‘What?’ The woman’s face was suspicious. ‘How do you know my name?’

‘You’re our science teacher,’ said Newt.

‘You sent us to the principal,’ said Rowan.

‘Am I? Did I?’ Ms Bloom bit her bottom lip and frowned. ‘I almost went into teaching. But that was years ago.’ Her expression hardened. ‘I’d appreciate being addressed as Dr Bloom. I didn’t spent countless years and bucketloads of money on three PhDs to be called a Ms.’ She glared at them dubiously, noting their uniforms. ‘We don’t do school tours. What are you playing at? Why are you here?’

‘Ah … that’s a little hard to explain,’ said Rowan.

Dr Bloom’s eyes narrowed. ‘Try!’

‘Okay … but you’re probably not going to believe this.’ Newt hesitated, then blurted out: ‘We’re from another world.’ She held her breath, waiting for the response.

Dr Bloom opened her mouth as if to speak, then closed it again. She raised a hand and ran it through her greying brown bob. She looked from Newt to Rowan, and back at Newt. Again she opened her mouth, hesitated, and closed it.

‘I told you, you wouldn’t believe us,’ said Newt.

‘Oh, but I do,’ said Dr Bloom.

‘You do?’ said Rowan, in surprise.

‘It would certainly explain why you think I’m your … teacher.’ She said the word as if she found it distasteful. ‘Maybe I have a doppelganger in your world who’s a teacher. But in this world, I am Director of Research at TechCo.’

‘So, how come you believe us?’ asked Newt, trying to get her head around the encounter. This was not the reaction she had been expecting. ‘I certainly wouldn’t believe us if I were you. It’s too … too unscientific.’

‘Oh, no, no, no,’ said Dr Bloom with a little shake of her head. ‘On the contrary. It is very scientific.’

‘It is?’ Rowan looked at Newt. Newt shrugged.

Dr Bloom raised her arms into the air and spun around, her hair swishing against her face. ‘This entire chamber is geared towards the creation of a multiverse portal.’

‘Wow!’ Newt gazed around at the damaged equipment in awe.

This is amazing! This is science taken to the next level.

‘How did you get here?’ Dr Bloom’s face lit up with excitement. ‘Is there another portal somewhere around here?’ She started muttering to herself. ‘… residual effect … resonating frequencies … possibly a …’

‘We’re not really sure how we got here,’ said Rowan, uncertain if he should be interrupting her.

‘We were at school,’ explained Newt. ‘And we got called into the principal’s office. And there was this book. And then Mr Hardnose left. And then he –’ Newt’s finger shot accusingly at Rowan. ‘– stole the book. And then this hole opened up in the air. And then he –’ Newt’s finger waggled even more accusingly at Rowan. ‘– jumped through. And then I …’ She paused, as she tried unsuccessfully to work out why she’d followed him.

‘A spontaneous portal? Surely not. Something must have caused it.’ Dr Bloom began mouthing words without actually saying anything. Newt and Rowan watched her, not knowing what to do.

‘Details,’ snapped Dr Bloom. ‘I’m going to need details. Tell me exactly what happened. Leave nothing out.’

‘It all started with an experiment in science class –’

‘Disaster is a better word than experiment,’ said Newt. ‘I think I better tell this story.’

Rowan made a couple of attempts to interject, but mostly Newt talked at about one hundred kilometres an hour, explaining everything that had happened to them. She took the demand of ‘details’ to heart, with descriptions of weather conditions, clothing and the exact nature of their science experiment. Newt felt that explaining it all to someone else, and a scientist at that, clarified things for her.

‘Okay,’ said Newt, after finishing her story, a sense of relief washing over her. ‘Now it’s your turn. We need more details about what’s going on here.’

Newt needed to know – needed to hear the science behind it all.

‘Wait!’ Dr Bloom held up a hand. She looked away and bit her lip again, this time drawing blood. ‘I need time to think.’

Newt watched the scientist as she murmured to herself again, frowning, shaking her head and continually biting her lip. Newt noticed that Dr Bloom’s lips were scarred. She must bite them a lot.

‘Two possibilities!’ Dr Bloom finally said. ‘One. A spontaneous portal. Highly unlikely. Two. Side effect of the experiments being conducted here. Also unlikely. But significantly less unlikely than possibility one. Therefore … least unlikely is most likely.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘Unless, of course … the two of you are lying.’

‘What? No,’ said Rowan.

‘Why would we lie about something like this?’ asked Newt.

‘A very good question. A rival company … corporate espionage …’ She was muttering again. ‘No one would suspect children in school uniform. Then again … the whole teacher thing … it is a strong possibility …’ She stopped and tapped a finger under her eye, then pointed at the two of them. ‘I’ve got my eye on the two of you.’

Espionage? Rival companies? How can she think that? Newt felt disappointed by this scientist. However, she still wanted explanations.

The kids waited, but Dr Bloom didn’t say anything else. She just glared.

‘So,’ prompted Newt. ‘Are you going to fill us in?’

‘Hmmm.’ The scientist continued to regard them with suspicion, obviously still not trusting them.

‘When we left our world, everything was fine,’ said Newt. ‘But here, everything is destroyed and … and …’

‘Scary,’ added Rowan.

‘This establishment is geared towards the creation of a portal,’ Dr Bloom suddenly announced with pride. It appeared that, despite her doubts about their story, she had made the decision to explain. ‘A portal to allow travel into parallel worlds, like the one you claim to come from. Theoretically, there are an infinite number of worlds existing along the same time plane. I theorised that sound was the key to opening a portal. Find the right frequency, or combination of frequencies, and you can rip apart the fabric of space/time, creating a way through to one of these worlds. Different frequencies, different worlds. So many possibilities.’

Watching Dr Bloom explaining her work, Newt thought she sounded very much like a mad scientist from one of those terrible sci-fi films. Films that were so unscientific and ridiculous, giving ordinary people the completely wrong idea of what science was all about. Her parents hated them. And so did she.

Newt glanced at Rowan. His eyes gleamed as he listed to the explanations with rapt attention. Ugh!

‘Sadly, when I finally switched it on three weeks ago, I stumbled upon the wrong possibility.’ The spark went out of Dr Bloom’s expression. ‘An infinitesimal fraction of hertz in either direction would have led to a different world. It’s not fair.’ For a moment, Newt thought the doctor was about to cry. Then steely resolve took control. ‘Fairness, however, has nothing to do with science. It is a matter of trial and error. So, I shall persevere.’ She cleared her throat. ‘Of course, I have to fix up this mess first. Salvage what I can. Try to turn things around.’

‘Yeah … what happened?’ asked Rowan.

‘The other world I connected to contained a malevolent force. A darkness that devastated the city. A darkness that continues its assault.’ Her voice quavered a little, but mostly she seemed annoyed rather than scared.

‘A darkness?’ Newt sounded sceptical.

‘I keep a record of everything,’ said Dr Bloom, pulling a computer tablet from her coat pocket. She tapped at the screen and held it up for Newt and Rowan to see.

A recording showed the dais in the room they were now in. The air above the centre of the metal disc shimmered and wavered. And then it split. Unlike the swirling doorway through which Newt and Rowan had travelled, this was more like a crack. Through the fracture, they could see only darkness.

Suddenly, that darkness was surging through. There were screams and sounds of destruction. The recording ended abruptly.

‘The portal closed the moment the frequency oscillating equipment was damaged, and the flow of darkness was stopped,’ said Dr Bloom, tapping at the tablet. ‘But a mass of it was now in our world and it seemed bent on destruction.’ She held up the tablet again. ‘CCTV footage.’

Newt and Rowan watched in horror at recording after recording of the darkness sweeping across city streets. It was smoke-like and yet not. It moved with purpose and determination. It destroyed everything in its path. Buildings aged and crumbled. Streets cracked. Trees withered and died. Cars rusted and fell apart in seconds. And people … they melted. Their flesh liquefied and fell from their bones.

A cry of dismay escaped Newt’s lips as she watched the darkness sweep down a street, skimming past a terrified man. It barely brushed him, but his skin blistered and distorted. He stumbled away, screaming and moaning.

‘Oh.’ Newt’s voice was barely a whisper. ‘They’re not zombies.’

‘Zombies,’ declared Dr Bloom. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. There is no scientific basis for such creatures. No, these are merely the survivors. Although that seems like a poor choice of words for them. Whatever the physical damage, their minds are gone. Unable to make more than the simplest of connections. Without any real thought. But that is beside the point.’ She waved her hand as if shooing them away. Newt was horrified at the way Dr Bloom dismissed the suffering of these people.

‘What happened to the … whatever it was?’ asked Rowan. ‘Is it still out there?’

‘No.’ She tapped at the screen again. ‘This footage is from the webcam at the top of the city’s clocktower.’

The darkness was sweeping over the city towards the camera. It was already smaller. As it approached, they could see the street and buildings crumpling. They could also see the darkness shrinking. Then it hit the cam and the screen filled with static.

‘See how it was diminishing in size? Eventually, there was nothing left. But the threat continues.’

With another sweep of her fingers over the screen, they were watching footage of the dais again. A man in a white coat was walk ing back and forth with some kind of monitoring device.

‘Watch very closely,’ said Dr Bloom. ‘Keep your eyes on the air about a metre above the centre.’

They watched.

There was a slight shimmer. The scientist had his back to it. A plume of darkness squeezed through the distortion. It streamed through the air towards the scientist with incredible speed, wrapping itself around his head. The man screamed, staggered and fell out of view.

Dr Bloom snatched the tablet back and pocketed it.

‘More plumes of darkness are squeezing through without the portal being activated by the oscillators,’ explained Dr Bloom. ‘The intervals are getting shorter and the plumes are getting larger. I fear we have created an instability between worlds and it is only a matter of time before –’

Dr Bloom didn’t get to finish.

The room was bathed in flashing red and an alarm blared. The kids jumped at the sudden noise.

‘And here we go again,’ snapped the doctor.

They looked towards the dais to see the air above shimmering. The darkness was squeezing through.

Is this how it’s all going to end? wondered Newt, terror taking hold of her and constricting. Am I going to die here? Now? In this horrible world? My flesh melting from my bones?