Game Over

Chapter 56





THE WEIRDEST THING about teleporting is how instantaneous it is. There are no flickering lights or humming sounds like on Star Trek. One eyeblink, you’re looking at one thing, and the next, you’re looking at something else. It’s even faster than changing TV channels and definitely faster than waiting for a website to load. It’s just slam bam, okay, here I am.

“The dojo!” exclaimed Dana as we looked around the abandoned Keihin martial arts studio where we’d sparred with our friends the Murkamis.

“Yeah,” I said, “I thought it fitting to go back to the first of the many places I’ve had my butt kicked in Tokyo. Nostalgia thing, you know.”

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself, and start figuring out how those aliens knew to find you, or we’ll never get a moment’s rest.”

I looked out the dojo window and saw the orange lights of the Tokyo Tower looming over the city skyline. An image of the schematics Number 7 had been looking at flashed in my head.

“I’m honestly not sure how they always seem to know where I am,” I said. “But I’m pretty sure I know how they’re letting the hunters know about it.”

“How?”

“Let’s go do some sightseeing,” I answered instead, nodding at the Tower’s blinking lights.

“Are you okay to go out? You still look terrible, Daniel.”

“You were the one just saying that we can’t sit still. They’ll come after us again unless we do something about it.”

Dana frowned. “Hey! What’s happening to your leg?”

I looked down at the more battered of my legs—the one that felt like it had been broken in three places—and saw that it was changing shape.

And I don’t mean that it was just swelling up a little. I’m talking morphing out.

My leg was literally sprouting rainbow-colored fur and flexing and stretching and shrinking and then becoming invisible. And before I had a chance to freak out about that, it started rematerializing (without the rainbow fur) and stretching and shrinking and then popping back into its usual shape.

At the same time, a feeling of cool relief washed over me. The leg was no longer giving me any pain. It actually felt darn good.

“Daniel, what the heck was that?”

For a moment I was unsure myself. I hadn’t consciously healed myself. Then a bubbly giggle echoed in my head.

“I think I must have picked up a little something from the Pleionid,” I said to Dana.

“It taught you how to heal yourself? Why didn’t you do it earlier?”

“Because I didn’t do it. It kind of did it by itself.”

“Weird. But your leg’s better?”

“Right as rain,” I said.

“Prove it,” she said.

“Sure!” I grinned, nodding at the Tower. “Wanna race?”

The leg was better. I even set a new personal best. Four hundred thirty-eight miles per hour! My sneakers were a little worse for wear, but that’s okay. Unlike colonial alien supervillains, I understand sneakers. So I made myself a fresh pair.