The Indigo King - James A. Owen [36]
“I only get to open it once,” said John. “Do we really want to risk it to gain a ticket? What if we need something more pressing in the future? What if someone’s life may depend on when we choose to use it?”
“I think someone’s does,” Chaz blurted out. He glanced meaningfully down at Verne’s skull and gulped hard.
“Good enough,” John said. He closed his eyes and lifted the lid.
“Darn,” said Uncas. “I was really hopin’ f’r crackers.”
* * *
The ticket slid smoothly into the slot and engaged a mechanism inside the door that whirred and clicked and hummed like one of the principles the animals drove. Finally a series of bolts slid back inside the door frame, and the door slowly swung open.
Inside was a postcard-perfect Victorian theater in miniature. There were two dozen lushly appointed chairs upholstered in red velvet, and elegant gas lamps placed artfully along walls embroidered with elaborate patterns. The ceiling was pressed tin and reflected the light evenly throughout the room. At the front, a curtained stage extended from one side to the other, and in the rear was a small booth, also curtained, and a table.
The table was the only anomaly in the room. It was metallic and round and slightly concave. On it was a golden ring four inches or so in diameter, and a note written on the cream-colored paper that seemed to be favored by all the Caretakers. It read, simply, Spin me.
“You’re the Caretaker Principia,” Jack said, gently shoving John toward the table. “You spin it.”
John picked up the ring and examined it, then chuckled and gave it a twirl on top of the table.
The ring spun about in a blur—but instead of slowing down and losing momentum, it began to spin faster, circling the rim of the table in increasingly smaller circuits. When it reached the center, a voice projected from the ring, loud enough for all of them to hear it clearly.
“This is Jules Verne speaking.
“If you three—John, Jack, and Charles—are hearing this recording, then I am in all likelihood dead, or worse.”
“Worse than dead?” Chaz snorted. “He’s loopy, he is.”
“Shush,” said John. “We need to hear this.”
“What has been closed, may be opened again,” the voice continued. “What has been written, may be rewritten. You have already been given warning of your adversary—now I give you the means to defeat him.
“I have become learned in many means of travel through time and space. And I have found that certain boundaries must not be crossed—not if we are to emerge victorious against our enemies.”
“Enemies, plural?” Jack groaned. “Great. Just great.”
“I have left you the means to the end you must reach,” Verne’s voice went on, “through the use of what our friend Bert called the ‘Infernal Device.’ It is the most specific of the devices I use, and also the most fragile.
“You must discover our adversary’s name. His true name.
“I have left you five slides for use in the Lanterna Magica. Each corresponds to a key moment in his history, and each will afford the three of you the chance to find him. Each slide may be used only once, and the portals they create will remain open for only twenty-four hours, and no more. If you do not return to Noble’s Isle within that time, you will be trapped there, and all our efforts will be for naught.
“Only thus, by seeking him out, naming him, and Binding him, may he be defeated. But remember: Our adversary may not be whom you expect. Be wary. Be watchful. And remember your training. All things come about, in time.
“Answer the question unanswered for more than two millennia, and perhaps you may yet restore the world.”
The golden ring began to slow, and with a soft clattering, it fell still and silent on the table.
* * *
The companions tried to spin the ring again, to see if there was any further information to be gleaned, but it simply repeated what they had heard the first time.
“Let’s have a look at this lantern, then,” Jack said. “In for a penny, in for fifty pounds.”
“It’s here,” said Reynard, gesturing to the small booth near the table. There on a small platform sat an unusual if not extraordinary