Doorways to Everywhere (Tourist Trap Book 2)

Chapter 14

Bobby got them back to the lab in about twenty minutes. Sarah peeled off a few strands of floss to pay him but told him to stick around in case they had further need of his services.

Dr. Octavius was staring thoughtfully into space when they walked in the door and didn't seem to notice they were there. Sarah tried to catch his eye by walking slowly and unobtrusively into his field of vision. Max felt a more direct approach was called for and walked up to Dr. Octavius, grabbed him by the shoulders, and started shaking him vigorously.

"My word," Dr. Octavius sputtered as he snapped back to attention. "What's going on here?"

"So have you solved this missing green thing yet or what?" Max asked.

"Oh my, no. Most certainly not."

"Pardon my language, Doc, but what's the fucking holdup? You are a genius scientist, aren't you? Get formulating a hypothesis already!"

"I've never encountered anything quite like this before," Dr. Octavius sighed. "It's almost as if the green particles just don't want to be here and are going... somewhere else."

"That's real helpful," Max muttered. "Please tell me you have another mirror around this joint somewhere. That other one was 'interesting' and all, but I'm really dying to have a look at myself."

"There might be one buried in that trunk behind Maurice," Dr. Octavius pointed out. Maurice was still sleeping but now he was propped up in a sitting position, leaning on an old battered trunk. Max shoved him aside and he landed on his side with a clunking sound.

Max dug around for awhile tossing aside three-pronged gadgets, model time machines, and more than one rubber chicken before he finally found a medium-sized mirror in the bottom of the chest. He fished it out and gazed into it attentively. "Good lord! It's worse than I thought!"

"What's the matter?" Sarah asked.

"I'm all pasty and white and shriveled up looking. I've lost my beautiful green complexion forever! Now I look like the Doc! It's a fate worse than death!"

"What are you talking about?" Sarah asked. "You don't look like my uncle. You look the same as you always have. Let me see that mirror." She grabbed it from him and looked directly into it. A clear image of Max was staring back at her. "There's something really odd about this mirror."

Dr. Octavius glanced over. "Ah yes, that's my old memory mirror. I forgot about that. Rather than your own reflection you actually see an image of the last person who looked into it. That explains why Max thought he resembled me. I must have been the last one to look at it."

"I was wondering when I'd grown the frizzy white old man hair and the mustache," Max said as he felt around his head and face.

"If you're at an impasse with what you're working on, we've got something for you to have a look at," Sarah suggested.

"No, no, the Doc needs to keep his priorities straight," Max snorted. "The important work is being done here. That weird machine can wait."

"Well, perhaps I could use a change of scenery," Dr. Octavius said thoughtfully.

"So hang up a picture of a tree or something," Max said.

"Also it helps sometimes to think about other things," Dr. Octavius continued. "Sometimes I come up with a different approach to solving a problem when I stop actively thinking about it."

"If you think it'll really help you with the situation at hand, then I guess it's okay. Just remember that the green problem is your primary concern. Any other mysteries that crop up I'll take care of. I am a detective after all."

"Or you call yourself one, at least," Sarah said.

"Hey, I'll have you know I got a 'C-' in detecting from a correspondence course I took. That's a passing grade!"

"So where is this machine I'm supposed to be looking at?" Dr. Octavius asked.

"It's across town a little way," Sarah said. "I've got Bobby waiting outside with his rickshaw. Are you ready to go now?"

"Certainly."

"What about Maurice?" Sarah asked.

"Oh he's sleeping peacefully. He's quite safe here. We'll just leave him where he is. He'll be okay."

*

Maurice opened his eyes blearily when he heard the laboratory door slam. "Where am I?" he murmured, not recognizing his surroundings. He looked around the unfamiliar lab in bewilderment. "Did Dr. Octavius redecorate? And wasn't the door on the other side of the room?"

He rubbed his eyes sleepily and yawned. "I wonder what time it is. Maybe I should go home and get some more sleep." He walked out the door and started to turn left. It took him a few seconds to realize that he wasn't on his normal path home. And the sight of a large three-toed sloth in a bright red Hawaiian shirt ambling by wasn't normal either.

"You got a problem, buddy?" the sloth asked. "What the hell are you staring at?"

"Um, nothing," Maurice said.

"Tourists," the sloth muttered as he shook his head and continued on his way.

Maurice looked around in confusion. Where was he? And how did he get here? The events of the past day were somehow blurry. The last thing he really remembered was working on the weather control machine. And then...

Suddenly he spotted Sarah and Dr. Octavius in a rickshaw being pulled down the street by a polar bear. A strangely familiar-looking toad was riding with them. It finally dawned on him that he must be in that Quartzwater City place he had heard Sarah and Dr. Octavius talking about.

"Hey wait for me!" he shouted as he started running down the street after them. His nose started to tickle him. Midway through a hearty sneeze he vanished into thin air.

*

"Did you hear something?" Dr. Octavius asked.

"Huh?" Max looked up. "No, I didn't hear anything. And I keep my ears peeled for anything out of the ordinary. I'm always on the alert. It's part of my keen detective instincts."

"I could have sworn I heard someone asking us to wait. The voice sounded familiar, too."

"You're probably just imagining it, Doc," Max said. "That's what happens when you get old and senile. You start hearing things that aren't there. If you can hear at all."

"I heard it, too," Sarah said. "In fact I thought I saw Maurice back there a minute ago."

"Yeah, well he's not there now," Max said. "You're obviously both crazy. Now let's hurry up. Come on, Bobby, we don't have all day! Vamoose!"