Ivy and the Fluorescent Lightbulb

Chapter 9 - A Time Portal

Syndria and Carbon slowly approached Uncle Taner. "Well, you see, Uncle Taner," Syndria started with a nervous laugh. "We kinda just...tapped around until we stumbled into the back systems."

Carbon nodded. "That's right," he agreed, "we only got into it by chance."

"Alright," Uncle Taner sighed. "Then do it again."

"But..." Syndria slowly stopped, seeming to shrink under Uncle Taner's stare. "Okay," she said, nodding to Carbon.

The two tapped at the holographic screen, typing strings of code and opening all sorts of menus. Ivy shifted and glanced at the others. Oak was still subdued, his attention flitting from Syndria and Carbon to the room's surroundings. Augaley was focused on the two, quietly watching as they continued working on the screen. Kronalia wandered around Uncle Taner's lab, peering closer at the machinery in the room. "This is not a museum or exhibit," Uncle Taner said, looking at Kronalia. "Please step away from the equipment."

"At least give us somewhere to sit!" Kronalia protested, rejoining the rest with a pout.

"If what you all told me was correct," he replied, "This should only take a few minutes."

"It is not working," Carbon said with a frustrated sigh. "This is exactly what happened this morning—we had opened the portal, Ivy came through, we tried to repeat the steps, and we couldn't find the time portal protocol again!"

"Let me check something," Uncle Taner said, opening a separate holographic screen to the side of him. He quickly typed a string of words onto the screen. "You used your account to access the portal, Carbon, right?"

"Yes?"

"I'm not seeing it in your account history..." Uncle Taner said with a frown.

"How did you get into my account?" Carbon exclaimed.

"I told you, he's a hacker," Oak said.

"Technology specialist, Oak," Uncle Taner retorted through gritted teeth. The room fell into silence again. "What time did you access the portal?" he finally said.

"Sometime this morning," Carbon said.

"Hm, it's only showing that you accessed your account during the mandated block time. Either someone is already onto Ivy's existence and is keeping her arrival under wraps..."

"Or?" Ivy said nervously.

"...Or someone is trying to help you out." Uncle Taner met Ivy's gaze. "But it's more likely that someone is already on your trail."

"What if it were the cybervists? You said they could've known I was an anomaly."

"...Maybe," Uncle Taner said, "but I doubt that. Whoever knows about your existence is also blocking Carbon from accessing the protocol again. Cybervists would have no interest in something like his account. If anything, they'd want to harness its power."

"Oh. Then can you access the protocol-thingie instead?" Ivy asked.

"Probably," he said with a shrug. "But if someone went as far as blocking Carbon's account, I'm sure they've made it much harder to get into. I'll try something, but it'll take time." Uncle Taner looked at their disappointed faces. "Don't worry, guys, it'll be done tonight. Pretty late tonight, but tonight nonetheless."

"Are we supposed to stand this entire time?" Kronalia protested. "There are no chairs!"

"Take a seat on the ground or something," he said with a wave of his hands. "I don't care, as long as you don't disturb me while I work."

The group disbanded and wandered around the room, searching for spots to sit. Oh, there's a nice spot! Ivy thought, silently pointing to a nook. The others noticed and nodded, joining her in the corner. "Is Uncle Taner always this...grouchy?" Ivy softly said, glancing at his hunched figure as he swiped furiously on the screen.