Chapter 19: Sand and Stars

Friday, July 17, 2009, 12:00PM

VVRRAAMMMM!

Tricia held her eyes tightly shut as she clutched onto Sandy’s arm. She could feel the ground vanish beneath her, and for a weightless moment there was a cacophony of horrid sounds enveloping her. Screeching, screaming, ripping, roaring, cackling, bellowing, howling, shrieking, squealing, grunting ... She felt herself twisting and tumbling in the air, and her body knocking into Annie’s and Joey’s as they fell.

VVRRAAMMMM!

Most of the sounds stopped, and all that was left was a horrible high-pitched screaming sound that she knew all too well. It was Annie, and she was screaming. Tricia opened her eyes just as they hit the ground, and closed them again immediately as she tumbled in the soft, hot sand. It was painfully bright and very warm. She couldn’t open her eyes. Annie was still screaming and panicking, and Tricia rolled to her hands and knees and blindly crawled through the scorching sand to her friend.

“ANNIE! WHAT IS IT?” she cried out. She tried peeking out into the bright light through a heavy squint. Annie was thrashing on the ground and crying, holding her eyes shut.

Sandy had pulled her mask and cowl back on and reverted to her full size again, becoming Quantum Knight. She crawled to Annie. “What’s the matter?”

“I ... I SAW...” she sobbed.

“I told you to keep your eyes closed!” she scolded her.

“WHAT WAS THAT???” she bellowed.

“It looked like a breeding pit or something. I don’t know what it was.”

“OY! WHY! WHY DID YOU PUT US IN THERE?” she sobbed.

“It was a mid-way point!” said Quantum Knight. “It was the only way I could get us out. I couldn’t get us all this far in one jump. And it was the only place large enough for us all to teleport safely!”

“Ugghh!” she sobbed again.

“What was in there?” asked Tricia.

“Demons. Hundreds of them. We were only there for a second. Not long enough for them to do anything to us. They just saw something show up and vanish.”

Annie was moaning and crying. “They were ... EATING each other!”

Quantum Knight nodded. “At least. I saw a lot more going on. Every bodily function was happening there.” She stood up and scanned around them.

Tricia’s eyes were adjusting to the bright light, and she could open them wider now. She could see Joey sitting in the sand next to Annie, comforting her. “It’s okay, Annie,” he said. “We’re out of there.”

Annie pushed herself up, and had calmed down a lot. “I’m sorry,” she sniffed. “I shouldn’t have looked. I just ... I don’t know why I did that. UUGGGHH!!” She shook in revulsion. “That was disgusting. That was the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen!”

“Really?” asked Tricia.

Annie nodded. “Yeah ... and I’ve seen Teletubbies erotic fan fiction!”

Tricia grabbed Annie and hugged her, laughing. “Oh good! You’re all right!”

Annie nodded, grinning but still shaken. “Yeah, I’m okay. I was just stupid. I ... UUGGH!” She shook, trying to shake the image out of her head. She then looked around. “Where are we?”

Tricia looked up at the horizon, and stood up and looked around. There was nothing but sand dunes in all directions for as far as she could see. It was bright and hot, and she could see ripples of heat shimmering off the ground in the distance in every direction.

“I don’t know,” she said. She turned to Quantum Knight. The superhero had summoned a GPS and was examining it.

“We are at ... twenty-eight degrees fourteen minutes north by twenty-seven degrees thirty-nine minutes east, which puts us in the north side of Egypt,” the hero reported.

Tricia blinked. “Egypt?”

Annie looked around. “Egypt? This is the Sahara desert?”

Quantum Knight nodded. “Yep.” She sighed. “And it looks like we’re about...” She measured something on the GPS. “ ... about two hundred fifty-miles south-west from Cairo.”

“Ugh,” Tricia groaned. “Is there anyplace closer than that?”

The hero shook her head. “Not really.” She studied the GPS some more. “Two hundred miles north is a beach resort, but we need to get to the airport. Nearest one is in Cairo. There’s an embassy there that can help us too.” A PDA appeared in her hand, and she started tapping into it. “I’m going to send a message to EarthGuard. See if they can send us a ride.” She looked around. “Although, I don’t think we should stick around here. There are hundreds of demons under the ground here, and they may know the way out. I don’t want to be here if they come out looking for us.”

“So you can get e-mail out here?” asked Annie.

“Not exactly. I can get e-mail back home. And I can send this thing back home to do the emailing,” she said, showing her PDA to Annie. “ ... and pull it back here. I’m asking Multiplex to head to my place. See if he can get some supplies for us. You need anything? I’m asking for water, protein bars, and a first-aid kit.”

“You can get things from home?” Annie asked. “How?”

“I’ve got a cooler I’m entangled with. He can put things in the cooler and I can teleport the cooler and everything in it over here and back home.”

“Can you put us in the cooler?” joked Annie.

She smiled. “I’m a superhero. Not a miracle worker.”

“I’m thinking some sun-screen,” suggested Tricia, looking towards the sun. It was low in the sky. “But it looks late ... or is it early?” She looked around. “Which way is north?”

Quantum Knight pointed. “That way. It’s late here.”

Annie shifted, sniffed, and reached into her pants. She grimaced. “Umm, Tricia?”

“Yeah?”

“Those demons scared the shit out of me.”

“Yeah, they scared me too.”

“No.” Annie shook her head and looked embarrassed. “I mean it. They scared the shit out of me.” She looked at Tricia and gritted her teeth.

Tricia dropped her jaw. “OH! ... Um ... okay!” She turned to Quantum Knight. “Can you get us some wet-wipes and a trash bag?”

“Wet-wipes?”

“And a change of clothes?” asked Annie, looking at her wet shirt. “I’ve got demon-spit on me.”

Quantum Knight nodded. “Sure. What all do you need?”

Annie looked down at herself. “Fresh shirt, pants, underwear.”

“Okay.” She tapped into the PDA and it vanished from her hands.

Over the course of the next hour, Quantum Knight managed to teleport herself and the others about a mile north-east, and transfered her PDA between herself and the Singularity several times, exchanging messages with Multiplex. He had quickly reached her place, and had packed some water, food, and a first-aid kit into a small cooler that Quantum Knight could pull back. She had also extracted her weapons from the caves and managed to push them back into their proper places back at the Singularity.

Tricia tended to the scratches on Annie’s arms, and Joey sat looking out over the desert, both looking for any nearby signs of activity and watching the three women quietly. He looked uncomfortable, unsure how he stood with each of them now. Quantum Knight seemed to be all business now, and didn’t appear interested in him.

When Quantum Knight pulled the cooler with the wet-wipes and fresh clothes over, it had been many minutes later, and the sun was close to setting. She handed the cooler to Tricia, and those two worked on cleaning Annie while Quantum Knight and Joey stepped several feet away on the other side of a dune to give them some privacy.

“Why did it take Multiplex so long?” asked Joey. “Doesn’t he run real fast?”

“Kind of. Not exactly,” she explained, sitting down and pulling her mask and cowl back. She took her gloves off and rubbed her fingers through her sweaty hair. “He summons a string of clones in front of him, and erases them behind him. It’s a strange form of body-surfing. He can get to places quickly, which is why a lot of people classify him as a speedster. But he can’t carry objects with him. He doesn’t duplicate things he carries. So it takes him just as much time to get back from a store carrying something as we would take.”

Joey nodded, understanding. “How does he do that?”

“What. The cloning?”

“Yeah.”

“I have no idea.”

“Oh.”

“Seriously!” Sandy shook her head. “I haven’t a clue. You would think that of all people, I would know, but I don’t. He’s science-based. Natural powers, but I’m baffled. If he’s pulling bodies from alternate dimensions, why does he never disappear entirely from over here pulled from somewhere else? Is he using virtual particles? Creating matter and anti-matter versions? If he is, you’d think we would notice the continent-ripping explosions!” She shook her head again.

“Hmm...” Joey shrugged. “Have you asked him?”

“Yeah. I have.”

“And?”

“He didn’t answer. He got distracted. That happens to him a lot.”

“What do you mean?”

She chuckled to herself. “Multiplex is the closest thing you will ever find to an autistic superhero. He just can’t concentrate on you. Of course, that’s really just the core.” She turned to Joey. “There’s a central ... energy, that is the core of Multiplex, and he can create and erase bodies at will within a certain distance from that core. And the core jumps from body to body, so that’s how he runs. If a body falls out of range of the core, he can’t erase it or jump into it, but he can still control it and see through it. But the further a body gets from the core, the more autonomous it gets.” She pointed to the distance. “When we get to Cairo, you’ll meet him. He’s at the embassy there.”

Joey frowned. “He’s at the embassy?”

“Oh, Multiplex is everywhere. He’s got bodies all over the planet, embedded in every field, every country, every institution. He’s in hospitals, schools, businesses, governments ... you name it. And all those bodies are fairly high-functioning. They can talk to you, but the core is inundated with information. He’s listening into every conversation, talking to hundred or thousands of people at once. So talking to the core is a challenge.” She grinned at him. “You really have to slap him around to keep his attention.”

Joey chuckled at the image. They smiled at each other, and he looked embarrassed. She cocked her head. “What is it?”

“Umm ... Back in the cavern...” he started.

“Yes?”

“Did I go too far? Touching you like that?”

Sandy glanced down at her full breasts and smiled at him. “You did what you had to do to get us out of there.”

“Oh.” He sounded dejected. “And did you just ... do what you had to do also?”

She looked at him carefully. “Yes, at first. But I meant every word I said to you.” She reached over and took his hand in hers. “When I first kissed you, I was thinking... ‘Let’s just get this over with.’ But then I could feel you trying to push something inside me. And it wasn’t working. And I had a moment when I realized that it was never going to work, because I wasn’t trying.” She paused and thought. “I think that’s part of the equation. For your power to work on me, you have to open to me, and I have to open to you.” She looked shameful for a moment. “I don’t really let people into my heart that easily. I don’t have time for it.” She looked back up at him. “But I could tell you were trying, and you inspired me. So I broke down that last wall and opened myself up. And that’s a scary thing to do.” She caressed his hand. “But I’m glad I did it. Thanks.”

Joey smiled shyly, and glanced back in Tricia and Annie’s direction. “I don’t know how many girlfriends I have now.” He chuckled.

Sandy grinned at him. “Well, let me make things easier for you. You don’t have any responsibilities towards me,” she said sincerely. She squeezed his hand affectionately. “You’ve got enough keeping those two happy. I can take care of myself.” She paused. “But I meant what I said in the cave. I do want to take you out into the city one night. When we get back home. Just you and me. Run across the rooftops, jump off a few buildings, see the lights and feel the heat rising from the streets. Take out a few muggers ... and see what else happens.” She winked at him.

Joey looked embarrassed. “Umm...” He looked around bashfully. “When are they sending someone to get us?”

“Multiplex is still trying to organize that. It’ll be many hours.” Sandy looked into the setting sun. “It’ll be dark soon. I don’t like the idea of sticking around here overnight.”

Joey looked into the setting sun and nodded. “Me neither.”

On the other side of the dune, Tricia was helping Annie clean up.

“You are a good friend, you know that?” said Annie.

Tricia was trying not to look at Annie’s bare ass and handed her another fresh wet-wipe. “Well, I try to be.” She held the trash bag open as Annie put a soiled wipe into it. “So...” she said, fishing for a topic. “When they make the movie of our lives, do you think they’ll film this scene?”

Annie laughed. “Khas ve-shoolem! I hope not! But if they do make a movie, who do you want to play you?”

Tricia thought for a second. “Don’t know. Jessica Alba maybe. I always thought Sheyla Hershey looked like me.” She looked down at her breasts. “But she would have to drop a few cup sizes. And get about six inches taller.”

“Who’s that?”

“Brazilian actress. Singer. Model. How about you?”

Annie grinned. “Hitomi Tanaka.”

“What is she?”

“Japanese idol girl.”

Tricia frowned. “Isn’t that a porn star?” Annie nodded. “Has she got your figure?”

“And then some. She’s got great legs. Of course, they’re usually up behind her ears.”

Tricia smiled. “Does she speak English with a New York Jewish accent?”

“Nah. She’d have to be dubbed over.”

“Fran Drescher?”

“Oy!” She threw the last wipe into the trash. “I think I’m done here. Can you help me with the underwear?”

Tricia closed the trash bag and pulled out the clothes Multiplex had gathered from Sandy’s house. “Here ... Weird ... Why does she wear underwear with a picture of a raccoon on it?”

“Just help me with that,” she said, rolling onto her back.

Tricia moved down to Annie’s feet, lifted her legs, and slipped the underwear onto her. “You know, I’m not used to being in this position, putting clothes ON someone.”

“Just try and keep the sand out.”

“That’s damn near impossible.” Tricia lifted Annie’s hips onto her lap, brushed sand off her bare butt, and then pulled the underwear up. She picked up the shorts and held them for a moment.

“You know ... now that I have you in this position...” Tricia began.

Annie’s eyes went wide.

Tricia grinned. “Gotcha!” She started putting the shorts on over her legs. “But actually, I did want to say that was some kiss you gave Joey.”

Annie looked embarrassed. “Tricia, I just did that to get Joey to...”

“Annie!” she said, cutting her off. “You didn’t just make that up. That was real. And it’s okay. You can feel that way about him. I’m not angry, and I’m not the jealous type.” She pushed the shorts up over her hips. “I’m actually kind of proud of you. I know you have a hard time opening up to men.” She gently rolled Annie off her lap and helped her sit up. “Nothing has changed between us. You’re still my best friend.” She held out her hand to her.

Annie looked at her shyly, and smiled. “Thanks.” She reached out to Tricia and they did their well-rehearsed double-slap fist-bump. “So ... what happens between Joey and me now?”

Tricia smiled. “Whatever you want to happen. I’m okay with it.”

Annie smiled bashfully. “Thanks,” she whispered.

Tricia reached for the fresh T-shirt as Annie started to remove her shirt. Annie sniffed her shirt. “Ugh! This demon spit stinks.”

Tricia looked the T-shirt. “Annie, you’re not going to believe this shirt.” She showed it to her.

Annie frowned as she read the shirt. “The Falsies?” She made a face. “Hey! I can’t wear that! These are real! What was he thinking, picking that shirt?”

“I’m sure that was just what was in the top of the drawer.”

“But FALSIES?”

“It’s the name of a band. See? ‘We’re more rock and roll than you!’”

“I’m not wearing that!”

“Annie! We’re in the middle of the Sahara! Nobody is going to see you!”

“Ach! Gimme that!” She grabbed the shirt and put it on.

Tricia climbed to the top of the dune and called over at Sandy and Joey. “We’re done!” She went back down to Annie, and Sandy and Joey came over the top of the dune.

“Okay. I’ve been exchanging messages with Multiplex back home,” Sandy said. “He’s having some trouble procuring some transport, but he should get something to us by tomorrow morning. But in the meantime, I think we should keep moving towards Cairo.” She started packing the cooler with the trash bag and old clothes.

“How do you propose we do that?” asked Annie.

“I can make a few more jumps, get us maybe a couple miles.” She looked at the setting sun. “But we’re running out of light. We’ll eventually have to camp for the night.”

“I’m not sleepy,” said Tricia.

“We’re still on DC time,” said Annie. “It’s the middle of the afternoon at home.” She looked at Sandy. “I don’t want to stay here any longer than possible. Can’t we just keep going through the night?”

“Teleporting at night can be dangerous,” said Sandy, sending the cooler back to the Singularity. “It’s best if we stop for the night.”

“We’re not!” Joey declared forcefully. “We’re going to Cairo tonight.”

Everyone looked at him. Sandy cocked her head. “Joey, we can’t walk that far.”

“We’re not walking, and we’re not teleporting,” he said. He looked at them all. “I made a promise to Annie that I would get her home. And I’m going to do that.” He turned to Sandy. “You said there’s a time when you know you have the power and the skills to solve the problem. And when that time comes you take command. Well I have the power and the skills, and I know how we can get out of here.”

“How are we going to do that?” asked Sandy.

He centered his attention on Annie. “We’re flying out of here.” He turned back to Sandy. “But we need some rope. Can you get us some?”

“Rope? Sure.” She pulled out her PDA. “What do we need rope for?”

“I want us all tied together. We need to be close to each other.”

Sandy typed a message to Multiplex. “Are you going to give us all the ability to fly?” asked Annie.

He shook his head. “No.” He walked over and knelt down next to her. “Just you. You’re flying us all out.”

Her eyes went wide. “Me?”

He nodded. “I’ve been inside your mind. I don’t know if Tricia can do this. She’s all inside strong stuff, and I’m ... not strong with Sandy. But you can do this. You can handle ... complex things.”

“What ... what do I do?”

He took her hand. “I’m giving you three powers. Mo ... Momentum control, anti-gravity, and force fields.” Sparks flew from his hands, and Annie suddenly floated into the air. Her hair raised up as if she were underwater, and she gasped and shrieked as she hovered over the ground. A huge smile broke out on her face.

“Here’s what you are going to do,” Joey explained. “You’re going to make the anti-gravity field big enough to carry us all. I think that’s going to bring up some of the sand with us, so you’re going to have to be careful.”

Annie looked worried. “It’s not working!” she said.

“I haven’t given you that yet. We’re not ready.”

“Oh ... Okay.”

“You’re also going to put a force-field around us. My dad wasn’t good at that, but I think you will be. I can feel that you can do shapes.”

“Why a force field?”

“It’s going to protect us from the wind. Then you’re going to use the ... momentum control and use it on all four of us. Get us going in the right direction. You’re going to have to concentrate and keep all these things going at the same time, and try to keep us together.”

Sandy pulled back the cooler, opened it, and took the rope out. She tied one end around her waist and then looped it around Annie. “Good plan,” she said. “I’ll make a superhero out of you yet!” she said proudly.

“So...” Tricia said to Joey. “ ... Annie is the pilot, and you’re the engine. Sandy does navigation. What do I do?”

Annie nodded to the bottles of water and first aid kit. “In-flight catering.” She grinned.

Tricia stuck her tongue out at her.

Sandy tied the rope around all four of them, tethering them together in a row of herself, Annie, Joey, and then Tricia. Tricia held the cooler with the water, first aid kit, and protein bars, and Sandy held the GPS. The sun was low in the horizon, and the sky was turning to brilliant shades or red, orange, and purple.

Joey concentrated, and there was a fresh burst of sparks from his hands. “Anti-gravity” he prompted her, and Annie floated with her arms outstretched and concentrated. A soft energy field emitted from her body. Tricia felt lightheaded and her stomach turned a bit, and she found herself having difficulty keeping her feet on the ground. The sand below them drifted up like dust, and swirled in the light breeze. It started blowing upward into her pants legs and up in her shirt and in her nostrils. She coughed and winced, trying to clear her nose.

“Momentum!” Joey prompted, and Tricia felt a sudden pulling sensation inside her body along her spine. The sand pulled downward as she and the others ascended into the air. Tricia and Joey rose faster and higher than she and Sandy did, and the rope tightened about her waist.

Annie looked downward at everyone with a huge grin on her face. “This is AWESOME!!!” she screamed. A breeze was blowing upward now, blowing the women’s hair straight up. Tricia felt the pulling sensation on her spine again and she and Sandy moved up higher. “This is hard too!” said Annie. “You two need more effort to move.”

“What’s with the wind blowing straight up?” asked Tricia, trying not to look at the ground. Her heart was pounding with fear. She hated heights.

“I don’t know,” said Joey. “That always happened when my dad made the anti-gravity field big.”

“Makes sense to me,” said Annie. “Air inside the field equalizes in pressure. Outside the field it’s slightly higher pressure below the field and lower pressure above. Creates a force imbalance that just keeps building on itself.”

“Try the force field,” said Joey.

Annie concentrated, and a shimmering energy membrane grew out of her body. It flowed out and expanded into a sphere surrounding her, and it continued to expand. Tricia could see it pushing on Joey as it enveloped him, and she cringed a little bit as the field approached her. She touched it. It was soft, and it pushed her body until the rope became taut. It flowed over her like a sheet of water, and the air was very still inside the bubble.

“This is amazing!” said Sandy as she was pulled into the bubble.

Annie concentrated and drew the four together. Tricia could feel gentle nudges along her spine. Annie adjusted the size of the anti-gravity and force fields until they matched. “Okay. I think I’ve got it.” She was smiling brilliantly. “Now, which way do we go?”

Sandy consulted her GPS and pointed towards the darkest portion of the horizon. “That way!”

“To infinity, and beyond!” Annie cried out gleefully, and she concentrated. Tricia felt a stronger pull on her spine, and together they all started flying across the desert.

For the first few minutes of the trip, Annie had to make a lot of slight adjustments to the various effects she was producing. She experimented with different techniques. She tried putting all of the thrust into Tricia and Sandy and letting them move ahead and pull her and Joey along behind, and even though that was easier to control, it was harder on everyone’s waists as the rope pulled each other. So she had to abandon that and continue the more difficult task of coordinating four flying objects of different masses. Sandy threw everything off at one point as she shifted her mass, changing size to adjust her costume.

Strange moaning tones oscillated from the force-field as it cut through the air, and Annie had to adjust the shape of the field for it to become more aerodynamic. Soon the spherical bubble which could easily handle speeds of up to forty miles per hour had shifted into a bullet-shape, and they were able to double their speed. Annie said that she thought it could handle speeds much faster than that, but she couldn’t seem to get past eighty miles per hour.

Tricia watched Joey carefully during the flight. He showed expressions of abject fear every once in a while, and she figured that was the reason they weren’t going any faster.

It got darker as the sun set, and the stars came out. Annie paused in flight at one point and they just hovered motionless and looked at the stars in awe. Tricia’s heart swelled at the sight. The sky was glittering with thousands of stars, far more than she had seen in years. She hadn’t seen a sky like this since she was a little girl.

“Why do they have so many stars here?” asked Joey in a reverent whisper.

Annie was crying as she looked at the night sky. She wiped her eyes. “There’s no light-pollution here. Back home there are so many streetlights that they light up the sky. We can’t see this at home.” She sniffed. “I almost don’t want to go home now.”

They continued on. The Moon was not out to illuminate the ground, and Joey pushed the glowing power into Annie as well.

Shortly into their flight they passed over a road, but for two hours they saw nothing but more desert. They stopped for breaks occasionally, resting and chatting, drinking water and snacking on power bars. Annie was in a spectacular mood the entire time, and she clung onto Joey as much as possible, even when on the ground. Tricia suspected it was more than just the simple joy of flying. Sandy was right. Superpowers turn you on.

Four hours into their trip they saw the lights of Cairo illuminating the sky. They pressed on. Signs of civilization appeared. Sandy had put her mask back on, and made Joey cut Annie’s glowing down to avoid alarming people as they flew over roads and small buildings. The density and complexity of structures slowly increased.

Then they saw the Great Pyramids at Giza.

The pyramids were along their flight path, and were illuminated by great spotlights that gave them a majestic golden glow which dominated the skyline. Quantum Knight warned Annie to not fly too close to them. They were, after all, trying to avoid attention and trouble, and flying right up to one of the Seven Wonders of the World at night, with all the lights and tourists and cameras, would not have been a good idea.

But it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. They circled the Pyramids at a half of a mile’s distance a couple times, admiring the monumental structures. Quantum Knight summoned her digital camera and took a few shots, and then they continued on in their flight.

Soon they were soaring over a sprawling metropolis of glimmering lights, towering buildings, and activity. Tricia gasped in astonishment as she took in the glittering jewels of light of a city at night. Streetlights, traffic lights, signs, cars, and buildings formed intricate constellations that captivated her. Her fear of heights was long gone, and she thrilled at the sights.

Quantum Knight guided them over the city towards the American embassy which was sitting on the far side of the Nile. As they approached the building, Annie asked if they could take another few laps around the city, but Joey said he was getting tired. Annie agreed reluctantly, and they descended onto the front courtyard of the building. A well-dressed man was waiting for them there, and as Tricia and Quantum Knight untied the rope from themselves, Annie shifted and lowered herself into Joey’s arms and relaxed with a dreamy look in her eyes.

The man approached them and addressed her. “Quantum Warrior, I presume? My name is Mr. Hendricks. Welcome to the American Embassy. I got a message from EarthGuard.”

Quantum Warrior? Tricia thought, and she studied the man. She couldn’t quite place his race, he appeared so mixed. His face was almost nondescript, a perfect every-man look to him.

“Thank you,” said Quantum Knight. “I’ve got three Americans with no passports and no money. We need a place to stay for the night, and we need to arrange a flight back home for them.”

“Certainly,” he nodded. “We have some guest rooms. If you’ll come with me?”

“Can we get a chair for Annie?” asked Joey.

“Oh, I don’t mind you carrying me,” Annie slurred, snuggling up to him.

“I’m ... I’m getting tired,” he said.

“I’ll take her,” said Tricia, and she scooped up Annie from his arms. She was feather-light, and as soon as Joey let go of her she increased in weight exponentially, nearly knocking Tricia off balance. Joey touched Tricia’s arm, and Annie felt almost weightless again.

You’re not that tired.

Quantum Knight rolled up the rope and put it in the cooler along with her GPS. The cooler vanished the moment she closed it. Tricia walked up to her and said “So... ‘Quantum Warrior’?”