Leona asked Alyssa for help with a new special project, and told her about
how someone had stolen every weapon from the Parallel, at which point Alyssa
admitted that she was involved in the major heist, at the behest of Aldona,
who was apparently trying to prevent the devastating Reality Wars of the
future. She evidently didn’t think that the Parallel would be able to
retaliate against this clear act of aggression, but she was wrong. There is
no such thing as a ship without any weapons, for the ship itself is a
weapon. At high enough speeds, any object can wreak havoc on another, and
according to Parallel!Ramses, that is precisely what an army of angry
militants are intending to do. They will be here tomorrow.
“I’m sorry,” Aldona says. “We had it all planned out. This was supposed to
save us. There’s more than one reason it took me as long as it did to carry
out that mission. We didn’t think they would be able to find me, and even if
they did, we didn’t think they could amass a contingency that fast, and even
if they did, they’re aware of the Reconvergence as well, and we assumed they
would be too busy preparing for that.”
“Who is we?” Leona asks. “Who are you working with?”
Aldona shakes her head. “You don’t know them. They weren’t originally in the
time traveling world. We got together because we thought we could change
things.”
“Change things, you did,” Leona notes. “Our orbital defense grid. How close
is it to being finished?”
“It’s finished, as is the one here in the Fourth Quadrant” Aldona says. “But
neither would be enough. It can’t handle the onslaught that Mister
Abdulrashid is claiming to be headed to the Third Rail. I really am sorry.”
She means it.
“However big their fleet is, we’ll just have to be twice as big,” Leona
says, looking at Alyssa as if she can do anything to help this situation.
Alyssa nods, but only because she’s listening intently, and expecting Leona
to elaborate on her plan. She doesn’t actually know how they’ll accomplish
such a thing. “Wait, me? Am I meant to do something? Oh, I have no idea.
Where do you get an army on such short notice? Can the main sequence help
us?”
“No, the two of us can,” Leona tells her, just as vague about it as before.
“I don’t understand.”
“We don’t have an army, but we can make it look like we do. We’ll make it
seem as though all of their efforts will be futile. I’ve seen it done on TV
before.”
Long pause. Alyssa is half-grimacing. “We don't have enough power between us
to pull that off.”
“'We don’t draw temporal energy from ourselves; we draw it from other
sources, and what does this world happen to have a whole hell of a lot of
right now?” Leona poses. They may even be able to siphon the temporal energy
from all the new people.
“That’s a crazy idea,” Aldona says, hoping this doesn’t make Leona more mad.
The truth is, Leona isn’t all that mad. They did what they thought they had
to do to make the universe safer. They didn’t have all the variables. No one
but someone like Bhulan Cargill can see the timeline branches like that, and
she’s had every chance to use her powers for good, but she’s wasted most of
them. Leona also wants the Reality Wars to be stopped before they begin.
They’ll get through this. Leona’s plan is crazy, but that doesn’t mean it
won’t work.
“It won’t work.” A young woman is approaching from inside the Kansas City
bubble. Voices don’t normally pass through the dimensional barrier, but for
her, it’s like it’s not even there. She proves as much when she steps
through it without issue. “Hello, all, my name is Kyra Torosia. I’m glad to
finally be meeting you, Mrs. Matic. You and your husband played a
significant role in the history of my planet.”
“Durus,” Leona acknowledges. “How did you get it changed?”
Kyra laughs. “Most of the residents escaped to Dardius when Durus was
finally deemed uninhabitable. Time powers were gone, and there seemed to be
no hope. But a few of us stayed. A Nexus explosion imbued me with a great
and terrible power. I have been fighting many wars on many fronts ever
since. This is only my latest. Your plan is very creative, and I commend you
on that, but I have a better one.”
“I sure hope so,” Aldona begins, “because if we can’t find a way to save
every single Third Railer, I won’t be able to live with myself.”
Kyra nods. She’s very regal for her age, probably as the result of being
treated like a god by whoever renamed a whole planet after her. Not that she
doesn’t deserve it; what does Leona know about it? Kyra smiles at the small
group. “How would you feel about initiating a little convergence of our
own?”
“How would we do that?” Alyssa questions.
Kyra breathes in. “You’ve heard that I belong to a bloodline of Keys, but
have you ever considered why the bloodline has anything to do with anything?
Sure, any child of a Preston is going to be immensely powerful, but
Arcadia is not even a Key; she’s the Keyholder. Curtis is a Keyholder too.
So why? Why us?”
“Is it because of you?” Leona guesses.
“I can move planets,” Kyra explains. “I can move them through the bulk, and
by extension, across realities within a single braine. The Reconvergence
will be difficult, and my biggest feat ever, what with the trillions of
worlds I’ll be expected to move, but it’s doable, thanks to my family.
Transporting your one planet to another reality ahead of schedule is
practically nothing compared to that. If there weren’t already another
version of Earth here, the residents of Earth!Three wouldn’t even notice.”
“Are we really talking about doing this?” Aldona asks. “Are we going to move
the planet? What will the other Keys and Keyholders say about that?”
“They’ll say, thank you...more please,” Kyra replies.
Just then, they hear a rustle in the bushes. A man rounds the bend. Kyra
reaches out to help him through the barrier. “Ah, Ansel. Come meet my new
friends. Leona, Aldona, Alyssa, this is Ansel Haywood.” Vearden’s father.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, sir.”
“Likewise,” he replies. He seems rather shy.
Another rustle, and then a woman about Kyra’s age appears. “And this is our
daughter, Allison. Don’t let our similar ages fool you, she’s my little
baby.”
“Mo-om,” Allison complains.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Leona says, “though I’m not sure how accurate
Vearden’s stories are, since I’ve known multiple versions of him.”
“Speaking of which,” Kyra goes on, we were all hoping to meet our
granddaughter-slash niece. Could you transition us to the Third Rail? I
could technically do it myself, but I think I ought to save my energy.”
“Certainly!” Leona agrees. She takes out her device. “Everyone take an arm.”
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