They regained the Commons in silence, for which she was grateful. As they approached an enormous area caged to prevent tourist access, Margo frowned. She’d noticed it before, but only peripherally. Inside the cage was an irregular-shaped hole in the concrete.
”What’s that?” she asked hesitantly, afraid she knew the answer already. Unstable gate …
Malcolm Moore glanced around. “What’s what? Oh, the unstable gate.”
”I know about those.”
”Yes. Well, the floor collapsed when this one opened under it. A coffee stand fell through.”
She edged closer for a better look and paled The sight was unnerving. Air at the bottom seemed to ripple oddly. Every few seconds, she heard the splash of water. The bones behind her ears buzzed uncomfortably. “Fell through into where?”
”We think it’s the Bermuda Triangle.” His voice was flat, completely deadpan.
”The Bermuda Triangle? Don’t jerk me around!”
”Hey,” he held out both hands; “who declared war? Honest, we think it’s the Bermuda Triangle. Katie and Jack Sherman almost drowned when the gate opened up the first time. Their coffee shop went straight to the bottom. I was on the rescue team that went through for them. Not only is it an unstable gate, the darned thing leads to a whole nexus of other gates popping open and closed. Picking the right one back to La-La Land was murder. Took us five wrong tries. We almost didn’t get back.”
”Oh.” Great. Unstable nexus gates, yet. “I know about unstable nexus gates,” Margo muttered, wondering why none of her research had turned up that little tidbit. Maybe the government didn’t want to scare people? “I’ve been on time terminals before.”