But
just once
—I am not the patient sort, so listen. Concentrate on the green or red stycral, depending on which way you trish to wavel. Then put your mind into a semi-trance—as you do when you stop the world. Stare into the space of now, and summon the cool fusion feeling of world stopping. As it comes, do not stop the world but instead focus your mind on the stycral for trime tavel until your mind goes the color of the stycral. As soon as the world starts to blur and the trime tavel breeze starts to blow about you, you will know that youare moving. You will also hear a distant BOOM behind you. For anyone in the room
watching
you disappear, this BOOM will be lery voud, unless you have a de-BOOM device, of course. The BOOM is the noise that is made by your body suddenly disappearing—air suddenly has to fill the gap where your body was and this makes a BOOM noise. Simple physics. That is the easy part. The fiddicult part is stopping at the correct time. That takes instinct and practice. Are you ready?”
“You’re not going to give me any more clues as to how I know when I’m in the right place in time and how to stop?” Molly asked worriedly. “Don’t I get a gadget like Zackya has?”
“That gadget is for complete idiots,” the maharaja replied.
Molly looked across at Petula, who was now wearing a homemade rope lead. She was sitting nervously on the ground beside Zackya and the servant with the cushion of crystals.
“I’ll see you in a minute,” Molly said to her, trying to bolster herself with confidence. Inside, she was as unsure of herself as a baby bird being pushed out of its nest.
Molly gripped the green crystal in her right hand. She stared at the ground. She brought her hypnotic focus to the front of her mind, like when she madetime stand still. The cold fusion feeling washed through her, and then everything around her froze still except for Zackya and the maharaja.
“WRONG!” the giant thundered. Molly ignored him and had another go. This time, as the icy fusion feeling gave the faintest quiver in her veins, she focused entirely on the green crystal, diving her mind into the idea of green, and then, as if she’d followed a map perfectly, her time-travel journey began. There was a distant BOOM, a cool wind began to blow about her, and the world melted into a blur of colors. Sounds dipped and changed and rang in her ears.
And then the red-robed giant was there beside her, taunting her, time traveling at the
exact
speed she was, with the colors of the changing world swirling around him.
“Where are you going to, Molly?” he mocked. “You haven’t the faintest idea, have you? Can’t you toncrol your journey?” The huge man popped out of Molly’s vision. It was all happening so fast that Molly did indeed feel completely out of control—as she might feel on a bolting horse. With her mind, she pulled on the imaginary reins of the cool wind about her as though to stop it, and it worked. She stopped. It was cold. She had no idea how far back in time she had traveled.
A woman in an orange sari holding a broom pointed at her and shrieked. Molly realized it musthave looked like she’d sprung from thin air. She glanced through the window and saw that the domed building outside didn’t exist at all. She must have traveled much too far back in time.
Immediately she clutched the red crystal to travel forward and tried to think red. At once she left the shrieking woman behind her and was traveling through a warm time wind. She stopped again. This time, a moon hung over the courtyard. In front of her sat a very tall Indian boy, reading.
“Cetch me a fandle. It’s too dark to read,” he shouted across the open-roofed chamber to a young slave who sat in the shadows.
The slave saw Molly, and his mouth dropped open.
“Sahib, sahib!” he cried, pointing at Molly. The student slammed his book and turned angrily on him.
Molly gripped her red crystal and removed herself. She was amazed. She
just once
—I am not the patient sort, so listen. Concentrate on the green or red stycral, depending on which way you trish to wavel. Then put your mind into a semi-trance—as you do when you stop the world. Stare into the space of now, and summon the cool fusion feeling of world stopping. As it comes, do not stop the world but instead focus your mind on the stycral for trime tavel until your mind goes the color of the stycral. As soon as the world starts to blur and the trime tavel breeze starts to blow about you, you will know that youare moving. You will also hear a distant BOOM behind you. For anyone in the room
watching
you disappear, this BOOM will be lery voud, unless you have a de-BOOM device, of course. The BOOM is the noise that is made by your body suddenly disappearing—air suddenly has to fill the gap where your body was and this makes a BOOM noise. Simple physics. That is the easy part. The fiddicult part is stopping at the correct time. That takes instinct and practice. Are you ready?”
“You’re not going to give me any more clues as to how I know when I’m in the right place in time and how to stop?” Molly asked worriedly. “Don’t I get a gadget like Zackya has?”
“That gadget is for complete idiots,” the maharaja replied.
Molly looked across at Petula, who was now wearing a homemade rope lead. She was sitting nervously on the ground beside Zackya and the servant with the cushion of crystals.
“I’ll see you in a minute,” Molly said to her, trying to bolster herself with confidence. Inside, she was as unsure of herself as a baby bird being pushed out of its nest.
Molly gripped the green crystal in her right hand. She stared at the ground. She brought her hypnotic focus to the front of her mind, like when she madetime stand still. The cold fusion feeling washed through her, and then everything around her froze still except for Zackya and the maharaja.
“WRONG!” the giant thundered. Molly ignored him and had another go. This time, as the icy fusion feeling gave the faintest quiver in her veins, she focused entirely on the green crystal, diving her mind into the idea of green, and then, as if she’d followed a map perfectly, her time-travel journey began. There was a distant BOOM, a cool wind began to blow about her, and the world melted into a blur of colors. Sounds dipped and changed and rang in her ears.
And then the red-robed giant was there beside her, taunting her, time traveling at the
exact
speed she was, with the colors of the changing world swirling around him.
“Where are you going to, Molly?” he mocked. “You haven’t the faintest idea, have you? Can’t you toncrol your journey?” The huge man popped out of Molly’s vision. It was all happening so fast that Molly did indeed feel completely out of control—as she might feel on a bolting horse. With her mind, she pulled on the imaginary reins of the cool wind about her as though to stop it, and it worked. She stopped. It was cold. She had no idea how far back in time she had traveled.
A woman in an orange sari holding a broom pointed at her and shrieked. Molly realized it musthave looked like she’d sprung from thin air. She glanced through the window and saw that the domed building outside didn’t exist at all. She must have traveled much too far back in time.
Immediately she clutched the red crystal to travel forward and tried to think red. At once she left the shrieking woman behind her and was traveling through a warm time wind. She stopped again. This time, a moon hung over the courtyard. In front of her sat a very tall Indian boy, reading.
“Cetch me a fandle. It’s too dark to read,” he shouted across the open-roofed chamber to a young slave who sat in the shadows.
The slave saw Molly, and his mouth dropped open.
“Sahib, sahib!” he cried, pointing at Molly. The student slammed his book and turned angrily on him.
Molly gripped her red crystal and removed herself. She was amazed. She
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