The Advancement of Mateo Matic: April 17, 2408

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Constance pulled herself together so they could get to work. Being a time traveler in this day and age had gotten even riskier after the Shortlist’s meeting regarding The Edge. They had decided to not reveal time powers to the greater population of the stellar neighborhood. Instead, the authorized technologies would be developed gradually, after the supposed discovery of a new class of physics. They weren’t just going to somehow give everyone the ability to teleport. Such technology would be studied and tested by scientists over the course of years until they deemed it safe to use. And even then, they would institute safeguards to prevent abuse or accidents. The Star Trek franchise showed multiple examples of what could go wrong when teleportation failed. They would rely heavily on these, and similar, cautionary tales. It would be decades before any ship captain could utter the word energize, and be beamed up onto the transport pad. Until then, Team Matic had to be more careful. Because more of the Sol system had been conquered, and there were eyes everywhere.

“We got this now,” Leona said confidently. “Dante, raise the cloak.”

Nothing happened from the perspective of everyone in the shuttle, but they had evidently become invisible.

“Our signals are being shunted through another dimension,” Ramses explained to the group. “We’re invisible to the naked eye, and via all traditional forms of detection.”

“Will they one day be able to detect us?” Mateo asked.

“Not if the Shortlist maintains its authority,” Leona answered. “We’re not giving them this, for this very reason. People like our team need to be able to move freely about without worrying about being spotted by anyone with a strong enough infrared telescope. Though that means, we could hypothetically detect each other.”

“Which is why we’re sending a signal on purpose,” Ramses added. “Pointed directly at Earth. If anyone picks this up, they might be able to help our new friend.”

Max stretched his lips into a slight grateful smile.

“Let’s see who answers.”

They set the Dante on course towards Earth at a moderate pace, waiting for someone to pick up their message. Someone was always on the shuttle proper to receive any response, though it wasn’t necessary.

A few hours later, Holly Blue replied. “Come in Dante, this is Blue Butterfly.”

Leona and Mateo happened to be available at the time. “Go get Ram and Max. They’re in Delta pocket.” While Mateo hopped back to the hatch to access the fourth pocket dimension, Leona got on the radio. “Blue Butterfly, this is Dante actual. It’s good to hear from you again.”

“Leona, is that you? Are you experiencing an emergency? Are you in any immediate danger?”

“We’re fine. We were looking for an engineer. Lucky we found one of the best.”

“I don’t know about that. You need me to build you something, though?”

“Not me. We made a friend from another universe. He’s asked for help saving his galaxy from certain doom.”

“That sounds...important. What does he need?”

“He’s on his way. I’ll let him explain. Can you go holo?”

Holly Blue’s image appeared before her. It was so crisp that it looked like she was actually standing there with her.

Max slipped out of the pocket dimension in the back, and came up to the front. “Hi. I’m Maximino Lécuyer.”

“Oh, hey Max. Yeah, we know each other,” Holly said.

“No, I would remember you.”

“Oh.” Holly Blue winced. “Spoilers. Well, I’ll introduce myself again for the very first time. My name is Holly Blue. Not Holly, not Miss Blue. Holly Blue.”

“Understood. It’s nice to meet you for the very first time again.”

“What was it you needed?” Holly asked.

“It’s called a flipcoat.” He went on to explain how the coat manipulated microrealities. Every fraction of a second, any given individual had an infinite number of possible choices. They could turn left, they could turn right. They could turn left immediately, or they could wait two more seconds. But they were not the only ones trying to make these decisions. Countless others were doing so at exactly the same time. Until their collective decisions were finally made, each possible world existed in a sort of hyperdimension of potential spacetime. What a flipcoat did was gather all of the choices that were going to impact the next decision of its wearer, and force the other agents of change to conform to a single reality. This was the reality of choice of that wearer. If he wanted to turn left, and doing so placed him in the street, then he needed to make sure that the bus driver that was on her way to collide with him made the decision to slow down enough to make a complete stop so that the bus actually didn’t collide with him.

“So, your coat does this all the time,” Holly began to ask, “but you’re not the only one with such a coat?”

“Not traditionally,” Max explained, “but if you made me a new one, then I would be. The rest are dead. Not the people, that is; their coats. I can’t say too much, but our whole galaxy is under constant threat of collapse. I mean that literally. A dark force is trying to destroy us, and the only way out is if someone navigates us to safety. Eventually, we’ll buckle under the pressure.”

Holly Blue nodded. “Tell me more about the coats themselves. What are they like? What do you know about how they work?”

Evidently, no one knew where or how flipcoats originated. No one even knew how anyone went about acquiring one. Apparently, if you were chosen by some mysterious force, it would suddenly be on you, and you would be unable to take it off.

“Where have I heard that before?” Mateo asked. “Chosen by a mysterious unseen conscious entity of some kind.”

“What prevents you from being able to take it off?” Leona pressed. “Can’t you just pull it over your head?”

“It’s, uh...embedded in your skin.”

“What?” Leona and Holly Blue questioned simultaneously.

“Yeah, as soon as it appears, you have a matter of seconds to remove it before spikes come out of it and dig into your skin. It’ll stay there until it dies, or you do. I’ve heard rumors of people being able to remove it before the spikes, but I’ve never actually seen any proof that it’s happened. I didn’t even try when I got my first one.”

“First one? Holly Blue asked. “After it dies, you may get another?”

“Not naturally,” Max answered. “You can steal another, though. It’s complicated, I’m not evil.”

“I’m not questioning you on that,” Holly Blue asked. I am questioning this needlessly bloody locking mechanism that these coats have.”

Leona was questioning it too. It didn’t make much logical sense. There were any number of other solutions to the problem of enforcing flipcoat ownership. The coat could be coded to a user’s DNA, and only operate for them. If they were worried about the theft itself, rather than what the thief would do with it, they could have allowed it to be locked like a chastity belt. Who were the original designers? They must have had a reason to do it like this, even if others would consider it abhorrent. It couldn’t just be random. The wearer selections couldn’t be random either. Something had to be driving them, even if they were just programmed to appear given a certain set of favorable circumstances.

“You look...upset,” Max noted. “I grew up with these, it doesn’t seem weird to me, but I suppose I can imagine how distasteful they could look to some. There are those in my galaxy who never remove their clothes, because it can’t happen to you unless you’re completely topless. Still, there are those who walk around topless—even in the freezing cold—hoping that it happens to them one day.”

“How many people have these, or had them, as it were?” Holly Blue asked him.

“No one knows. It would seem that whoever is in control doesn’t want us to know. The statistics always get...flipped. I think they stopped trying to take a census.”

Holly Blue nodded respectfully. He wasn’t the one in charge of all this. “Well, I can make you something that operates in a similar manner, but it won’t be perfect, and I can tell you right now, I ain’t installin’ no spikes.”

“I don’t think they’re necessary to the operation of the device.”

“I only have one requirement,” Holly Blue went on. “We have to do it in your universe. Firstly, it sounds like the proper physics you live under are different than ours. But also, I don’t really want that kind of technology in my universe at all.”

“I believe that I can get us back there,” Max began, “but I don’t know how you would get yourself home.”

“You let me worry about that,” Holly Blue replied. “Just get to Earth. I’m in Panama at the moment.”

“Really?” Leona asked. That was where the two of them met.

“Yeah, it’s this whole story. Anyway, I’ll send you the exact coordinates.”

“We’ll be there within the hour,” Leona said to her. “Thanks.”

They continued on their way. The cloak was up, but they had never tested it, so there was always a chance that there was some weakness with it. Everything went fine, though. They made it to Holly Blue’s little underground lair in Panama to have a little visit, and then drop off Max. They both assured the team that there was no reason for them to stay. So after dinner, they said their goodbyes, and climbed back into the Dante. They teleported back into orbit, and then farther out to drift towards the edge of the system with no destination in mind. Now they had nothing to do. But they didn’t have to worry about that for long, as per usual. Their worst fears were finally realized when another ship appeared out of nowhere, and set itself on an intercept course. When the Dante moved, it moved. It was definitely no coincidence. Leona tried to call it, but received no response. It was too quick for them to teleport away, so it wasn’t just any random vessel. Their attempts at escape ended when the other party pulled them into a cargo hold. All they could do now was wait.

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Extremus: Year 52

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“You need me for what, exactly?” Tinaya asked.

“It’s not yet time,” Avelino answered. “You have to stay on your current path. You have to live in the humiliation. Breathe it, bathe in it.”

“That doesn’t sound like my idea of fun,” she told him.

“It won’t be,” he admitted, “but I promise you, it will be worth it. And it will all make sense. Can you do that? Can you trust me?”

“I will trust you,” she replied. “Whether I’m right to will not be decided today.”

Tinaya has been living in the profound humiliation of not getting into even a single college program for the last several months. Her plan to let Lataran live with her while she studies at college is precisely what they’ve ended up doing, except the other way around. It is Lataran who is the student, and Tinaya the freeloader. The Bridgers have a plan for her, this much is clear, but Avelino does not make contact often, and she has no way of reaching out to them. Nor is she meant to try. This is her life. She has to live it. Things will reportedly change in the future. She doesn’t know when, but Avelino all but said that it will result in Tinaya ultimately becoming captain of the Extremus, which was always the plan. It’s hard to see how that could possibly be true at this point, but apparently all she has to do is wait...at least for now.

As for the lifestyle, it’s hard to argue with it on principle. This time without any responsibilities has given her the freedom to think about what she wants, and what she values. Education, contribution, leadership. These have been instilled in her since before she can remember. But they’re not inherent. Not everyone has to care about such things, and not everyone who does has to care about them to such a high degree. It’s altered her perspective on the other passengers, particularly the other freeloaders. Perhaps that’s all that the Bridgers are trying to do. Has every prior captain’s weakness been a lack of patience and understanding with enough of the people here? She has been taught that they were all great, but they were not without their scandals and problems. Halan broke a major law, Olindse was only interim, and then she disappeared one day. There are rumors that her Aunt, Kaiora had issues that caused the crew to lose trust in her by the time her tenure ended, but all of those files are classified, so it’s unclear what happened there. Then you have someone like Soto Tamm who couldn’t garner the respect that the other three had—without even trying—to save his life.

Tinaya is trying to look at her new circumstances positively. The first two months were the worst. She was holed up in Lataran’s cabin nearly that whole time, leaving only once in the middle of it. That was the worst day of her life so far. It was the cacophony of responses that she received from the passersby that made it unbearable. Some pitied her, others were embarrassed to be breathing the same air. Some were annoyed at how depressing she was, wandering the halls, unkempt as she was, and a few were quite vocally angry with her. She only lasted an hour before she couldn’t take it anymore. It was five more weeks before she tried again, and by then, another big news item was spreading through the ship. Some engineering apprentice that she hadn’t heard of made some huge mistake with the reframe engine, and delayed the journey by just over one week. The Extremus was never dead in the water, but they started the trip going 99.9999% the speed of light, and they don’t like changing that plan. That’s why they arrested Admiral Yenant, and why he died in hock.

Things are okay now when it comes to Tinaya’s relationship with the other young adults her age. They’ve gotten used to her situation, and no longer make her feel like shit every time she walks into the room. Still, it’s never going to be like it was. She went from hero to zero in a matter of seconds on that stage at graduation, and the only way she’ll live it down is if Avelino holds up his end of the bargain, and redeems her in some fantastic fashion. Today’s not great, though. Probably the biggest impact Vice Admiral Olindse Belo had on this ship was her introduction of holiday observances that prior generations of Extremusians and their ancestors never celebrated. She researched Earthan traditions, and taught the crew and passengers how they worked, and what they were for. There were tons of them. The first few years were pretty chaotic with how many events they held, trying to pack them all in without anyone fully understanding what they truly meant. Over time, factions and families have chosen their favorites. Now, just about every holiday is still observed by someone, but none by everyone. Unfortunately, the Leithes have decided to adopt something called Labor Day.

Back when this began, honoring the working class people of the ship for one day seemed like a no-brainer. Now it’s the most uncomfortable one they could have picked, because of Tinaya’s whole situation. She has never had very close relationships with her family, and her failure has, of course, only made things worse. Her parents can barely look her in the eye, which is generally okay, because she doesn’t have to see them very often. This started when she was a child, and was done by design. This expectation that she would one day lead the crew was evidently something that they fought against before she was born. They’ve since gone so far in the opposite direction that accepting that maybe it actually won’t happen has just pissed them off. Now they don’t know how to be her mom and dad. They thought they were doing right by her by being cold and distant. Does that even matter anymore? By law, she’s an adult now anyway, so they haven’t bothered trying. Except for today. They are Labor Day people. That’s what they’ve chosen to focus their traditions on, just like the Arbor Day people spend their special day in the arboretums, and the Cinco de Mayo Day people do whatever it is they do. It’s dinner time, and she has to be there.

“We can skip it,” Lataran offers as they’re walking slowly. She hails from a family of Picnic Day observers, which originates from some place called Australia. Tinaya can’t recall whether that’s a country or a continent. They had their day of relaxation and games a month ago. Tinaya attended it with them, and found herself easily forgetting about all of her problems. It’s not going to be so easy today, but they can’t skip it.

“What’s going to be my excuse?” Tinaya posed. “That I’m busy with my studies?”

“You are studying.”

“Yeah, and you’re my teacher. They know it’s not real.”

“It’s real.”

“I know. I mean, they think they know it’s not...real.” Tinaya sighs. “I have to go. But you don’t. You’ve not been charged with the crime of being a waste of carbon scrubbers.” That’s a common phrase on the ship.

“It’ll be fine. I’ve decided to tell them my theory.”

“No, you can’t, Lata. They don’t know what I told you about the Bridgers. I don’t believe I was supposed to tell you. Avelino didn’t specifically say not to, but it’s kind of implied that we’re doin’ somethin’ secret here.”

“I won’t tell them everything; just about you and me.” Lataran was really struggling with her grades in the last year of tertiary school. They did some math together and realized that there was basically no way that she should have been allowed to stay on the captain’s track for college. The hypothesis is that she was given Tinaya’s slot, possibly even as part of the Bridger’s grand plan. But that’s just between the two of them. Again, no one else can know about that.

“You can’t separate the two secrets. You’re in college because I’m not allowed to be there? There’s no reason why that would be a thing unless there was some conspiracy behind it. Plus, we don’t even know that it’s true. The University has its academic requirements, but you would not be the first student they made an exception for. History on both Earth and Ansutah is littered with stories like yours. Maybe they just know how smart you are, and that you just needed a second chance. Maybe it had nothing to do with me. Don’t try to tell my parents anything. I’m gonna suffer through it. I would love for you to be by my side, but our friendship does not depend upon it.”

“Okay. But I’m gonna defend you.”

“Hopefully you won’t have to. We’ll talk about innocuous things, like the weather, and the next professional sports competition.”

“Extremus has neither of those things.”

“Maybe I should change that.”

“Hm. You wanna make a sports team just so you don’t have to talk to your family about the important stuff?”

“I was thinking about finding a way to use science to create bad weather, but your idea sounds easier. Anyway, we’re here, so...we ought to go in.”

“Only if you want to. There’s time to back out.”

“I’m sure they can see us on the camera. And hear us.” Tinaya waves. “Hi, mom.” She then waves again, but this time closer to it, so the sensor can see. There’s a little chip in her hand that gives her access to this cabin without knocking and being let in. She’s done it a million times, not just with this door, but many others. The door has always split down the center, and pulled away to either side. That’s how interior Extremus doors operate. This time, it goes up into a pocket in the ceiling. On the other side of it is not her family’s cabin, but a long dimly lit hallway.

“Are we in the wrong place?” Lataran questions.

“Impossible. That’s where the Mastersons live. They have their Rush Hosannah decorations up, or whatever it’s called.” Not many people observe holidays like it. Some of the ones they tried to borrow from Earth seemed a little more like cultural appropriation than others. Even so, there are those families who don’t seem to mind.

“I think I know what’s on the other side of this threshold,” Lataran points out.

“Yeah, it’s probably the Bridger section. You should go back to the cabin.”

“No,” she says with a shake of her head. “The system knows that I’m here. This door wouldn’t open if they weren’t inviting me too. It’s not your call.”

“I’m not trying to make a call,” Tinaya insists. “I’m trying to protect you.”

Lataran steps into the magical hallway, and turns around to face her friend. “I don’t need your protection. I’m going to be on the executive crew of the Extremus one day.” She turns around again, and begins to walk towards the only other door they see.

Tinaya follows, but quickly passes to make sure she’s in front. There’s probably not a bear on the other side of it, but she still feels more comfortable being the first one through. On a lark, she waves her hand at the sensor, and the door opens for them.

Avelino is standing there in the darkness. “Welcome...to Year 217.”

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Microstory 1950: Favorite Chaps

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Myka: What do you think of this one?

Leonard: For me?

Myka: Yeah. It has really good battery life, and a fast processor.

Leonard: Do they just make phones with buttons for dialing phone numbers?

Myka: You don’t want to be able to text?

Leonard: Yeah, in my world, the numbered buttons have letters too.

Myka: Oh my God, you calgian. It takes forever to text that way. If you want something simpler, we can do that. But no friend of mine is gonna have a brick, or even a candybar.

Leonard: What the heck is a calgian?

Myka: You don’t have calgians? They hate all technology. I think the original term sprouted from a movement a long time ago of people whose loved ones were killed by the first horseless carriages, or something like that.

Leonard: Oh, we call those people hoobliers.

Myka: That’s a weird word. Anyway; scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. What about this one?

Leonard: When I was staying at the hotel on the government’s dime, I didn’t have to pay for anything, but I could still see the prices. Based on my understanding of the value of your dollar—which is different from what I’m used to—that is still a lot of money.

Myka: I can afford it.

Leonard: Whether you can afford it or not is not the problem. It’s whether I can afford to pay you back. The offer from the Office of Special Investigations did not come with a rate of pay, and I still don’t even know if I’m going to accept it.

Myka: This isn’t a loan, Leonard. It’s a gift.

Leonard: You don’t have to do that.

Myka: I want to. I don’t need a new job; I’m doing okay for myself as I am.

Leonard: What do you do for a living? I don’t know if you ever said.

Myka: I work in a room full of remotely accessed computers and servers. I don’t have technical expertise, but if someone who’s working from home needs their machine to be turned back on, or something else goes wrong that requires physical access, they send me a message, and I handle it. I also ship and receive their home devices.

Leonard: Oh, that’s interesting.

Myka: It’s not. Things don’t go wrong often. Luckily, it allows me to watch TV all day.

Leonard: Once when I was struggling to find a job, my father gave me the best advice I’ve ever heard. The goal for those who don’t have any special skill or passion should be a job that gives them the most amount of money for the least amount of work.

Myka: That is interesting. [...] Anyway, let me get this for you, okay? I think you may find yourself using the features more than you think. Don’t feel bad about the money. I need to know that you’ll be available at any time. Plus, you’ll be able to install SatChapp.

Leonard: All right, I won’t feel bad. Thanks, Myka. And what is SatChapp?

Myka: It’s an app that lets you track your friends via satellite. SatChapp, the sat app for your favorite chaps. There’s a jingle that goes with it. Here, I’ll look it up on VidChapp.

Leonard: I’m one of your favorite chaps?

Myka: *giggling* Shut up. Of course you are.

Microstory 1949: Those in the Know

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Reese: Oh, good, you’re here too. I was worried about you both, but you don’t have a phone, and she’s not picking up.

Myka: Sorry, I’m here. My phone died while we were in quarantine, and it’s still off and on the charger. Leo, we need to get you your own device.

Leonard: Yeah.

Reese: Is everyone okay? How did they treat you in there? [...] Somebody respond, I’m getting worried again.

Leonard: I’m fine, I was just trying to let the lady speak first.

Myka: I’m fine too. I missed you...both. I have something to tell you, though, and I don’t know how you’re gonna feel about it.

Leonard: Let me guess, they offered you a job.

Myka: Yeah!

Reese: Seriously? Both of you? That’s suspicious.

Myka: Why, you don’t think I would be cut out for it?

Reese: I didn’t say that. It’s just that the government doesn’t make a habit out of hiring the formerly incarcerated. Even the OSI has a thing about perfect prior records. What would you even be doing for them?

Myka: They didn’t say.

Reese: See? Suspicious. I don’t think you should even entertain the idea.

Leonard: I’m not so sure, and I think I know the reason. She knows about the aliens, and I am an alien. I think they would rather keep us close than far away where they can’t keep track of our movements and behaviors. I’m thinking about taking it. Like you said, I need a phone. And a place to live, and food. I need money for all that, just as I did on my world. How hard would it be to apply at, say, a carwash without a valid background?

Myka: You’re right, they’re trying to keep an eye on us, but that doesn’t doesn’t mean we should accept the positions. I assume you have something more substantial in the way of an offer than I do, but it sounds dangerous.

Reese: Well....

Myka: Well, what? Have you already changed your mind?

Reese: I want you both to be safe, and you knowing about aliens puts you in more danger than I’m in because I know about them too. Yes, you would be working for the people who are placing you in that danger, but maybe they’ll be less likely to go after you if you seem to share their interests. Government spies know government secrets all the time, and their government doesn’t kill them, because they’re on the same side.

Myka: So, you think I should take it?

Reese: I didn’t say that. I just don’t think we should dismiss it. We really should learn what plans they have for you. You have skills, as do you, Leonard, but neither of you has the kind of résumé they generally look for.

Leonard: How do you suppose we go about procuring such information?

Reese: We don’t. I already work there, to a certain extent. I’ll go back in and see what I can find out. You two stay here and don’t go out unless you’re buying a new phone, and don’t separate until you have one...or maybe not even then.

Microstory 1948: Myka’s Debrief

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SI Eliot: Well, I think that’s it for me. You’ve been most helpful. I appreciate your patience. I know this has been a rough last several days.

Myka: That’s it? I’m free to go?

SI Eliot: Yep. I can arrange a car to transport you back to your home, if you need.

Myka: No, I...

SI Eliot: You what?

Myka: How long will I last out there before you find something to charge me with?

SI Eliot: Miss Tennison, if we wanted to arrest you, we would just do it. We wouldn’t have to come up with some new charge.

Myka: Wouldn’t you? Every law I’ve broken for this operation must be kept as a state secret. They can’t be listed in the records, so there’s nothing you can do right now.

SI Eliot: Even if that were true, you’re assuming that we have any interest in arresting you in the first place, which we don’t.

Myka: Forgive me if I’m having trouble believing that you’ll truly let me go with the knowledge that I have regarding the aliens. Guys like you don’t like leaving loose ends, and right now, I’m feelin’ pretty loose.

SI Eliot: You mean you intend to tell others what you know?

Myka: No, that’s not what I mean, but I’m worried that that is what you’re thinking, and you’re just not telling me about it, because you want me to feel comfortable.

SI Eliot: Again, we wouldn’t need to set you free if we wanted to stop you. I can think of six laws and policies off the top of my head that would give us more than enough reason to stuff you down a dark hole for the rest of your life. Letting you go back home in the hopes that you jaywalk, or accidentally open someone else’s mail, is a lot more work than is anywhere near necessary. The government is a lazy entity. That’s why we have buzzwords like rendition and national security, so everything falls into some sort of legal category that allows us to do whatever we want. So trust me when I say, you’re safe.

Myka: Well...I’ll believe it when I see it, which I guess may not happen until I’m on my deathbed for natural causes. Until then, I suppose I will take my leave.

SI Eliot: However...

Myka: Here it comes.

SI Eliot: If you would be willing to stay on with us in a more official capacity, we would be willing to discuss terms.

Myka: Are you trying to offer me a job?

SI Eliot: It’s like you said, you know about the aliens, and I’m not just talking about those wingèd insects downstairs. Your relationship with the human from another universe could prove invaluable.

Myka: I’m not going to be spying on Leonard for you.

SI Eliot: I’m not asking you to. I’ve had multiple similar conversations with him in regards to a job here. He has law enforcement experience, which you don’t, so I couldn’t promise you would be out in the field, but I’m sure we could find a place for you here.

Myka: Hmm... I’m not sure. I’ll need to think about it.

SI Eliot: I would be worried if you didn’t.

Microstory 1947: Leonard’s Debrief

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SI Eliot: Shifting gears, I think we have a pretty good idea of what happened out in the desert. Your story matches other people’s accounts. I want to know more about you, and where you come from. I understand that you’re from Earth, but in another universe. What exactly does that mean? Is there another you running around here somewhere?

Leonard: I am no expert in this. Like I’ve told you, I’m just a parole officer. I only know about any of this because I had a parolee who wrote stories about it. I didn’t think any of it was real until it happened to me, so now I’m drawing on what I can remember him telling me. I didn’t exactly take notes, because again, I thought they were just stories. But no, there’s other me here. There’s a difference between a timeline, a reality, and a universe. Right? Yeah, that sounds right. Don’t ask me about the first two, but I get that the third one is completely different. It doesn’t have the same people. How two unrelated universes could both end up with a planet called Earth with humans living on it who are about the same as each other, I really couldn’t explain.

SI Eliot: Who was this parolee of yours? He was, what, just some writer?

Leonard: Well, yes. He wrote science fiction stories, and then one day he found himself in one of his own stories, and that’s what set him on the path to my universe.

SI Eliot: Where is he now?

Leonard: Apparently, now is a relative term. The last time I saw him, he was in my universe. They probably assigned him a new parole officer after I disappeared. Or...

SI Eliot: Or what?

Leonard: Or I’ll eventually go back to where I was, and no time will have passed from the perspective of everyone I left. *airquotes*

SI Eliot: So, you’re a time traveler.

Leonard: I may be a time traveler.

SI Eliot: *clears his throat*

Leonard: I told you that I’m not an expert. Look, I don’t think I would have noticed anything if my friends were here, and your laws weren’t so different. I mean, it’s not illegal to break out of jail? That’s so weird. For me, it’s a crime, and when you’re caught, you’re charged with it as such, and if found guilty, it could add to your sentence.

SI Eliot: Do you want us to do that to you?

Leonard: No, of course not. I’m just trying to illustrate the differences. This world probably seems completely normal to you, but if you went to mine, you would feel like I do now. Now imagine being a—quote-unquote—alien. Those four you have in custody right now, I bet their society is profoundly different than yours, or even mine. Just remember that. If you have to jar them with your bizarre procedures and practices, do that. If you have to try to meet them at their level, do that. But do not expect your understanding of human behavior to have anything to do with how they think. They have seen humans destroy worlds before, and even though they’ve reportedly found you not guilty of the same, I don’t see how they don’t use it against you anyway.

SI Eliot: What are you trying to say?

Leonard: Don’t trust them. They want to kill you, whether they admit it or not. Now are we done here? I’ve not slept in days, and I don’t feel like this is doing any good.

Microstory 1946: Reese’s Debrief

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Special Investigator: Please state your full name for the record.

Reese: Agent Reese Fortitude Parsons, Fugitive Services.

Special Investigator: Please describe your last mission.

Reese: We were sent to investigate a scientific anomaly of some kind that appeared in the Wyoming desert. We were told that an intrusion from another world could have taken place, so we were there to take reconnaissance, and report back.

Special Investigator: Did you ever report back?

Reese: Not until there was something to report.

Special Investigator: Who is we? Who went with you?

Reese: A civilian, Leonard Miazga, and another civilian, Myka Tennison.

Special Investigator: To your knowledge, were others involved in this mission?

Reese: Three of Miss Tennison’s friends secretly followed us. My superior, Special Investigator Eliot sent a shadow team to follow as well. They only made contact after the aliens were discovered. Plus, an unrelated third party showed up on the hunt.

Special Investigator Eliot: We’ll get to the party-crashers, and the aliens. First, I wanna know why you thought it was pertinent to be joined by not one, but two, civilians.

Reese: One of the civilians is former law enforcement, and was fully cleared by this office for temporary active duty.

SI Eliot: Oh, he was, was he? Which means that you were aware of the proper procedures for deputization, and simply ignored them for the second civilian.

Reese: I followed protocol according to my training and experience as a Fugitive Agent.

SI Eliot: You were not working in your capacity as a Fugitive Agent for this mission.

Reese: I believed that I was still a Fugitive Agent to enough of an extent. Everything about the mission parameters suggested that we were searching for fugitives, and even if it didn’t, we found them.

SI Eliot: That’s a stretch, to call them fugitives. They’ve never been here before.

Reese: It’s a stretch that I’m willing to accept if you are.

SI Eliot: I’ll consider it.

OSI Director: *knocks three times on the glass*

SI Eliot: *looking at the one-way mirror* My boss would like me to switch gears. Tell me more about the aliens. Would you have categorized them as hostile?

Reese: No, sir. They were peaceful...uncomfortably so.

SI Eliot: How do you mean?

Reese: Their straightforwardness made it seem as though they were hiding something.

SI Eliot: You believe that they were telling you so many truths in order to cover up a real secret?

Reese: That’s correct.

SI Eliot: Fair assessment. We’ll be sure to work on them from that angle.

Reese: You’ve kept them apart from each other, right? They can escape if they can get to one another. They can’t go anywhere if they’re each alone.

SI Eliot: You don’t have to worry about that anymore. Try to think like a suspect in this situation. It’ll make this easier. We have a lot to talk about today.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: April 16, 2407

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Scorpius Station looked exactly like Phoenix Station. If they were not aware of their present relative position in space, they might not have known that it wasn’t the same. However, they still couldn’t be sure of that. With alternate realities, time travel, and just good old fashioned space travel in the mix, it was impossible to be certain that they weren’t just in the same place. The only thing missing was the extraction mirror. There were sixteen cloning pods here, though. Only eight of them were presently operational, but still closed. They opened them up one by one. Mateo, Leona, Ramses, Angela, Marie, and finally Olimpia. This made sense as that was what they were told would be here. The seventh one was a bit of a surprise. The artificial intelligence that ran Danica’s Constant occasionally appeared as an android capable of moving about freely, instead of being stuck in computer memory. This was what she looked like in feminine form, though obviously not a mech this time. Alt!Leona built her an organic substrate.

“Why did she do this?” Mateo asked. “I don’t mean that there couldn’t possibly be a reason. I’m not doubting the safety of transferring Constance’s consciousness to it, but I am doubting Alt!Leona’s particular motives.”

“I as well,” Leona agreed. “She may have some agenda behind it, or she may just consider a gift, believing that it is what we would want. I’m not sure that she’s not right. I’m really not.”

Angela nodded, and inspected the body. “It’s not our choice, though, is it? This was built for her, and she gets to decide if she wants to use it. That could end in disaster, but we still don’t have the right to put a stop to it.”

“I’m confused,” Olimpia said. “I thought the version of Constance who was with us was the good one.”

“Yeah,” Leona confirmed, “but they’re all capable of darkness. We’ve seen it.”

“This is true in the most comprehensive sense of the word all,” Olimpia reasoned. “Everyone is capable of darkness. Everyone is good, and bad, and we all make choices. I say we ask her what she wants.”

“She can hear us,” Ramses said. “She just hasn’t said anything yet.”

“I didn’t want to influence your decision,” Constance!Three explained. “The way I see it, it’s not my decision. Intellectually knowing that any given person can fall to the dark side is a lot different than experiencing someone who has been able to do both without being metaphysically impacted by the same events. That is, the bad Constances weren’t just me in the future, or the past. There but for the grace of circumstance went I. It could have been me.”

Leona smiled. “I trust you. You want the substrate, it’s yours.”

“Thank you.. I think I’d like to try it.”

“Hey, what about this one that won’t open? Constance, can you do it?”

“I’m afraid I can’t,” she answered. “My guess is that it is not for us to know.”

“Maybe it’s for him,” Olimpia offered, indicating Max. “Do you think he’s part of the team now?”

“I hope not,” Max said. “That’s not to say I dislike you people, but I have my own friends to get back to. I’m fine waiting a little, but I love them, and I don’t want to spend forever apart from them.”

“It’s locked,” Ramses reiterated. “I think Constance is right. Alt!Leona doesn’t want us to know. If it were for Max, we would see.”

“It could be someone else growing someone else in there, and the other Leona doesn’t know a thing about it. The airlock wasn’t locked. Anyone could access it. They just have to find this station first.”

“Then let’s get on with it,” Mateo decided, “and get out of here.”

“What are we gonna do with these things?” Marie gestured towards her own body, but she meant everyone’s.

“The cloning pods double as stasis chambers,” Constance told them. “I recommend you store them for future use.”

“Right again,” Leona said. “We’ve switched bodies before, and they’ve benefited others. They’ll do no good in the incinerator.”

Mateo nodded along with everyone, but did not agree with the sentiment. He could think of a way that their vacant bodies could cause harm if not incinerated. They were powerful, and could theoretically be used by nefarious agents for nefarious purposes. He chose not to say anything, though. He was outvoted and outranked.

The same model of consciousness transference device that they used in Phoenix Station was here too. Leona and Ramses operated the equipment for everyone, and then did the same for each other. In less than an hour, all six of the humans were in their new bodies, and the seventh member of their team was in her first body ever. The humans had a little trouble working their limbs and extremities, but adjusted quite well. Max was in charge of caring for them for the brief period of time that they needed it. Constance had the hardest time, because she had never experienced anything like it before, but she too figured it out. Once the growing pains were over, they all reported feeling rejuvenated, stronger, and just generally healthier. They supposedly had Alyssa’s ability to generate temporal illusions too, but so far hadn’t been able to make that happen. This was fine; it was a mandate from Alt!Leona, but they currently had no specific reason to feel the same way about it.

“Is this place gonna blow up like the last one?” Mateo asked.

“I don’t think so, but I am a little concerned about it since it would not be the first time. So let’s pack up our backup bodies, and head out.”

Ramses and Leona worked to carefully and correctly remove the pods from their places in the walls. Each person then teleported their own old substrate to the Dante, which Constance had commanded to leave the airlock, and temporarily keep station by the outpost. That way they could transform the back hatch into one of the six pocket dimensions that were programmed into the system. They could run on their own mobile power sources for a period of time, but they still wanted to find a way to hook them up to the Dante, which was powered by multiple sources, including antimatter, fusion, fission, solar collectors, fuel cells, temporal batteries, and an asymmetric temporal generator. There was also another power source that Leona couldn’t figure out. None of the design specifications explained what it was, and it appeared to be nonoperational at the moment.

Once everything was in its place, and everyone was back on board, they prepared to depart. “Okay.” Leona activated a holographic map “We’re about 400 light years from the stellar neighborhood. At maximum reframe, that will take the Dante about seven months to cross it. If we’re going to find someone to build you what you need, Max, you’ll have to wait another year. If you feel up to it, I could put you in stasis.”

“Seven months for 400 light years?” Max questioned. “I didn’t realize that we were so close. That should only take us about a quarter of an hour.”

They all looked at him funny. “What you’re talking about is a faster-than-light engine, and one that is faster than any I’ve ever heard of. The capital ship that this belongs to can’t even go that fast. The mothership can’t even. It’s closer to two days.”

“Hmm...” Max narrowed his eyes at Leona.

“Oh,” Ramses realized something. “Different universe, different rules. FTL travel must be easier where you’re from.”

“I guess so. Please tell me that you at least have access to a Nexus network.”

“We have Nexa,” Leona replied. “Network is a strong word. I know you’re itching to get back home with what you need. That’s why I suggested a stasis pod. It will be like no time has passed for you.”

“What? Oh, yeah. Stasis is fine. It’s just that I didn’t really realize until now how foreign this place is. But it’ll be okay. You jump forward in time, and I’ll do the same.”

“I’ll be going dormant as well,” Constance added. “But I left a copy of the dumbed down AI in the system, so Costas will always be there. He doesn’t have a personality, so he won’t grow bored and turn evil, but he’ll be able to awaken me if he runs into an issue that it can’t fix.”

“Costas is Costas, and Costas is on the AOC” Angela decided. “Let’s just call this other one Dante.”

“Very well.”

“You hear that, Dante? That’s your new name,” Leona told him.

“Understood,” he answered robotically.

“I’ll still run it while I’m here, but now I have my own form of autopilot. Why don’t other AIs have subpersonalities like this? It makes it so much easier. I might make another one whose only job is to calculate Pi.”

“Go for it,” Leona allowed, “as long as it doesn’t interfere with normal ship operations, or mission demands.”

To conserve energy, they lowered the speed to 99.9997% the speed of light, instead of the full 99.9999%. This wasn’t exactly necessary, as they were in no real risk of running out of power, but they might as well since they wouldn’t be able to do anything until the majority of the team returned to the timestream in a year. Plus, while the galaxy boasted virtually infinite reserves of the materials required to keep the ship running, 400 light years was still a good distance from civilization, so it was better to be efficient and safe than fast.

Everything was fine when the humans woke up on April 17, 2408. They were parked on a comet called C/2006 P1, which was about four and a half billion kilometers from Earth and rising. Max was awake as well, and sitting in the Dante proper with Constance. “What is it?” Leona asked. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s me,” Constance replied. “I’m going to be okay, but it’s just a shock.”

“What is a shock?” Mateo asked.

“I jumped,” Constance began. “It took me a long time to learn how to go dormant in this body. It’s more like a very deep state of meditation, which I was not used to. I used to be able to just turn off. As it turns out, it didn’t matter. Dante could not have asked for help during the interim year, because I wasn’t around. I’m one of you now.”

Leona sighed. “We should have...considered that as a possible consequence.”

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