by Amie Kaufman
MASON, Ezra: Either these guys are serious competitors for the Intergalactic Hide-and-Seek Championship, or something really weird is afoot.
GRANT, Kady: Most importantly: Are they still going to blow us to pieces?
BOLL, Syra: Fact 4: We’ve received transmissions from Jump Station Heimdall from two contacts, on two different devices, with enough subtle distinctions as to plausibly be different people. Each of them has proved they have ongoing contact with Heimdall’s chief of engineering, Isaac Grant. And each claims they saw the other die.
ZHUANG, Yulin: Have we asked either of these Heimdall voices if they know where the drones went?
BOLL, Syra: The wormhole surge knocked down our comms to the station. Our techs are trying to reestablish now. But we’re sure the drone fleet left their side. They just never made it here.
GRANT, Kady: If you can explain this, I will revise my opinion of you, boss.
BOLL, Syra: I’ve been going over the scans of the particles produced when the Kennedy Assault Fleet went into the Heimdall wormhole, and I’ve got a working theory. Even with everything that’s happened in the last few months, this is going to be a stretch to believe. But eliminate all nonviable options, and the one remaining—no matter how implausible—must be the truth.
BOLL, Syra: Now, among the other phenomena observed during the assault fleet’s disappearance, something showed up in the QASAR scans that’s only ever been theoretical. I wrote my dissertation on this—or at least the possibility of it—or I’d never have known what I was looking at. It’s called a Gemina particle.
McCALL, Winifred: Careful, you’re sciencing again, Cap.
BOLL, Syra: In theory, a Gemina particle is created when objects from two different spacetimes interact.
HIRANO, Yuki: Come again? Define “different spacetimes”?
BOLL, Syra: I mean what you think I mean, Yuki. The multiverse theory. The idea that for every choice made in our reality, the alternate choice is played out in a different spacetime that exists in parallel to our own.
HIRANO, Yuki: So you’re saying there’s another universe where I took my mother’s advice, and I’m a professional musician living it up in New Vegas right now?
BOLL, Syra: Probably.
ZHUANG, Yulin: …And we got this special Gemina particle how?
BOLL, Syra: I have absolutely no idea. I can only tell you what I’m seeing, not how it happened.
McCALL, Winifred: So we’re interacting with our own universe and…another one?
BOLL, Syra: Imagine it this way. Infinite universes exist in parallel. We’ll call two of them A and B, right? For the sake of this thought experiment, we’re in Universe A.
BOLL, Syra: Two Heimdalls, two Hypatias, two waypoints. The universes basically have their “wires crossed” at the Heimdall wormhole. Two universes are connected to that one rabbit hole through hyperspace, leading here.
BOLL, Syra: It’s why we’re getting comms from two different Heimdall residents, each telling us the other is dead.
MASON, Ezra: Sorry, I think I’m speaking for everyone except Kady here when I say I’m completely confused.
BOLL, Syra: I’ll upload a diagram.
BOLL, Syra: This Gemina field is the reason we’re hearing from both Nik Malikov and Hanna Donnelly. In our universe, Nik died. But in Universe B, Hanna died. Two Heimdalls transmitting through two wormholes.
GRANT, Kady: Which are both feeding through to our waypoint, because the wires are crossed.
BOLL, Syra: Exactly.
McCALL, Winifred: So who’s the other Hypatia speaking to? There’s a Hypatia over in Universe B, right?
BOLL, Syra: Nobody. They still won’t have heard from Hanna Donnelly or Nik Malikov or anyone else, because we’re speaking to their Heimdall.
MASON, Ezra: Will they even be able to get through their wormhole?
BOLL, Syra: They might be able to enter, but they’ll never emerge. It leads nowhere.
MASON, Ezra: So if both wormholes lead here, then when the attack fleets tried to come through from Heimdall A and Heimdall B…
GRANT, Kady: They both came through our waypoint instead? At the same time?
BOLL, Syra: Exactly. Two identical assault fleets trying to occupy the exact same space at the same moment. They destroyed one another. Generating all those particles that, if I live through this ****storm, I’m going to make a fortune off on the galactic university circuit.
MASON, Ezra: We all know this is impossible, right?
BOLL, Syra: Well, it’s theoretically possible. The multiverse theory goes back as far as the 20th century. But it seems that, to actually record any proof of this phenomenon, you need a malfunctioning wormhole.
GRANT, Kady: So of course it had to happen to us.
BOLL, Syra: Usually wormholes are maintained with a level of paranoia that would make your head spin. This is probably one of the only times anyone’s ever tried to power one up without perfect maintenance. And this is exactly why we usually never do that.
ZHUANG, Yulin: A lot of discoveries are made when things don’t go according to plan. Legend has it they discovered penicillin after a mistake in a lab.
BOLL, Syra: Well, things are about to go even less according to plan. As particles from Universe B start trying to enter Universe A, we’ll see all kinds of paradox events, which spacetime tries to reject. Think of spacetime like rubber. You bend it, you twist it, it tries to spring back into shape when you let go.
BOLL, Syra: And that’s the most important thing I’m going to tell you. The universe doesn’t like this happening. It’s going to keep trying to get back to the way things should be.
BOLL, Syra: Take this, for example. These are the conversations Kady conducted with Hanna Donnelly and Niklas Malikov to prove each was in contact with Chief Grant. I’ve placed them in parallel.
Hypatia: It’s me.
Hypatia: It’s me.
Hypatia: Okay, first thing, tell him I love him.
Hypatia: Okay, first thing, tell him I love him.
Hanna D: loves you back. Asking are you and your mom and your cousin Asha okay
Nik M: he says same, wants 2 know if u and Mrs G and ur cuz Asha r ok?
Hypatia: Tell him I’m fine. Did you tell him we need answers to verify who you are?
Hypatia: Tell him I’m fine. Did you tell him we need answers to verify who you are?
Hanna D: he says fire away
Nik M: fire away
Hanna D: now he’s laughing at his own joke, because he got shot
Nik M: his exact words
Hanna D: sorry, I had to medicate him again, he’s a little…
Nik M: um, he’s laughing…I think he’s a little dusted. Hanna kind of had to wing it on the first aid
Hypatia: No, those are just his jokes. Especially when he’s excited.
Hypatia: No, those are just his jokes. Especially when he’s excited.
Hypatia: First question. Ask him what he sent me for my last birthday.
Hypatia: First question. Ask him what he sent me for my last birthday.
Hanna D: he missed your birthday because comms were down. birthday before…ok maybe he’s saying motherboards? is that possible?
Nik M: birthday before last he sent you some sigma92 motherboards.
Nik M: nice kit, my cuz uses those
Hypatia: That’s right.
Hypatia: That’s right.
Hanna D: he’s not very good at presents, is he?
Nik M: you and Ella would get along like burning houses
Hypatia: Ask him what he did, my first date with Ezra.
Hypatia: Ask him what he did, my first date with Ezra.
Hanna D: he’s laughing again
Nik M: apparently he grilled the poor guy for his own amusement
Hanna D: he says 20 questions
Hanna D: no wonder our dads were friends
Nik M: hope you made it up to your bf afterward :P
Hypatia: Ask him what’s the biggest fight we
ever had.
Hypatia: Ask him what’s the biggest fight we ever had.
Hanna D: …rehydrated potato salad? Is that the answer or is he high?
Nik M: hold up, he’s laughing again…potato salad. really?
Hypatia: That’s the answer.
Hypatia: That’s the answer.
Hanna D: there’s something he wants me to say
Nik M: he says enough talking from you for a mo, his turn
Hanna D: I’m passing on what he’s saying word for word
Nik M: typing what he says, gimme two secs
Hanna D: Kady, I love you both very much. You’re everything to me. I’ve missed you more than I can say these last months. I thought of you both every single day. It doesn’t matter what happens here, but you need to listen to us. This is real. The fleet is coming for you. Stop talking, find a way to fight for your lives. Do it for me.
Nik M: I love u both very much. ur everything 2 me. i’ve missed u more than I can say these last months. i thought of u both every single day. it doesn’t matter what happens here but u need to listen to us. this is real. the fleet is coming for u. stop talking, find a way to fight for ur lives. do it 4 me.
Hanna D: you still there?
Nik M: hello?
Hypatia: Tell him we love him too.
Hypatia: Tell him we love him too.
Hypatia: Very much.
Hypatia: Very much.
Hanna D: Kady, can I ask you something?
Nik M: listen to him, kady. I just watched my girl die. If you have ppl you care about on that ship, get up to the plate
Hypatia: Okay.
Hypatia: Okay.
Hanna D: your mom’s not there, is she? or your cousin?
Nik M: too late 4 u guys 2 run?
Hypatia: don’t say anything to my dad
Hypatia: don’t say anything to my dad
Hanna D: I won’t. but I’m going to tell him you love him for you, one more time. never miss a chance to do that. trust me.
Nik M: I’ll tell him you’re gonna make it.
Nik M: Don’t make me a liar, Grant.
Hypatia: The captain needs to speak to me.
Hypatia: The captain needs to speak to me.
Hanna D: don’t be long, visitors are on their way.
Nik M: good luck
BOLL, Syra: These interviews took place about 5 minutes apart. You’ll notice Kady’s responses are exactly the same, and fit the conversation in both paradigms.
MASON, Ezra: Head = dunked.
GRANT, Kady: I had no idea…
BOLL, Syra: No matter how Hanna or Niklas responded, the conversations kept moving back to the same point from Kady’s point of view. Our universe wants to deny this paradox.
BOLL, Syra: Problem is, you twist rubber hard enough, it’ll eventually break. Spacetime is the same. Cracks are already appearing, in the form of these storms we’re experiencing. If these disruptions continue, they’ll wipe out both realities.
McCALL, Winifred: Okay, okay. So presuming this insanity is actually legit, how do we fix it?
BOLL, Syra: This has never been observed before, at least not by anyone who lived.
BOLL, Syra: Which is to say, I have absolutely no idea.
GRANT, Kady: ****.
MASON, Ezra: ****.
GRANT, Kady: jinx :)
BOLL, Syra: This is theoretical astrophysics at its most brilliantly complex. I studied this years ago. The computing power we’d need to devise a solution is quite simply beyond our reach.
GRANT, Kady: Um.
BOLL, Syra: Grant?
GRANT, Kady: Captain, could we switch to a private chat?
BOLL, Syra: Give us 5, people.
BOLL, Syra has logged out.
GRANT, Kady has logged out.
HIRANO, Yuki: I have a headache.
McCALL, Winifred: Mason, what the hell’s your girlfriend up to?
MASON, Ezra: Haha.
MASON, Ezra: …Wait, u serious?
Nine figures are stepping off a silver train car at Reactor Station when Heimdall’s gravity begins to die. A heavy boom echoes through the station as the doors slide open, shaking the grav-rail and everyone inside it.
First to step onto the platform is Sensei, still fully sealed in his tac armor. He’s short, solid as a Taurus freighter and, unbeknownst to him, the last surviving member of Alpha Squad. Scanning the area, he notes the bloodstains and broken glass from Malikov and Donnelly’s firefight with Kali. He nudges an empty shell casing with his boot, and it hangs in the air a moment too long, spinning lazily. His helmet’s vox unit rasps as he speaks.
“Losing grav.”
Blistering white arcs of static current ripple along the tunnel walls as Eden steps off behind him, VK rifle raised. She’s tall and athletic, face obscured by her helmet. Her voice is heavily accented—definitely from somewhere in the outer rim.
“Move!” she barks over her shoulder.
Half a dozen nervous-looking figures in Wallace Ulyanov Consortium uniforms shuffle off the car as another crackle of electricity bursts the wall-mounted light fixtures. The WUC engineers are a motley crew—tired eyes, sweat-stained uniforms, hands locked in front of them by mag restraints. Camera quality down here is good; I catch a few name badges: SILVER, KELLY, STEELE. They move awkwardly, trying to keep their footing in the low gee. The last of Chief Grant’s engineers, stumbling along under the point of a gun, just hoping to see out the day.
Heimdall shivers in its boots, the entire structure groaning ominously as Mercury exits the car. She glances at the ceiling above as the station continues shuddering, lighting flickering like the inside of a B-pop club.
“The **** is happening, Mercury?” Eden asks.
“Station rotation is slowing.” BeiTech’s chief engineer sighs. “Something affecting the spin. Magnetic flux from the wormhole maybe. Not sure.”
One of the older WUC engineers, a rumpled, pale guy whose ident badge reads HICKEY, looks at her sideways, shakes his head.
“You people really ****ed things up. Should never have engaged the—”
Sensei’s rifle meets Hickey’s gut, cuts his complaint off at the knees.
“Keep running that mouth, I’ll show you what ****ed up feels like.”
“Sooner we set the reactor to redline and get the hell off this bucket, the better,” Mercury says. “Cerberus is on his way. Let’s get down to—”
A hollow boom reverberates through the grav-rail tunnel, and the sound of snapping bullwhips accompanies a strobe of blue current along the walls. The station rocks hard enough to knock everyone off their feet, send them skidding along the deck. Lightning crashes, the floor shudders, everyone wisely keeping their heads down until the tremor dies. And finally, Sensei pushes himself to his knees, wobbling in place, flailing for balance as his momentum lifts him slowly off the floor.
“Zero gee,” Mercury says. “Activate mags.”
Sensei reacts quickly, slapping at the controls on his tac armor. His boots magnetize, snapping him back down onto the deck as his fellow BT goons engage their own boots. And for whatever reason, maybe at some prearranged signal, that’s when the Heimdall engineers make their move.
Hickey launches himself off the deck, crashes into Sensei’s chest hard enough to dislodge him from the floor. Steele puts his elbow into Eden’s throat as she rises, Kelly tackles her at the knees and in a flash, it’s on. The platform becomes a mass of tangled bodies slowly floating and twisting in zero gravity, punching and kicking and cursing and spitting.
The engineers aren’t ****ing around. They’ve seen their friends die—murdered by Kali or simply cooked at their terminals when Assault Fleet Kennedy breached the wormhole. So even though their hands are restrained, they fight hard. Fight bloody. They fight with everything they’ve got. And they lose.
Sensei manages to get his boots back on the deck, put his fist into Hickey’s throat and leave him a vomiting, choking mess. Eden buries her knife in Steele’s chest, and
the man floats away, clutching the hole she carved, arterial spray glittering in hundreds of tiny, perfect spheres.
