Tick had already bent his legs, and jumped into the air on her call.
When he came back down, the world around them had vanished, and his feet landed on something very cold.
~
“This is weird,” Rutger said as he stared at the command center screen, his eyes glued to the tracking marks of Tick’s Earwig Transponder. Master George, Sally, and Mothball stood behind him. They’d all come running when the chime had rung through the building, indicating Tick had winked to another location.
“Weird, indeed,” Master George whispered.
“Whatcha two hanks goin’ on ’bout?” Sally bellowed. “I ain’t got nary a clue what that thing a’yorn’s tellin’ me.” He pointed at the screen.
Rutger answered. “They just winked to a large plain in Reality Prime—but in the middle of nowhere. The far northern reaches of Canada, it looks like. Nothing for dozens of miles around them.”
“Goodness gracious me,” Master George whispered. “Chu’s tests are getting way out of hand. The poor chaps and Sofia will freeze up there!”
“Mayhaps we need be rescuin’ them,” Mothball said.
Master George shook his head adamantly. “Absolutely not. The antidote is as complete as it’ll ever get, and we have to get it where it needs to be. Let’s just all pray it works. Sally.”
The large man jumped, as if he’d been caught daydreaming. “Yessir?”
“This may be our best chance—our last chance. I want you to wink there right away and give them the antidote.”
Sally’s eyes grew wide. “But . . . I’m a-feared of the cold somethin’ awful.”
“No matter,” Master George said over his shoulder as he walked briskly away, heading for the testing lab. “Come on, chop-chop!”
Rutger couldn’t help but feel sorry for the big lug of a man. He reached up and tapped Sally on the elbow. “You’ll be fine. Just wink in, wink out. No problem.”
Sally laughed, his booming chortle echoing off the walls of the room. “You ain’t got no thermal undies I could borry, do ya?”
“Hilarious,” Rutger said, hopping down from his chair to follow Master George.
~
“Ah, dude, it’s freezing here!” Paul said. He sat down on the hard ground and started struggling back into his shoes using only one arm. Sofia knelt down and helped him.
Although the bottoms of Tick’s feet felt like they stood on ice, he turned in a slow circle, gawking at the new place they’d been winked to. It was a barren, miserable land, flat and gray in every direction, all the way to the horizon. Not a plant or tree or animal in sight. The sun poked through a brief break in a cloud-heavy sky, but it added no color to the bleakness, no warmth. There was no snow, but everything about the area looked cold and dreary.
Then he saw something that stopped him. A small building—a tiny, leaning wooden hut just a few hundred feet away.
“Just be glad it’s not winter,” Sofia said, tying her shoelaces. “Or we’d have already been frozen.”
Tick snapped out of his daze and sat down, pulling on his first sock. “I wonder what that little shack is over there.” He pointed.
Paul and Sofia glanced in that direction.
“Looks abandoned,” Paul said. He grimaced as he lay back on his one good elbow, his injured arm resting on his ribs.
Tick finished tying his shoes. “I wonder where we are.” He stood up, the ground too cold and hard.
Sofia joined him. “Who knows? Let’s go check out that building.”
Paul groaned. “Couldn’t that jerk have sent us somewhere that has a hospital? I’d settle for a place that sells aspirin. But no—he had to send us to Pluto.”
“Come on,” Tick said, offering his hand to help him stand.
Paul shook his head. “It hurts too much. Got my own way of moving now.” He pushed off with his elbow, then rolled to his knees. After taking a couple of deep breaths, he stumbled to his feet, a little off balance. Tears rimmed the bottom edges of his eyes; one escaped and trickled down his cheek.
Tick quickly looked away, pretending he hadn’t noticed. Oh, man, he thought. He’s gonna die on us.
Sofia wasn’t as kind. “Are you crying? I thought you were a lot tougher than that.”
Tick felt a shudder of anger wash through him; he had a sudden urge to punch Sofia in the arm, but quelled it. “I’d cry too if my arm was broken and I was stuck in the middle of nowhere. Come on.” He started walking toward the small shack.
He didn’t look back to see their response, but he heard them following. Paul’s feet scraped the ground with every step, sounding like he dragged a dead body behind him.