The Advancement of Mateo Matic: January 2, 2399

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Leona woke up in Leona Reaver’s body while Mateo and Alyssa were in Lebanon. Both physically and mentally, she was fine. Mateo returned to lament the situation she was in, but she said she wasn’t worried about it. “Most people die,” she explained. “Even we’re not immortal in the bodies that Ramses made for us. I’m in no more danger than I was before.” But of course that’s not true. This indicates that someone is trying to kill her, and now that she’s where they want her, there is only one step left. “Again,” she pointed out, “lots of people in this reality are trying to kill me.” But not for long, because Kivi is working on that with her team. After a pattern formed weeks ago, they realized that her psychic ability to find people was helping them locate everyone with any serious intentions to kill Leona for the bounty. They’re gradually rounding them all up, and handing them off to a transport team to hang out in a black site detention cell until they forgo their plans. In another month, they should all be taken care of. The plan to fake her death will not need to take place, even if it would work, which it won’t anymore.

Both patients stayed at the government hospital for rest and observation, but were released this morning. They’re at the team’s new facility now, in the middle of a long, detailed, and complicated mutual debrief in the conference room. Ramses nods. “So, your cousin’s boss. How worried are we?”

“Very worried,” Leona says. She lays a hand on Mateo’s knee. “Sorry, I know that was part of your story, but I just have to say that learning about someone new this late in the timeline can only spell trouble.”

“Agreed,” Mateo says. “Especially someone powerful enough to scare any version of Tamerlane Pryce. If this mysterious person is dormant in some way—or was billions of years ago—it’s only a matter of time before he shows up. All five of us need to get back up to full strength, and we need to find Olimpia. That means leaving this reality...”

“Or destroying the Omega Gyroscope,” Ramses believes, “or in some way altering its programming. Now we know why our transhumanistic upgrades aren’t working, in addition to our time powers. It’s a powerful magical object that can just unilaterally decide that things like that don’t work. That is our priority, because it has the potential to solve all of our other problems.”

“Agreed,” Mateo repeats.

Leona nods. “We need to get into space.”

“What’s in space?” Ramses asks.

“Theia...or part of it, anyway. Most of it is still part of Earth.”

“Do you know where it is?”

Leona nods. “Phoenix 15-236P7 Marathon-Algae-Temple.”

“Aquila was lying when she said we would find Mateo there,” Ramses reminds her. “What makes you think there is any significance to that location in the Oort Cloud?”

“It’s a place to start,” Leona explains. “I think that something is there. It may even be a version of Mateo. Based on my husband’s testimony, I firmly believe now that the implosion that created Danica Lake was not an implosion at all, but a massive transport. The Constant remains intact, just moved elsewhere. We know that because Mateo and Danica saw it in the future. It was close to a black hole, and Earth is too massive to have likely made it that far from its current location. What better place to hide such a thing than a chunk of the planet that it used to be a part of anyway?”

That would indeed be a good place for it; still close to Earth, but too far for a normal person to come across. She’s right, they have to get back up to the AOC, and go on a mission to find it. Mateo has more experience with the layout than anyone did months ago when they first uncovered this reality’s version of the facility. Hell, Danica was probably in her secret section the entire time, watching them wander around like ignorant children. And she may be there right now too, unwittingly waiting for them to return and demand more answers. “This is what we’re doing next, aren’t we?” he asks the group. “We’re going to look for the Constant again?”

“Not all of us,” Leona says.

Ramses nods. “Yeah, I’ll stay grounded to help with things here.”

“No, you go,” Leona counters.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Ramses argues. “You’re the one in danger.”

“That’s exactly why I shouldn’t go off on risky missions, to uncharted territories in outer space. Besides, I want to spend some more time with Arcadia. I’m starting to feel like an aunt, and aunts are meant to help.”

“I understand. You can’t be alone, though,” Ramses reasons.

“I’ll stay with her,” Marie says, having not spoken much up to this point. “I’ll protect her, and we’ll both protect Arcadia and Vearden.”

“You’re not gonna go back to SD6?” Mateo asks.

“They’ll hold my spot until I’m ready,” Marie replies.

“I would like to go to space,” Alyssa chimes in as she’s spinning in her chair. “My brothers are out there; seems unfair that they get to have all the fun.” She’s relieved when they all look fine with that idea.

“Don’t go until tomorrow, though,” Leona requests. “I would like to spend one night with my husband. It’s been quite awhile.”

“What? I’m not going anywhere,” Mateo contends.

“She’s your cousin,” Leona volleys. “You need to be the one to talk to her. She doesn’t even know Ramses. Besides, it’s at least a three-person mission.”

Mateo tries to speak.

“No arguing. This is how the teams are being divided,” Leona explains.

“I thought you were trying to be more democratic,” Mateo says.

“I’ve kind of rethought that,” Leona. “It’s inefficient. I’m not a dictator, but someone has to ultimately be responsible.”

Ramses nods decisively. “Hear, hear.”

Mateo laughs a little. “Anyway, let’s wait a few days before we go anywhere. He starts talking out the side of his mouth, but it’s loud enough for all to here. “Keep in mind that I’ve been apart from you longer than you from me.”

“Okay,” she says with a smile.

“Get a room,” Alyssa jokes. It’s nice to hear that some expressions transcend the boundaries of any one reality.

“That’s a good point,” Leona says. “I would like to see where we’re staying.”

“We’re underground,” Ramses says, “so it’s not as nice as The Lofts, but the amenities are pretty sweet. There’s even a pool, which the researchers originally designed to test the spread of disease in water.”

“I think I just want a bed right now,” Leona tells him.

“Same,” Mateo agrees.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: January 1, 2399

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Mateo, Leona, and Marie were asked to stay in quarantine for 24 hours following their return to the right time period in the Third Rail. It was the New Year, and they could hear the celebrations from inside the tent. The government erected it weeks ago, after Marie no longer had to pretend to not be working for them. So far, no other time travelers have appeared. At least none has been reported to Team Matic. No legally binding document was signed that would force them to divulge such information. Any concessions and transparency the government affords them is done in good faith, and can be stopped or modified at any time without warning. In return, Team Matic reserves the right to do the same. Even so, it’s best not to rock the boat, so the three travelers agreed to follow protocol. They were just released, and are now heading towards the SD6 black site, where Alyssa is suffering from an unknown medical issue.

“How long has she been like this?” Leona asks.

“Four days,” Ramses replies.

“She’s been shaking for four days straight?” Mateo asks.

“Well, it started off worse, but then relaxed into this.”

“You call this relaxed?” Marie questions.

“It’s more relaxed than it was,” Ramses says. “It was a full on seizure. Now it’s a lot of constant twitching. The doctors have her on their version of an EEG. She’s in a state of deep sleep, so they’re categorizing her movements as a form of somnambulism.”

Mateo looks to Leona. “Sleepwalking,” she translates. She looks over at Alyssa’s real body, in its own bed now, hooked up to its own machines. “Have you tried—?”

“Putting her back?” Ramses finishes for her. “Of course I have. My best guess is that the Livewire needs a conscious, or semi-conscious, subject. Slow-wave sleep is the furthest from that you can get from that. We don’t need someone’s permission to force them into the wire, but we need them to be at least vaguely aware that something is happening.”

“Assuming that you’re not all total morons,” Leona begins, “and you’ve exhausted every possible strategy to revive her, then perhaps our only option is to go in and get her out in a more direct approach.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Ramses agrees. “I just couldn’t do it all alone out here. Kivi is on a huge mission, and Arcadia really needs to focus on the baby.”

“Well, you know more about this time tech than I do,” Leona says, removing her jacket. “I need you to stay out here. I’ll be the one to go in.”

Ramses clearly wants to do it instead, probably because he feels responsible for her, and because the two of them surely grew close all this time that the rest of the team was MIA. He’s this close to arguing, but decides to concede and let her have it. “All right, I’ll keep an eye on you both.”

Mateo watches as they get situated. He’s tired of all this body switching. And this whole idea about faking Leona’s death so the world will stop hunting her? It’s so stupid, and it’s never gonna work. There are too many moving parts—too many variables. He can’t say anything, though, because they’re all much smarter than him, and he’s not one of the people in danger here. Ramses connects Leona to her own EEG-like machine. She’s sitting in a hospital chair between Alyssa’s vacant body, and Leona Reaver’s failing body. Maybe that’s the problem. An unknown individual or group placed Alt!Mateo and Leona Reaver in the extraction mirror loop. Theoretically, they can take it away. Maybe they chose a maximum number of times that it would happen, and that limit has been reached. Nerakali only had nine steps before she ultimately had to accept her fate. How many has Leona Reaver had? No, it’s too dangerous. Leona can help get Alyssa out of the doomed body, but then no one else is going into it. They’re not going to do it, even if it means that Mateo has to figure out how to destroy the Livewire himself.

Using insulating gloves, Ramses tucks one end of the Livewire between the two Leonas’ hands. He prepares the other end to be plugged into the wall. Leona Matic is also holding Alyssa’s hand, with the idea that Alyssa’s consciousness should pass from the Leona Reaver body, into the wire, then into Leona Matic, and finally into her own body. That sounds dumb too, it probably isn’t going to work either, but again, Mateo can’t say anything. This is Ramses’ plan. “Now, you may find yourselves connected psychically for a moment. I could see the problem being that Alyssa’s mind is trapped in her subconscious, or somewhere else. In that case, you’ll have to find her, and pull her to the surface. We still don’t know how this stuff works, so be ready to improvise.”

“Understood,” Leona says with a nod. “Do it.”

Ramses plugs it in and sends her off. Now it’s just a waiting game to see if it works, and how well.

A whole fifteen minutes later, Leona wakes up with a start. She lets go of everything and everyone, and jumps out of her seat. Like an unbroken wildhorse, she backs away from her friends, and instinctually keeps them at bay with outstretched arms. But she’s just confused. She doesn’t actually think that they’re going to hurt her. It looks like she’s starting to calm down and get her bearings when suddenly she jerks her head to the side, and disappears.

“What the hell was that?” Marie asks as she’s checking Leona Reaver for a pulse.

“I can sense her, and I still have a ton of temporal energy from my time in the past,” Mateo says. He teleports to her location.

“How did I get here?” Leona asks when he arrives.

“You teleported. Are you trying to get back down to the Constant?” They’re standing on the edge of Danica Lake.

“No, this is home.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I remember now. I remember everything. I’m not Leona, I’m Alyssa. This is my farm. I was scared, and I think I came here to feel safe.” She places a hand on her chest. “But my heart rate seems to be going back down now.”

“Where’s Leona? Is she in there with you?” Mateo asks, hopeful.

Alyssa shakes Leona’s head. “No, she’s still back there. She...she got stuck. She stayed behind to save me. Someone had to stay inside that brain.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s a trap. That body is a trap. You can’t just empty it out, and send it back to its fate in that old timeline. Someone has to be occupying it, and that someone is Leona Matic. Mateo, if she dies, she’s not coming back to that parking lot. The extraction loop is over. She’s going to die for real, and for good. It’s what they wanted all along.”

“It’s what who wanted all along?” Mateo questions.

She shakes her head again. “I don’t know, but they’re bad news. Leona is the only thing standing their way. At least that’s what she said. She didn’t have time to explain.”

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: December 31, 2398

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It takes a second for them to realize that Treasure never actually said a word with her mouth. Instead, an invisible speaker in the tiara that she’s wearing outputs her voice. It does sound like what they would expect a woman of her looks to sound like, but they all independently decide to not ask her about it. Mateo steps back into the master sitting room to shake Treasure’s hand. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of Thack Natalie Collins via Amber Fossward this whole time. Did you just get my message?”

“Miss Collins didn’t pass along any message,” Treasure says. “I heard a scream. I thought it was just the Time Shriek at first, but I felt compelled to investigate.”

“That’s weird that you would hear that from the bulk,” Leona says from still inside the neuro-tampering chamber. “What is this room?”

“What was the message?” Treasure asks Mateo.

“Can you help us get out of here?” Mateo recites the psychic signal he was trying to send across the bulkverse.

“I can, yeah,” Treasure says politely.

“Is it okay if you take two trips?” Leona asks. “There are four of us.”

“No, five,” Mateo says. “Alyssa needs to come too.”

“She can’t,” Leona tells him with a shake of her head. “We’ve already seen her in the future. She’s destined to wait in a time bubble. If we hadn’t found her, we never would have known to come back here to get you.”

Treasure chuckles. “Four, five; I don’t need two trips. I can take you all.”

“Two people is usually the limit,” Leona points out.

“It’s not my limit,” Treasure contends, literally rolling up her sleeves. “Where would you like to go? I hear Schurverse is nice this time of Bearimy.”

“We actually just need to get to the future,” Marie clarifies. “Preferably November 26, 2398, but at least no sooner.”

“That’s four and a half billion years from now,” Leona adds.

“I can’t technically travel through time,” Treasure explains. “But what I can do is take you out of this brane, then back in at a different point in time.”

“That works for us,” Mateo says. “But actually she needs to go to a different point, and a different reality.” He points to Abigail.

“Then I will make two trips.” Treasure steps into the neuro-tampering room, and offers her hand. “I can’t read your mind, but my ability can. You navigate, and I’ll drive. We’ll get to where you need to be. Just concentrate on your target destination.”

While Abigail is on her way home, Mateo and Marie carry a sleeping Danica over to the couch. Leona starts to take the neuro-tampering device apart. She rips out its guts, and throws it into a pile. She places the innocuous pieces, like the casing and hardware, into a separate pile. That can all stay, because it’s not enough to rebuild the whole thing. Mateo and Marie come over to help, following her direction.

Just as they’re finishing up, Treasure returns. “It turned out to be a rather long trip. Something I should have said to your friend is that we can’t really talk while we’re in the bubble, but you can breathe just fine. Don’t try to hold your breath, it will only make the pressure worse. You can try to use hand signals but it’s also a bit hard to move. Otherwise, just enjoy the ride.”

Once they seal up the secret bookcase entrance, Treasure gathers them together and screams. As the sound intensifies, they feel themselves being jerked into the protective bubble she mentioned before with the same force as the start of a roller coaster. They’re then pulled into the bulk. Treasure was telling the truth when she said that they would be able to breathe, but not speak. They could hear each other’s muffled voices, but not make out any words. The bubble wasn’t this hollow object that they were inside of, but a dense gel that formed around each of them tightly. There wasn’t any seating per se, but they could bend their knees, and adjust their weight as they would if sitting down upon something.

They float in darkness mostly, but occasionally detect the vague outline of gargantuan objects in the distance when some kind of light ripples by. They look like knives, and Mateo gets the sense that each one is its own universe. When it’s over, they find themselves standing in the middle of a dense forest at twilight. “This is my homeworld, but I don’t think they want you spending much time here,” Treasure says apologetically.

“That’s okay,” Mateo says sincerely. “Perhaps one day.”

She nods and screams again, sending them all on the journey back. This leg is much shorter, suggesting that their respective timelines are closer in modern days, but Mateo doesn’t really understand the hyperdimensional physics going on here, and he doesn’t believe Leona does either. Despite it being her field of study, this goes far beyond her education and experience. It’s like the difference between knowing that an apple will fall down to your head from the tree, and truly understanding why and what causes that. The scream is complete when they land at their destination. At least that’s where they think they are; it’s where they’ve stopped.

“This doesn’t look familiar,” Marie notes. “Leona, what time is it?”

She looks at her watch, which always knows the exact time and date for when and where she is, no matter how much time traveling she’s gone through. “December 31st, 2398 at 15:02. Hm.”

“Sorry, I’m off,” Treasure says.

“No, I was meant to be the navigator,” Leona laments.

“No, it was me. I thought I overshot it. I’m still pretty new at this, to be honest. I should have been upfront about that.”

“It’s really fine,” Mateo tells her. This isn’t that long. I mean, it’s pretty long for me, but November 26 would have been a gap too.”

“Look at that architecture,” Marie says as she steps towards the skyline, towering up into the twilight sky. “We can’t be in the Third Rail. No where on Earth is like this; not yet, anyway.”

Leona looks down at her watch again. “Unless this thing is broken, it’s right. Maybe we’re in the wrong reality. I worked really hard to think about the right one, though. I purged all other thoughts from my brain.”

“Could your watch be broken? Did leaving the universe mess it up?” Mateo asks.

“I’ve done it before,” Leona notes. “It’s never been an issue.”

“This is definitely salmonverse,” Treasure assures them.

“Can we ask that person?” Mateo suggests. “Would it be weird?”

Leona shrugs her shoulders. “If he looks at us funny for asking what year it is, what’s the worst that could happen?” She leads the way towards the man who is walking his dog along the treeline. “Excuse me?”

“Yes?” He’s not perturbed that they’re interrupting him in the first place, which is a good start.

“Could you tell me...?” She can’t even say it.

“The date?” he just somehow assumes. “It’s New Year’s Eve, 2398.”

“Which calendar?” Mateo furthers.

“Clavical,” the man replies. He reads their expressions. “Are you from before the Clavical? I’ve never met travelers from that far in the past. Could I get a photo?” He raises a hand, fingers separated, thumb placed on the band of the ring on his index.

“Sorry,” Leona tells him. “Better not.”

“I understand, you wanna keep a low profile. I’ll always remember this, though.” He and the dog casually walk away.

“They do this in the main sequence,” Mateo says. “They get rid of the old calendar, and start a new one. It’s 2398, but not our 2398. This is where Cheyenne is from, but she wouldn’t say how far in the future.”

“That tracks with everything we know of her so far,” Leona determines.

“I saw something when I was here briefly with Danica,” Mateo reveals. “There was a sign. It was six keys, each had its own symbol on it.”

“That’s where the word clavicle comes from,” Marie says. “Key.”

“What were the symbols?” Leona asks her husband.

“It’s hard to remember. Like I said, it was so brief. We accidentally took Cheyenne with us, which is why she needed the Insulator of Life; to get back to her future. One of them was, like, two vertical lines next to each other, complete with the arrows at each end. Another was three lines, but no arrows. Oh, there was one that was squarish...two lines intersecting each other. The bottom right was filled in.”

“Oh my God, that’s a quadrant, Mateo.”

“Let me guess, the fourth quadrant,” Marie figures.

“The Parallel, the Third Rail, and the Fourth Quadrant,” Leona lists. “Did you see the Fifth Division symbol? It had arches, we saw it while we were there.”

“I think so, yeah, and that would make sense. The symbol on one of the other two keys was a circle, and then several crescents to the above it.”

“The main sequence,” Leona realizes. “We’ve been moving through time with bad information. Everyone has only ever talked about there being five parallel realities in total, but they’re wrong. There are six.”

“That’s why we call it The Sixth Key.” They were so deep in discussion, they didn’t even notice someone approaching them. As he steps into the dying light, they get a better look at his face. It’s Ramses. Well, it’s a Ramses.

“Report,” Leona requests.

“The report is that you’re not where you’re supposed to be. You gotta go.”

“Wait, just answer one question,” Leona begs.

“No.” Alt!Ramses holds his palm towards them, and gently pushes air forward. They can feel themselves being flung backwards in time, but just the three of them. Treasure doesn’t come with. When the streaks of speeding light around them give way to discernible form, they realize that they’ve landed in the Crown Center parking lot. But then time has to move the opposite direction for a little bit. The cars drive off, and a large tent is erected. Soldiers are aiming guns on them. “Hold!” one of them orders. The leader steps forward. “It’s them! Welcome back, Agent Matic.”

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: Year 302,398 Part 2

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Tamerlane feels like he can finally breathe again after being underwater for 24 minutes and 38 seconds. It’s done. Everything he wanted to accomplish has been accomplished, and Danica can’t undo it without becoming a hypocrite. Speaking of which, she’s running towards him down the hallway. He smiles. She’s going to try to punish him, but whatever it is, it will be worth it.

“What did you do?” she questions.

“I ended the madness,” he explains vaguely.

“Clarify.”

“I sent them back home. Leona, Marie, Mateo, even Abigail. They’re all home. Or they will be, because they’re from the future.”

“That wasn’t your call.”

“It wasn’t yours either. This has snowballed, Danica. The Concierge is not meant to meddle in the affairs of her guests. She is there to keep them comfortable while they rest between missions, or whatever it is they have to do. You’ve decided to help people instead. I admire that, and I’ve helped you, but I did not sign up for forcing people to stay here against their will. That’s not me...and it’s not you.”

She bites her upper lip, and exhales loudly through her nose. “You’re right. No one wants to be here.”

Oh, that doesn’t sound good. She’s not really agreeing with him, she’s just teeing herself up to hitting a hole in one. “Wait.”

“So I’ll send them all away.”

“Wait,” he repeats.

“Constance, Away Team Protocol Icecap-Castaway-Algae three-oh-two-three.”

The doors slam shut behind them. The other five people currently living in this facility unwillingly teleport into the room, confused, and standing in a line like military recruits at boot camp. “Honey, what are you doing?” Asier asks his daughter.

Danica breathes in preparation. “It has been brought to my attention that we will ultimately become responsible for an extremely deadly war between realities. Few things can cross the parallels, and this thing is one of them.” She gestures towards the transtemporal relocator. “We have to destroy it before this war can come to pass.”

“I never said that that’s what causes the war,” Cheyenne contends. “Plus, you’re severely misunderstanding what kind of situation my ancestors dealt with. It wasn’t across multiple realities. It was only in one. It was only in mine.”

“It doesn’t matter where the war front will be,” Danica dismisses. “It also doesn’t matter if these machines are what facilitate the conflict. They are capable of doing it, so they must be destroyed. I’ll destroy anything else with the same ability, including Jupiter Fury and Dilara Cassano. But I won’t ask you to go that far. All you’ll have to do is take care of the machines. I’ll give you each a tool, and once you arrive at your destination, just plug it into any port.” She holds up what looks like a memory stick. “It will destroy the machine so thoroughly that it can never be rebuilt.”

“How did you make that without me?” Tamerlane questions.

“I asked Constance,” Danica replies. “You think you’re the smartest one here, but you’re not. To her, you’re an incomparable moron.”

“What if we don’t do it?” Curtis asks.

Danica steps up to him, and stares for a moment. “Bhulan, I know I can trust you, which is why I’m sending you to the Fifth Division. Dad...you’ll be going to the main sequence, because I trust you too, and I...I know the kind of Danica that you’re gonna find there. She’ll understand why you have to do what I’m asking you to do. Bhulan and Aquila, I can’t say what your version of the place holds. When Mateo and I were being thrown across the dimensions, we never found a version of me there. Your job should be easy if you just do it and get out. However, I can promise you nothing.”

“How do we get out?” Curtis presses. “If we destroy our respective machines...”

“That’s part of what this does.” Danica shakes the data stick. “If you complete your jobs within 24 standard hours, you’ll be brought back here just before the machine goes critical. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck there forever.” She goes back to staring at Curtis. “For added incentive, I’m not sending Cheyenne with you. She’ll stay here, and if you ever wanna see her again, you’ll do as I’ve asked.”

“What’s my incentive?” Tamerlane asks.

Danica chuckles. “Me. I’ll be right by your side. We’re going to the Parallel together. There may be a few other things I wanna do while I’m there, and you’re going to help me.”

“So my wife is just going to be here alone while I’m in the Fourth Quadrant?” Curtis asks angrily after using the process of elimination to guess his assignment.

“She won’t be alone,” Constance says. “I’ll take care of her while you’re gone.”

“Besides,” Danica begins, “if you do the thing, you won’t be gone any longer than it takes you.”

“What if Fourth!Danica takes issue with my mission?”

“We just call her Quadrant!Danica,” Rail!Danica corrects. “And that’s why it’s perfect that you’re the one going there. If you can’t destroy it right away, she’ll need some convincing, and your silver tongue is best suited to the job.” She nods, and inspects her soldiers. “Now, I was going to do this with Mateo, because he has experience with this sort of thing, and the skills to pull it off against all odds...against other versions of me. You can thank Mr. Pryce here for making that impossible.” She starts handing people their little weapons. “Are there any more questions?”

“Yeah,” Cheyenne pipes up. “Who hurt you?”

“You did. When you told me what happens.”

“As I said,” Cheyenne snaps back, “you don’t understand my world. It is not what you think.”

Danica just shakes her head, and starts to escort her father, Asier into the machine. After she sends him off, she does the same for Bhulan and Aquila, and then her husband, Curtis. Finally, she sets a timer on the controls, and takes Tamerlane into the time chamber with her. “Your husband will be back for you know it, as will the others. We might be gone for longer.”

Cheyenne frowns as they too disappear, leaving her alone, at least in a corporeal sense. She does have a disembodied intelligence to keep her company. Danica was seemingly right about people returning quickly. Seconds later, the machine boots up again. It’s not Bhulan who comes back, though, nor Asier. It’s not Curtis either. “Who are you?” she nervously asks the strange man holding a cane, and getting his bearings.

“I’m Dalton Hawke, and I’m looking for Team Matic. I tried to send them home, but I think I screwed it up.”

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: Year 292,398 Part 1

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Tamerlane holds up his hands defensively. “Don’t shoot, I’m unarmed.”

“We’re not going to hurt you. We’re worried about what you’re gonna do to us.”

“I’m not the Pryce you know. I’m from a different timeline.”

“So does that make you friend or foe?” Marie questions.

“Loyal to Danica, but a friend to you; I’m torn. Fortunately for you, you’re winning out today. Your plan is solid, but it’s not perfect.” He looks up at the time machine. “This thing is magnificent, but it’s loud. It makes a lot of literal sound, and it draws a ton of power, and it’s got alarm bells out the wazoo. You can’t just jump into the past, and expect to sneak around without anyone even knowing that you’re there.”

“So, what can we do?” Marie asks.

“You can ask for help.” Tamerlane steps towards the machine, and starts to fiddle with the touch screen. “It’s more customizable than Danica understands. She knows I know it better than her. She knows I know this whole facility better. It’s not because I’m smarter, but because I’m committed to it. Her concern is the world out there, but I have no such obligations, so I’ve dedicated a lot of time to mastering the Constant.” He finishes one final flourish, then tugs what looks like a hard drive out of the wall. “Anyway, it’s designed for same-space travel. You come out where you left, just at a different point in time. I can modify that. I can make you invisible.”

“When you say invisible...” Leona begins.

“Not literally,” Tamerlane clarifies. “You’ll still have to lay low, but no one will know you showed up. That should give you time to hide in the master sitting room.”

“Which one of us?” Leona asks.

“All three of you.”

Leona is confused about the math. “All three of who?”

“Me.” Tamerlane’s daughter, Abigail steps into the room.

“She may not be my daughter, but I can’t help but feel more loyal to her than anyone else here, including myself. Danica gave her permission to leave, then quickly rescinded it, based on some secret conversation she had with Mateo, Bhulan, Aquila, and I guess Cheyenne.”

“Cheyenne?” Marie is shocked. “Cheyenne is here?”

“Naturally,” Tamerlane answers.

“I know where to hide,” Abigail interjects. “We better get going before the others come out of stasis.”

“Okay. Like you said, we’re trusting you,” Leona reminds Tamerlane.

“You won’t regret it.” The three of them step into the time chamber while Tamerlane waits at the controls. “Remember. Be sneaky and quiet. You’ll be going straight to the sitting room. Find your little panic room, and wait until Danica and Mateo come. Close your loop.”

“Thank you.” Yeah, Marie just said that to Tamerlane Pryce, and no one can believe it. She almost can’t believe it, but it’s not completely implausible. He certainly isn’t the first alternate self she’s met. There have been so many in the Third Rail alone; it’s like a magnet for them. She herself is an alt who goes by their middle name.

The machine powers up, and spirits them back to the past.

They expect to find themselves alone, but they’re not. There’s already someone in the master sitting room. He’s leaning against a blue couch, reading something, and he doesn’t notice their arrival right away. It’s Curtis Duvall. Once he does see them, he grimaces slightly, and starts to back away towards the door. Euh...carry on, ladies.”

“Wait, Curtis,” Leona stops him. “You can’t tell anyone that we’re here.”

Abigail takes a step forward. “You can’t tell anyone ever.”

“I understand.” I already forgot all of your names. He teleports away.

“Do you think we can trust him to keep quiet?” Leona questions.

“We already know that he doesn’t squeal, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. Hm.” Leona takes a breath, and looks to Abigail. “You know where we can hide?”

“Yeah, over here.” She walks up to a bookcase, and starts to take off all the books. Most spy movies that involve secret panic rooms or passageways involve pulling on the right book, or maybe a few of them. This entailed a lot more than that. She removes as many books as she can carry at once, and sets them on the table. Once she has the whole first shelf removed, she turns them around, and puts them back, but now with the spines facing inward, and in the opposite order. Now that Leona and Marie know the deal, they are able to help with the rest. Fortunately, they only need to do this with one case of books. “Are you ready? Come close.” After they huddle tighter against the case, she spins the reading lampshade one direction, then the other, and then back the first way, like a combination lock. Finally, she pulls on the chain. The case spins around, taking them with it. The back of the bookcase disappears, leaving them with a view of the master sitting room above the shorter books, like something out of Interstellar.

“How did you find out about this, and how does Danica not know about it?”

“Oh, she does,” Abigail corrects, “but she won’t expect us to be here. We will need access to this room anyway.” She pulls the lamp chain again to switch the light on, and turns around. In the middle of the still pretty dark room is a menacing-looking chair with a helmet attached to the top. “I know about it, because she tried to use this on me once, but little did she know, my real father insulated me against neuro-tampering. If I don’t want something changed in my brain, it doesn’t get changed, so I remember her bringing me to this chair.”

“It erases memory,” Leona realizes.

“It can do more than that,” Abigail begins. “It can alter your personality, turn you into a different person, or eff you up in a number of ways. I don’t even think Bhulan knows about it. It’s Danica’s failsafe; a way to keep her in ultimate control.”

“You told your father’s alternate, though.”

“Not even him,” Abigail says with a slow shake of her head. “I told him that I know of a secret panic room behind the bar. He didn’t push it.”

Marie has a bad feeling about this. “We’re gonna use this on Danica?”

“We’ll only erase the last few minutes of her life, or however long it will have been since she walked in. Then we’ll put her to sleep for a bit, dismantle the wretched thing, and take the parts with us to the future, where we’ll destroy them. Sound like a plan?”

They hear sounds coming from the other side of the bookcase. They can see Danica and Mateo come in, and close the door. They’re alone. Abigail reaches for the lampshade, but Leona reaches over to stop her. “We came back here for answers,” she whispers. “Let’s let her give some away before we interrupt.”

“Very well,” Abigail agrees.

“I’m not doing it,” Mateo insists on the other side of the bookcase.

“I don’t see you having any other choice.”

“That’s what people like Zeferino, Anatol, and Jupiter wanted me to think, but I see now that I always had a choice, and I’m making it. I’m not going to help you. I’m not going to stop you from doing whatever you want, but I won’t be a part of it, and not because of any moral stance against it, but because it’s not my goddamn responsibility!”

“I fail to see the relevance of that,” Danica contends. “I want you to do something, you work for me, you do it.”

“Since when do I work for you?”

“Since you came back here and gave me a headache that has lasted for 300,000 years!”

He scoffs. “Exaggerate much?”

“You question my leadership and my methods, you kidnapped Bhulan—”

“No, I didn’t, remember?”

“You thought you did, which is bad enough. May I remind you of the leash that I have on you? Leona is on her way here. She is the new possessor of the Omega Gyroscope. I decide how close to realtime your life is.”

“When she comes, I’ll get us both out right away, and she won’t have anything to do with the Gyroscope anymore. By the time we come back, none of it will matter.”

“I won’t let you even see her.” Danica looks at something on her handheld device. “She’s not on her way from the future. She’s here, floating in orbit above us,” she says with a laugh. “It’s done.”

Leona nods to Abigail, who inputs the lampshade combination, and then pulls on the chain. They spin back around, but only halfway, so they can freely walk back and forth. “I’m already here,” she says with a curtsey.

Mateo smirks. He steps over, and gives her a big hug. Then he hugs Marie.

Danica nods, and gives them a moment. But only a moment. “Constance, Lockdown Protocol Dolphin-Algae-Nautical two-three-nine-nine.”

“Constance, belay that order,” Leona commands quickly.

Danica looks up. “How the hell did you do that?”

“I still don’t know,” Leona answers honestly. “I really don’t.”

Abigail takes Danica forcefully by the shoulder. “Brutus!” Danica shouts.

“You should have let me go home,” Abigail replies. She escorts her over to the neuro-tampering chair, and makes her sit down. She and Mateo strap her down.

“This isn’t gonna hurt her, right?” Mateo asks hopefully.

“She’ll be fine,” Abigail promises.

“You know how to use this then?” Leona asks.

“I saw her try to do it to me, and the instructions are in English.” Abigail taps on the screen, and then activates the helmet. A glow emanates from it. Danica screams, and it echoes in an unusual way, all throughout the room, into the next, and the hallway.

“Well, that’s the famous scream we heard about,” Leona muses. “I guess we’re not leaving the universe.”

As Danica’s scream subsides, another replaces it. They look out into the master sitting room, where a young woman is now standing. “My ears were burning.”

“They were?” Marie asks. “Who are you?”

“I’m Treasure. Treasure Hawthorne of Voldisilaverse, at your service.”

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: December 28, 2398

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Alyssa seems okay. If there’s secret information in her brain that she can’t access, it doesn’t appear to be doing her any harm. It’s not making her hurt people, or spontaneously cluck like a chicken. After all the tests that Ramses could think of, and all the psychic therapy that Arcadia tried to perform, they had little choice but to give up, move on, and hope that it doesn’t cause problems later. It’s been a long time since they first came up with their plan to fake Leona’s death, and they have yet to go through with it, despite nearly everything being ready. All they need is for someone to pretend to be her using the currently vacant Leona Reaver body, and Alyssa has had enough of the waiting. “I’m doing this. Show me how.”

“It’s too dangerous,” Ramses warns.

“You’ve all done dangerous things. So have I. I went to Russia. This is important.”

Ramses shakes his head. He’s tired of this argument.

“I’m tired of this argument,” Alyssa says. Maybe she is psychic. “I’m doing this, so you can either help me with the Insulator of Life and Livewire, or I can try it myself. Talk about dangerous.”

He sighs. “Okay. We’ll do it tomorrow.”

She laughs, then starts to fake laugh, “ha-ha-ha. Let’s go to that secret government hospital. Right now.”

“Very well. If you’ll get the keys, I’ll—”

“No, I said right now.”

He’s confused at first, but then realizes that she’s expecting him to teleport them there. It’s less about the thrill of superpowers, and more about them getting there quickly without him having any time to change his mind, or try to talk her out of it. “Okay, we’ll do that. But I still have to get the special equipment.”

“Okay, go ahead,” she says as if he needs her authorization.

After they’re ready, they jump to the secret hospital, directly into Leona Reaver’s room. The guard standing outside her door is alarmed, but relaxes when he sees through the window that it’s just the two of them. Ramses peeks his head out to inform him that his assignment is about to be changed. Instead of watching over Reaver’s body, he’ll temporarily be watching over Alyssa’s. He understands, and isn’t surprised. He’s probably never shocked about anything anymore. One day, everyone in the world is gonna know about time travel and time powers. The secret can’t last forever.

Alyssa has seen this done before, but Ramses reviews the procedure anyway. It’s important for her to understand that this is not just dangerous because the mission she’ll be going on will result in a near-death experience. The transfer itself is also dangerous, because it’s mysterious. Normal human brain uploading technology has been researched and perfected by thousands of experts, and experienced by billions of people in the main sequence. This? No one knows how the hell this works. It just does. And that means that if something goes wrong, they won’t necessarily be able to fix it. She accepts the risks, and lies down on the bed next to Reaver. They provided a bariatric medical bed just for this eventually, so there’s plenty of room for the both of them.

“I’ll see you on the other side.” Ramses plugs the Livewire in.

Alyssa transfers to Leona Reaver’s body. Then she starts to have a seizure.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: Year 272,398

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Mateo climbs out of his pod, and into the main living area. Most everyone is sitting on the couches. It almost looks like he’s walked into a party that he wasn’t invited to. They all look pretty happy, especially Curtis. “Hey, look who’s awake! Finally! What’s it been, like eight—nine thousand years?”

Mateo glances back at his pod. “Ten, just as it usually is.”

“Ah, that’s too long. Come on, buddy. Join the celebration.” He puts his arm over Mateo’s shoulder.

“What are we, uh...celebrating?” Mateo asks, letting Curtis lead him deeper into the room.

“It’s Abigail,” he explains. “She’s gettin’ out for good behavior. Hail Abby!” He holds up his glass, and waits for everyone else to echo him, but they don’t. “Ah, you people are no fun.”

“Hail Abby!” Mateo chants alone.

“Thanks, Matt,” Abigail says, raising her glass.

“That’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout. You’re good people. Here, have a drink.” He hands him his own glass of water, then goes over to the bar to get another to replace it.

“Dani, what does this mean?” Mateo questions.

“I’m letting her use the time machine,” Danica replies.

“Transtemporal relocator,” Aquila corrects. They took Mateo’s advice. Aquila always wears sunglasses, and Bhulan never does, though she sometimes leaves them on top of her head for ease of switching if the two of them are shifting control back and forth. It’s nice to know that he can still contribute.

“Whatever,” Danica dismisses.

Mateo nods, happy for Abigail, but confused, and just a little ticked off. That’s good, Danica is finally loosening up a bit on her restrictions, but that doesn’t explain why Mateo can’t go home too. Based on their experience with the time machine, she should actually be able to return him and his friends to the main sequence. “Cool.”

Danica can sense his frustration. “I know you’re upset, and I would be sending you back too, but things have changed. Tamerlane changed things. No, I’m not still mad at you, but he’s forced my hand. I have to place someone in charge of the Omega Gyroscope, and it has to be someone I can trust. Leona is already part of the line of succession. I have already set in motion a series of events which will lead her to coming back here to rescue you. All we have to do is wait. All you have to do is wait.”

“But then we’ll have to stay here, won’t we? At least every 49,999 years, she’ll have to come out of stasis to reclaim control over the damn thing. But other than that, we don’t have real lives. We don’t have any choice.”

Danica shakes her head, she will be able to leave anytime she wants. All she’ll have to do is modify the Gyroscope’s programming to generate a new succession list, starting with me. Then I’ll send you both wherever you want.”

“What if we don’t do that? What if she refuses to relinquish control? How will you stop us? You can’t leave us out of stasis, unless you make us immortal, or we’ll die long before humans start living on this planet. The Gyroscope is all but useless until then.”

“Remember,” Danica begins, “it’s possible to change the differential. For now, ten thousand years equals one second, but I can slow it down. I can make it so that ten thousand years is more like an hour. You’ll age forty-five years in the meantime. Either she gives up control of the Omega Gyroscope, or she gives up control of her life.”

“Wow, way to be a party pooper,” Curtis criticizes.

“You don’t need to be part of this discussion,” Danica shoots right back.

“Lay off my husband!” Cheyenne volleys.

Danica sighs. “Enjoy the party,” she says to the group. Then she approaches Mateo, and takes him by the arm. “Transport us to the pool.”

At the last second, Bhulan and Aquila take his other arm, so all four end up there. Bhulan takes off the sunglasses. “This involves me as well. Team Triple Threat, remember? Aquila, please go dormant,” she says to her brainmate.

“I want us to be friends,” Danica claims. “I don’t like all this hostility.”

“Really? Because you’re going out of your way to be hostile most of the time.”

“I know that it feels that way, but one day—”

“It’s worse in the future, I can’t even friggin’ find you.”

“Don’t talk to me about the future, I don’t wanna know.”

“Oh no? Because it appears as though you’re totally sure of yourself about it. You have no doubts, no qualms. What if I told you that the future is a hellish hellscape with hellacious demons from hell, hellbent on helling it up with hellfire all over that hellhole world? Would you believe me? Would you do something different?”

“I would not believe you. If you could prove it, I would try to prevent it.”

Mateo breathes. “Your father told me that you gained some insight into the other realities, so you know how bad they are. You know how volatile the Fourth Quadrant is. You know how dangerous and unequal—and boring—the Fifth Division is. Of course, you’re from the main sequence, so you know how terrible that one is. I can’t say anything bad about the Parallel, except that they can be pretty pretentious and heartless. You seem to be under the impression that you’re going to make this world better. Maybe it’s because there’s no time travel, maybe it’s because of all the religions you create, but while I wouldn’t actually describe it as a hellish hellscape, it ain’t paradise neither. People are assholes, and then they die. This is true of every reality...except for the Parallel, because they don’t die. Ya know, why don’t we always just ignore that one?”

“They’re warmongers.” Cheyenne has snuck into the pool area.

“What?” Bhulan asks. “Who are?”

“The Parallelers. They’re warmongers. They killed more than anyone in the Reality Wars. They were heartless, and they were...ruthless. Nothing was off limits to them, or will be, rather. Women, children; antimatter weapons, bioweapons. They only lost because...” It’s too hard to go on. She doesn’t think about it, let alone say it. Anyway, it’s before my time, but I’ve seen the VRDocs.”

Danica looks down at the ground. “We’re the cause of the war, though, aren’t we? This machine. Every Constant has one. We’re the easiest link between realities. At least one of us opens a door that can’t be closed.”

“I don’t know anything about that,” Cheyenne says.

Danica sneers. “New plan. No one’s going anywhere. Unfortunately, Abigail is just never gonna get home, and neither are you,” she says to Mateo. “We’re going to destroy that machine...right after we destroy the other four.”

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: Year 262,398

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Today is the big day. Mateo isn’t sure why the happy couple waited 10,000 years to get married, but it’s got to be a record for the longest engagement. Then again, they could have waited ten seconds, and it still would have set the record since literally eight people are alive in the observable universe right now. It’s soon to be nine, as The Officiant is set to return to fulfill her duties within the hour. Until then, Curtis needs some help.

“Did you ask Asier?” Mateo asks him.

“Do you not know how to tie a bowtie?”

“I do not, but he seems like the kind of guy who would. I imagine he’s had to go to police union luncheons, and stuff.”

“You’re probably right.” Curtis tilts his head as he’s staring in the mirror, trying to figure this out.

“Honestly, you two don’t seem like the type to wanna dress up all formal-like.”

“Ya know, we never met,” Curtis says. “I had heard of you, the guy who only lived one day out of the year, but we never hung out. Were we friends in your timeline?”

“Umm...” Mateo has to think about how he would describe his relationship with Curtis’ alternate self. “We were friendly, but we didn’t hang out either. Other!You spent most of his time in the early to mid-21st century, and I blew past that pretty quickly. He was in that time traveler prison.”

“Really? That doesn’t sound like me. I have no interest in exposing our secret to the world.”

“He had a different upbringing, I’m sure.”

“Yeah.” Curtis nods, then drops his arms in defeat. “Could you go get him for me? Please?” He asks as if he feels bad about putting him out, even though it’s no big deal.

“Of course.”

Mateo leaves, and returns quickly with Asier, who does indeed have experience with bowties, though only on himself, so he has to wrap his arms around the groom’s shoulders from behind him, like a sexy golf trainer. He does a great job; it looks perfect. “Are you nervous?” Asier asks.

“No, this has been a long time comin’. I’m ready.” He flicks his tie and says, “snazzy.” Then he spins around. “All right, who has a coin?”

Mateo and Asier pad their respective pockets. “No money here,” Asier says. “It hasn’t been invented yet.”

“What do you need it for?” Mateo questions.

“I’ve not yet decided who my best man is going to be. I know, I should have asked earlier, but I forgot. It’s all happening so fast,” he jokes.” He sees their expressions. “I can’t tell if both of you want to be chosen, or if neither of you do.”

This is only going to get more awkward. “Let’s both do it,” Mateo suggests. We’re obviously skipping the bachelor party anyway, so we’ll both stand up there with you.”

Curtis smiles, and accepts. As it turns out, the ladies had the same idea, but then they realized how weird it was, everyone being in the wedding party, and not having an audience. Abigail chose to step down to fill that role alone. The ceremony was simple, uncontroversial, and nice. The reception was small, but fun.