Red

by Ryan Rinsler

  His heart fell through the floor, the moisture draining from his mouth completely.

  “You have to get outta here, but not off the compound. You can’t stay here.”

  “Where am I supposed to go?”

  “Do you have a safe-space? Anywhere you can hide?”

  Maybe the bunker. “For how long?”

  “I really don’t know. If they catch you now that’ll be game over — you know what I mean.”

  “Can you get me off the compound?”

  “Not now, maybe not at all. Right now your main concern is to get to safety and wait for contact.”

  “OK, I know where to go.”

  “I need Neil’s BlackBook.”

  “How did you know I had it?”

  “One, I watched you put it in your pocket, just like everyone else. Two, I used it to track you to this position. You’re just lucky I came to get you before they did.”

  “Why did you? I mean, how did you get down here first?”

  “I left the room as soon as I knew what was going on. They have to call in a retrieval squad but guys like me, you know, I do what I want. Now give me that BlackBook.”

  He handed it over.

  “I’m gonna have to think about where to plant this, but for now just get yourself gone. Do you know where you can go?”

  “Yes, Ella Stamford will know.”

  “OK, I know Ella. Now put this on,” he said, handing him a blue janitor’s jacket. “Take this mop bucket and get as far away from this building as possible.”

  Stanley whipped on the jacket and placed his hand on the door handle, before the man grabbed him on the arm. He looked at him and smiled.

  “Good luck.”

  15

  “Ease up tiger!”

  Connor squeezed Jacob a little too hard upon their return to the ranch. His whole world was upside down — he didn’t know who was safe, nor who was a threat. Everything he knew had gone out of the window, so seeing Jacob happy and well was a huge relief. He had lived his whole life instantly available, having contact with anyone and everyone. Without that he felt lost, like he was losing control. For twenty years I’ve hardly spoken to him. I leave him alone for three days and I’m a mess.

  Matt joined them on the porch.

  “Where’s Nolan?” asked Connor.

  “He won’t get outta the truck.”

  “You’re not watching him? What if he runs off into the night?”

  “Well, he won’t get out of the truck,” he replied with an exasperated shrug, speaking slowly and deliberately, “Which means if we look there in ten minutes he will still be inside the truck.”

  Connor sighed. “See what I’m dealing with?” he said to Jacob, who returned with a jolly laugh. He marched past Matt, who was still shrugging in disbelief, only to find Nolan still sat in the middle of the bench seat in the front of the pickup. He pulled open the door and tapped him on the arm.

  “Come on.”

  Reluctantly he slid himself out of the truck and made his way to the house, but not without a few prods in the back from Connor. As they entered the house Connor shook his head in frustration, causing Jacob to chuckle.

  “It’s like having a surly child,” he said quietly. “Dad, this is Nolan, Nolan, this is Jacob.”

  Nolan looked up and extended his hand toward Jacob, who gladly shook it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you sir, a pleasure.”

  Jacob laughed and glanced at Connor. “Yes, yes you too Nolan!” he bellowed, “Please, come into the kitchen. I’ve just put the kettle on!”

  Connor was pleasantly surprised. Nolan’s reaction when meeting Jacob was very positive, and showed a glimpse of his real personality, one he had only seen for a moment in Mana’s world. He seemed completely broken now, and Connor wanted to help put the pieces back together.

  “Now, Nolan,” he said as they sat at the kitchen table, “I need you to know very clearly what the situation is here.”

  Nolan sat looking at the table with his fingers meshed.

  “I look like the man you hate, who you are scared of, but I am not that man.”

  After no response Connor looked to Jacob for help, who smiled and put his hand on Nolan’s shoulder. He looked up shyly.

  “We’re friends here, Nolan. Connor, here, told me about how they got you out of that shelter, and, well, it was the only way. He’s my son and he wants to help. He needs you. He needs all of us.”

  Nolan looked at Connor and inhaled deeply, his eyes still showing a fear that put Connor on edge.

  “You need to try and calm down,” said Connor. “Yes I’ve talked to you firmly, but that was just to get you to come with us.”

  Jacob gestured for Connor to relax and let him do the talking. “This is a lot to take in,” he said softly. “Why don’t I show you to your room and you can get settled? We can pick this up in the morning.”

  Jacob took a sandwich from the fridge and handed it to Nolan, then took him off upstairs with his bags.

  “This guy’s hard work, bro.”

  “Yeah I know.”

  “We’ll get there bro,” said Matt, stuffing his face with a sandwich.

  “Can you believe what’s already happened?”

  “It’s been a rush.”

  Jacob entered the room. “Would you like a pie, Matt?”

  He nodded enthusiastically, crumbs falling from his bulging mouth.

  “How is he?” asked Connor.

  “He seems OK — I’ve given him some of my clothes to be going on with. He’ll probably have a shower, or at least he should. He smells like a cacky nappy.”

  “A what?” barked Matt.

  “Is he safe up there? I mean, is he going to try to escape?”

  “Are you holding him prisoner?” asked Jacob.

  “No, well, I mean, no not prisoner, but he’s vulnerable and he might do something stupid.”

  “He’s fine,” said Jacob, sitting down at the table. “He was thumbing through the bookshelf in his room as I left.”

  “OK, well, I’ll stay awake for as long as I can just to make sure.”

  “You should get some sleep. It sounds like you’ve had a tough few days.”

  “You could say that. How have you been?”

  “Oh, you know, just mooching around, worrying. I’ve been doing a lot of reading. I’ve actually opened some of the textbooks I’ve had in the library since I was at the D.U. all those years ago.”

  “The D.U.?” asked Matt.

  “The university here. Everything went electronic just before I retired so I took the hard copies off them, for a price of course. Universities don’t give anything away for free.”

  “Can I see them?” asked Connor.

  “Ah yes, the one room you had no interest in.”

  “Oh yeah bro, I keep forgetting you used to live here.”

  “You’d spend hours upon hours in your bedroom, I don’t know, texting girls or what not. You never had an interest in the sciences, or reading at all for that matter.”

  “Well I guess I do now.”

  “Come with me.”

  They left the kitchen and reached a narrow staircase leading to a lower level. It would seem at first glance they were descending into a basement, but it was actually a large open room, perched on the side of a rocky cliff, with huge windows overlooking the valley.

  “Wait till you see it in the daylight,” said Jacob as they reached the floor. The room was long, with bookcases adorning the entirety of one wall, the windows opposite. The bookcases themselves were beautifully carved and varnished wood, the floor a thick red carpet and the walls lined with broad, tightly joined boards beautifully spattered with natural detail.

  “There must be a thousand books here,” said Connor, staggering a little in awe.

  “Six thousand four hundred, to be precise. Please, take a seat.”

  They relaxed onto a pair of soft, faux leather sofas.

  “They’re Winchesters, you know. Had them shipped here and reuphols
tered.”

  “Fancy,” said Matt.

  Jacob handed them a glass of Scotch each and took a seat. “So, this business. It’s a bit complicated.”

  “A bit?”

  “I’ve managed to piece most of it together, from what you’ve told me and what I’ve found online. At least around how it’s likely to work and the history of it.”

  “You found stuff on the Internet about it?”

  “Well, not specifically. It’s difficult to find anything hard at all. Most of it is hearsay on forums, but in the few days I’ve had, I’ve managed to get a fairly clear picture of what’s going on.”

  “Is it solvable?”

  Jacob looked surprised. “Let’s not jump the gun — there’s a long way to go before we can look at moving forward on this. You’re asking question one million when we haven’t even got an answer to question three.”

  “Oh.”

  “So in layman’s terms, the theory that there are multiple universes, or timelines operating or existing, was proven a long time ago. Ten or eleven years. At that point Silk Corporation acquired the technology behind it and apparently slammed injunctions on anyone who even spoke about it in the media, or at least that’s what the forums say. There was a bit of a hubbub for six months or so but really it all started to die down — the theory had been proven but there were no details released about its potential. No one knew we could see to the other side, let alone see other worlds similar or completely different to our own. If they did know that then the public would have blown up over it and Silk couldn’t have kept it to themselves. I can only think it was Silk researchers who actually saw the other side, not the scientists behind the original discovery. The whole concept then fell into the depths of the textbooks and became no more interesting to the general public than the discovery of the Higgs Boson.”

  “So, like, these universes,” said Matt, “can there be like, an entire world made only of talking toasters? Or what?”

  “Well I’m not sure about that,” said Jacob with a smile. “The details on it are a bit vague. The general consensus is they will all be bound by the same laws of physics, so only worlds that are realistically possible are likely to exist. Evolution by natural selection is very strict, and the chances of there being a world made of nothing but talking toasters is quite remote.”

  “Shame.”

  “So the world I went into, the 1920s, that was our world, right? But in the past?”

  Jacob ummed and ahhed. “Not exactly. The universes are basically different timelines, so there are, I guess, many universes which have followed the same timeline as ours, just a little behind or in front in terms of time. I imagine that’s how they have these period simulations.”

  “No wonder it was so detailed.”

  “It’s a funny thing, the mind. When the thing you see matches the thing you are told, you naturally believe it. You don’t question it. I mean, why would you?”

  “Who was that guy, that Spanish guy we went to see?” asked Matt.

  “Roberto.”

  “It all makes sense now. I mean, I asked him how they know what the world looked like a thousand years ago. He just said it was some algorithm that did it. I knew he was dodging the question.”

  “Course you did.”

  “Look bro, I’m a programmer. When your client asks about a problem with your code or whatever you just say ‘something something algorithm’ and then they forget about it. I got played bro.”

  “I wonder if he knows.”

  Matt pondered this. “He must do, surely.”

  “He might just be spewing what he’s been told.”

  “Too switched on for that,” replied Matt.

  “One would imagine that there are a lot of people who know,” said Jacob. “Think how many researchers will be in their labs. Thousands, surely.”

  “I met a girl who works at Silk,” said Connor. “She said, umm, what did she say, that people go missing all the time.”

  “For real?” asked Matt.

  “So she says.”

  “Well, judging by what you’ve told me about how things have gone in these alternate timelines, it’s not beyond comprehension.”

  “Yeah, but the other timelines have a different CEO, right?” asked Matt.

  “Well that should give you comfort, at least,” said Jacob.

  “What’s that?” asked Connor.

  “Well, by the sounds of it, our timeline is on the same road as the others, just lagging behind a bit. If the same things are happening here as they are in the alternate timelines, without you involved, then you could possibly take some comfort in knowing that it’s not just... you.”

  “Maybe.”

  Jacob topped up Connor’s glass. Matt still had a full glass. “You don’t like Scotch?”

  “It’s a little too sophisticated for my palate.”

  “Maybe a chocolate milk?” asked Connor.

  With a humph Matt took a gulp of whiskey, and grimaced as he swallowed. “So who is the CEO of Silk? Here I mean.”

  “I did some reading on that too.”

  Connor sat up. “Oh yeah?”

  “Yes. Nothing.”

  “Nothing at all?”

  “There’s absolutely no record of who is the CEO.”

  “Well, who are the registered shareholders?”

  “It’s all locked down,” said Jacob with a wry smile. “I guess that’s something else they own.”

  “So it could be you after all bro.”

  “Well… clearly it isn’t.”

  “How do you know?” asked Matt, also sitting up.

  “I think I’d remember.”

  Matt squinted. “Yeah, but, how do you know?”

  “Stop being weird.”

  “He’s right you know.” said Jacob. “If we’re talking logical absolutes, there’s no real way of knowing anything.”

  “What?”

  “Exactly bro.”

  “OK stop ganging up on me now.”

  Matt leaned forward. “But are we ganging up on you?”

  “I’m going to bed.”

  16

  “There’s some pasta in the fridge,” said Jacob the next morning as Connor shuffled wearily down the stairs. “Help yourself, we’re in the morning room.”

  After a moment of thought he dismissed breakfast and followed Jacob from the living room, down a short corridor and through a large archway into a large, bright room. The nostalgia hit Connor like a train — he had forgotten this place existed until that moment.

  Almost everything in the room was made from either wood or fabric, with the exception of the vast windows stretching floor to ceiling across the back wall. The view was that of rolling green hills, the dim greyness of the morning sky casting soft shadows, the fog sitting a few feet above the grass making the world look as though it were standing still.

  He took a deep breath. The room smelled like a forest just before rain, with the hint of almond from the natural resin used in manufacturing the beautifully handmade oak furniture. The wooden floor was uneven and warm to the touch, and creaked like an old rocking chair as he made his way over to Jacob and Nolan.

  Nolan was busy with his head inside the large, white Seeker, wires hanging out all over and a screen on the side whirring away with all sorts of numbers and graphs. Jacob had opened out one of the single sofa beds and placed it in the middle of the room and was neatly distributing cushions around the head and foot area.

  “Need to keep your feet up,” he said, noticing Connor’s inquisitive look. “Don’t want a case of the deep vein thrombo’s.”

  Connor chuckled warmly. Amidst technology and scientific mystery, as well as being able to help his only son, Jacob was in his element.

  “I’ve been chatting to Doctor Berger and he has suggested you go in for no more than ten hours at a time. Did you eat?”

  “No, I just came straight here.”

  “Well, go and fill up. You’re possibly going to be lay down for ten hours so
you need to take in some energy now. I had Alex make some pasta to load you up with your carbs so you won’t go hungry. Also eat a banana. Slow release energy. Two bananas actually.”

  Connor laughed and rolled his eyes. “It’s OK dad, this isn’t like a major thing. I’m just going to be lying here. It’s more about what the host has eaten than me.”

  “Nevertheless, this isn’t Silk Corporation’s medical facilities so there’s no way of us monitoring how you are, so, off you go now.”

  Connor laughed again and followed Jacob’s orders like his obedient son. He knew in Jacobs’s eyes he would always be the young, vulnerable Connor he first met, and he had absolutely no problem with that, as he also knew that he very often needed a kick up the butt to look after himself.

  As he entered the kitchen he did a violent double take as he saw Matt at the table, munching on a sandwich.

  “What the hell are you doing awake?” he asked, looking at the clock. “It’s not even eight!”

  Matt looked up from his laptop. “We can’t all stay in bed all day bro, some of us have shit to do.”

  “Oh yeah? Like what?”

  “Research.”

  Connor shook his head and reached into the fridge for the pasta. With a squelch he spooned a good portion into a bowl and sat down.

  “So? What are you researching?”

  “Your dad’s 3D printer is like, I dunno, fifty years old,” he said, lifting it onto the table. “Trying to get it working with my laptop.”

  “For what?”

  “I dunno, just something your old man asked. He’s been up since, like, four talking to the doctor.”

  “It’s good, they seem to be getting on.”

  “Yeah, old guys.”

  “I think dad’s just happy to have something to do.”

  “Nolan’s probably just happy he has someone else to talk to other than you.”

  Connor laughed. “Yeah, there’s no talking to him really about that. Wonder what happened to him. He must have met me in another timeline.”

  “Yeah and I don’t think you shared a milkshake, bro, judging by what he was like when he first saw you.”

  “He was pretty scared.”

  “Bro, he tried to commit suicide by jumping out of a third floor window.”