The Paths Between Worlds

by Paul Antony Jones

  I was on a pleasure ship cruising up the coast of California.

  At least, that’s the little fantasy I told myself as I sat in the cockpit of the Sea Wraith, just behind the pilothouse, watching the coastline of the island we had come to call Avalon drift by. We were serenaded by a minimalist soundtrack courtesy of the splish splash of waves breaking across the hull of the Sea Wraith and the rhythmic chug-chug-chug of her engine.

  To a person, we all sat and just... were, silently taking advantage of this momentary respite, this little chunk of normalcy, floating within a sea of the weird and absolutely screwed up.

  “We should probably wait at the pointy end, make sure we don’t miss our stop,” I said when I guessed we were getting close to the estuary of our river.

  “It’s called the prow,” Captain Joel corrected from the pilothouse, but I saw a wry smile cross his face, and I smiled back.

  Freuchen and I were the only ones who’d actually seen the estuary of the river leading up to our little enclave, which, I suppose wasn’t going to stay so little for very much longer. The people we’d rescued were going to more than triple the numbers of the Garrisonites and, if the guesstimations we’d made of how many people we’d seen dropping into the ocean when we arrived were accurate, there were easily a hundred or more souls spread across Avalon. Of course, any one of them could be an agent of the Adversary, which made getting off the island even more imperative for me. At some point, Edward was going to have to find those time-lost refugees and try and bring them into his fold. He wanted so much to create something new here, something magnificent; a utopia where everyone was equal and valued. I did not envy him in his task, but I had never met anyone more capable of achieving that dream than him.

  But that wasn’t going to be my job or my problem. I wasn’t going to be here for any longer than I had to be. And now that the probability of leaving Avalon was all too real, I felt a weird mixture of fear and anticipation. I was going to have to leave my new friends behind me and strike out on my own to try and find this mysterious Candidate 1. I was going to embark on an adventure the likes of which no one had ever experienced before; all on a version of earth that was so different to my own that it may just as well have been a completely different planet. Vast. Unknown. Alien.

  “There!” Freuchen called out, pointing ahead of us. “The mouth of the river is dead ahead. I recognize that outcropping of rock.”

  Captain Joel took a second to look where Freuchen pointed then guided the Sea Wraith toward the estuary and drove the prow into the shale beach.

  “It’s not pretty, but it beats getting wet,” he said, “All ashore.”

  We clambered over the Sea Wraith’s gunwale and dropped onto the rocky beach, and once Captain Joel had finished securing his boat we set off upriver toward the garrison.

  “How are you holding up?” Edward asked. We’d been back for a couple of hours already but, other than a wave and a yelled ‘welcome back’ Edward’s attention had been focused on helping the new arrivals settle in.

  “Nervous,” I said, surprised at my own candidness. “Really, really nervous.”

  Edward smiled. “Understandably so. But are you sure you really want to go ahead with this? You know that you’re more than welcome to stay here. We could use you.”

  “Trust me, leaving Avalon is the furthest thing from what I want to do, but there’s no doubt the Adversary knows my whereabouts now. It’s only a matter of time before it sends another assassin, or I end up like that Nazi officer.” I mimicked the bug crawling on my shoulder with my fingers.

  Edward nodded.

  “And the longer I stay, the more danger I put the garrison in. If the Adversary is as smart as we think it is, it’ll send more than just a crew of Nazi murderers. We had the upper hand this time; next time we might not be so lucky. The sooner I’m out of your hair, the safer it’ll be for everyone.”

  “As much as it pains me to agree, I know you’re right. Do you know when you plan to depart?”

  “Tomorrow, soon as the tide allows. Captain Joel thinks it should be sometime around dawn, so we’re planning to set out then, but the tides are strange here, so we’re ‘playing it by ear.’ The Captain’s words, not mine.”

  Silas approached us. “I will be accompanying Meredith on her journey, too,” he said. His eye-bar focused on me. “If that is acceptable to you?”

  I smiled and nodded. I’d considered asking if Silas would like to join Chou and me but wasn’t sure how Edward would take it. The robot would be such a great asset to the community and could have helped grow the garrison in record time. Now, of course, there would be plenty of extra hands and his help would be missed less.

  “I think that’s a good idea,” Edward said, his words encouraging but his face couldn’t disguise the look of disappointment at Silas leaving.

  I saw Freuchen talking to one of the newcomers. He spotted me looking at him, excused himself and walked over to us.

  “I vas vaiting for an opportunity to get you two alone,” he said, looking first at Edward then me. “I think it vould be a good idea if I accompany Meredith on her journey.”

  Edward looked aghast but said nothing.

  “Of course, I’d love to have you along,” I said, “but I certainly don’t want to drain the garrison of its best human resources. Are you sure?” I glanced at Edward and gave him my best ‘sorry, I didn’t expect this to happen’ face.

  “Yes,” Freuchen said, “I have thought hard about it, and neither you nor Ms. Chou—”

  “Silas is leaving, too,” Edward interjected.

  Freuchen glanced at the robot. Nodded in a ‘that’s good to hear’ kind of a way and continued. “Neither, you or Ms. Chou—or Silas—are experienced explorers or outdoorsmen… vimen… you know vat I mean. I have spent all of my life traveling the vurled. I vould not be able to rest knowing that you ver out there vithout me. Besides, I vould very much like to see this new Earth that avaits us.”

  I could see Edward was vacillating between giving his approval and begging Freuchen to stay, but the truth was, I needed him more than Edward did.

  “You still have Jacquetta,” I said.

  After a few seconds more mulling it over, Edward nodded his approval.

  “Thank you,” I said. I hugged him and stepped back.

  “Wait here for a minute,” Edward said, then walked over to where Wild Bill was storing the last of the equipment we had liberated from the Nazis beneath the remaining intact lean-tos. They chatted for a while, then the two men made their way back over to us. Both carried a large bundle of equipment in their outstretched arms. Edward dropped his at our feet. “These will probably be of help,” he said. It was four of the backpacks we had taken from the dead Nazis. Wild Bill brought canteens, extra military provisions, a first aid kit, and a pair of binoculars that had belonged to the Nazi Officer. He laid them down next to the backpacks. Edward also had two of the German machine guns, one slung over each shoulder. Wild Bill had another. Edward unslung one of the weapons and offered it to me, “You should probably take these too,” he said.

  I shook my head. “No thank you. We’re going to need people to trust us. If we walk into a community armed to the teeth, it’s going to give the wrong impression. People might just decide to act against us first rather than listen to what we have to say. I’ll stick with this.” I tapped the sword that rested against my thigh. Honestly, the idea of having to use that machine gun terrified me. It was a risk to leave the firearms behind, no doubt, but a calculated one, given Chou’s lethality, Silas’ size, and Freuchen, who was almost as imposing as the robot.

  Edward offered the weapon to Chou who similarly declined. “I have no need of it, thank you. As Meredith said, we do not want to appear to be a threat, and it will only serve to act as a magnet for those who want it. Better to not place temptation in the way of the weak minded who will covet it.”

  Freuchen said, “I’ll take the Luger, if I may.” He nodded at the pistol taken from the
Nazi officer which Edward now wore around his waist. Freuchen turned and looked at me and Chou. “I vill keep it in my backpack, that vay it vill be hidden from prying eyes and sticky fingers.”

  I nodded, it could come in useful if we ever got into a pinch and as long as Freuchen kept it well hidden, it shouldn’t prove a problem.

  Edward unbuckled the pistol and handed it to Freuchen. “Pick up a box of ammunition from me before you leave,” he said.

  Freuchen said that he would.

  “Evelyn is preparing supplies for you?” Edward asked.

  “Yes,” I said. “She’s thrown together enough jerky and smoked fish to feed a small army. It’s not exactly an In-N-Out Double-Double with a strawberry shake, but we won’t be going hungry anytime soon. And when we need to, we’ll hunt the rest of our food.”

  “Good,” said Edward.

  “People vill be able to smell us a mile off,” Freuchen said through a grin.

  Albert ran over to us from where he had been helping Evelyn.

  “I’m packed,” he said breathlessly, the light of expectation in his eyes shining brightly. He picked up one of the backpacks. “What do you want me to carry?”

  As if sensing that I would not do well with what had to happen next, Chou stepped forward, knelt in front of the boy and said, “You will not be coming with us, Albert. The road ahead will be dangerous. It is better that you stay here with Edward, Wild Bill, and Evelyn, where it is safe.”

  “But… but you promised we’d stay together,” Albert said, looking at me, his voice trembling with emotion, close to tears. “You promised we’d look after each other.”

  I knelt, so I was at eye-level with the boy. “I did, Albert, but we don’t know what’s beyond the island. It’s going to be so dangerous. Too dangerous.” I reached out a hand to wipe away the tears that had begun to run down his cheek, but he took a step back out of my reach. “You promised!” he said.

  “I know, but we can’t—”

  Albert turned around and ran off in the direction of the river.

  I took a step after him.

  “Let him go,” Wild Bill said. “You’ve got enough to keep you occupied. I’ll go take care of him.” The cowboy pinched the peak of his hat and set off after Albert.

  I felt Edward’s hand on my arm and turned back to him. “Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of him.”

  “I know,” I said, but still felt pretty shitty for abandoning the kid. It was for his own good though, at least, that’s what I told myself.

  Edward cast his eyes over all of us. “Well, I suppose I had best leave you to finish your preparation,” he said. “I have our new guests to help.”.

  “How many of them do you think are going to settle here?” Freuchen asked.

  “They’ve all said they want to remain with us,” Edward replied. “It’ll be a bit tight until we get some more accommodation built for them. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem with all the extra hands though, so no need to worry.” He smiled and walked away.

  Chou picked up a backpack and began to sort through the equipment. Freuchen did the same. I watched the camp for a few seconds, the people buzzing here and there making themselves useful or standing around chatting. It was all so normal, if you ignored where we were. Just humans… being. Then I joined my two friends and began preparing for the journey ahead of us.

  Part Three

  Only The Dead Go free

  Twenty-Two

  I rose a little after dawn. Chou was already up and going through her backpack one final time. Around us, the garrison was slowly coming back to life as people woke, shuffled to the latrines and then made their way to where breakfast was being readied.

  “Has anyone seen Albert?” I asked, joining Chou, the dewy grass cold against my bare feet. Since the boy had found out he wasn’t coming with us, Albert had fastidiously avoided me and Chou, going so far as to spend the night sleeping next to Evelyn.

  Chou glanced up at me, looked around. “I saw him earlier.”

  I still felt terrible about leaving the kid behind, but there really wasn’t any other option. I picked up my backpack and checked it again, fastened it back up and tested its weight, then set it back down beside Chou’s.

  Freuchen appeared like Bigfoot, striding across the encampment, a grin on his face that could have swallowed a 747, his backpack in hand. He dropped it next to ours.

  “Vell, are ve all ready for our great adventure?” he said, then took a bite from a strip of jerky and proceeded to chew it vigorously, only adding to my internal image of the legendary mountain creature.

  “I’ll go wake up Silas,” I said, unable to muster the kind of enthusiasm that was on display by the Danish man.

  I walked over to where Silas sat, cross-legged like a metal Buddha next to our lean-to. Dew shone on his metal skin, glistening in the warming light of the rising sun. I took the slate from where he had left it, held it in front of his eye-bar and said, “Good morning, Silas.” He went through the usual start-up routine, analyzed the code on the slate, and then listened patiently while I filled him in on the events that it didn’t cover.

  “Good morning,” Silas said, nodding at everyone as we walked back to join Chou and Freuchen. Captain Joel was chatting with Chou. He raised a hand in greeting as we approached.

  “Here, take this,” Freuchen said, hefting the heaviest backpack containing most of our provisions and handing it to Silas. Silas swung the pack over his shoulders as if it was nothing, and we all followed suit with our own packs.

  “I see you’re all about set,” Edward said, appearing from behind me. “Is there anything else that we can do for you before you leave?”

  “I think we’re good,” I replied, cinching my backpack tighter.

  “Come on then, I’ll walk you out.”

  Evelyn, Wild Bill, Tabitha, and Caleb stopped what they were doing and came over to us and, after a flurry of well wishes, hugs, handshakes and a few tears, escorted us to the garrison’s northern exit. I looked around for Albert, but he was nowhere to be seen.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of him,” Evelyn said, clasping both my hands in hers. “His tail feathers are just a little ruffled right now. He’ll be fine, I promise.”

  I pulled her in close and hugged her tight, whispered “Thank you” before releasing her.

  “Well,” Edward said, “I’m not one for speeches, but I want to thank you on behalf of all of us for what you’re doing. We wish you all the very best of luck, and know we’ll see all of you back here again when your journey is successful.” He paused, then said, “Oh, I almost forgot. Here, I wanted you to have this, Meredith.” He handed me a folded piece of paper torn from his notepad. “Just something to remember us by.”

  I unfolded the paper. It was a handwritten copy of my favorite poem by him The Maiden.

  “You know, an original copy of one of your poems would probably fetch enough from a collector of your work to buy me a house back when I’m from,” I said. “It’s beautiful. Thank you. I will treasure it forever.” I leaned in and gave Edward a kiss on his cheek, lingered for a second and when I pulled back he was bright red.

  “Go on now, all of you, before we change our minds and scuttle your boat,” Edward said.

  “See you soon,” I managed to get past the lump in my throat. And with one final glance at the place I had come to think of as home, we turned and began to make our way to the Sea Wraith.

  Captain Joel had estimated the rising tide almost perfectly, and we only had a half hour to wait until it was high enough for him to fire up the engines. With a puff of black smoke from the exhaust to mark our departure, he turned the boat in the direction of the distant mainland and headed out to sea while the rest of us sat on deck, watching our island home recede gradually into the distance.

  “Do you have any idea where you want to go exactly?” Captain Joel called back to me from the pilothouse, when Avalon had receded to little more than a distant blob of green and brown behin
d us.

  I rose and wobbled my way to him as the boat pitched and rolled on the ocean swell. “I haven’t really given it much thought,” I told him, truthfully. I stared out through the windshield of the pilothouse, past the prow and the mist of sea-spray as the boat cut through the waves, dipping and climbing. The smell of ozone was heavy in the air. “I say we aim for the monolith, as that’s our ultimate destination.”

  Captain Joel nodded. “I’d guess it’ll take us about three hours or so to reach the mainland. So, you might just as well sit back and enjoy the ride.”

  I thanked him and retook my place next to Silas, the rhythmic pulse of the Sea Wraith’s engine reverberating up through the deck like a heartbeat, and for the next forty-five minutes or so, we stared out at the open sea and the ever-nearing coast. We were still miles away, and all I could distinguish of this new land were great swaths of green and brown that suggested that the mainland was as heavily populated with trees as Avalon. But rising above everything like some unimaginable petrified creature was the monolith. Its faceted trumpet-shaped body glowing in the early morning sun. The closer we got, the more terrifying it became.

  “It is an astonishing feat of engineering, isn’t it?” I hadn’t heard Chou’s approach. She stood on my left, steadying herself with one hand on the bulwark, her face turned toward the monolith with a look of outright admiration on her face.

  “I can’t even begin to imagine how something like that would be built,” I said.

  “I would not even hazard a guess,” Chou admitted quietly, in a rare moment of technical ignorance.

  “It is just like a leisurely boat ride on a Sunday afternoon,” Freuchen said, only half joking.

  I playfully elbowed him in his ribs and laughed. “Sure is,” I said, “if you ignore the robot, the woman from the far-flung future, and the mega-structures built by some long forgotten unknown hand.”