Chapter Fifteen
The Wayback Machine
The longer they walked, the more the emptiness of the passageways began to strike Gene as odd. He'd noticed it before, but he had reasoned there would be more characters. Instead, apart from the iron wolves, Trogdor and the two boys in winter gear had been the only ones.
The place isn't a wasteland. An entire band of all sorts of characters invaded us from here, and I highly doubt they were the majority of the population. So where is everyone?
He hopped forward quickly, arriving beside Gale. "Hey," he said. "If I can ask you something…"
Gale made a beckoning gesture with his fingers. "Uh-huh? What've you got?"
"I wanted to ask you…why does the internet seem so empty?"
"It's not," said Gale. "We've got tons of characters on the net."
"Where are they, then?" Gene continued. "Not counting you and the iron wolves, I've only seen three."
"That's because I've not been leading you down the paths that most of them tend to frequent," Gale replied. "If I'm to lead you guys safely, its best that we keep away from crowds."
"Wouldn't it make more sense to mingle with the crowds, so the wolves won't spot us so quickly?"
"You don't know these beasts," said Gale. "They'd find us. And they wouldn't let anyone or anything stand in their way."
"But if the worst came to the worst, you could rely on your friends, right?"
"I can count my friends on one hand," said Gale. "And I'm not so sure any of them are any more than acquaintances, really."
"Oh," said Gene. "I'm sorry if I touched on a sore spot."
"Don't be," said Gale. "It's my own fault. I can be pretty arrogant."
"If you don't mind my saying so," Gene replied, "you don't seem arrogant. A bit too energetic for your own good perhaps, but not arrogant."
Gale laughed bitterly. "You haven't known me for much longer than a day. No, I've done plenty of things I regret."
"But don't people know that you regret them?"
"Let's not go there right now," said Gale.
"My apologies," said Gene.
"That's alright," said Gale. He pointed towards a door several yards ahead. "Our destination."
Gene looked above the doorway, where the title Internet Archive could be seen.
"Interesting," said Calhoun. "A library?"
"Of sorts," said Gale. "There may be others inside, but if I've timed things right, they should be few in number." He threw open the door and they all stepped inside.
The room was empty.
"No visitors?" said Gale. "That's strange. They probably all went to the rest of the website." He gestured at the various doors that were set in the walls.
Gene allowed his gaze to drift about the room, taking in the simple white and olive walls, as well as the lines of text. He scanned the titles above the doors, until he came to one near the center of the far wall. The sign above it read:
Wayback Machine
"That'll be the one we want," said Gale, noticing Gene's silent observation. "We'll be going through the portal on the inside. Once we get on the other side, we'll just need to find the website Felix has gone to." He strode towards the door and opened it swiftly.
Gene was the first to enter. He stopped short, his jaw dropping. The portal was immense, far bigger than the one they had passed through to reach the internet. Its circular frame was filled with a similar shimmering substance, this time of a deep shade of red. The portal took up almost the whole of the back wall of the room.
Behind him, Gene heard the others entering. Vanellope, who was now walking on her own once more, came to a stop beside him. Her eyes widened in amazement. "More electric jello?"
"I guess so," Gene heard Ralph say.
"Cool," said Vanellope. "The last one was fun to go through."
"Be on the alert," said Calhoun. "We don't know what's on the other side."
"I'm with the sarge," said Gale. "I'll go first, check if the coast is clear."
"I've got the scanner," said Calhoun. "Maybe I should."
"That's true," Gale replied. "Be as quick as you can".
Calhoun nodded. "If I'm not back in ten minutes, don't wait for my return to come through." She pulled the scanner from her belt and passed through the portal.
Five minutes later, she was back. "No iron wolves," she said. "I'm picking up signals through the various doors, but nothing in the passage."
"Any sign of Felix's whereabouts?" Gene asked.
"Negatory," Calhoun replied. "Not even a boot print. Of course, I haven't seen any of those in a while. I think the dirt wore off his shoes some time ago."
"Keep a weather eye out," said Gale. "Maybe you'll find more writing. I mean, you said it was classic mind-control, right?"
"So we deduced," said Calhoun. "Anyway, we'd better get going. And yes Vanellope, it is more electric jello."
The passage on the other side of the portal consisted of bare yellow walls, with doors dotting the walls seemingly at random.
"This first stretch is from the 1990s," said Gale. "They were still figuring out how to polish websites back then."
There was little conversation, however. His one remark notwithstanding, Gale urged as much quiet as possible. And so they proceeded, for the most part, in silence, until Calhoun stopped abruptly beside one of the doors.
"What is it?" Ralph asked her.
"Hold," she said," raising a hand to cut him off. "Let me listen."
From behind the door, Gene heard a faint boing. "That's Felix's hop," said Gene. "I'd know that sound anywhere."
"So would I," said Ralph.
"And I," said Calhoun.
"Pickles?" said Gale, reading the sign above the door. "What's he doing in there?"
"I don't know," said Calhoun, "but we're about to find out."
She turned to Gene, Ralph, and Vanellope. "He probably won't…won't be…himself," she said, a hint of trepidation in her voice. "If you'll let me approach him first please, I'll see if I can talk some sense into him."
"Sounds sensible to me," said Gale. "You know him and I don't."
"Just open the door already," said Vanellope. "We've got to help him."
Calhoun placed her hand on the door and gently pushed it open.