One second. That’s how long Mateo spends in the stasis pod that Danica
forced him into. As soon as that door closes, he teleports out, and lands on
the other side of it. To his left is Past!Mateo’s pod. This is the version
of him that first came back here after falling down the main elevator shaft.
He’s destined to remain here for the next few billion years until his team
rescues him with a sledgehammer. For now, though, this room has not yet been
sealed up with concrete and wood. He could walk right out that door,
assuming it’s unlocked, but that may not be the best way to handle this. She
obviously doesn’t want him wandering around The Constant unsupervised. He
might learn a secret that she doesn’t want getting out. He has to be smart
about this. He tries the door anyway, and finds that it is indeed locked
from the outside, so that’s a no-go.
Mateo jumps around to loosen up his joints. He’s assuming that each section
of the Constant has its own set of alarms. If he can teleport to each one of
them in succession, he’ll be able to choose one at random, and hide out
there while Danica is scrambling, searching through the rest. It’s not the
most brilliant of plans, but that was never his strong suit. He doesn’t
usually do well on his own, but he’s all he’s got right now, so there’s no
point in dwelling on that. He starts going over the sections in his head one
by one, formulating a route, when the handle turns, and the door opens. He
peeks his head out, and looks around to the other side of it. There was
someone there, but he doesn’t get the chance to see who. He catches a
glimpse of a silhouette before it disappears, either teleporting or time
traveling away. They’re either trying to help him or hurt him, but either
way, they have more information than he does, so worrying about it isn’t
going to do him any good. All he can do now is try to gain some kind of
advantage that will prevent Danica from being able to just throw him away
like garbage.
First off, he wants to find out where she is, and where there might be
others lurking about this facility. Though, if there is anyone else here,
they’re probably fully invited, and he’s the only lurker. He steps out of
the stasis room, and immediately regrets it. His shoes are too loud. What
are they designed for, tap dancing? After he closes the door behind him, he
takes them off, and starts walking with them in his hand, but he doesn’t get
far before changing his mind. He feels like a heroine in an action movie who
had to go undercover at a fancy party where the villain is entertaining a
bunch of freeloaders to hide the fact that he’s really there to host a black
market auction in the wine cellar, and now it’s time for her to run and
fight. He decides to tuck them away underneath the couch, and move on.
He slinks down the hallways, hugging the walls, and trying to avoid the
cameras, but he didn’t exactly memorize their locations, and there probably
aren’t any blindspots anyway. He just keeps going, and hopes that his
presence doesn’t trigger the artificial intelligence to sound that alarm
after all. He could probably breathe easy, because the person who let him
out of the stasis room surely knows whether they would be a real issue or
not. No one is in the kitchen, no one’s in Danica’s office. No one’s in the
security room, or the small film screening room. There’s no one in this
library-looking place that is apparently called the master sitting room. “Wow, look at all this seating!” he exclaims to himself. The gym looks empty,
but it has lots of spots to hide, so he gets himself a better look to be
sure. No, it’s clear. Man, this is a big place for only a few visitors
at a time. Only one person is meant to work here, except for Danica’s
current posse, which Mateo assumes consists of Bhulan, Aquila, and maybe
Tamerlane Pryce and Dalton Hawke?
“Tryna get swole?” a voice asks from behind him.
Mateo turns around to find a man who he doesn’t recognize. “I’m just trying
to get answers,” Mateo admits.
“Aren’t we all?”
Mateo sizes him up a little. “Report.”
The man smiles. “Asier Mendoza, father of The Concierge. Some people call me
Corporal Mercy.”
“Never heard of ya. Danica never mentioned her father, and Daria never
mentioned her baby daddy.”
Asier nods. “You were probably talking to the wrong version of Danica.”
“I thought there was only one.”
“It’s complicated when you’re the way that she is.”
“Is that why we’ve never met before?”
“I guess.”
That’s not surprising, when Mateo thinks about it more. This is not the
Danica he knows and loves, and that’s the point. Nerakali was always trying
to explain that alternate selves are not identical. The fact that everyone
is unique isn't just something to teach your kids; she called it a
metaphysical maxim. “What are you going to do to me?”
“Do to you? What do you think we are, monsters?”
“Honestly, I don’t know anymore. Danica can’t take five minutes to have a
conversation with me before she either erases my memory, or throws me into
stasis.”
“If your memory was erased, how do you know how long the conversation was?”
“Does it really matter if my memory is gone? It’s like it never happened
anyway.”
“Good point,” Asier muses.
“Interpret my question however you please, I would still like an answer.
What is going to happen, and how can I prevent you from putting me back into
that stasis pod?”
“Stasis is a gift, Mateo. For you and me, it’s a way for us to skip time,
and reach the future. For the others, it’s a way to avoid the boredom of the
aeons.”
“I understand its value, but why did she force me into it without saying a
word? She took my friend, Alyssa away, claiming that she was going to send
her back to the future, but I don’t know if that’s the case. Why is she
being so cagey?”
Asier considers his approach to this. He’s obviously not allowed to answer
all of Mateo’s questions. “This version of my daughter has caught glimpses
of the parallel realities, which most versions never see. Each one is only
meant to be responsible for one reality, and are meant to fend for
themselves. The insight she gained from this information has changed her.
She’s decided to make this reality different. She’s decided to protect it in
a way that all other Concierges were never asked to do. It was a hard
decision to make, and she’s incredibly stressed out about it. I would kindly
ask you to be patient with her while she figures out how to proceed. Can you
do that for me?”
Mateo considers what’s been asked of him. “If I’m going to support her, then
I’m going to need to speak with her personally. Can you promise me that?”
“She’s not scheduled to come back out of stasis for another ten thousand
years.”
“Then I’ll be back in ten thousand years,” Mateo responds.
“Okay, then. I’ll escort you back to your pod.”
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