All three travellers appeared in Zoe's bedroom several inches above the floor. Thanks to Jon's warning though they were prepared. They managed to land without falling or hurting themselves. "My floor is lower. Weird." Zoe said.
Jon and Karyn started to pick up their belongings including the backpack with the money and interdimensional phone inside. Jon took his bundle of clothes and started shoving them in his backpack. Karyn handed Zoe several hundred dollar bills. "This is for the money you spent in the mall."
"This is too much." Zoe said as she pushed Karyn's hand away.
"Please take it. We've pissed off enough people during our travels, I want to give a more positive impression." Zoe took the bills reluctantly.
"How much has time since we left?" She asked Jon.
"None at all, we just left to go to the mall about a minute ago."
"So Sarah's house is still collapsing?" He nodded.
"I imagine most of it will end up in the wormhole even with the upper mass limit." He explained.
"Isn't that kind of dangerous for anyone in the area?" She asked. Jon shrugged. Zoe pulled out her phone. "We need to phone the cops or something. We don't want anyone else get hurt." She phoned the emergency services to tell them the building was collapsing without leaving her name. "Hopefully they'll believe me."
After successfully evading Zoe's mother they decided to make their way on foot to Sarah's house. The morning sun shone through the tops of the trees as they walked at a fast pace across town.
The emergency services already had barriers up by the time they got there, about thirty minutes later. There were fire trucks, police cars and ambulances everywhere. There was even a helicopter overhead. A large crowd of onlookers had already gathered at the barrier.
Jon, Karyn and Zoe managed to get close enough to see that the house was gone. All that remained was a large crater in the ground. The damaged water connection to the house shot a jet of water high into the air. Apart from that everything seemed calm. "Looks like all the excitement is over." Jon said
"None of the other houses look damaged." Zoe said after looking over the block.
"Look." Karyn said as she pointed beyond the barrier. Further up the road, they could see the cops talking to a somewhat stunned looking Leonard Drullers. He was still dressed in his white lab coat. The cops had notepads and were writing down what was presumably Leonard's statement.
Jon turned to Zoe. "That could present a problem. If he is confessing, he knows you were in the basement, Karyn too."
"If he's telling them the truth that is. He might be lying to them to protect himself." Zoe suggested.
"Either way, even without Leonard's testimony, your mom took you to the house and your best friend has gone missing. There is a good chance the cops will want to talk to you about it."
"I'll warn Karyn," Zoe thought about it for a second, "or maybe I won't. She doesn't know what happened and she won't have to lie to the cops then."
"True." Jon nodded.
"I still have my stone. I can use it to deal with the cops," she paused again "and Leonard." She sounded particularly annoyed when she said his name. Jon frowned.
"Just be careful..."
"I know, I know. I'll think about it first and make it some subtle but fitting punishment for him." They took a few steps back away from the crowd.
"Well, I would say, this is mission accomplished." Karyn said.
"I guess so." Zoe agreed. "It's been interesting."
Jon smiled. "Maybe you might try interdimensional travel yourself one day." Zoe shook her head and frowned.
"I don't think so. Look what happened to Sarah and Biff." Jon nodded acknowledging her point. He stuck his hands into one of the pockets of the backpack.
"This is yours." He said holding the gender change ring. Zoe smiled.
"Keep it as a memento of this adventure. Who knows, you might want to use it again some day." She said.
"I don't think, I'll..." DTH Jon was actually lost for words. Karyn laughed at his embarrassment. Zoe turned away to walk back to the crowd. Jon changed the subject as quickly as he could. "We better get a bit further away from these people before we hop."
They turned away from the crowd and slowly walked back down the street. Jon pulled out the DTH and started to program it.
"Jon," Karyn said as they continued to walk, "I've been thinking."
"About what?" He asked not taking his eyes off the screen.
"I know it's important we get back and help the smart version of you but this last couple of days has been full on." Jon continued to listen as Karyn paused. "I was thinking we could do a few fun hops first." Jon stopped walking. Karyn did likewise.
"He did say it was urgent." Jon reminded her.
"I know, I know but it's not like time passes for us. I mean, in the normal way. No matter what happens we'll be back at the instant we left." She thought she was doing a good job of justifying her reasoning.
"Unless we get stuck somewhere or we get killed." He told her.
"Okay forget it then!" Once again she'd lost her temper with him.
"I am just warning you. We can have a few 'fun' hops if you want. You are the boss after all." They generally worked so well as a team, Karyn sometimes forgot that technically she was in charge.
"I am the boss. We do the fun hops." She told him. Jon pushed a few buttons on the DTH.
"I've randomised our destination again." He told her as he extended his hand. She grabbed it. Jon activated the DTH and they vanished.
