The Indigo King - James A. Owen [85]
Jack removed the disk from the projector. “It has a sixth slot,” he said with a trace of surprise, “almost as if it had been left open for a reason.”
Hank and Uncas fitted the slide into the slot, then replaced the disk. “Here goes nothing,” Hank said, firing up the generator again.
In a moment, the image of the projection room sprang up on the tent wall. The image was coarser than the others they’d gone through, but this one seemed no less viable.
“Only one way to find out,” said Jack, and he stepped from the tent into the house on Sanctuary.
“Come on!” he implored, waving them over. “It’s a bit more like moving through soup than air, but I’m here just fine.”
“I think I can duplicate that trick with the lenses,” Hank said to John, “so you can take it back through with you.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”
The engineer shook his head. “Not my place or time,” he said. “Thanks for the offer, though. Just get a message to Verne.”
“I will,” John said, and he stepped through the portal, with Uncas and Fred close behind. Hugo gave Hank a warm, two-handed handshake and, swallowing hard, threw himself through the portal, landing in a sprawl in the room, much to the delight of everyone there.
Only Chaz remained in the tent. He made no move to go through.
“Chaz?” called John. “Are you all right?”
“I don’t … I don’t want t’ go back,” he said.
“But why not?” exclaimed Jack. “We’ve got Hugo back and assured that Arthur has the throne he’s supposed to have. When we get back to Noble’s Isle, everything will have changed back to the way it’s supposed to be!”
“You mean,” Chaz replied softly, “everything will have changed back t’ th’ way it’s supposed t’ be … for you. If everything else changes,” he continued, “will I just become ‘your’ Charles? Will I even remember who I was before?”
“I honestly don’t know,” offered John. “I hadn’t thought much about it—no offense,” he added quickly. “It’s just that you’ve become so much like …”
“So much like him that you hadn’t noticed I wasn’t him?” Chaz said with a trace of bitterness. “Well, I’d noticed,” he said, jabbing his thumb at his chest, “and I don’t want to go anywhere if it means I’m not going t’ be me when I get there.”
“I don’t think it’ll work like that,” said Jack. “I think you’ll stay ‘you’ no matter what. You’re one of those implementing the changes in the timelines. So I think you’ll remain unaffected—stay Chaz-like, as it were.”
“I agree,” John said. “Bert mentioned that he and Verne traveled outside the timelines somehow, and despite going to times and places they’d already been, they always kept a memory of events. I think it’ll be the same with you.”
“There is another thing to consider,” Hugo put in. “If you stay, you will probably affect the timeline for us. After all, isn’t that why you all came back? To bring me home, so I don’t mess up whatever I, ah, botched in history? What if you stay there, and the same thing happens?”
Chaz looked at each of them through the projection, considering, then stopped at Hugo. “That’s really th’ best reason, isn’t it?” he said. “Whatever else goes wrong, I don’t want t’ be th’ cause of Mordred taking over th’ world. So let’s just pull me over and be done, hey? Before I change my mind?”
“Mordred taking over the world?” Hugo said to Jack. “What’s happened while I’ve been gone?”
“We’ll explain later,” Jack told him, “hopefully back in my rooms at Magdalen.”
Chaz put his hands through the projection, and John and Jack pulled him through. Then, with some coaching from Reynard, Hank adjusted the lenses on the Lanterna Magica and moved it closer, until the men in Sanctuary could touch it, grasp it, and pull it through its own projection. Hank waved a last farewell as he pulled the cord and tossed it through. An instant later the wall went blank. They were back in the room on Sanctuary.
Jack started to cheer, but John held up his hands. “Wait,” he said. He didn