Read Ripped Apart: Quantum Twins – Adventures On Two Worlds for Free Online Page B

possible exit.
    There was the one item that had already been in the bag. Not knowing what it was, Qwelby decided to try that. He pulled out a box that was about the size of a book. As he showed it to his twin, it didn’t look like something that was coloured black, rather it looked so black that it wasn’t there. But he knew it was as he could feel it resting on the palms of his hands and see his thumbs on top.
    ‘Here,’ he said, passing it to his twin.
    Tullia took it in her hands and gasped. It felt alive.
    Carefully she put it down on the floor and took her hands away. It disappeared. She reached out a hand and rested it on the box. It reappeared.
    They heard each other swallow.
    ‘What are the three E’s of Learning,’ Tullia said.
    ‘Enquire, Explore, Experiment.’
    ‘So?’
    Nervously, Qwelby picked up the Mogarcon and turned the dial, watching the display for a gadget that might help. A picture of an eye appeared in the side panel. He showed it to his twin who grunted her approval.
    He pointed the Mogarcon at the box and pressed the trigger. It hummed and the lid lit up with the words:
    ~
    Unidirectional Transweave Projector
    Experimental Prototype
    ~
    ‘What?’ asked Qwelby as Tullia exclaimed, ‘Not possible!’
    They knew that for teleportation to work there had to be a unit at either end, and each always had both a transmitter and a receiver.
    Holding his breath, he pressed the trigger again and ran the muzzle around the edges of the box, jumping back as it started to move. The lid folded back and the box opened out. Very thin, rigid sheets of duraskin spread out until the twins were looking at a shimmering rectangle, large enough for one person to stand on, with a narrow, shiny, metallic-looking edge. Then, from one of the longer sides, a page sized sheet of duraskin slid out, lit up and turned into a monitor screen. At the bottom was a row of entry fields and a tiny numeric keypad. As they watched, words appeared on the screen.
    ~
    Enter Co-ordinates
    TriNumeric
    Or
    Visual
    ~
    They agreed, that was logical. TriNumeric would be altitude, latitude and longitude. Not knowing any of those they would have to use Visual.
    Whatever destination they agreed to image, a Darkness appeared preventing them from visualising any of them clearly enough. The Darkness was not tangible, yet it had a foul smell.
    ‘We need help,’ Tullia said.
    ‘Yeah. Our friends?’ Qwelby suggested.
    ‘Yes. But focus on one,’ Tullia said
    ‘Errm…’ he thought of Wrenden, but he knew what Tullia would say.
    ‘Tamina.’
    ‘Agreed.’
    Tamina was Tullia’s elderest, a sort of caring older-sister-cum-guide. Nearly seventeen-years-old and approaching the end of her fifth phase of creativity, she was the most sensible of the six of them, well most of the time anyway.
    Into their sending Tullia added an image of a smiling bird, which she knew Tamina would understand. She watched it become swallowed up in a cloying feel of the same Darkness, hoping it would get through.
    A few moments later a relieved Tullia was able to pass on to Qwelby that contact had been made and Tamina would return in twenty minits.
    About 24 Azuran minutes,
thought Qwelby. And wondered why he was thinking so much about that strange planet.
    They relaxed, relieved that the end of their disturbing day was near.
    Twenty minits later the twins felt the combined energies of all four friends. Tamina had gathered together Wrenden, her almost fourteen-year-old brother and fifteen-years-old Shimara and Pelnak. With the Darkness swirling around, even all of them together found it impossible to hold a visualisation of any specific destination strongly enough. Reluctantly, they agreed there was only one concept on which they could all focus. ‘Up, Up, and Away.’
    After a few moments a picture of a beautiful blue sky with one or two fluffy clouds formed in their minds. Then the top of a bell tower.
A bell tower, what’s that?
It looked so peaceful and …
    A