hatter.
Without the Hatter, the General would be virtually powerless.
The General had said so himself. He understood none of the science. It was highly likely he was only used to giving orders, not understanding them. All I needed to do was take the Hatter out of the equation.
Out of the corner of my eye, something in the machine’s innards gleamed.
It was an F-capacitor.
The final component I needed to complete my invention.
My heart pounded in my chest. I had to move fast.
“Look, the Sprockets are coming loose!” I gestured upward to the other side of the panel, before ducking under the metal shielding once again to work the capacitor loose from its installation.
I supposed my brilliant distraction technique wasn’t too brilliant.
“Hey.” The Hatter noticed. “What are you doing?”
Alarmed, I grabbed the handful of wires and hastily ripped them out. Then, jumping up, I ran for the console to configure an energy pocket.
“Hey!” the General yelled at my sudden movement.
Smoke wreathed across the grass, the machine’s lights flashing for a moment as a colorless vapor of a distorted haze erupted around the Hatter. He stood rooted where he was. He couldn’t move his feet.
“Oh.” Looking down, the Hatter merely looked mildly surprised.
Wide-eyed in frenzy, the General waved his arms. “What are you doing? Get her!”
I dropped the other tools and whirled to run—except Tannis grabbed hold of me again.
“No—” I kicked and screamed to get away.
“Hatter, do something!” the General screeched, stamping his feet.
His bottom half still frozen, the Hatter waved his hand, brilliant sparks of light streaming out.
There was a pop, and every single ghost villager in the clearing transformed into an egg.
My arms fell slack, my eyes widening. “What the—?”
The Hatter’s unstable magic had reared its ugly head once again.
The entire forest floor and the machine’s scaffolding were nearly covered with smooth oval eggs, their pale ivory shells gleaming softly in the light with creamy shades of white and faint hints of gold.
What in the whole wide world—?
Startled, I stepped backward. My boot came down on something soft with a sickening crunch. Glancing down with a grimace, I found the shattered remains of an egg smeared across the grass, its gooey yolk and slimy translucent whites oozing between the tread of my sole.
Oh, dear lord…
My heart pounded in my chest. Could that possibly be…? Did that really just happen? I hadn’t meant to do that. I shot the rabbit a guilty, horrified look. What in Wünder had I just done?
“Tough luck, Tannis.” Oh, if rabbits could smirk…
“Hatter, what the hell is going on?” the General bellowed.
The Hatter wrung his hands, attempting to control his magic. The forest filled with sparks and smoke as wild magic flitted and danced in the air.
Still grimacing, my gaze darted around in alarm.
Another egg teetered precariously upon the metal scaffolding of the fantastic machine before slipping over the edge in a headlong plummet to the ground.
“No!” I cried out in dread.
In the next moment, all of the eggs transformed back into human forms—the falling egg turning into a falling man, plopping onto a heap on the ground, relatively unhurt.