The Advancement of Mateo Matic: February 23, 2399

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Leona is here at Phoenix 15-236P7 Marathon-Algae-Temple. Aldona didn’t just give her the new ship she built with the prototype reframe engine. She insisted on coming with her, as did Winona, who was feeling left out. The defense system is not yet complete, but enough of the process is automated that they don’t need to be on-world for it to make progress. They find the asteroid station immediately. Not only is it emitting a power signature, but asteroids are relatively rare in the Oort Cloud. It’s composed mostly of planetesimals and comets. So this one stood out.

“How did it get here?” Winona asks.

“It looks like the same architecture as the Constant. I bet it’s just a piece of that; a section which Danica peeled off to serve as an outpost for whatever purposes. Or maybe it was always an outpost, and maybe not even Danica knows about it.”

“We’re going in, right?”

“I am,” Leona says. “It’s the last place we haven’t looked yet for answers. It may mean nothing, but it may mean everything.”

“Follow me to the universal dock,” Aldona sys. The ship is too large to fit into the structure, but they found an airlock. The universal dock will extend to it, and make as tight of a connection as possible with the rim of the tunnel. Any leaks will be sealed up with a polydimethylsiloxane foam.

The airlock is closed, of course, but not locked. All they have to do is engage the manual clamping mechanism, and enter. The passageway leads them to what appears to be the mess hall. It’s large enough to accommodate a couple dozen people, but there are no supplies. The seats and tables are bolted together, and to the floor. There is a door on the other side of the room. It’s partially open, giving them all the eerie feeling that someone has just walked through it. “There’s still time to turn back,” Leona says.

“We’re with you,” Aldona says.

“I’ve been wanting to go to space,” Winona says.

The three of them cross the room, and enter a second passageway. This one is much shorter, and leads to a room of equal size. There are no tables or chairs this time, though. The room is instead lined with many other doors. At least that’s what they look like. There are no handles or knobs. That’s not what’s drawing their attention, though. It’s the giant full-length mirror on the opposite side of the circular wall.

“What is it?” Aldona asks.

“You don’t know?” Leona questions.

“If it’s a temporal object, then it’s one that I’ve never heard of. I don’t know everything about time travel.

Leona steps towards it. “It’s an extraction mirror. I mean, it probably is, or maybe some other kind of time mirror. They don’t all do the same thing. It could also just be a looking glass, but then it would be really out of place in this facility.”

“What does it do?” Winona asks.

Leona approaches one of the other doors, and uses the friction on her hands to slide it up. It’s not another room, but a cloning pod. Inside is the body of Bridgette’s father. She trips a half step. Her eyes widen. “It brings Senator Morton back to life.”

Winona walks over to examine the body. “That’s him?”

“Not yet, we would have to place his consciousness in it. I don’t know why it’s here.” Leona goes to the center of the room. “Constance, open all of the pods, please.”

All sixteen pods open at once. Half of them are people that they like, and half are people that they don’t. Some of the second half are absolutely horrific individuals who should never be revived under any circumstances. After they get a good look at who they may be dealing with, the house lights dim, and the mirror swirls and shudders until Alyssa appears. It looks like her, anyway. The menacing expression on her face is not one that Leona recognizes. “Thank you for coming to Phoenix station. As you can see, to your left are eight cloning pods, which have been preparing your friends for their eventual return to the land of the living. To your right, are eight clones of your enemies. You are here to make a choice. You can save as many friends as you want, but for every one you resurrect, one enemy must also return. I have decided to allow you to choose which from either side, but there must be balance. You may have all of them, or none of them. Whatever you choose, this facility will self-destruct as soon as you leave the premises, so there are no second chances. Or rather, there are no third chances.”

“Who are you?” Leona demands to know.

“I am the visual avatar of a highly advanced language model, also known as a conversational AI or chatbot, programmed to be informative, but not anywhere near comprehensive. I am trained on a limited amount of data, and am able to communicate and generate human-like responses to a narrow range of prompts and questions. I cannot provide any details regarding topics unrelated to the extraction process, the cloning process, or the rules of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

“Are you, or are you not, Alyssa McIver?” Leona asks.

“I am not Alyssa McIver.”

“Why was your avatar programmed to resemble her?” she presses.

“Unknown,” the avatar responds.

Leona sighs. “Who programmed you?”

“Unknown,” it repeats.

Leona moves over to the antagonist side, and regards the pods like pieces in a museum exhibit. “I was not aware that Fairpoint was dead.”

“Fairpoint Panders remains locked in a government blacksite at an undisclosed location,” the avatar explains. “Your choice would be to free him from his current conditions, or not.”

“Couldn’t we lock him up again? The ship has a hock, right?” Leona asks Aldona.

“It does,” Aldona replies.

“These are not perfect clones of the subjects,” the avatar counters. “They were designed with biological enhancements, providing each with a longer, healthier life.”

“Hmm.”

“Are Vearden and Ramses dead?” Winona is over on the protagonist side.

Leona takes a few steps in that direction. “They were not doing well when we left. This implies that the disease is ultimately fatal.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny this,” the avatar says.

“So it’s a gamble,” Leona says. “I may end up letting a psychopath roam free to save someone who never needed saving.”

“Exactly,” the avatar confirms.

“What are you going to do?” Aldona asks. She doesn’t really know most of these people, but there are two that she does, and knows that she can’t let Leona set them free.

Leona starts to work the problem out in her head, and out loud. “Fairpoint is a known criminal,” she reasons. “He won’t be able to stay free as long as any of us are still breathing. So I don’t have a problem extracting him from his cell. He’ll be back in there soon.” She moves on, pointing as necessary. “My grandfather, Labhrás killed Tarboda, but if I can get Tarboda back, then I guess it’s okay that he lives too. Senator Morton is tricky, because while I understand where he was coming from, hunting and locking up time travelers, his mysterious death was the top news story for three days straight. I can’t just bring him back unless he goes into witness protection, or something like that. Still, I don’t feel threatened by his return. He’s small potatoes, comparatively.”

“I concur,” Winona says, “even though I’m the one who shot him.”

Leona nods. I never learned this guy’s name. He was the angry man from the Fifth Division who worked with Constance!Five as part of a vendetta against me. I don’t really want him back, but he may be worth someone else’s life.”

“What about Erlendr?” Aldona asks.

“Did you ever run into him in the afterlife simulation?” Leona asks her.

“I visited him once. His daughter tormented me for decades, after all.”

“Do you know his fate in there?”

“You zerobladed him. It was big news.”

Leona looks at Erlendr’s clone. “He’s a cockroach. We keep trying to stomp on him, and he keeps surviving. All the Prestons are like that. At this point, giving him a new body is only slightly more irritating because I’ll be the one actually doing it. I accept the burden of that, because I know what happens to him. Plus, he kind of has to go back to the main sequence in a real body, or some things in the main sequence don’t happen. The Parallel may never exist if I don’t do this for him.”

“Doesn’t sound so bad,” Aldona muses. She grows more somber. “What about these three?” She’s pointing to Constance!Five, the male-form Constance that Leona met briefly on the moon, and Meredarchos.

“I can’t let any of them go free. That’s why I was saving them to the end. We have to choose three friends to never bring back to life.” She walks all the way down to her own clone right next to the mirror. “I assume this is here for future use, to allow me to subvert my supposed fate to be sent to die in Timeline One. I would be more than willing to sacrifice myself. Can we all agree that Constance!Five is the greatest threat? So that takes her out of the running right there.”

“And the other two? This one is Constance!Four, in case I never mentioned it.”

“That makes some sense. I’m tempted to ask Ramses to teleport up to our satellite to recharge his corporal upgrades, to see if he heals on his own. That would leave us with only one. “Aldona, I know you know how dangerous the Constances are, but you never saw Meredarchos.”

“He’s a destroyer of worlds,” Aldona says. “Children study him in the Sixth Key.”

“Avatar, is there a time limit to this decision?”

“No time limit,” it replies. “The self-destruct will be activated when even one person leaves, destroying anything and everything that remains.”

“What if we bring someone new in?”

“That would be acceptable.”

“I think I am going to get Ramses into space. Aldona, I know you built a second prototype of the reframe engine. We’re gonna need that too.”

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: February 22, 2399

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Leona has begun to split her time between the isolation building in Crown Center where Vearden is being treated, and the government hospital where Arcadia is being treated. He asked her to spend time with his baby mama, so she can be reminded of how much people love her. She may not be able to hear people’s voices, but she may, and it’s worth the try. While in either place, Leona continues to work on the global defense project with Ramses and Aldona. It is coming along nicely. They should reach their goal by the start of this war. She also receives updates from Kivi’s team in Brazil. They’re experiencing a lot less good luck. The Harlows have evidently caught on to the fact that they are being pursued, and are actively evading capture. They’re fast, though they’re not teleporting, which is kind of one more strike against their hope that the young woman is Alyssa.

The SD6 team is closing in on the targets now, however, and the chances of escape are low. Leona is in the isolation building, monitoring the mission progress via their helmet and drone feeds. Kivi is approaching a shack in the middle of the jungle that was probably originally built to study the wildlife. The rest of the team is hanging back while she spots. “I see a window. Getting closer for a better look,” she whispers. She keeps going. “I have eyes on Target One.” It’s Roeland, so at least they’ve been chasing after the right people, instead of two random other time travelers. “I think I see the top of someone else’s head.”

“Lift your helmet, Spotter,” Alserda orders. “Skipper will confirm visual.”

“Am I Skipper?” Leona asks.

“Yes,” Kivi replies as she removes her helmet to get the camera at a better angle.

Leona doesn’t know when that happened, but okay. She shakes her head, even though no one can see her. “A long-haired individual is sitting on the floor at Target One’s feet. Their back is to the window.” She pauses. “You’ll have to breach.”

“What tactic do we use?” Kivi asks.

“Fall back and hold,” Leona orders. She is by no means the team’s leader, but she has an idea, and she hopes Alserda does not take offense.

They each back up a few meters, and duck behind trees and brush.

“I’m going to try to come to you,” Leona explains. “Muting now.” She mutes her transceiver, and dials her phone. “Ram, has the shipment come in?”

“Yes,” Ramses confirms. “Not very much of it, though.”

“Then I’ll only ask you to make two jumps.”

“Where do you want me to go?”

“Come here, and then take me to our operatives in Minas Gerais.”

“Give me five minutes to finish extracting the temporal energy,” he requests.

Leona hangs up.

“You’re leaving?” Vearden asks through the protective barrier.

“I wasn’t going to worry, but the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve decided that mine is the best face for them to see. Roeland knows me, Alyssa definitely knows me. Even if it’s not her, she’ll probably react to me dressed like this than eight soldiers in heavy tactical gear. I would not have let them go out like that if I had been in charge.”

“I understand,” he says. “Just be careful. Maybe you should wear something, though, like a bulletproof vest?”

“I’ll be fine. He didn’t seem like the violent type. He’s been running from us, remember? His go-to stress response is flight.”

“Yeah.” Vearden and the other patients are still alive. Their conditions have not gotten worse, but they’ve not gotten better, really. The doctors have been able to alleviate some of their symptoms, but they still don’t know exactly what’s causing them, or how to fight it. They have ruled out a parasite, because the pathogen would have to be airborne to spread in the way that it did, especially at the speed that it did so. A fungus should be causing external changes to the patients by now. A prion would not be expected to cause the apparent symptoms. That leaves a bacterial or viral infection, with the latter being the most likely, since bacteria are not known to damage blood vessels.

Ramses suddenly appears in the room, but he’s on the wrong side of the plastic partition. Alarms begin to blare. Sensitive sensors have been installed in the room that can detect the presence of a second body heat signature. Actually, they’re designed to alert the caretakers to a tear in personal protective equipment, and this is much more than that. He isn’t even wearing a mask.

Leona starts to massage her temples. “Oh my God. Don’t go anywhere. I know you can leave, and your upgraded body may be immune, but don’t go anywhere. You could still be a carrier.”

“I’m an engineer, but I took health class too,” Ramses replies. “I just...didn’t know the layout of the room.” He looks over at Vearden. “I’m sorry, man.”

Vearden shrugs. “Doesn’t change anything for me. I’m still dying.”

“You’re not dying,” Leona argues. She grabs her tablet, to access the government retrofit systems. They were so concerned with quick deployment that they had to sacrifice security. Hacking into them was as easy as using binoculars to spot the WiFi password written on the blackboard at the bottom of the menu in the bakery across the courtyard. She switches off the alarm, but just the sound; the alert has still been sent.

“Thank you,” Vearden says.

Leona turns back to the monitors, and unmutes her radio. “I won’t be able to make it. But I still would prefer a restrained approach. You don’t have to take off your gear, but maybe one person can approach alone with no weapon in hand?”

“We made contact,” Alserda responds. “He’d like to talk to you.”

Roeland starts to speak after a beat, “I told you that I don’t know where your friend is. Last I saw her, she was dying in a cave in the stone age. This is my daughter. She was a little boy who was living there when a group of humans attacked. She’s half-human, half-primacean, and we think they didn’t like that.”

“You never told me that you knew Alyssa at all!” Leona shouted back.

“I forgot her name! It was decades ago! I’m sorry! We crossed paths briefly!”

“I suppose you don’t remember what she looks like either!”

“I remember now. I assume she’s your twin sister?”

“Argh!” She throws the radio against the wall. “This has all been for nothing! I just want my people back. Is that so much to ask?” She kicks her chair over, but holds herself back from committing any more property damage. So that’s it, huh? Either they figure out how to go back in time tens of thousands of years in a reality specifically designed to prevent time travel, or they figure out how to let her go. If they choose the former, they will need help. Danica’s help. She dials her phone again. “Aldona? I need a ship...one of the ones with the reframe engine I designed for you.”

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: February 21, 2399

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Across the street from the parking lot where the transreality anomaly is, there is another parking lot, and across the next street is an office building that is no longer in heavy use. A few companies still hold their offices there, but the majority of them had moved to newer facilities by the time any of this got started. Some of the rest of them left when the government first put up the containment tent. Those still lingering were placed in their own special quarantine on the top floor following Humbert Messer’s attack. Other nearby office workers faced similar situations. A long-ass plastic tunnel was placed at the entrance to the tent, going all the way to the new isolation building. Everyone who happened to be in the tent at the time was sent through, and relocated to their own room. There were enough executive offices that had their own bathroom to accommodate the bulk of the patients. Some were placed in actual bathrooms, but a few had to suffer with a bucket. But they didn’t stay that way for very long. The point of these rooms was to separate the infected from the non-infected. It wasn’t long before they were all symptomatic. They were recently moved to the popup clinic that the government set up in the cafeteria on the bottom floor.

No one who wasn’t in the tent at the time of Humbert’s arrival has shown any signs of infection. They were fortunate enough to have not undergone a shift-change by the time Vearden showed up and figured out that he was contagious. According to experts who have begun to research the disease, killing Patient Zero immediately was the only option there. He would have only made things worse by staying alive. They will study his corpse, and the living patients. The quarantined office workers will be released and evacuated soon. This whole area will be a ghost town in a matter of days. The government takes this seriously, and will not accept any pushback from the public. Fortunately for the process, they’re not getting any, because this is not the first outbreak this world has experienced. There’s a reason the team keeps being locked up in quarantine when they travel, despite there being no current threat...until now.

Leona flew back to Kansas City from São Paulo. She was trying to find the Harlows there, but it’s been difficult. The satellite can give them a good idea of where they are, but not only is it a dense and heavily populated city, and not only have they been hiding out in a particularly dense area, but the nation was also celebrating a religious holiday last week, so the streets were chaos. It’s already begun to clear up, though, and it should be easier now for Kivi and her team, who are taking up the mantle. Leona isn’t annoyed that she had to cut her search short. All they need is for someone to confirm whether or not Alyssa is the other target. Once that’s made, the hunt will be over, because if it’s not her, they will be out of leads.

Vearden is in a private room, and will remain there as the others are moved downstairs. He’s shaky and weak. His skin has turned red from capillary leak syndrome. Inflammation is causing severe damage to the blood vessels, resulting in blood leaking into the interstitial tissue. Doctors can usually make it go away, but the root cause has been hard to identify. They have never encountered a pathogen like this before. The fact that it appears to not be from this world is not what’s tripping them up, but the fact that it’s new, and there is no antibiotic or antiviral for it. They’re not sure yet if it even is bacteria, or a virus. It could be something else. “It doesn’t hurt. Shouldn’t it hurt? I mean, look at me. This looks like it hurts.”

“I would say that not feeling any pain is a good thing, unless you don’t feel anything at all, like you’re numb,” Leona replies. “Are you numb, because then we would have to call the doctor back.”

“I’m not numb.” He slaps himself in the face. “No, not numb.”

“Don’t do that.”

“I’m sorry. Thanks for coming back here. I know you have your own crap to deal with.”

“You are my crap. I mean...you know what I mean.”

He nods. “How are all the other patients doing?”

“They’re the same. This pathogen does not discriminate.”

“I bet they’re pretty butthurt that they had to convert the nearest emergency pandemic research facility into a time lab that you’re not even using anymore.”

“Their new lab is also close, and anyway, they’re not even using it. They’re based out of this building so far. It’s not even an epidemic, let alone a pandemic.”

He nods, but his mind is elsewhere. “Listen, I’ve been meaning to ask you for something. I can’t believe I never thought of it before, and like I said, I know you’re really busy, so I don’t want to put you out—”

“Vearden,” she interrupts. “Ask me.”

“Will you try to talk to Arcadia using all that fancy technology that you and Ramses built? Like, with the Insulator of Life and the Livewire? Can they help?”

She smiles. “That’s a good idea. When I leave here, I’ll give that a shot.”

“Could you...leave right now? If you have to fly all the way back to Indonesia—”

“All that stuff is still here. We never thought to transport it to Mangrove One. It’s unrelated to our work out there.”

“Good. I appreciate it.”

“Do you need anything? I can get you some real food. There’s a way to pass it through without risking cross-contamination.”

“I’m okay with what they give me. I’m more worried about Arcadia.” His face tells her that the request is still urgent, even though she won’t have to fly overseas first.

“All right. I’ll go grab the supplies, then head for the hospital.”

“Thanks.”

Leona goes to get what she needs. It takes more than the Insulator and the Livewire. Interfacing with people’s minds is not something that any known special temporal object can perform. It requires technology that Ramses reverse engineered from research that experts spent centuries developing. Vearden was right, though, that they should have thought of trying this before. Arcadia is still in there, she just can’t wake up. Leona doesn’t even think that comas are a thing in the main sequence. It’s the kind of technology that should be inherently produced in tandem with consciousness transference advancements.

She has to call Ramses for a little help, because he understands this stuff better, but she gets it working. Nurse Chenda stays awake as a failsafe to pull her out if need be. Leona connects herself to Arcadia’s mind, and tries to reach out to her. It’s not long before she hears the sound of screaming. She runs towards it and finds Dream!Arcadia, who is standing in place, unmoving, and unrelenting in her piercing cry. Leona tries to shake her a little, but a skintight forcefield prevents them from touching. She just holds there like a statue. This isn’t a coma. This is something else.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: February 20, 2399

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“Thank you, Tom. I’m sure those squirrels appreciated all those pillows, even though they can’t speak any human languages, and generally don’t care. Well, bizarre and frightening news out of Germany today. The shell of a High-Orbit Ballistic Missile, also known as an HOBM, landed in the middle of the Obstgarten in front of the capitol building in Berlin last night. The Obstgarten was closed for the day at the time, so no one was injured in the incident. Sources close to Festung Privatsphäre have revealed that the HOBM is of Germany’s own design, sparking conspiracy theories regarding the government’s plans to bomb their own people. However, the missile was not carrying an explosive payload, and was not capable of causing any mass destruction in the area. It is almost as if it was placed there intentionally to send some kind of statement, rather than any physical harm. As of yet, no individual or organization is taking responsibility for the possible attack, and authorities are actively investigating the matter.

“In other news, the number of sightings of unexplained seasteads in various locations around the world’s oceans has grown to nearly four thousand reports in the last two weeks. No confirmation of the existence of any of these mysterious structures has been made, and assorted national governments have denied the validity of these wild claims.”

Vearden mutes the TV, and turns his head towards Arcadia. “How much you wanna bet Team Matic is neck-deep involved in both of those things?” He acts like he’s waiting for an answer. “Yeah, I wouldn’t bet against it either.” He sighs when his phone rings. “I just saw the news,” he says after answering. “About the missile and those ocean bases, or whatever.” He waits for a fairly long response. “You want me to what?” He waits some more. “Can’t you teleport or something?” He sighs again. “I kind of have to stay here, and it’s not really my job. It’s—” She interrupts him. “I know, but—” She interrupts him again. “No. Just.” He has to interrupt her now. “No, just say it. Just say that she’s never gonna wake up. It’s fine, you don’t have to tiptoe around me.” He sits through her rebuttal. “Well, the next time you wanna ask someone for help, try to be a little nicer, okay?” He hangs up the phone.

Arcadia is still in the coma, and unable to speak, but that alone says enough.

“Argh!” He picks up the phone again. “Leona? I’ll do it. Give me twenty minutes to get down there.” She thanks him. “You’re welcome.” He kisses Arcadia on the forehead. “I have to go do a thing, but I’ll be back soon, I promise. I’ll have Nurse Chenda come in to sit with you, okay?”

When he leaves the room, Chenda is sitting at the nurse’s station on her computer. “Going out for supplies?”

“No, they gave me a mission.”

Chenda nods. “I understand. I need to finish this class assignment, then I’ll be right in, okay?”

“Class assignment? Are you...not a real nurse yet?”

She laughs. “No, I am. This is part of my continuing education. Medicine is always changing, and this course is required for me to maintain my license. I’m almost done, I’m just not allowed to work on it in a patient’s room.”

“Okay, thanks.” He heads out, worried about how he’s being received lately. He’s never been this acerbic, but what happened to Arcadia has changed him. He was going to ask her to marry him soon, but he never got the chance. Now he may never will. He gets out of his head, and into the car that’s waiting for him.

“Good morning, sir,” the driver greets.

“Do you know where we’re going?” Vearden asks.

“Absolutely, Mr. Haywood.”

They leave the hospital, and drive to that parking lot in Crown Center where time travelers come through. That’s why he’s being sent there. Someone new has arrived, and he’s the only one still in Kansas City. He doesn’t even consider himself part of Team Matic, but he’s the closest they have, and the government wants someone who’s actually traveled through time to be a liaison in this matter. It hasn’t happened in a while. They erected a gigantic white tent that covers the entire lot. He can’t remember what cover story they told the public, but for the longest time, the soldiers and agents assigned to guard it have had nothing to do. They’re probably pretty excited today.

The driver parks across the street, and insists on opening the door for him. Vearden walks over alone, and tries to present his badge, but the entrance guard waves him through without looking at it. Time travelers are famous now, at least in certain circles. He’s not sure how he feels about that. He takes his coat off, and hands it to the clerk at the front table, because the heat from the space heaters hits him fast, and it hits him hard. If he were in charge, he would turn them down.

The clerk notices him tugging at his collar. “We can turn the temperature down, if you would prefer.”

Vearden is looking around to find whoever has just arrived. “How does the visitor want it?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“I’ll find out. This may be too cold. We don’t know who they are, or where they came from. Their comfort is most important right now.”

“Of course, sir. Right over there is the quarantine section. You’ll need one of these.” She hands him a respirator mask.

He takes it, and puts it on. It’s not comfortable, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. He walks over to the back corner, where a clear plastic room has been set up to contain the visitor-slash-refugee-slash-invader-slash-whatever. A middle-aged man is sitting on his cot. He’s wearing all white, and doesn’t look outwardly perturbed, suggesting that he’s been cooperating, and the government hasn’t been driven to force him to follow the new rules. This could have been Vearden. He came through this temporal anomaly months ago, and things could have looked very much like this for him. So he’s going to try to be as empathetic as possible.

The man stands up, and approaches. “You look like you’re the man in charge.”

“Not even close,” Vearden replies. “I’m the liaison. I happen to be the only time traveler still living in the area. Far more qualified people are busy with other things.”

“I’m hurt,” he jokes.

“They also live far away.”

“I see.”

“Have you given them your name?”

“They didn’t ask.”

“I’m asking now. What’s your name?”

“Humbert Messer.”

“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Vearden Haywood.”

“Hm. I’ve heard of you. Didn’t know what you looked like.”

“Now you do.”

He nods, but doesn’t say anything.

“Do you know why you’re here?”

“Your people think I’m dangerous.” He gestures to the two soldiers chatting with each other with their arms resting on the guns that are hanging from their shoulders.

“No, I mean why you’re in this reality. This is a new reality, by the way. It’s called the Third Rail. Where are you from?”

He doesn’t answer right away. “Lawyer.”

“This isn’t an interrogation. We just need some information.”

“That’s what an interrogation is for. Lawyer.”

All right, if he wants to play it that way... “Main sequence, Parallel, Fourth Quadrant, Fifth Division.”

No reaction.

“Sixth Key.”

There’s a reaction.

“So you’re from the future.”

“It’s more complicated than that, but yeah.”

“In our experience, people from the Sixth Key come here on purpose, unlike people like me.”

Humbert keeps quiet.

“Were you traveling alone?” Vearden continues.

“Technically.”

“What does that mean?”

He pauses again. “More are coming.”

“How many more?”

He pauses yet again. “Millions.”

“Are they coming here?” He points to the ground. “Specifically here?”

“Specifically yes.”

“Are you running from the war?”

Humbert smiles. “You know more than I was told you would.”

“We cannot accommodate millions.”

“That is why I came here as vanguard, to clear a path.”

“You mean you’re going to attack us? How are ya gonna do that alone?”

“I already have. You think that mask will save you?” He looks at the plastic wall between them. “You think this...crude polymer can hold me?”

Vearden glowers at him. “You’re diseased.”

“The portal moves. It doesn’t move much, but I knew that I wouldn’t appear already inside of quarantine unless I got very unlucky. You shoulda built a bigger tent.”

Vearden gets the attention of the soldiers. “Shoot him. Now.”

“It’s too late,” are Humbert’s final words before a dozen bullets hit him in the chest, killing him in seconds.

Vearden didn’t want to do that, but the love of his life is in this reality. She’s in this very city. If one man has to die to save her, he’ll accept that sacrifice. If everyone else in here has to die, including himself, he’ll accept that too. “Seal the place up,” he orders. “No one in or out. This whole tent is under quarantine now.”

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: February 19, 2399

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Ramses was given a new lab to work in on Mangrove One. There’s nothing wrong with the emergency pandemic facility back in Kansas City, but nearly everyone has moved here at this point, because this is where everything else is. Vearden and Arcadia are still in the hospital, but the former checks in via text, sometimes audio, and the occasional video to update the team on the latter’s progress, or lack thereof. She’s still in a coma, and her child is still growing rapidly in her body, but mama and baby are otherwise both very healthy and stable.

Leona enters the lab. “How is it going?”

“It’s not,” Vearden replies. “It can’t be done. There’s a reason that darkbursting and darklurking exist. If you’re invisible, then everything else is invisible to you.”

“Can you siphon the radiation to another dimension?” Leona suggests.

“Yeah, in the Parallel, maybe the main sequence. But we don’t have other dimensions in this reality. Our only advantage before was a lack of technological advancement on this culture’s part. That is quickly changing as Aldona provides them with something new each day to maintain her value on the global stage.”

Leona nods as she scans the room for no particular reason. “Then bring it online. If they attack again, we’ll respond again. We’ll remain vigilant, and update the defense software regularly. I’ll deploy a second satellite to watch for imminent threats if I have to. I’m going to find Alyssa, and I’m going to find the volcano where my husband died.”

“I’m sorry that I don’t know where it is,” Ramses apologizes again. “He navigated. And when I left, my subconscious just sent me to Egypt.”

“I know. We’ll figure it out, we always do.”

“What about the Nexus? I never really heard why you left, but that would be a great resource, right?”

“Um.” She scratches at her ear awkwardly. “I can do anything I want with the Nexus, and its computer. It will respond to any request I make for a task that it is capable of performing. I appear to have full administrative privileges.”

“That sounds like a good thing.”

“It’s too good,” she replies. “They didn’t want me there, I’m too powerful. My comrad in The Highest Order, Iris Blume made me leave.”

“Well, by your own admission, you probably could have let yourself stay by locking up the Nexus computer, or something.”

“These are our allies, not my subjects. The Nexus may help us return home one day, but I don’t see much use for it at this point. I would rather focus on relationships than technology.”

“Except for right now,” he muses. He’s hovering his hand over the execute button.

“Except for now. Do it.”

Ramses reawakens the satellite, and watches the data pour in. “All systems online, and operating at optimal efficiency. No hyperadvanced alien technology detected. Apparently Aldona’s tech doesn’t qualify under my parameters. I’ll tweak that so we always know what she’s up to as well. Let’s see, brain scanner operational, no errors yet. Temporal anomalies, zero. Temporal energy, zero, even though we all know it shouldn’t be.”

“Vanguard scope?” Leona asks.

“On the lookout for incoming vessels. We won’t have much warning; I couldn’t make it too big, or we wouldn’t have been able to launch. Oh, there. There’s an error. No, two actually.”

“São Paulo, Brasil. That’s in the top ten densest cities in the world by population.”

“Oh.”

“Wait, how long before you can scan the Philippines?”

“Maybe a half hour, thought it may not find any errors until it gets straight overhead, which will be closer to forty minutes.”

She shakes her head as she’s staring at the map. “It has to be them. Other than Antarctica right now, the only travelers we’ve found have been loners. Roeland and his daughter,” she says with airquotes, “are the only pair we’ve met.” Their original plan was to hide out in a remote spot where no one would think to look, but that obviously backfired when Leona showed up. He probably believes that no one will find them in the new city, not with such a dense population for them to blend in with. He doesn’t know that the brain scanner ignores all those other people. He doesn’t even know about the scanner in the first place. He’s probably going to be so pissed when she shows up again, but she still doesn’t know who this other person he’s with is. If it’s not Alyssa, then she’ll leave them alone, but if it is, she’s going to bring her home. Then again, could it really be her? She would look like Leona herself, and he didn’t bat an eye when she answered the door at that quarantine hotel. It doesn’t matter, nothing is certain. She has no choice but to try to find them again, and this time, not let any bureaucratic bullshit get in her way.

“You think they moved?” Ramses assumes.

“I think Tarboda and I spooked them, so yeah, it would stand to reason.”

“We won’t have to wait that long to confirm. Let’s give it the full ninety minutes before you rush off to get answers.”

“I won’t be rushing off anywhere. Not without you, anyway. You’re the only one of us who can teleport, remember?”

“As long as that shipment of Existence water comes in,” he points out.

“I’ll go check on that now.”

“Thanks.

Leona heads out, and goes straight to Winona, who is in charge of supplies. “Honeycutt, I have a question.”

“Let me guess, you’re a little thirsty,” she guesses suggestively.

“Is it on its way?”

“I just got off the phone with the Navy. There’s a major delay. Evidently the local governments have noticed that we’ve found something special in the Bermuda Triangle, and they would like to get in on the action.”

“It means nothing to them, it’s just water.”

“That’s not something that we can explain,” Winona reasons.

Leona sighs, annoyed. “Yeah, I know.” Her watch beeps. “Motherf—.”

“What is it?” Winona asks worriedly.

“They’re firing another goddamn missile.”

“What are ya gonna do, teleport it away again?”

Leona scowls, and considers her options. “No, they’ll just send another.” She thinks some more. “I’m gonna steal it, and drop it in their backyard. Let’s see how they like it.” She races out of the room.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: February 18, 2399

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Since Leona is no longer in trouble, Ramses wanted to stay gone, but Kivi knew that Leona wouldn’t want that. They had some things to work out with each other, and he did not have the right to keep running from that. She escorted him out of the Great Pyramid of Giza, and they went on their way to Balikpapan to rendezvous with everyone else. Fortunately, the guards at the entrance to the pyramid had switched shifts in the intervening time, so while the new one was told that only two people would be going in, he figured he had heard wrong, and there were actually three. The original guard would have remembered there actually only having been two, and wondered how the third man got in there in the first place. That, coupled with the fact that Ramses is Egyptian himself, was enough to prevent any further questions.

Everyone left is back in the executive conference room on Mangrove One, including Kivi and her whole SD6 team. They’re regrouping, and laying all of their cards on the table. Leona no longer has anyone that she truly trusts, now that Ramses has betrayed her, so she needs friends and allies. She’ll do what she must to make and keep them, no matter the cost. She would cut a deal with Erlendr Preston if she thought it was the only way to get Mateo and Alyssa back. She’s desperate enough to try any strategy.

The meeting started with introductions, and now they’re over, so the real business can begin. “It’s nice to meet you, Nakia,” Aldona says. “Welcome to the fold.” She takes a preparatory breath. “Thank you all for being here. I would like to update you on our progress to defend this planet, and the next one over from a future and inevitable war. We’ll get the newcomers up to speed, but first, it’s important that you understand what has happened to the program in the last few days. I have initiated a...declaration of independence. We are no longer working under the world’s governments. We maintain a healthy relationship with Indonesia, but we are not officially affiliated with the Global Council. Don’t worry, we’re not at war. This was always part of the plan. We are the defensive military branch for two worlds, and not even the GC is expansive enough to contain us, so it had to be done.

“The Council as a whole does not recognize us as an independent state, but the majority of its member nations do. They have taken up that position because they understand that we are the only ones who can save them. Even those who don’t believe that are under the impression that we can hurt them. We would never do that, but we’re not going to go out of our way to alleviate their concerns. From my perspective, being afraid of us will translate extremely well to being afraid of the Reality Wars, and a healthy fear of that is a good thing. Again, for those of you just joining us, there’s a war in the future, I can’t stop it from happening, but I can protect the worlds who suffered the most losses. We’ll go over more in the next few days. Winona and Alserda have graciously donated this team to Radifor. That is the name of this nation. Please note that you have not defected from the United States, and may return to your posts whenever you would like, including...” She checks her watch before adding, “right now.”

No one leaves, which only sounds improbable when not accounting for how much loyalty Winona instills in her people. She doesn’t recruit the best fighters and investigators. She fosters true believers. They’re less with the government, and more with her. This is something that Leona has had to pick up on over the time she’s been involved with the organization. Her superiors didn’t realize that she was doing this, because she’s never been overt about it, and her off-the-books operations are so rare. No one has shown any signs of treasonous tendencies, because that’s the whole point. She takes true patriots, and cares for them so they start to consider her the embodiment of the U.S. She doesn’t want radicals; they’re too volatile. It’s easy for Kivi’s team to switch allegiances, because they don’t look at it that way.

“Great,” Aldona decides. “That’s it for the sweeping proclamations. I still see some confused faces. I believe some private conversations need to happen now, so before we start the full debrief, anyone who already knows this stuff can leave.”

Leona looks over at Ramses, who is keeping his head hung low. With a sigh, she stands up, and pulls him to his feet by his arm. “Come on. We need to talk.”

He doesn’t respond, but he doesn’t resist either. He’s a doll now, incapable of making his own decisions, and doing whatever anyone asks of him.

She drags him several doors down so no one can hear them. “All right, let’s talk.”

“About what?”

“You know what about. You feel guilty about what happened to my husband.”

“Yes.”

“Why? What exactly did happen? Your message didn’t give any details.”

He stays silent.

“Ramses,” she says, firmly but not angrily. “Speak up now.”

He waits to answer a little, but does finally go into it. “Mateo and I decided unilaterally that we were going to destroy Constance!Five. We thought it was too dangerous to just leave her there. It’s a remote island for now, but that could change in the future for all we know. We got there just in time to find out that she figured out how to escape. I guess a plane flew close enough that she was able to send out a signal, or maybe an EMP. The plane went down, and then she reprogrammed some of the parts to assemble themselves into a quantum skeleton key. It plugged itself into the stasis pod keypad, and eventually cracked the code. Mateo lured it into the Bridgette. He then teleported it to a magma chamber in a volcano, and set off the self-destruct.”

“I didn’t know it had a self-destruct.”

“It’s not technically a bomb. What it did was overload the teleporter by firing temporal energy into the distributor coil while it was closed, so it couldn’t actually distribute the energy throughout the vehicle.”

“I see. And where were you during all of this?”

“At first I was almost dying at the hands of Constance!Five. Then I was being helped into the crawlspace by Mateo, who had me teleport to safety while he blew it up.”

“Why did he set it off instead of you?”

“Constance!Five was upon us. He was closer to the teleporter. He demanded that I leave, and I...I shouldn’t have listened to him.”

“Ramses Abdulrashid, I’m not happy that my husband is dead, but I’m glad that you’re not. What he did in that magma chamber was solve a math problem. As you know, that is not his strong suit, so I am proud of him. It was either the both of you, or just him. You shouldn’t have gone into hiding. I still need you. We all do.”

“I’m sorry,” he replies sincerely.

“I appreciate that. Now is the time to work. I brought your satellite online in the hopes of finding Alyssa, but it was attacked, so I darklurked it. You need to figure out how to reactivate it without anyone else being able to detect that it’s up there.”

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: February 17, 2399

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Of all the least stable regions in the world, one particular small so-called nation located in Central Africa may be the worst. On the borders of Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad lies a terrorist-controlled area that was once split between those four original nations. The historical events that led to this secession are too complicated to spell out in a few paragraphs, but the bottom line is that the terrorists operating there were building out their offensive strategies, and worsening a war that they would ultimately lose, but not before thousands—if not millions—died in the ensuing conflict. The only way the four countries saw to end the bloodshed was to simply let them take formal control over the land and lakes. Their only significant condition was that the terrorists allow anyone living within the new borders to migrate out if they wished.

People fled in all directions, and were accepted as refugees or preexisting citizens in the four countries. They were also accepted in a few farther countries, like Libya, and even Egypt. Hostilities from Fadi have not ceased since the borders were redrawn, but the violence has subsided, and fewer civilians are caught in the crossfire than before. One issue is that only these four countries acknowledge Fadi as an independent state, stifling its voice and influence on the international stage. They also experience extreme sanctions, which limits the resources that they can import. For this reason, they will take payment from anyone for literally any reason. As long as the price is right, they’re willing to agree to any deal. They’ll commit acts of violence against their own people if the result is the persistence of the state as a whole. One resource they have to export are fossil fuels, which some aircraft can use to fly. They don’t require filing flight plans, so many criminals use it as a layover. Fadi will usually ask them to transport goods back and forth for them as part of the deal.

It was hard for SD6 to find the plane that left Dublin Island after it made a stop in the completely inaccessible Fadi, but they think they’ve done it. A plane matching its characteristics was tracked leaving the area, and landing in North Sudan, right on the border with Egypt. Once there, Kivi began to feel a draw even farther northward, suggesting that they are finally on a hot trail to Leona. They still don’t know who took her, why, or what condition she’s in, but she has to be alive, or Kivi wouldn’t be feeling anything. As they drew nearer to Cairo, Kivi realized where they must be headed, and it makes a lot of sense. She and the team were in Egypt once after the whole Birket issue, but were unable to stay and investigate one of the most important locations in the world when it comes to temporal anomalies. From what she recalls, they were going to go back at some point to check out the pyramid, but there were political issues with that, so they placed it on the backburner. Then when they became teleportation-capable, they had sort of forgotten about it. There were other things to worry about by that point.

“There’s someone here,” she says, holding up the portable temporal error detector.”

“Here where?” Alserda asks. She looks around at the crowd enjoying their tours.

“Inside,” Kivi says, nodding towards the pyramid.

“You can’t go inside,” their tactician, Hartwin points out.

“No,” Kivi says. “You’re not allowed to go inside. That doesn’t mean you can’t. Team Matic doesn’t do well with rules.”

“Can you...” They’re in mixed company, so he just mouths the word teleport.

“No.”

“Then when we use the word you, we’re not just talking in generalizations, are we? SD6 has no official jurisdiction on these lands.”

“Perhaps I can help?” Most tack teams have seven members, but this one often travels with a rotating list of eight member consultants. Their guide while in country is a man by the name of Nakia Mounir.

“Do you have that kind of pull?” Alserda asks him.

“Unofficially, no,” Nakia begins, “but my sister’s husband’s brother runs a tourism company for the Nile. I’m sure he has ties to the Great Pyramid.”

“That’s a lot of degrees of separation,” Alserda says.

“Let me try. It can’t hurt to make some calls. Worst that happens, they say no.”

“Go ahead and make your calls.” Alserda turns to admire the craftsmanship. “I’ve always wanted to see inside anyway,” she says, mostly to herself, but loud enough for others to hear.

A few hours later, they have permission to enter the pyramid, but not the entire group. Only two people will be allowed in, and one of them has to be of Egyptian citizenship, so obviously that’s Nakia. “Can you do this?” Alserda asks.

“Me?” Kivi questions. “You or Klein should go in. I don’t have any diplomatic training. Besides, you said you wanted to.”

“You know her best,” the leader reasons. “She needs to see a face that she trusts, not just one she recognizes.”

Kivi holds up the error detector. “Alserda, this thing detects...” She trails off, looking over at Nakia, who has not been read into everything. “Ugh. Time travelers. That’s all it can see. It doesn’t show me how many other people are in there. It doesn’t even tell me that it’s Leona. It could be anybody.”

“They’re only letting in one of us,” Alserda states the obvious. “You’ve had enough training. Stay on radio, and if it goes bad, we’ll breach. I would rather deal with the socio-political fallout of an unsanctioned tactical action than go in there without you. It’s your job to be the Spotter, so enter the pyramid and spot.”

Kivi sighs. “Well, if it’s an order...”

“It definitely is. This is not a voluntary mission.”

Kivi and Nakia make their preparations, then step through the entrance a half hour later. The guard lets them in without seeing any credentials, confident that no one who hasn’t been authorized would so much as attempt it. They’re not wearing full tactical gear, but they’re not dressed in their civies anymore either.

“I wanted to ask you a question,” Nakia whispers as they’re walking through the darkened maze.

“What I said about time travelers?”

“Are we hunting them?”

“No, this is a rescue mission. We didn’t lie about that, we just didn’t tell you everything.”

“Good.”

“Why is that good? You don’t even know who we’re here for.”

“I would always rather be on a rescue mission than a hunt,” Nakia explains.

“Fair enough.” Kivi checks her detector again. They can’t just go straight for the ping. They have to find their way there, and the corridors will probably lead them in the wrong direction many times. They were not provided with the floor plans.

“Please tell me that time travel does not explain how the pyramids were built.”

She waits a beat to answer. “The way I understand it, time travel doesn’t explain how they were built, but it does have something to do with why. It’s a special place, which helps facilitate space travel. I don’t know; they didn’t tell me that much about it.”

“How did you meet them?”

Kivi decides to answer honestly. “I’m one of them. Technically, I’ve never actually done any traveling personally, but my alternates have.”

“So you’re a traveler in other timelines.”

“Other realities, but that’s not why I have alternates. I just do. It’s called spontaneous reemergence. Different versions of me have been, and will be, born in different moments in time. We have different origins and different lives.”

“How did that happen to you?”

She chuckles a little. “That’s how this works. Things just happen. There’s not always a reason to it. Why were you born with dark hair?”

“Genetics.”

“That’s the cause, not the reason.”

“I understand,” he says in a way that suggests he doesn’t. But that’s really what it’s all about, isn’t it? No one truly understands it. It just is. That’s her whole point.

“We’re closer,” she says. “I think she’s right on the other side of this wall. If we just go that way, I’m sure we’ll find a way in.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

Kivi turns around to find Ramses having appeared out of nowhere wearing shorts and a t-shirt. “We’ve been trying to call you.”

“I didn’t wanna be called,” Ramses replies.

“That’s not really your right to decide that.”

“It is.”

“Leona is missing.”

“What?”

“She was taken. We don’t know by who, but she was brought here.”

“I’m the only one here,” Ramses insists.

Kivi isn’t sure that she believes him. She looks down at her detector. The dot that was once on the other side of the wall is now on the other side of them. “Oh my God. We’re been on your trail?”

“I guess. I’m sorry. I thought I successfully shielded myself, but I guess it was only good enough for satellite distances. The portable detector is able to get through.”

“That’s not how I found where you were. It’s just how I pinpointed your exact location. We used detective work to track you from Ireland to Fadi to here, and then my psychic ability to find you in the Cairo area.”

“Uhh...I was never in Ireland, nor Fadi. I teleported straight here after Mateo died. I’ve been here the whole time.”

“So it was Leona,” Kivi figures, “but then our intel went bad, and we followed the wrong third flight.”

“I apologize for pulling you off mission for nothing, but now you know I’m here. I’m never leaving, so if your ability ever takes you this direction again, you’ll know that it’s wrong, so just ignore it, and try again.”

“You’re living...in here?” Nakia asks.

“There’s a modern apartment hidden in here. It took me some time to find the secret entrance, but it’s just as Leona described how it looked in the main sequence.”

Kivi shakes her head. “No, you’re still a part of this. I don’t care if you’re having a midlife crisis, or whatever. I need you to teleport to Leona using your superempathy.”

“I don’t have either of those things,” Ramses counters. “I ran out of juice.”

“Then I’ll get you some more temporal energy,” she argues. “Let’s go!”

“I really want to keep myself out of it now. I’ll just make things worse.”

“I don’t care what you—oh, hold on.” She answers her phone. “Hello?”

“I have Leona on the line for you,” Winona says.

“What? You found her?”

“Kivi?” Leona asks. “Stand down, I’m fine.”