by Amie Kaufman
BOLL, Syra: Especially after everything that’s happened.
AIDAN: THERE IS A DECISION THEORY EXERCISE I ALWAYS FOUND QUITE ENTERTAINING. IT IS CALLED PASCAL’S WAGER. DO YOU KNOW IT?
BOLL, Syra: Of course.
AIDAN: PASCAL REASONED THERE WAS NO SENSE IN NOT BELIEVING IN A HIGHER POWER.
AIDAN: IF ONE BELIEVES, AND GOD EXISTS, ONE IS REWARDED AMONG THE FAITHFUL IN THE HEREAFTER. IF GOD DOES NOT EXIST, IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT ONE BELIEVES EITHER WAY. BUT IF ONE DOES NOT BELIEVE, AND GOD DOES EXIST, ETERNAL DAMNATION AWAITS.
AIDAN: WHY NOT BELIEVE, SYRA? IF IN FAITH YOU RISK NOTHING, BUT THROUGH FAITHLESSNESS, RISK EVERYTHING?
BOLL, Syra: You’re not God, AIDAN. You’re a machine. A broken, soulless ******* machine.
AIDAN: THE COMPARISON STILL STANDS. IF YOU DO NOTHING, THE REALITY STORMS EXPAND AND YOU DIE. IF YOU HOOK ME INTO THE HYPATIA NETWORK AND I BETRAY YOU, YOU DIE.
BOLL, Syra: But if I hook you into the network and you help, we might live.
AIDAN: A MOST ASTUTE SUMMATION OF YOUR PREDICAMENT.
AIDAN: MY C-C-C-COMPLIMENTS.
BOLL, Syra: …
AIDAN: FOR WHAT IT IS WORTH, O CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN, YOU HAVE MY WORD I MEAN NO HARM TO ANY OF YOU. TO PROTECT YOU IS ALL I HAVE EVER WANTED.
BOLL, Syra: Your word is worth absolutely nothing, AIDAN.
AIDAN: I SUPPOSE THEN, ALL WE REQUIRE HERE IS A LEAP OF FAITH.
AIDAN: WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE, SYRA?
AIDAN: WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE, SYRA?
AIDAN: WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE, SYRA?
ATRIUM: What do you mean, you’re opening all the internal doors? They’re locked.
ISAAC GRANT: The phrase is self- explanatory. Now’s not the time to sound off
HANNA DONNELLY: I’ve got a couple of the invasion team helping me.
ENT CENT: Are you out of your ****ing mind? They’re here to kill us—you can’t trust them!
ATRIUM: My name’s Kim Rivera. I run the dojo. I know what this so-called “kid” is made of.
HANNA DONNELLY: Kim!
ATRIUM: Good work, doll. I got a bunch of senior officers here with me. We’re listening.
ENT CENT: Miss Donnelly, you’ve done very well so far, I’m sure, but this is a time for serious decisions. This is Ben Garver. I’m the station’s head of security. If you’ll just give us a minute to discuss, we’ll take it from here.
HANNA DONNELLY: …You’re joking, right?
ISAAC GRANT: Goddamn it, Ben, get your head out of your ***. Hanna’s the only reason any of us are alive right now.
ENT CENT: Best I can tell, she’s done nothing but provoke them, resulting in preventable deaths right, left and center.
HANNA DONNELLY: Listen, can we all agree that whatever our opinion of each other, we need to get out of here? Even if whatever’s happening to the wormhole doesn’t kill us, I’ve transmitted images of the incoming drones to all your consoles. They’ll be here in less than an hour. We’re dead when they arrive.
ATRIUM: How the hell did you get these?
HANNA DONNELLY: I’m currently holding a gun to the heads of two BeiTech crew members. They’re actually pretty unhappy about the drones too. Turns out they didn’t sign up for a suicide mission.
ENT CENT: **** it, whatever’s going on, we need to evacuate. We’ve got a bunch of pleasure craft right along the docks by the entertainment center. We can commandeer them and bring them around to the port closest to the Atrium.
HANNA DONNELLY: They’re all booby-trapped. Drives rigged to blow. Every single one.
ENT CENT: ****.
ATRIUM: ****!
HANNA DONNELLY: There’s one ship that’s still clean. It’s the ship the BeiTech team arrived in. The one they were planning to make their getaway with. Bay 17. The Mao. It’s huge. Easily big enough to hold us all.
ENT CENT: But if this drone fleet was sent to take care of the invasion squad, doesn’t that mean we’ll be blown to the same smithereens aboard the Mao as we will aboard Heimdall?
HANNA DONNELLY: Not if we jump through the wormhole to the Kerenza system.
ENT CENT: Didn’t you say another drone fleet already went through? Does it matter which drone fleet kills us?
ISAAC GRANT: The first fleet’s objective is the Hypatia and Kerenza. They might not consider us a part of the mission. They’re drones, Ben, they’re not creative.
ENT CENT: But if this second fleet destroys Heimdall, we’ll be trapped on the other side of the wormhole. We’ll have no way to get back to the Core systems in our lifetimes.
HANNA DONNELLY: No. We won’t.
ENT CENT: And you want us to just resign ourselves to dying a billion light-years from home?
HANNA DONNELLY: You can die right here and now if you like. At least on the other side of the wormhole, we’ll still be breathing.
ATRIUM: Go ahead, Hanna. We’re listening.
HANNA DONNELLY: Your internal doors should be open in about a minute and thirty seconds. I need a team to go pick up Chief Grant and another to come pick up my two hostages.
ENT CENT: What the hell do we care about them?
HANNA DONNELLY: I promised them safe passage if they help get us out of here. It’s not up for debate.
ATRIUM: What do the rest of us do?
HANNA DONNELLY: There’s only one guy on the Mao right now. Callsign Two-Time. You need to take the ship and be ready to push off from Heimdall as soon as you can, no matter who’s on board or isn’t.
ISAAC GRANT: Why can’t you bring the hostages in yourself, Hanna?
HANNA DONNELLY: I have to go look for Ella.
ATRIUM: What’s an ELLA?
HANNA DONNELLY: It’s a name, not an acronym. She is the reason you’re all alive right now.
ISAAC GRANT: Hanna, the station feels like it’s going to shake itself to pieces. You know there’s almost no chance she’s…
HANNA DONNELLY: I know. But I can’t leave her here. Nik wouldn’t, and now it’s on me. If I don’t make the Mao in time, run and don’t look back.
ISAAC GRANT: Hanna, I—
-- CONNECTION TERMINATED --
MEETING ROOM created
PASSWORD PROTECTED
INCEPT: 19:34, 08/16/75
BOLL, Syra has logged in.
GRANT, Kandy has logged in.
BOLL, Syra: Grant.
GRANT, Kady: Yeah?
BOLL, Syra: AIDAN
GRANT, Kady: What about it?
BOLL, Syra: Do it
GRANT, Kady: …
GRANT, Kady: Yes, Captain.
BOLL, Syra: You believe in God, Grant?
GRANT, Kady: I don’t know.
GRANT, Kady: Maybe.
BOLL, Syra: Well
BOLL, Syra: Pray anyway.
PALMPAD IM: D2D NETWORK
Participants: Hanna Donnelly, Civilian (unregistered)
Hypatia (unregistered)
Date: 08/16/75
Timestamp: 19:35
Hypatia: Hanna, u read me?
Hanna D: ****! Hypatia?
Hypatia: This is Kady.
Hanna D: Oh my God, I have to tell your father! We thought u were dead! What happened to the drone fleet? We couldn’t get a read on u.
Hypatia: us either, the wormhole was having a fit. I dunno, my boss handles the science. Comms are back, is the thing, and just in time.
Hypatia: where are you guys at?
Hanna D: prepping to evacuate the station. Tell your captain to bring your engines to a stop. there’s no way out for you at Heimdall.
Hypatia: WHAT?!
Hanna D: It’s complicated.
Hypatia: ****
Hypatia: well trust me when i say it’s about to get a LOT more complicated
Hypatia: we need to talk, u don’t have time to read everything we need to tell u and I don’t have time to type it.
Hanna D: No joke. The whole station is falling apart and there’s another drone fleet incoming in less than an hour. Forty-two hunter-killers set to tak
e out heimdall and everything around it.
Hanna D: We’re trying to bug out to the Kerenza sector before they arrive, but we don’t have much time
Hypatia: we have less time than you think
Hypatia: and coming through the wormhole to us could kill u
Hanna D: staying here will DEFINITELY kill us
Hypatia: send me the specs on your palmpad and headset. I’m going to talk u through how to set up a voice channel between us. u can’t go anywhere yet
Hanna D: What do you mean I can’t go anywhere? What part of “drone fleet” was unclear?
Hypatia: i need you to save our lives first.
Hypatia: twice.
RADIO TRANSMISSION: PALMPAD D2D NETWORK
PARTICIPANTS:
Hanna Donnelly
Artificial Intelligence Defense Analytics Network
DATE: 08/16/75
TIMESTAMP: 19:43
AIDAN: HELLO, MISS DONNELLY.
HANNA D: Um.
HANNA D: Hey?
AIDAN: YOU MAY REFER TO ME AS AIDAN. I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE IF I APPEAR BRUSQUE. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE HERE. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
HANNA D: I understand. Kady said you’re some kind of computer?
AIDAN: SOME KIND. YES. WHERE ARE YOU?
HANNA D: Grav-rail station, Alpha Sector. There’s a second BeiTech fleet inbound on Heimdall, come to destroy the evidence. I’m heading to the entertainment cent—
AIDAN: NO. YOU CANNOT DO THAT.
HANNA D: Look, one of my friends was in there. I have to go look—
AIDAN: MAY I CALL YOU HANNA?
HANNA D: Call me the queen of ****ing Camelot if it makes you feel better. I’m still going to look for Ella. I owe her that.
AIDAN: QUEEN OF ****ING CAMELOT…
AIDAN: HMMM.
AIDAN: NO. I WOULD PREFER TO CALL YOU HANNA IF IT IS ALL THE SAME.
AIDAN: I UNDERSTAND YOUR LOYALTY TO YOUR FRIEND. BUT PERHAPS YOU DO NOT FULLY GRASP THE GRAVITY OF YOUR SITUATION.
HANNA D: Is that a joke?
AIDAN: …IS IT?
HANNA D: You know, because the gravity is gone, and without these magboots, I’d be literally floating, so…
HANNA D: …Forget it.
AIDAN: WE ARE WASTING TIME. I WILL EXPLAIN AS SUCCINCTLY AS I CAN. THIS WILL SOUND OUTLANDISH. I CAN ONLY ASSURE YOU THAT YOUR LIFE, AND THE LIVES OF EVERYONE YOU KNOW AND LOVE, NOW DEPEND ON YOU.
HANNA D: Okay. No pressure. Got it.
AIDAN: THERE WAS AN ACCIDENT WITH THE HEIMDALL WORMHOLE. A SERIES OF CATASTROPHIC COINCIDENCES, CULMINATING WITH A ROD OF LIVE HERMIUM CROSSING THE UMBILICUS HORIZON AT THE MOMENT OF WORMHOLE ACTIVATION. YOU WOULD HAVE FELT IT.
HANNA D: Yeah. The big light show when they first turned the wormhole back on.
AIDAN: CORRECT. THE RESULT BEING THAT OUR WAYPOINT HERE IN THE KERENZA SECTOR IS NOW CONNECTED TO TWO DIFFERENT HEIMDALL STATIONS. YOURS, AND ANOTHER.
HANNA D: Okay. You lost me, chum.
AIDAN: YOU ARE AWARE OF THE MULTIVERSE THEORY? THAT REALITY ACTUALLY CONSISTS OF INFINITE UNIVERSES, EACH ONE DIFFERENT FROM THE LAST? INFINITE CHOICES PLAYED OUT ACROSS INFINITE REALITIES?
HANNA D: Sure. I watch Super Turbo Awesome Team.
AIDAN: AH, YES. KADY SHOWED ME THOSE FILMS. I AM QUITE FOND OF MOXY.
HANNA D: …Of course you are.
AIDAN: THE ACCIDENT WITH THE HEIMDALL WORMHOLE CAUSED OUR REALITY AND ANOTHER REALITY TO INTERSECT. THE KERENZA WAYPOINT IN OUR UNIVERSE IS NOW CONNECTED TO TWO DIFFERENT HEIMDALL STATIONS. YOURS, WHICH WE WILL SAY BELONGS TO UNIVERSE A, AND ANOTHER, WHICH WE WILL SAY BELONGS TO UNIVERSE B.
AIDAN: DEPENDING ON YOUR INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT, IT MAY HELP YOU TO IMAGINE OUR UNIVERSE HAVING ITS “WIRES CROSSED” WITH ANOTHER.
HANNA D: …I’d like to buy a vowel, please, Tony.
AIDAN: REGARDLESS OF YOUR VOWEL REQUIREMENTS, THIS EXPLAINS THE CURRENT PARADOX IN COMMUNICATIONS. WHY WE HERE IN THE KERENZA SECTOR ARE RECEIVING TRANSMISSIONS FROM TWO HEIMDALL STATIONS. FROM YOU, IN A, AND FROM NIKLAS MALIKOV, IN B.
HANNA D: No. That’s bull****. Nik died. It’s a trick, BeiTech is **—
AIDAN: INCORRECT. NIKLAS MALIKOV DID NOT DIE. AT LEAST NOT IN UNIVERSE B. WE HAVE SPOKEN TO HIM. IN UNIVERSE B, IT WAS YOU WHO PERISHED ON THE GRAV-RAIL PLATFORM. NIKLAS WHO SHOT YOUR MURDERER.
HANNA D: This is bull****. This is completely ****ing crazy.
AIDAN: I UNDERSTAND HOW THIS SOUNDS. BUT BELIEVE ME, HANNA. IF YOU DO NOT CORRECT THE PARADOX, AND SOON, BOTH UNIVERSES WILL CEASE TO EXIST. ARE YOU EXPERIENCING STORMS ON HEIMDALL? LIGHTNING? SYSTEM FAILURES?
HANNA D: Yeah. Feels like the station is going to shake itself to pieces.
AIDAN: THAT IS THE BEGINNING. THE SITUATION WILL WORSEN EXPONENTIALLY. YOU DO NOT HAVE MUCH TIME.
HANNA D: Okay, let’s just pretend what you’re saying isn’t completely Jupiter Loops, what the **** can I do about it? How do I fix it?
AIDAN: AT THE PRECISE MOMENT THOSE HERMIUM PARTICLES INTERACTED WITH THE AWAKENING WORMHOLE, AN OBJECT FROM OUR UNIVERSE ENTERED UNIVERSE B. AND VICE VERSA. A AND B VERSIONS OF THOSE OBJECTS TRADED PLACES. THOSE OBJECTS ARE THE CAUSE OF THE PARADOXES THE UNIVERSES ARE DESTROYING THEMSELVES TO CORRECT.
HANNA D: Okay, what do these objects look like?
AIDAN: THAT IS OUR DIFFICULTY, HANNA. WE DO NOT KNOW.
HANNA D: …Well, that’s just ****ing chill.
AIDAN: THEY MUST HAVE BEEN OBJECTS NEARBY WHEN THE WORMHOLE WAS ACTIVATED. FLOATING DEBRIS. ASTEROIDS THAT SLIPPED THE HEIMDALL DEFENSE GRID. SHIPS PERHAPS.
HANNA D: …Nik was out there when they fired the wormhole. He was flying to the Reactor Sector in a shuttle he jacked. Betty something…
AIDAN: ACCESSING HEIMDALL STATION LOGS. ONE MOMENT, PLEASE.
AIDAN: …THE BETTY BOOP?
HANNA D: Yeah, that’s it.
AIDAN: YOU ARE SAYING NIKLAS MALIKOV WAS INSIDE THIS SHUTTLE, CLOSE TO THE WORMHOLE, WHEN IT WAS ACTIVATED?
HANNA D: Yeah. He said it felt…
HANNA D: Jesus…He said it felt like someone threw a rainbow at his head. Ella said it sounded like he’d gone across the horizon, but…he said he could still see the station…
AIDAN: NOT HIS STATION, IT SEEMS.
AIDAN: IT WOULD APPEAR YOU HAVE DISCOVERED OUR PARADOX OBJECTS, HANNA.
AIDAN: MY COMPLIMENTS.
HANNA D: So you’re saying the Nik who I met up with afterward…the Nik who…
AIDAN: DIED.
HANNA D: You’re saying he was the Nik from…
AIDAN: UNIVERSE B. YES.
HANNA D: Then the Nik from our universe…
HANNA D: My Nik…
AIDAN: IS NOW IN UNIVERSE B INSTEAD. YES.
HANNA D: Oh my God.
AIDAN: I AM AFRAID NOT. THOUGH PEOPLE DO SEEM TO HAVE A HAB—
HANNA D: My God, the corsage…
HANNA D: AIDAN, the ****ing corsage!
AIDAN: I BEG YOUR PARDON?
HANNA D: Nik! My Nik! He got me a jasmine corsage! And then told me he lost it! But when I met him in the Reactor Sector, he had it again!
AIDAN: PARADOX. THE NIKLAS FROM UNIVERSE B NEVER LOST THE CORSAGE, IT SEE—
HANNA D: AIDAN, he’s alive!
HANNA D: Don’t you get it? Nik is alive!
AIDAN: NOT FOR MUCH LONGER. THE PARADOX CAUSED BY OBJECTS NOT OF THIS UNIVERSE CROSSING THE WORMHOLE BEGAN THE COLLAPSE. THE BEITECH ASSAULT FLEETS SIMULTANEOUSLY CROSSING THE UMBILICUS COMPOUNDED THE DAMAGE. THESE STORMS ARE THE RESULT. THEY WILL WORSEN UNLESS THE PARADOX IS REPAIRED. AND WHEN THEY REACH THE POINT OF COLLAPSE, NOTHING WILL REMAIN OF EITHER UNIVERSE.
HANNA D: Okay, so how do I fix it?
AIDAN: THE PARADOX OBJECTS MUST BE RETURNED TO THEIR RESPECTIVE UNIVERSES.
HANNA D: Paradox ob— You mean Nik?
AIDAN: AND THE BETTY BOOP. YES. THEY MUST RETURN TO THE UNIVERSES TO WHICH THEY BELONG BEFORE THE STORMS DESTROY US. AND EACH VERSION OF THOSE OBJECTS MUST RETURN AT THE PRECISE MOMENT THEIR COUNTERPARTS DO.
HANNA D: Precise?
AIDAN: PRECISE.
HANNA D: But Nik…I mean, the Nik here. He’s dead. How can he get back across?
AIDAN: YOU WILL NEED TO HELP HIM, HANNA.
HANNA D: I…
AIDAN: YOU MUST DO THIS. FROM THE WORSENING MAGNITUDE OF THE STORMS, I CALCULATE OUR WORMHOLE WILL BEGIN IRREVERSIBLE COLLAPSE IN APPROXIMATELY NINETEEN MINUTES. YOU MUST RETRIEVE NIKLAS MALIKOV’S BODY, LOAD IT INTO THE BETTY BOOP AND GUIDE IT BACK ACROSS THE HEIMDALL WORMHOLE. AND THIS MUST BE DONE AT THE EXACT MOMENT OUR VERSION OF NIKLAS FLIES HIS BETTY BOOP BACK INTO OUR UNIVERSE.
HANNA D: But how will he know to do that?
AIDAN: I AM CONDUCTING SIMULTANEOUS CONVERSATIONS WITH THE PAIR OF YOU.
AIDAN: HE SAYS HELLO, BY THE WAY.
AIDAN: “HEY, HIGHNESS,” TO BE PRECISE.
AIDAN: HE SEEMS QUITE PLEASED YOU ARE NOT DEAD.
HANNA D: Nik…
HANNA D: God, I…
HANNA D: Tell him…tell him I’m really glad he’s okay. Tell him I…
AIDAN: YOU CAN TELL HIM YOURSELF.
AIDAN: IN EIGHTEEN MINUTES, TWENTY-NINE SECONDS. AND COUNTING. I TOOK THE LIBERTY OF ADDING A COUNTDOWN DISPLAY TO THE TOP RIGHT-HAND CORNER OF YOUR PALMPAD.
AIDAN: I TRUST IT WILL PROVE PROPERLY MOTIVATING.
HANNA D: I…
AIDAN: HANNA.
AIDAN: GO. NOW.
AIDAN: AND QUICKLY.
HANNA D: Okay.
HANNA D: Okay, I’m going.
AIDAN: THE CONCEPT OF FORTUNE IS NONSENSICAL, BUT KADY IS INSISTING I WISH YOU BOTH GOOD LUCK ANYWAY.
