by Kate Sander
"No, you said he was dead."
"Yes. Roald Ammondson died in 1911."
"So then how did he beat the shit out of Tory and I only a few months ago?"
"Bad dream!" Carter said with exasperation. He was tired of having the same conversation over and over with this hallucination.
"A guy named Roald, and his bitch of a wife Malin, are Zoya in The Other Place," Black Eyes said steadily. "I know you don't believe me, but I fought them, and I lost."
Carter sighed.
"Why don't you believe me?"
"Because. You're a hallucination. Nothing more. Also, even if you were a ghost, he's dead. Zoya don't live in The Other Place without first being in a coma here."
"But Senka is over there. And that lady Tomo. And countless others."
Carter rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We've been through this, Black Eyes," he said. "That only just happened. It was impossible before Tomo made those pills."
"But if she could do it..." Black Eyes drifted off. "What makes you think it couldn't have happened before?"
"I just know, okay? Can you drop it, please?"
"How did Roald die?"
"Look," Carter said, voice rising. "Roald Ammondson died in 1911 in a plane crash. It went down over the arctic while he was trying to find his friend's shipwreck. He died a hero. His body was never recovered because his airplane crashed into the ocean. He never had a wife name Malin. I actually searched this after you told me you thought you'd met him. He'd never met a woman named Malin and he was certainly never married. He started the ZTF and died a hero."
The SUV stopped at a light and Carter gathered himself.
Black Eyes decided to let it go. "Tell me again where we are going?" Black Eyes asked Carter. The SUV lurched, started again and made a quick turn.
Pleased that he'd finally gotten through to her, he answered, "We're going to see an old friend of mine."
"Thought you said she was a traitor?" Black Eyes said, looking out the window. The SUV pulled into a driveway. A large sign hidden in the trees said "PRIVATE PROPERTY - PLEASE REPORT TO GATE." The writing meant nothing to Black Eyes. She didn't know how to read this type of writing.
"Yes, yes she is a traitor," Carter said absent-mindedly. The SUV stopped for a moment as the driver talked to someone. Then they slowly started moving again.
"Yet you still call her friend. That seems... kind."
"It's complicated," Carter snapped.
"Enlighten me," Black Eyes snapped back. "In our world, traitors are killed. They are friends to no one. Why are we here, talking to the scum of the earth, when we should be finding the Ampulex?"
"Because she's our only lead."
The SUV pulled to a stop in front of a nondescript building tucked into a beautiful, reclusive area surrounded by trees. Carter didn't move.
"Do you know who Tomo is?"
"You buried her under a different name," Black Eyes said. "Dr. Charlotte Penner."
Carter smiled to himself and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. "Yes, you're right. Dr. Charlotte Penner, darling of the doctorate program at Harvard University, with a doctorate in Biochemistry. Had the world at her feet, could work anywhere. Then, on her graduation trip, she fell while skiing. On the bunny hill no less. Hit her head, went into a coma."
Black Eyes didn't understand half of what Carter was saying, but she was smart enough to let him speak uninterrupted. It's surprising what kind of information people would divulge unprompted.
"So, Dr. Charlotte Penner is now in a coma. Won't wake up, her family grieves then leaves her. Same story for every Zoya, at least the ones that wake up."
The word "Zoya" peaked her interest. Maybe this was a conversation worth listening to.
Carter kept his eyes closed. "Dr. Charlotte Penner wakes up in The Other Place. No memories, no concept of who or where she is. Nothing. Again, average Zoya. But Dr. Charlotte Penner isn't average. She's driven, she's brilliant and, most importantly, she likes to be in charge. She is attracted to having power. Now, the nature versus nurture argument is an interesting one. Here, before her accident, Dr. Charlotte Penner was a nice woman. Liked wine, her girlfriend, long walks on the beach, and wanted to be in charge of her own lab and cure cancer. But, in The Other Place? With no memories of who she is?" Carter laughed to himself softly. "She was a killing machine. Named Kogo Tomo Hachiman, the Empress of Blood. No one stood a chance. Ten years she was in her coma. Ten years in The Other Place. She spent a full eight years on the throne, slaughtering anyone who stood against the mighty armies of Anzen."
Black Eyes was enthralled.
Carter opened his eyes and sighed. "Then, one day, she's killed. Tomo was pretty vague on the details, but it happened. Boom, wakes up here and is flooded with memories of who she was in The Other Place and who she was here. Two conflicting personalities born with the same character traits. The Zoya Task Force recruited her. She fell in love with her recruiting officer and they got married. Tomo worked harder than anyone. I think she really wanted to atone for how she acted over there. Anyway, she was kidnapped on a mission. The driven, brilliant part of her personality hit again and she made the Ampulex a pill to create Zoya. If anyone could do it, it was Tomo."
Carter made his way out of the car. "Keep yourself hidden," he said under his breath as they walked to a door with bars on the outside. "These people don't need to see something that isn't there."
"What happened?" Black Eyes asked, enthralled by the story.
"Well, Tomo's wife was now running the ZTF. She found out Tomo was alive and traded our best agent, Senka, for her freedom."
Something buzzed and they went through the unguarded door.
"Then it went to shit and they both ended up dead here and alive in The Other Place. Something that we had no idea could even happen, leaving us no concept of how to bring them home."
"So who are we here to see?" Black Eyes asked. They passed another sign in a brightly lit hallway. WELCOME TO THE NATIONAL DEFENCE MENTAL FACILITY - PLEASE SIGN IN AT THE DESK.
Carter led them to a desk where a chipper young woman in white scrubs sat writing something on a piece of paper.
"I’m here to see Amanda Nguyen," Carter said.
The woman smiled. "Identification, please."
Carter obliged, showing her a card in his wallet.
"Thank you, Warrant-Officer Green," she said. "Please, sign here."
Carter signed.
The woman stood. "Follow me, please."
She waited at a door. Something buzzed and the door opened automatically, leading them to a long hallway of windowless doors.
"How is she?" Carter asked.
"She has not been well," the woman answered. "You are the only family listed, so you've been told about her recent event."
Carter nodded and swallowed.
They stopped at a door no different from the rest. The woman put a hand on Carter's forearm. A gesture of solidarity. "It's good of you to come."
Black Eyes stepped to the side to avoid being walked through as the woman strode away. Another buzz and the door unlocked. Carter breathed deeply and pushed the door open, with Black Eyes craning to see over his shoulder.
Pure disappointment. The woman sitting on the bed, reading a book, looked neither like an expert assassin nor a psychopath. Long brown hair, copper skin, a slim build. Nothing that Black Eyes figured would warrant the security measures.
"Carter," Amanda said, looking up from her book. "So nice of you to drop by." She didn't get up.
"Hey, Amanda," Carter said, taking a chair a few feet away from the bed. Black Eyes noticed that the woman's feet were bound to the bed by thick white shackles that were locked.
"What brings you here," she said, flashing a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Her eyes were dead, distant. So much so that Black Eyes was uncomfortable to be in the room with her, even though the woman couldn't see her.
"I tried to get you a day pass to come to the funeral," Carter said.
&nb
sp; "Yes, the doctors told me," Amanda said, uncomfortably pulling the sleeves of her long white shirt down to her hands. Black Eyes noticed white bandages poking out from under the shirt. "I, unfortunately, was indisposed."
"You tried to fucking kill yourself again," Carter snapped angrily.
"Carter!" Black Eyes gasped, taken aback by his tone.
"No, shut up," Carter snapped back at her. Amanda raised her eyebrows but stayed silent. "You know how that pisses on her memory? She loved you, Amanda. You were the best thing that ever happened to her. She used to tell me that all the time. Instead of living your life, you keep trying to fucking kill yourself!"
Amanda stayed silent, staring at her feet bound to the bed. Pitiful, really. No tears. No emotion.
Dead eyes.
"Are you done?" she asked.
Carter calmed and sat back down in his chair.
"What kind of life is this?" Amanda asked. "I'm in a box. They won't even let me stand. And I'm never getting out of here. Ever. Who are you to judge me for wanting blessed darkness instead of this?"
"Look, Amanda -"
"No," she snapped with authority, holding up her hand. "I don't want to hear it. It's what I deserve. I'm a traitor to my country, remember?"
"You were trying to save your wife," Carter said. "Desperate times call for desperate measures."
"I thank you for the sentiment. Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of the leader of the ZTF visiting me in my cell?"
"Where's Freudman?"
Amanda shrugged. "No idea. Shouldn't you know? You've had damn near two months to figure it out."
"He went underground after the shit show in Germany," Carter said. "Look, any help you can give about how you found him in the first place would be appreciated."
"He contacted me. Like I told you before. Promised Tomo's release if I sent Senka there on a mission alone. I didn't know that Tomo was alive until then."
"But you saw her research before he contacted you?"
Amanda sighed. "Yes. I had an inclination she was alive because of the nature of the research, but I didn't know for sure. I was actually trying to find information when he contacted me."
"How did he contact you?"
"Email."
Carter frowned. "Was it immediately after you started looking for him?"
Amanda cocked her head. "Yes."
"Home or office computer."
"Home."
Carter sat back. "He hacked your computer. Probably put an alarm for specific search terms on the Internet, saw that you were looking for him and contacted you. The office computers don't send out a signal, they can't be hacked. But your home computer..."
Amanda kept her eyes averted.
"Which you knew, which is why you used your home computer. You wanted to set up the trade from the beginning."
"I told you, I deserve to be in here."
"Where is your computer now?"
Amanda sat back.
"Make it right," Carter said desperately. "You fucked up, Amanda. You betrayed your family. Make it right."
"I hid it," Amanda said. "It should be in the ZTF headquarters, in a stack of servers on the second floor."
Carter rose quickly.
"Thank you, Amanda." He headed for the door.
"Carter," Amanda said with dead eyes and a crooked smile. "Do you ever wonder why Tomo and Senka were over there but never met each other?"
Carter turned. "Senka awoke in Langundo, Tomo in Anzen. They are completely different countries."
"But why did they wake up in different places?" She picked up her book, smiling at the confusion on his face. "Maybe that ghost of yours can help you decide if that's random chance or not."
Dumbfounded, Carter left the room, with Black Eyes close behind. Amanda cackled behind them.
"Not everything is as random as it seems," she chanted as the door closed.
"I thought I told you to keep hidden," Carter snapped to Black Eyes. He looked at her face and the anger disintegrated.
"I was hidden," Black Eyes said. "She shouldn't have been able to see me."
22
Senka
"I STILL HATE BOATS!" Senka yelled as she ran to the forest to puke again.
Ujarak smiled to himself as he watched the fire burn. They were on a small path that divided a forest from an overgrown rice field. They had managed to steal a couple of emaciated horses from a barn after they left Tang to his own devices in the village. Kai purred as he watched the fire, sitting beside Ujarak. The horses were tethered away from the fire so Kai didn't spook them.
"Should you tell her or should I?" Ujarak asked the giant cat.
Kai huffed.
"Good point. If she was smart she'd figure it out on her own."
Dry heaves echoed in the wind.
"She's not smart enough."
Kai let out a sound that was almost a laugh.
Senka jogged back to the fire. "You'd think," she said shakily, "that two days off the boat would be enough time to get rid of the sea sickness."
"You would think," Ujarak said deliberately, flashing Kai a look.
Senka plopped down beside Kai, who put his head in her lap.
"Well, really. Have you ever heard of sea sickness lasting this long?"
"The Melanthios are of the trees," Ujarak said.
"Yes, I know," Senka snapped. "But you were on a ship to Carabesh, and you sailed over the end of the world. You would be the more sea-faring of the two of us."
Ujarak smartly stayed silent.
"Well what else could cause this?" Senka asked desperately. "If it's not the sea sickness..."
Both hands went to her stomach as the realization hit her.
"No."
Kai put his head on her stomach and looked her in the eyes.
"It seems you have two heartbeats," Ujarak said.
Stunned silence.
"No."
Ujarak stared at the fire.
"NO!" Senka yelled. "No, no, no. That can't happen, I always use a condom. Always..."
A flash-back. Carter on top of her, making fast yet sweet love before her last mission. All of their sexual tension had melted away into one beautiful night of sex before she'd been shipped off to die. They hadn't spoken of it after, each leaving the other to process what it meant. They were going to talk about it when she returned from Germany.
But she hadn't returned.
She'd taken those pills that Tomo had made and she'd died.
And she'd taken Carter's child to this world with her.
"Shit."
She buried her head in Kai's shoulder and wept.
"I guess this is why I've been crying so much," Senka said through tears.
Ujarak gave her a smile. "That would make a lot of sense, yes."
"Pull yourself together," she muttered to herself. A few deep breaths later and she managed to stop the flow of tears.
"Tell me about the father," Ujarak said.
"He'd like you," Senka said. "You guys would go for a beer and not speak and both be perfectly happy. We were never "together". He'd lost a girlfriend and was emotionally walled off. I enjoyed getting drunk and screwing anything with legs..."
Sighing, she dug her hand into Kai's fur.
"That doesn't sound like you," Ujarak said. "The Senka I know wouldn't let anyone but one person touch her."
"Jules," Senka said with a half-smile. "That was a long time ago. I was young, then. Shit, remember we used to speak in sign language because I didn't have a tongue?"
Ujarak smiled and signed, "Yes, I sure do remember."
Senka smiled back and curled up against Kai, relishing the rhythm of his breathing. Her hand stayed on her belly.
"I loved Jules," Senka said. "But I thought he was dead. Then I died and woke back up in my own world. I never thought I'd ever get back here."
Kai yawned and snuggled in.
"I don't think Jules ever moved on," Ujarak said softly.
"I hope he did," Senka said.
"Your heart is no longer his? Even if you can't make it back to your own world?"
Senka thought about that for a long time.
"No," she said. "I don't love him anymore. I still wear his ring. He was what I needed when I was twenty. He isn't what I need anymore."
Her hand on her stomach, I love you baby, she thought, drifting off to sleep. I'm sorry that you'll never meet your daddy.
Ujarak watched the fire, listening to the rhythmic breathing next to him of the woman and her giant panther.
He hoped she never reunited with Jules. The knowledge that she carried another's child and no longer loved him would break him.
23
Carter
Carter leaned back in his favourite chair, listening to The Lord of the Rings again.
It was always on.
Carter loved the movies, granted, but this ghost's incessant viewing was starting to get old.
"You're sure you don't want to watch something else," Carter mumbled through closed eyes. "Anything else."
"You've shown me other stuff," Black Eyes said. "It all sucks. This is the best, you said it yourself. Why would you want to watch anything but the best?"
Carter sighed, "Change is nice."
"Change is stupid."
"I suppose you'd take that stance, considering you're a ghost."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Means clearly that you're not about change, since you're still around but you're dead," Carter snapped.
"What's eating you?" Black Eyes asked. "You're grouchy."
"I want to know how Amanda saw you," Carter said. "It's bothering me. How'd she know you were there with me?"
"Lucky guess?"
"Did that seem like a lucky guess to you?"
"No, no it didn't," Black Eyes said, frowning. "I stayed invisible. It's actually more work for me to be seen by anyone but you."
Carter kept his eyes closed, "What did she mean when she said to ask you why Tomo and Senka weren't in the same place? Tell me exactly why you came over here."
Black Eyes sighed. They'd been over this. "Okay, so Tory sent me to a few people to try to organize an assault. Everyone’s in different places so I'm trying to get them together, right? So Ujarak, Tory's man, is in prison in this place called Carabesh. So, I help him escape and tell him to go east."
