Chapter 5

     “Let me see…yep, this is the place. The Tripletree Hotel.”
     “Huh. This is a city in your world?” Anastasia gazed around. “Looks like it could be one in ours.”
     “Weird, so this place is a mix of fantasy, modern-day, and sci-fi elements?” Drew said with wonder. “Awesome…”
     They went inside, and like a hotel in the lab group’s world there was a rich, elaborate lobby. They went for the nearest elevator and crowded inside.
     “Okay, let’s see…which room did he say he was in?” Strufis muttered, his finger hovering over the floor buttons before pressing “14”. He looked a bit nervous. He wasn’t looking forward to telling his at-times-cantankerous master that he had been fooling around with his prototype and that he had brought four people from another dimension along as a result.
     After a ‘ding’ told them they had reached the floor, they squeezed back out and Strufis lead the way to the room, murmuring, “1445…1446…okay, I think we’re going the wrong way, the numbers are going up…”
     Finally, they reached a door reading in golden letters “1433” and Strufis announced, “Okay! Here it is.”
     Strufis held up a fist to the door, but then turned towards the lab group. “Er, would you all mind if you stood to the side a little? I want a chance to explain to him without him freaking out at you guys being here.”
     They got out of the way, and after a brief hesitation, Strufis knocked on the door.
     In seconds, they heard footsteps. After a pause, the door opened swiftly to reveal a harried old man who looked like he was about to have a heart attack. “My god, of all things, you’re here, you’re here! Come in, hurry up, we have no time to waste.”
     He practically yanked Strufis in and shut the door in a rush, leaving the other four outside, all feeling very bewildered.
     They heard some protesting inside by Strufis, and after some more muffled talking the door opened again and the Professor ushered them inside impatiently. “Well, come on, we don’t have all day. Quickly!”
     All a bit taken aback, they hustled inside and the door was hurriedly shut again.
     “Prof, how did you know?” Strufis asked, stunned. “And we were just at the laboratory moments ago! Are you sure it was broken into?”
     “Strufis, I have my methods to keep tabs on my laboratory when I’m gone,” the white-haired man replied. “And whatever they were looking for, they evidently didn’t get it. And if you’re here, and you have that…”
     Strufis winced with dread. “Crud…”
     “All right, all of you,” he turned to each of them, “I need you to listen up, and carefully. I need you all to travel by foot to my brother’s mansion. You need to get out of town, and into the woods. It’s across the Atono River – Strufis, you should know where it is; we stopped by one time, right?”
     “Er, right,” Strufis nodded.
     “You four, follow him. And remember – do not use the dimensional translator under any circumstances.”
     “What?!”
     “I told you, you all have to go by foot. As it is, they’ll have tracked your warp here, where they’ll be looking for me. You’d better not be here when that happens, so be ready to get your behinds moving, and fast. If you use it now, they’ll be on to your location and head straight for you, and then it’ll only be a matter of time.”
     Drew’s eyes screwed up in bafflement. “What is this, Lord of the Rings?”
     After a disconcerted pause, the professor replied wryly, “Why, yes, it’s exactly like that.”
     “But, dude, that device ain’t like the one Ring!” Drew exclaimed, pointing at the faux-calculator in Strufis’s hands. “It’s not solidified evil or anything!”
     “It might as well be,” the professor shook his head bleakly.
     “Prof, you can’t be serious about all this!”

“I’m dead serious. You set that thing off, you’ll have them right on your trail. That thing sends out a heck of a residue signal when it’s used, more than enough for them to pick it up and get to you.”
     “Who’s they? How would they be able to—”
     “No time to explain. You know where to go. Now get a move on!” He stood up and beckoned to the door as if he were sweeping them out. “Go! Go on! Now!”
     They nodded uneasily, and they all hustled back out the door.

     After the door had closed, the old scientist let out a breath and walked slowly over to the armchair in the corner. He leaned on his arm and glanced out the window through the curtains. It pained him to put his apprentice and his new tagalongs through all that strife. But it was likely they’d be in more trouble with him than just by themselves. And this was the only way for the translator to stay out of the their hands. He trusted Strufis; that kid knew his stuff when things came down to the wire. He had a group of other new people with him, but he had a feeling that they would help more than hinder. Their laboratory wear indicated that they were likely under the same training as Strufis, whatever dimension they came from, and that would help keep them out of trouble.
     “In fact,” Professor Enstrite said to himself, “maybe that’s the best thing that could happen to young Strufis. Heaven knows he’s barely been with anyone his own age, with all the studying he’s been doing. He needs to brush up on his group skills, and heck, probably his social skills too.”
     Out the window, he glimpsed Strufis and the others treading outside towards the wooded land outside the city. He nodded grimly. “Good luck, you five. I’m sorry I won’t be there to help you kids out.” He looked the other direction, towards the roads. “They’ll be here, soon.”