Mateo climbs out of his pod, and into the main living area. Most everyone is
sitting on the couches. It almost looks like he’s walked into a party that
he wasn’t invited to. They all look pretty happy, especially Curtis. “Hey,
look who’s awake! Finally! What’s it been, like eight—nine thousand years?”
Mateo glances back at his pod. “Ten, just as it usually is.”
“Ah, that’s too long. Come on, buddy. Join the celebration.” He puts his arm
over Mateo’s shoulder.
“What are we, uh...celebrating?” Mateo asks, letting Curtis lead him deeper
into the room.
“It’s Abigail,” he explains. “She’s gettin’ out for good behavior. Hail
Abby!” He holds up his glass, and waits for everyone else to echo him, but
they don’t. “Ah, you people are no fun.”
“Hail Abby!” Mateo chants alone.
“Thanks, Matt,” Abigail says, raising her glass.
“That’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout. You’re good people. Here, have a drink.” He
hands him his own glass of water, then goes over to the bar to get another
to replace it.
“Dani, what does this mean?” Mateo questions.
“I’m letting her use the time machine,” Danica replies.
“Transtemporal relocator,” Aquila corrects. They took Mateo’s advice. Aquila
always wears sunglasses, and Bhulan never does, though she sometimes leaves
them on top of her head for ease of switching if the two of them are
shifting control back and forth. It’s nice to know that he can still
contribute.
“Whatever,” Danica dismisses.
Mateo nods, happy for Abigail, but confused, and just a little ticked off.
That’s good, Danica is finally loosening up a bit on her restrictions, but
that doesn’t explain why Mateo can’t go home too. Based on their experience
with the time machine, she should actually be able to return him and his
friends to the main sequence. “Cool.”
Danica can sense his frustration. “I know you’re upset, and I would be
sending you back too, but things have changed. Tamerlane changed things. No,
I’m not still mad at you, but he’s forced my hand. I have to place someone
in charge of the Omega Gyroscope, and it has to be someone I can trust.
Leona is already part of the line of succession. I have already set in
motion a series of events which will lead her to coming back here to rescue
you. All we have to do is wait. All you have to do is wait.”
“But then we’ll have to stay here, won’t we? At least every 49,999 years,
she’ll have to come out of stasis to reclaim control over the damn thing.
But other than that, we don’t have real lives. We don’t have any choice.”
Danica shakes her head, she will be able to leave anytime she wants. All
she’ll have to do is modify the Gyroscope’s programming to generate a new
succession list, starting with me. Then I’ll send you both wherever you
want.”
“What if we don’t do that? What if she refuses to relinquish control? How
will you stop us? You can’t leave us out of stasis, unless you make us
immortal, or we’ll die long before humans start living on this planet. The
Gyroscope is all but useless until then.”
“Remember,” Danica begins, “it’s possible to change the differential. For
now, ten thousand years equals one second, but I can slow it down. I can
make it so that ten thousand years is more like an hour. You’ll age
forty-five years in the meantime. Either she gives up control of the Omega
Gyroscope, or she gives up control of her life.”
“Wow, way to be a party pooper,” Curtis criticizes.
“You don’t need to be part of this discussion,” Danica shoots right back.
“Lay off my husband!” Cheyenne volleys.
Danica sighs. “Enjoy the party,” she says to the group. Then she approaches
Mateo, and takes him by the arm. “Transport us to the pool.”
At the last second, Bhulan and Aquila take his other arm, so all four end up
there. Bhulan takes off the sunglasses. “This involves me as well. Team
Triple Threat, remember? Aquila, please go dormant,” she says to her
brainmate.
“I want us to be friends,” Danica claims. “I don’t like all this hostility.”
“Really? Because you’re going out of your way to be hostile most of the
time.”
“I know that it feels that way, but one day—”
“It’s worse in the future, I can’t even friggin’ find you.”
“Don’t talk to me about the future, I don’t wanna know.”
“Oh no? Because it appears as though you’re totally sure of yourself about
it. You have no doubts, no qualms. What if I told you that the future is a
hellish hellscape with hellacious demons from hell, hellbent on helling it
up with hellfire all over that hellhole world? Would you believe me? Would
you do something different?”
“I would not believe you. If you could prove it, I would try to prevent it.”
Mateo breathes. “Your father told me that you gained some insight into the
other realities, so you know how bad they are. You know how volatile the
Fourth Quadrant is. You know how dangerous and unequal—and boring—the Fifth
Division is. Of course, you’re from the main sequence, so you know how
terrible that one is. I can’t say anything bad about the Parallel, except
that they can be pretty pretentious and heartless. You seem to be under the
impression that you’re going to make this world better. Maybe it’s because
there’s no time travel, maybe it’s because of all the religions you create,
but while I wouldn’t actually describe it as a hellish hellscape, it ain’t
paradise neither. People are assholes, and then they die. This is true of
every reality...except for the Parallel, because they don’t die. Ya know,
why don’t we always just ignore that one?”
“They’re warmongers.” Cheyenne has snuck into the pool area.
“What?” Bhulan asks. “Who are?”
“The Parallelers. They’re warmongers. They killed more than anyone in the
Reality Wars. They were heartless, and they were...ruthless. Nothing was off
limits to them, or will be, rather. Women, children; antimatter weapons,
bioweapons. They only lost because...” It’s too hard to go on. She doesn’t
think about it, let alone say it. Anyway, it’s before my time, but I’ve seen
the VRDocs.”
Danica looks down at the ground. “We’re the cause of the war, though, aren’t
we? This machine. Every Constant has one. We’re the easiest link between
realities. At least one of us opens a door that can’t be closed.”
“I don’t know anything about that,” Cheyenne says.
Danica sneers. “New plan. No one’s going anywhere. Unfortunately, Abigail is
just never gonna get home, and neither are you,” she says to Mateo. “We’re
going to destroy that machine...right after we destroy the other four.”
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