"But I wasn't wearing the Virtual Legal Environment helmet. All we had was a leaphole."
"That's all we needed. That's all you ever needed. It's like Hezekiah told you. You are Legal Eagle material. Nice driving, kid."
Ryan looked around. The town was like a movie set, only real. He still wasn't sure about the power of the leapholes, whether it was magic or computers or something in between. "I just thought of something," said Ryan. "If I'm not a Legal Eagle yet, why do you suppose that leaphole worked for me?"
"Because you have what it takes to become one. You'll only get better with experience."
"I'm not so sure about that. But answer me this: Once a leaphole is used, can you use it again?"
"It has to be re-energized first."
"How does that work?"
"You have to charge it up with another leaphole."
"Do you have another leaphole?"
"Nope. I'm not a Legal Eagle, so I don't have any."
"Yeah, and like I just said. I'm not one either. Not yet."
Jarvis stopped cold. The significance of Ryan's words seemed to hit him like a mule kick. "We have no return leaphole," said Jarvis.
"We sure don't," said Ryan.
"What do we do about that?"
Ryan tucked his spent leaphole into his pants pocket. He looked off to the distance, toward the endless stretch of prairie that marked the edge of town. "Looks like finding Hezekiah is even more important than I thought."