Read Online Book Two of the Travelers by D.J. MacHale - Free Book Online Page B

walls.
    â€œNow,” Aja said. “Stop.”
    They stopped. For a moment, nothing happened.
    And then, the carvings began to fracture, like reflections in a breaking mirror. A high-pitched whistle, like a terrible wind, filled Aja’s head. The fractured images grew dim as the whistle grew louder.
    And then—suddenly—there was nothing at all.
    E LEVEN
    A ja woke to find herself lying in the jump tube. Her head was aching. Her teeth were chattering. Her mind was a blur. What was happening?
    She sat up slowly. All the lights were off and a strange low pulsing tone was echoing throughout the building. As she stumbled out into the hallway, she saw a red light on the wall flashing on and off.
    Dazed-looking people were walking around in the hall.
    â€œWhat happened?” a man said.
    â€œI don’t know,” a young woman replied. “I was in the middle of a jump, and I heard this weird noise….”
    The lights blinked back on, the flashing red lights went off, and then a soothing voice broadcast: “Lifelight has experienced a brief break in service. All systems are now functioning properly again. However, all jumps will be temporarily suspended while diagnostic routines are implemented. Lifelight apologizes for the inconvenience.”
    She noticed Headmistress Nilssin standing near her booth, talking urgently on her communicator. She turned and looked curiously at Aja. “Something happened to Lifelight,” she said.
    And then it all came back to her.
    â€œI just spoke to Dal from the core control room,” Headmistress Nilssin said. “We had a stroke of amazing luck. There was a brief power failure and a total system shutdown. That’s the first time it’s happened in years. But when the system came back, the program was inactive. Dal’s been able to quarantine it and erase it from the system.”
    â€œGood,” Aja said.
    Headmistress Nilssin looked at her closely. “Aja? Aja, are you okay?”
    â€œNow that you mention it,” Aja said, “I feel a little funny.” Then her feet went out from under her and she slumped against the wall.
    T WELVE
    A ja Killian sat in Headmistress Nilssin’s office. After her last jump she had spent three days in the hospital. But she was better. And now Headmistress Nilssin was welcoming her back to the academy.
    â€œDid you find Omni?” Aja said.
    The headmistress smiled. “Omni’s fine. He was in a jump tube in a different level of the research wing.” Her smile faded. “But we can’t find Nak Adyms anywhere.”
    â€œI don’t expect you will,” Aja said. “Not anytime soon. With the skills he’s got, he’ll be able to disguise his identity anywhere he goes.”
    â€œI’m told that Nak hacked the origin code,” the headmistress said. “If Lifelight hadn’t had that temporary shutdown, you might well have died in his game. You’re very lucky.”
    â€œNo,” Aja said. “Luck didn’t have anything to do with it.”
    The headmistress frowned. “Meaning what?”
    â€œThe shutdown wasn’t accidental.”
    The headmistress looked at her curiously.
    â€œSay what you will about him, Nak didn’t cheat. There was only one way out of the game. See, the maze was designed to reprogram itself based on where you went in it. But it followed a strict algorithm. The reprogramming of the maze was a solution to a mathematical sequence. Each time it reprogrammed, that would determine where you had to go if you wanted to get to the exit gate. The thing is, the exit gate was actually a tease, a diversion. It closed automatically before you could ever actually get out.”
    The headmistress cleared her throat. “I’m not sure I see what this has to do with—”
    â€œListen,” Aja said. “Once I figured out that the route to the gate was a solution to a mathematical problem, and that the