Microstory 2153: New Future Business Partners

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My new future business partners have come into town. They decided to fly in a day early to see the city. They’ve never been here before, so I toured them around. I did my best with it anyway, it’s not like I’m some kind of an expert. Not only am I from an alternate version of Kansas City, but I’m just not interested in that sort of thing. Still, I did a little bit of research, and found a local company that specializes in itineraries for tourists. We’re going to have our meeting tomorrow, so this was just something fun before all that. We ended up spending so much time together that we had lunch in the early afternoon, and dinner tonight. That’s why this is posting so late. We stopped for ice cream in between meals, so I’m probably not going to feel great for the next few days. I’m not lactose intolerant, I just tend to go overboard. I’ve never done anything like this before, with people that I’m not related to, I mean. Anytime I’ve traveled, I’ve gone with family, because I never had any friends. It was surreal, socializing with others, but I got through it, and I’m glad that I did. I won’t bore you with the details, or regale you with the juicy ones that we talked about over the meals, because it’s none of your business. I’m sure that I’ll have more that I’ll want to say after our meeting tomorrow, but I’m equally sure that I won’t actually be able to say any of that either. Perhaps in a few months, it will be declassified. Anyway, I’m super tired, so I gotta get to bed. I still have to work in the morning, and am only taking a couple hours for lunch to discuss business matters. This new partnership won’t be interfering with my regular job.

Microstory 2030: North Carolina

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Papa made many friends while he was in college, and a lot of them were Mormon, but not all of them were. He had at least one who was Jewish. She lived in North Carolina, and after college, she went back there. She met a man at the place where she worked, and decided to marry him in 2011. It wasn’t too long after papa went to Michigan for the corporate retreat. Papa’s friend and her fiancé lived in Charlotte, North Carolina, but they wanted to hold their wedding on the beach of the ocean, which is on the other side of the state. They chose Atlantic Beach. My dad found pictures of it online. It looks pretty and nice. The wedding and the reception were held there at the same place, but they didn’t stay there the whole time. There weren’t a whole lot of people invited, so papa must have been pretty good friends with her to be invited. After the reception was pretty much over, they all took a boat out to an island called the Shackleford Banks. It’s a barrier island, which is basically like an extra beach that’s on the other side of some of the ocean water. There’s something very special about Shackleford Banks, though. A herd of wild horses live there. Most horses in the world are domesticated, which means that they all belong to humans. They feed them, and ride them, and even give them jobs. The Shackleford horses, though, do whatever they want, and humans aren’t allowed to live on the island with them. Luckily they’re allowed to go visit, and watch the horses from a safe distance. They don’t want them to be disturbed. The people at the wedding had fun there. I hope to go see the horses myself one day. That would be really cool.

Microstory 2005: South Dakota

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When I was 8 years old, my papa and dad took me to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore, but this wasn’t the first time that papa went there. He went when he was 11 with his whole sixth grade class. Lots of people who live in that area like to do that. It’s this big mountain with four presidents’ faces carved into it. You’ve probably seen pictures. It was really cool at first for me, but then I was a little bored. You would probably have just as much fun with a really good picture. I was just with my dads, but my papa went with his class, even though the school he went to didn’t have very much money. His family was probably the richest in the town, but that is not something they bragged about. They used their money to help people. And one of the things that they did was pay for the whole trip for all of the kids! The teachers wanted the kids to go, and the kids wanted to go, but a lot of the parents couldn’t afford it. So my grandpa donated 3,000 dollars! They only needed $2,500, but he added a little more so they could get a little bit better motel to sleep in for one night, and a little bit better food to eat. All of the families were really happy that the kids were able to go on the trip. The class made this big thank you card for my papa, and gave it to him, even though it wasn’t really his money. Anyway, my papa liked the trip, and he learned a lot about mountains and the presidents there. I don’t think I learned as much as he did, but I’m still glad that I got to go too.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: April 24, 2415

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The great thing about life on Dardius was that Mateo and Karla had no responsibilities beyond caring for their child. They didn’t have to get up and go to work in the morning. They didn’t have to mow the lawn, or go out for groceries. Everything they did revolved around little Romana. They slept when she slept, and they played when she was up for it. A lot of experts will recommend not sharing a room with one’s infant, and especially not a bed, but the two of them didn’t agree. They were in little danger of accidentally harming their girl. She slept in a bassinet that was situated between the two of them in the center of a gigantic bed. Even if something happened overnight, alarms would go off, because all three of them were being monitored by medical equipment. If she woke up to cough once, the computer would log it, and if the cough kept going, and the parents didn’t wake up on their own, that alarm would go off. Karla was born to a long line of roomsharers, and this didn’t change when the Neimans made the move from Durus to Dardius. And Mateo? He wanted to give his new blended family everything they wanted or needed, so he was flexible.

Most of the rest of the team didn’t have any responsibilities either, but they were keeping themselves busy. Ramses and Leona spent a lot of time in the lab, inventing new things, and even retrofitting the shuttle. Angela and Marie wanted to learn more about the planet, its culture, and particularly the global government. They were currently in the tower next door, shadowing the owners, and sitting in on meetings. Even Constance had something to do. She decided to become Romana’s fulltime doctor. Dardius had prepared a medical team for them, but it wasn’t necessary. She possessed the knowledge and skills of four and a half billion years. She could do just about anything. After all, her prime directive was nurture and care. As for Olimpia, there was nothing. She wasn’t smart enough to work in the lab on the Dante, and she wasn’t interested in any of the boring sociopolitical stuff. She felt like a fifth wheel with the baby, so she just sat in her room, and started watching Dardieti TV. She found it a little odd. They were speaking English, and they were talking about things she had decent experience with, but it was like they were on a slightly different wavelength. Plus, she was growing bored with it too. What she needed was a native to tell her what historical programs to watch, and which ones to skip. But who has time for that?

This was a big world, and while everyone else was limiting themselves to one tiny sliver of it, she decided to go explore. They had all been able to teleport for a long time now, but hadn’t really used this power for personal reasons. There was always some specific place they needed to be, and some urgent matter to attend to there. She was just going to be a tourist. In a single day, she hiked the Mountains of Opalia, canoed on Azuria Lake, and walked the streets of Quasar City. Now, for no reason at all, she decided to return to Tribulation Island, and take a dip in the completely unpolluted ocean. But when she arrived, she was overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle.

A man in military uniform was barking orders at his soldiers, who were running around, then taking formation around the Nexus. Two helicopters were flying overhead. A fleet of ships sat at various distances in the water. Olimpia thought about just leaving, since this wasn’t her business, but her curiosity got the better of her. She noticed one soldier standing separately from the others, staring out over the sea, instead of towards the Nexus building. “Forgive me. Is it all right if I ask what’s going on here?”

“How did you—oh, Miss Sangster. It’s an honor, but you should leave. It’s not safe here.” She lifted her binoculars back up to scan the horizon.

“What’s happening?”

“There’s been an incursion in the Nexus. And unauthorized visitor has come through. Don’t ask me who were why, because it’s not my job to know. I’m here to keep a lookout, in case the true threat is coming from out there, and the Nexus arrival was nothing more than a distraction.”

Olimpia looked over to see that others like her were staring up at the sky, a few of them with telescopes. “I’ve seen in movies, distractions like that. You’re smart to be concerned with other points of entry.”

“It’s unlikely anyone will come by sea, in such a sparsely populated remote galaxy, but it’s not impossible for someone to have secretly landed in deeper waters, and are now making their way here. We always keep an eye on the vastness, but we’re on high alert right now.”

Olimpia looked behind them. “My team and I just arrived through the Nexus.”

“I am aware.”

“How many visitors do you receive on average?”

“Almost none these days. We don’t make many rescues anymore.”

“So, it’s probably not a coincidence,” Olimpia guessed.

The soldier lowered the binoculars. “That’s why it’s not safe. They could be coming for you. I do not believe your team has been informed of the development, or you would not be the only one here.”

“I teleported here on a whim. I don’t know what the others are doing.”

“I urge you to go find out, to tell no one of what’s happening here, and to never return to the island unless a trusted authority has assured you that it is no longer a risk.”

No. There was no such thing as a coincidence when it came to time travelers. She may have thought that she came to this island just to feel the waves tickle her ankles, but she was here for a reason. It was her job to represent the interests of Team Matic. It was her job to keep the others safe from whatever was going on here. They all had important things to deal with. As the only free agent, it was the least she could do. “Thanks, soldier.” She stepped away and walked up to the General. “Do you know who I am?”

“Yes, Miss Sangster.”

She waited a beat. “Report.”

“A group of six people came through the Nexus. We have safeguards in place that prevent anyone from doing that unless they call ahead.”

“We didn’t call ahead.”

“Unless they call ahead, or it was prearranged,” the General clarified.

She nodded. “What are their names?”

“They’ve not said. They claim to be representatives of a multireality advocacy group working towards a cooperative future in the Sixth Key. I don’t know exactly what that means, but we’ve quarantined them in there until we can figure out how they breached our security, and why we’ve been locked out of the controls.”

“Did they say anything else?”

“They would like to establish diplomatic relations with Dardius.”

She nodded again. “I’m going in.”

The General sighed. “I can’t stop you, but I can advise you to not.”

“Noted,” she said simply. She turned to face the building, and prepared herself. Then she teleported in.

The six strangers were standing in a circle in the Nexus cavity, talking amongst themselves. When one of them noticed Olimpia’s arrival, she indicated as much with her eyes, prompting the others to turn. “Hello.” An apparent leader took one step forward, but stayed in the pit. “My name is Heath Walton of the Third Rail. Do you represent Dardian interests?”

“Dardieti,” she corrected.

He closed his eyelids softly, and nodded. “Apologies.”

“And no, I don’t.” She pulled out her handheld device, and ran a search. Heath Walton did not appear on her list of people she had met. But he was on everyone else’s. “The name of your wife.”

“Marie. Angela Marie Walton.”

“What happened to her?”

“It’s complicated. Do you know her?”

“Why are you here?”

“To establish—”

“Diplomatic relations with Darius,” she interrupted. “Yes, I’ve heard.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “You do not have diplomatic experience yourself, yet they sent you?”

“Nobody sends me anywhere. I do as I please.”

“Ah. So you’re one of the elite travelers; someone so powerful that smart people know that it’s safer to just let you make your own choices than to try to get in your way, and risk turning you into an enemy. Yes, Marie is like that as well.”

“There is a Fifth Divisioner; his name, we’ve never known,” Olimpia began.

Heath’s face fell. He knew where she was going with this.

“He imprisoned Team Matic. What do you know of this?”

Heath nodded. “He was one of the few of us who happened to be in the main sequence during the Reconvergence. A copy of him materialized in the Sixth Key, and he established contact with his alternate self. He joined our group, and we asked him to find and secure Team Matic so they could return to our new universe. I wanted to see my wife again, and to offer them all to join us. They are a source of inspiration for many, and we were hoping they— wait, you’re Olimpia Sangster.”

“And if I am?”

He didn’t really answer the question. “What happened to you was wrong. We charged that man with getting you back to us. He thought that we wanted him to hurt you. He is an idiot, and an asshole, and both versions of him have since been removed from our organization. I apologize for the trouble, and the trauma. That is not what we are about. We are aware of the impending war between realities, and we are doing everything we can to stop it. We came to ask Dardius for its guidance, but since you are here as well, we ask the same of you.”

She scanned the representatives. “Do any of you have powers; temporal, psychic, or otherwise?”

“No, not even the one from the Parallel.” Heath answered, shaking his head.

Olimpia teleported out and returned a minute later with zip ties. “Let the military take you in for questioning. I’ll speak with my friends. We’ll get back to you next year.”

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The Advancement of Mateo Matic: November 21, 2398

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In the main sequence, the concept of international waters was determined by a bunch of people a long time ago who talked about it for a long time, and used math to make clear and mostly unequivocal calculations. In The Third Rail, things went a little bit differently. For much of human history, if one could see land using a normal handheld spyglass, they were floating within territorial waters, and subject to that state’s laws and customs. When two or more states could be viewed from the same point, those states had to come to some kind of agreement, not subject to any outsider’s opinion or authority on the matter. World War I in the 1850s predominantly concerned how boundaries were divided, and who was entitled to what land resources. Each dispute inspired two more fronts to pop up elsewhere, and settle their own grievances. Pretty soon, the whole planet was on fire. The end of The Terrible War—as it was known colloquially, especially at the time—was when all of the major disagreements had been resolved. It was also when a new definition of transboundary waters was established. Basically, if you could defend it with a naval or coastal force, you could have it.

Since then, smaller wars have been fought over further discord, but they were mostly not tied together, and World War II didn’t begin for another 140 years, which finalized a lot of the lingering border ambiguity through treaties and trade agreements. Much of World War III in the 2040s involved starting the argument over again, but this time regarding airspace, as that was the innovation at the time. These laws have not technically changed over the centuries, but the boundaries have naturally become standardized for the majority of nations. It is strikingly similar to the figure used in the main sequence. There, it’s 370 kilometers. Here, it’s 350 kilometers. Unless you’re talking about Panama, where it’s closer to 900 kilometers.

Jamaica, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Ecuador do not have international waters to speak of. They only have a small sliver of internal waters, which essentially come down to how far out a small fishing boat can go for a day of work, and still make it back to shore by nightfall. The wars, the peace negotiations, and the trade policies that led to this interesting situation are impossible to explain on a single page, but the details are irrelevant. Marie, Leona, and their SD6 team need to get into Panama, but none of those other countries listed is willing to host them. The closest they can get is a small island chain straddling the equator called Xeros. Overlaying the correspondence map that Leona created onto this reality’s map makes it obvious that in the main sequence, they’re called the Galápagos Islands. There, they were named for the tortoises that call it home. Here, they’re named for the fact that nothing lives here. The fauna, and much of the flora, was decimated so long ago that the history books don’t remember who was responsible, but they did such a good job of it that these are mostly just made of rocks, sand, and a few shrubs here and there. Tourism does not exist. At all. So at least they have some privacy while the diplo team gets their diplomacy on.

“Hey. Hey look.” Doric has been playing games on his tablet in between scanner updates. “I was right. The dot is definitely in the water now, and closer than last time.”

Marie takes it from him. She looks out over the water, even though the dot is still hundreds of kilometers away. “This looks like an escape pattern. Our target is trying to get out of Panama. Piss and gear up. We’re going in.”

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: November 20, 2398

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Everything worked perfectly yesterday. Leona injected herself with a boost of temporal energy, which allowed her to transport herself and Alyssa out of the Mariana Trench, and back to the lab. There, Ramses provided her with a can of Bermuda Triangle water, which she poured into the engine of the Bridgette. She then commanded the whole vessel to make a jump to the surface of the ocean, and from there, she was able to fly back to Kansas City. It was a circuitous way of getting the job done, but it worked, and now she’s here, so she can focus on getting her husband back yet again. After all of this, she was exhausted, and she knows her body and mind well enough to know their limits. She went to sleep, and didn’t wake up until the next morning.

Leona generates a map over the holotable. This facility was originally equipped with a 3D scanner that would allow medical professionals to examine a patient infected with whatever disease they’re studying. That scanner is still in the infirmary they set aside for themselves, and this one is the backup, which the government team who retrofitted this place modified to be a regular computer display. “Vulcan Point. It’s an island inside of a crater lake on an island in a lake on an island in the ocean. It’s not the only land mass that’s like this, but where we’re from, it’s the most famous. It’s very small, you could maybe build two houses next to each other there, or a single home of decent size. No one has, it’s completely undeveloped, and protected as a wildlife refuge.”

Curtis walks into the room. “Oh, hey, Leona, you’re awake. Can we talk?”

“I’m in the middle of something right now,” she replies.

“Just...do you remember me? Do you remember us?”

“Yes. You and a version of me were partners in more ways than one for three years before she met Horace Reaver in a very old timeline, but I try not to think too much about that reality, because I didn’t ask for those memories to be blended into my brain, and I feel very distant from them.”

“Okay.” Curtis seems to be in a very vulnerable place right now, but taking care of his mental state is not their priority at the moment. It’s certainly not hers.

“Anyway. These are the most recent satellite images of Vulcan Point Island. Like I said, it’s a refuge, so they don’t allow tours, which is why there’s no activity. No boats, no planes, no hiking trails. If we want to go there, we’ll have to teleport, and probably at night, because it may be monitored. If it’s as important as I believe, it may even have some high level deterrence, like Palmeria does.”

“Didn’t Alyssa say that we’re supposed to go there last, like after all the other errors have been found?” Ramses asks.

“That’s what Danica told her, which means that’s what she wants us to do, and I’m not inclined to follow her rules. If she truly wants me to do that, then she can show her face, and tell us in person.”

Ramses stares at her, and doesn’t speak, but Leona can tell that he has more.

“What, Ram?”

“In any movie, when the bad guy gives the good guy a choice of doing it the way he normally would, or going against his instincts, and following the bad guy’s directions, the good guy chooses his instincts, and it always backfires. Leona, it backfires every time. Danica may be expecting you to skip straight to Vulcan Point, knowing full well that one of the errors we find elsewhere would have been helpful in our pursuit of that final destination.”

“This isn’t a movie,” Leona reasons.

“Well, with the Superintendent in the mix, it kind of is. Our lives follow TV tropes, and the most genre savvy amongst us are the ones who do well. That’s why you keep winning, Leona, because you understand how your opponent thinks. Don’t forget that now. Don’t get emotional.”

Leona wants to get mad at Ramses for calling her emotional, like he’s a 1950s boss who can’t recognize the potential in his secretary, but that would be frustratingly ironic. She can’t give in. She just sighs, and looks away.

“I don’t remember saying what I said,” Alyssa begins to break the silence. “But you relayed it to me. I was clearly about to say that Vulcan Point was not going to lead us to Mateo, and I evidently had already said that he would never be coming back. Something must have convinced me of that.”

Leona nods, acknowledging Alyssa’s words, but not quite agreeing with them. “I think Vulcan Point leads us to Danica, and Danica knows when and where Mateo is.” She swipes the map away, and replaces it with the map that’s showing the last known location of the errors as plotted by the brain scanner on the AOC. “She is in this reality. She’s one of these dots. And if she doesn’t want us to go to Vulcan Point, then that’s exactly where we should go.”

“She may not be one of the dots,” Ramses points out. “Alyssa is not a dot, because my scanner doesn’t detect people with powers, just people who have a weird relationship with time, which she hasn’t really experienced yet.”

“Danica definitely has a weird relationship with time,” Leona argues. “She’s billions of years old.”

“I know, but Alyssa was the only person on the Bridgette, wasn’t she? This means that my scanner wasn’t picking up a real error. It just thought there was an error, because of the tech that was installed on the bridge. Surely Danica has a way to shield herself from being seen.”

“Then build another scanner,” Leona suggests. “Build one that detects temporal energy instead, or something like that.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to do,” Ramses tells her. “That’s why I’ve been studying Curtis’ active abilities. It’s...not going well. So far,” he adds, not wanting to plunge her deeper into depression. What he doesn’t do is reiterate the fact that Danica may still be able to shield herself from that. Enemy or no, she’s one of the most powerful people they have faced, if only due to her age. No one else comes close, not even all the Prestons combined.

“I’m fine,” Curtis says, jumping back into the conversation. “I’ve rested enough, so I can get back into the machine.”

“Are you sure?” Ramses asks.

“Put me in, coach.”

Ramses starts running more tests on Curtis’ presumed unique ability to maintain his powers in this reality. Leona, meanwhile, goes back to her room. It was a quarantine cell, so there’s not much here, but it’s good enough. She doesn’t spend much time there before she gets an idea. She has combat experience, and she isn’t doing much good in the lab. They would all probably be better off if she left, and joined Marie out in the field.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: November 17, 2398

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Marie has gotten a lot of steps today, already more than she had yesterday, and it’s not even evening yet. With every orbital pass, the map of the brain scanner errors updates, providing them with a new location of their current target in Paris, France. Whoever it is has been moving around a lot, and they cannot catch up to them. There is no pattern to their movements. Some of the places are good tourist traps, but others are just a random alley, and people’s homes. They appear to be on the move with great purpose. The distance from one location to the next is always short enough to reach within the timeframe, but in some cases, only if they’re being evasive. They never spend too much time in one place, suggesting that they know someone is on their trail, and they’re trying to stay one step ahead. The team is exhausted, and everyone agrees that they need a new tactic. Marie has come up with a plan, but it’s best done after nightfall, so they ignore the next two pings, and wait it out in their small Parisian safehouse.

Three hours later, Marie takes the auto-injector out of her pack. Ramses was embarrassed that they were still using regular syringes up until this point for emergency jolts of temporal energy, but it’s fine. She has it now, and it’s time to use it, even though it’s not technically an emergency. For some reason, she feels like this is going to be a bigger deal than the other times she’s used the stuff. It’s not. She jams it into her leg, presses the button, and feels the usually temperate surge of electricity all over her body.

“Tell me again why you can’t just give us one of those too?” Esmé asks. She just won’t let it go. She’s not a very good diplomat, which is annoying, but Marie isn’t in charge of choosing her own team. Perhaps if she had stayed with the organization fulltime, she might have more pull.

“This doesn’t give me the ability to teleport,” Marie explains once more. “My body was designed with the power. This injector reactivates what’s already there. If I gave you one, it would do nothing. At best, it would add a whopping one hour to your lifespan.”

“I’ll...take it,” Esmé declares. She pretends to not notice Marie rolling her eyes.

“It’s almost time.” Agent Filipowski holds the tablet in front of Marie’s face.

Specialist Cleary and Officer Sharrow take their positions on either side of Marie. “Keep an eye on our realtime pins,” she instructs Doric. She can only carry two other people with her. “I may have to transport our target to a third location.”

“Understood.”

The tablet beeps. “Shit.” They’re at the Eiffel tower. Ramses’ scanner can’t accurately distinguish elevation. They could be on the ground, at the top, or anywhere in between. Plus, even this late, there are going to be tons of people there. They can’t just jump around a few times to look for them. Marie has to make a split second decision, and the rest of her team isn’t going to like it. “I’ll stay in contact, I promise.”

“What are you going to do?” Esmé questions.

“It’s too risky to move in a group.” Marie pulls herself away from the other two, and makes the jump. She’s on the ground underneath the tower. It’s one of the many unusual things about this reality, which is strikingly similar to the main sequence, even with a profoundly altered historical timeline. The primary difference here is that the beams are made of steel, rather than iron. She calls Ramses. “Hey, are ya busy?”

“No, what’s up?” Ramses replies.

“Can you see where I am?”

“Gotcha right here.” The scanner has always picked up on the rest of the time travelers in the group, as they qualify as temporal errors. They have always filtered out and ignored each other, but it’s useful now. “Who’s that with you, Leona? We can’t get a hold of her.”

“No one is with me. The second dot is our target. I lost access to the map. How far away are they?”

“About twenty meters southwest. You better hurry. They’ll go out of range again within ten minutes at the most.”

Marie starts to run. There’s a larger group of people over there, so she could really do with an investigator, but she’s alone, and that was her choice.

“Stop!” Ramses warns. “Two hundred meters directly south of you.”

“They’re a teleporter.”

“Yes.”

“Just like me.” Marie focuses on visualizing the distance, then covers it with another jump. There are fewer people around here, but she still has no idea who she’s looking for. She starts to scan them, hoping to see someone suspicious. She does in a man who’s staring right back at here. Now she has a face. If she doesn’t get him today, she will later. He can’t hide forever.

He teleports away again.

“Jump to the ship,” Ramses tells her.

Marie looks up to the sky, and jumps to the main level of the AOC.

Ramses is waiting for her. He tosses her a handheld device. “He jumped another five hundred meters. Go get him.”

Five hundred meters. That’s an increase, but still not very far as teleporters go. He clearly realizes that he’s being tracked, and he doesn’t want to be caught. That’s fair, he doesn’t know that she could be a friendly. She doesn’t know that either, but she hopes she is. If he’s so worried, though, there must be a reason he’s not bailing to Madagascar or Argentina, or something. Either something is keeping him in the city, or his power has limited range. Regardless, they have to find him. If Ramses can learn why this reality isn’t suppressing his abilities, it will take them one step closer to solving the problem for everyone. She looks at the map, and focuses on the dot. She jumps down to him, and without giving him any chance to react, wraps her arms around him. She then makes one final jump, back to the AOC.

“Curtis Duvall.” Arcadia smiles at him.

“Oh, Leona.” The man goes over and gives her a big hug. “If I had known that you were involved, I never would have kept running.”

“Yes, Leona is involved,” Arcadia confirms, “but I’m not her. I was accidentally placed in this body. I’m Arcadia Preston.”

He nods like that makes total sense. “I don’t know who that is.”

Arcadia narrows her eyes at him. “Which timeline are you from?”

“I don’t know,” Curtis argues. “Why would I know that? What do you want me to do, give it a random designation, like Six-One-Six or Earth-X? I’m from the timeline where I’m from!” That’s a fair point.

“I don’t care about that,” Ramses says dismissively. “I wanna know how you can teleport when no one else in the world still has their time powers.”

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: June 6, 2398

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Ramses is standing, but hunched over, hands in a steeple over his mouth. He’s looking at the floor as the rest of the team looks at him from the audience, and waits patiently. No one has anything else to do for the rest of the evening, so they might as well just give him the time he needs. Finally, he drops his arms, and picks the book up from his chair. “This book could hold the key to everything we ever needed to know about this world, and the next. I’ve read it twice already, and there is no denying that it was written by a time traveler, or perhaps a human compatriot. The attention to detail is unmatched even by The Superintendent’s words. At first, I thought maybe this was all a coincidence, and I didn’t know exactly what I was reading. I didn’t recognize any of the names of the characters, but upon my second time, I realized they were surely changed to protect the real individuals. There’s a family of powerful people who are obviously the Prestons. There are two people who call themselves gargoyles. There are even those I recognize as leaders of the Freemarketeer movement that I was a part of. That’s the focus of the story. The travelers are really just secondary to a historical account of 22nd and 23rd century Sol.” He stops to gauge their reactions. “Nothing?”

“Wait, are you done?” Mateo asks.

“No, I just thought...isn’t this exciting?” 

“Yeah, of course,” Mateo agrees. “We just didn’t want to interrupt. Who’s the author?”

“It’s a man by the name of Ildemire Lorenz. I did a little digging, and I believe that he’s still alive, and doing so in an Austrian city called Innsbruck.”

Leona taps the query into her tablet, sets the device on Ramses’ chair, and throws a hologram into the space between them and Ramses. “It’s not too terribly far from Croatia. We were planning on going to Austria anyway before sneaking over a couple borders.”

“Well...we were,” Mateo corrects. Everybody already knows by now that Mateo, Ramses, and Marie will be doing this one alone.

“Hold on, hold on, hold on,” Heath jumps in. “You’re just going to add a new destination to the itinerary. It’s not even on the list.”

“We had no reason to believe that anywhere in Austria belonged on the list before,” Mateo explains. “Now we do. It’s probably our best lead since The Constant imploded.”

“This is what you’re gonna do?” Heath asks his wife. “You’re gonna go on a mission just before your procedure?”

“It’s just talking to someone,” Marie defends.

“That doesn’t mean it won’t be dangerous,” Angela says. “I don’t like that the three of you are doing this alone. I don’t like that our bruiser isn’t going with you.”

“I don’t either,” Leona concedes, “but I have work to do, and even though I don’t always have to be in the office, it’s best that I stay close; as I’m able, anyway.”

“The fact of the matter is that it’s Marie’s decision,” Mateo reminds them. “Ram and I will go wherever, whenever, and do whatever. If you just want to go straight to the doctor, that’s all right.”

“We need a good reason to be in Europe,” Marie decides after a certain amount of time. “A short tour is a good idea. We could visit Germany, Czechia, and hell, maybe even where London ought to be. The longer we stay in places other than Croatia, the more time we’ll have to slip away unnoticed, and take care of business.”

“If that’s what you wanna do, then I support you,” Heath says. “I can’t go with you anymore, but I can use my excellent travel agent skills, and plan it for you. Would this be acceptable?”

“I would love that,” Marie tells him graciously. “He’s really good at it. He told me about how he planned a family reunion at age thirteen.”

“I can’t remember why they asked me to do it,” Heath adds. “I guess they just saw my potential. Or they just didn’t want to deal with it themselves.”

“There’s another order of business,” Leona begins, “if we’re quite finished with the Innsbruck one for now.”

“There’ve been so many,” Angela says with a laugh.

Leona reaches over to select a recording on her phone. The forger’s voice comes through, “how would you handle someone like me? Would you teleport into my house at night, and slit my throat?” Mateo was secretly live-streaming the maddening conversation. It was his idea.

“Who are you, and why do you want me to become a federal agent? What can I do that you can’t do yourself, or have done for you by someone you know you can trust?” Mateo’s voice returns.

“I’m the only one in this world who’s on your side. The war is coming, Mr. Matic. You can either support the war effort, or put a stop to it. You’ll need a badge either way.”

Mateo releases a frustrated sigh. “Looks like you got me by the balls.”

“I wish.”

Leona pauses playback. “All right, that’s enough. You get the point.”

“That sounded like the forger,” Ramses figures.

“It was,” Mateo confirms. “I’m a little suit piggy now. She’s going to make me go on missions, or whatever. I don’t know what she has planned.”

“What does that mean for us?” Marie questions.

“It means that my husband is leaving the country without telling this woman anything about it, and if she needs someone to complete one of her missions, then I’ll do it in his stead.”

“How exactly do you think that’s gonna work?” Heath questions.

“Oh, I’ll make it work. That’s what The Olimpia is for. You don’t have to tell no one where you’re going. I’m sure she’ll make the appropriate arrangements when she realizes I’m a better choice. I’m going to pay her a visit tomorrow. You three just need to focus on getting packed and ready to leave. We’ll handle the war at home.”

Microstory 1730: The Crux

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No one is old enough to remember what happened. It’s always just sort of been this way; a hill in the center of our little doughnut-shaped town where four roads meet. I don’t mean that it’s two roads crossing each other. Each of the four has its own name, and while it’s not impossible to get from one to the other by driving over what we unofficially call The Crux, it’s not recommended for regular cars. The hill is deceptively steep, and for some reason, it’s always rather muddy halfway up, on all sides. It’s a bit of a pain, but it’s much more reasonable to go around it on one of the other roads. It’s not a problem for people who live here. We know the hill is there, and we know heading towards it is going to get us nowhere...unless we’re trying to get to the hill itself, of course. Tourism is already hard to come by for us, and this just makes it harder. None of the internet maps knows it’s there, and don’t know it’s a bit of an impediment, so they direct folks right through it. We keep trying to get them to remove it from their system as a traversable road, but we’ve had no luck so far. Again, with the right vehicle, it’s possible to drive over it, but we’ve had some issues with people who don’t know what they’re doing. We actually have four ways of getting out of such a mess if it happens to you. The auto repair shop is on South Avenue, the county’s largest tow truck company is on Backbone Road, the dealership is on Krouka, and there’s a gas station on Heap Lane. It’s not all that necessary—problems don’t occur all that often—but it’s nice to know that people will have options, so they’ll think twice about saying bad things about us. Crux notwithstanding, ours is a fine town, with good, progressive people, who like to lead the simple life, but understand how the city operates, and why others would prefer it.

Anyway, today I’m sitting on top of the Crux with a bunch of friends. It’s got a good vantage point of the surrounding area, so we hang out there all the time. Flat Kansas being what it is, it’s nice to be above it all sometimes, ya know? So we’re sitting there, watching a small car we don’t recognize come down Krouka. They probably drove in from Great Bend, looking to fish in our world famous pond, where it’s pretty much guaranteed you’ll catch something. As the car approaches, we realize just how tiny it is. I bet only two people could fit in that thing, and maybe one bag each. There is no way it’s gonna make it up the Crux. We don’t even bother picking up our chairs to get out of the way this time. That little thing comes up there, from this perspective, lookin’ like a ground squirrel wondering if the mailbox poll drops nuts. It slows down, but doesn’t stop. Most people get out, and take a look around when they don’t know what the hell is going on here. They’re holding their phones, and spinning around to see if they’re facing the wrong direction. These people don’t even do that. They stop for five seconds, back up about fifty meters, and then gun it. They go towards this hill as fast as they possibly can, and they make it up pretty far. My best friend inches over to the side, afraid we’re all wrong, and they’ll actually go all the way. It doesn’t. It stops midway, and rolls back down, smoothly, though, like they saw it was gonna happen, and put it in neutral to be safe. Some of us laugh, but most are relieved, because we know how bad it can get. We’re about to go down to tell them about the dealership when their car transforms. This...laser gun—I guess you would call it—comes out from under the hood, and blasts a tunnel into the hill. We later see it’s large enough to fit a semi-truck. They even laser the other two roads, before driving off without so much as a you’re welcome.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: November 29, 2267

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Nerakali smiled when she saw that the Matics had agreed to stay on mission with her. They were ready to do what needed to be done, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have questions. “Where did you get these devices?”

“Where does anyone ever get any temporal objects?” Nerakali answered with a question. “Mostly from Holly Blue.”

“Holly Blue,” Leona posed, “or Weaver?” They were both technically the same person, but the former was native to this reality, while the latter came from an earlier one.

“I honestly do not know,” Nerakali said.

“But you know where they come from,” Mateo began, “because you called them Cassidy cuffs.”

“Yes, I know about Cassidy Long. Before you freak out, I have no ill will towards her. I’m the one who found her for her mother, Étude back in the day.”

“Oh, yeah,” Leona admitted. “You did mention that.”

“I don’t like that these things exist,” Mateo lamented. “I don’t like to think about what had to happen to her to make them exist.”

“Knowing both of them,” Nerakali said, “it was an agreement between the two of them. I can’t imagine she was hurt by it.”

“She was, at the very least, exposed by it,” Leona pointed out. “These things are dangerous. We’re trusting you with them, but what happens when the wrong people gain access to them?”

“That’s true of everything,” Nerakali said, “especially when you factor in time travel. If something can exist, it probably does eventually, which means it does always. If you’re going to keep going with the mission, that’s something you’re going to have to wrap your brains around. When we destroy the hundemarke, we’re not undoing all the bad it’s caused. Those are quite literally inevitable. All we can do is prevent its future use. Though, of course, what exactly does future use even mean in this context? It’s all very confusing, and I make no guarantees about the outcome.”

“We understand.”

They took a couple hours to admire their surroundings. This was Machu Picchu in the year 2266. According to records, the historical site was closed off to tourists over two hundred and thirty years ago. Fortunately, before that happened, highly advanced drones were dispatched to capture three-dimensional data of the entire area. Afterwards, a fourth-dimensional layer was added based on predictive modeling, which allowed audiences to witness what the hillside city would have looked like as it was being built, after construction was complete, and over the centuries, as it fell apart. These were all plugged into a virtual reality construct which tourists were then able to visit instead, without having to worry about damaging the site further with foot traffic. Just about every wonder of the world, and other important historical locations, were given this treatment. While the majority of cities and highways were demolished so that living accommodations could be consolidated on the surface of the Earth, truly important places, like this one, were either maintained and preserved, or left entirely alone.

Of course, they weren’t allowed to be there, but what was the point of being a time traveler if one couldn’t enjoy a few exemptions and privileges? They slept in a moderately sized tent that Nerakali had for them in her bag of holding, and woke up the next morning in 2267. They weren’t in Machu Picchu anymore, though. No, this was a very different place—just as wondrous, but on the other side of the world—The Great Wall of China. At least that was what Mateo guessed. They were standing next to a giant wall that looked like it went on forever. “Not that I’m not impressed, but...what are we doing here?”

“You guys wanted a vacation, right?”

“We don’t use that word,” Leona warned her. According to Nerakali, there was nothing they could do for the mission quite yet. The problem was, whenever they claimed they were on a day off of some kind, that was when some giant interruption came to attack them. What was it going to be this time?

“Oo, umm...I think I get it.” Nerakali thought about what she was going to say. “Okay, so this is research for our mission. We’re gonna be going all over the world to look for my mother. You have not had a whole lot of experience doing that. I mean, I know you’ve been to other planets and such, but this could still help. You need to see what things look like nowadays. What better way to do that than to go to famous historical places?” She showcased the wall with her hands. “This is called The Great Wall of China. Well, it’s one section of it. We’re going to be seeing the rest of it here in a minute.”

“I don’t remember the exact number,” Leona said, but that should take years. It’s thousands of kilometers long.”

“Yes,” Nerakali agreed. “Fortunately, someone has already walked it for us.” She approached the wall, and examined it to look for a particular stone, When she found it, pricked her finger with a needle, and rubbed a little bit of her blood on it. The stone was a little reddish, suggesting that others had previously done the same. The stone swung out, and revealed a secret compartment. Inside of it were several sets of booties, like a contractor would use to walk through a client’s clean home. “You know how Google hired people to drive, ride, boat, and hike all over the world, so others can enjoy their journey on the maps program?”

“Of course,” Leona said.

Mateo nodded.

Nerakali went on, “Well, we have our own version of that. His name is The Adventurer, and instead of just snapping photos, and stitching them together, he records a four-dimensional walkthrough of places like this. These booties let you walk thirteen thousand miles in his shoes in a matter of hours, but you have to actually go there; it doesn’t simply require an internet connection.”

“Oh, that’s amazing,” Mateo said as he was putting on his booties.

“You would think so,” Nerakali agreed, “but his hard work isn’t as appreciated in our world as it should be. He leaves these things for anyone with the right blood to access, but few take him up on his offer. I guess they just don’t see it as much of a gift.”

“Well,” Leona said, “we see it.”

And so, after breaking camp, they climbed up to the top of the wall, and slid along the whole twenty-one thousand kilometer structure, from one end to the other. For the sake of time, they programmed their booties to take them at maximum speed, which was around mach 3.4, so they were done with the whole thing in under six hours. They stopped at a few places to rest, and take in the view in realtime. Once they were finished with it, they jumped to other amazing places; ancient dig sites, pyramids, museums that were still standing, and whatnot. They packed multiple lifetimes worth of world travel into a single day. They were extremely exhausted from the experience, but profoundly grateful for it. As easy as it would be for other time travelers, what they did was probably pretty rare; maybe even unique, and that made it something special. Nerakali could just be playing the long game, and turn out to be evil, and working against them, but right now, Mateo and Leona would have to consider her a dear friend.

When it was over, they stopped in the middle of a forest to camp again. Nerakali said it was safer to be away from people. To put it another way, it would be easier to track them if they stayed under security cameras, and in front of witnesses. They couldn’t be sure no one was trying to stop them, even though they had no specific knowledge of any opposition. As far as they could tell, Savannah Preston had no clue that anyone was working against her, or that her own daughter would be a threat to her, but perhaps they were mistaken. Perhaps they just didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. They had their fun today, but it was time to circle the wagons, and remain vigilant. Danger could come from anywhere, and at anytime. They still felt pretty safe going to sleep, though. Nerakali set up temporal wards around them. They weren’t strong enough to keep attackers out completely, but they would hopefully slow them down, and give the three of them enough time to bug out. They slept soundly, and didn’t wake up until 2268 when one of these wards was triggered.

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The Advancement of Mateo Matic: November 12, 2250

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A year later, Leona came back to find the warehouse having been fully revamped to accommodate Tamerlane’s needs. A water tank big enough to house several families back on Varkas Reflex was constructed in the corner, just as the scientist had requested. She could only see half of it from the inside, as the other half was outside, to give specimens a more pleasing and calming view. It wasn’t filled with water, or any animals yet. Tamerlane and his team were only working on building the catalog. They wanted to know every single macroscopic species this world had to offer, starting with the ones living in the closest habitats. It took humanity thousands of years to accomplish this back on Earth, but technology today was unlike anything that existed before. Sophisticated aircraft, microdrones, and artificial intelligence made the process so much faster. They also didn’t have to worry about procuring money for research purposes anymore, so when a job needed to be done, the people in charge of doing it just went out and did it.

The catalog might not have been quite complete as of yet, but they were already starting to prioritize species; which ones would visitors wish to observe the most, and how difficult will it be to build the necessary substrates. Once this is finished, they’ll study those species more comprehensively, to understand their moods and behaviors. A particular animal might be almost always solitary, and extremely territorial. Individuals may only interact with each other for breeding. So maybe it would be impossible to get too close to it without causing agitation. Or it enjoys some symbiotic relationship with an entirely different kind of animal, and it would be best for a vonearthan to pilot an artificial version of that instead.

Homebase itself was enlarged to become a campus. Trinity wanted to keep all her people real close, including Tamerlane. Ellie’s new studio was currently empty as she was on a several-month long vacation. She was still around, so she wanted to call it a staycation, but Sanaa said that was illegal. Her radio show didn’t take a hit since it didn’t matter when she worked. When she finally returned to it, no one will have noticed her absence, because she’ll pick it up three minutes later. Sanaa requested Trinity commission the construction of a water tank system of her own, separate from Tamerlane’s special one. She had gotten used to living in oxygen-rich water some of the time, so even though that was not necessary on Thālith al Naʽāmāt Bida, it still worked fine. Eight Point Seven was currently questioning her own future, and considering starting to work for Tamerlane, who had offered her a new job.

“What exactly is it you’ll be doing?” Leona asked while they were all eating lunch, and Eight Point Seven was sitting with them.

“Well, Pryce needs someone to test his mind transference technology. My consciousness is perfect for this, because I was created by code, unlike a human or transhuman.”

“Right,” Leona said, “but AIs probably won’t be doing a whole lot of immersive animal tourism. So doesn’t he need human subjects anyway?”

“In time, yes,” Eight Point Seven agreed. “But in the beginning, he has to make sure it’s safe.”

Trinity scoffed. “Doesn’t sound like him.”

“He said you’d say that,” Eight Point Seven revealed, causing Trinity to purse her lips. “He really does seem like he wants to change.”

“It sounds dangerous,” Sanaa noted.

Eight Point Seven nodded. “That’s why I’m thinking about doing it. I can keep a backup of my mind.”

“So can a transhuman,” Leona reminded her.

“Yes, but I’m better at it. Guys, I’m not a hundred percent certain I’m going to do it, but I am leaning that way.”

“You’re not the only android on the planet,” Leona whined.

“Of course not, but I’m already fully briefed on the situation. I’m the most logical option.”

“Trinity,” Leona prodded. “You haven’t really expressed your opinion on this issue.”

“It’s not an issue,” Trinity said. “Eight Point Seven is twenty-seven years old, which means that, even if she were human, she would be an adult, and capable of making her own decisions. I’ve asked Tamerlane to do this for Bida, and his request for help with a pilot program is not an unreasonable one.” She hushed Leona when she tried to argue. “Of course, I won’t allow anyone to be forced into this, so if Eight Point Seven decides to decline, he’ll have to find someone else.”

“What if everyone decides to decline?” Sanaa’s instinct was to look for the worst case scenario, so she could avoid it.

“Then he’ll have to do it himself, or scrap the project entirely. I’m not going to breach ethics,” Trinity promised, “for any reason. I feel like you guys aren’t giving me enough credit here.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be the first time,” Sanaa said. It was a bit rude, but not untrue.

“I won’t be judged by you, Miss History of Eavesdropping on People’s Sensitive Thoughts.”

“Hey!” Sanaa shouted. “Only my mother gets to call me that!” she joked.

“Can we get back to Eight Point Seven?” Leona requested. “What could I do to talk you out of this?”

“I’m a machine,” Eight Point Seven began. “I have feelings and empathy, but it’s still hard for me to make decisions based on emotion, whereas that is a human being’s resting state. Make no mistake, I’m not criticizing you for that. It’s a useful skill that I have not quite learned. If you want me to change my mind, don’t appeal to that side of me. Convince me with logic.”

Leona carefully set her utensils back on her plate, and stood up. “Very well. I will return this evening with my argument.”

Eight Point Seven smiled. “I look forward to hearing it.”

Leona left campus to take a walk along Turnbull Creek. Ellie caught up with her minutes later, and made sure Leona didn’t want to be alone.

“No, I would love the company. And the distraction. I can’t figure this out.”

“Maybe there’s nothing to figure out,” Ellie suggested.

“How so?”

“Well, you’re trying to stop your friend from doing something that could cause her harm. People do things like that all the time, and still survive. Science doesn’t happen without risk.”

“Are you about to argue how it’s ultimately good that it took us so long to develop ethical boundaries? We wouldn’t have spaceships today if we were moral enough to not send a dog to die into orbit, right?”

“Well, it’s true, isn’t it? By the way, that dog survived. Saga accidentally opened a door, and saved him. Look, I don’t love that we did that sort of thing, and much, much worse. Nonetheless, you have to admit that humanity might have only survived because we broke a few of what we now consider to be moral laws. The difference here is exactly what Trinity said. Eight Point Seven is capable of agreeing to this, so I’m not sure where your argument against it begins.”

“Okay, well let’s ignore the ethics for now,” Leona started, but then stopped herself. “No, I’m drifting towards appealing to her emotions, and how I would hate for something to happen to her. There is no logical reason for her to not do this, except it might kill her. She already knows that, so what else can I say?”

“It sounds like you’ve realized it doesn’t matter. A solar flare from Tau Ceti could devastate this world tomorrow, and destroy every backup of her entirely. Not even someone like her is safe from annihilation. The universe is a very unforgiving place, as they say. I think you not only have to let it go, but also have to encourage her to do what she thinks is right.”

“There’s a one in three hundred and sixty-five chance I’ll be able to help her if something goes wrong,” Leona complained.

“There’s even less of a chance that you have enough experience and education to help her even if you’re in the timestream.” It was cold, but true. Ellie went on, “she would never tell you this, but she’s been battling depression, and trying to figure out her purpose ever since you two left Bungula. She was built to be the administrator of a planet for one month, and then she was meant to die. I’m not saying she has a death wish now, but she doesn’t know what she’s supposed to do. Apparently, it’s a not uncommon experience amongst AI. If they’re self-aware, they can’t be destroyed, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need to be replaced. A human can always find joy in something else, but like she was kind of trying to say, it’s not that easy for them.”

“I’ve never really thought much about that,” Leona said. “When you skip so much time, it’s easy to miss how taxing prolonged existence can be.”

“Hashtag the struggle is real,” Ellie mused.

“I suppose I ought to go apologize and support her, huh?”

“I can’t tell you what to do.”

Leona turned heel, and started walking back towards Homebase. “So tell me, what made you decide to come to Bida?”

“I don’t much care for staying in one place and time period for too long.”

“You can’t jump through time, though. How do you find rides?”

“I can seek people across spacetime, and once I find them, I can talk to them. I have no trouble finding rides.”

“How long do you plan on staying here?”

“I don’t plan on anything. When I feel it’s time to move on, I do. Trinity commissioned a pretty nice studio, though, so that’s doing quite a bit to keep me in place. Of course, since my radio show sends messages through time anyway, I won’t have to do it forever.”

This made sense. The Hub—which would be found on Tribulation Island on the planet Dardius—only operated for several decades. If one wanted to visit, or was assigned there, no matter what year it was for them, they could arrive within that relatively short span of time. Beaver Haven Rehabilitation Center did the same thing, only lasting 164 years before shutting down, which would more than account for the longest living inmates, excepting immortals. Those exceptions were banished to the most remote points in spacetime.

Leona and Ellie returned to Homebase, having barely been gone twenty minutes. Leona found Eight Point Seven in her office. She was organizing the plantlife catalog, which was less important, but still necessary to assemble. She apologized, which of course, Eight Point Seven had no use for, and conceded the argument. Perhaps what was bothering Leona so much was that she herself seemed to have no purpose. It was kind of a long time coming. She gradually amassed a number of highly intelligent individuals over the years, and general scientific progress was quickly surpassing anything she so much as dreamed of. Was this how Mateo felt all the time? It was awful. What was she going to do with her life, and did the powers that be have any ideas?

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