Doorways to Everywhere (Tourist Trap Book 2)

Chapter 33

Maurice led them back to the entrance of Lothar's secret lair. Dr. Octavius had found several pairs of earplugs that were left over from one of his old experiments that involved attempting to amplify the volume of a whisper to that of a jet engine. There were enough pairs for Sarah to come along as well so she followed Maurice and Dr. Octavius through the invisible entrance. Max had stayed behind ostensibly to guard Vance, although he was really looking forward to torturing him some more.

Once inside they saw a tall blue man with a football-shaped head dancing the jitterbug in the corner. Maurice walked up behind him with an extra pair of earplugs and shoved them into his ears.

"Oh thank heavens," Lothar panted as he abruptly stopped dancing. "I thought I was about to have a heart attack." He immediately smashed the sandwich to bits with his fist. He ventured to take out one of his earplugs and upon realizing that the music had stopped he motioned everyone else to do the same.

"Everybody, this is Lothar," Maurice said. "Lothar, this is Dr. Octavius and Sarah."

"Why have you brought these strangers to my lair?" Lothar asked. "Either of them could be an assassin working for the Warlord."

"Actually, that's what we came to talk to you about," Maurice said.

"Assassinating me?" Lothar asked.

"No. The Warlord. We want to know what that's all about."

"We've managed to capture one of his underlings and also destroy one of his machines," Dr. Octavius explained.

"I see," Lothar rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So you're sure you're not working for the Warlord? This isn't some sort of trap to lull me into comfort and then stick a shiv into me?"

"Goodness, no," Dr. Octavius said. "We just want to get some information about him. Find out who he is and what he's up to. And possibly stop him if we don't like what he's doing, which I highly suspect we won't."

"I can't tell you who he is, because I've never seen him in person. I don't know where he came from, but I'm pretty sure he's not from around these parts. I also don't know what he's up to, but I know it isn't anything good based on his methodology. I can tell you how I came to be involved with him."

"Go on," Dr. Octavius nodded.

"Well, you see I'm a bit of a mad scientist," Lothar said.

"Respect," Dr. Octavius said and flashed the secret mad scientist hand signal.

"So you're one of the brethren, eh?" Lothar arched his eyebrow. "We'll have to swap stories sometime. Anyway I had been doing some experiments involving portals. Nothing too major. Really I just wanted to find a faster way from my living room to my kitchen so I could get snacks without having to walk the extra few feet. Somehow the warlord learned of my work and he sent some of his agents to approach me. It seemed he was in possession of some doors that allowed him to travel between universes, but he wanted to improve upon their design."

"How so?" Dr. Octavius asked.

"That was never explained to me. I was naturally fascinated by these doors that his agents spoke of, so I agreed to go with them. I figured if nothing else they may offer a solution to my own experiments. I was blindfolded and taken away. They shoved me into some sort of moving machine and I was carted off to an undisclosed location. When they removed the blindfold I found myself in a small cramped work area with several other scientifically inclined people. There were guards posted all around the room who informed us we were to make alterations to the doors or we would be severely whipped. The big ones looked like they meant business. There were smaller ones, too. They were more of a nuisance than anything. They would pelt us with pudding sometimes just for fun. They looked kind of like chihuahuas."

"I think we've encountered some of them," Sarah said.

"Well, I learned to my regret that they weren't chihuahuas. They're actually demons from another dimension. Minor demons, but demons nonetheless. They weren't the ones to worry about though. The bigger ones looked like muscular devils and they could wield those whips expertly. It only took a few lashes before we all agreed we would do whatever they asked. As I said we were given no specific directions, just told to make the doors do different things."

"Why didn't you try to escape through one of the doors?" Sarah asked. "Since they lead to other universes."

"One of the other scientists did try that early on," Lothar said. "He slipped through one of the doors, but a guard followed after him immediately and dragged him back. They made such a thorough example of him that none of us dared try escaping that way again. He had no skin left by the time they were through with him. We were sometimes allowed to go through the doors to see where they led, but nobody ever sought escape that way."

"These definitely sound like bad people," Maurice said.

"At any rate we worked on these doors for many months. We ended up with a huge variety of results. Some of the doors could be altered into different shapes or sizes. Some of the doors could be programmed to go to specific locations, whereas some of them would lead to different random locations every time. Some doors led to the same location no matter where you opened the door from, while some of them led to different locations depending on where you were when you opened it. Some doors could create tiny pocket universes that were no bigger than a room. Some doors could be made invisible or made to require a password to operate. One of my colleagues was lost when she created a door that led to itself. Once she passed through it she got caught in an infinite loop as entering that door caused her to enter it again, which caused her to enter it again, which caused her to enter it again endlessly."

"Fascinating," Dr. Octavius said. "I must have somehow come into possession of one of these doors myself, which is how I crossed over into Quartzwater City in the first place."

"How did you manage to escape?" Sarah asked.

"My opportunity came about a year ago," Lothar said. "It seems that during their time here many of the demons became fans of the local sport known as Gravity Ball. The championship game was being played in Quartzwater City. The guards all wanted to attend it. They knew the Warlord would have their hides if they left us completely unguarded, so they drew straws and one of the little chihuahuas stayed behind. I knew that this might be my only chance at escape so I waited until he passed near the infinite loop door and I pushed him through it. I shouted at my fellow prisoners that it was now or never. Some of them opted to finally escape through the doors into some other universe. I decided I didn't want to be too far from home so I ran out the regular exit.

I emerged from a trapdoor and discovered I was in some sort of warehouse in the southwestern district of town. I didn't encounter any other guards as they must have all been at the big game. So I ran for it. I stopped by my house to grab some essentials, but I knew I couldn't stay there. The Warlord would certainly track me down and have me brutally tortured, if not killed. Making use of the knowledge I had learned during my captivity I created an invisible, password protected, location-specific doorway that led to a pocket universe and set up camp. I've been hiding from the Warlord here ever since, until Maurice here somehow stumbled upon my lair."

"Do you remember where this warehouse was located?" Dr. Octavius asked.

"Yes, I could lead you there," Lothar said. "I have no wish to return though as I would likely be skinned alive on sight."

"We've assembled a makeshift army to take down a bad guy before," Dr. Octavius said. "We can do it again. I'll just need to get in touch with a few friends."