16

The Imagination Station Returns

Duzi stopped the wagon. They were far from the walls of Babylon. “I think this is the place,” he said.

Beth and Patrick hopped out of the wagon. Duzi got off the driver’s bench and tended to the horses.

Beth bent over and started kicking the sand. “I found another one!” she said. She held up an odd-shaped piece of glass. “We landed here.”

Beth felt the yellow gadget vibrate. She turned her back to Duzi. She took the meter out of her sash. It began to flash yellow.

Suddenly the meter flashed red. A bolt of lightning shot across the sky.

A loud clap of thunder followed. The horses began to get restless. Duzi held their halters so they wouldn’t run away.

“Your God is showing His power,” Duzi said. “I’ve seen that He’s a better God than Adad.”

The car Imagination Station appeared.

Patrick reached for the door. “Yikes,” he said. “It’s even hotter than before.”

A voice came from inside the machine. It was Eugene’s. “Get in,” Eugene said through the speakers. “Your next adventure is to find Nikola Tesla. Only he can get us all back home.”

“Nike cola who?” Patrick asked.

Beth interrupted. “How are you talking to us, Eugene?” she asked.

“I got Mr. Pinkerton to give me back the computer,” Eugene said. “But it has only a little battery power left.”

Duzi called to Beth. “Who are you talking to?” he asked.

Beth saw Patrick get inside the Imagination Station.

“Good-bye, Duzi,” she said, waving to her new friend. “It’s our time to leave. Tell Daniel the Temple gets rebuilt.”

Beth felt a static shock as she climbed inside the machine. The seat made her skin tingle.

Beth grabbed the knob on the dashboard. “Ouch,” she said. “It’s hot.”

Patrick took off his coat. He put it over the knob and pulled it back.

The windshield began to spin.

“Wait,” Eugene’s voice said through the speakers. “I forgot to —”

Suddenly it was silent. Everything went black.

To find out the title of the next book in the series, visit TheImaginationStation.com.