CLOUD NINE

Chapter 31

"Look, this is the teleporter we've been tinkering with for some time. It makes a warp in space-time so that distances come in a linear plane to you and..."

"I'm sorry but these technicalities are going over my head. Let's get down to how we use this," Jurian interrupted Mister Gear whose broad moustaches twitched in anger as he regarded him with cold eyes.

The members in Gear's team didn't wear masks, because their super security protocol was enough to keep out intruders. But they never used their names. Mr Gear was in his early thirties, burly moustache, a small round paunch and a pair of thin pale lips. Seeing the fact that he was albino pale, it was difficult to discern of which nationality he belonged to.

"Well, it's me that's trying out this thing and I want to listen," Alizeh smiled at Mr Gear who seemed visibly pleased. Jurian was looking strangely at her and Alizeh pinched him on the back of his arm. A smirk appeared on his face but they turned their attention to the problem at hand.

"To use this, you'd need concentration. This device integrates your memory power to conjure up an image of the place and then send you there. If your concentration breaks during this time, you may be stranded somewhere in between," Mr Gear handed over the little black digital watch to Alizeh. She turned it over in her hand, running her fingers over two different titanium buttons on the side.

"How do we charge this thing?"

"Well, until now it's a one-time thing. Like you have to have to change batteries to help it work again. Unfortunately, the batteries are made from a rare alloy with nuclear properties made from Samarium. Now that the supply route from the earth is really low, and there aren't many mining operations ongoing, batteries are in short supply. We can't waste them on testing. Besides, in dire circumstances, you may change the settings to 'lifesaver mode'," he ranted breathlessly.

"And what is that?"
That was Jurian.

"That utilizes your metabolic energy in a last attempt to take you out from danger. I'd advice not trying it at all. There is no control to the energy it can drain and it could kill you," Mr Gear nodded gravely.

"Okay! Let's try this out," Alizeh loosened her shoulders and shook her head once in anticipation.

"You sure you want to do?" Jurian's voice was soft at her ear.

"Someone had to do it," she gritted her teeth.

"Okay. Press the button on the top and think about the room you're staying in here. Eliminate all other thoughts and focus on how that room looks..."

Alizeh had drowned out Mr Gear's instructions in her concentration. She imagined the dull grey walls and the black duvet, the glossy velvet cushions and her little blue trolley sitting at one corner. The small ebony dresser. The images spun in her head and suddenly Jurian's face appeared in her mind. She couldn't escape that image as he seemed to lick his lips invitingly. She forced her eyes open.

"Damn!" she muttered.

"Focus, lady," Gear seemed utterly bored.

Alizeh shot Jurian a finger before closing her eyes and imagining her room. And all the components seemed to be blending in on itself as she felt an enormous force bending time and space. She could feel it in her mind's eye. In a second the visions stopped and she was in her room.

She let out a small yelp of joy as she closed her eyes again and focused on the vision of the lab room. Blue glass panels, big white wood tables, little gears and gadgets whirling in all directions, on the walls and below her inside the glass floor, as if the entire room was a big grinding machine. She had the same flurry sensation of weightlessness ad she was back in front of Gear.

"Bravo! You did it," Gear clapped like a child and almost ran to her, extending his hands for a hug.

"Umm, it's our pleasure to be of help," Jurian put out his single arm and stopped his advancing frame. Alizeh bit her lips, laughing at the way Jurian was overprotective.

"Oh, I didn't mean to, I..." Gear looked from Alizeh to Jurian, back to Alizeh, "never mind. Time for the next drill."

Gear moved back to his earlier space, absentmindedly twirling his moustache.

"You need to be able to take two or three people with you and not lose them in the crowd. They need to concentrate and focus to be with you."

"What if it's someone unwilling and you have to suddenly take them?" a crazy idea was beginning to form at the back of her head but she didn't dare hope too much.

"Then it is a test of your mental strength. You need to focus to keep that person with you."

"Can I transport another person, like project the power?"

"Sure you can. Just point the tip of the twelve-hour place at the person and think of a place. They'll reach there," Gear's face decorated with a broad grin. He liked Alizeh's interest in his team's creation.

"Good! Agent J," Alizeh commanded, "you want to come next?"

"You ask, I deliver," he winked, taking her hand.

"Focus boy, focus on the second level where all the clocks are ticking away together. Remember?"

"Sure. Why not?" Jurian answered, closing shut his eyes. Both of them knew how they had taken the opportunity to explore, as a sign of a romantic escapade. The kisses had been more than once.

Alizeh felt a lightness like earlier, but there seemed to be a weight attached to her mind. A heavy appendage pulling her down.

"Jurian, focus. You're slipping," she screamed into the void. The hands of Jurian seemed to be a heavy anchor pulling her to the bottom of the ocean and she couldn't breathe as she gasped for snatches of air. And then suddenly it became lighter. His hands seemed to hold on tighter. She opened her eyes to find a brilliant blue light surrounding them and in a second the chime of forty different clocks ticking away simultaneously flooded her ear. They had done it.

"You were distracted," Alizeh scolded.

"Your dimpled hands are the culprit," he retorted.

Alizeh blinked twice before realizing her skin forms a dimple if she closed her fingers. How come she had never noticed that little detail?

Wordlessly she took his hand and they teleported back, quite uneventfully.