“Okay, wait for my call.”

Aaron went to the back of the house and opened a window. It wasn’t long before the dog made its presence known. It started jumping up, trying to get Aaron. Aaron put his arms out with the net. The dog stopped jumping, tilted its head and looked up at Aaron.

Aaron threw the net over the dog. It barked and then started squirming around trying to get the net off its back.

Aaron yelled, “Go Kenz.”

The front door shut with a loud bang. He saw the dog’s ears prick up. It tried to run but was tangled. Aaron sprinted to the front door, opened it and saw Mackenzie safe behind the gate. Aaron opened the flyscreen door, but paused when he heard barking and saw the dog coming around the side of the house, almost free of the net—it was trailing behind. The dog ran to the gate and jumped up at Mackenzie—the net now completely off. Mackenzie stood back. The dog turned and started coming toward Aaron. Aaron closed the flyscreen door. “Get help, Kenz. . . try and contact the police. Don’t worry about me I’ll be fine.”

Aaron watched Mackenzie run off. He thought of getting a towel or something and wrapping that around his arm. It was a mean-looking dog. Aaron looked down the road in the opposite direction to which Mackenzie was heading. A dust cloud was moving along the road. Was that Lucas coming home?

<°)))><

The dog was at the front gate barking, its tail wagging.

From behind a front bedroom window Aaron watched through lace curtains as Lucas got out of the vehicle. He paused at the gate. Aaron saw him looking at the net on the front lawn. He walked back to the vehicle and came back with what looked like a rifle.

Lucas told the dog to be quiet and threw a bone that he must have purchased on his shopping trip. He walked up to the front door and opened it.

Aaron made his way to the kitchen and heard light footsteps as Lucas came down the passageway.

“Mackenzie . . . are you there?” He asked.

Aaron was not afraid. His soldier spirit had kicked in. He wanted answers. “No, she’s not, Lucas. Come down and join me: it’s about time we caught up with each other again.”

Aaron watched as Lucas walked into the kitchen. “I hope you don’t plan to use that weapon.”

“Well, it all depends what you have done with my girl, Mackenzie?”

“She’s just gone for a walk.”

“How did you get here?”

“I got a device courtesy of the Minister.”

“How did you do that?”

“It was left at the cryonics place.”

“Spooky place, hey?”

“Didn’t spend much time there, Lucas. How many of those devices are there?”

“Is it really any of your business?” Lucas positioned himself so he could see down the passageway. “But I will tell you anyway. Three all together. They all act as switching devices, you know. You can jump from one to the other as long as they’re turned on. Now your device is still turned on, so I can jump to wherever that is. But you couldn’t follow as I would turn it off. And I’m thinking that’s what I might do.”

Aaron watched as Lucas walked over to a kitchen cabinet, rifle still pointing at him. He opened a drawer, pulled out a plastic bag then threw some black cable ties at Aaron and told him to join a few of those cable ties together and tie up his legs. Aaron weighed up in his mind whether he should try and disarm Lucas or not. Still too much of a risk factor involved, so he decided to follow orders. For now.

“You know, my dad died as a result of your technology.”

“I had nothing to with that. I was a pawn used by some crazy ambitious men. The minister suggested your dad. He told me where he would be and what he would be wearing, a Beatles t-shirt. How could I forget that? He had something against your dad. I don’t think he expected your dad to die; I think he just wanted to scare him, something like that. I was that stoned when I did it, it took me ages to remember. ”

Minister guy? Something against Dad?

Lucas continued. “And about the fire—Starkey gave me a package, told me to leave it in the office those young men worked in. I can’t prove it, but I believe it was some kind of explosive.”

Lucas was shaking his head every now and then, like he was trying to get something out of his head. He nudged Aaron with the rifle to encourage him to hurry up and complete the task with the cable ties. They both jumped when a large clap of thunder shook the room. Lucas went over and looked out the kitchen window. It was getting noticeably darker. He came back and pointed the gun in Aaron’s face.

“Get a move on. Do the same with your hands. Use your mouth to tighten the ties.” Lucas tested the ties to make sure they were tight. He looked at Aaron. “What have you done with Mackenzie? You’ve hurt her, haven’t you?”

Lucas was having a severe mood swing. The whole atmosphere changed, like some presence had entered the room, some darkness. Lucas’s mood was getting darker. He rubbed his head and moved his hand down over his face. Was he fighting something in his head?

“You know, I hear voices in my head. And they’re getting loud and angry. They’re telling me I should kill you. But I ask, why? And they say that you’re going to stop me from getting to Mackenzie.”

Aaron thought of something the Rev told him. “Lucas, do you know that Mackenzie is covered in the blood of Jesus?”

Lucas’s face changed briefly, “What does that mean?”

“It means you can’t get near her.”

Now, that brought a nasty response from Lucas. He hit Aaron across the face and was about to do it again when he heard the dog barking.

<°)))><

Lucas ran to a front room and peered out the window. A police car.

He rushed to the bedroom and stood in the doorway. The device sat on the floor, lights flickering. He looked to the window and saw the darkness converging on the room. Another loud clap of thunder. It was risky using the device with the stormy conditions outside. He always believed the problems that occurred with the transfers were due to climatic conditions. The weather when that man’s dad died was similar to today, but the voices were telling him it would be fine.

He doubted Tag would have his device powered on. He should be on a train now. What about Tag? Did he have time to call him and warn him? Not now. He’d call after the transfer.

The voices told him to do it now. He heard scraping noises coming from the kitchen. That man was probably dragging himself to get something to cut the ties. 

Lucas walked over to the device, entered the password, and pushed the transfer button.

<°)))><

The sound of thunder travels great distances. A severe electrical storm was bearing down on Brisbane. Power outages hit a number of properties.

The receiving device sat in Aaron’s study, plugged into a power outlet, its lights blinking. A loud clap of thunder, and lights flickered. The lights fought to stay on but their source of power was severed; the lights dimmed, cycling down, power was gone but the device’s backup battery took over.

The device displayed a message.

‘Connection to other devices lost. To attempt manual reconnect, press F5.’

<°)))><

Where was he?

He stood there staring at the police car. Mackenzie was standing beside two police officers. He wondered who the other people were. They looked like beings from a science fiction movie. There was also a group of creepy-looking things, but they were standing back with some hovering around the dog. One police officer sprayed something at the dog.