Author: dhsully
Company: US Army

The Magical Earth

Chapter One

If Jason Devlin's tests were successful, he would not only be realizing the greatest invention of his life, it would be one of the greatest inventions of all time.
Jason already had a number of inventions to his credit, and the royalties from those inventions earned him more than enough to quit his job at Astro Instruments and allow him to devote full time to his greatest love: tinkering and experimenting with just about anything that struck his fancy.
In a few moments, he would know if this was to be the invention that would bring him fame and fortune. He would attempt to teleport a rabbit from booth A on one side of the lab to booth B on the other side. He opened the door to booth A and placed the rabbit inside. After many long hours of mental and physical toil, he was finally ready.
He thought of the movie, “The Fly,” and checked the booths for the presence of any unwanted insects. He chuckled to himself. “Why am I worried? Even if I do end up with a monster in booth B, I should be so lucky it works at all.”
He double-checked all his settings, and held his breath as he grasped the handle and pulled the switch out and up to the ON position. His pulse quickened as he watched the rabbit in booth A vanish. His gaze jumped to booth B, expecting to see the rabbit sitting there. Booth B was empty.
“What in the devil...this is crazy. The rabbit had to go somewhere.”
He rechecked the two booths carefully, and then he searched the lab. There was no sign of the rabbit anywhere. The rabbit did not cease to exist; it had to be existing somewhere. There was a space of twenty feet between the two booths. Could the rabbit be trapped in some nebulous limbo in that space?
He pulled the switch down to the OFF position. He stared at booth B in amazement, for as the power switched off, the rabbit materialized in the booth--and sitting atop the rabbit's head was a bright blue grasshopper. Wherever the rabbit had been, it had picked up a hitchhiker. He was relieved to see that the two creatures hadn't meshed together or exchanged parts, but were two separate entities. He chuckled inwardly as he pictured a rabbit-grasshopper monster appearing in booth B.
He'd never heard of a blue grasshopper, but bugs weren't his field. Probably a common insect, he mused, but where the devil did it come from?
The next day Jason placed a potted plant, with the blue grasshopper perched on a leaf, into Booth A. He threw the switch. As with the rabbit, the plant vanished from Booth A when he activated the switch, but did not reappear in Booth B until he deactivated the switch. The plant was in booth B but the grasshopper was gone.
He reasoned that when the switch was activated, objects were teleported to an unknown third location. A field was energized at the third location, and when the switch was deactivated the field collapsed, teleporting whatever chanced to be inside the field to the final destination…in this case booth B.
When he teleported the rabbit, the grasshopper at the third location had jumped on the rabbit's head. It was caught there when the field collapsed, thus teleporting it to Booth B along with the rabbit. The next day the grasshopper was teleported along with the potted plant, and when it reached the third location it jumped from the plant before the field collapsed.
He concluded that the teleportation of objects from Booth A to Booth B was working, but in the process, the objects were taking a detour through the third location--wherever that was.
But he hadn't a clue as to where it might be. It could be nearby, or it could be halfway around the world. He could think of only one way to learn where the blue grasshopper came from--by going there himself. But how could he pull it off? He was reluctant to ask a friend to operate the switch; he preferred to keep his invention a secret until it was perfected. 
He was tired. He needed to rest his brain a while and try to figure out a solution to his problem. He went into the kitchen and made a pot of fresh coffee. He poured himself a mug of the steaming hot coffee and sat down at the kitchen table.
Maybe I could rig up a timer to the switch…
~~*~~
The timer switch worked, but the system wasn't set up to work with timers. Jason was never comfortable with jury-rigged affairs, but his timer was just that: something tacked on as an afterthought. He found that it worked best by setting it for the same time once every twelve hours; he decided on noon and midnight. He didn't want the field to stay active for too long, and thus increase the chances of trapping all sorts of animals and insects in the field when it collapsed, thus depositing the critters in Booth B.
But he didn't want it to stay active for too short a period, which would increase the chance of trapping himself out of the field and causing him to wait another twelve hours--exposed to who knows what.
He decided on ten minutes. He figured a ten minute window every twelve hours should be about right.
His thoughts were interrupted by the roar of a motorcycle pulling up, followed a moment later by a knock on the door. He chuckled. It would be his nephew Stuart. 
He unbolted the door. “C'mon in, Stu. Hey, what's with the hand?”
Stuart held up his left hand, crudely bandaged with an old tee shirt, with blood seeping through. “It's Mom,” he said. “She's drunk again. This time she came at me with a butcher knife.”
“Sit down and rest your elbow on the table top, and keep the hand up. I’ll get the first aid kit.”
Jason inspected the gash on the back of Stuart's hand, sprayed antiseptic on it, and applied a bandage. 
“It doesn't look too bad. No need to see a doc if you've had your tetanus shots.” He paused and took a deep breath. “Stu, it's not that I don't believe you, it's just that I've never seen your mother take a drink since I've known her. It's hard to picture her drunk.”
Stuart's eyes narrowed. “You just don't know her. She's always been a secret drinker. She hid it from everybody except me and Dad. Since Dad went to…” He hesitated and swallowed. “Since Dad went to prison, she just gets worse all the time. Uncle J, if you go over there right now you can see for yourself.”
~~*~~
Jason cranked the car and started the fifteen minute drive to Janet's house. He had always felt sorry for Janet. She had always seemed like too nice a woman for his older brother. She was from a wealthy family, and owned the spacious, expensive house she and Ernie lived in.
Ernie, ten years Jason's senior, was the black sheep. He was into drugs and always in trouble from his early teen years. And now he was doing time for the attempted murder of an officer during a traffic stop. 
During the last few months, since Ernie was incarcerated, Stuart had come to Jason several times seeking refuge from his drunken mother. But Jason had known Janet for eighteen years, since he was a youngster of twelve, and never knew her to drink, even socially.
He pulled into the driveway and parked behind Janet's Mercedes. He walked up the steps and knocked on the door.
She screamed and something that sounded like a pot hit the door. “I told you to get out and not come back. I should have killed you. You're no better than your daddy.”
“Janet, it's me, Jason.”
She cursed. “Yeah, the high and mighty Jason, the brains of the family. Well you're no better than your stupid brother.”
The door opened and Janet, reeking with alcohol, rushed at him with a knife. The karate-trained Jason adroitly sidestepped her and had the knife in his possession in a heartbeat.
She sputtered out curses and then started crying. “Get away from me. I don't want to see you again, or anybody tainted with Devlin blood.”  She ran inside and slammed the door.
~~*~~
“Stu, you're seventeen, almost eighteen, and in this state you're legally permitted to leave home with your parent's permission.”  Jason chuckled dryly. “I guess getting thrown out is as good as permission. As far as I'm concerned, you're welcome to stay here.”
“Thanks, Uncle J, that's great. I don't want to sponge, so I'll get a job to pay my way. I've finished high school so I'm ready to look for a job anyway.”
“There'll be no need for that. You've helped me in the lab on and off for the past year, and I can take you on as an assistant. That will more than pay your way. 
“Oh wow…cool…I don't know what to say. That would be super.”
Jason added as an afterthought, “Later on we'll have to start thinking about college, too.”
The rest of the day was spent setting up an extra room for Stuart and shopping for groceries and items to accommodate his young guest.
~~*~~
A week went by, and Jason decided it was time to tell his young assistant of his experiment. Keeping the project under wraps with Stu in the lab most of the time was proving difficult. And besides, there was no one he could trust more than Stu.
Stu was enthralled as Jason demonstrated his invention by teleporting the rabbit and other objects from booth A to booth B. In one of the demonstrations, when Jason teleported the rabbit it materialized in booth B soaking wet.
He sighed. “The thing that puzzles me is that the teleporting function works fine, but the object being teleported is taking a detour through a third location during the process. In one experiment a blue grasshopper appeared in booth B perched on the rabbit's head, and the next day the insect came up missing. And it must have been raining there when the rabbit went through just now.”
“But as long as it works, what matter if it goes through a third location?  You could just turn the switch off immediately after turning it on, and in that way whatever you’re teleporting would be in the third location for only an instant. Hey, the rabbit probably wouldn’t even have got wet if it had been there for just a split second.”
“I see what you’re saying, Stu, but as long as we don’t know where the place is or why the machine sends objects there, we’re leaving too much to chance. What if the locals at this site decided to build a factory or some other kind of construction there? That could complicate things.
“Holy cow, I never thought of that. About the blue grasshopper, could the third location be in the Amazon? They say there's creatures there we haven't discovered yet.”
“That may well be. But the only way to know for sure is to go there. Stu, I'm going to show you how to operate the controls so that I can make the trip. There's a timer rigged on it, but using it is too chancy. It works for only ten minutes every twelve hours.”
“Why not let me go, Uncle J? I would love to make the trip.”
“Sorry, Stu, but I can't take that chance. Maybe later, if I find that the teleportation can be done without any harm. But even before I go, I'm going to send a Samurai warrior.”
“What…?”
“Follow me, Lad, and you'll see.”
Stu followed his uncle into the trophy room. He loved to browse around in here. His uncle had collected trophies from around the world. There were numerous trophies for martial arts tournament championships; including both karate and kick boxing. There were Sai swords, Samurai swords, and Kendo swords. There were gloves, belts, and all sorts of martial arts paraphernalia, as well as weights and various types of workout equipment.
Stuart had always been proud of his uncle, who had a natural flair for the martial arts. Jason had moved up remarkably fast in the karate ranks, and was winning tournaments at an early age. But Jason went beyond the conventional methods of karate.  He confided to Stu that he had used self-hypnosis to develop enhanced power, speed, and timing, which gave him a great advantage over his opponents. He had heard that his uncle could have been a world champion, but instead chose a career in science, his first love.
“Over here, Stu.”
Stu turned to see his uncle standing in the corner next to a wooden Samurai warrior. It was quite impressive, and Stu wondered how he had failed to notice it before.
“Wow. That's really something. Where did you get him?”
“He's a gift from a Japanese karate master I met while serving on Okinawa with the Marines.  When I first took up Karate, he was my sensei…instructor. We became good friends, and he gave me this as a farewell gift.”
“But why are you going to use it to teleport?”
“It's about the same size and weight as I am. The machine should be able to handle me easily, but it's best to be on the safe side and test it first.”
Back in the lab, Jason showed Stu how to operate the controls, then had him teleport the rabbit a few times. He then placed the wooden warrior in booth A and instructed Stu to teleport it.
“Leave the warrior in the third location for a full minute before pulling it back,” he said. “That way we can see if anything happens to it during that time. We don't know where this place is or what might be there.”
“Uncle J, I just had a thought. What if an animal, or even a person, were part way in the field when it collapses?”
“Good thinking, Stu. It will reject any object and expel it from the field unless it's over halfway in, in which case it will pull the object all the way in. But in all cases it will reject anything too big to fit in the teleportation booth. An elephant, for example.”
They double checked all settings and made ready.
Stu pulled the switch to send the warrior to the unknown location. The warrior vanished. One minute later he deactivated the switch and the warrior reappeared in Booth B. They carefully examined the warrior and found nothing unusual. Jason was ready to make the trip himself.
“When I teleport, I want you to do exactly as you did with the warrior, except you'll  keep me in the third location for only fifteen seconds.  Fifteen seconds--on the first run--should give me time enough to see what kind of place it is and if there is any danger there. If there is danger, fifteen seconds should get me back in time to escape whatever is there. Hopefully.”
But he  thought to himself, fifteen seconds can seem like an eternity in some circumstances. What if it is in the jungle and I materialize near a poisonous snake? Or a tiger or other dangerous creature? Maybe I should carry a gun--No, I might land in a public park somewhere and get arrested.
  He stepped into Booth A and signaled Stu to activate. There was no sensation. He was standing in the booth one second, and in the next second he was standing in blue grass just ten feet or so from a rutted dirt road. To his amazement, a small crowd was gathered there, seemingly awaiting his arrival. 
He looked up and down the road. In one direction he saw the towers of a city, and in the other direction he saw a vast forested area in a valley with snow covered mountain peaks showing in the background. 
His eyes scanned the crowd; about a dozen people, he guessed. Their dress was unfamiliar, but reminded him vaguely of a band of old-time gypsies. But his eyes locked on a girl standing in the forefront.
She stood out from the crowd, dressed in loose fitting black clothing. Red stripes ran down the sides of her trousers and a red disc was displayed on her left sleeve. A sword hung from her side, strapped to a wide red sash around her waist. He guessed her to be in her late twenties. Her blonde hair was in bangs and a ponytail hung over one shoulder; she was beautiful. 
Standing next to her was a younger girl, perhaps in her teens. Her clothing was similar except that the stripe on her trousers, the disc, and the sash was green. She was also wearing a sword. 
 The older girl stepped forward. “I am Salenna, mid-level sorceress of Dawnlight. I am here to greet you...”
Jason abruptly found himself staring at the inside of Booth B. “Oh wow! What a beauty!”  She had so enthralled him that he nearly forgot his reason for going there. He still had no idea where the place was; he couldn't place the costumes the natives wore with any that he'd ever seen. 
The girl identified herself as Salenna--a sorceress--and mentioned a place called Dawnlight. But that rang no bells, and now he was more curious than ever. He stepped out of the booth to face Stu, who was bristling with excitement.
“You made it! You made it! What did you see? Where was it?”  He smiled and took a deep breath. “Sorry Uncle J. Guess I got carried away.”
“That's OK, Stu. It's a pretty momentous occasion, something to get excited about. But in answer to your questions, I'm not sure what I saw nor where the heck I was.”
He told Stu what he saw in the few seconds he was there. “The city was nothing like any city I've seen in my travels, and the people were hard to describe. I noticed both fair and dark people, and hair color varied. Pretty much the same as any group would be in the U.S. But the clothes they were wearing threw me.”
“What about the grass?” Stuart asked. “If it was blue, couldn't that mean it could be in Kentucky? You said the woman spoke English. Did she have an accent?”
Jason thought a moment. “Yes, but it wasn't a southern accent. There was a slight lilt to it, but I can't really place it. And what we call Kentucky blue grass can be found the world over, or so I’m told. And it's not really blue, just a shade of green. The grass I saw was blue, sort of like turquoise. I've no idea what part of the world has that kind of grass.”
“And you said your grasshopper was blue, too. I guess it probably adapted to its environment?”
Jason nodded. “Probably so. I don't know much about bugs.”  He chuckled. 
“What about that crowd that seemed to be waiting for you there? Do you think it was because of all the stuff we experimented with?”  He laughed. “They probably didn't know what to make of all those things popping up and then disappearing.”
“I don't know. The girl there was actually expecting me, and appeared to even have a welcome speech ready. I'm curious about that. It's still early, not even noon yet, so we can set it up for another run.”
Stuart laughed. “Betcha just want to see that blonde again.”
Jason punched his arm playfully. “You must be a mind reader.”  He turned serious. “This time I'll try to stay long enough to learn exactly where this 'detour' is located.”
~~*~~