The Advancement of Mateo Matic: April 24, 2048

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Aura asked Mateo and Leona to hand over the information regarding her daughter’s disappearance, and also for them to stay out of the investigation. They would only be able to help once every year, and she still felt uncomfortable about Mateo’s prior relationship with his own half-sister. She didn’t voice her concerns over the second part, but it was implied. When the two of them returned in 2048, there was apparently no news on the matter. Frida/Aquila was nowhere to be found. It was a longshot, because it was pretty clear that she was one of them. If the powers that be didn’t want someone to learn something, then they wouldn’t, and nothing was going to change that.

For the first time in a long time, Mateo and Leona had nothing to do. They didn’t have to break someone out of prison, or run for their lives from that person. They didn’t have to search for information, or go to a funeral, or have kidney surgery. “Honestly,” he said after waking up, “I can’t help but be bored.”

“I know,” Leona agreed. “I was sort of getting used to a life of constant urgency. Our brief moments of respite were filled only with anticipation for the next crisis. I don’t know what to do with myself.”

“What does one do with a life such as this?”

“No clue.”

Mateo’s birth father, Mario had been behind them for an unknown amount of time. “I have an idea.” He touched both of their shoulders and pulled them away.

They found themselves in some kind of body of water. It didn’t seem too deep while they were swimming over to the nearest bit of land. There were tall cliffs all around them, like they were sitting in some kind of giant bowl. “When are we?” Leona asked.

“Same time,” Mario explained. “Well, I think we’ve jumped a few hours into the future. Well...maybe several hours. I don’t know where we are, though.”

“Some kind of crater lake,” Leona said, just off the top of her head.

Mateo pulled out his phone and looked at the GPS. “It says Rapa Nui.”

“That’s another name Easter Island,” Leona said, again just off the top of her head. “Why did you bring us here?”

“The powers brought us here. I’m just the medium.”

“In your experience,” Leona began, “what might a reason be?”

“My sister teleported all over the place, helping people. I, on the other hand, help people help other people. I save boy scouts...proverbially.”

“So it is actually the two of us who are supposed to help someone?” Mateo asked, but it wasn’t so much of a question.

“Yeah, I would think—” Mario began, but then blinked out of sight.

“Well, that was helpful,” Mateo said. “How the hell are we supposed to get out of here?”

“We climb, of course. You were the one complaining about not having anything to do.”

“So were you.”

It took them a few hours of slipping, stumbling, and cursing, but they did manage to climb out of the crater, and survived to tell the tale. Upon reaching the summit, they found themselves face to face with a series of guns. “Mateo?” a familiar voice came from the back. He gently moved the gunmen to the side and stepped forward. It was Gilbert Boyce, the man they had agreed to free from Reaver’s prison a few days ago. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re...uh,” Leona stammered. “We’re here to help.”

Gilbert studied their faces for a moment and a half before shrugging. “I don’t know how you do it, but it wouldn’t be the first time you appeared out of nowhere and helped me out, so I guess I’m gonna go with the flow.” He helped her off the ground as his men lowered their weapons.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Into the crater,” Gilbert answered.

“We just came from there,” Mateo whined.

“It’s the only way.”

“What’s down there?”

“You’ll see,” Gilbert said ominously. The team slowly and carefully made the trek down the slope of the crater. Mateo was getting a decent workout today, and was not particularly happy about it. He took back what he said about being bored. That was the ideal. Once they were at the bottom, Gilbert took out a map and started comparing it to landmarks around them. “This way.”

Leona took a peek. “Please don’t tell me that’s a treasure map.”

“Of course not,” Gilbert said, much to their relief. “Okay, that’s a lie. It is. There’s a secret entrance nearby.”

“And you’re going to be the first to find it.”

“Since the ancients, yes.”

“That sounds crazy.”

“I literally did not ask you to come.”

Leona pulled Mateo to the side and whispered to him, “it’s dangerous for us to be underground during a timeslip. Erosion, flooding, bats. It’s just over an hour to midnight central. We can’t risk it.”

“The powers that be have a plan. We either follow it or try to subvert it. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had much luck going against their wishes. They want us here, we’re here.”

Gilbert called to them while unpacking supplies, “are you two coming, or not? Honestly, I can’t say which I prefer.”

“We’re leaving,” Leona said, but only to Mateo. She took his arm and began to lead him away, but stopped short.

Frida was standing in front of them. She had not changed a bit. “Go with them, Leona,” she instructed before disappearing, like any salmon would.

“You saw that, right?” Mateo asked.

“Yes. We have to go.” But she was not happy about it.

“I’m not a huge fan of this one.”

“This one what?” she asked.

“This day. This year. I guess it’s good that we’ll be done with it soon, though.”

“Let’s just hope we don’t accidentally timejump off a cliff.”

Gilbert nodded to them, fortunately without having seen Frida’s sudden appearance. He addressed his men, “two of you will need to go down with your own lungs. We didn’t bring extra rebreathers.”

“Actually, we have our own,” Mateo said.

“Rule number seven,” Leona noted. “Pack the essentials, and always keep them within reach.”

“Serendipitous,” Gilbert said. “It’ll take us a few minutes to get through the tunnel and up into the grotto.”

“Assuming it even exists,” Mateo pointed out.

“Exactly,” Gilbert agreed.

They all put on their rebreathers and dove into the water. It took them awhile before finding it, but there was indeed what appeared to be a secret tunnel. It could likely not be found by anyone not looking for it. They snaked their way in one by one, and about ten minutes later, were able to surface in the grotto. The walls were covered in some kind of greenish-bluish glowing something or other. It was stunningly beautiful. Leona walked over to the cave wall and examined it. “Glow worms. Like the ones in New Zealand.”

“Are they dangerous?” Mateo asked in fear.

She shrugged. “Might could be. Don’t touch them.”

Gilbert stopped looking at the worms and went back to his map. He turned it around, wrestled with it, and peered closer.

“Do you know where you’re going?” Mateo asked.

“Of course I do,” he said, to their relief. “That was another lie. This is pretty much as far as the map goes. There’s another map, but I was not able to procure it.”

“Well, what are we looking for down here?”

“You’ll see.”

“Stop saying that!”

“Again, I don’t even know why you’re here!” Gilbert yelled. He pointed down the corridor. “I’m going forward. You may leave at any time. But I’m done with your complaints.”

That was actually kind of fair. Kind of. The team pressed on down the corridor. The glow worms never disappeared completely, but there were fewer and fewer of them as they moved. When finally they found themselves in another large chamber, full of twice as many worms as the first, nearly an hour had gone by. Leona’s watch beeped. “It’s time, Mateo. Whatever we’re supposed to do, it will have to wait for next year.”

“What does that mean?” Gilbert asked. “Why do you only show up once a year?”

She ignored him. “Get in the middle of the room. It’ll be the safest place for us.” She and Mateo huddled together and prepared themselves.

Midnight came and went. They were still in the same place, and the team was just staring at them. “Are you two okay?”

“We’re still here!” Leona cried with excitement.

“The cave must be protecting us.”

“Frida is protecting us.”

Gilbert turned his head to get a better listen with his lizard brain. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” The sound of rushing water could be heard in the distance, back down the corridor from where they had come, and it was growing closer. “Um...run.”

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Superpowers: Swarm (Part V)

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Not ten years prior to the beginning of Governor Stockton and Federama’s plans to disarm the entire world, Usonia began to interfere in the business of other nations. Even though they were against Federama’s tactics, they were also glad to no longer be the focus of international outcry. The nation that felt the most slighted by Usonia’s persistent military presence was Korea. The great irony during Federama’s grand mission was that the nation with the lowest number of nuclear arms simultaneously had the highest number of military personnel overall. The more nuclear weapons that Federama took from the world, the more powerful Korea became.

To make matters worse, China’s feelings regarding Federama’s mission had not wavered, and they were traditionally close allies with Korea. In fact, China was often noted by scholars as playing a pivotal role in the reunification of Korea into a nation run by a single government. This was a major blow to the original allies of South Korea; Usonia and the United Kingdom in particular. World War IV was on everyone’s minds. If Korea began an aggressive campaign against just about anyone, this war was inevitable, and Federama’s nuclear stockpile would not be enough to stop it. Assuming Stockton’s new peace allies somehow agreed to provide military aid to Usonia and the U.K., Korea’s and China’s forces still outnumbered them two to one.

“Did you not see this coming?” asked Yorick Elder, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. He had traveled to Federama to personally discuss the looming threat.

“You mean, did I predict that Korea would threaten the world with total annihilation? No. Not to this degree, I didn’t.”

“I still presume you have a plan.”

“Why?”

“Because you apparently have thus far.”

“This is different. We’re talking guerilla warfare. I know very little about that. I’ve spent my entire life researching nuclear weapons.”

“What did you think was going to happen?” Elder asked. “You would destroy all nuclear weapons and we would all throw up our hands and agree that peace was the only option? Did you think war was no longer a concept we were capable of fathoming.”

“Well, n...no—” Stockton stammered.

“Because people were doing a fine job killing each other before the Amadesins sent that bomb that killed your family.”

“Now, listen here—”

“No, you listen! You thought you had something here. And I’m sure your final plan for this mission was going to be spectacular, and paradigm-shifting! But you clearly bit off more than you could chew, and had no idea what the world was going to look like for decades to come. You’ve been relying on your painstakingly detailed sneakery, and the global public forum, but now we’re in the nitty gritty. Now someone has made a choice you did not foresee, and you called me in to clean up your mess. You called me instead of President Cross because you figured I would be more likely to help you, and know how to do so.”

Governor Stockton waited with passive-aggressive patience, but then spoke again, “well? Do you know what to do?”

“I do, but you’re not going to like it.”

“What is it?”

“Swarming.”

“Swarming?”

“Swarming.”

“Like bees, or ants?”

“Like soldiers. The only way to overtake the Korean military, and prevent China from coming to their rescue is to swarm the peninsula quickly, efficiently, and chaotically. All borders need to be completely surrounded while strategic strike teams invade central locations—specifically nuclear facilities. Before China has time to react, the swarm is already dispersing. Also, a group of ants is called an army.”

“Even better. Unfortunately, our army is barely larger than Iceland’s Coast Guard. We would never be able to accomplish such a great feat.”

“You’re right. Federama alone would not. Fortunately, you have a hefty list of allies to supplement.”

“That’s a peace alliance. I would never be able to convince them to do this.”

“You could convince India, and they have the third largest military contingency in the world. Of course, we will assist as well, along with Usonia.”

“Really?”

“Don’t look at me like a child who's been given an extra cookie after dinner. Yes, we will be a part of this. Korea is a threat to everyone. In fact, it will be your job to attack the central points. The rest of us will comprise of the swarm.

“The Korean perimeter must be at least 3,000 naykos long!”

“More like 4,000. Your point?”

“My point is that...will this work?”

“It will probably take about five months of secret planning and refinement, but it can work. Our biggest concerns are China and World War IV, yeah?”

“Indeed.”

“Then swarm tactics is our only hope. We have to hit ‘em, and we have to hit ‘em hard before they have a chance to recover.”

“You sound like a Usonian.”

“You take that back!” Elder replied, only half-jokingly.

“Why would this prevent war?” Stockton asked, moving along. “China and Korea still have nearly half of the world’s military personnel, as you’ve pointed out. Combined with Russia, and maybe even Pakistan, they would be unstoppable.”

“Since the three of us will be the only ones with nuclear arms after it happens, we should be able to stave off war,” Elder explained.

Stockton had no answer.

“Ooooooh,” Elder began. “Oh, you still thought that Cross and I were still going to give up our weapons. Yes,” he said sarcastically, “I can see where you would think that. But no, we’re not going to surrender to you. You want our help, you’ll get it. You want our bombs, you get nothing.”

Stockton still had nothing to say.

“I can see the gears turning in your head. You’re trying to figure out how to get our help with disarming Korea, and then disarm us later. But you see, you did that with Pakistan, and it worked beautifully. But fool me once, as they say.”

“I’ll do it.”

“That either means you concede to the dynamic, or you think you can get the upperhand on us later.”

“Yes,” was all that Governor Stockton said.

Prime Minister Yorick Elder’s estimate of five months was much lower than the truth. Negotiating, compromising, and coordinating with the war alliance took twice that much time. One of the members of the peace alliance, Mongolia was asked to mediate peace negotiations with Korea. This not only continued to curry public favor, but also gave the war alliance time to set about their plans. A year after the idea was first conceived, Usonian and British air forces descended on the Sino-Korean border. The Indian Navy was already on their way to the Eastern and Southern coastlines of Korea, under the guise of disaster relief for the Philippines. Somewhat unlikely ally, Japan agreed to swarm Korea’s western coastline.

World War IV did not begin as a result of this assault, but there were a number of casualties on all sides. Federama did their part and sent in strike forces to steal the nuclear weapons from within Korea. They agreed, however, to not kidnap any scientific experts, as they had with Pakistan, China, and Russia. The deaths of Stage Six would go down in history as the biggest argument against the entire mission, but on the whole, it was another successful one. Governor Stockton also agreed to let the United Kingdom and Usonia keep their own nuclear weapons. But he had proverbial crossed his fingers behind his back. There was no way he wasn’t going back on his word on the matter, even if it meant Federama would lose acknowledgement from the Confederacy. There was too much at stake. He knew he had to formulate new plans to remove these weapons; he just didn’t know how. He was ultimately forced to ask for help from someone he had hoped to never see again.

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Microstory 185: Mandy Alto

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Few anomalies can boast a greater influence on the dynamic of society than dreamwalker Mandy Alto. Modern scientists on our world are not completely certain why it is that we really need sleep. Studies have shown that we burn negligibly fewer calories while at rest, and so it is believed that sleep is primarily necessary for the brain. While in sleep mode, a person will indeed rejuvenate the body, but it will also regulate chemicals to a healthy balance, and process memory. Sleep is important because it allows us shift data around unencumbered by new input, and impress into our minds everything we learned throughout the day so that we do not lose neural connections and forget useful information. Dreams are said to be the brain’s bizarre manifestation of these processes on subconscious and conscious levels. Mandy’s ability allowed him to enter the dreams of anyone on the planet. Once he connected someone to the dream network, he could bestow upon them perfect lucidity. That is, the dreamers remembered everything that happened to them during the dream, and were aware of it while it was happening. But more than this, the minds of the dreamers were able to process what they were learning in real-time, which was advantageous to fostering long-term memory. A dreamworld is an alternate reality; one that the dreamers can mold and modify at will. There are limitless possibilities and resources. Military can be trained without the least bit of physical danger. If a dreamer is shot, for instance, the injury can be healed immediately and with barely a thought, leaving the injured with a learning experience that allows them to prevent such a thing in the real world. Mandy started a small education program for members of Bellevue, but it was Valary Sela who recognized his ability’s potential to benefit efficiency on a massive scale. Dream telepathy was recreated with technology, and the world began to change. No longer were students required to sleep five hours a day, and then go to school for five hours. By doing both of these things at once, students are free to use the remaining fifteen hours as they choose. The technology spread out quickly and eventually became the primary means of education across the entire universe.

Microstory 184: Ossia Mulloy

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When Ossia Mulloy was fairly young, she decided to reveal her ability to her best friend. The two of them were skipping rocks on a pond one evening when Ossia asked if she wanted to see something cool. Henrietta shrugged indifferently but then watched, stunned as Ossia haphazardly tossed a rock into the water, and kept it skipping indefinitely. She made it curve, bounce backwards, and even stop in place, as if the lake were frozen. Henrietta was speechless as Ossia’s feats became more and more impressive. She swung the pond in its entirety back and forth, as if it were nothing more than a small bowl of water. She lifted it in the air and let it fall back down like rain. She smiled to her friend, expecting her to be excited and interested, but instead, Henrietta ran from her and called her a witch. Henrietta ended up trying to tell their parents about what happened, but of course, her accusations were ridiculous, and there was no way for her to prove it. Needless to say, they were no longer friends. When Ossia was 21 years old, she made the natural choice of enlisting in the Diving Section of the Irish Naval Service as an underwater engineer. One night while on leave, Ossia caught a man sexually assaulting Henrietta. More as a reflex, and because he was too physically strong for her, Ossia began to manipulate the water in the man’s body, and pulled him apart with it. He exploded in front of them, covering them with bits and pieces. It was the most horrifying experience for either of them. Despite the violence, the two of them grew closer after that, having bonded over the ordeal. They would never have categorized their new relationship as friendship, but Henrietta was from then on slightly more grateful for Ossia’s ability than she was fearful. Years later, rumors of Ossia’s ability spread beyond the Navy, and Ossia was captured by an associate of Basil Ploutos. He kept her in an abandoned factory in Kansas until she was freed by Bellevue, along with several other anomalies. Ossia never really felt all that interested in the organization, or its goals. She developed a romantic relationship with Gus, but even that was short-lived. She ultimately decided to remain in Usonia, and worked construction a little with Quang and Hugh, but contributed relatively little to anomaly history.

Microstory 183: Bree Nolan

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Bree Nolan’s parents decided to not tell their daughter that she was adopted until she turned 11. The day after her birthday, they sat her down and began the discussion. She told them that she already knew, and pretty much always had. They were never really able to understand why it was that she knew this. She didn’t catch a glimpse of certain documents, she didn’t overhear a conversation, and she certainly never ran a blood test. Bree didn’t need any of those things. As an anomaly, she had the ability to sense genetic details of those around her. She knew that her classmate’s older brother was actually his father. She sensed something different about her teacher’s husband, which eventually lead to them learning that he carried a rare genetic disorder common among patients of a certain terminal disease. She could even tell the exact ancestral composition of anyone she encountered. Bree went out of state for college and found herself paired with Connor Higgins as a roommate. She concentrated and meditated, but found herself unable to discern any genetic information about him. Furthermore, whenever he was around, she could also not sense any information about anyone else. He was somehow blocking her ability, and together, they induced that not only were they both special, but that there must be others like them. They quickly became best friends, but also decided that it was best if they no longer live together. Connor spent his free time researching genetics, and even enrolled in a healthy number of classes in the field. While he was doing that, Bree swam through a sea of people, studying their genes with her mind, and taking note of the differences. Even though she was innately aware of their genetics, she did not have the intellectual background to understand it completely. They created charts, spoke with experts, and discussed their findings. After time, these two amateurs managed to learn a nice amount about what anomalies were, and what made them different. They even had some insight on the matter that Hankford Apolomure hadn’t realized. Bree and Connor joined Bellevue together, but spent a great deal of time off-site, much of it recruiting, so that his ability to negate other abilities did not interfere with operations. Years after Bellevue became a household word, a television network developed a mildly successful program called The Adventures of Conundrum and Treemaker, based loosely on Connor’s and Bree’s lives together.

Microstory 182: Diane Ghoti

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The events surrounding Diane Ghoti’s birth were all very mysterious and unusual. Her parents only ever told her that she was adopted after they had disowned her, but they never revealed how they found her in the first place. This was something she would not understand for many years. She had a very happy childhood growing up in a wealthy family, and always had everything she ever wanted. One day when her parents were arguing in front of her, Diane grew angry, and unwittingly released her pyrokinetic ability. Fire raged throughout the entire mansion, burning everything in its path. Once the flames had dissipated, her parents were left horrified and disgusted. They never stopped to think about why it was that Diane’s fire had not killed them. The fact was that, though Diane’s power was out of her control due to her young age, it was still limited to her wishes. Diane did not want to kill her parents, and so the fire spared them. As they say, the tail does not wag the dog. Diane was kicked out of the house, and sent off to live with her grandfather in Usonia, eventually attending college there. She spent her free time learning control, and soon discovered that she could also fly. The fact that she had two separate abilities was unique to her. Fate later intervened and pushed her to contact Cosmo Drexler, hoping that he could use his background in physics to help her understand where her abilities came from, not knowing that he had an ability of his own. The two of them ended up going to the United Kingdom and meeting the other four members of their little group. Diane was one of the first people to be affected by the deadly pathogen that spread through Bellevue several months after joining. Each patient was affected differently, based on whatever their ability was, which meant that each patient would need to be treated and cured differently. Diane’s body overheated, and began to produce fire uncontrollably. She was placed into a quarantine freezer. This slew down the symptoms, but they were unable to find a cure. Her fire ultimately overcame her, and she was torn asunder. Fortunately for her, she was not only an anomaly, but another special breed. She didn’t die, but she was never the same, and she never returned home.

Microstory 181: Blossom Sadler

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As a little girl, Blossom Sadler attended one of those one room schools designed for children of all ages. She was one of the first anomalies to be born, and grew up in a rural part of Oklahoma, right on the border of the Republic of Texas. Her mother, in fact, was a Texian who gained dual citizenship of both Texas and Usona. Every one of her classmates was aware of her telepathic ability. On the outside, they appeared to be a disinterested class. They were quiet, attentive, and completed their lessons without asking too many questions. But on the inside, they were carrying on secret conversations. Blossom could not only communicate telepathically with anyone and everyone within her vicinity, but could also open up what were later referred to as private lines so that small groups could communicate independent of the others. She acted like a switchboard, connecting parties to each other. One might think to use this as a way to cheat on assignments, but it ended up having the opposite effect. It allowed a more intimate and open-minded dialog amongst the students. The older students were already encouraged to lift up the younger ones, but by being able to connect telepathically, this assistance became so much more profound and useful. None of the students was particularly bright, but these deep connections transformed them into several of the most successful and prosperous adults of their time. They went on to become doctors, advocates, politicians, and brilliant artists. As Blossom’s range expanded across the country, and later the continent, they were able to remain in touch with each other, something that was quite difficult for most people in a time before email, or even telephones. As some of the more powerful people in the world, the classmates were perfectly positioned to provide Bellevue with what they needed to operate safely in the world, even against opposition. They decided to do this in secret, and chose only to involve themselves with the organization directly once the majority of other anomalies had already been uncovered. Blossom’s range had increased by then to allow her to connect with people around the entire world, though she used her ability to primarily work field support for African operatives. She died having lived a full life, and her ability was ultimately reproduced to turn anyone who wanted into telepaths.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: April 23, 2047

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Harrison was not fired. In fact, he was called back in to work more closely with Ulinthra and Dave. They were two of the very few people who still worked for her. Before leaving, he performed some procedure to essentially read Mateo’s mind and produce a visualization of his memory of the man who Reaver killed in the other timeline. No one else had seen him before, and they had no idea what his motivations might be. He had appeared out of nowhere, so he was either a salmon or a choosing one. His first run-in with Mateo could very well not happen for the next hundred, or thousand years. There was no way to know, but Leona was clear to not prejudge him during that meeting. If Mateo already held anger towards the man before he had done anything wrong, from the man’s perspective, then that anger could actually ultimately be the cause of his violence.

Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Never be surprised, but never assume you already have the whole story. Keep track of everything you do, and everyone you meet. Avoid alternate versions of yourself. Treat everyone you meet with respect, as they may unexpectedly return. And do not relinquish control of your own life. These were the rules that Leona spent the rest of 2046 coming up with. She left room for more.

Upon returning to the timestream, Leona realized that they could use the same technology Harrison had with the mysterious knife-wielder, along with predictive aging software, to create clear composites of Aura and Samsonite’s daughter. Assuming she aged at a standard rate, and was not ageless like the two of them, Theo, and Danica, they were able to come up with thirteen pictures. Each one represented how Aquila would look at different ages since, if they ever encountered her, she could be of any age at the time. The first two were real photographs, but ages 7 through 102 were generated.

Once the program was complete, Mateo came in to find that Leona had already begun studying them to see if they had met her before. “Oh my God,” she said as she placed her hand over her mouth in shock.

Mateo skipped to Picture Six to find out what was so surprising. He stared at it for what felt like hours. “This is my sister. This is her? We’re sure about it?”

Leona looked over to him. “Yes. Weren’t you two...?”

Mateo stumbled out of the cabin and threw up. He had not eaten much, but all of it came out, along with painfully stinging stomach acid.

His mother came over to comfort him. “Are you okay? What happened? Is the program finished?”

“I know your daught—” he tried to say before spitting up more. “I know my sist—oh my God!”

“Who is she?”

“She doesn’t go by Aquila anymore.”

“What’s her name?”

“After you disappeared, a family moved into the Landau house. And I mean it was immediately after. Looking back, the timing is suspicious.”

“She was your neighbor? Tell me. Who was she?”

“Frida. Her name was Frida, and we dated for a time.”

Aura didn’t throw up, but she turned away from him, like she wanted to. “Is this true, Leona? Is the program right? Could there have been a mistake?”

“The technology isn’t perfect,” Leona explained from the doorway. “Under normal circumstances, we couldn’t trust it to be right, but Pictures Six and Seven look too much like her for it not to be right. We already know that the powers that be like to throw us together in this unlikely string of six degrees. It is almost certainly her.”

Mateo heaved again, but was completely empty, so it just damaged his throat more.

“Did you two ever...” Aura tried to ask, “take it to the next level?”

“Dear God no,” Mateo quickly replied. “I don’t know what I would do with myself if we had. But we kissed, and I don’t even like Star Wars!”

“How long did the relationship continue after the first kiss?” Leona asked.

“It ended there.”

“Makes sense. I think you can dissolve all feelings of guilt over this. You’re half-siblings, time travelers, and neither one of you knew.”

“We don’t know she didn’t know,” Mateo pointed out.

“Don’t talk about my daughter like that,” Aura nearly yelled.

“I’m just saying...that we should go back to Kansas and speak with her. It grosses me out, but now that we know where she is, we have no choice, do we?”

They flew to Topeka.

“I haven’t seen her in years,” Frida’s husband, Jai said truthfully. Mateo and Leona were sitting in his livingroom. The other three chose to remain at the aircraft, so as not to overwhelm him. “She has been declared dead. How are you still alive, and still young?” He was in his sixties, but looked younger than sixty-year-olds did in Mateo’s time.

This gave him an idea, and he was pretty proud of himself for having come up with it, especially with so little time to prepare. “The anti-aging treatments you undergo; we were beta testers for earlier programs. We won’t look forever young, but we’re young for now.”

He lifted his chin to decide whether he believed this or not, and was still suspicious, but let it go. “Well, I’m sorry I can’t help you. She disappeared in 2021.” That was odd. It was the last time Mateo had seen her before running off to Colorado. He hadn’t so much as asked after her since then.

“Did she disappear without a trace?” Leona asked.

“No,” he answered. “She acted like she knew exactly where she was going. She just didn’t tell me where.”

“So she didn’t literally disappear before your eyes?” Mateo pressed

He was taken aback by this. “No, why the hell would she do that? What do you people want?”

“We’re sorry to bother you,” Leona stepped back in, hoping to save the conversation. “But any information you could provide would help us. We have...a different perspective than any police or private detective would have had at the time. It must be painful to relive this, but if you could go over it one more time, it could mean the difference between finding the truth, and never knowing. We may be able to get you answers.”

He breathed in deeply. “It’s been long enough. It doesn’t hurt anymore, but I won’t have to tell you. I can just give you the information.” He walked over to his desk and took out a small flash drive that was laid haphazardly in a drawer. He plugged it into his computer and closed his eyes. After a couple of minutes, he removed the storage device and handed it to Leona. “All my memories of the events surrounding Frida’s disappearance are on here.”

“Thank you, Mr. Quelen. We will let you know if we find anything. It may take a few years.”

“I would appreciate it.”

After leaving the house, Mateo took the storage device and examined it. “What did he do? There wasn’t even a keyboard.”

“He interfaced with the computer using the nanites in his brain, transferring whole memories onto this with only his thoughts.”

“Nanites. Like Mirage.”

“Like Mirage, yes.”

“Should we get nanites too?”

“If you want. I do not know if they can travel through time, though. She couldn’t. The powers may want us to essentially remain how we were when we started this journey.”

“Speaking of non-sequiturs,” Mateo said, “we have some time while we’re heading back to our family...”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you how Reaver convinced me to break him out of prison.”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, there’s been a lot going on. I didn’t want to push the subject.”

“It’s fine. I just totally forgot. Those words he said, Dougnanimous Brintantalus. That was a time travel protocol.”

“What’s that?”

“If I ever go back in the past and am forced to interact with a younger version of myself, I say those words to that younger me, and she knows to trust me. They are intentionally nonsensical so that no one would ever say them out of context. And I came up with them after seeing Back to the Future, long before actually knowing that time travel was real.”

“Why would Reaver have those words?”

“I don’t know, but no one is supposed to have them. I didn’t tell you, not because I didn’t trust you, but because they only work if I’m the only one who knows them. The fact that he knew them proves that I gave them to him. He couldn’t have gotten them any other way. I just wish I had access to that timeline, to find out why I would go to such great lengths.”

“Maybe you didn’t give them up. We just saw that people can now read minds, and transfer memories.”

“Yes, using certain machines. He wouldn’t have been able to do it without my knowing it. Maybe in the future it could be done passively, but not now. And certainly not in 2042.”

Mateo thought this over, and injected as much logic into the situation as possible. “But we’re talking about time travel. By its very nature, it’s not susceptible to the day’s technological progress. Maybe Reaver himself didn’t get those words. Someone five-thousand years from now, with that day’s technology could have read your thoughts, and sent them back. Five-thousand years. For us, that’s only...um...”

“Less than fourteen years,” she said, and then she thought through it herself. “You’re right. Time travel protocols aren’t perfect. They’re just...as close as I can get.”

“Come on,” Mateo said, dropping the subject. “We should get back to the plane before 2048.”

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