“Look, I should probably be going,” said the woman.
She hadn’t said much the whole time they had been there, leaving all the explaining to Julius. She stared wistfully at the machine for a quick second.
“I mean, if I don’t head out now there’s no way I’m going to get to work on time.”
She put a poised hand on Camilla’s shoulder and looked her in the eye.
“Don’t worry, kid. You’re in good hands,” reassured the woman.
Camilla didn’t usually believe adults when they told her everything would be okay but for some reason, this time she did.
“Well, that’s me,” and with that she turned and headed for the door. She let out a little wave to Julius and Montgomery.
“Very well,” said Julius, keeping an eye on Montgomery. “Have a nice day at work, Lisa.”
Lisa, thought Camilla. This person had saved her from night guard monsters and put her on the path to get home, but Camilla hadn’t even bothered to learn her name… or say thank you. The woman walked out, leaving Camilla with her thoughts.
Montgomery pushed and prodded a control pad that stood by the machine. There was a lot of button pushing and lever pulling before he got what he wanted.
“Alright miss, it’s ready!”
Tiny steps led to the opening of the gold machine. Like a gentleman, Montgomery helped Camilla into it. The floor and walls of the inside were coated in deep red velvet.
“Now,” said Montgomery. “Raise your hands up above your head, like you’re cheering.”
Camilla did as advised. Montgomery left her in that position as he went back to the control panel, where Julius was maneuvering more switches and buttons. Julius grabbed one particularly large lever and hauled it down.
The machine violently shook more and more. The red velvet walls then melted into a dark blue grid. Camilla did her best to stay still as the whole thing rumbled. She could see Montgomery and Julius from the machines opening, but they didn’t look at her. Their gaze was focused upward, over the machine.
Something started flashing in her eyes. Camilla saw that a large band of light was scanning her entire body. She looked back over at the two cat-men for some kind of reassurance about all this. But she got quite the opposite. The two of them got very concerned looks on their faces as they stared up.
The roaring of the machine made it hard for Camilla to hear them talk to each other.
“Are you sure you put in the right settings?” asked Julius.
“Of course,” said Montgomery. “ I put them in the same way as usual.”
Julius pushed Montgomery aside and began to press another combination of buttons and dials, but this did nothing to appease his worried expression. The machine came to a quiet stop. Camilla let her hands down and stepped out of the device.
“Is everything okay?” she inquired as she went down the small steps. She wasn’t really sure how the machine was supposed to work, or if everything had been completed.
Neither Julius nor Montgomery responded.
“Well,” started Julius. “The Origin Scanner did figure out how far you traveled.” Camilla could hear the uncertainty shaking in his voice .
“Well then, what’s the problem?” asked Camilla.
Julius and Montgomery gave each other another look. Whatever the “problem” was, they didn’t seem to have the nerve to say.
“Just… look.”
Julius jabbed at more switches and knobs. He motioned to the top of the Origin Scanner and Camilla looked. She then saw what it was the two of them had been staring at this whole time.
Streaming out of the large planet at the top like a projector was an image of a never ending galaxy, star studded and vast. There were nothing but nebulas and comets for a while until Julius hit the right buttons on the control pad. Out of the indigo sky popped a planet. It was not very small, or very large. It wasn’t so much medium as it was “humble”. Blue and yellow stripes drifted on top of it. A soft, sun-like glow encapsulated the whole orb.
Beneath the planet were the words “Solaris Pago”.
“This is where you are currently.”
Julius grabbed a different lever.
“And this,” he let out a very hesitant breath. “Is where you were.”
Solaris Pago began to get smaller as the image zoomed out. And zoomed out. And continued to zoom out.
The projection zoomed past hundreds, maybe thousands, of other star systems, galaxies and nebulas. It soared through space like this for a good three to four more minutes before it finally stopped. It landed on a small blue and green sphere. The word “Orbis” was underneath it.
“That’s Earth!?” exclaimed Camilla.
“I believe the academic term for it is Orbis, but yes, Earth works as well,” corrected Julius.
“B-but, that’s got to be light years away! It can’t really be that far.”
“This is a bit surprising to us as well,” interjected Montgomery.
“True,” agreed Julius. “The furthest documented case of someone displacing was about five Puzzleworld over. But this, this is really unheard of.”
Sweat began trickling from Camilla’s face. In a mindless motion, Camilla stuck out her arm and began to pinch it. She repeatedly grabbed at her skin and repeatedly felt pain.
“What’s she doing?” whispered Montgomery to Julius. He shrugged as the two watched Camilla hurt herself.
Upon realizing that the pinching wasn’t giving her the results she wanted, she moved on to the next best thing. She hauled back and slapped herself. Her face tingled. She grabbed her cheek to ease the pain.
“This really isn’t a dream is it?”
Camilla had already faced physical enough sensations to tell her she wasn’t at home dreaming. She had to be sure though, and the pain in her face made sure of that. She really was in some kind of fantasy land, a galaxy away from home and no way to get back.
“Wait!” she remembered. “This is okay, because you guys said you can just send me back, right?”
Yet again, Julius and Montgomery exchanged looks.
“We could …” started Montgomery, trying to keep his bubbly exterior. “‘Could’ being past tense, in the sense that we could’ve before… but we can’t now.”
“Look, Ms. Camilla, if you were closer things would be different, but…” he paused as he looked for an explanation. “You’ve come at a very turbulent time. Magic and resources are very slim right now.
“It’s true. We barely have enough energy to keep our lights on sometimes. And it’s not just us, the entire Puzzleworld has been suffering recently.”
“What does that have to do with me?” Camilla nearly shouted to Montgomery. She didn’t care about their lights or this “Solaris” place.
“If you were closer,” reiterated Julius. “We could’ve slingshotted you back with no problem. There are machines for it. But the way things are right now we simply don’t have the means to send you somewhere that far.”
“So, that’s it?” muttered Camilla. “I’m just… stuck here?”
Camilla was lucky to find a chair to plop in, for she surely would’ve hit the floor if it wasn’t there. She tossed her head into her hands as the red cape fell over her drooped shoulders. Her mother’s face came into her mind.
Camilla reflected on just how awful she had been. And now there may not have been a chance to apologize. It had to have been at least a day she was gone now. What if her mother had already filed a missing persons report? Who would think to look for her here?
And what about her grandpa? Even if she did find a way home, who’s to say it would be in time to…
The dozens of “I’m sorrys ” and “Goodbyes” that Camilla wanted to say weighed on her back like bricks. Her face grew hot as she did everything she could to fight back tears, but she could tell it wasn’t working.
The younger cat man looked down at Camilla and saw how hurt she was.
“You know,” Montgomery started nervously. “We can’t help you, but maybe someone else could.”
Camilla shot up. “Do you know someone?”
“Well,” Montgomery fidgeted as Camilla stared at him. “I mean…”
Julius’s face dropped in dismay as he realized what it was that Montgomery was trying to spit out. He stood behind Camilla and began waving his arms, signaling Montgomery to shush up.
“You could …” Montgomery glanced at Julius once more. “ try going to the castle.”
Camilla didn’t see the sideways glare Julius was giving Montgomery.
“What’s at the castle?” she asked. “Someone who could send me back?”
“Well, yes,” Julius conceded. “If there was anyone in Solaris who could help you it would be someone at the castle. But this isn’t the best time to go bugging them. Solaris really is in a bit of a crisis right now, and I don’t think they have time to waste on frivolous matters.”
“I’m stranded on the other side of the universe! I don’t think there’s anything frivolous about that! I have to go talk to these castle people .”
“Okay, okay! If you’re so convinced-,” he snapped his fingers. “Montgomery, get me a map and a marker.”
The young cat man reached into a desk and came up with both of those things. Julius placed the rather large map on a table and began scribbling. He placed a series of lines on it, all leading to one spot. A very large illustration of a castle stood out amongst the many buildings and streets; Julius circled it.
“That’s where you want to go,” he folded the map and handed it to Camilla. “But fair warning, I wouldn’t expect a warm greeting.”
Camilla didn’t care about warm greetings. If going there was the only way to get home, then that’s what she was going to do. She took the map and placed it in her pocket.
“You’re actually in luck, too!” pointed Montgomery. “There’s a shuttle from the college that goes right into town.”
College? thought Camilla.
Montgomery led her to one of the large windows and pointed down. Camilla had to stifle a “whoa”.
Brightly painted domes topped multiple brick and cobblestone buildings. Lush, green courtyards surrounded large towers with wide windows, just like the one she was looking out of. The large array of grandiose buildings went on for acres and acres. The now fully risen sun framed the whole thing in soft morning light. She could see the faint silhouette of a city just beyond the school.
Montgomery pointed at something on the ground. Camilla followed the angle of his arm and saw that sure enough, there was a bus stop. A small bench and railing sat next to it.
“You should probably hurry if you really want to catch it,” advised Montgomery. “I can show you a quick way there.”
“Just hurry,” said Julius. He stood with his arms folded, highlighting how fed up he was with this whole situation. “We have a lot of work to get to today.”
Camilla followed Montgomery to the door as he rushed ahead of her.
“And Miss Camilla, I really do wish you all the luck in getting home.”
Camilla glanced at him over her shoulder . He had said it with such an air of snark that she wasn’t sure if he was being sincere.
“With the way things are, you’re going to need it.”
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