A Paradox of Fates

by Rebecca Hefner

  “Fine,” Claire said, crossing her arms over her ample breasts, covered by a t-shirt that read Heavy Metal is Dead. Rust in Peace. It had been one of Lainey’s mother’s favorite shirts, and Claire had thought the corny science joke so hilarious, Lainey had gifted it to her years ago. Shoulders shrugged under Claire’s dyed shoulder-length hair. “I just don’t want to be a cat murderer.”

  “Let’s remember that the goal is to place a person in the machine. Namely, Luke. So, it’s in our best interests to make sure the Sphere transports everyone and everything correctly. Are we clear?”

  “Yes,” Claire said softly, her body language softening. “I didn’t mean to—”

  “It’s fine, sweetie,” Luke said, reaching across the table. Claire joined her hand with his. “We all have our roles here, and I’m honored to do my job when you all are ready.”

  Cyrus had discovered Luke lying in a grassy field among several dead soldiers after a bloody battle with the Old Rebellion several years ago. Luke was hours from death, and Cyrus had carried him back to the compound so Sara could attempt to save him. Thankfully, she prevailed. Luke’s injuries had left him with a severe limp and the inability to aim or shoot a gun effectively, due to tremors in both hands. Lewis had allowed Luke to stay on one condition: He must be the first person sent through the Sphere once it was fully functional.

  Luke had agreed, since he was already halfway in love with Sara, accepting that his future with her wasn’t guaranteed. Volunteering to be the first subject for the Sphere was a choice fraught with uncertainty. Lainey couldn’t guarantee the man wouldn’t perish, or that he would arrive safely to the designated time.

  “Thank you, Luke. You have the most important job of all of us. The first person to successfully time travel. It will be the greatest achievement of humankind.”

  “You’re the genius, Lainey,” Luke said in his always affable way. “I’m just here to eat Marie’s stew and watch you do science. And to cherish my beautiful wife,” he added, winking at Sara.

  Sara’s cheeks turned a delightful shade of red under her short auburn hair. Pursing her lips, she sent him an air kiss.

  “Okay, that’s enough PDA for today,” Lainey said, shooting them a lighthearted wink. “Claire and Zach, meet me at the Sphere in fifteen minutes.”

  The team dispersed, and Marie approached Lainey, her long white braid swishing across her back. “You didn’t eat your breakfast, young lady,” the older woman chided. “Here’s an egg sandwich for you.”

  Lainey eyed the plate topped with a steaming sandwich that made her stomach grumble. “I told you I wasn’t eating bread anymore, Marie. The carbs migrate directly to my ass.”

  “Oh, hush,” Marie said, waving the plate as Lainey’s mouth watered. “I promised your dear father I’d take care of you, and you never eat. Now, put this sandwich in that smart mouth, girl, or I’ll stand here all day.”

  Lainey stared down, since the woman was several inches shorter than her five-foot, eight-inch frame. “I’m guessing you’re not going to let this go.”

  “Damn straight,” she said, her smile blinding, even though one of the bicuspids on her upper-right side had vanished long ago. Somehow, the dark space between the teeth was endearing.

  Scowling, Lainey picked up the sandwich and took a large bite. Chewing, she regarded the beloved mother figure of the compound. “Those chickens you keep out back make some damn good eggs.” The words were slightly garbled, due to bits of food still in her mouth.

  Marie chuckled and patted Lainey’s face with her wrinkled hand. “They sure do. I made the bread fresh this morning.”

  “Thank you, Marie,” Lainey said, unable to even pretend to be mad at the loving woman. “Did everyone else eat?”

  Marie gave a firm nod. “Today’s the day, Lainey. I can feel it. You’re going to finally get that hunk of metal to work.”

  “I hope so,” Lainey said, stuffing the last of the sandwich in her mouth.

  Marie circled around, empty plate in hand, and headed toward the door. “I’ll come looking for you at lunch,” she called over her shoulder. “You skip too many meals. Not on my watch. I promised your father, all those years ago…”

  Her voice trailed off as she disappeared down the hallway. Marie was known to conduct full-blown conversations with herself, so muttering about Lewis as she strode away was nothing new.

  Wiping her hands together to rid them of crumbs, Lainey straightened her shoulders and steeled herself to test the Sphere—again. All set for failure, she had to remind herself to remain unemotional for the team. They needed her to be calm and sure. That feat, at least, was something she could control.

  Chapter 2

  Several minutes later, Lainey wished Cyrus a good day and locked the menagerie of security devices that lined the entrance of the hub. He and his two soldiers, Ivan and Steven, would spend the day doing surveillance and ensuring the war was far from their home. Marie would unlock them in an hour, when she went outside to do the week’s laundry in the nearby river, but having the door secured always made Lainey feel safer somehow.

  The hub was built a few feet into the ground for an extra level of security. There was a large foyer inside the entrance, with a few scattered chairs. Exiting the foyer, Lainey walked down the dimly lit hallway, past the conference room on her right, and then the kitchen. Further down was Claire and Zach’s small office on the left, and the entrance to her father’s office next door. The large kitchen opened to her right, and that ended their communal space. The rest of the hallway was comprised of doors leading to their sleeping chambers.

  The entrance to the Sphere room was completely hidden for good reason. No one on Earth, besides the occupants of the Australian hub, knew they housed a time machine on their premises. The lack of scientific understanding that now pervaded the world actually benefitted their intention to keep their efforts a secret. People in their dystopian existence barely understood how to generate basic power, much less the workings of a complex scientific contraption. Yet it was always good to be cautious, and Lewis had built the bunker in the hopes that if the compound was ever seized, the New Establishment would never find the Sphere.

  Lainey closed the door labeled “Supply Closet” behind her as she walked through it. A solitary bulb burned above her head, and she placed her palm flat against the wall. The keypad illuminated under her hand before she typed in the code. A green light blinked twice, then she placed the pad of her index finger against the clear plastic, allowing the scanner to record her fingerprint.

  A clicking sound emanated in the confined space, and Lainey reached down, grabbing the small chain that appeared to be attached to a metal drain. With a pull, the hatch door swung open, and she climbed down the ladder. Fumbling for the switch against the rocky wall, she flipped it, causing several yellow bulbs to illuminate where they hung from the ceiling.

  Claire and Zach descended the ladder, both of them heading to stand behind the console that controlled the Sphere. Lainey stopped in front of her masterpiece, filled with a mixture of anxiety and resolve. Pulling an apple from the pocket of her white lab coat, her hand clenched the fruit so tight it probably bruised.

  “You guys ready?” she asked, turning to look at Claire and Zach.

  “Equations locked and loaded, boss,” Zach said, his face lit by the glowing buttons of the console.

  Bracing herself, she ascended the three wooden steps that led to the center of the Sphere and placed the red apple on the cedar stool in the middle of the large circular contraption.

  Stepping back out, she absorbed the scene. Three beams of metal, curved into perfect circles, were hinged together on opposite sides. Lainey gave a nod to Zach, who pressed a button on the console. The metal circles made a loud click and began to slowly rotate. They whirled in differing directions, gaining speed as they swirled, creating a vortex with heightened gravity in the middle of the Sphere.

  Hundreds of small lasers sat at each of the four corners of the structure,
ready to be ignited. Their light would be shot through small mirrors attached to each corner of the Sphere. This would create constant, unending beams of light, causing the space inside the machine to bend. A fuel rod, absconded by Lewis from an abandoned nuclear power plant decades ago, was attached to the base, the zircaloy sheath that encased the uranium preventing any radiation leakage. The bending of time, the creation of extreme gravity, and a jolt of nuclear energy from the fuel rod would create a wormhole, allowing the object or person to travel through space-time to a desired destination and date.

  Theoretically, that is.

  Lainey gave another nod to Zach, and he pressed the button to ignite the lasers.

  Claire came to stand at her side, eyes wide, still awed by the magnificent power the contraption held even though she was a trained scientist.

  The sound grew louder as the Sphere gained traction, circular arms now almost indiscernible as they bled into each other with the speed of their movements.

  Training her gaze on Zach, Lainey commanded, “Engage the fuel rod.”

  Zach lifted the clear cover from the largest black button on the console. With his index finger, he depressed the large orb.

  Claire grabbed Lainey’s forearm, bracing herself with a wide stance as the rocky walls shook. Unable to look away, Lainey watched a small black void appear from oblivion beside the apple. The point of nothingness grew, ready to absorb the fruit and transport it to 2035. And then, in the blink of an eye, it exploded.

  “Shut it down!” Lainey yelled over the commotion from the Sphere. “Now!”

  Zach flipped the cover, pushed the large red button, and a loud screech sounded as the metal arms began to slow their rotation. Depressing several other buttons, Zach called, “Shutdown mode commenced!”

  Seconds seemed like hours as they waited for the machine to slow to a halt. Tamping down her fury, Lainey wiped a chunk of apple off the white lab coat she always wore during their experiments. Once the apparatus creaked to a stop, she muttered a soft curse.

  “It’s okay, boss,” Claire said, placing a conciliatory hand on Lainey’s forearm. “That one was better than last week. The wormhole was stable for two point seven seconds. We’re getting there.”

  Lainey sighed and breathed a laugh.

  “What?” Claire asked.

  “You have apple all over your face.”

  “Thought something felt strange,” Claire joked, wiping the pieces off with her green-nailed fingers. She was a sucker for the homemade nail polish the vendors sold at the compounds and always asked Alora to bring her vials when possible.

  “Goddammit,” Lainey said, lifting her hands to her temples. Now was not the time for a migraine, but she felt one forming at the understanding she’d failed yet again. Just freaking great.

  “Let me and Zach analyze the data,” Claire said, her soothing now a full-on rubbing of Lainey’s upper arm. “I’m sure we can make some tweaks to the equations and try again tomorrow.”

  “Sounds good.” Lainey massaged her temples. “Bring it to me when you have it.”

  “Will do.”

  Angry at the now pounding splinters of pain in her head, Lainey pivoted and climbed out of the bunker to retreat to her office. Once there, she sat at her desk and opened her laptop to inform Nelson of the debacle.

  The ability to communicate with the director of the Australian scientific hub was quite a miracle, something Lewis had ensured during their hub’s formation. Lewis had given instructions to build EMP-proof generators, cementing the hub’s ability to retain and use power. Then, every computer and laptop had been placed in a faraday cage. The cage protected the electronics from the EMP detonation and allowed them to retain their functionality.

  Although most of the world lost power after the EMP detonation, the four scientific hubs retained it. Lainey always wondered if that would eventually make them a target, but so far, their hub had been left alone. Alora, their courier and tactical surveyor, who was a master at getting intel out of drunk New Establishment soldiers at watering holes during her missions, always said the evil regime actually reveled in keeping the planet devoid of a power grid. Having electricity allowed people to connect, and nothing was more detrimental to the regime than millions of angry people communicating about destroying them. No, they preferred to keep the world dark and bereft of hope.

  Shuddering, Lainey pushed away the desolate thoughts. Logging on to the secure transmission app, she rang Nelson Longwood, the director of the Australian Isle’s scientific hub.

  The scientist’s face appeared onscreen under his afro of dark hair, peppered with white hairs along the sides. Wrinkles marred the brown skin of his forehead, most likely a result of years of furrowing while trying to figure out a particularly difficult equation. He was in his mid-seventies now and had been close to her father.

  “How’s it going, Little Brainy?” he asked, his tone affectionate and warm.

  “Not so good, Nelson. The apple exploded.”

  “I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “The updated equations you sent me looked legit.”

  “Yeah. Well, there’s still something wrong somewhere. I’m going to work on it today and have Zach run them through the models. We have to figure it out at some point. How’s everything going down there?”

  “It’s going,” Nelson said, his expression turning pensive. “So far, we’ve managed to stay unoccupied and unharmed. At night, I hear explosions in the distance, so the war is getting closer. It’s only a matter of time until our hub is seized.”

  A cold jolt of apprehension ran down Lainey’s spine. A few months ago, she’d learned that the New Establishment had seized the Indian and Asian scientific hubs. Although Lainey was in communication with them, she hadn’t shared her work on time travel. That was only shared with Nelson, and he was the one other person on the planet working in tandem with her to accomplish that goal. He’d built a concomitant Sphere from the schematics Lewis had sent him and often tested his own equations as well as Lainey’s. But their work was dangerous, for if the evil regime raided either of their hubs and figured out what they were attempting, they could force Lainey or Nelson to use the Sphere for their own nefarious purposes. Lainey would sacrifice her own life before she let that happen.

  “I was going to try the equations you sent me yesterday in our Sphere, but I’ll wait for now,” Nelson said, interrupting her thoughts. “Send me the updates once you and Zach are done. Lorna and I will do our best to rework them too.”

  “How’s she doing?” Lainey asked. Lorna was Nelson’s wife and a brilliant physicist in her own right.

  “Good,” he said, white teeth glowing as he beamed. “She still puts up with me for some reason.”

  “Oh, you’re a teddy bear, Nelson,” Lainey said, winking. “Give her a hug for me.”

  “Will do,” he said.

  As his smile faded and his features drew together, Lainey frowned.

  “What is it, Nelson?”

  The man sighed, running his hand over his face. “If we’re raided, I can’t protect you. I promised Lewis—”

  “Cyrus and his team will protect me. I have the utmost faith in them.”

  Deep brown eyes scuttled back and forth on the screen as he seemed to struggle to speak. “There are things I should’ve told you long ago, Little Brainy. If I die before imparting those things to you, I’m not sure my soul will rest.”

  Lainey’s eyebrows drew together, her heartbeat now a palpable thrum in her veins. “What things?” she asked, her voice gravelly.

  Nelson shook his head, gaze dropping to the desk below. “We only wanted to keep you safe—”

  “Hi, Lainey,” Lorna’s sweet voice interrupted from behind her husband. Blue eyes and a brilliant smile came into view as she leaned over his shoulder and waved through the screen. “How’s it going?”

  “Fine,” was her terse reply, gaze cemented to Nelson’s. “Your husband was about to tell me something of great importance.”

  “Oh,�
�� Lorna said, face contorting into confusion as she stared down at Nelson. “Sorry to interrupt.”

  “It was nothing,” he said, shaking his head, the tension gone from his shoulders as if it never existed. “I’ve become dramatic in my old age, Lainey—something my wife here reminds me on a daily basis.”

  “You missed your calling as a soap star, darling,” Lorna said, placing a peck on his forehead. “If only we still had TV‚ you’d make us rich.”

  “Quiet, woman,” he said, chuckling as he grinned.

  Lainey watched their interplay, frustrated to have been interrupted in what seemed like a moment of such importance. “Nelson, if you need to speak to me, it’s better we do it now. If there’s one thing we know, it’s that tomorrow is never guaranteed in our world.”

  “Wow, and I’m dramatic?” he asked, breathing a laugh. “It’s nothing, Lainey.” Standing, he placed his arm around Lorna’s shoulders. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go remind my wife who’s boss around here. I’ll reach out to you tomorrow. Good night.”

  Lainey could barely say “goodbye” before he tapped the keyboard and ended the transmission. Sitting in the dim office, she rubbed her upper arms as her busy brain recalled every word of their conversation. Comprehending that Nelson had kept secrets from her, she felt a jolt of frustrated alarm. Secrets didn’t further their cause but, more importantly, they were dangerous. The Australian hub was the last free science hub besides her own and remained a symbol that the New Establishment hadn’t yet secured world domination. If there was any information contrary to that knowledge, or if her people were in danger in any way, she deserved to know. Lainey would protect her family at all costs.

  Sitting back in the chair, she massaged her temples, sighing at the firm pressure. Unfortunately, her mind wouldn’t be able to process anything until the pounding migraine abated. Initiating the breathing exercises Sara had taught her, she navigated the path of trying to rid herself of the pain.