The Advancement of Mateo Matic: January 5, 2399

« < » > Table of Contents

Neither Arcadia nor Vearden has any family in this reality. The closest thing to it is Team Matic, and they’ve been so great and supportive this whole time. It only seems right that they announce the latest news on the baby to them, and that they make a whole thing about it. So they’ve invited everyone to their home, including Kivi, to a nice brunch. They’re having it catered, because they don’t know how to cook themselves. Normally, to the best of their knowledge, one person or couple will show up a little early, and then others will trickle in. One will inevitably arrive forty minutes late, and blame it on something that no one believes, and when he does join them, they’ll remember why they just about didn’t invite him in the first place. For this group, they all come at the same time, because they all live together in the retrofitted disease research lab. Kivi called, and she can’t make it, so everyone is here.

“Thank you for coming,” Vearden says, holding a glass of orange juice. “If you’ll give our caterers another few minutes, they’ll leave, and we’ll be able to talk freely.”

Most of the caterers keep their poker faces on, but a couple of them are confused and curious about what they’re not allowed to hear. They knew it would be like this from the start, though. They won’t be serving the food. They’ve been asked to leave it, and come back for their stuff later. They remove the last of the foil, and start to leave. While they’re still within earshot, Arcadia decides to make a joke. “Great, now the human sacrifice can begin!” The caterers get out quick.

“Joking!” Vearden tries to shout at them, but they may not have heard. “Thanks for that, now we’re going to be on a list.”

“That’s okay,” Arcadia declares, “we work for the government!”

“It’s more like they work for us, but we’ll talk about that later. Go on, and dig in,” Vearden encourages.

Near the end of the meal, they tell the crowd the good news, and the strange news. They reveal that they had to switch to the government hospital, that the baby is a girl, and that she’s going to be born early, but not premature. She’s developing faster than normal, and while that is certainly cause for concern, they’re both time travelers—plus Arcadia was originally made out of clay, and is only borrowing this body—so it’s not the weirdest thing they’ve seen. “We’re going to keep an eye on little Delaney,” she continues. “All we care about is that she’s born healthy.”

“Delaney?” Leona questions.

“Named after her womb and egg mother,” Arcadia says with a nod.

Leona smiles. “That’s very sweet of you.”

“You can’t name her that,” Alyssa says bluntly as she takes another bite.

“What? Why not?” Vearden questions.

Alyssa talks with her mouth full. “You’re Berarians, right?”

“Well, not really. We were just expected to put something on the form, and that seemed like the least annoying one to choose.”

Still casually, Alyssa takes another bite of her potatoes. “Doesn’t matter. It’s your religion of record, and if you try to choose your child’s name, they’re gonna get mad. It’s not illegal, per se, but I don’t think you want that heat on ya. Can you pass the butter, please?”

“Alyssa, what are you talking about?” Mateo asks.

“Oh, you don’t know? It’s customary for a Berarian to name their child after the doctor who delivered it,” Alyssa explains.

“Really?”

“Well, I mean, I guess it doesn’t have to be a doctor. You would also name it after your neighbor if you were stuck in an elevator with him when you went into labor, and couldn’t get out.”

“I’m not naming my baby Cenric,” Arcadia says. “It’s perfectly fine for a forty-year-old government doctor, but not for a little girl.”

“Well, what’s his last name?” Alyssa asks. “That’s okay too.”

“Best,” Vearden replies. “Cenric Best.”

They grimace. Best Haywood.

“You could try finding out his middle name,” Alyssa suggests

“Says here that the feminine form of Cenric is Kendra,” Ramses interjects, looking at his handheld device.

Arcadia waffles. “I don’t hate that. Part of it is that I don’t like the idea of leaving my fate up to someone else. I was a god in another life, I’m not used to this. I suppose I should have read the fine print before I chose Berar.”

“Every faith has both advantages and downsides,” Alyssa muses, “like character traits for a roleplaying game. The way I understand it, Berarians respect their caretakers, and since the person who delivers you isn’t usually involved in your upbringing, that’s the best way they could think of to honor that person’s contribution.”

Arcadia looks over at Leona. “Maybe you could deliver her? I mean, Dr. Best could still be there if something goes wrong, but we’ll call you our midwife.” She turns back to Alyssa. “That would work, right? Her unmarried name is Delaney”

“I don’t see why not, but you would want to speak to a real Berarian about it.”

“I can think of why not,” Leona counters. “I’m not a midwife, nor a doctor, nor anything of the sort. Besides, I’m not really myself right now.” She indicates the Leona Reaver body that she’s wearing. “My life is in too much danger for me to be making plans for April. I’m sorry.”

Arcadia nods, and starts clearing the table. Others try to stand up to help, but Vearden shakes his head at them. She’s on autopilot right now, and any sudden move will throw her off. At the moment, she’s the only person in the room, and everyone else is just a statue that she has to work around. She takes Alyssa’s plate too, even though she’s obviously not yet done.

Leona frowns as she watches poor Arcadia try to work through this issue in her head. She doesn’t want her to backslide into the person she was before. “I don’t have time to become a nurse or midwife...but what about a doula? Do you have those here?”

“I don’t recognize the word,” Alyssa says, “but if you’re talking about a minimally educated birthing specialist, perhaps you’re thinking of a facilitatrix.”

“There, that sounds perfect,” Leona determines. “Would she be able to name her child Delaney if I do that?”

“I think so, yeah,” Alyssa responds.

“Really?” Arcadia asks, hope in her eyes. “You would do that for me?”

“Yeah, what the hell. You’re me, ain’t ya?”

Arcadia smiles, thankful for the offer, and grateful for their improved relationship. She’s closer with these people than she ever was with her birth family.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: January 4, 2399

« < » > Table of Contents

They’re at it again. Arcadia and Vearden are at the doctor’s office. Every four weeks, like clockwork, they schedule an appointment, with a few extra appointments sprinkled in between. Today, they’re here for a special reason, as they have decided to preemptively find out the sex of the baby. They have been thinking of her as a girl pretty much the whole time, but they obviously don’t know that for sure. A doctor that they don’t recognize comes in looking at the chart as Arcadia is dangling her legs off the edge of the table. “All right, Mrs. Haywood.”

“Uh, Preston,” Arcadia corrects. “Haywood is his name.”

“I see. And why are you not yet married?”

Arcadia winces. “I thought we had an understanding at this establishment. Where is Dr. Garver?”

He sighs. “Dr. Garver had to be let go, I’m afraid. She was being too lenient with her patients. You know how women are,” he says to Vearden as if Arcadia weren’t even there. “You have to be firm, or people will lead unhealthy lives.”

“Being unmarried is unhealthy?” Arcadia questions.

“No, it’s a perfectly legitimate life choice...if your religion says that you can—”

“It does,” Arcadia interrupts.

“Right.” He’s really having trouble communicating with his patient, instead wanting to focus on the man, since Vearden is automatically treated as a well-adjusted, non-hormonal, reasonable human being who is allowed to make decisions. “Now, we’re here for an echouterogram, correct?” Yeah, he’s looking at Vearden again.

Arcadia snaps in his face. “Hey, yeah, it’s me. I’m the patient. Look at me, please.”

“I’m sorry, I’m just used to dealing with male patients.”

“Aren’t you an OB/GYN?”

“A what?”

Different words for things here. “A gyniatrician.”

“I am, yes.” No elaboration.

Arcadia has half a mind to leave, but she doesn’t want to make a scene. “Yes, I would like an echouterogram. We would like to know the sex at birth.”

“What do you mean, at birth?”

Yeah, she keeps forgetting about stuff like that. She doesn’t really want to raise her child in a world that has flying cars, but no openly transgender people. Assuming it’s even in the cards, though, when will it be safe to travel to any other reality? This place is awful, and this guy is awful. That’s it. They can’t escape to the main sequence, but they don’t have to stay here. Vearden doesn’t even need her to say it. As the hack doctor is turned around to wash his hands—which they’re surprised he even bothers to do since Arcadia isn’t a real person, and can’t get sick—Vearden stands up to grab their coats.

“What were we thinking, normal convex or endovaginal? Now, most ladies prefer me to just stay on the outside, but I like to really get in there, and take a good look around. Wadya say?”

“I say, go screw yourself,” Arcadia spits. She’s wearing her coat over her gown, which she doesn’t intend to return to the facility.

“That’s just the hormones talking.”

“Can I?” Vearden requests of his girlfriend?

“Doesn’t make you any less of a feminist in my eyes.” Arcadia decides.

Vearden holds the door open for her, and then punches the doctor in the stomach as he’s stepping out himself. “That’s..not gonna leave a mark,” he snipes.

They both climb into the car, but don’t leave yet. “We’re going to the government,” she declares.

“I thought you didn’t want to involve them in this.”

“I don’t,” Arcadia confirms. “But to be fair, I said that months ago, back before Team Matic and Kivi had strengthened their relationship with them. I think maybe they can be trusted...or trusted enough anyhow.”

They drive straight to the government hospital to check in. They don’t even have to say anything; Arcadia looks exactly like Agent Matic, and at least some people are already aware of Arcadia’s current medical condition. A hopefully real doctor comes into the room after she only has enough time to undress.

“Miss Preston, how are we feeling today?” That is the right way to start a visit.

“I’m feeling all right. I feel bigger than I feel like I should,” Arcadia replies.

“Well, everyone develops differently. It’s not the size that matters, it’s the strength of the labor pain medication, I always say. We’ll have a look, though. Firstly, my name is Dr. Cenric Best, and I can be with you every step of the way until delivery. It is government policy for gyniatricians to take vacation either one day at a time, or after forty-two weeks. I should ask, are you comfortable with a male physician?”

“Yes, as long as you don’t criticize me for being married.”

He winces. “I’m not married.”

“We had a bad experience with our last so-called doctor,” Vearden explains.

“Well, we don’t like those here; bad experiences. I’m going to do everything I can to make this a safe environment, and a painless procedure. When you look back on these days, I hope you remember them fondly. It will make it easier on your relationship with your child.”

“That makes sense,” Arcadia says.

After a few more questions so that Dr. Best could get to know Arcadia and Vearden better, he begins the ultrasound procedure. He uses the external wand, as opposed to the endocavity one, since it should be good enough for their needs. As it turns out, they were right, they’re going to have a little girl. And when she’s old enough, she’ll decide if she wants to keep being a girl, or be something else, and they’re not going to let anyone in this reality tell her otherwise. Once it’s over, Dr. Best starts looking over the results, as well as Arcadia’s past visits, which the other facility sent over.

Arcadia is concerned “Is something wrong, Doctor?”

“Hmm? Oh, no. It’s just...what’s the earliest you could have gotten pregnant?”

“Very early September; it’s impossible for it to have been any earlier.”

“I was briefed...briefly regarding your origins. Forgive me, but how long is a member of your species usually pregnant for?”

“Forty weeks. It should be the same as you. We’re all human.”

“Of course, yes. It’s just...”

“It’s just what?”

“Well...” Dr. Best wavers. “She’s gestating rather quickly, and...it’s accelerating. If she keeps this up, and I did the math right, you may give birth in April—not June.”

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: January 3, 2399

« < » > Table of Contents

Alyssa wraps her towel around Leona Matic’s body, wishing that she had a robe instead, and peeks her head out into the hallway. It’s kind of annoying now, not having a bathroom directly attached to her room. Then again, this was how she grew up. She had to share one with her brothers and sister growing up. What’s awkward here is that she still looks like Leona. It’s not her face, though; she’s a temporal illusionist, so it’s not the first time that she’s looked like someone else. It’s the rest of the body. Seeing it, washing it, using the toilet. It all feels like a violation. Leona told her that it was fine, partly because this isn’t even her original body anyway, but that hasn’t made things any less weird.

By the time she makes it to the shower room, Mateo has come around the corner, holding his own shower stuff. “Oh, sorry. Go ahead.”

“There’s more than one stall in there,” she points out.

“That’s okay, I’ll just wait.”

Alyssa frowns, but doesn’t enter the room.

“Have you talked to Ramses about switching to your old body? When does he think it’ll be safe?”

“Oh, it’s safe now,” she replies. “I just don’t really want to switch back just yet...”

“Why not?” He starts thinking about it when she doesn’t answer. “Oh, you like the idea of being able to teleport and survive in the vacuum of space.”

“I haven’t tried to do anything yet, I’m kind of scared, but yeah. Is that wrong?”

“No, it’s not wrong, I’m sure—” He stops talking abruptly, and a look of horror appears on his face. “Oh, no.”

“What? Did I already mess something up?”

“No. No, you didn’t do anything wrong. This is their fault. They should have seen this coming. In fact, Ramses shouldn’t have let you even attempt to transfer to Leona Reaver’s body, because something like this may have ended up the consequence.”

“What? What consequence? Tell me.”

“It’s hard to explain, and I definitely don’t understand it, but when we were resurrected from the afterlife simulation, the man in charge added a code to our minds that gives us our time skipping pattern. We can’t delete the code, or modify it. We can’t even get rid of it by switching to new bodies, because it’s a part of us. Every time we transfer to a new body, it somehow becomes a part of it too. Again, I don’t get how it works, but that body you’re in right now has the code...and now so do you. You are now like us, and it apparently can’t be undone.”

“So once you five start jumping through time again, I’ll go with you?”

“Yeah, unless Ramses can finally figure out how to stop it, which he might actually, because he didn’t really have time to work very hard at it the first time it happened, and now we’re in this world, which has different rules.”

This is big news, and a huge game-changer for Alyssa. It explains why all these people already knew her from the future. She would not officially join the team if something like this hadn’t happened. They wouldn’t have asked her, and she wouldn’t have been able to keep up. She needs some time to process. Without saying another word, she just walks through the door, and spends a good forty minutes under the hot water. The good thing about this being a medical facility is the shower seat.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: January 2, 2399

« < » > Table of Contents

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

« < » > Table of Contents

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

« < » > Table of Contents

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

« < » > Table of Contents

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

« < » > Table of Contents

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.”