Microstory 1490: Birth of a Big Problem

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One of the first things that the people of Durus voted on for the Solar Democratic Republic was what to do about the Time Crevice that Escher Bradley was trapped in for a hundred and eighty years. It was too dangerous to leave lying around, even with guards protecting people from it. There was no reason for something like that to exist, so it was vital that they find some way of getting rid of it. Of course, any attempt at destroying it could have devastating consequences, and completely backfire on whoever was unlucky enough to be assigned the task. If they were going to do this, it would have to be by fighting fire with fire, using paramount powers against it, once and for all. The first thing they needed to do was study it, not only to understand its properties, but also to know its range. Obviously, anyone who walked through it would start experiencing time at a much slower rate, but where exactly did that start, and where did it end? If they dug a tunnel from five meters away, when would it start happening for them too? Was it the rock? Some kind of temporal gas inside the crevice. An invisible man in there who was just controlling the whole thing for kicks and giggles? After all this research, they came up with a few options. There were some paramounts who had the ability to control the flow of time, and could potentially alter it for the Time Crevice. Unfortunately, none of them was successful. They could hold a time lock for a period of realtime, but unless they actively remained there, it would always snap back to the way it was, so that wasn’t a long-term solution. Perhaps they could simply bury it, so that no one could accidentally end up in there anyway. Well, that would take quite a long time, because remember that one second for the crevice was one day everywhere else. It took weeks to make any noticeable progress, and years until completion. Then someone had a bright idea to rid themselves of the problem forever.

A former president of the Democratic Republic suggested that they remove the crevice altogether. There were definitely paramounts powerful enough to rip it out of the ground, and banish it from the surface of the planet, at least when working in tandem. To be safe, they could even remove a kilometer diameter of land along with it, and hey, free crater. The risk was great, but if they could jettison the entire thing into space, they wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore. Fixing the time discrepancy or burying the crevice would have been fine to do once they covered the logistics. Something like this, however, couldn’t be decided by just the people involved. All Durune had to have a say in the matter, so they put it on the ballot for the 2205 elections, to make sure everyone had a voice. The great thing about this, which was one of many this democracy enjoyed, was that no one was fighting too hard one way or the other. Everyone could agree that they wanted to do what was best for Durus, and if that meant going back to the drawing board, then that was what they would do. Earthan governments experienced a lot of infighting, but not Durus; not anymore. There was only one side now. The ballot measure passed, not with unanimous votes, but not by a small margin either. The necessary paramounts started working together immediately, to make sure they could perform this amazing feat in one go. They had never apported anything quite this large before, so it was important that they took their time, and got it right. Once they were ready and confident, they got into position, took out the huge chunk of land, and sent it into outerspace, in a fairly random direction. They didn’t come out of it unscathed. A lot of them ended up with psychic nosebleeds, and one developed a chronic migraine condition. She was okay with it, though, because she felt they had saved a lot of lives, or at least a major hassle that might have been. Sadly, they didn’t consider all of the angles, and that chunk of rock would one day come back to bite them in the ass. It wouldn’t be for decades, but it would ultimately change everything about how Durus operated, and potentially destroy all they had worked for since the beginning.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: November 3, 2241

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It took some doing, but Sanaa did manage to warm up, and open up, a little to Leona. Leona did the same to her as well. They had more in common than they realized. Their hostilities towards each other, especially on Sanaa’s part, didn’t make a whole lot of sense to begin with. As it turned out, she struggled with meeting people who genuinely wanted to be her friend, and didn’t just want to use her powers. Lots of choosers were called upon to do jobs for others, but that was different, at least in her mind. For someone else, it was more of a skill that others valued. For Sanaa, she was really just the middlewoman, who people only spoke to so they could connect with those they actually liked. It was unclear whether people were turned off by her because of her attitude, or if she developed a bad attitude because she felt underappreciated. Regardless, she wasn’t an unpleasant person on the other side of her protective emotional walls, and Leona was getting to know that.

She spent the rest of 2240 in the waters. The great thing about the technology was that the most skeptical and reluctant individual will still adapt surprisingly quickly. And they required no body modification in order to thrive in it. Some random guy from the nineteenth century would be able to dive into one of these tanks, and spend an indefinite amount of time there with no problem breathing. It was quite peaceful in the water, except when she was being bombarded with questions. The colonists somehow got wind that she was partially responsible for the construction of their habitats just before they arrived. Of course Eight Point Seven did most of the work, while she wasn’t in the timestream, but they still considered her to be a worthy celebrity. Unfortunately, they wanted to communicate with her using the sign language they developed, which was designed to be used inside heavier water resistance, and slight visual impairment. That was really the only thing that would hinder the hypothetical nineteenth century man from thriving. His eyes would never truly adjust to the way light bent in the underwater.

Leona was a highly intelligent person, with knowledge from three separate timelines, but even she wasn’t capable of learning the sign language within a day. Despite her seeming misanthropy, Sanaa had picked it up already, and was able to interpret for her when the colonists wanted to talk. This solidified their bond, because now Sanaa didn’t feel so alone and overlooked. They were having so much fun getting to know each other that Leona didn’t realize midnight central was approaching. Even if she had, she probably wouldn’t have thought to break the surface for her time jump. There was no reason to believe anything strange would happen to the environment as a result of her sudden disappearance, or her sudden reappearance a year later. When she tried to exit the tank at that point, the waters followed her out. Her gravity regulator was malfunctioning, which acted to envelop her in her own little aquatic atmosphere that she couldn’t shake. It was kind of cool, but a little annoying.

“Can you modify my gravity field remotely?” Leona asked.

Hokusai was fiddling with her tablet, trying to solve the problem. “It’s having trouble connecting. Like, it will connect, but it won’t let me do anything.”

“And you’re sure you can’t open up the panel on my leg?”

“The water has already damaged your systems enough. It’ll make it even worse if we open the floodgates. That could render your legs completely inoperable, and because of your pattern, it could be virtually impossible to build new ones for you. You weren’t on your pattern when you got these ones here, right?”

“Yeah,” Leona answered sadly.

“Your body needs time to adjust, and time is something  you have far less of than most people.”

Leona tried to use her hand to scrape the water from her face again, and from her legs, even knowing it wouldn’t work. Despite the fact that the planet itself should have been exerting a greater amount of attraction than her artificial gravity legs, it was like trying to scoop the water from a bucket with strainer. “What if I got back in the tank, and then got out some other way? What if I got dressed, or I dunno, started to dance?”

“I don’t think we’re gonna find a home remedy for this. Just give me a minute. If I can only connect for one second, that will be enough to deactivate your regulator.”

Loa came in and walked up. “How do you feel. Can you breathe?”

“Well, I’m not technically breathing, since that’s what my lungs are for, but yes, I feel fine. I just don’t want to feel like this forever.” She redirected her attention back to Hokusai. “Heat?”

“No.”

“Cold. Maybe we could freeze it, and chip it off?”

“That would kill you. Just let me figure this out.”

“It’s not going to connect,” Leona tried to tell her. “It’s broken. You’re going to have to open up the panel, and switch it off manually.”

“No, I told you I can’t do that.”

“I’ll do it myself,” Leona decided. She knelt down to access the panel.

“Stop right there, young lady!”

She complied, secretly relieved that Hokusai stopped her. “If I wait until my next time jump, will that fix it?”

“It’s possible, though not likely. If I’m to understand your history correctly, you and Mateo once made a time jump while you were in a tent?”

“Yeah, it was weird. If we’re standing in a room, we don’t take it with us through time, but I guess the powers that be interpret tents like they do clothing.”

“How would they interpret a magical water blanket?”

“Good point.”

“How about you try sending an electrical pulse through the water; disrupt its tension?”

“Where did you get your degree?”

“In two thousand and twenty-four,” Leona replied.

“Now, that’s a good point.”

While it was true that Leona’s education and experience as a physicist and a science fiction buff combined allowed her to understand future technology to a higher degree than most, it only took her so far. She tried to keep up on modern advancements, but there were only so many hours in the day, and she just didn’t know how everything worked. She either understood the creative concepts based on her breadth of film knowledge, or the mechanics from her master’s degree, but if Hokusai tried to ask her for help with the new reframe engine, she would be all but useless.

“Where did Sanaa swim off to?” Loa asked. Perhaps she was merely trying to get Leona’s mind off her predicament.

“I dunno,” Leona answered. “Probably living her best life.”

“I’m right here,” Sanaa called up from the other side of Hokusai’s lab.

“What are you doing out of the water?” Loa asked her with deep concern. She ran over to help her carry this giant machine. It had wheels, but it sounded like they needed some lubricant. Tubing was dragging behind it.

“I’m fine,” Sanaa answered, though she was grateful for the help. “The gravity in this room is at one-point-four-g, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Hokusai confirmed. “I need it higher than Earth gravity for some of my experiments, “but you had to walk clear across the dome, and it’s much higher out there.”

“Hashtag worth it,” Sanaa said. Once she was right in front of Leona, she lifted one of the tubes, and pointed it directly at her. Then she switched on the machine, and everybody watched as it sucked all the water from Leona’s skin.

“A wet-vac?” Hokusai asked after the deed was done.

“Yes,” Sanaa said. “I have demonstrated their weakness may be found from a less sophisticated approach. You are no longer capable of such thinking.” This was a near direct quote from an episode of the ancient series, Stargate SG-1. She was a good person.

“Thank you so much,” Leona said. “You’re right, we did not think of that.”

Hokusai sat Leona down in the nearest chair, and examined her leg. “Remaining droplets are continuing to stick to your skin. This is fascinating. You’re like a little planet, with your own gravity.”

“Are you calling me fat?” Leona joked.

“She’s not a planet,” Sanaa said. “She’s a star.”

Leona smiled. They were friends now. Who knew?

“I have a mini-tank over there.” Hokusai jerked her head in its general direction, but kept her eyes on Leona’s leg as she opened the access panel. “Get yourself right, and we’ll talk. I took a break from my reframe engine to build you something. It’s not a perfect solution, and you may hate it, but it’s an option for anytime you want to get out of the water.”

“What is it?” Sanaa asked, though her own weight was already getting to her. It was a miracle she managed to walk across the dome on land, lugging that huge thing behind her. Even though gravity here was a significant improvement, her time in the tank had lessened her ability to withstand even this high of gravity. It wasn’t the weight so much as it was the distribution.

“You’ll see,” Hokusai said, still working. “Loa can you help her?”

Shortly after Loa helped Sanaa into her tank to rest, Hokusai was finished repairing Leona’s gravity regulator. “Okay. You’ll be able to get back into the water, if you need to, or want to. Prolonged exposure, however, is not ideal. Obviously these are meant to be waterproof, but it’s not worth the possibility of a recurrence. We seem to have learned a little bit about your time jumps, which may make you feel worse about them.”

“I’m the kind of person who wants to know, even if it’s terrible.”

“I would need to study it more, but based on yours and Eight Point Seven’s accounts of earlier attempts, I doubt it would be safe to do so. It would appear that time doesn’t so much as open up for you as it opens you. My hypothesis is that microfissures form all over your body at midnight, allowing temporal energy itself to flood your system. In this case, it’s how the water seeped in as well. How these heal afterwards, I can’t say, but seeing as you’ve never heard any of this before, they don’t seem to be hurting you. Now, if you felt pain every time it happened—”

“I don’t technically feel pain, but Mateo and I both get real tired. We’ve gotten used to it, and the more sleep we’ve had, the better, but I still feel it every time.”

Hokusai tilted her head in thought. “Hmm. When your skin cracks open, perhaps you suffer a temporary oxygen loss, which drastically diminishes your energy. This could bad, incidental, or quite necessary. We’ve always framed your pattern as jumping forwards in time, but maybe time jumps aren’t possible, or aren’t possible for you. You could be placed in suspended animation in another dimension that doesn’t support diatomic oxygen. These are all just guesses, of course. I have no real idea what happens to you or Mateo when you disappear. I don’t even know if you and Mateo experience the same thing, or if your body relies on a workaround, since you weren’t born this way; you were made. Hogarth Pudeyonavic would understand it better. I’m more of a space girl.”

“Oh, you know Hogarth? Did I know that you knew her?”

“I don’t know.”

Loa walked back up. “She’s sleeping. Let’s wait to give it to her until tomorrow.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Hokusai agreed. “I wouldn’t hate taking one last look at the power source.”

“No, I’m up!” Sanaa exclaimed through her mouthpiece.

“Why do you keep hearing us from so far away!” Hokusai shouted.

“Hello!” Sanaa shouted back. “Psychic?”

Hokusai went over to a half-door next to Sanaa’s tank, and pulled out something that looked like a fancy wheelchair. “I don’t know if you would prefer swimming to lying down, but if you ever wanna be dry, this will help. It’s a gravity regulator, but like I said, it’s not perfect. You have to be at a pretty steep incline to distribute your weight effectively, but one thing it has going for it is that it doesn’t require a medical procedure, so it shouldn’t interfere with your powers.”

Sanaa pressed both palms, and her face against the glass—I mean, polycarbonate window. “I love it.”

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The Advancement of Mateo Matic: October 14, 2221

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Leona, Brooke, and Sharice spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how the former could get back to Mateo, and barring that, contact him. The Caster said that he wasn’t at Gatewood, but it was unclear how reliable her information was. How did she know where to look, and how to find someone? It took Leona hours to reach her in the first place, but she did so by meditating, and never quite understood how she made it happen in the end. The whole field of telepathy was a little unusual. So far, besides Serif’s ability to heal others with her breath—which came from a different universe, with different rules—everyone’s power was related to time. There were a few people with something that resembled telekinesis, but that was just extremely rapid and miniscule-range teleportation that only looked like the objects were moving. Telepaths, on the other hand, seemed to be a different animal. They made it look like the universe had two kinds of powers; temporal, and psychic. But why? What was the connection, if any? Was Sanaa Karimi teleporting her thoughts across time and space, which justified her power? Or was something else at play?

Back in the day, Leona used to watch just about any decent science fiction that was released. Star Trek: The Next Generation featured a mysterious alien character who claimed time and thought were not as separate as most people believed. Was that it? Was he somehow right? Ultimately, these questions weren’t all that useful to Leona, though, because they only distracted her from the solution to her problem. She needed to help her husband, and hope for accomplishing this was dwindling with each passing day. She hesitated to contact Sanaa again, because she didn’t seem to like people doing that to her. Apparently, not everybody with powers was interested in using them.

When Leona returned a year later, Brooke and Sharice still had no ideas. To be fair, they hadn’t spent as much time in the world of salmon as she had.

“Here’s the most likely explanation,” Brooke said. “He’s still on Dardius.”

“That was my thought,” Leona said, “but that doesn’t really put my mind at ease. If he’s still there, that means he’s run into trouble. I need to get back to him either way.”

“Have you tried the grave again?” Sharice asked.

“Yeah, I did it while you guys were charging. I took a pillow with me this time, though. I don’t know why we didn’t think of that before.”

“Is it possible, maybe the pillow was interfering with the jump?” Sharice nervously suggested.

“There could be any number of reasons The Gravedigger doesn’t want to take me back to Dardius. He obviously knows more than he’s letting on, so maybe he has some reason I should be here; some grand plan. Or maybe bridging millions of lightyears is just as difficult for him as it is for the Caster, and he’s too tired.”

There was a knock at the door. Sharice stepped into a defensive position, to protect Leona, while Brooke went over to answer it.

A man was on the other side. “We have calculated this to be the optimal time to speak with your friend.”

“Which friend would that be?” Brooke dodged.

“The one who only appears once per year. Please retrieve her, so that I can escort her to the Administrator.”

“She’s not going anywhere without us,” Brooke demanded.

“Very well. You have ten minutes. If she’s human, she will require a tank. If she is not...I am not cognizant of what she will require.”

Brooke unceremoniously shut the door in his face. “Looks like they have figured out what you are, or at least that you’re different.”

“It was only a matter of time,” Leona said, standing up. “It’s easy to disappear on Earth, but the population here is so small, and our little group already arrived under unusual circumstances. People are watching.”

“We can escape to an outpost; hold our ground,” Sharice offered.

“Let’s see what they say first,” Leona decided.

Five minutes later, they were walking to the other side of the dome with the delivery boy. Leona was carrying an oxygen tank on her back, but wasn’t using it to breathe. Standard procedure was to build the habitats within preexisting underground geological features, to protect from cosmic radiation. The dome itself was in geodesic form, and kept the entire colony site pressurized. Airflow, however, was difficult to maintain, forcing organics to walk around with tanks, in case something went wrong. Internal habitat buildings were systemically independent, though there was still some level of remoteness. The leadership structure was built far away from all others, to prevent a cataclysm chain reaction.

Once inside, the man ushered them into the Administrator’s Office, where the colony’s leader was waiting for them. Before so much as one colony ship leaves Earth for a new world, plans are made. Everyone who wants to go has the right to do so, but that doesn’t mean they are all on equal footing. Colony prospectors spend years still on Earth, planning the new way things will work. Leadership is established well in advance. In Bungula’s case, the colonists agreed to follow the directives of a single artificial general intelligence called the Administrator. This entity maintains some memories of its past incarnations, but much of the data is wiped when its upgraded to a new version, just like any computer program. This is done ten times a year, according to the Gregorian calendar, though there is still some debate whether versioning should switch to a Bungulan orbiting timetable, or if some other system should be used altogether. For now, it is the fifteenth of October in the colony’s sixth year, giving the leader the designation of Administrator Six Point Seven. Its consciousness pervades the entire system, though it interacts with its users through an android body. It also currently utilizes a feminine personality profile.

“Thank you for coming,” Six Point Seven said.

“Did she have a choice?” Sharice snarked.

“No,” Six Point Seven answered. She pulled some data up on a viewscreen. “According to these reports, you are present on this planet once every year, and are missing the rest of the time. Is this correct?”

“It is,” Leona admitted.

“Where are you when you are not here?”

“Nowhere.” It was time to come clean. If the self-proclaimed police of time travelers decided she belonged in Beaver Haven for potentially exposing the reality to the galaxy, then she would deal with that. “I’m slipping time.”

Six Point Seven nodded. “What is your species?”

“Salmon,” Leona said, purposefully leaving it at that to elicit intrigue, rather than just explaining it right away.

The Administrator processed this information. “You do not appear ichthyoid.”

“It’s more of a nickname; used to distinguish time travelers from people like me, who have no control over it. We sometimes go against the current, like a spawning salmon.”

“Who does have control over your movements?” Six Point Seven asked.

“I couldn’t tell you.”

“How do you know these people?” Six Point Seven indicated Brooke and Sharice.

“Descendants of family and friends from before all this started happening to me. I had a life six months ago.” Time bubbles, alternate realities, relativistic space travel, and regular ol’ time travel made that six month figure a little less accurate, but there was no need to explain all that.

“How many salmon are there? How many travelers altogether?”

Leona stayed silent.

“I recognize and appreciate that your kind have been keeping yourselves secret, and I can even surmise the reasons, but if there are others like you on my planet, I need to know about it.”

“I’m the only one.” Leona didn’t know that for sure. The ability to manipulate time, or be manipulated by the powers that be, was not generally hereditary. True, seemingly everyone in Mateo’s extended family was salmon or chooser, but they were outliers to the rule. Most traveler’s parents weren’t travelers, and most of their children were not either. Anyone here could be born with some natural connection to the enigma of time, but since she was not specifically aware of anyone, her answer was not a total lie.

“How can I know for sure?”

“Think of it this way,” Leona began, “time travelers have existed on Earth throughout the entire anthropocene epoch, and then some. Since modern humans evolved, not a single second has gone by without at least one of us present. I can tell you that all magnificent feats of engineering, like the Great Pyramids of Giza, and the Panama Canal, were all carried by humans. We have ignited no wars, and possess no higher number of killers in our ranks than humans have. Each individual traveler contributes to our collective history maybe ten times as much as any normal human, giving them the equivalent of celebrity status.”

“What are your metrics for historical contribution?”

“Anecdotal, estimative, theoretical, and analogous,” Leona replied.

“So, nonscientific?”

“The point is that we have been here the whole time, and everything’s all right. Some of us are good, and some are bad; again, just like humans. You don’t need to know whether there are any more like me here, because you’ve never needed to know before.”

Six Point Seven lifted her chin and peered at Leona. “You are purely biological, unaided by technology?”

“I don’t even have a personal long-distance communication device,” Leona said. Some considered smartphones, and even the personal computer, to be the very first instances of transhumanistic upgrades. “A scientist friend of mine attempted to study our biology, physiology, chemistry, and genetics early on, but was...obstructed.” She was referring to Duke Andrews, who once tried to figure out what made Mateo tick by taking samples, and placing him in an observation chamber, but this caused him to jump more than a thousand years into the future, and did not provide them with much useful data. It was also in an alternate timeline, so what data they did manage to collect was lost now.

Six Point Seven nodded understandingly. “We will attempt this again. You will coordinate with a science task force, and assist them in devising testable hypotheses.” She prepared to get back to other work.

“Sir?” Brooke finally jumped in. “You forgot the most important part?”

“What might that be?” Six Point Seven asked.

“You forgot about consent,” Sharice answered for her mother. “You can’t just...study someone.”

Six Point Seven would have sighed at this point, if she needed to breathe. She just looked back over at Leona.

Leona hesitated, but as a guest on this planet, didn’t feel comfortable rejecting the request. “I consent.”

“Very good, very good,” the Administrator said. “I will compile the team for you, and my assistant will show you to your new living quarters. A full laboratory extension will be built around them, and be ready for you next year.”

“Indeed,” Leona said. Then she walked away. She should have been apprehensive about being treated like a lab rat, but in all honesty, she wanted to understand it better than anyone. It was about time.

Mateo was falling through the air. A sky-motorcycle, for lack of a better term was falling right alongside him. Mechanically arms reached out, and embraced him with a soft canvas. Then it slowed its descent gradually, before finally landing safely on the ground next to a huge pile of rubble, and releasing him. Ramses climbed up holding a remote control. “It’s all about timing.”

Mateo looked around. Everything appeared to be the same in town, except that the entire capitol building was gone. “What the actually hell happened?”

“Well, the Freemarketeers did not appreciate our assault on Tribulation Island. In fairness, it was the second of two in a few years, and they’re pretty touchy about it. They destroyed the capitol in retaliation, but only the capitol. Everyone was killed in the attack, including Vice Patronus Sparacello, and excepting me. I was reassigned as Deputy Delegator to the other delegation. Woohoo, promotion, and only a few thousand people had to die.

“How did you survive?”

“I wasn’t here,” Ramses said. “I’m not a traitor, if that’s what you were thinking.”

“I wasn’t. Why did you catch me like that? Superman always just flies over, and snatches people out of the air.”

“Yeah, and that would have killed those people in real life. People who fall from great heights don’t die just because the ground is really hard, or something. They die because they’re moving really fast, but suddenly they stop. I had to match velocity, and decelerate safely. New rule. If you ever jump forward again, you’re going to have to do it on the ground, in the middle of a field.”

“Why would I not jump forward again?”

“Mateo, you are the ranking officer on this planet. The world needs you, and they need you to stop traveling through time. Come. There’s someone I think you should meet.”

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The Advancement of Leona Matic: Prototype

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Leona looked behind her to make sure that Khuweka wasn’t gesturing towards someone else. There was no one else there, so she must have been gesturing towards her. Everyone was waiting for her to get this machine going, but she had no idea. “Why would I know how to work this thing? Just because I’m smart and educated, doesn’t mean I’m qualified to operate a machine that travels to other universes.”

“Well, not you specifically,” Khuweka said, “but that compass should do the trick.”

Leona looked down at her tattoo. It wasn’t moving or glowing, like it usually did when it wanted to tell her something. “How would I interface this thing with the controls?”

A gentle alarm began ringing from one of the terminals. Khuweka leaned forward and peered at the screen. “I can’t say for sure. All I know is you’re meant to get us out of here, which you should do quickly, because they’re coming.”

Leona started to wave her arm over the console, even pressing her skin against the smoother parts, but nothing worked. “Maybe you need to rethink your source, because I don’t think my compass can do what you say.”

“I was told you would have everything you needed,” Khuweka said cryptically. “They’re getting uncomfortably close.”

“Oh wait,” Vitalie said excitedly. “Hogarth needed a flashlight to check under the panels, and we noticed something strange.” She took out the Rothko Torch and shined it on Leona’s tattoo. The compass began spinning around and swirling. The light reflected off her arm, and scattered about the command center in all sorts of colors. More of the system awakened, and an engine of some kind started powering up.

“What are we looking for next?” Hogarth asked loudly through the noise. “Think about that, and if Khuweka is right, the compass will tell the machine! Even though that sounds insane!”

Leona did as she was told, and started thinking about the HG Goggles. She didn’t know exactly what they looked like, but their original owner, Hokusai Gimura once described them as steampunk. The engine noises subsided into a steadier and more tolerable volume, but never ceased.

A man walked in from the other room, wearing a t-shirt and shorts. He was scratching his mussed up hair on the back of his head, yawning, and blinking at the lights. “What’s going on here?” He looked around at them after his eyes were finished adjusting. “Most of you are human.”

“Hi, I’m Kivi. Who are you?”

“Vito.”

“Bulgari?” Leona asked.

“Yeah, heard of me?”

“Yes,” Vitalie said. “You died in pocket four. You were trying to help Serif and little Adamina get back to the ship.”

Vito yawned some more and walked over to a corner. “You were terribly misinformed. I can turn invisible.” He pushed some buttons and revealed what looked suspiciously like a coffee pot. “Anybody want anything? It kind of tastes like tea and urine, but it wakes ya up.”

“I think we’re good,” said the other man, whose name Leona still hadn’t learned.

“I would love some,” Khuweka said graciously. “It doesn’t taste like that to me.”

“Have you been here the whole time?” Vitalie questioned.

“Not the whole time. Missy, Dar’cy, and the rest of the people who wanted to have their powers removed went back in time, and showed up not long after the universe was created. We lived in secret for awhile. Or I should say that they lived in secret. I lived in super secret, because I was invisible.”

“So it doesn’t work?” Leona asked. “They keep their powers.”

“No, it worked,” he replied as he was pouring Khuweka a cup of the Maramon tea. “A few of them wanted their powers back, though. The rumor was Eden Island would allow them to do it, so that’s where they went. I followed them in secret, as per usual.”

“That’s impossible,” Khuweka said. “I was on the island when that group showed up. You were not there, and you could not have been invisible, because the thing that took people’s powers was inescapable. It affected everyone in the whole world, except for Serif, because she wasn’t there.”

“It affected me too,” Vito said, taking a sip. “It was different for me, though. I was in a state of invisibility at the time, and it was in that state that I remained. I needed my powers back if I wanted people to see me, which is why I went with them.”

“Where are they now, the ones who wanted their powers back?” Leona asked him.

He lifted his cup towards Khuweka. “She can fill in the rest.”

Khuweka hesitated, but knew she needed to explain herself. “Like I said, I was there, because Serif asked me to be. She gave me a sample of her healing nanites, which I was intending to supply to your friends. Something went wrong, and everyone there, including me, ended up with all of the powers. I can teleport like Curtis, disintegrate like Lucius, thread objects like Dar’cy, diagnose powers like Avidan, create time bubbles like Missy, and slip time like...uhh...never mind.” She was referring to the older Dubravka, who little Dubra here had yet to become, so it was best to leave her out of the story. “They’re also immortal, like I always was.” She glared at Vito. “As far as I know, though, I can’t turn invisible.”

Vito smirked. “Are you sure? Have ever tried?”

She didn’t answer.

He continued, “you knew what the other people’s powers were, so it was easy for you to replicate them. You didn’t know about me, so it never occurred to you.”

“I guess I could try now.”

“Stop,” Leona nearly shouted. “You were telling us what happened to our friends.”

“Right,” Khuweka said innocently. “Sorry. From what we gathered, hey were sent to other universes.”

“From what you gathered? What does that mean?”

“You know that big circle of Maramon you found yourself in when you first arrived in Ansutah?” Khuweka prompted.

“Yeah...?”

“They were attempting to travel to your universe, through a portal created by a woman named Ezqava Eodurus. You may know her as Effigy.”

“Yes,” Hogarth recalled. “I do know her.”

Khuweka continued, “Some good people, including Hogarth here, corrupted that portal. That’s what created those monsters on Durus. Whenever any of my people tried to cross over, they came out wrong on the other side. But it was their only hope, because very few of us knew that the prototype Crossover was still somewhere in Ansutah, and even few knew where exactly. Apparently Vito’s been sleeping in it.”

“Guilty,” Vito confirmed.

“How did Vearden, and all those other humans get their hands on the real Crossover?” Leona asked.

“There was a technical error when we all accidentally slipped time to the future, to a time when Maramon still had control of the machine. What we believe happened was it expelled everyone inside of it throughout the bulkverse, seemingly randomly, before the machine itself was lost in one of them. Effigy presumably landed in your universe, and was trying to call for reinforcements. And now we’re here, in the prototype, trying to travel to one of these universes.”

“Are we going to run into one of our friends then?” Leona asked her.

“I assume they’re as immortal as me, so it’s possible, but we would have to land sometime after they did, and the chances of us happening upon one of those universes are pretty slim. We just don’t have the data.”

Leona sighed. This was a lot of information, and she didn’t feel like much of it was useful. It was better when they could hope Missy and Dar’cy had completed their mission, but now there was so much more to worry about.

“This is all amazing to know,” the other man said. “I do have some business back in my home universe, so how long will it be until we get there?”

Khuweka pressed some buttons, and looked at the monitor again. “There’s no telling how long it will be until we get back, because I don’t know what these kids are trying to find. It will be another eight months or so until we arrive at our destination.”

“That won’t work,” Leona complained. “I’m going to disappear in a few hours. Where will I return?”

Khuweka tilted her chin. “I don’t think you’re going anywhere. You’re one of those salmon, right?”

“Yeah...?”

The white monster almost laughed. “Yeah, I don’t think the gods who control you can reach you here. You should be good.”

She turned out to be right about that. The eight of them spent as many months in the Crossover prototype together. It was equipped with a quantum food replicator, and just enough living quarters for each of them. Leona asked why her baby was apparently not growing the whole time, but Khuweka had no certain answer for this. Though metabolism persisted throughout the journey, the bulkverse itself didn’t follow the same rules of time, so maybe all aging was halted. The Prototype also had tons of original entertainment, but all of it was from Ansutah, and thusly all in the Maramon language, which ultimately led them to learning it in a conversational capacity. Khuweka learned how to turn things invisible, while Dubra learned everything she would have in a school setting had she not been sheltered by her mother for her whole life. They learned all about each other too. The other man’s name was Kallias Bran. He seemed to not be salmon, nor choosing one, nor chosen one, nor spawn, yet he had a lot of experience with this life. When it was all over, Khuweka led them out of the machine, and breathed in the fresh air over a cemetery. It was chillingly quiet. “Welcome to whatever it is they call this universe.”

A voice came from above, “most people don’t name their universes, because they think theirs is the only one.” The woman gracefully hopped off the roof of the prototype, and landed on the ground with no problem. “People here are different. We call it the Composite Universe. You came to this world at a bad time, though.”

“Why is that, Savitri?” Khuweka asked, apparently having already met this mysterious young woman.

“Everyone’s dead.”

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The Advancement of Leona Matic: Ansutah

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The humans were being carted out the portal crater in chains by Maramon guardsmen. Missy and Dar’cy were being escorted separately in a different direction, and the crowd was quickly dispersing. A white monster hopped over to the five of them, and took Leona forcefully by the shoulders. “Jiva paol dafa laidi kesto!” he shouted to his friends.

“Jida gar pepaol!” another shouted back, before addressing someone next to him. “Dwesi jilarl.”

The one who already had Leona checked something that looked suspiciously like a watch on his wrist. “Kret!”

The third Maramon jogged over, and prepared to take Leona off the first one’s hands, who appeared to be in a hurry to get somewhere else. Suddenly, this other random Maramon teleported between them. She held her hand up, and tore the jogger into millions of pieces, just like a certain choosing one named Lucius could do. Everyone who had witnessed this was too much in shock to do anything about it, except for the one who had captured Leona. He let go, and went over to attack the molecular teleporter. Before he could reach her, she disappeared again, and reappeared right behind him. She kicked him in the back of the head, and let him fall to the ground. The rest of her people dropped out of their trance, and prepared their own attack. The good Maramon lifted both hands, and trapped them in a temporal bubble, before turning to face the humans. “Which one of you is the engineer?” she asked.

They all couldn’t help but turn their heads toward Hogarth.

“You need to get to the prototype,” the Maramon ordered, handing her a slip of paper. “Here are the directions. It should have plenty of power, but it may require some repairs, and we need all the time we can spare. You’ll need one assistant at least, but you can’t take Leona or Dubravka. I need them both.”

“Not that we’re not grateful for whatever it is you just did for us,” Leona began, “but who exactly are you?”

The Maramon looked from one to another, to another. “It was my understanding you would know of me. I’m Khuweka. Khuweka Kadrioza? Also known as Keynote? I thought you came looking for me.”

“We came looking for someone else,” Vitalie corrected.

“Well, yeah,” Khuweka said. “I meant that I’m the one who can take you to Serif. I thought you knew that. Okay, that makes things more complicated. I would really love it if you just trusted me.”

“Why would we do that?” Dubra asked.

“Because I pledged my loyalty to your mother years ago. Don’t you already know this? Something’s wrong, your memory isn’t intact.”

“Who’s your mother?” Kivi asked Dubra.

Dubravka ignored Kivi, and spoke to Khuweka, “if you’re telling the truth, then you know what to say to prove it to me.”

“Yes,” Khuweka said. She cleared her throat. “Your father was a great man...but now he’s nothing.”

Dubra sighed. “She’s telling the truth. Do whatever she says.”

“What?” Hogarth questioned.

“Just do it,” Leona told her, trust Dubra’s judgment.

“Both of you go too,” Dubra said to Vitalie and Kivi. “If we’re headed where I think we are, Leona and I should go alone.”

“Where is it that we’re going?” Leona asked after the other three went off to find this prototype Khuweka mentioned.

“You need to be there with the other humans,” Khuweka replied. “Serif should already be on her way.”

“What will you be doing?” Dubra asked her.

“I’ll be helping Missy, Dar’cy, and Kallias.”

Leona pointed behind them. “They were taken that way.”

“I know,” Khuweka said, nodding. “But before I go, you need to understand something. Not everything is going to work out as you wanted, but it will turn out okay.”

“What does that mean?”

Khuweka stopped walking, but ushered them onwards. “The guards in there are gonna underestimate the humans, because they don’t know any better. The best way to get out...is to get in first.” She teleported away.

“What did she mean by that?” Dubra asked Leona.

“It means we have to get caught,” Leona said with a slight growl. “How many times am I going to be locked up?”

“Is that the setup to a joke?”

“Who is your mother?” Leona asked her. “Who is your father? Who is that Maramon, and how do you know we can trust her? Why did you come with us?”

“A long time ago, a clever girl came up with a list of rules for time travel,” Dubra began. “Until the reality where she did that, time travel was chaotic. Choosers jumped around, doing whatever they wanted, making any changes they saw fit, sometimes at the expense of their own kind. Leona, your rules marked a dramatic shift in the way people like us live our lives, and I’m not sure you’ve seen enough to appreciate the impact you’ve made.”

“What does that have to do with anything? I didn’t come up with the rules on my own. I’ve read and seen a lot of time travel stories, and their problems always come about when they don’t respect these rules.”

“It has to do with everything,” Dubra said as they were nearing what was an apparent white monster police station. “I knew more about you than I let on when we first met, because that was not the first time I met you. I’ve already met Khuweka as well, and the only reason I questioned her was because I’m racist, and I can’t tell these creatures apart. But now I know it’s her, and I know what we have to do. The rules you devised matter, because everything you’ve done—everything I’ve done—has led us to this moment, and later, it will lead us to the next moment.” Some Maramon guards noticed their arrival, and were taking defensive positions. “I promise this will all make sense, starting in a few minutes.”

The guards aggressively dragged them through the building, and into the holding cells. Hundreds of other humans were there, confused but still hopeful. They were there to be rid of their special time powers, for various reasons, but none of them had any idea how that would actually happen. Leona wished them well, and hoped whatever it was they were looking for, it wouldn’t affect her and her friends, at least not until she found Mateo.

They sat in the cell for a little while before a ruckus erupted, and started coming closer to the cells. Lucius, the one most famous for the ability to teleport objects and people on the molecular level, appeared from around the corner. He used his power to destroy the cell bars. Curtis came up from behind him to help usher people out, but he wasn’t doing it alone.

“Missy,” Leona said.

“Whoa, what are you doing here?”

“I came to get Serif back,” Leona said.

“What happened?”

“She was in Ansutah when it separated from the Warren.”

“Dowhatnow?”

“Not here.” She didn’t need all the other people to hear what they were talking about. They stepped into one of the cells. She proceeded to tell Missy the story of their return trip on the Warren; how two people in the fourth pocket dimension caused it to grow large enough to be its own universe, which was where they were right now. She didn’t tell her everything, though. She didn’t bother talking about the corrupted reality with Ulinthra, because it wasn’t relevant. “Oh forgive me. This is Dubravka...uhh. I don’t know your last name,” Leona realized.

“It’s Matic.”

Leona laughed. “Wait, really? Are we related?”

“Leona, your name isn’t really Matic. I don’t understand why you went by it, even when you couldn’t remember Mateo.”

“Ya know, I don’t really know either.” It was an interesting question, which Leona never thought to try to answer. “So you’re related to him?”

“He’s my father,” Dubra said.

“What? I’m not your mother, am I? Are you from a different reality?”

“I’m her mother,” came a voice from around the corner. Serif appeared, holding the hand of a young girl. “Yes. Adult!Dubra, meet Young!Dubra. Young!Dubra, this is what you grow up to be.”

“I suppose I could do worse,” a sassy Young!Dubra said.

“Mom, I thought I was coming here to change the past,” Adult!Dubra said to Serif. “But I’m just closing my loop!”

“I don’t want you to change the past,” Serif said. She was many years older than before, having aged across thousands of real-time years since Leona saw her.

“I do!” Adult!Dubra cried.

“This is your home,” Serif argued.

“My home sucks,” both versions of Dubravka screamed simultaneously.

Missy leaned towards Leona. “If these two get too close to each other, is this building gonna blow up, and turn the leaves red?”

“What? No,” Leona replied, but it was a fair question.

Serif handed her younger daughter’s hand to Leona. “You need to go with Mother Leona now. She’ll take you to our universe...eventually. Miss Atterberry, you need to get out there to the meeting with all the other people who want their powers to be removed. Dubravka, go with her,” she said to her adult daughter.

“Why would I do that?” Adult!Dubra asked.

“Stick with her, and you’ll end up exactly where you’re meant to be. I promise you won’t spend much more time in this universe. Don’t get separated from Missy and Dar’cy, though. Remember to pull Adamina back into the timestream before you leave.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” Adult!Dubra said. Then she started tearing up, and hugging her mother tightly.

Missy and the older Dubravka left to continue on their own paths.

“I guess that means you remember Mateo,” Serif asked Leona.

“I remember everything.”

“You weren’t quite in love with me until Mateo was erased from the timeline.”

“Like I said, I remember everything, including my real relationship with you, and I still love you. Now that you’re here, we can get him back together.”

Serif sighed. “I’m afraid I will not fit on the prototype.”

“We’ll make room,” Leona said, now suspecting this prototype was a machine capable of taking them back home, like The Crossover.

“I don’t mean that literally. I’m vital to this universe, and I can’t leave until they can start traveling to other planets.”

“How’s that?”

“Half the population exists for part of the day, and the other half exists during another part. What you see here is just a skeleton crew in the middle. I’m the one who keeps that powered. If I don’t show up every year to charge the magical batteries, overpopulation will restart the war.”

“I can do that too. I can charge the batteries.”

“That’s not better, Leona. That’s just different. I’m staying. You’re going. And you’re taking my daughter with you. Promise me you’ll keep her safe.”

“Will I ever see you again?”

“Careful.” Khuweka walked into the cell with a kind smile. “Spoilers.” She addressed Serif, “I shall take care of them both.”

“All of them,” Serif said.

Khuweka bowed her head. “Of course.” She pulled a metal object out of her back pocket. “I found the Jayde Spyglass in the museum.”

Leona pulled her sleeve back, and checked her compass tattoo. “Oh, that’s what I’m here for. I totally forgot about that.”

Khuweka opened her arms like she was getting ready for a big hug. “Come on. I’ll transport us right into the Crossover prototype.”

“Let’s just have a few minutes to say goodbye,” Leona requested.

Serif shook her head. “Just because most of the Maramon don’t exist right now, doesn’t mean it’s safe. You need to go. I love you.”

“I love you.”

After Young!Dubra gave her mother one last hug, she and Leona went over to Khuweka, who wrapped them in her arms, and teleported them away.

They were inside what looked like a spaceship bridge. Hogarth was there, along with Kivi and Vitalie. A man she didn’t recognize was with them.

“Is it ready?” the good white monster asked.

Hogarth nodded. “It is. I don’t know how to navigate this thing, though.”

“That’s okay,” Khuweka said, looking at Leona. “She does.”

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Microstory 768: Salmon

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A lot of people wonder where the term salmon comes from. For the longest time, nobody actually knew, because it did not originate in the same reality. During one timeline, the powers that be decided to call upon one of their little pets, who was named Ed Bolton. He was living in the year 1809, but they pushed him forward one year to 1810. But he only stayed there for three seconds, at which point they pushed him again to 1811. Again, this was short-lived, as he was only there for three minutes, long enough to encounter his friend and roommate, who had been wondering where he was for the last two years. He didn’t have time to both figure out the truth, and explain it, when he was pushed forward two years to 1813. By then, his roommate had moved out of their unit, and somewhere else. It took Ed nearly three hours to find where this was, and then go to him, looking for help. But at this point, the powers that be pushed him all the way to 1816, where he spent three days discovering his friend had moved to the other side of the country. He continued to jump forward in time, hopeless, and completely alone; three weeks in 1821, three months in in 1829 and 1830, and three years from 1843 to 1846. Just when he was feeling comfortable in this new era, with some simple math, he realized he was destined to jump yet again, this time to 1867, where he was likely to spend the next three decades. Fortunately, he would not have to be alone the entire time. He found himself in the company of two other travelers, who were from the future. They immediately treated him with kindness and understanding, and he came to find out that they already knew him, for he was scheduled to run into them again, periodically over the next century. Each time he did, he knew them better, and they knew him less, for they were jumping through time in opposite directions. Through all this, at some point, somebody remarked that these friends were, in fact, going the wrong direction. But it was Edward who drew the analogy of salmon, who were known for traveling upstream to spawn in the same place they were first born. Now this moment—this seemingly innocuous moment—would have repercussions across all of time and space, spanning past, present, future, and all realities. Though earlier versions of the timeline left Ed Bolton free to live his life oblivious to time travel, they too would come to refer to travelers who had no control over their travels as salmon. Some call it inevitable, others fate or destiny, but this would not be the only example of something in a reality that does not yet exist having an inexplicable effect on prior timelines. It would not even be the most profound.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: April 20, 2044

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As Mateo was handing Reaver his wingsuit, Leona began to let down a pilot ladder. But Reaver loudly whispered up to her, “no! We can’t leave from this side.”

“What are you talking about?” Mateo whisper-yelled back. “This is the plan.”

“I’ve already done all this once, remember?” he asked. “Both of you die, and I get caught.”

“Well, what would you suggest?” Leona asked from the wall.

“The other side has better wind.”

“You expect me to run all the way over there?”

“It’s our only chance,” Reaver insisted.

Leona growled. “Fine! Hurry up!” She bolted along the wall, and carefully made the turn towards the opposite corner.

“Come on, you son of a bitch,” Mateo ordered. He and his enemy, Horace Reaver sprinted across the lawn, staying as low and inconspicuous as possible.

About halfway there, they ran into Gilbert Boyce, the man who Mateo had tricked into thinking that he was there to break him out last year; their pledge. “You,” he said to them in disgust. “So you were trying to break him out. Do you know what you did to me? I spent eleven months in Dismal Key Penitentiary because of you. It’s in a swamp! If you hadn’t shown up, I would have been released from this place by now.”

“Get the hell out of our way, Gilbert.” Reaver spat.

Gilbert prepared to yell as loud as he could, “they’re breakin’ ou—!”

Mateo covered Gilbert’s mouth with his gloved hand. “I am extremely sorry for what I did to you last year. You were our best shot at making this happen, and I know you didn’t deserve it. I read your file, and if you’ve done your time, then you’ve done your time. Come with us now.”

“Are you serious?” Reaver asked. “He’ll slow us down.”

Mateo sighed angrily. “This is your second day, right?”

“Yes.”

“So you’re stuck with these decisions. I want to find the powers that be as much as the next guy, but I have half a mind to cut my losses and just kill you right now. You have less leverage than you think.”

“We only have three suits,” Reaver argued. “Those things don’t handle two people.”

Mateo pulled an extra suit out of his bag. “You were saying?” He handed it to Gilbert who was still bitter about last year, but becoming humbled and grateful. “Let’s go. She’s waiting for us.”

Leona had already dropped the pilot ladder, and was likely working on disabling the gun turrets. The two prisoners climbed up after Mateo, and then listened as he gave them instructions. “After you jump, pull the string on your left. It will electrically charge your wingsuit so that it expands on its own. If you don’t pull it, you’ll have to hold your arms up the whole time, and we won’t make it far enough, because you’ll get tired. You can resist the charge with enough force, and it will snap back into place once you relieve some pressure, but it will stay open if you’re just resting normally. We have no real obligation to either of you. If you fall behind, you’re left behind. Nobody’s going to be pulling their arms to their chest and losing altitude just so you can catch up. Understood?”

“Yes,” they replied in unison.

“The string on your right is for a little parachute,” Mateo continued. “You’ll fly behind us, and once we release our chutes, you release yours. If you don’t, you’ll come in too fast, and die. Boyce, I don’t want you to die. Reaver, I do want you dead, so that choice is all on you, buddy.”

“I’ve done this before,” Reaver said, referring to the first time he experienced this day, in an alternate timeline.

“Yeah, and how did that work out for ya?”

“Could have been better.”

“Do your best not to screw it up this time.” He looked down at Leona who had slid down the curved wall to work on the gun turrets. “Honey? How are we lookin’?”

“Nice timing,” she said back. “I’m done.”

“We’re ready,” he replied.

They slid down to the outer ledge to stand next to her before putting on their goggles. “Were I you,” she said to Mateo, now code for I love you.

“Were I you.” He took a beat. “Let’s go.” He jumped off and spread his wings. His body dropped down more than he thought it would, but he spread his legs out a little and settled into a nice glide. The two of them were wearing special goggles with little computer screens in them that displayed a map and other information like distance, altitude, and speed. These also kept them in contact with Harrison so that he could move into position depending on how far they got. This was not scary like the skydiving. This was blissful. It felt more like flying, and less like falling, even though he could still tell that he was constantly growing closer to the ground.

Twenty meters, two hundred meters, five hundred meters, a kilometer. They kept soaring with no problems. He could see Leona next to him at all times as they battled each other for first place. He occasionally looked behind to make sure his two wards were still close enough to them. His goggle readings indicated that they were falling downwards at a slightly higher rate, and were therefore widening the gap between them. Nevertheless, Leona assured him that they would all four break the two kilometer range, and that they wouldn’t land too far from each other.

Two kilometers. Yes. He looked over to Leona who shook her head. They would still be able to fly farther, so they pressed on. At around twenty-five hundred meters, she spoke through her communications device. “We could get farther before reaching our lower limit, but the others would be too low. It’s time to pull.”

“Got it,” Mateo said. “Count us down.”

“Five, four, three, two, one.” They pulled their strings simultaneously.

Mateo watched as Leona’s parachute opened and drew her upwards and behind him, or rather he continued to fall forwards. “Dammit,” he said out loud. He tried his string several more times, but nothing. It was faulty. He was going to die. But for real this time.

Leona screamed to him, “pull your string! Pull your string!”

“It’s broken!”

“Mateo! No!” she cried. “Harrison, you have to meet us and scoop Mateo up! His parachute won’t open!”

“That would never work,” Harrison explained. “He’s going too fast. He would be safer taking his chances with the ground.”

Mateo spread his wings once more, hoping to find water, or fall at a horizontal enough angle to hold back his death. But then a figure flew up and grabbed him.

Horace Reaver, the man who had tried to kill him on multiple occasions, twisted around so that he was on top. “Hold on tight!” he screamed. Once Mateo had done what he was told, Reaver pulled his own string and released his parachute. They drifted to the ground slower than before, but still at a pretty good clip since they had technically passed the lower limit. They crashed into the earth and rolled over one another several times before finally coming to a stop.

The two enemies crawled away from each other and panted heavily until they could catch their breaths. “I can’t really complain, but...” he started to say.

“I saved your life out of instinct. For a second there, I forgot how much I hated you. And that was enough to keep you alive. I promise that it will not happen again.”

“You promised to stop trying to kill me.”

“Yes, but if your life is ever in danger, never again will I make an effort to save it.”

Mateo stood up and nodded with understanding. “Yes. That makes sense.”

Leona ran up to Mateo and jumped in his arms like a gorgeous little cliché. “I’m pissed at you for scaring me like that.”

“I would hope so,” he said.

Harrison landed his aircraft and opened the hatch. “They know about the escape. We have to go.”

The four of them climbed in and took off. Leona grabbed her tablet and sent the instructions to their dummy airplane. It automatically rose into the air from a few hundred meters away and flew off in a different direction. “It’s easier to spot,” she told them. “Once they detect it, they won’t be looking for another one. By the time they catch it and bust it open—or better yet, shoot it down—we’ll be long gone.”

“That’s genius,” Reaver said. “You’re just how I remember.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Never mind.”

Harrison had programmed the plane to take them to Brazil, but Reaver had a safehouse in Panama, so the four of them jumped out with a new set of parachutes. They left the plane to Gilbert to go wherever he wanted, suggesting he jump out sometime before that. The authorities would likely find it at some point, and they didn’t want to be in the same country when that happened, even though Mateo and Leona would be safe after the jump to the future. Reaver said that he would meet them there in one year’s time, but they knew they couldn’t trust him. He would have plenty of time to turn the house into a prison like before in Mission Hills. Ten minutes before midnight, they burst out of the house and ran into the jungle so that he wouldn’t know exactly where they would land in 2045. It didn’t work.

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