The Advancement of Mateo Matic: April 9, 2398

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They teleported into the portal just as the time hit midnight, which they hoped would confuse the jump enough to send them where they wanted to go. This way they didn’t have to wait an entire year for something to go wrong with the reality hopper, and extraction mirror. It wasn’t the perfect situation, because it meant they couldn’t use the friend detector in tandem, but if the pattern held, either Marie or Olimpia would be waiting for them in The Third Rail. Neither Omega nor his partner, Valencia had any idea what it was, or what they would find there. Way out here in intergalactic space, there wasn’t anything to do but try to survive. It hadn’t even occurred to them to travel to other realities. They didn’t have much time to discuss it either way; Team Matic just needed to take a leap of faith.

Immediately, Mateo felt differently. He felt more normal; like he did when he was first alive. As for the jump itself, it wasn’t as jarring as the other ones. They all just landed softly on the ground in a big empty parking lot, and began to look around for clues. They were somewhere in a city that looked strikingly similar to early 21st century Earth. His initial thought was that it didn’t work, and they just went through the mirror to the past in the main sequence, but there wasn’t anyone here to extract, so that was unlikely.

“Spread out,” Leona ordered, “but don’t go too far. Let’s just figure out where we are first. Rendezvous point is that corner over there.”

“Do you feel that?” Mateo whispered to her. “That is, do you not feel it?”

“I do. We’re not connected anymore. Our superempathy is gone. That is not a good sign, I’m not gonna lie.”

“Guys?” Ramses asked before anyone else could walk too far from the group. “I recognize this from history class. I feel like it was in San Francisco?”

Leona walked over there, because she could no longer teleport either. A large structure could now be seen between the trees. “No, you’re thinking of the Coit Tower. We have one like that too. It’s the National World War I Museum and Memorial. This is Kansas City, and it’s not midnight. Though, you wouldn’t know it by my watch, which is not working.”

“Where can we go to get help?” Angela asked. “Where would one go?”

“The Salmon Civic Center,” Leona answered. “We’re probably a few miles away, assuming we’re in the right time period. Since I’m sure you’ve all realized by now that we can’t teleport, we’ll have to walk.”

“Poor you!” shouted a voice from a few meters away. “Walking, like a bunch of mortals! No beaming up here!”

“I’m sorry, sir, are you a traveler?” Leona asked.

“Yes, Captain, I am from the U.S.S. Enterprise. Reporting for duty. Beep boop, beep boop boop.”

“The robot is from Star Wars,” Mateo corrected.

“Whatever, nerd.” He started to walk away with his friends. “Don’t cross the streams!”

“I don’t think he’s one of us,” Angela pointed out.

They started their walk too.

“Anything on the friend detector?” Mateo asked Ramses.

“Dead silence, which doesn’t surprise me. Powers and time tech don’t work here at all, which worries me. This place is...”

“Wrong?” Mateo suggested.

“Unsettling, I was gonna say, but that too.”

The walk shouldn’t have been so hard with their new bodies, but they were quite quickly exhausted and hungry. Fortunately, they were headed towards Allen and Richard’s restaurant, and if they found it didn’t exist in this reality, they would find somewhere to eat. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any money. Mateo’s magical wallet was completely empty, the pocket dimension inside of it probably having been destroyed when they came here.

That first group of bullies weren’t the only people they encountered that looked at them funny. Everyone was wearing tee-shirts, jeans, slacks, business suits, dresses, and pant suits. Their crew uniforms stood out here more than anywhere they had ever been. They were going to have to find some new clothes too. There was a slight chance they could remedy this soon. While Téa Stendahl’s clothing shop was technically located in The Hub on Tribulation Island, a branch sometimes reached all the way back to Earth in the Bran safehouse on the top floor of the Ponce de Leon condominiums. If such an intergalactic branch existed before whatever destroyed time tech happened, maybe that branch was simply severed, instead of retracted. Some of the clothes might still be in the safehouse. Mateo didn’t like their odds, though.

Around an hour later, they were at the spot. Richard and Allen’s restaurant had two sides to it. One was located on the inside of a secret little mall, where one could also find the club, the post office, the forger’s den, the bank, and a few other things. The outside, however, was accessible to the public, and should be right around—nope, not here. They were beginning to think this reality was generated through some other means besides a recognizable point of divergence. It may have resembled some point in history, but it wasn’t historically similar. They may not be able to find anyone to help them here.

“Excuse me, could you tell me the date?” Ramses asked a random passerby.

“It’s April 9,” she replied.

“And...the...?”

“You wanna ask me the year? Jesus, it’s 2398, cosplayer.”

“Is that a joke?”

She took out her phone, and showed them her homescream. April 9, 2398. Where the hell were they?

“Thank you,” Ramses said, politely, but with a frown. “There’s something very wrong with this reality. I’m starting to understand why we’ve all been warned never to come here. We may be stuck forever.”

“It’s not so bad,” came a familiar voice from behind them.

They turned around to find Marie, holding a bag of clothing in each hand. She didn’t seem surprised to see them, but relieved. They rushed over to her to engage in a group hug. “I can’t believe we found you,” Leona said happily. “You could have been in China, for all we knew.”

“Nah, I stayed around,” Marie explained. “I bet we had the same idea, to look for help in the Civic Center. It’s not there, by the way, nothing is. Someone was living in the Bran safehouse too, but I saved up enough money, and convinced them to sell a couple of years later.”

“A couple of years?” Ramses questioned. “How long have you been here?”

“Since 2394,” she replied. “Realtime. No time jumping here.”

“Do you know why?” Mateo asked her.

“Nope. Don’t know how I could find out. There aren’t any other travelers. This place is clean. I imagine that’s the point.”

“It also explains what’s happened with the technology here,” Leona said. “Without travelers, advancement slows. It doesn’t halt; we didn’t build the pyramids, or anything, but our people have contributed in small ways, and that adds up.”

“That’s basically what I surmised,” Marie agreed, “though I first died in the 19th century, so I’m not cognizant of very much of our secret history.” She looked from each face to the next. “Where’s Olimpia?”

“We don’t know yet,” Mateo told her. “There was a pattern forming, with each of us showing up a year after the one before, in another reality. As it turns out, you were sent to the past, so...Olimpia could be anywhere and anywhen.”

Marie frowned sadly. “Oh.” There was silence for a moment. “Well, you can stay with me, it’s a pretty large unit. We’ll figure something out later, and we’ll do it together...at last.”

“So, we’re not gonna jump to 2399 at the end of the day?” Mateo asked as they were walking across the street, towards the park.

“I don’t think so,” Leona answered.

“You’re not,” Marie clarified with a high level of certainty.

“Mateo and I might,” Leona said.

“I sincerely doubt it,” Marie contradicts. “I’ll give you a million dollars if you do.”

“Is that hyperbole, or do you have that?” Ramses asked. There was still a little bit of capitalism in his soul that came out every once in a while. He was indoctrinated into the belief and trust in it from birth, and that was not something that could just be cured, or surgically removed.

“Oh, I have it,” Marie said. “No powers, no pattern, no time tech, but I retained all of the skills we picked up in the afterlife simulation over the centuries. I can get any job I want. So could you, Angie.”

“I’m sorry you were alone,” Angela finally said something after reuniting with her alternate self.

“I’m not alone,” Marie contended sharply, and without elaboration.

When they arrived at the Bran safehouse—which surely shouldn’t be called that in this version of Kansas City—they discovered what she meant by that. A man was waiting for her in the kitchen, preparing them a meal. “Is this them?” he asked, unsurprised.

Marie smiled. “It is, they finally showed up.”

He wiped his hand on a towel, and shook theirs consecutively. “Very nice to finally meet you—there are supposed to be five,” he said to Marie.

“One’s still missing,” Marie said.

“Ah, I’m sorry to hear that, but at least you’re here, and that’s a start. Forgive me, I’m Heath Walton.”

They all looked at Marie, who snickered. “It’s a coincidence, but...I admit, it may be what drew me to him. Don’t worry, we confirmed that we’re not related. Though a version of me does appear to have existed long ago.”

“I’m glad you skipped over that time.” They nuzzled each other, and then kissed passionately, but comfortably. They had obviously been together for a while.

“Are you married?” Angela asked.

“We are,” Marie answered her. “We’re very happy.”

“How did you two meet, and how did you broach the subject of where you’re from?” Angela pressed.

The lovebirds looked at each other like they knew something special, which they probably did. “Do you want to tell it?” Marie asked.

“You better start,” Heath answered.

She giggled.

“Sorry, we’ve just never been able to tell this story before,” Heath added before it began.

“Well, when I first landed in this reality, I assumed that I had traveled through time. But that was fine, because I knew you all would be showing up soon. I was in the middle of a parking lot, though, and I felt very exposed, so I walked over to a building that had some stairs going down to the basement, or whatever. I sat there and waited. I waited for hours before another soul came by. It was Sunday, and he told me this wasn’t a good place to panhandle. I told him I was waiting for some friends, but he didn’t believe me, so he handed me twenty bucks. I couldn’t leave to go spend it, so he decided to go buy me a sandwich. I was dressed like a spaceman, of course, so he must have thought that I was just crazy. That food gave me enough energy to spend the night, so that’s what I did. Come morning, a couple of people who worked at that building didn’t take kindly to my being there, so they called the cops, who tried to remove me from the premises.”

“We’re so sorry,” Leona said.

“It’s not your fault. I don’t even blame Dalton anymore. It feels like destiny now. I admit, it was rough that first night, but then Heath found me.”

“How?” Ramses asked.

“Well,” Heath began, “my nephew came over, and started telling us a story about how a lady appeared out of nowhere in the parking lot. He was the only one who noticed and he was, uhh...eight at the time, so nobody believed him. He’s always had such a great imagination, and everyone assumed he was starting to realize that about himself, and make up stories on purpose. I don’t know if I fully believed him either, but he saw someone in that lot, and I just had this feeling that she needed help. I went out there looking, not thinking she would still be there, but I could see a ridiculous number of cop cars out there, and figured it had to have something to do with it.”

“He waltzed right through them and demanded they release me into his custody. He said I was his unwell sister, and thanked them for finding her. They still wanted to take me to a facility, but he insisted. He was so brave.”

Heath laughed. “I wouldn’t call it brave, but when your skin is even this dark, it can cause problems.”

“In the late 24th century?” Mateo questioned.

“Yeah, I think we’ve developed slowly in many ways,” Heath proposed.

“Anyway, I didn’t want to leave, but there was no other way,” Marie continued. “Now we know that you didn’t show up that day either, but we had always worried we missed that small window, because we had a couple years covered since then.”

“What do you mean?” Angela asked.

“I bought a camera,” Heath answered. At night, I snuck over there, shimmied up a lamppost, and attached it to the top. We could see the whole lot where Marie first showed up, and more. We kept an eye on the feed for a long time before somebody noticed it, and took it down.”

“By then,” Marie went on, “I had basically given up. I mean, it had been years, so we didn’t try to put another camera up. I’m glad I ran into you. I should have thought to always check on the days that fall on our pattern.” She shook her head. “So stupid.”

“Again,” Leona said, “we’re so sorry. Fault or no, Heath or no, I feel bad.”

“We need to put that camera back up,” Angela determined, “just in case Olimpia does happen to show up. And hell, maybe every traveler who gets stuck here comes in at the same place. It would be prudent to keep an eye out for them.”

“I can rig something up that will be virtually invisible,” Ramses offered. “You’ll be able to see it if you’re looking right at it, but it should be rather concealed. We could put one up on every lamppost.”

“Okay,” Marie agreed. “For now, Heath, we’ll refrigerate our planned dish for tonight. We’re goin’ out to celebrate; my treat. You should get changed, though.”

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Extremus: Year 48

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Former Captain and Admiral Halan died shortly after his conversation with Captain Leithe. Funny enough, the last person on the vessel still alive who could remember living in Ansutah also died that very same day. There were probably many others back on Gatewood, but this felt like a somber milestone. It was overshadowed by Halan, and everyone’s reaction to losing him. There’s a saying on Earth, don’t speak ill of the dead. This sentiment has held strong here. Even some of his most vehement opponents now have nothing but nice things to say about him. That should be a good thing, but his loyalists, like Kaiora, can’t help but feel bitter about it. He died in hock, unfitting for a man of his greatness, and those who truly loved him will never forgive these fair-weather friends for that. At least his persistent detractors hold to their own convictions. At least Kaiora can respect them for that. What she can’t respect is what has happened recently. It was all planned out, but now it’s all ruined.

Future Captain is not just something people call who they think the next captain will be. It is an official title that comes with responsibility and even a tiny bit of power, mostly involving new access to certain sensitive data. Trudie Haynes was already in this position, and had been there for two years when the council pulled the rug out from under the both of them. They have apparently decided that they need to drain the swamp. Halan picked Kaiora, then committed a crime. While Kaiora has given them no reason to not trust her judgment over the course of the next two and a half decades, they think it’s best that they handle this one. It’s not just about the captain’s seat either. Almost everyone on the crew will be dismissed at the end of this year, whether their shifts should be over at that time, or not. They agreed to a few exceptions, such as Hock Watcher Giordano, and thankfully, Chief Medical Officer Holmes. The council and civilian government justify these decisions by the new policies they devised a few years ago, which resulted in Calixte Salmon being appointed the first—and maybe only ever—Superintendent. The fact that he turned out to be a treasonous murderer is clearly lost on them.

Kaiora has been investigating this development as a possible coup, but has seen no evidence of that so far. She’s beginning to think that this is simply annoying bureaucracy at work. Besides, her medical condition is declining. She is finding it harder and harder to put as much effort into the job as she used to. First Lieutenant Lars Callaghan has been handling many of her normal duties, and he has really stepped up. Kaiora can’t help but feel proud of him. She knew there was a reason Halan and Olindse picked him to be on the team in the first place. His original position was never backfilled after Corinna disappeared, but the new crew will reportedly include a Second L-T. They say they like that it’s a thing now, and honestly, it’s one of the few things they and Kaiora can agree on. While Halan initially instituted it to control Ovan Teleres’ power, having an extra hand has served the ship nicely since then.

It’s May 19, 2317. The Captain is sitting in her office, pretending to do work, even though there’s no one else in the room to perform for. She’s just bored, which is something that happens from time to time. There are days when nothing goes wrong on the ship, and there aren’t any fires to put out. Mostly she feels like a lame duck. The transition is still months away, but it already feels over. She releases an exaggerated version of her signature sigh, but before it’s over, First Lieutenant Corinna Seelen appears out of nowhere, and takes a step towards her. “Cori! You’re alive.”

“No shit. Let’s go.” Corinna takes her captain by the arm, and transports them to Council Chambers. The council is a loosely defined collective of crewmembers and government officials who make sure everyone is doing their jobs correctly. They have been slowly accumulating power, even though their original mandate was to appoint the first crew members of the mission, and then do pretty much nothing else. Is this them? Are they the traitors? Corinna is sure staring at them with contempt. But no, Kaiora ruled them out years ago. They were the obvious suspects—especially since most of the council disappeared alongside Corinna, and had to be replaced—but they’re all clean. Kaiora’s secret investigative team has been watching them particularly closely, and has found nothing.

De facto leader of the council before the incident in the time lab, Esmee Newport is already in the room, having apparently transitioned back from wherever they were separate from Corinna. She clears her throat authoritatively. “Esteemed members of the council, after years of transdimensional investigation, we have finally figured out who has been sabotaging Extremus in multiple facets of the mission.” She steps aside, and presents the empty space behind her.

Another member of the older council teleports in, holding none other than Ovan Teleres by the chains.

Esmee continues, “Ovan Teleres, you have been charged with high treason. What say you in this matter?”

Ovan is sneering jovially. “You’re all under my spell.”

Yitro comes out of a shadow, presumably having teleported there as well at some point. “Not anymore.” He’s holding a...machete? What the hell is he doing with a machete? Ovan’s head rolls off in one quick swing. Oh, that’s why.

The current de facto leader of the council stands up angrily. “Explain!”

“Hock prisoner, Mr. Teleres,” Yitro begins, “has been infecting people’s minds with an illegal breed of nanites, which manipulate the victim’s thoughts, movements, and emotions. He controls—controlled these little buggers from inside his cell, and he was doing it for years. That’s why Rita seemed to go crazy. That’s why the Superintendent switched sides. They were all infected. They were all innocent.”

“So, wait. There are no clones?” one of the other council members asks.

“There had to have been,” Kaiora argues. “I saw the other me in the timelab. She tried to kill Greenley Atkinson.”

Corinna places a hand on Kaiora’s shoulder. “That was not a clone either. That was the real Kaiora Leithe. We think that she was the first victim.”

“No, but I’m...” Kaiora starts to say, but then she remembers. “I’m the clone. The original went back in time.”

Corinna closes her eyes solemnly, and nods slightly. “That’s right.”

“I did this. I caused all of this.”

“No,” Esmee contradicts. “Victim is not just a word we’re throwing around. It’s what your alternate self was. It’s what all of them were. Nanites are invisible to the naked eye, and undetectable when dormant. Anyone could have been infected. We still don’t know how many were, in fact. Every single civilian and crewmember will now have to get tested, even though the master is now dead.” She grimaces at Ovan’s head on the floor.

“Forgive me for the brutal violence,” Yitro says. “It was the safest way to sever his connection to all of his victims at once. Like she said, we don’t know who’s been infected. I couldn’t risk the possibility that one of you might have stopped me.”

The council leader sits back down calmly, and composes herself. “Until your story can be verified, you will all be placed in hock, including the captain.”

Yitro laughs. “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.”

“You have no authority here, Captain Moralez of the Admiral Perran Thatch Detachment Timeship. You shouldn’t even be on Extremus Proper right now.”

That’s when Omega and Valencia appear behind the council’s backs. “Neither should we,” Omega declares. One by one, they tap on the council member’s heads as if playing Duck, Duck, Goose. As they do, the lot of them disappear, probably to hock themselves.

Kaiora slowly backs away. “Now I can’t trust anyone.”

“Captain, you can trust me,” Corinna insists.

Desperate, Kaiora snatches Ovan’s head up from the floor. “We’ll see about that.” She teleports away, but not all the way to her secret section, worried that someone might be able to track her there. As quietly as possible, she runs the rest of the way, and slips inside, checking to make sure no one is watching her. “Daley!” she cries out once she’s fully inside the section.

Nurse Daley McKee jumps into the hallway in front of her, ready to help.

She hands him Ovan’s head. “You’ve been looking for a subject to test. Here ya go. Tell me what you find.” She passes him, and heads for the office she keeps down here, and doesn’t use much.

“Where’s the rest of him?” Daley asks.

“The rest was too heavy to carry!” she shouts back.

“So you hacked it apart!”

“Uhuh!” she lies.

“What am I looking for!”

“I’m not tellin’! You should find something, and if you don’t...either you’re lying, or the person who served him up on a silver platter is! Just do what you’ve been waiting for years to do!”

About thirty minutes later, hacker Elodie Seabrooke knocks on Kaiora’s open door. “Captain?”

“Have they found anything?”

“I don’t know. I came to let you know that I watched the footage. I know how you got that head. And I also want you to know that I’m not going to tell anybody. I understand why you don’t want to contaminate the results with preconceptions.”

“Thank you. Is that all?”

“Also, I’ve been doing a little math.”

“Your specialty.”

“There’s a reason the transdimensional investigators showed up on this day.”

“And that would be?”

“If they went back in time in the reverse dimension as far as they were planning to, they were gone for as long as it took them to get there.”

“Huh?”

“When the machine turned on, you were expecting the other investigators to use it to travel back about six years.”

“Okay...”

“That was about six years ago.”

“So...once they exited the dimension, they had to wait twelve years to return?”

“I think they went to another dimension first; another observation dimension, that is, which parallels ours in direction. And yes, I think they were stuck there for twice as long, for whatever reason. It’s the most logical explanation for why they showed up today, and not anytime earlier.”

“That sounds stupid,” Kaiora spits. “Who designed that?”

“God?” Elodie proposes.

She nods. “Anything else?”

“If this is true, then...”

“Then it’s not over. If Kumara and Errol eventually caught up with the rest in the past, they’ll have to be there for even longer, and won’t return until...”

“Around November 9 of this year. But that’s assuming they all entered the second observation dimension at the same time. They might have gone back further in the timeline, or they came out sooner. Or they died...”

“How would any of this explain how my original self went back, and somehow got out of the reverse time dimension without having to go to this second observation dimension?”

“That I can’t explain,” Elodie answers. “Maybe she escaped completely.”

They hear someone else coming down the hallway. Elodie steps inside to let Corinna in the room. “How did you get in here?” Kaiora demands to know.”

“We were in an observation dimension,” she confirms, apropos of the conversation. “It was my job to watch over you. It was a sick assignment, really, since I couldn’t do anything to help.”

“Is it true, you were stuck in there for eighteen years?”

“Don’t I look it?” Corinna asks.

Indeed. She looks like she’s in her fifties, when she should be in her forties. “Yes,” Kaiora answers truthfully.

“It was rough,” Corinna agreed, “but we survived, and we learned so much.”

“You being here does not change the fact that I still can’t trust anyone,” Kaiora acknowledges. “In fact, it probably makes it worse.”

“I’m going to the lab now, so they can test me too.”

“What would they look for?”

“Anomalies. There shouldn’t be any, but...there might.”

“Assuming you are who you say you are, and you’re still on my side,” Kaiora begins, “then you must know if I can trust them.”

“You can,” Corinna replies. “You did well. You picked a good team. The whole ship has been compromised, including the Bridger Section, but excluding this tiny little isolated area. I was in charge of watching over you, but Esmee took responsibility for these people even while you weren’t here. She knew that Dr. Malone was working for the Bridgers, and I think she only told me.”

“I see.”

“This is all gonna work out, Captain. You’ll see that too.”

“Thank you. You’re both dismissed.”

Once they’re gone, Captain Kaiora Leithe, Third of Ten goes down for a nap, and she never stands up on her own again.

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Microstory 1905: When I Lost My First Dog, I Was Distraught

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When I lost my first dog, I was distraught

I never thought I could love a second

Years passed before it was something I sought

Once I did, it was Daisy who beckoned

All of the puppies, they begged and they cried

Except for her, she just could not care less

The owner set the other dogs aside

And picked her up, my little crazy mess

On the ride home, I realized I’d been tricked

She wasn’t calm, no she was just as wild

And yet as we got acquainted, we clicked

She’s the closest thing I’ll have to a child

Sophie was basically my one best friend

And Daisy’s more my baby, in the end

Microstory 1904: I Lost My Faith in People Long Ago

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I lost my faith in people long ago

We are a selfish species, that’s for sure

There’s a reason to see others as foes

Evolution is strong, but there’s a cure

We can ignore our base instincts, it’s true

It’s possible to grow, and learn, and change

When you’re frustrated, don’t threaten to sue

Just take a break, or have a nap arranged

Most people are not wanting to attack

They live as best they can with what they bear

Conflicts arrive when trains must share a track

It’s not just that they hate you, or don’t care

I know some hearts are simply filled with hate

This simply means work harder to relate

Microstory 1903: Someone Has Left Two Birds on My Nice Lawn

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Someone has left two birds on my nice lawn

They are not meant to do that, it’s not cool

The birds stay there from dawn to dusk to dawn

They must think that I’m just a spineless fool

But I got my phone out to make a call

I told them, you best take these birds from here

The problem I have with them may sound small

You may think I sound joyless and austere

But I have the right to do as I will

With my own house, and all that surrounds it

That’s not your right, and don’t tell me to chill

That just makes it worse, I may throw a fit

If you don’t get these birds out of my sight

I’ll drive them to the dump, and strike a light

Microstory 1902: I Tried To Cook a Simple Meal Today

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I tried to cook a simple meal today

I gathered all of the ingredients

At least I thought I had the whole array

But not, judging from the odd mingled scents

I have been trying to improve myself

Getting my life in order and stable

I can’t just pull random food off the shelf

I’m careful with what goes on my table

Today I sure was not careful at all

Though I guess I always make some mistake

But as they say, I must learn how to fall

Then get up to find something new to make

To be honest, it wasn’t all that bad

Using sugar for flour’s the new fad

Microstory 1901: Sleep Never Has Been Something I Do Well

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Sleep never has been something I do well

I lie in bed and wait ‘til it’s ready

I think it’s because my brain can’t be quelled

I wish that my life could be more carefree

For others, it happens within minutes

But I’m lucky to fall in one hour

Waiting puts me at the end of my wits

I wish control was one of my powers

I’ve tried to take the pills, and meditate

I’ve tried to shut off screens, and just chill out

But this is how I am, it is my fate

I wish stress wasn’t all I was about

One day, I’ll lose my problems and retire

I wish it would happen soon, I’m so tired

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: April 8, 2397

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Leona was frustrated to have to leave the blue dwarf, but one of their friends was out there, and they may really need their help right now. Besides, it would seem that traveling across realities could be easier than they thought before, so perhaps one day, they could return for her to study it. The truth was that she didn’t really need to study anything. Information on it was probably in a database somewhere, having been discovered long ago. She just wanted to live around it because of how crazy it was. The time to dwell on it was past, though. They were about to jump to another reality.

“We’re all synced up,” Ramses said, checking his Cassidy cuff. “Everybody ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Good to go.”

They jumped. It was as jolting as the last two times, but they knew what to expect this time, so they all landed on their feet. They were in a dark room. Men with suits immediately took them by the arms. “Sir, there’s more,” one of them said.

A man who was trying to walk out of the room turned around and sneered at them. “Bring ‘em too,” he instructed in a graveled voice.

“By order of Captain Waldemar Kristiansen, Eighth of Eight, you are being detained for questioning. You will be escorted to primary hock, where you will await further direction. Resistance will be met with fatal violence. Please, please...” he begged, “resist.”

While the members of the team were not capable of psychic communication, they could feel each other’s emotions, and there were other practical applications to this. When one of them began to teleport, the rest could feel that too. Ramses did this, not to escape, but to see everyone else’s reactions. Leona’s emotions indicated that they should not try to jump. They were presumably on a moving vessel, and they were unfamiliar with its layout. These substrates were designed to survive, so even if they ended up in the vacuum of space, it wouldn’t kill them. But unless they retained momentum, they would quickly fall out of range, and wouldn’t be able to return, so just for now, they would do as they were asked. The good news was that they could feel Angela. When the men dragged them out into the hallway, they could see her too, also being dragged towards hock.

The men carelessly pushed them into the cell. “Sorry for the poor accommodations,” one of them said after the others had walked away without a second thought. He used a sarcastic tone at first, but then he made sure his compatriots were out of earshot. “We’re just...kind of full right now. The ship wasn’t designed to hold so many political prisoners. Whoever you are, you have to find out how to get out of here. If even one more person gets arrested, they’re going to kill them. Or maybe they’ll kill the oldest prisoner, I don’t know. We just don’t have the space anymore, and no one wants to spend the resources keeping people like you alive. So tell them what they want to know, and be good. It will probably take them a week to get to your interrogation, so hopefully no one else will screw up.”

“Thank you,” Mateo said to the boy.

“Our cuffs,” Leona said simply.

The boy shook his head. “You’re not getting your devices back. Teleportation is illegal, and they’re going to assume that they contain subversive media.” He closed the door and left without another word.

“He may sound nice,” came the voice of a stranger in the cell with them, “but...he still works for him, and that was his choice.”

Leona stepped forward. “Captain Leona Matic of the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”

“I know who you are. Those morons would have recognized you too if they spent a little more time in history class. My name is Kaison Summerling.”

“What are ya in for?” Ramses asked.

“Possession of subversive media,” Kaison explained. “I was once Captain. I stepped down due to accusations of nepotism, but now I wish I hadn’t, because I would not have selected Kristiansen as my successor. And he’s aware of that, so I’m public enemy number one.”

“This is Extremus, isn’t it?” Leona asked.

“It is,” Kaison confirmed.

“That ship from Gatewood that Omega created?” Mateo asked.

“He didn’t create it, but yes,” Leona said, “we were there when he showed up at the lounge to plant the seed of this idea. It wasn’t supposed to go down like this.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Kaison agreed. “Things are only going to get worse. Did they call the current captain Eighth of Eight in front of you?”

“They did,” Angela answered, not thinking much of it.

By the end of this mission, there are supposed to be eleven total—rest in peace, mother. Kristiansen doesn’t ever plan on stepping down. Of course, nobody knows that, or they would get rid of him. There’s only one reason they let you hear that that’s the plan.”

“They’re going to kill us anyway,” Mateo figured, having seen a movie in his life.

Kaison nodded. “This isn’t a hock; it’s a morgue.”

Leona began to pace. She pushed her feelings to the other three. They were just as unsure as her. “We might be able to help.”

Kaison sighed. “Oh, you definitely can. You could teleport us right out of here since it’s part of your biology, and not something that can be switched off by central control. Then you could rescue all the other prisoners, and help begin our revolution.”

“But you’re not going to let us do that,” Angela realized.

“It would only fuel their hate. A revolution is nothing without the people in revolt. If we all break out of here, he’ll argue that that’s all the more reason he should just kill every seditious actor. You’ll give him the best excuse ever to wipe us out.”

“We have to escape either way,” Mateo pointed out.

Kaison understood. “The four of you do, yep. I don’t know what you got going on, but I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that your roster isn’t complete.”

“How do we leave without causing you problems?” Leona asked.

Kaison crossed his arms, and thought about it. “How strong are you?”

“Pretty strong.”

“Strong enough to break down that door?” Kaison questioned.

They all looked to Ramses, the engineer of their bodies. He stepped over to the door, and tested out its integrity. “Yeah, with a little time. I mean, no one here is as strong as Superman, but it could be done. Why would we, though, if we can teleport?”

“That would cause us problems,” Kaison said. “I’m brewing a plan, but...”

“But we’re not gonna like it?” Mateo guessed.

“I don’t know you well enough to answer that, but I wouldn’t call it foolproof, and I sure wouldn’t say it’s safe.”

They waited until it was closer to midnight central before making their move, using the time to get a little rest, and fill Angela in on what she missed. Mateo and Angela started punching and kicking the door, occasionally looking out the little food opening to make sure no one was coming to stop them. As much as these security guys loved to arrest people, they weren’t very careful with them once it was done.

Leona was regarding Kaison as he watched them slowly break down the door. “You’re coming with, right?”

“I’m afraid I can’t.”

“If you tell us where on this ship is safe, we’ll get you there.”

“No. I either die a martyr, or I live long enough to help the cause. Running isn’t going to save my people. The former would be better than anything, but my guess is Kristiansen would keep my death quiet, as he’ll keep what happens today quiet. It’ll be too much of an embarrassment. The upside for us is he can’t use it as a justification to round up every dissenting voice.”

“Okay,” Leona said, knowing there was no point in trying to convince him.

“In fact, if you could knock me out cold, that would be great. I’ll make something up about trying to stop you. He won’t let me go, of course, but it could earn me a few brownie points. They might even let me have an e-reader.”

“Thank you...Captain Summerling.”

He laughed. “Not a captain. Maybe I’ll start going by General.”

“We’re out,” Mateo announced. They were one kick from breaking the latch.

Leona turned her head, and frowned. “Good luck with your revolution.” She reached back, and punched him in the jaw. Then she strode over to the door, and gave it the final kick before leading her team towards freedom.

According to Kaison, the hock was equipped with an airlock in the floor. It wasn’t a very good escape option for normal people, because there weren’t any spacesuits anywhere around here, but that was fine with them. They just needed to make it look good. He didn’t have anything to write with, so he did his best to describe the layout of Extremus, and told them where they could go.

They weren’t going to have much time. At reframe speeds, jumping out of an airlock was indeed going to do what they feared before. They would pretty much stay put while the ship continued on its journey faster than light. They weren’t exactly in hyperspace, but it did kind of operate like that. The warp bubble was wrapped tightly around the vessel. Leaving it meant losing momentum. Since they weren’t wearing their Cassidy cuffs anymore, they couldn’t sync up as they normally would. Leona was going to be in charge. She would control the teleportation, and the others would surrender to her mind’s decision, using their empathy to link their simultaneous jumps.

When the outer doors of the airlock opened, the air disappeared, but it didn’t suck them out. They were still standing above the opening, preparing themselves. Their nanites automatically placed themselves at action stations to keep their hosts alive. When Leona was ready, she pulled them all downwards, and out into the cold. Mateo smiled and waved at the camera recording them from the corner. Just as space was trying to sweep them away, Leona engaged teleportation, and delivered them to the safehouse.

It wasn’t so much a house as another darkened room. There wasn’t anything in it except for a bench along the wall, and an extraction mirror in the middle of the room. “Did he tell you this was in here?” Angela asked as she was admiring it.

“He said it was an extra bridge that they used to use to pilot the ship,” Leona answered. “I don’t think this is that. Like I said, teleportation is hard to navigate in an unfamiliar place. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Mateo said. “There’s no one else here, we’re fine.”

“We still need to get our devices back,” Ramses pointed out, “but...I like this as our exit strategy.”

“Okay,” Mateo said. “You all stay here. I’m going to retrieve them for us.”

“No, we go together,” Leona demanded. “We promised each other.”

“It’s irrational for us all to get caught,” Mateo reasoned. “If anyone tries to get through that door, you go through that mirror. Can you do that for me? Can you save yourselves? Can you...not argue with me about it?”

Leona stared at her husband. “You heard where the evidence room is?”

“Yes.”

“Hurry back. And be quiet.”

“Stealthy is my favorite of the eight dwarves,” Mateo revealed.

He jumped, and to his surprise, he was exactly where he wanted to be. He was in the narrow aisle between two shelves. They were filled with tons of stuff, but mostly personal teleporters. He looked around for some semblance of organization, but could find nothing of the sort. Nothing was labeled, nothing was grouped. Everytime they confiscated something, they obviously just threw it wherever they found space. So he just started walking up and down. Nothing. He passed by another door, where he could see a woman sitting at a table. The dimensional traverser was sitting open on the table, and she was preparing to do the same thing to the friend detector. He opened the door. “Stop! What are you doing?”

“They asked me to figure out how these things work,” the woman answered.

Mateo picked up the lasso device. Wires and other parts were hanging out of it, and he knew he could never fix it himself. He shook it in her face. “I need to make sure every single miniscule part is here, whether it’s attached where it’s meant to be, or what.”

“It’s all there. Just...sorry.”

He peered over, and saw a chain around her ankle. “You’re a prisoner too.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know who I am?”

“Yes.”

“Then you know that I’m a survivor, and I can get you out.”

She stared at him a moment. She grabbed a toolbag, dumped out the tools, and swept all the parts of their devices into it. She reached out to him. “Let’s go.”

“You’re not leaving anyone you love behind?”

“No, he...he’s gone.”

Mateo reached down, and yanked the chain away from the table leg. Then he accepted the woman’s hand, and transported back to the extraction room.

“What the hell is this?” Ramses asked after Mateo handed him the bag.

“Can you fix it?” Mateo asked.

“In the next few minutes? No. Everything’s fine, it just...”

“It just what?” Angela asked.

“I could send a message across the dimensional barriers, but we won’t be able to cross over,” Ramses replied.

“What happens if we just wait a year?” Angela suggested.

“They’ll be waiting,” the woman contended. “They’ll have plenty of time to realize who you were, track your movements, and just be waiting for your return.”

“Besides,” Leona began, “we don’t have a cuff for her. Do you know where those are, by the way?”

“I didn’t see any cuffs,” the woman said apologetically. “I work on what they give me.”

“Don’t we have to wait until the next window opens up anyway?” Angela thought.

“Not technically,” Ramses said. “Before being taken apart, this thing could go whenever we wanted it to. We just wouldn’t necessarily be heading for a friend. It has to connect with the detector to accomplish that objective.”

“There’s a workaround,” Leona decided, looking at the mangled remnants of their device over Ramses’ shoulder. “Link it to the mirror. All you need is a portal, and that’s got one. Then you’ll have time to fix it permanently. Then we’ll go get the other two.”

“You can’t promise that,” Ramses said. “This ship has resources. We don’t know what we would be walking into.”

“We have to risk it.” Mateo placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

Ramses exhaled. “Okay, I’ll need your help, Lee-Lee.”

Mateo and Angela stood by while the other three got to work. The woman was just as smart and experienced as they were, and she noticed something. “Is this supposed to look like this?”

“Crap, that’s what I was afraid of. We’re running out of power.”

“By how much?” Mateo asked.

“We have one more jump,” Ramses determined. That was unacceptable. They had two friends missing. One more jump was not going to be enough. They had to find some kind of power source here, because there was no way to know whether they would be able to find one tomorrow. There had to be something on this ship...somewhere. Before anyone could come up with a solution, they were surrounded by a team of teleporting security officers.

“Uhhh...we don’t have time,” Mateo warned them. “Let’s just go through the mirror to any old place.”

“We don’t have time for that either,” Leona said.

“We can hear you.” It was the leader security guard from before; the one who sounded like he smoked. “You’re not going anywhere, except back to hock.”

They stood there frozen, not wanting to comply. The others could feel Ramses’ feelings, implying to them that they only needed to wait for midnight. It was all ready to go. They couldn’t just walk through the portal, though. These guys would shoot them as soon as they moved an inch. Except they never got the chance. One turned against the others, and shot them all dead before they could react. Then he took off his mask.

“Omega!” the woman cried, relieved.

“Come on, Valencia. Let’s let the nice people go home.”

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