by Damien Boyes
We land at a cave entrance somewhere in a valley of yellow-orange mountains. It’s hot here, the air like the inside of an oven. The sun’s setting but the rocks still radiate heat.
Seconds later, two Resistance soldiers materialize out of the darkness of the cave, rifles raised.
“Jasmin Parker to see Captain Fan,” Grackle announces. “He’s expecting her.”
The soldiers give each other a quizzical look, but don’t question the idea that two strangers just showed up at their hideout from out of nowhere. With all the teleporting people do in this world, I bet they’re used to it by now.
They relieve me of my weapons and the case and I give them over without question. I’m not sure whether they know I could bring this cave down around their heads, but no point in kicking up a fuss.
One of the guards leads us just inside the cave to wait while the other stalks off down the slope deeper into the darkness. The woman who stays with us doesn’t say anything, but offers us something from her ration tin as she perches on a rock.
I pass on the weird-looking food, my stomach already in knots as it is, but Grackle takes her up on her offer and they chat amiably as they nibble on dried, leather-like strips. After about ten minutes we hear footsteps approaching from within the cave, and Chen appears, flanked by the guard we first met and two other soldiers.
“Jasmin!” Chen says as he approaches us. “I’m glad you’re back, we’ve been waiting. Captain Fan will be pleased.” He remembers me, which means this is the same timeline I jumped to last time. Could be this is Thrane’s True Line.
“Is Captain Fan here?” I ask. “I can get us through the bubble, but we need to move.”
“He is,” Chen says, and notices Grackle standing off with the other guard, but doesn’t say anything to him. “How’d you get here?” he asks me. “After they wiped out Shanghai, we thought you’d never find us.”
I toss my head at Grackle. “A friend showed me here.”
Chen’s hand falls to his weapon. “I see,” he says, wary. “And how did you find us?”
“I’m good at finding things,” Grackle answers. “And I knew Jasmin would need to know where you’d gone, so I followed you.”
This doesn’t do anything for Chen’s suspicion. “You followed us? How? We’re very careful with our jumps.”
“Like I said,” Grackle replies. “I’m good at finding things—and not being found myself.”
I get between Chen and Grackle. “He’s cool,” I say, and give Grackle a reassuring look over my shoulder. “We’ve known each other a long time. You can trust him.”
Chen still doesn’t seem convinced, but his hand moves away from his weapon. “Fair enough,” he says and looks down at the silver case. “That yours?”
“Yup,” I say and pick it up. “It’s our ticket into the bubble.”
He suppresses a grin and moves back into the cave. “This way. Captain Fan will want to see what you’ve brought.”
The rock presses around us as we descend through rough narrow hallways and down stairways carved from the stone. This place feels very old.
“What happened back in Shanghai?” I ask after a few minutes. The air has grown steadily warmer as we’ve descended and now I’m sweating under my armor.
“Orbital bombardment.” Chen grows solemn. “Happened shortly after you jumped Thrane away and allowed us to escape—thank you for that, by the way.”
“No problem,” I say. No need to mention Thrane killed me just afterwards.
“Luckily Captain Fan sounded the evacuation in time. We lost some good people, but not nearly as many as we might have.”
“This your new place?” I ask, waving my hand around the craggy cave interior. It seems endless. Rooms and storehouses hewn out of the stone. I can’t tell what’s man-made and what might have been here naturally.
“A very old place,” Chen answers with a smile. “The people who made it resisted invaders for centuries. Plus, the rock makes it very difficult to obliterate from orbit.”
“That’s reassuring,” I say as Chen leads us down a long narrow tunnel that opens into the largest room I’ve seen so far. Captain Fan is at the other end, and the room is abuzz with activity. Everyone stops what they’re doing as we approach.
Captain Fan takes my hands in his. “Thank you for what you did on the ship. Many of us would not be here had you not distracted Thrane.” Now that I’m closer, I recognize a few of the people behind the captain, and they’re looking at me with gratitude as well.
“I only did what I could,” I say. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more. Chen said you lost people in Shanghai?”
“We did,” Fan says. “And Thrane shall pay for every soul he’s taken. I hope that’s why you’ve returned—and with a friend.” He extends a hand to Grackle. “I’m Lai Fan, and you are?”
“This is Grackle,” I say, forgetting my manners. “Grackle, Captain Fan.”
Grackle reaches his slender fingers out and shakes.
“Grackle?” Captain Fan asks, one brow raised, looking between us. “Like the bird?”
“That’s correct,” Grackle responds in his reedy voice, and the way he bobs his head in acknowledgement only reinforces how oddly fitting the name is.
“Then welcome to you as well,” Fan says, then turns to me. “I hope you’ve come with a plan, because Thrane’s forces are massing, I assume on worlds in every timeline. They could launch their assault on Gibzon’s world at any time.”
“We do,” I say. “But I’m going to need your help.”
“You have it,” Chen blurts, then glances at Captain Fan, who seems amused by the outburst.
“Whatever we can do,” Captain Fan adds.
I hold up the case. “I can get through the shield, but I need somewhere we can set this up next to the bubble without being seen. Gibzon said you’ll know what to do with it.”
Captain Fan considers a moment, and then his lips part in a broad grin. “I have just the thing,” he says, then turns to Chen. “Take Jasmin’s device to the tunnel. Perhaps today will be the day we see the end of Thrane.”
35
Ashes to Ashes
My ears pop the second we arrive and a shiver runs through me as I glance around the soaring vaulted concrete bunker. We’re in an underground chamber, and a long tunnel stretches away into the darkness behind us. The air smells of neglect and wet concrete, and luminescent algae glows blue-green from the walls, giving the whole place an otherworldly appearance. I don’t know how deep we are, but I can feel the weight of the Earth all around me.
This must have been part of the city’s water tunnel system at one point, but it’s abandoned now. Even stranger, the room seems to be cut in half, as if an invisible knife has sliced a curve down the walls and through the floor. On our side the concrete is crumbling, and the grating on the floor is covered with planks where it has rusted through, but the other side looks like it was only recently completed. I can’t see it, but we must be right at the edge of the Midtown bubble, deep below the city.
Grackle and I step off the transport pad onto a metal grating that groans under our weight. I hand the translocator ring to one of Captain Fan’s men, and the moment we’re clear Chen and another soldier jump in behind us. The captain jumped in ahead of us a few moments ago and is conferring with his soldiers and the technicians readying Gibzon’s device.
Captain Fan sent a team with the needle to set it up, and when they reported back with a green light we jumped here immediately. The device is anchored to the floor with the point right up next to the skin of the bubble, and cables run out of the back to connect to the tech the Resistance uses to make their jumps.
Chen comes to stand beside Grackle and me, and we watch the technicians make their final adjustments on a control panel.
“At last we may have a chance,” he says, watching the technicians work, and while he’s trying not to look me in the eye I notice his are dark green. Like emeralds at night. “I’m only sorry I can’t
go with you.”
“Your job is out here,” I tell him. “Once the singularity goes down the Omega Guard will arrive and we’ll need everyone to storm the entangler facilities. We’ll need you to sound the alarm and rally the Resistance in every timeline.”
“I’ll be ready,” he says, and finally turns toward me. His eyes are shrouded, and the way his voice drops makes my stomach hiccup. “Just don’t keep me waiting so long to see you again, okay?”
No one’s ever looked at me like that before. An unexpected burst of warmth tickles in my chest. “I’ll do my best.”
He leans in, his face serious and his lips slightly parted, and I think he’s about to try to kiss me, which is weird because we basically just met, but still there’s a part of me that wants him to ’cause he’s definitely cute and the tension in here is high, and why shouldn’t I kiss him, I’m about to die, aren’t I? I should at least get a chance to kiss a boy once before I die—but before I can decide if I should pull away or go with it, Grackle leans in between us.
“I shall endeavor to see her safe return,” he says. Chen pulls back and gives Grackle a miffed look and I can’t help but laugh.
“We have to get through the bubble first,” I say and take a step back, trying not to think too hard about what’s passing between me and Chen. “What if Gibzon’s contraption doesn’t work?”
“If Gibzon claims the device will pierce the barrier,” Grackle says, “I have no cause to doubt him. However, if you’d like to worry about something, I’d suggest preparing yourself for the time distortion inside. The closer we get to the singularity, the slower time will proceed. Weeks could pass if we tarry.”
Great. The one thing we don’t have is time, and we’ll be moving in slow motion.
“You’re a real ray of sunshine, Grak,” I tell him, and his face splits in a grin.
“I attempt to remain positive whenever possible,” Grackle says. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to make a closer examination of Gibzon’s device.”
Chen and I stand silently as Grackle ambles over to the technician finishing up with the needle. “Where’d you find him?” Chen asks in a low voice once he’s out of earshot.
I almost tell him about how Grackle showed up at the moment I got my powers, then helped me escape when Thrane attacked and took my world, but even thinking about that night makes my stomach clench up and I don’t want to end up crying in front of him, so I keep it to myself.
“He found me,” I say instead.
“He must care about you,” he says, and the way it comes out is odd, like there’s something else he isn’t saying.
“What makes you say that?” I ask.
“He came here for you. With what you’re about to do, there’s a good chance neither of you come back out of there—it’s happened before,” he says, and I can sense the weight in his voice. Chen has feelings for me, that much is clear—but they aren’t really for me, they’re for her. The other Jasmin. I don’t know how she felt about him, but the way I get all gooey inside when he’s around gives me a pretty good idea. And somehow even knowing his interest in me is also tied up in his feelings for her, it doesn’t make me mad. Of course he’s confused. I’m confused, we’re all confused. But I’m here and she isn’t.
“You came here too,” I say, letting the implication lie there, and then before he has the chance to get embarrassed or deny it or express whatever’s behind those dancing green eyes, I let him off the hook. “You all did,” I continue, waving my arm around the concrete cavern to Captain Fan and the soldiers and technicians. “You knew I’d be back—or, well, that someone would. You’ve spent your life fighting Thrane, trying to reclaim your world from him. All of us, we’re in this together. That’s all that matters—we need to stop him before the whole universe looks like this place.” He nods and gives me a restrained grin, but then I can’t help myself. “We can figure the rest out when I get back.”
He’s speechless as I walk away, and I’ve never felt cooler in my life.
But I only get to feel it for a second, because then I realize what happens next, and I don’t know how any of this is going to work out that doesn’t leave either Grackle or me—or both of us—dead at Thrane’s hands and back in the Aperion while his armies overrun Gibzon’s world.
Grackle’s inspecting the tip of the needle and he turns as I approach. “Isn’t this amazing?” he says, and reaches up to touch the point, but someone yells at him to leave it alone and he drops his hand back to his side.
“Yeah.” I’m thinking about more than just Gibzon’s device. “At least if this goes bad we’ll see each other again in the Aperion.” He blinks a few times but doesn’t say anything, just continues his study. “We should decide on somewhere to meet when we get back. Though I figure if this fails, by the time we return there won’t be many places other than this world left.” Still he doesn’t say anything, walking around to the other side of the device as though I haven’t been talking to him.
I glance over at Captain Fan and Chen gathered around the device control panel. At this point it’s mostly green lights. Chen looks across at me and raises an eyebrow. They’re ready to go.
I follow Grackle around to the other side of the device. “What’s going on?” I whisper. He chews on his lip but still doesn’t answer. Could he be scared? Well, of course he is, he’d be crazy not to be. “If you don’t want to come with me I understand. Believe me, I don’t want to jump in there either. Stay here with Captain Fan and I’ll be back when I can.”
He shakes his head. “That’s not it,” he says, his tone measured, like nothing’s wrong at all.
“What then?” I ask. Everyone’s keeping secrets or telling half-truths and I’m sick of it. Maybe he knows something I don’t—something that could get us killed. “Out with it!” My voice echoes in the concrete bunker. Everyone stops and looks at us in alarm.
Grackle looks around the room and raises his hand. “Apologies, all. Give us one moment.” He takes me gently by the arm and leads me to a dim corner thick with corroded pipes and glowing algae, turns and locks eyes with me. Purple streaks fluoresce in his large black irises as they catch the blue-green light. He stares at me for a moment, and the expression on his face is filled with such sorrow I have to look away.
“I am the last of my people,” he says, his voice edged with something I can’t name. A longing so vast I can barely understand it. I’ve lost everyone I’ve ever known, everything I’ve ever loved, and yet I can sense he knows loss in a way I can only hope I never have to suffer.
I lay my hand on the rough tweed around his arm. “I get it, Thrane took my world too, but you’re not alone.”
Grackle’s lips smile but the rest of his face gets even sadder. “Yes,” he says, glancing at the soldiers behind me, “And I thank you, but for this, Thrane is not responsible. I alone am to blame. I’ve lost connection to it and am unable to return.”
How is that possible? It’s been … I don’t want to say easy, but not too much trouble jumping in and around the 1980s. It’s not my timeline exactly, but it’s close. I can still find it easy enough. Even now, if I stretch out with my senses I can see it there, waiting for me. Why can’t Grackle find his?
“Gibzon said the universe is constantly recycling timelines, giving them second and third and fourth chances. You’ll find it eventually—or at least something close to it.”
He shakes his head. “I have searched. It no longer exists.”
“Then we’ll find it together,” I offer. “When this is all over. After all you’ve done to help me, it’s the least I can do. I’m sure Gibzon and the rest of the Omega Guard will help too.”
He cocks his head at me. “Do you know how old I am?”
His body looks to be maybe mid-thirties, but with the boundless, who knows. The suit’s the only thing I have to go on.
“A few hundred years?” I guess.
He shakes his head.
“A thousand?”
He shakes hi
s head again. “More.”
“A … a million?” I ask, shooting high so he can round me down.
“Many million,” he states.
“That’s ...” I start, but can’t finish the sentence. That’s what? Impossible. Nothing’s impossible, I’ve learned that. Gibzon said Thrane is billions of years old and from another universe entirely. Grackle’s only a teenager compared to him. Which makes me barely a single-celled nothing.
“That’s … incredible,” is all I can say.
His cheeks twitch. “My only reason for informing you is to make you understand that, as kind as your offer is, I have searched. My world is gone. The chronoverse has forgotten it. I have forgotten it. I am all that remains of my kind, and when I die, everything left of my world will die with me.”
“But, you’re boundless. You’re not going anywhere. You’ll wake up or reform or whatever back in the Aperion, right? You’re not going to die. Maybe your body, but not you. You’ve been there, isn’t that how it works for you?”
“I have yet to die,” he says. “Since the moment I touched the chronoverse and learned of my powers, I have yet to perish.”
I take a step closer to him, feeling like we need to keep our conversation quiet, though I’m not exactly sure why. “You’ve been in that body for millions of years? How is that even possible? Humans have only been around for like a hundred and fifty thousand—”
And then I get it, and my throat closes up for a second.
“I am not human,” he says, and speaks the words that are banging around my skull. I thought he was just weird, an eccentric time traveler, but Grackle isn’t even human. I let it sink in then force myself past it. Thrane’s not human. Gibzon’s not human. I’m not even human anymore, not really. Who cares what Grackle is?
“You look human enough to me.”
He seems to take that as a compliment. “Thank you,” he says. “It took much practice, but I’ve been able to pass for some time now.”
Practice what, exactly? There’s so much I want to ask him but I know we don’t have time for this particular rabbit hole. More to talk about after this is all done. “So either way, why does you being human or not matter? You’re boundless, right? Are you telling me only humans can touch the Aperion?”
