Flindekeldan was a beautiful planet. If they were going to be stuck on one
world for the rest of their lives, this was a good choice. They spent the
next three years here, just being normal, and not thinking much about time
travel and transition windows. There were no specific rules for what kind of
lifestyle they could choose. Though it was only populated by several million
people, it was fairly diverse. Some worked, because they didn’t like not
doing anything. Others focused on personal hobbies. Technically everyone did
have a job, though. Those who didn’t work were backfilled by an android
substitute. This was not an assistant, who fetched coffee for their human,
or washed their clothes. It was there to work when the human did not want
to. Everyone was free to choose how much it worked in their stead, be it all
the time, or none of the time. A few hundred people who came here were
androids themselves, but they were still assigned a Flindekeldanian android,
and the procedures were the same.
Olimpia did most of her work herself. She had never had a job before,
because she wasn’t part of society back on Earth in the main sequence, and
she wanted to know what it felt like. She worked her way up pretty quickly,
eventually becoming a supervisor for a Helium-3 mining operation. Mateo
learned how to surf, and did a lot of rock climbing, which he never thought
he would ever get into. Jeremy took up animal watching. He liked to go to
the other side of the world, where no one had settled, and just observe the
little critters in their natural habitat. Studying their habits was both
part of his job, and a hobby. He and his android worked together, sharing
the load. Angela really just relaxed every day. She was always rather busy
in the afterlife simulation, helping people, or learning new things. Now she
just wanted to do nothing. She spent most of her time on the beach, but she
sometimes got into an inflatable raft, and wandered the sea, letting the
water control where she drifted. And Leona? Leona was different. No one
fully understood what it was she was up to; not even Mateo. They knew it was
some kind of secret society, and while she returned home to Mateo at the end
of the day, she didn’t talk about her work.
“Again.”
Leona did it again.
“Quicker.”
Leona did it quicker.
“Good. Keep practicing when your friends aren’t around. Your legwork is
fine. Your arms need to be more precise. Remember to pay attention to the
way the air is moving. Cut through it, don’t let it slow you down.”
“Understood,” Leona said.
“All right, Ellie, your turn.”
Ellie did the same move, but she was better at it, which Leona found
annoying, because she hadn’t been here as long. This was actually an
alternate version of the Ellie Underhill that they knew from before, though
not really. Ellie was tens of thousands of years old, but not because she
was immortal, or even ageless. Her body had only been around for a few
decades, but her mind had experienced many, many lives. When she found
herself nearing the end of her lifetime, she would send her consciousness
back to the past, and overwrite her Past!Self. Everything she did in the
future was completely erased, and no one could remember it having happened,
except for her. This adventure was an exception, because it was taking place
in The Parallel, which was why Leona was here for it, even though Ellie
would one day undo the timeline.
“Very good, Miss Underhill, as always.”
Leona made a fake scowl at her training partner. Ellie chuckled silently.
“That will be all for today.”
“Really?” Leona questioned. They never cut the training sessions short.
“It’s November 15, 2253, according to the standard main sequence Earthan
calendar.”
“Oh, umm...” Leona trailed off. “I don’t find much significance to that
date.”
“Your husband does. Go home, Leona.”
“Thank you, Crucia Heavy.”
“Thank you, Crucia Heavy,” Ellie echoed.
The two of them started walking out towards the exit together, but Ellie
would not be leaving, because this was where she lived. She decided not to
reveal her presence to the transition team. There wasn’t any real reason
they weren’t allowed to know the truth, but there wasn’t any reason they
should know either.
“You gonna think about what I said?” Ellie asked.
“I thought you were joking,” Leona said.
“No, I think you should consider it. Today would be the optimal time.”
“Ellie, if we use your method of transitioning, I’ll have to explain how I
found out about it, and you’ll be exposed.”
She shrugged. “I can think of worse things to happen. Leona, there’s a Nexus
on the other side. You’ve completed enough of your training. You can go
back, and fight as Mateo’s champion. Isn’t that why you agreed to join The
Highest Order?”
“I joined in case The Warrior ever caught up to us. I stayed, because I
wanted to—because I like it—because I belong. And I’m not done with my
training. I’m never done.”
“Exactly, you’re never done, which means you could be here forever. That is
not what this place is designed for. You’re supposed to go out, and live a
real life. That’s what I’m going to do. You graduate when you’re ready.”
“I’m not ready. Maybe in another three years. That’ll put us back on the
Bearimy-Matic pattern.”
“Talk to him.”
“I can’t do that,” Leona contended.
“They’ll see who you’ve become someday, and then you’ll have to explain why
you claimed this was all a secret, when it isn’t.”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” She stepped onto the first of
576 steps back up to the surface.
“I just hope you can cross it, and it’s not just a pile of ash by then.”
Leona went up to the next step. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Ellie.”
“If you say so.” She turned, and headed towards her room.
Leona walked up the steps slowly. She would sometimes run them to get more
exercise, but now she was worried about what conversation awaited her when
she got home. Would Mateo want to go back if they could? More importantly,
how would any of them react if she told them it was indeed possible; that
there was a loophole she had known about for over two years now. Angela
would probably be cool, and Jeremy liked his new life fine enough, but
Olimpia often spoke of seeing Earth again, and eating fried chicken once
more. Leona didn’t want to go anywhere. She didn’t want to stop her
training, and she didn’t want to return to the Milky Way. This was her home
now. No, she had to keep it a secret. Perhaps she would never tell them, and
they would just live here forever. It would be difficult to hold back for
quite that long, but not impossible. They had not yet qualified for full
immortality, but they were receiving longevity and youth treatments, and
there was still a chance that it would end there, and they would eventually
die.
Leona opened the door to their house to find the whole team waiting to have
dinner together, which she didn’t know was happening. It wasn’t surprising,
though, as this was the day they would have returned to the timestream if
the cuffs weren’t suppressing their pattern. They smiled as she walked into
the dining room, and sat down. The food temperature suggested she was about
fifteen minutes later than they expected, but they weren’t upset. She had
stalled for time on the stairs, and on the walk through the park, but she
still should have arrived earlier than usual. She glanced down at her watch.
Nope, it had actually taken her a lot longer than it should have. She was
more paranoid about the conversation than she realized. She was right to be.
They immediately started reminiscing about their old lives, and lamenting
not being able to do the things they once loved about Earth. It was like
they knew what her secret was, and were trying to goad her into fessing up.
Or maybe she was just imagining a tell-tale heart, and it had nothing to do
with her.
“There’s a way back to the Milky Way galaxy,” her asshole voice said before
she could stop it.
“I’m sorry?” Mateo prompted.
Leona closed her eyes, knowing there was no way to backtrack without looking
as big of an asshole as her voice. “It’s called the Suspended Pond of
Glieremé. If you swim deep enough, you’ll go through a transition window,
and end up on Flindekeldan in the main sequence, where there is a working
Nexus. It only has one unlocked destination, but we can go anywhere from
there.”
Silence.
“I suppose we wouldn’t have to swim,” Leona went on. “The AOC is small
enough to fit right through.”
“Did The Order tell you about this?” Angela asked calmly.
“I can’t tell you who told me about it,” Leona said. “Spoilers.”
Jeremy wiped his mouth on the napkin, and dropped it down on the table.
“Goddammit.” He stood up in a huff, and left the house.
“I’m sorry I lied to you about it. I don’t know why I did. I guess I was
scared Anatol would find us. I don’t know.”
“He’s not mad because you didn’t tell us,” Mateo said.
“He’s mad because you did,” Angela finished for him. “I must say, I’m not so
pleased about it either.”
“I don’t understand,” Leona admitted.
“When we were stuck here,” Olimpia began to clarify, “it was fine. We all
settled into our new lives, because it was all we could do. Now you’ve given
us the burden of choice again, which means we’ll have to figure out what to
do.”
“We can still stay here, if that’s what everyone wants,” Leona tried to
promise. “I only told you, because the longer I waited, the worse I thought
it would be when you inevitably found out. The Pond of Glieremé isn’t
exactly a secret. It’s just ignored, because you can take the Nexus back to
the Milky Way, but there’s no way back to the Parallel once you’re there.”
Olimpia shook her head like a teacher whose student didn’t quite get the
right answer. “Now, no matter what we do, each one of us will worry that the
others don’t really want that. We don’t want to resent each other, or even
think that there’s any resentment.”
Leona was mortified. She had no idea they felt this way. Yeah, that was a
good point; she had no idea.
“Leona, we’re not mad at you. We understand that you didn’t know.”
“Exactly,” Leona said, standing up. “I didn’t know, because apparently you
all have this group text that I’m not on, where you discuss these things.
You made a mistake by working together to explain to me how you feel,
because now I know I’ve been left out of a lot.” She tried to walk away too.
“Leona, you’ve been so wrapped up in that fight club,” Mateo argued. “Yeah,
we have conversations that you’re not there for. What, you want us to sit in
silence in case you decide to come home on time? If we always waited for
you, we’d never eat!”
“That’s bullshit, you could have filled me in on some of the more important
things. Maybe I don’t hear about what mountain you climbed yesterday, but I
should at least know how you’re feeling. What else are you keeping from me,
and how did you know it’s a fight club? I mean, that’s not what it is, but I
can see how you would come to that conclusion if someone told you a little.”
“We see the bruises,” Mateo explained. “You’re exhausted every night. Hell,
you even walk differently than you used to. Leona, you aren’t playing board
games down there.”
“Well, I’m glad you know so much about me, and I apparently don’t know any
of you people anymore!” Leona shouted. She walked away for real this time,
but she didn’t get far.
Jeremy came back into the houses, forced there by the edge of the Warrior’s
blade. “I can’t tell you what I went through to find out where you were. I
had to do a huge favor for a timeline interpreter. You owe me the five
months I spent spotting his nephew at the gym.”
The group stood from their seats, and approached him cautiously
“Anatol, you don’t have to do this,” Mateo warned.
“You also owe me your lives,” Anatol reminded him. “Don’t think I have
forgotten about our little deal.”
“What does it matter?” Mateo questioned. “Why is everyone so obsessed with
us? My God, the powers that be, Zeferino, Arcadia, Jupiter? What’s the
deal?”
“You’re just so fascinating,” Anatol explained, possibly sincerely. “Now put
your cuffs back on, and give me the primary.”
“Anatol...”
“Put them on!” he ordered.
They did as he demanded. Jeremy carefully helped fit Anatol with the
primary.
“You’re going to regret this,” Mateo warned. “They always do.”
“Or they switch sides,” Leona added.
Before Anatol could make some snide remark, he fell to his side, losing his
grip on Jeremy’s neck which he was at it. Ellie Underhill turned out to be
the attacker. “Go,” she commanded Leona. “We can’t subject this planet to
whatever it is he would do with it, so you’re going to lead him through the
pond, and I’m going to make sure he never comes back.”
“I’m sorry, Ellie,” Leona said.
“This is not your fault. Enemies gonna enemy.”
The team ran out of the house, and across the field, where their ship was
waiting for them in the same place they had landed years ago. The
Flindekeldanians didn’t even bother moving it. They just constructed a big
tent to protect it from the elements.
“I’m sorry, Jeremy!” Leona cried as they were running.
“Don’t worry about it!” he cried back. “Now we’re back to only having one
choice!”
They climbed into their ship, and initiated rapid launch protocols.
Evidently, Angela was secretly coming back here regularly to learn about how
it worked, and maintain the systems. This was good, because it wasn’t
designed to just be left unattended for three years. They blew right through
the tent when they took off from the ground. They didn’t make it all the way
into space before coming back down at an angle, and heading for the
Suspended Pond of Glieremé, like a guided missile. The AI navigated them
right into it, and the pond did what it was meant to by delivering them back
to the main sequence.
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