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An interesting thing that Aldona and Erlendr learned is that they are
capable of traversing the boundary between the domed over Kansas City, and
the rest of the Fourth Quadrant. The only thing is that they have to do it
together. They have to be touching each other in order to pass through the
dimensional barrier. It’s sort of weird, after all this time, with so many
people working on the problem, that the barrier remains. The man who built
it is pretty powerful, and maybe only he can one day bring it down. He’s
reportedly not been involved in any of this since he did it as a favor for a
friend, and they don’t have time to try to find him now. It’s great that
Aldona and Erlendr can do it, but that doesn’t help Leona. They can’t take
anyone else through with them.
Leona originally assumed that the reality dial that Trina gave her would
always jump her to the alternate version of wherever she happened to be at
the time, but it seems that she can go wherever she wants...as long as it’s
not the Kansas City bubble in the Fourth Quadrant. Anywhere in the galaxy
but there. She may even be able to travel anywhere in the universe, but
there has been no need for it so far. What she really needs is a way for her
new task force to be able to reach out to her, and maybe even to each other.
She wishes she had asked Trina about that, though she probably would have
said that Leona is just meant to hop between realities regularly so nothing
falls through the cracks. Team Keshida doesn’t have a solution for this
either. The special bi-fold and tri-fold mirrors can do it, but that’s not
enough to go around.
“Talk to my son.” Erlendr is on the other side of the barrier, while Aldona
is discussing matters with the presidents. He can’t come back through to
Leona’s side, but they can communicate using the interdimensional radios
that Ramses designed. They only work between the Third Rail and Fourth
Quadrant since they’re so close together.
“Zeferino? Do you know where he is in the main sequence?”
Erlendr shakes his head slowly. “Not him. My other son, I know you met him.”
“You mean Jupiter? You can’t call him your son.”
“No.” He sighs. “The other, other one.”
“Mithridates.” Leona didn’t want to say anything that she wasn’t supposed
to.
“He has a way to reach across realities. I don’t know how, but he knows
things.”
“Yeah. He can reach further than that.” Leona takes her reality transitioner
out.
“One more thing,” Erlendr says when he sees her prepare to leave. “I know
that you and I don’t get along, but we’re on the same page here. I wanted to
create a perfect reality, and now it’s happening.”
“The Sixth Key is not perfect,” she argues. “Even if I knew absolutely
nothing about it other than that it existed, I would know that. There is no
such thing. You should understand that better than anyone. Either way, do
your job.” She turns the dial.
She thought it was going to take some time to find the long-lost Preston,
but Mithri happens to be hanging out with Winona and the Fifth Divisioner by
Earth’s one oasis. They’re enjoying each other’s company. Well, the two of
them are. Winona looks uncomfortable as hell, but she’s trying not to rock
the boat.
“Thank god,” she mutters under her breath. She stands up, and places her
lips against Leona’s ear as they hug. “Can you get me out of here?”
“I really can’t. I think it’ll be a lot worse if you try to leave. I may be
able to bring someone else here to sort of...make this easier to deal with,
however.”
“Enough hugging!” Mithri exclaims. “Come have a drink with me and Hamilton!”
“Hamilton?” Leona questions. “Your name is Hamilton? Surname, or given?”
The man who tried to kill her not two months ago stands up, and presents his
hand to shake. “Hamilton Burr, Madame. What are your orders?”
“Oh my God, this reality is so weird.” She shakes off the bit of silly
trivia. “I don’t need to talk to you. I need him.” She points to Mithri.
“What can I do for ya?”
“Number one...what is your stake in this? Do you know what’s happening?”
Mithri smiles, and looks around behind him as if there’s something to see
but barren desert. “Why do you think I was building that Hyperalpha
Collapsis?”
“I don’t think you can take it with you into the Sixth Key.”
Mithri smirks at her. “Yeah, I can.”
“Bottom line it for me. Are you going to help us, or hurt us?”
“Oh, I’ll definitely help,” he assures her.
“Great. Then I need inter-reality communication technology. Your father
thinks you have it, and you’ve mentioned things you know regarding other
universes.”
Mithri scowls now. “Don’t ever listen to what my father tries to tell you.”
“Answer the question,” Leona demands.
He sighs. “In this case, he’s right. I do have such technology, but it’s not
what you think. You can’t chat with whomever you want. They need their own
devices, or it’s only one way. And unfortunately, I only have the one. I can
spy on anyone, but they can’t talk back. I’ve never needed them to.”
“Give it to me. I’ll make it work,” she tells him.
“I believe it.” Mithri turns around, and enters his little hut.
Leona looks over at Winona, then at Hamilton Burr. “You there. I also need
to communicate across vast distances within this reality as well.”
Hamilton pulls a device out of his pocket, and tosses it to her. “Call the
operator, and tell it who you want to talk to, and which habitat they’re
on.”
“I know how this works, thank you.”
“Leona!” Mithri calls out from inside. “You might wanna come look at this!”
Leona steps into the hut, and crosses to the other corner. She’s never been
in here, but she would have expected this place to be bigger on the outside.
He doesn’t live luxuriously, which is odd for a Preston. He’s got his hand
on top of a box television set with all sorts of funky dials and buttons on
the side. It’s retro-futuristic, and it seems to be showing the news. The
reporter on it is discussing a mysterious bubble that spread all over the
globe, and started making people disappear. “Which reality is this?”
“It’s the Third Rail,” Mithri says. “I think we’ve figured out the true
purpose of that ship that someone built for you in New York.”
“How do you know about that? Ya know what, never mind. I can’t do anything
to help with this. I’m meant to focus on the Keys, and nothing else.”
He smiles knowingly at her, but doesn’t speak.
His face says everything, though, and he’s right. Who decides what pertains
to the Reconvergence, and what doesn’t? Trina and her band of Keys and
Keyholders took people from her that she needs to help her get shit done.
Then she remembers that she’s never followed the rules before, so why start
now? She tosses him Hamilton’s communicator. “Ask Dilara Cassano to come
here. I have to go.” She picks up the TV.
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