Way Over the Line Chapter Seven

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Chapter 7

Jessie's door slide open, and he sat up in bed. How long had he been asleep? It took him a few seconds to remember where he was, and another few to realize it had all really happened. That thought was further brought home when Coach stepped into his room.

"Good morning, Jessie. It's breakfast time."

"Is it really morning?"

"Out here there is no morning, day, or night, but if you were home right now, it would be."

"What's going to happen back home? Ryder's mom will probably find out we're not there soon, if she hasn't already. It won't be long before she calls my mom and dad."

"None of that will happen."

Jessie frowned. "How do you know?"

"We'll get you back home just after you left. No one will know anything happened but you and Ryder."

"But you just said it was morning. How can we get there if it's already in the past?"

"The wormhole we're travelling through does many strange things to the fabrics of time. We've can manipulate how it flows while we're in there, so we'll set everything to get you back at the correct moment."

"Will we see ourselves when we come back?"

Coach shook his head. "When we left your planet, we were invisible, and we will be when we return, too. Neither our leaving nor returning selves will know the other is there."

"But if we can't see each other, we might crash."

Coach laughed. It sounded like some sort of sound effect that might be in a science fiction movie. Was that his real laugh, or something the Universal Language thingamajiggy did to it? "You forget that we know where we were when we left. All we have to do is avoid that area. We have an exceptional pilot."

"Oh." Yeah, that made sense. Hunger crept up on him and he pushed the covers down. What did aliens serve for breakfast?

Coach turned to leave. "Get dressed and meet us in the eating center. A blue line on the floor will guide you."

"What about Ryder?"

"I've already given him the same instructions. I'm sure he'll be there shortly, if he's not already. Just tell your door to open when you're ready." He pointed back to the hallway. "You can already see the blue line." With that, Coach left and the door closed behind him.