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ALEXA FELT AS IF HER body was being compressed and sucked through a straw. Her bones creaked. Her inner organs strained. Oh no, was she going to pee her pants? She exhaled and couldn’t open her lungs to take in another breath.
“It’s best to keep your eyes closed the first time you move through a temporal rift.” The Inspector fastened its hand around her arm like a steel clamp, drawing Alexa’s body through the elongated, compressed space. “You may find breathing difficult for a moment but do not worry. Your body is simply adapting to the shift in atmospheric pressure and interdimensional relocation.”
The feeling of being squished intensified, as if Alexa’s insides might start leaking out every orifice. What was the Inspector doing to her? She dared open her eyes only to see thousands of pulsing and flashing lights.
“Eyes closed,” the Inspector repeated in its perpetually calm voice.
How could the creature stay so calm when their bodies stretched like taffy? Alexa’s lungs screamed for air. Her ears roared as if the fists of the universe pounded them. She parted her lips to cry out, emitting a pathetic little whistle.
“Nearly there, Alexa Baxter. Maintain serenity.”
As quickly as the pain grew intolerable, the pressure lessened, and her body reconfigured itself into its original state, from Jell-O back into muscle and bone. She gulped a breath of dry, sterile air and immediately started coughing. Movement flickered beyond her closed eyelids.
“You will take some adjusting to our atmosphere.” The Inspector continued to lead her forward on an unseen path. “One step at a time. We have nearly reached the antechamber. Use caution when opening your eyes. Your Blinders will require a moment to reconfigure to this location.”
Alexa could hear something whooshing open and the soft patter of footsteps around her. The air and space shifted. Sounds and voices grew distant and echoing, which told her they had walked from a small room to a much larger area.
“We have arrived,” the Inspector said. “Congratulations, Alexa Baxter, you performed your first interdimensional travel. And you have not lost consciousness or evacuated your bowels. Excellent.”
“I’m not sure about the latter.” Alexa gulped. The vodka in her stomach threatened to come back up. She pressed a fist to her mouth.
“Do you require a receptacle for the contents of your stomach?”
“Not sure.” Alexa sucked down another dry breath. She coughed then let out a phlegmy belch. “Whew. That’s better. Nope. I think I’m good.”
“We can put you on a ventilator if you cannot tolerate the discomfort. You are welcome to open your eyes again. We are at the threshold of the Primary Inspection Unit.”
Alexa did as told and found the two of them standing in the lobby of what looked eerily similar to the Guggenheim.
“How is this possible?” she croaked.
When Alexa was twelve, her family took their first trip to New York City. She had begged them to take her to the famous art museum. The white cylindrical building Frank Lloyd Wright designed soared above her in perfect concentric circles. The structure’s ceiling ended in an enormous skylight. A perfect reproduction, if her memory served correctly.
Around her, dozens of people who looked like the Inspector walked past but with subtle differences between their facial features, weight, and height. Much like the original Inspector, they wore their pale hair short and were dressed in simple long-sleeved tunics and loose-fitting pants a shade darker than their skin.
“I don’t—how—where are we?” She gasped, shielding her eyes from the glass ceiling’s sharp light.
“We understand your confusion.” The Inspector blinked colorless eyes. Standing in a bright room, it appeared much more alien than before. Its pale skin had a faint blue tinge, and its pale, short hair had the acrylic quality of a Barbie doll.
“Your Blinder has converted what you see into a familiar environment.” The Inspector’s fixed smile remained in place. “What you perceive is an illusion. We have found that species such as yourself cannot process the truth of the multiverse, so we give you comfortable artifice.”
“Oh, wow.” The strange world tipped for a moment. Alexa rocked on her feet.
“Use caution.” Her inspector wreathed a strong arm around her shoulders. “We can take a moment for you to compose yourself. The air here is more oxygen-rich than on Earth. You may experience euphoria.”
The Inspector was right. Between her coughs, Alexa had the faint sensation of floating, like her feet didn’t quite meet the ground. She desperately needed a glass of water. Did they drink water on other planets?
Standing in the middle of the building’s lobby, the Inspector beckoned a group of what Alexa guessed were other Inspectors. The group studied Alexa, fascinated. One of them stepped away from the cluster and approached Alexa as she gasped for air.
“Is this what we think it is?” The Inspector’s near-double leaned in, both delighted and perhaps disturbed by what it saw in Alexa.
“Affirmative.” Alexa’s Inspector nodded.
“And we did not feel the need to restrain it? Or render it unconscious?” The new Inspector sniffed and stepped back. “Such an unexpected aroma. And how small it is. How could such a fragile thing survive an encounter with a Bright One? We are perplexed.”
“Alexa Baxter has been compliant and calm thus far. As you can see, restraints are unnecessary,” Alexa’s Inspector said. “And we are right. This Earth creature survived both a Bright One and a Brume.”
“Perplexing.” The twin cocked its head to take in Alexa from another angle.
“Indeed. Especially for such a simple base organism.” Alexa’s inspector also tilted its head.
“We look forward to your report.” The twin inclined its head toward Alexa’s Inspector and rejoined its group, who were whispering between themselves while they gaped in her direction. Nearly everyone on the building’s lower floor had stopped to stare at her. She felt like an exotic animal in a zoo.
“You must not see many Earthlings around here.”
“What you call Earth is designated a Class 609 planet. Under the MGA's banner, we avoid Earth at all costs, as you are not a member of our multi-galactic alliance. Your primitive species does not have the intellectual capacity to accept the joined resources and knowledge of the multiverse under the MGA’s banner.”
“How can I understand what everyone is saying?” Alexa’s lungs no longer burned, but her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Her head buzzed as she inhaled breath after breath of sterile air.
“You can understand our language due to the Blinder at your ears and temples. If I removed them, your brain would be unable to comprehend anything you see or hear.”
“Whoa.” Alexa was at a loss for words. The weight of her past day crashed around her. She staggered into the iron arms of her Inspector.
“I see you are overcome with exhaustion.” The Inspector held her firmly but gently. “We expected as much. Multidimensional travel affects us all in different ways.”
“I’m just—I can’t—”
“We will take you to a place to rest.” The Inspector easily lifted Alexa from the floor. Hundreds of voices tittered across the lobby, bouncing off the hard edges of the museum. Did they voice concern or disgust? “You must be fully conscious during your examination, or the results will be inconclusive.”
“No, I need to get home,” Alexa garbled as she faded into a half-sleep. “No one knows where I’ve gone. Sid. Mateo. They’ll worry—”
“Leave your Earth-bound conception of existence behind.” The Inspector carried Alexa across the lobby, heading up the Guggenheim’s gentle ramp toward the heavens. “It is a construct and, like most, can be manipulated. When you wake again, we will see if we can reconfigure your mind like the other two Earth children. If all goes well, you will forget visiting the Inspection Unit.”
That was what she wanted all along, wasn’t it? To forget Una, the Brume, everything she didn’t want to know? Yes, back to being an ordinary girl. No more broken glasses and mirrors. Just a normal eighteen-year-old human brain.
Alexa let go then and tumbled into a restful, empty sleep.