The Great Interactive Dream Machine Read Online Free PDF Page B

said,
    QUADRATIC QUOTIENT SEARCH NOW SCANNING EXPONENTIALLY
    â€œWhat’s that in English?” I asked.
    â€œMathematically, I’m halfway back to the K-T boundary,” he said. “I told you it wasn’t interactive. I told you I had the bugs out of my formula. With any luck, I’ll be able to display a computerized schematic of the prehistoric world that’ll knock the socks off of—”
    I saw it on the screens first. But they were only reflecting the room. The walls wobbled. The floor warped. We staggered. Even Aaron’s wall-sized technopolis was changing its shape, softening. Digits ran together.
    Winking lights merged. Schematics got all tangled up with each other. The whole room was coming apart around us like wet Kleenex.
    I’d made the formula misfire. Were Aaron and I going back to the Tertiary period? We were in the penthouse of a building that wouldn’t be built for millions of years. We’d fall sixteen floors to dash out our brains on the K-T boundary.
    I made a grab for him. “Aaron,” I screamed, “I have a confession to make.”
    But who heard? The walls were like screenwire now, and the wind howled in. We were turning and turning through time and space.
    I had one final thought. This is how fossils are made.

4
    One of Those Days
    I was flat on my back, and all the vertebrae in my spine seemed to be separate. I need to watch this. There’s a history of back trouble in my family. My hands felt around. I was stretched out on sand.
    I didn’t want to move. I wanted to spend history here. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Aaron’s miserable small body lying on the next sand dune. I saw his shape in the dark. I didn’t see breathing.
    Then he sat up and looked around. He saw me. “We’ve gone to the beach. Why?”
    â€œDo I know?”
    â€œWhy are you even here?” he said. “I bet you were standing too close to me. I told you to stay in the middle of the floor.”
    â€œAaron, the whole room fell apart. Maybe the whole world.”
    â€œCan you sit up?”
    I could if I took it easy. Sand was drifting into my pants.
    â€œAaron, where are we?”
    He was pulling on his chin. “Sand, sea, sky. It could be the Tertiary period. It could be later than that. Hey, it could be the future if my formula really went cuckoo.”
    It was a warm evening, too quiet except for the lapping of the waves. It wasn’t a bad place to be, exactly, if we only knew where.
    â€œI think we’re being watched,” Aaron said in a spooky whisper. “In fact, I’d put money on it.”
    â€œKnock it off,” I said. “I’m already scared.”
    But I knew it was true. My flesh crawled. We made ourselves look around. From over a high dune two glittering black eyes in a ghostly white face were looking down at us. Nothing human. It would have scared the pants off R. L. Stine.
    Aaron whimpered. Or maybe it was me.
    The lips on the face curled back. Light shone on fangs. Then the thing bounded up and started skittering down the dune on all fours. Her rhinestone collar winked. She had her imported Italian-leather leash in her mouth.
    Ophelia.
    Aaron’s head dropped into his hands. Ophelia bounded up to nip at his knees.
    â€œI don’t believe this.” Aaron spoke through his fingers. “Get down, Ophelia. Heel.”
    But was she ever glad to be out. She was dancing around, kicking sand in our faces, having a great time. Aaron reached in his pocket to see if he’d brought a Baggie. “How could my formula go this wrong?” he moaned. “How could it interactivate Ophelia?”
    â€œAaron, I have a confession to—”
    â€œYou know what happened, don’t you?” he said.
    â€œYes, Aaron, I do. When you were out of the room, I—”
    â€œWe’re here because of Ophelia’s Emotional Component,” he said. “Something went haywire in the