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Mirage swam over to Lilac, who was scared and nervous, but not panicking
yet. She hitched a ride when Niobe used the homestone to go from somewhere
in the Goldilocks Corridor, back to her home on Verdemus. This couldn’t be
Verdemus, because there were too many people, and too many houses by the
shore, and also, Niobe was nowhere to be found. “Lilac. My name is Mirage.
I’m going to explain everything, but first, you should know that both Niobe
and your son, Aristotle are perfectly safe. They’re fine, and I’m going to
get you back to them, okay?”
“Okay. Where are we?”
“Topeka, Kansas, 2036.”
“Niobe has never been to Topeka, Kansas, 2036.”
“I know. This is my homestone destination. For some reason, you were unable
to exit the stone, so I activated it myself, hoping to get you out with a
new trip. Think of it like rebooting a computer to clear out the memory.”
“Hey, are you two all right?” A dude in a tank top was standing on the edge
of his boat, holding a paddle, apparently ready to pull them in if need be.
It was April, so not a great time for swimming, but the day was rather warm.
“We’re cool, dawg!” Mirage replied.
He winced, but respected their personal bubbles.
“So, that could have deleted my file?” Lilac assumed. “It could have killed
me?”
“Yes, I took a risk. It was probably fifty-fifty, but know this too, there
is already a Lilac on Verdemus in 2341. She’s taking care of the kids. She
either has not left to ultimately become you in her future, or she never
will, because we’re in a new timeline.”
“Right. I don’t know much about how this stuff works, but I tried not to
think about Past!Lilac. I just wanted to see my son again.”
“You will. It will take us 300 years to get there, but I will return you to
him.”
“We should start by getting out of the water. I suppose it’s a coincidence,
and that Maqsud Al-Amin isn’t here too?”
“No, sorry, it’s a coincidence.” Maqsud Al-Amin, also known as The Trotter,
was capable of traveling profoundly vast distances from planet to planet. He
found it easier to accomplish the task by starting in a sufficiently
voluminous body of water. Sherwood Lake would do. Mirage didn’t know whether
Lilac simply knew this about him, or if she had some other reason to suspect
that he might be involved. She chose not to push it.
Lilac started to breaststroke towards the shore. “He’s Aristotle’s father.”
Oh, interesting. How come Mirage didn’t know this? She was losing her edge.
Too much of the timeline must have changed since she left the Gallery
Dimension to become a real girl. She would have to make peace with that.
They climbed out of the lake, and shook off a little. Some other people
tried to hand them towels, but they were just going to air dry. They walked
with each other up the road until they were hidden enough from view for
Mirage to teleport them both away from here.
They landed in the middle of the concourse of the Salmon Civic Center, which
was a secret hidden section of a building that only time travelers had
access to. There was a bank, a post office, and even a weekend club, among
other things. If you were a time traveler in need of help in the 21st
century or later, and The Constant was inaccessible, for whatever reason,
the SCC was the place to go. It existed on a secret subterranean floor
underneath a strip mall on The Plaza. A man power walked up to them. “Good
morning. My name is Konstantin Orlov. Do you require any immediate medical
attention?”
Mirage looked over at Lilac, who replied with, “I’m fine.”
When Kostantin switched his gaze to Mirage, she replied, “I’m an android.”
“I see. Well, I’m here to help you navigate the Center, or try to help you
with anything else you may need. Right now, it’s 11:24 Central Standard Time
on April 13, 2036, in Kansas City, Missouri, United States of America,
Earth. Have you ever been to the 2030s before?”
Mirage pointed. “I have, she hasn’t.”
“Do you have any questions about the current level of technology or cultural
dynamics?”
“I’ve studied the history,” Lilac said dismissively.
“Great!” Kostantin exclaimed. “What is the specific nature of your visit
today?”
“We need to get to the future,” Mirage began to explain. “Do you have any
available time travelers, or access to stasis pods?”
He tilted his head to the side. “We do have a few pods, but they are
currently in use. Unfortunately, we have been limited to only those few by,
uhh...certain powerful forces. We are working on securing authorization for
more, but I couldn’t tell you when that may happen. In the meantime, have
you tried The Constant?”
“I would rather not involve The Concierge in this.” The Constant was like
the Salmon Civic Center, but it was highly exclusive, and a hell of a lot
older. Anyone who knew the SCC was here could get in, unless specifically
banned. Even if you had once enjoyed the amenities and security of The
Constant, you were not necessarily allowed to return. The rules were
impossible to know. You just had to try, and hope for the best, but Mirage
didn’t want to even try unless they had no other choice.
“I understand.” He had this polite customer service representative thing
down. “In that case, you might want to speak with the Travel Agents. They
will take down your information, and try to connect you with someone who
might be able to jump you into the future. I must warn you, not everyone is
met with a favorable transaction. Payment is often cost-prohibitive for
people.” In the world of time travelers, cost was a far more complicated
concept. They almost never dealt in such petty trivialities as fiat
currency, or even precious gems or metals. It was sometimes a favor that the
provider couldn’t do for themselves, and sometimes a sacrifice that didn’t
technically need to be done, but the point was for the customer to lose
something. For instance, if you loved your beautiful long hair, they may ask
you to cut it all off. They didn’t need your hair, but if you really wanted
their help, you had to be willing to part with it. Others just gave away
their services for free, but when the Travel Agents were in play, there
could be a middleman fee anyway.
“Thank you very much for your help, Kostya.” Mirage turned and led Lilac to
the back corner. The Travel Agency was empty, except for an old man who was
either sleeping or dead on the bench against the wall. Lilac rang the bell.
A thirtysomething man in a blue sweater vest came up from the back with a
Stepford smile. “Hello. I’m Romeo. My wife, Honey is finishing up something
in the back. How can I help you?”
Honey and Romeo. Wow, okay. “I’m Mirage and Lilac. We came here from 2341
Verdemus. We need to return there to the exact same moment.”
“Okay, was that your first time traveling through time?” Romeo asked.
“Perhaps you could find a homestone.”
“A homestone is how we got here,” Lilac answered before Mirage could stop
her.
Romeo smirked. “Get out here, please, Honey!”
“What did I do?” Lilac whispered to Mirage.
“It’ll be okay. You just started the negotiation too high.”
“Negotiation?”
A woman who just looked like the feminine version of Romeo came around the
corner. “What is it, dear? Oh, customers. I should have put my face on.”
“It’s fine,” Mirage assured her.
“Honey...” Romeo began, building anticipation. “They have a homestone.”
“Oh my, isn’t that wonderful? We just so happened to be in the market for
one of those. Do you happen to have more than one?”
“Only the one,” Mirage replied a bit too hastily, which wasn’t necessary,
since it was the truth.
“I’m afraid our rates are too high for only one stone. If you had another,
we could talk about sending you where you need to go. Which would be where?”
“Verdemus in 2341,” Mirage repeated.
“I’ve never heard of a Verdemus. Is that a musical artist?” A common joke
for this crowd, though not in so many words.
“Ya know what, don’t worry about it. Just get us to anytime on Earth in the
22nd century, and we’ll make our way to our final destination on our own.”
That far in the future, they will have no problem finding stasis pods, or a
ship. Hell, she could engineer her own ship and pod using the technology
available in that time period.
“I’m afraid that that doesn’t change our rates. We’ll need one homestone per
traveler. Two travelers, two—”
“We get it.” Mirage emulated a sigh. “One stone, one traveler. Get my friend
here to this exact spot on November 22, 2260. I’ll go the long way ‘round,
and meet up with her. Deal?”
The couple exchanged looks. They really wanted more than one homestone, but
the only way for Mirage to procure a second one would be if the Travel
Agents found them a time traveler, which would render the quest stupid and
pointless, and they knew it. They nodded at each other simultaneously, then
Romeo went on. “Give us a few hours to find the right traveler for your
needs. You may wait over there, or go explore the Center.” He handed Lilac a
buzz coaster while Honey started flipping through a rolling index of
contacts. “Richard and Allen’s restaurant is open as well. I especially
recommend the hadrosaurus burgers. I know what you’re thinking, but all
dinosaur meat is lab-grown, and ethically sourced from still-living
specimens in the appropriate prehistoric period.”
“Thanks.” Mirage didn’t eat, and Lilac wasn’t going to eat that.
“It’s Sunday, so the Salmonday Club is still open, though the portal to the
Facsimile is closed.
“Thank you very much.”
“Oh, wait. Payment first.”
“No,” Mirage insisted. “Find us a ride first. If they charge for their
services as well, we may need to reassess.”
“Very well.” They weren’t happy about this either, but they wanted the
business.
The two of them left, and went over to the restaurant. Lilac was indeed
hungry. This place was open all day and all night. It was actually
technically two restaurants. A public-facing version was located on the
other side of the barrier, and up a flight of stairs, between the Civic
Center and the rest of the world. Regular people ate there all the time, and
had no idea that they could be just meters away from a bunch of time
travelers eating the same food. Or maybe they were eating different foods.
The regular side served the standard fare. This side served literally
anything, from anywhere in time and space, including apparently lab-grown
dinosaurs.
“Mirage and Lilac?” a man behind them asked as they were sitting at their
table, having finished eating a long time ago.
“Can we help you?”
“Garen Ashlock. A seer sent me here to find the Oasis and the Flower.”
Mirage was surprised, and she wasn’t easily surprised. “And you riddled that
out to our real names?”
“I know who you are,” he clarified. “Do you need my help getting somewhen?”
Mirage looked behind him at the Travel Agency. “They didn’t call you?”
Ashlock looked over his shoulder. “Those creepos? No, they’re way
overpriced.”
“We made a deal,” Lilac pointed out. “If we go with him instead, is that
gonna cause us problems?”
Mirage scoffed. “I would like to see them make good on any consequences.
Mister Ashlock, if you would be willing to get us both to at least 2260, we
would be grateful.” That was the year humanity figured out how to travel at
maximum relativistic speeds. The reframe engine was invented nearly fifteen
years earlier, but the majority of civilization did not so much as know
about it, so it was better to be safe than sorry. Lilac only had so much
time in her life.
“Ooo. Unfortch, that’s too far,” Ashlock lamented. “My seer didn’t say
anything about that. Why would they imply I needed to help you when I’m
unable?”
“What’s your limit?
He grimaced. “It’s complicated. I don’t have a limit in terms of a solid
number. It’s this complex algorithm involving my current state of health,
including my age, how much I slept last night, how much I drank last
night...”
“Give us a ballpark,” Mirage interrupted.
“Today feels like a gross day. That’s 144.”
“That will be far enough,” Mirage decided. “At that point, We’ll have
everything we’ll need available to take us the rest of the way,” she
explained to Lilac. “I could eventually make a stasis pod these days too,
but closer is better, for safety and security. It would take me longer to
procure the materials.”
Mirage and Lilac stood next to each other while Ashlock stood before them.
He waved his hands around each other like an airbender, and then pushed his
temporal energy forwards. Lilac’s body shrank to an infinitesimal point as
it was thrown backwards. “Okay,” Mirage said. “Me next.”
“Uhh...that was supposed to be for the both of you,” he said quite
nervously. “I don’t know why you’re still here.”
Honey walked over in her clackity high heels, sporting her eerie smile, and
speaking with her fake politeness. “You entered into a verbal contract.
You’re staying here until I get my homestone. Then you’ll go where I say you
go...and by whose hand.”
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