Chapter Two – This Day of Change

Chapter Two – This Day of Change

Part Two

Neither Sam nor Tucker answered him. They all three stared at each other in the dim light of the lab, slowly realizing that the power had gone out. Danny looked around the lab. "What happened?" he asked again.

This time a step on the stair kept Tucker and Sam from answering him. They all jumped a bit, but relaxed when Maddie appeared, holding a flashlight and looking a little worried. "Are you all right, kids? I think the storm knocked the power out, and if the breaker was—" She broke off as her flashlight swept the whole of the lab. "What happened to the Portal?"

The three teens turned to look at the Portal. In the dark it was difficult to tell, but it looked as though the Portal's pair of caution-striped doors had closed.

Maddie frowned. "Did any of you see what happened?" she asked, stepping forward and walking over to one of the consoles installed next to the Portal.

Danny, Tucker, and Sam all exchanged a series of anxious glances. Sam started in, improvising wildly, "There was like a flash or something when the power went out, I think—" She glanced at Tucker desperately.

He came in and finished it: "And I think I heard the doors slam shut. It was hard to tell."

"Huh." Maddie was now crouched over a panel, hitting buttons with one hand and muttering under her breath. "Surge from the power might have overloaded the internal converter... activated the emergency procedures, then?" More muttering, buttons on the panel beeping as she pressed them. "Run a diagnostic..." A sharp curse, under her breath. "Kids, get upstairs," she said, turning back to them. "Danny, tell your father to get down here. We might have a bit of a... situation."

"A what?" Sam blinked. "Is something--?"

"It's nothing to worry about," she said reassuringly, smiling tightly. She stepped forward to usher them towards the stairs. "The power outage caused a bit of... weirdness with the Portal, and... well, better safe than sorry."

So they headed upstairs, walked through the kitchen, Danny rather sluggishly leading the way. Tucker and Sam glanced at one another and followed him closely as he entered the living room. "Hey Dad..." He started softly, but swallowed and went on a bit louder. "Uh, Mom wants you down in the lab, the storm did something to the Portal, I think..." He shrugged.

"Really? Hm. All right then." Jack frowned, and abandoned his pizza box sketches on the floor next to his armchair to head down to the lab.

The trio stood there in the living room a moment, silent. Danny yawned widely and rubbed the back of his neck. "Man. Let's go back to my room." He shook his head, trying to ward off sleepiness and not succeeding. He led the way once again, Tucker and Sam tailing him closely.

He walked heavily up the stairs, one hand on the banister just in case—and a weird tingly feeling shot up his arm. And stayed there. He couldn't feel the cold metal of the railing under his hand anymore, either. Confused, he looked, and part of the railing was—going through his hand. He jerked back. "What?"

"What?" Tucker and Sam spoke in unison, stopped behind him.

"What was that?" Sam asked.

"I dunno." Danny shook his hand around a little bit; the tingling left as soon as it had come. "Huh." He fought back another yawn, shrugged and continued upstairs.

They ran into Jazz in the hallway. "Oh, hi, Tucker, Sam," she said, waving the flashlight in her hand a little half-heartedly.

"Hey, Jazz." Tucker and Sam waved back in the same manner.

"You've got a flashlight in there, right?" she asked Danny, raising her eyebrows and nodding towards his room.

Danny nodded and yawned again. Jazz rolled her eyes and headed downstairs, muttering under her breath about power outages. Tucker and Sam went in Danny's room, and he followed them, turning to close the door as he entered.

His hand passed right through the door as he tried to push it closed. Frowning, he tried to close the door again. Same thing. A cold tingling had worked its way up his arm.

"Danny?" Sam spoke from behind him, sounding worried. "What's—are you okay?"

He shrugged, giving up on the door and turning to her. "Yeah, I guess." He yawned again. "Just… tired. And…" He looked at his hand, which felt… normal again. Huh. "Yeah." He walked over to his bed and sat down with a sigh. "There's a flashlight on the desk somewhere."

"Found it," Tucker said, holding it up and turning it on. It illuminated the room a little, enough so they could see each other. He set it upright in the floor between them, sitting down in the chair at the desk while Sam sat on the chest at the foot of the bed. "Um, dude, are you sure you're feeling all right?"

Danny rubbed his eyes with one hand, stifling a yawn without success. "I guess… yeah. Just really tired, and my… feels like my arm keeps falling asleep or something." He opened and closed one hand, and shrugged. He glanced up and saw their worried expressions. "Guys, what? You're acting like... like…" He yawned again and flopped back on the bed. "Oof."

Sam bit her lip. "Well, you didn't see…"

"Dude, you looked—when the Portal chucked you out, you looked—"

"Different."

"Mmf. How?" He remained sprawled on the bed.

"I—" Tucker broke off and stumbled over his words a moment. "It was like—all the colors were backwards, or something. You saw the suit…"

"And—never mind that whole thing with the—the rings," Sam said. "Are you—you sure you feel all right?"

"Mm. Yeah. Mostly." He shifted on the bed a little.

"Really?" A pause. "Danny."

No response.

"Danny." Sam reached over and tapped his leg.

He didn't move.

Tucker grinned a little. "I think he's asleep."

"Oh, ha ha," Sam said, glaring at him. "It's not funny."

"Why not?"

"He wasn't this tired like—five minutes ago. He was--he was fine five minutes ago, and now he's asleep?" She frowned and got up, walking closer to Danny. "Something's wrong." She reached down and grabbed his shoulder to shake him awake—

Her hand passed right through his shoulder and touched the bedspread instead. She jerked back—it was cold, really cold.

"What is it?"

Her voice shook, which surprised her. "My—my hand, it—it went right through him!" She looked back at Tucker, her eyes wide. "I'm not—what happened to him?"

Tucker stared a moment, and shrugged. "I don't know. You think the Portal—"

He was cut off by a series of polyphonic beeps rising from Sam's backpack, still strewn on the floor. Sam jumped in surprise, then scowled and walked over to dig through her bag and extract the cell phone. "Hello? …Hi, Mom." Her scowled deepened a little. "Yeah, I'm fine. … Really, I'm fine. … Yeah. Yeah, the power's out here, too. … Yes, I'll try and get home as soon as possible. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Okay. I'll see you when I get home. I will. Yes. Bye." She snapped the phone closed and let out an aggravated sigh.

"Your Mom?"

"Yeah," Sam said, sitting down on the trunk with a sigh. "You think Jazz'll give me a ride home? Mom's gonna lose it if I don't get back soon." She grinned a little, but it faded as she glanced back at Danny.

Tucker shrugged. "Dunno. My Mom probably wants me home too…" He looked over at Danny as well.

There was a slight knock on the door. They both looked up to see Jazz coming in with her flashlight. "Tucker, Sam, Mom wants you guys to call your parents, let them know you're all right."

"I just got a call from my Mom," Sam said, holding up her phone.

"And I'll get right on that," Tucker said, digging in one pocket.

"Uh, Jazz, is there any way you can give me a ride home?" Sam asked. "I think my Mom's gonna freak if I don't get home soon, and my parents would kill me if I walked home in this weather…"

Jazz shrugged, and managed to keep most of the grimace off her face. "I'll give both you guys a ride, sure." She glanced at Danny, still contentedly passed out on his bed, her expression changing slightly.

"He was tired," Sam supplied, seeing her face. "He just passed out." She shrugged.

"Oh. Did he have too much pizza?" Jazz asked a wry grin on her face. "I swear, sometimes he eats like Dad…"

"Well, they ate half a pizza between them," Sam said, glancing at Tucker, who was dialing a number on his PDA.

"Hey…"

Sam shrugged and grinned a little, though the expression quickly faded. She glanced back at Danny briefly, but he looked... normal. Maybe... a little more worn out than usual, but it might have just been the poor lighting, catching all the shadows in his face.

Tucker got hold of his mother, and after waiting for the thunder and lightning outside to slowly fade and rumble away, Jazz got her keys and Tucker and Sam reluctantly left Danny to sleep peacefully, both glancing back worriedly as they walked out of his room and down the stairs.

Danny turned over in his sleep and dozed for a while longer. When the power flicked back on, about half an hour after blowing out, he woke with an unpleased shock as the lights penetrated his eyelids. Still half asleep but aware enough to realize he was dead tired and still in his street clothes, he fell out of bed long enough to change into his pajamas. That done (the clothes abandoned on the floor), he turned out the light and fell back into bed, asleep again almost instantly.