The Best of All Possible Worlds

by Richard D. Parker

  “The men from last night?” Vio asked.

  Galen turned away and stared off at the approaching pair of lights; they were like the eyes of a wild animal only brighter than anything Vio had ever seen. She was sure that if the lights were closer they would easily turn the darkest night to day.

  “No…” Galen finally answered. “It is a…worker…a friend. Come, I cannot Travel yet, but I will show you where we need to go.”

  They all stepped from the shed and out into the dawning day. The sky was quickly losing the purple-black cast and many of the fainter stars were no longer visible. Vio was shocked to find that the lights of the approaching vehicle were moving closer at an alarming pace.

  “It’s a car!” Avigail said excitedly. “Vio there are thousands and thousands of them!”

  Vio studied the approaching lights for a moment longer, intrigued, but then Galen reached out and took her hand. He smiled at her and Vio could feel the warmth coming off the young man and knew that Avigail was right in leading her here. This place, at this time, was where she belonged.

  “I watched you. I’ve learned,” Galen said simply and then closed his eyes and Vio felt him instantly project; the power and simplicity of it shocked her. Still she closed her eyes and joined him just as quickly.

  Galen’s projection smiled warmly as Vio appeared. He immediately led her off, back the way they’d come the previous night. They moved to the northwest, over a great river city with an impossibly large gleaming arch to mark the boundary. The city was massive. The buildings were incredibly large and very, very tall. Vio realized instantly that it would not do to underestimate the people who could build such things. Her mind rebelled against the majesty of it all. Many of the buildings were as tall as mountains, impossibly straight, impossibly strong. And the roads that intertwined through them all were perfectly flat and smooth. If anything she found the roads more impressive. They were just as large and powerful as the buildings, with bridges that defied comprehension. Enormous and high, she found the distances the bridges spanned hard to grasp. Even at this early hour, cars were everywhere on the roads below and Vio couldn’t even guess at the number of people who would live in a city this size. The scale was mindboggling.

  Very quickly they were at the park…a large patch of green peace in an otherwise tumultuous landscape. The sun topped the horizon as they crossed the park and the view of the surrounding landscape came brilliantly, beautifully into focus. Vio recognized the place where they’d arrived on this world but she could see no sign of the death and carnage from the night before and then Galen led her toward a tall, white building. They entered somewhere near the top and moved inside a surprisingly large and well decorated room. Galen’s projection looked about briefly and once more smiled at Vio and then he nodded. She settled, turned back toward her body and opened the vortex the others would see as a bridge.

  “Travel,” she told them from her physical form and everyone stepped through and into Paula Ratner’s apartment just as the large Ford F150 pulled to a stop near the shed. The two men riding inside the truck just caught sight of the group of people standing in the growing light of the morning sunshine and then nothing…they just disappeared.

  †

  Christine’s heart was pounding as she watched a large round window open directly in front of Galen and the strange woman from another planet. The window itself was not what bothered her, it was the fact that Paula’s familiar apartment came into focus on the other side. The view was from the living room, right beside the fireplace and looking back into the dining room and to the balcony beyond. The scene was so real Christine half expected to see Paula rounding the corner from kitchen and walk toward her and then she remembered that Paula was dead, her head nearly blown from her body. Tears welled up in her eyes as Adam gripped her upper arm and led her to and then through the window.

  Christine stumbled as her feet hit the hardwood floor of the apartment but Adam steadied her.

  “What was…” she began, but Adam interrupted.

  “Are you alright?”

  Christine nodded, still shocked about her change in location. Adam smiled at her and took off across the room back toward the bedrooms.

  “Ga…Galen,” Christine stammered and suddenly her legs felt very shaky. She moved slowly over and pulled out a chair from the dining room table and sat down. The boy was pulling Avigail through the apartment, showing her the microwave, the light switches, the refrigerator and then removing ice cubes from the freezer and he did not hear Christine calling his name. A moment later the kitchen faucet came on and then the sprayer. Christine leaned forward and could just see Galen bent over the sink, rinsing his hair methodically. She sighed, still a bit shaken by their arrival at Paula’s. The place held so many memories, but now they were all sad.

  Both Avigail and Vio were astounded by the many subtle differences between the apartment and similar living areas from the Inland Sea. The technology of Old Earth, though they were aware of it, overwhelmed them a little and left them both slightly breathless.

  “Galen,” Christine repeated once the water was off. Galen smiled at her while scrubbing his hair with a small kitchen towel; once it was relatively dry he grabbed Avigail by the hand and pulled her quickly into the living room.

  “I want to show her the television,” he told Christine happily. Vio remained in the kitchen for a moment flipping the switch to the kitchen light on and off. She did this over and over again, a look of fascination on her face. Galen laughed as he rushed into the living room and plopped down on the leather sofa, pulling Avigail down next to him. He grabbed the remote and with the practiced ease of any normal teenage boy, turned on the television. Instantly Reverend Carter Heyworth filled the screen. He was walking about on a large stage preaching energetically to the excited crowd that swayed and shouted in answer.

  Avigail’s mouth dropped open as she caught sight of the people on the box and at the sound of the voices erupting from the living room. Vio rushed in from the kitchen, one hand on the hilt of her kali, but Galen frowned at her.

  “If you’ve not taken Jesus into your heart you will not be saved!” Heyworth shouted loudly in the peculiar cadence favored by men of god. “Join the Divine Church of Christ and come to know your savior on a deep, personal level,” the Reverend continued. “Everlasting salvation is the reward that comes with faith…and a simple weekly donation.”

  Galen flipped to the Animal Planet where a lone wolf was chasing a caribou calf across the vast wide open tundra of the north. Vio walked up to the screen very carefully then she reached out and tried to impede the progress of the wolf with her hand. She failed of course and the wolf brought the calf down.

  “Ready,” Adam said carrying three bags from the back room. “I’ve got the money and most of your clothes,” he told Christine, then glanced at Vio and smiled. “HD…pretty real looking isn’t it?”

  Vio did not understand him, but at the sight of him her heart began to beat wildly in her chest. She swallowed and smiled back all the same.

  “Galen! Adam!” Christine said loudly, almost a scream. “How exactly did we get here?”

  Galen snapped the television off and stood. “We Traveled,” he answered and caught the shirt Adam threw at him. It was a light blue St. Louis Cardinal’s shirt. He put it on cheerfully and showed Avigail that they now matched. She grinned back, happy beyond all measure.

  “Yes, from my teenaged days as a trekkie, I’d say it was some kind of wormhole,” Adam added growing nervous about being in the apartment and surprised that the police were not all over the place already, “but we’re going to continue on by Honda. Christine, I need some of your clothes…for Vio. She can’t go around like that. Let’s hurry,” he added wanting to be well gone before the police broke open the door. It would only be a matter of time. The authorities had Paula’s body, her purse…her car.

  “Traveled?” Christine asked, not letting the subject go just yet. “Galen, what do you mean by Traveling?”
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  Galen smiled at her, went to her and took her good hand in his. “Christine, you manipulate life itself…yet are surprised that space and time can likewise be controlled.”

  “Sis, all this science talk is absolutely fascinating, but we need to go,” Adam said. “We’re not safe here.”

  Christine continued to gaze at Galen and then suddenly realized that she was no longer looking down at him. They were standing close and looking at each other eye to eye. Christine sighed. “I’ve controlled nothing,” she admitted suddenly. “I can’t seem to slow the aging process.”

  Galen smiled at her again. “That’s because you’re no longer the one in control,” he answered. “Now come…let’s heed Adam.”

  Christine stared at the young man a moment.

  “Please Christine,” Adam said shaking her a little. “We can’t stay…and she can’t go around dressed like that.”

  Finally Christine nodded and took Vio back into the bedrooms. Vio was an easy fit…she was very near to Christine’s height but thinner and more muscular. The pants would be a bit big on her but it was nothing a belt couldn’t fix. Christine put her into an old pair of jeans and a nice white blouse that accentuated her darker complexion. It would do and she quickly gathered a few more things and threw them on the bed. When Christine turned around however, Vio had strapped her swords back onto her waist and while she was trying to motion for her to remove them, Avigail slipped into the room with her own weapons on.

  “Let’s go Christine,” Adam said from beyond the open door and Christine moved to it. “Help me with some of these clothes,” she snapped and held up her wounded arm as she led the two women out into the hall.

  “I have her dressed, I just can’t get either of them to put aside their swords,” she added, but Adam was hardly listening. He was staring at…Vio, who looked stunning and somehow more real in her modern clothes.

  Vio smiled shyly at him, his look of appreciation obvious. ‘I’m a fool to go through this again!’ She thought but felt helpless in the fight against her body’s reaction to the man in front of her.

  Christine pinched his arm.

  “Ow!”

  “I’ve pulled out some extra clothes for her,” she said with a smile. “Get them!”

  Adam did as he was told, stuffing them into his bag and then quickly returned.

  “Let’s go,” Galen said. He grabbed Avigail’s hand and pulled her from the room and together the five of them moved toward the door.

  “We’ll worry about the swords in the car,” Adam said and pulled open the door and on the other side a large man stood directly in their way. In an instant Vio’s kali were loose and flashing, but Galen was equally as fast and reached out and gripped her right forearm tightly.

  “Friend,” he told her in her language and she quickly sheathed her swords.

  “Hello Harold,” Galen said in greeting as he moved in front of Vio and smiled broadly.

  Harold stood completely still with a shocked look on his face. He’d not expected to meet a beautiful, sword carrying woman when he’d knocked on the door, but now that Galen was there and the older man quickly grew calm again.

  “He…hello Galen. I was…I was just getting off my shift and thought I might stop by to see you,” he said eyeing the group. He was shocked not only by the appearance of a sword wielding woman but also from the fact that Galen was now tall…as tall as he was and visibly older. Harold scanned the group. He recognized Adam and his sister Christine, but there was another young lady, who he did not know. Paula was nowhere in sight.

  Galen moved closer and put a hand on the old man’s arm, then he spoke very softy and after a moment Harold smiled and seemed to relax.

  “I wanted to tell you, Georgina is doing much better,” Harold replied, eyes sparkling and containing a fervor which made Adam and Christine decidedly uncomfortable.

  “I’m glad,” Galen answered. Adam moved to the front of the group then, brushing lightly past Vio as he went, both were very aware of the contact but each pretended to ignore it.

  “Galen we have to go,” Adam insisted and Harold looked up at him alarmed.

  “Go?” the old night watchman asked.

  Adam nodded, but Galen just smiled at him and patted his arm.

  “Harold’s a good man,” Galen told Adam and Harold’s heart soared at the compliment.

  Adam smiled then, understanding, and with a quick glance at his sister, said. “Harold, we need to leave. There are men looking for Galen. They want to hurt him.”

  Christine gasped and Harold’s eyes went wide and he looked at Galen in concern. The boy nodded gravely and Harold’s wizened face hardened slightly.

  “Come with me,” he said to the group and he led them down the hallway past the main elevator and finally through a maintenance door. Inside was a large room filled with towels, sheets, cleaning supplies, plus tools, rolling carts and assorted spare parts. Harold led them through the room and around a corner where they came to a large service elevator. He pulled open the outer safety doors first and then the interior main doors and let them inside. The elevator was clean but simple and unadorned. It was also spacious and could accommodate even the largest piece of furniture.

  “We’ll go down to the garage,” he explained, full of new resolve.

  Adam nodded. “We just have to get to the car,” he told the night watchman. Harold frowned.

  “Your Honda?” he asked and Adam nodded.

  “Won’t the men be looking for that car?”

  Adam nodded again and Harold smiled.

  “How ‘bout I trade you for a while,” Harold suddenly said as the elevator started down from the nineteenth floor.

  “Whoa!” Avigail said with alarm as the elevator suddenly dropped. Adam could tell both women were a bit afraid, but Galen spoke softly to them and after a moment they seemed to relax.

  “Trade?” Adam asked, surprised even though he was beginning to understand the hold Galen had on the man…the hold he had on many people. And even though he’d left his own life behind, Adam still had a hard time coming to grips with just how far some people, people who were nearly strangers, would go to help the boy.

  Harold nodded. “Got a Buick…older model, but low miles, and she’s in fine shape. Love that car…but I suppose I could drive around in one of them foreign jobs a spell.” He pulled out his keys and held them up for Adam to inspect.

  “She’s a good car,” Harold added as the elevator finally clanged to a stop. “You bring her back when you can and I’d be much obliged.”

  Adam pulled the keys to the Honda from his pocket and passed them over to Harold who took them without hesitation and then he gave over the keys to his beloved Buick without a second thought. But when their hands were close the night watchman suddenly gripped Adam’s firmly.

  “You take care of him Mr. Dawkins,” the older man said, and there was strange intensity in both his voice and his eyes.

  Adam nodded without smiling, for he intended to do just that.

  Harold returned the nod and then grabbed the strap and pulled up the twin set of doors. He led the group around to the backside where a tan Buick Sable was parked with the other work vehicles. It was an older model, but seemed in good repair.

  “You take care of her,” Harold added, eyeing the car. “You take care of them both.”

  “I will,” Adam promised and herded the group inside. Galen took a moment and shook Harold’s hand.

  “Thank you Harold,” he said, paused for a moment, then he pulled open the back door and motioned for Avigail and Vio to get in before following them inside.

  Adam climbed in behind the wheel and Christine took shotgun. Adam turned the key and the car started immediately. He hit the button and the driver’s window slid down.

  “I’ll let Dr. Ratner know you’ve gone,” Harold said as they began to back out and Adam stopped the car with a jerk.

  “Harold…Dr. Ratner’s dead,” he said without a hint of warning. “They shot her.
You be very, very careful.”

  Harold stood stunned as he watched his car, loaded with relative strangers, back out and then pull away and head for the exit of the garage.

  †

  At ten after eight the following morning, Agent Cord Armstrong made his way furiously out of Barnes Jewish Hospital and into the waiting vehicle. It didn’t help his mood any when he reached out with his right hand to open the door and then realized it was no longer attached to his arm. His wrist was now heavily bandaged and throbbing, though the medications brought the pain down from a screech to a barely tolerable howl. He could still feel his heartbeat in his missing limb and it made him slightly sick to his stomach.

  “I’m going to kill that bitch,” he told Agent Evans, who climbed in behind the wheel. They’d managed to hush the incident up with the help of the local FBI, but now the feds were snooping around in the case, asking a host of questions and it was only a matter of time before they discovered what was truly going on. Four dead agents…Christ what a clusterfuck.

  Agent Bryan Evans was new with the organization and younger than most. His specialty was surveillance equipment and computers…a techy more than a field agent. He’d arrived in St. Louis near midnight with the truck and the main body of Armstrong’s team. Evans was utterly shocked by the deaths of so many of his fellow agents. Five men in all were lost, four men were killed…two were sliced open, one was beheaded, and the fourth died from gunfire. Plus, according to the report, Agent Sommers was sucked through a portal of some kind to god knew where. It was all crazy, exciting and mysterious, the very reasons why Agent Evans joined Armstrong’s group in the first place.

  It was the gunfire that confused Armstrong. Demond…his friend Charlie Demond had taken a slug in the chest and died instantly. Armstrong was not entirely sure who killed Charlie, but he was sure that it was not the woman who’d relieved him of his hand. Her elfin face hovered stubbornly in his mind’s eye. She’d been beautiful, very beautiful…and very calm, even though he was holding a gun on her. As far as Armstrong could remember, the two strange women had no guns on them and had only been armed with swords…the swords were enough. Even now he could hardly believe the skill the two displayed. His men were good, former soldiers all…most of them with the Special Forces. They did not shy from danger and were not easily flustered or killed. Of course the women had managed to do both to them. It had helped that they’d somehow appeared out of thin air and when all was done they’d disappeared the same way. Armstrong swore softly and shook away the thought. He found he didn’t like thinking of just how the women appeared in the pavilion…such thoughts were much too close to crazyland. But the women were…if not human, they were at least mortal, the body of the third proved that, still there was something mystical about them, mystical and very disturbing. He had a group of doctors performing an autopsy on the dead woman. Her swords however, were safely tucked into his gear. He would inspect the weapons himself.