Tuners

by Aaron Frale

  “You ready?” he asked Jon.

  “Yeah,” Jon said. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  They took off into the mall, leaving the man behind. The quarter Jon gave him went into the slot and out the coin return. The man tried it several times, and the machine didn’t accept it. He inspected the quarter and said, “Hey man, what kind of money is this?” But Jon was long gone.

  21

  Jon didn’t see what was so dangerous about Universe 89. From what little he had seen of other universes, it was just like the others. The stores and the fashion trends were a bit different from 42, but it looked like any other shopping center. He felt like they could blend in as a typical group of teens on an average day at the mall. There even was a store called Forever 21. Jon laughed.

  “Hey, Meathook,” he said. “There’s a Forever 21.”

  “So?” Meathook said. “They have them in practically every universe.”

  “Ludie was saying that the people aren’t the same in each place. Something about sperm—”

  “Yeah, bro,” Meathook said. “That’s right; while people are unique, they aren’t very original. Clothes for people who don’t want to age past 21. It’s an idea that isn’t groundbreaking or anything. The names of people aren’t even that different. There’s a Miller in every universe because people used to mill.”

  “Keep on high alert,” Patel scolded them.

  Jon rolled his eyes. After being in the cultist’s homeworld, there wasn’t really any reason to be afraid of any other. At least the people of this world didn’t want to kill Jon on sight. He slowed down to take up the rear with DeAndre.

  “So, what are we looking for here?” Jon asked to DeAndre in a low whisper.

  “The tech from this universe is advanced. They have an exoskeletal suit that can help us move in heavy gravity. And just talk normally. The best way to look suspicious is to act like it,” DeAndre said.

  “Couldn’t you get the exo-whatever suit from any advanced universe? My universe was already developing power suits to help paralyzed people walk, make super soldiers, and so forth.”

  “Yeah, but they are all built and tested for your universe’s conditions. A super suit in your universe might crumble in the high gravity. Here in 89, they test tech for use in other universes.”

  “So wait, you’re telling me they know about the other universes here?” Jon got a little loud, and Patel glanced at him. Jon lowered his head.

  “Universe 89 used to be a feeder universe. There are worlds with academies to look for that one in a billion. They send their best and brightest. Hector sends most of them back. But every so often, one person makes the cut. Ludie’s universe trained him the moment he discovered his ability to tune. It was an honor when he was chosen to join the team.”

  “So, what happened? Why’d they stop sending Hector’s people?”

  “Who knows? Just because we are Tuners doesn’t mean they tell us everything.”

  “Let’s just say they lost sight of the original mission,” a voice yelled into Jon’s ear. It was Hector’s. “I’m not kidding about that post-apocalyptic universe. It is called 78f. Look it up. However, since you are already there, I might as well do my best to make sure you idiots don’t die.”

  “It’s good to hear from you, Hector. You want to give us some intel on this universe?” DeAndre said.

  “First thing’s first. You have to be cautious of—”

  Hector’s voice cut out. The Tuners all looked at their TF3s and fidgeted with their headphones. Patel swiped through and looked at several apps. She frowned and said, “The signal’s being jammed. I can’t hear anything, even the sound of other universes.”

  Jon glanced at his screen. He pulled up the tuning app and cued an elevator music playlist. He spun the dial, and there was nothing. The only thing Jon could hear was a low hum in the background.

  A loud buzzer sounded through the mall. People ran screaming towards the exits. Large blast doors descended from the ceiling to seal off large sections of the main concourse.

  “Run!” Patel yelled, and they ran toward the door.

  A female voice blared over the loudspeaker, “Foreign object found. Full quarantine in effect. Foreign object found. Full quarantine in effect.”

  Patel, Jon, and DeAndre were the first ones safely on the other side of the doorway. Meathook lagged behind. He stumbled on the floor and fell flat on his face. Jon tried to run, and DeAndre held him back. “You’ll never make it, but I can.”

  DeAndre took off in a blur of motion. He slid to a halt and lifted Meathook to his feet, and they hobbled towards the closing barrier, but it was too late. The giant metal wall lowered, and his companion’s faces disappeared behind the door. Patel dragged Jon away.

  “There is no time. Hurry!”

  22

  Jon and Patel barely cleared the exit of the mall before another set of blast doors sealed it off from the rest of the city. The world outside was vastly different than anything Jon had seen. There were banners throughout the mall parking lot displaying 3D moving images of the great world government. However, it looked more like North Korean propaganda because there were parades of military might, and people showering the leaders with love and affection.

  The technology was out of control. The mall was surrounded by skyscrapers, and lanes of flying cars were crisscrossing the skyline. The parking lot was less a parking lot and more a landing pad. People were running for their vehicles when the police vehicles landed. Patel and Jon were making their way through the chaos in the parking lot when they saw a police cruiser stun a panicking crowd with a wide area weapon. The people toppled to the ground, shaking and shuddering.

  “Police protocols in effect. If you comply, you will not be harmed. Police protocols in effect,” the police hovercars shouted over loudspeakers.

  Patel grabbed Jon and headed toward the sidewalk area where people were beginning to line up. When no one was looking, she jumped into a hedge of bushes. Jon squeezed in beside her. The police landed and forced stragglers to step into line. One man refused to get out of his car. The cops blew off the door and dragged him into a large truck with bars on the windows.

  Patel and Jon unzipped their invisible backpacks. They dug for the invisibility cloak and pulled it out. Their body disappeared as they suited up.

  “What’s happening?” Jon asked in a whisper to Patel as he got dressed.

  “I don’t know,” Patel said. “The files on 89 have been redacted. We just know some experimental tech came from this universe.”

  “Like what kind of tech?”

  “Human enhancement, gear for clandestine operations, and some war equipment.”

  “Great, so you are saying we came here to steal a power suit from a spy universe!”

  “Put that on before the police find us!”

  Jon slipped on his hood and disappeared. An officer blared over the loudspeaker, “Please assemble for processing. Citizens will not be harmed. Please assemble for processing. Citizens will not be harmed.”

  Jon peeked out from the bushes. The police resembled paramilitary more than officers of the law. They were wearing black body armor and had black helmets. They lined up the people against the wall of the locked-down building. They scanned the wrists and looked through their possessions. The people shuddered in terror when they were next. Jon saw the man in the hat from the soda machine get dragged from the parking lot and shoved in line with the rest of the frightened citizenry.

  “Hey!” the man cried. “I didn’t do anything, man!”

  Paramilitary personnel yanked the man’s hand out and scanned his wrist. They frisked him and emptied his pockets. One of the soldiers picked up a quarter from the man’s possessions. It wasn’t just any quarter. It was the quarter that Jon had given him. The soldier who found the object signaled his commanding officer.

  The officer dropped a lady he was manhandling on the ground, and she wept. He walked over to the black man who was being held on his knees in front
of the troops. The other soldiers quit roughing up the crowd to watch.

  “I didn’t do anything, man,” the guy said in tears.

  The officer took the quarter and said, “If you didn’t do anything, then why do you have a quarter with George Hamilton on the face?”

  “George who?” The man said.

  The officer pulled out his gun and placed it on the man’s head, “Don’t play games with me.”

  “I swear! I never heard that name in my life. Some kids gave me the quarter. I swear.”

  “I believe you,” the officer said. “But that still doesn’t change the fact that you decided to keep the quarter.”

  “I was going to drive it down to the station.”

  “Why didn’t you show it to mall security? Why didn’t you call us to let us know you were coming? Why did you make it all the way to your car without a word to anyone? Let me tell you an alternate theory. You knew that alternate universe artifacts sell on the black market. You figured you could make a little something on the side.”

  “I have four kids, man. The government vouchers don’t pay for—”

  The officer pulled the trigger. The side of his head blew out in a bloody mess. It sprayed over a woman in a sundress whimpering in fear. The man fell to the ground. The officer turned towards his men. “Have the conviction noted in his record and revoke his family’s vouchers. The rest of you find the Tuners. They can’t be far.”

  “Yes, sir,” the paramilitary police jumped into action.

  Jon stumbled back from his spot. His head swam, and he felt dizzy. He felt Patel’s hand on his back. “If you need to puke, do it now. Once we are in the open, you will not get another chance.”

  23

  The thick metal door had trapped Meathook and DeAndre in the mall. Meathook attempted with no avail to use his super strength to tear open the door, but DeAndre placed his hand on his shoulder. “Save it for later. For now, it’s better if we disappear.” DeAndre nodded towards the invisible backpack.

  Meathook said, “Oh yeah, bro, I totally forgot about that!”

  They turned around and scanned the concourse. Some people were already lining up in an orderly fashion. Others were being dragged by security from the stores. The mall cops wore body armor and were a mean looking bunch. They used clubs to encourage people to wait in line. Some people were beaten into submission. Others were stunned.

  DeAndre saw a bathroom sign nearby. He nodded to Meathook, and they took off running. He jogged at a slower pace, so Meathook wouldn’t be left behind. They dodged security guards and ducked in between kiosks. Once they reached the alcove with the bathroom, they saw one security guard blocking it.

  One of the blast doors that was blocking off the mall opened, and a stream of the paramilitary police soldiers stormed inside. They marched towards the first group the mall security had gathered and began searching them. Purses were dumped, and shopping bags were torn. They stripped people down. Folks who were too slow got battered. Resistors were dragged away. Once the people were cleared, they were allowed to leave. They shook in fear and left their items behind while they stumbled toward the exit.

  DeAndre turned toward the guard watching the hallway and tiptoed behind him. Before he could make it halfway, Meathook sauntered over toward the guard. The man brought up his stun gun and said, “Get back in line, or you’ll be arrested!”

  Meathook smiled and punched the man in the face. Even though the guard had a reinforced helmet, the blow sent shockwaves through the armor. For a brief moment, it looked as if Meathook’s fist had caved in the man’s face. If the man hadn’t been wearing a helmet, his nose would have been embedded in his brain. As it stood, the dude was out cold.

  “That’s one way of doing it,” DeAndre said.

  “I prefer the direct approach.” Meathook grinned.

  A couple of security guards saw the incident and yelled, “Halt!”

  They took off down the hall and turned a corner. DeAndre was about to dive into the men’s room, when Meathook said, “The women’s room!”

  “What?”

  “No, man!” Meathook said. “It’s just that they’ll look in the men’s room first for us.”

  For once, Meathook made sense. DeAndre pushed open the doorway and ran into the ladies' room. Meathook came in behind him. There were women huddled in fear in the middle of the place. They took one look at the guys and ran screaming.

  DeAndre glared at Meathook. “Go in the ladies’ room. I see how it is!”

  There was no time for further banter. They scrambled to put on their invisibility suits. It was too late, though. Moments after they pulled the clothes from their backpack, the security guards kicked open the doorway. DeAndre was pulling up his pants when the guard fired the stun gun. Meathook was pulling the shirt over his own and couldn’t see the blast coming. Their muscles locked up, and they both collapsed to the floor.

  The security guards stood over the captured Tuners. One of them clicked a radio on his shoulder. “This is CW-802. We have them.”

  24

  Patel led Jon by the hand. It was the only way they could stick together without words. They dodged through the crowds of people being searched outside of the mall. They circled the complex until they came across a door that wasn’t sealed. They figured they would sneak back inside the mall and find their friends. However, there was a row of guards standing shoulder to shoulder at the door entrance. They would only let people exit the mall in a narrow tunnel of guards large enough to fit one person.

  Patel guided Jon to a clump of bushes, and they dove inside. They both removed their masks and were back to being the floating heads. It wasn’t as funny to Jon this time around.

  Patel spoke first. “It’s almost as if they knew we were coming.”

  “Which means they already got to DeAndre and Meathook and know about the invisibility cloaks,” Jon added.

  “At least we can deduce that they do not know how to foil the technology of the suits by the strategic placement of their forces. Maybe we could see if Hector has schematics of the building, and we could find our way in via an air duct. Perhaps if we can get out of the radius of the jamming field—”

  “We can’t leave them behind!” Jon said.

  “I’m not suggesting that. Only that we regroup and reestablish contact with—”

  “So they can be carted away to some secure government base somewhere? Then we’ll have to tune to another universe just to get the tech to spring them out. No way; we get the tech we need and get out of here. All of us.”

  “We can fight off the guards at the door, but what about the others? There’s an army of them! You haven’t really had that much experience in hand-to-hand yet.”

  Jon felt a little taken aback; he thought he had been training pretty hard, and they were still treating him like a noob. She was right, though. Even if he was a martial arts master, there were too many of them. “I’m not suggesting we fight them, but what about these bags?” He indicated the invisible backpacks.

  “I’m not sure I follow.”

  “Ludie said he was sure there was a computer in these suits. What if it’s in the bag?”

  “What do you mean? We’ve already looked inside the bags.”

  “Yeah, but did you feel? What if there is an invisible pocket?”

  They both opened their backpacks. They reached inside and felt around. At first, Jon was hopeful. He thought that an invisibility suit was made for espionage, and so it wasn’t much of a stretch to figure there might be some tools like an invisible rope. However, there was nothing. Both Jon and Patel were striking out until Jon brushed up his hand against something hard.

  He looked inside and couldn’t see anything, and reached his hand back in and felt around for the object again. Once he found it, he rubbed it with his finger. It was thin and long, and it felt rough like snakeskin. He followed it and discovered a tiny handle. The object was a zipper.

  He unzipped it and felt inside. The item he discovered was
cold to the touch and oddly shaped. He had to brush his fingers against it a couple of times to figure out what it was. It reminded him of a Halloween party at his school. The boys stuck the girls’ hands into a bowl of pasta and peeled grapes and said it was brains and eyes. Of course, his stupid robber costume meant that he didn’t do anything with the girls his first Halloween.

  His imagination went wild with the possibilities of what it could be. Once he finally felt the object enough to figure out its intended design, Jon discovered that it wasn’t spy gear at all but a pair of glasses. Jon put them on, and Patel’s full form appeared into view. The invisibility suit looked like a grey jumpsuit with the glasses. He took them off, and her body disappeared.

  “Well, that’s convenient,” Jon said.

  “What?” Patel said and dug around for glasses of her own. She found them and put them on. The eyewear resembled horn-rimmed hipster ones. “These glasses penetrate the invisibility field.”

  “Now, if they only came with an owner’s manual…” Jon said and trailed off. A menu appeared in his field of vision with a help screen. Jon thought about a list of features, and the glasses displayed what the invisible suits could do, and it was a lot more than invisibility. Jon thought about selecting the feature he wanted, and more information came up on the screen. “Now, that’s cool.”

  “What?” Patel said.

  “The suit has a thought-controlled interface,” Jon said and flipped the mask back over his head so he’d be completely invisible. He thought for a moment and said, “Can you see me?”

  “No,” Patel said.

  Jon thought again and said, “How about now?”

  Patel said, “Fascinating. You can control the transparency settings. You can make yourself invisible to everyone, but let members of your team still see where you are.”