by Jake Bible
His exo-brace glitched and Cash almost stopped in at the tech workshop for a quick repair, but he needed to find Dr. Xipan first.
There was a lot of activity around the main garage as mechanics hustled to keep the many vehicles—ATVs, speed rollers, and crawlers—working in the tech-inhospitable environment that was the past. There had been a good amount of breakthroughs, which had allowed Bloom and the coalition to get from the coast to inland and Flipside BOP, but since their arrival, Murphy’s Law had reigned and none of the tech would stay consistently operational. There had been a drinking game created for whenever anyone mentioned “sun spots” as a cause for tech trouble.
Cash nodded at a couple of the mechanics he knew by face, but not by name, as he’d been having trouble keeping the international support personnel straight in his head. He knew all the operators by face and name, but that was a life or death necessity. Cash knew he needed to make a bigger effort to get to know the others, especially since there were only a couple hundred people in the entire base.
Past the garages and around the structures set up for parts and supplies, Cash came to the mess hall. It was not a hard structure to find. The makeshift tiki torches lining the entrance, and the constant music coming from staticky speakers, gave the place away instantly. When Cash walked toward the entrance, he noticed the torches were burning brighter and the music was louder than usual.
Then the smell hit him and he knew why.
“What the fuck?” Cash shouted as he pushed through the mess hall’s doors and into a raucous scene. “The beer is ready and no one comms me?”
A few cheers went up at Cash’s entrance, but most of the people present were busy drinking some very skunky beer and talking loudly in small groups around the mess. The skunk beer was a product of Australian ingenuity and an always present human need to get fucked up. The Australians had also perfected the art of grilling dinosaur steaks and ribs on an open fire pit and the smell of cooked meat hit Cash too as he navigated the chaos of the mess hall and made his way to a table of pitchers filled with some very cloudy beer.
Standing at the table was Olivia Herndon. She raised a glass of beer then picked up a second glass and offered it to Cash.
“Thanks,” Cash said, taking the beer. He sipped, coughed, grimaced, shook his head, then took another sip. “Strong.”
“It better be after the day I’ve had,” Olivia said.
“Bad day at the schoolhouse?” Cash asked.
Olivia Herndon had been part of a tourist group of educators back when the time bubble had still been behaving normally and Flipside FOB had been intact and a working resort. Then the troubles began, the earth broke open, and more than half the tour group had been killed as they either plummeted to their deaths inside a freak chasm that split the ground, or had been picked off by flocks of wingers that no one could fight off.
By a freak set of circumstances, including the near destruction of Topside, Olivia had found herself back in Flipside along with Tressa, Mike, Dr. Raskov, Ivy, and an operator named Haskins. There’d been more, but months stuck in Flipside without proper protection had picked off the rest. Now, Olivia, along with her wife Astrid, were in charge of all schooling and child care for the couple dozen children that had unfortunately been stranded, or born, Flipside when the time bubbles collapsed across the globe.
“The language barrier got the best of my patience today,” Olivia said as she sipped and grimaced at her beer. “Most everyone knows English because of global trade and good old-fashioned imperialism, but I have a few parents that are less than fluent, and since I’m dealing with personnel from not just the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Australia, but Japan, Korea, Argentina, India, the Netherlands, Iran, Brazil, and China, sometimes shit gets lost in translation.”
“Who was it today?” Cash asked. He stepped to the side to let a Korean woman grab a pitcher of beer then leaned back against the table once he confirmed it could support his bulk. “Japanese?”
“Indian,” Olivia said.
“Indians speak English,” Cash said.
“Not when upset because their daughter is being bitten by another girl every day,” Olivia said. “Parents default to their native language when they want to read me the Riot Act.” Olivia sipped, grimaced, shrugged, then smiled. “We worked it out once tempers had calmed down. But that was twenty minutes of my life I can’t ever get back.”
“Cheers to you handling it,” Cash said and clinked his cup to hers. He sipped and grimaced then scanned the mess hall. “You happen to see Dr. Xipan? Mike needs her.”
“What for?” Olivia asked then pointed to a table of Chinese personnel in the far corner. They were drinking and laughing and playing a game with painted rocks. All forms of entertainment Flipside had gotten very creative. “She’s right there. I haven’t figured out what they are playing, but it’s high stakes, so interrupt at your own risk, Cash.”
“I see her,” Cash said. “Thanks.” He started to walk away then turned. “If you see Ivy, tell her to check in with me, Mike, or Tressa and Bloom.”
“Ivy was at the armory last I saw her,” Olivia said. “She was pissed about something, but not too pissed. I’m sure you know the mood, having been married to her.”
“The armory? She likes to take inventory when annoyed, so yeah, I know the mood. Thanks,” Cash said and nodded to Olivia as he wove his way around the tables of drinking personnel and approached the group of Chinese personnel.
Eyes darted toward him, but no one paused their game to address Cash as he stopped at the edge of the table and watched the fun.
“Dr. Xipan?” Cash asked, addressing a middle-aged woman that was busy moving two white rocks next to two brown rocks. She did not respond. “Doctor?”
“Busy,” Dr. Xipan replied, her tone dismissive and irritated. “Come back in ten minutes when I win.”
Those that understood English laughed and translated for the others. Normally, the comms system would have translated the language difference, but that part of the system’s programming was one of the many issues Mike was trying to fix. Thus Olivia’s daily issues with the parents.
“Mike needs to see you right away,” Cash continued, unfazed by the doctor’s dismissiveness. “There’s some seismic activity that has him worried. It’s centered close to where Lewis and her team were last heard from.”
Dr. Xipan played two more white rocks and there were loud groans from everyone at the table. She picked up her beer, downed it, then turned to look up and stare at Cash.
“Having a working comm device would allow Mr. DiCenzo to talk to me on his own,” Dr. Xipan said. “Instead of sending a soldier to fetch me.”
“Doctor, I’m not a soldier, I’m…” Cash went quiet as all eyes focused on him. He shook his head. “I’m just the errand boy. Take your issues up with Mike. Or better yet, take them up with my sister and Commander Bloom. All I’m here to do is tell you Mike needs you ASAP.”
“ASAP,” Dr. Xipan said. “As soon as possible.”
“Exactly,” Cash replied and waited. Dr. Xipan did not move to stand. Cash rubbed at his forehead. “Which is shorthand for now.”
“I am not a seismologist,” Dr. Xipan said.
“But you are a geologist, our only geologist, which makes you the expert on base,” Cash said. He downed his beer and nodded to the rest of the Chinese personnel. “I’ve said what I was sent to say. You folks enjoy your beer and your game.”
“You aren’t going to force me to go with you?” Dr. Xipan asked.
“Errand boy, not a stormtrooper,” Cash said. “I’ve completed my errand and now I’m going to get more beer before I have to go back and argue with Mike about a camera.”
“Camera? What does that have to do with seismic activity?” Dr. Xipan asked.
“It’s to head off seismic activity from my lady friend,” Cash said and laughed.
“Cash? Bloom here,” a voice rang out in Cash’s ear.
“Mike has full comms back up,” Cash repli
ed. “Commander Bloom. What can I do for you?”
At the mention of the commander’s name, Dr. Xipan swiveled in her seat to face Cash full on. She was listening and Cash didn’t care.
“Have you located Dr. Xipan?” Bloom asked over the comms.
“I have,” Cash said. “She’s busy.”
“Tell her to stop being busy and meet us in the command hut,” Bloom said. “That’s an order.”
“Yeah, not sure she enjoys orders,” Cash said.
“She can express her lack of enjoyment to me in person when she gets here,” Bloom said. “Attendance is not an option.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Cash said.
“It is not. Be here in five, Cash.”
“Copy that, sir.” The comm went silent and Cash smiled down at Dr. Xipan. “ASAP has arrived and your attendance is now mandatory.”
Cash held up his hands as the Chinese personnel began to shout and argue with him. But Dr. Xipan spoke up before cash could say a word.
“He’s only the errand boy,” the doctor said with a sneer as she stood and joined Cash. “After you, Mr. Cash.”
***
The inside of the command hut was no longer just techs at consoles. It was chaos personified.
Holo displays and vid screens showed various views of Flipside BOP. Many of those views were filled with static, but visible. Bloom’s direct support crew were seated at consoles, busy trying to make the best of the less-than-stellar data they were tasked with interpreting.
The truth was that most of the tech was no longer working at all, let alone properly.
Bloom, a short, pudgy man with thinning gray hair that seemed to blow about whether there was a breeze present or not, stood glaring at the people packed into the cramped space. He wore fatigues with the Australian flag stitched into the shoulders and breast pocket. His hands were the size of dinner plates and looked like they could crush walnuts with barely a squeeze.
Those hands were balled into fists as Mike relayed what he’d discovered earlier and the lack of communication with Lewis and her team.
“Mr. DiCenzo, I am busy trying to work out how we can handle a full-on assault when the Russians decide to travel inland from the coast,” Bloom said, his voice tight but even. “I do not need alarmist worry about earthquakes. This is Dinoside… Flipside, as you Yanks say, and earthquakes are a constant. Your Rocky Mountains are in the process of being created and the continents themselves have yet to fully form into what we are used to back home. A couple of tremors are not worth alarming half the base.”
“Did I alarm half the base?” Mike asked, no longer at his console, but standing in front of a table that took up the center of the room. He had several tablets open and active with data before him. “I haven’t had time to alarm half the base.”
“You will need to thank Tre for the alarm,” Tressa said from Mike’s right. “He decided to make an announcement in the mess.”
“I didn’t make a fucking announcement,” Cash stated from his position by the hut’s door. He was leaning against the wall and trying to keep his bulk from getting in the way. “I told Dr. Xipan and she shared the info with her Chinese friends. What people talk about after I leave is not my concern.”
The hut’s door opened and Ivy walked in, sweat soaking her T-shirt and the top of her fatigue pants.
“What’s this? Trevon Cash isn’t taking responsibility?” she asked as she came inside and shut the door behind her. “What a surprise…”
“Why is everyone up my ass today?” Cash asked.
“No one’s up your ass, buddy,” Raphael “Raff” Bellows said from a seat behind Bloom. He was swiveling back and forth in front of a dead console, a grin plastered to his face. It was his usual grin since Raff seemed to find humor in almost every aspect of life. “You’re just so damn charismatic that folks gravitate to you. And your ass.”
“Operator Bellows?” Bloom said.
“Yes, sir?”
“Shut up.”
“Right away, sir.”
“The reality is that something weirder than usual happened when I lost contact with Lewis,” Mike said. “I’d think, considering she is one of your people, dude, you’d be a bit more concerned.”
“Mr. DiCenzo, we have had this conversation before,” Bloom said with a sigh. “Do not refer to me as dude.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” Raff said under his breath.
“Operator Bellows,” Bloom snarled.
“You heard that? Damn, Commander, you’ve got good ears,” Raff said and held his hands up. “I’ll be quiet. I promise.”
“Mike, we are all here because you want us to be here,” Tressa said, sounding very tired. “Can you please explain to us what the emergency is?”
“No, dude, I can’t,” Mike said then pointed at Dr. Xipan who was leaning against the opposite side of the hut’s door. “That’s why she’s here.”
All eyes fell on Dr. Xipan and the short woman stared back with a look of defiance. Then her and Mike’s eyes met and she shrugged, pushed away from the wall, and walked to the table. She studied the tablets for a moment then shook her head.
“I am not a seismologist,” she said. “But this data is fairly straightforward for anyone familiar with the geological issues that arise from the time bubbles.”
She did not continue and Bloom waited several seconds before he pointed one of his huge hands at the woman.
“Care to elaborate, doctor?” Bloom asked.
“Of course,” Dr. Xipan said as if she hadn’t made them all wait. “We are witnessing Turns, as you call them. Time bubbles have appeared and they are rotating between the now and the whenever inside the bubbles.”
“Whoa. Hold up,” Raff said, suddenly very serious. “Time bubbles? As in plural?”
“Yes,” Dr. Xipan answered.
“Oh, okay, just checking,” Raff said. “Continue.”
“Bloody hell,” Bloom muttered. “Yes, Doctor, please continue. How do you know there are multiple time bubbles?”
“The locations of the readings,” Dr. Xipan said. “Mr. DiCenzo has shown me as much data as he could collect and while the majority of tremors occurred close to where Operator Lewis’ team was last heard from, there are signs of some of these tremors originating in other areas, far away from Operator Lewis.”
“Can you tell us where?” Bloom asked.
“No, I cannot, but I can tell in which direction to look,” Dr. Xipan said. She picked up a tablet, swiped at it, then turned it around to show everyone else. “This is where Operator Lewis is said to be. You can see by the graphic that several tremors came from her area.” She swiped again. “But these tremors came from the opposite direction. Operator Lewis is west of Flipside BOP. These tremors came from the southeast. We are dealing with at least two new time bubbles.”
“But you believe there could be more?” Bloom asked.
“I do. The data suggests there are more centers of origin,” Dr. Xipan explained. “Northeast and directly south, perhaps. But southeast is the strongest candidate, so if you plan on investigating then I would send a team in that direction.”
“Send a team…” Bloom growled low in his throat. “I do not have operators to spare to investigate maybes.”
“Sure ya do, Commander,” Raff said. “Cash here hasn’t been out in the field in a while. Same with Haskins, on account of you not trusting an operator that’s missing an arm since the nerve damage rules out a replacement. I’m sure we could round up a couple more misfits and send them out to have a looksee.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, pal,” Cash said.
“Anytime, buddy,” Raff replied and winked. “You know I always have your back.”
“Operator Ellison?” Bloom asked Ivy. “You are Head of Security. Are there two more operators you feel can be spared that I have not assigned to crucial jobs?”
“Yes, sir,” Ivy said. “But I do not believe we will need two more. One will do fine. Operator Bellows
would be an excellent candidate.”
“Me? Come on, now. I’m your right hand, Ivy,” Raff said, sitting upright, his tone very serious. “You need me here.”
“I do need my second-in-command here,” Ivy said. “When my second-in-command’s head is in the game. But with your wife back Topside, you have been more than a little distracted these past few weeks, Raff.”
“Great. Send the distracted guy with me,” Cash muttered.
“My head is fully in the game, thank you very much,” Raff said. “You can find someone else.”
“If I send you, then I don’t have to send two operators,” Ivy said. “You with Cash and Haskins are more than enough to accompany Dr. Xipan out into the field to investigate the tremors.”
“I am sorry, but I am not leaving this base,” Dr. Xipan protested. “All that lies outside these walls is death. While our lives are severely limited here in Flipside, they are still lives. I prefer to keep my life so that when a way Topside is found, I can enjoy my return home. By being alive.”
“I’m sorry, Doctor, but you’re the expert,” Bloom said. “You may not be the expert we need, but you are the expert we have. The comms system is too unreliable for you to study any possible findings from here. I need you in the field.”
“I refuse to go,” Dr. Xipan said. She set her feet and crossed her arms over her chest. “If you want me out in the field, then you will have to force me out in the field.”
“Wrong thing to say,” Cash and Raff said at the same time.
Three
“Happy that Mike got you the camera?” Cash asked Barbara as they sat together in the hold of the speed roller that Raff was currently driving, their trajectory taking them southeast across Flipside’s landscape. “Just in time for a field trip.”
“Yes, I’m very happy,” Barbara said as she held the small camera up and waggled it in front of Cash’s face. “I got what I asked for and I get to explore Flipside for a change instead of being forced to stay behind those damn steel walls.”
“Most civilians aren’t too pleased to be outside the walls,” Operator Lucas Haskins said from his seat directly across from Barbara. He hooked a thumb—his only thumb, as he was missing one of his arms—toward the woman seated next to him. The woman was a very enraged Dr. Xipan. “Like that.”
