Chapter 13

Aina: 8:04 AM, day 217 of 1406 H.E., two hours after sunrise, morning after the Red Bird Festival

Earth: Thursday, 12:13 PM, October 22, 2009 Central Daylight Savings Times

Cindy crept up the mountain, her body shaking with fear. A great red hawk was hunting her overhead, and she felt very exposed on the bare rocks. This was the first time she had seen the awful predator since last summer, and she was dismayed at the added complication. Her only salvation was that the humans were close by, only twenty meters away now, too close for the hawk to attack. At least she hoped so...

Cindy crouched in the rocks and waited to make her final dash. Her eyes were glued on the lookouts at the summit, her body tensed into a tight spring as she waited for a critical second when they would both turn away. Her mind wandered back to the incredible year she just had...

It was near the end of the human harvest time that the winter nuts bloomed and Cindy could finally stop depending on Anuhea for food. A few weeks later the squirrel pack migrated back into the area. Cindy was both surprised and touched at how joyous many of the squirrels acted when they saw her. Jackpot had found a mate during the summer, a very foxy looking female. Cindy decided to call her Lola. Cindy had to smile at herself occasionally when she caught herself feeling faint pangs of jealousy when she saw Jackpot mounting his very eager mate.

The winter was mild. There was no snow throughout the season, just occasional frost on the morning meadows. The rains though were frequent and soaking, and Cindy found herself wishing along with the rest of the pack for the dry coldness of the snow. Cindy also began to see a lot of Earth technology appearing around the village. She saw large precision telescopes, electric lights in a new building complex being constructed, even people carrying laptop computers. She also watched the construction of an array of wind towers erected on the ridge line of Crater Lake.

It finally dawned on Cindy to trace where all the Earth goods were coming from, and she was shocked to learn that the tunnel connecting to Earth would occasionally open. Abandoning the pack, she had spent the last several weeks of winter alone, waiting for her chance to go home. The hardest part was forcing herself to be patient. She knew she'd only get one shot at the tunnel. The humans had it well guarded, and it would be very easy for them to erect a wire fence around the opening, if they thought wildlife transfers were a problem.

And the moment was NOW! Both guards were looking the other way. Cindy raced in a blinding flash up the remaining rocks to the summit, hearing the distant cry of the great hawk above her.

"Shit!" screamed Kalea. "Stop that squirrel!"

Anapela had no time to unsheathe her knife. She tried to block the route with her body, but Cindy dashed between her legs. Cindy felt the woman's fingers brush by her tail, but she was too fast by an instant for the woman to get a grip.

And there was the tunnel! Cindy flew in and began to race down the spiral. She heard Kalea singing out behind her, " Team! Tiger-squirrel in the tunnel! Stop it! "

Down the spiral Cindy could hear numerous porters acknowledging the call. She was trapped, but she was amazed to realize she could also feel Jim's mind again, for the first time in more than a year. And then, somehow... It felt really weird. The tunnel seemed to have four spatial dimensions. Cindy didn't go down the spiral, nor left or right, nor through the roof or floor. She turned and fled in a direction orthogonal to everything else, and found herself floating in a large, sparkling-blue soap bubble.

Jim's sleeping mind felt right next to her, floating with her inside the soap bubble. "Oh hi," said Jim calmly in great drowsiness. "Where'd you go?"

Cindy was speechless and then furious at him for being so nonchalant. They had been apart for a full year. "Jim! You turkey! Wake up!"

"Huh?!"

And then the giant soap bubble glowed a bright blue and popped. Cindy felt an incredible sense of acceleration, and a hand resting on her buttocks... her human buttocks... She opened her eyes and gazed about the room.

She was sleeping on the couch in the top level of their arctic home, Jim lying by her side and holding her butt. Jim blinked his eyes open and the smiled, gave her butt an affectionate pat and then withdrew his hand. "Hi. I just had the strangest dream..." Jim stared at Cindy glaring at him and he began to frown. "Uh, did you just call me a turkey?"

An hour later...

Jim walked from the kitchen counter to one of the two dining areas, carrying two plates loaded with lunch. "Cheeseburger with everything on it, just the way you like it!" There was also iced-tea and large salads and chips. Cindy smiled and dived in.

Jim smiled at her halfway through lunch. "How did you pick the name Jackpot?"

Cindy grinned back. "Except for the six feet, you wouldn't believe how much he looked like a favorite stuffed animal of mine. Summer of 1993, I was on vacation with my parents at a carnival. There was this game where you toss a quarter at some clear glass plates, and if the coin stays on top of a plate you win a prize. My coin bounced forever from one plate to another and finally spun out on a pale pink plate in the center of the game."

Cindy grinned and finished her burger before continuing. "I knew what I wanted immediately, the largest tiger on display. It was red with black stripes and almost as big as I was. When the carnival man handed it to me, he said: Little girl, you won the jackpot!"

Cindy munched on her few remaining potato chips. "It was the first time I ever heard the word. I thought he was telling me the tiger's name... Jim?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't think it was all a dream, do you?"

"Oh, hell no. At least, not in the old way I used to think of dreams..."

"What?"

"I've been trying to make some physical sense of what's been happening to us, trying to build a framework to model the reality of it. I've been porting over some of my ideas from quantum physics. It's very wild stuff, but it makes sense, in a crazy sort of way. It would consider everything we've experienced as a channel of quantum..."

Jim paused for a moment. "I haven't picked the words to describe the mathematics yet. Shadows, bubbles, foam... They all seem to fit."

"And you think we're caught in this quantum channel?"

Jim looked deep in thought for a moment. "Yeah, lost in its shadows..." He looked up and smiled at Cindy. "Your trip to Aina was one path out of the channel. My model would be that Antelope Freeway is still inside the channel, just like here, but in a different branch."

Cindy nodded. "You should sing it as Aina , by the way. The notes are important, not just the phonetics. It's a true singing language... So I'm back in October, 2009 now, huh? The same day I left..."

"Well, we both agreed before the arctic home here seems frozen at September, 2010. But yeah, you experienced a whole extra year of living and I didn't." Jim leaned over and kissed her. "I forgive you for calling me a turkey."