The Heart of a Necromancer

by Eddie Patin

  Jason tipped back his second can of Nova Cola and quickly drank down the rest of it, then set the empty can on the garage back table with a ting. Then he pulled up his OCS and navigated to the bookmark of universe 244. It was one of the universes without any notes from Jason 113. When Jason was playing with the OCS and randomly opening rifts the day before, he'd skipped that one.

  "Oh, hey, Jason, don't use that," Riley said suddenly, reaching into a pouch. "Jason 113's bookmark will bring us right into Citadel, and we don't want to go there just yet. Use this." The soldier produced half of a focus key blank.

  Jason took the key. On the back side of the small slab of broken metal was a word scrawled into the surface:

  Firebrook.

  "Your dad's house?"

  "Yeah."

  Lowering his OCS back onto its double-sling at his side, Jason looked at Riley's focus key and concentrated on feeling his way through the upper dimensions to u244, just like he had with the other focus keys he'd tried. Both Maze World and Cloudworld were in entirely different multiverses from Earth of u934 and Jason was starting to feel something like a particular sensation in the line he visualized from one world to the other. It might have been something distinct to the ninth dimension in particular. Imaging a line to Riley's universe felt the same. After a second or two that felt much longer, he detected a connection on the other side, then he flexed.

  With a flutter like a flag whipping around in high wind, then a snap like a small bullet breaking the sound barrier, a rift opened. A small orange fireball hovered for an instant then unfurled and stretched into a vertical disc, spinning wildly and throwing sparks all around the garage as it sputtered and roared.

  A window into the other universe shimmered then cleared. Jason found himself looking at the back of a modest one-story house in a baked and cracked desert. Sand drifts were piled up against old fence poles. It looked like they'd be arriving in the house's grassless backyard.

  Jason looked at Riley. "Is this the place?" he shouted above the spitting roar.

  "This is my home!" the soldier replied with a broad grin. "Let's go!"

  Jason gave the 'Firebrook' key back to Riley, then the three of them stepped through.

  On the other side, Jason found himself standing in the middle of a rural neighborhood—each property with a lot of land—surrounded by a cracked-up desert of sand and windswept rocks. Scraggly trees stuck out of the earth here and there, and the sun bright in the clear sky seemed a little too big, low on the horizon in a way that made Jason feel like it was afternoon. Once they were all through—boots on the parched earth—Jason released the portal, and it closed quickly, disappearing with a pop.

  Without the roar of the rift, they were left with nothing more than the whistling wind. There was a rustle behind them and Jason looked back to see several pieces of tumbleweed caught up and struggling against the corner of a fence.

  "Dad!" Riley shouted, immediately setting out for the back door of the house. Gliath followed.

  Jason looked up at the vast desert sky again, then went after his friends. The sun was very hot—like an open oven. He immediately felt dry all over.

  Through the back door, the three of them stopped in a well-worn living room a lot like one from Earth. A tall, lanky man emerged from the kitchen holding a plate of bread and meat. Jason smelled something that reminded him of pot roast. The man was taller than Riley, straight and trim and fit, with broad shoulders and iron-grey hair in a close-cut military flattop. He had a big nose just like Riley, but also a bushy moustache. The lines in the older man's face were deep—probably from a life under the desert sun—and his skin was tanned like leather.

  The man immediately reached to one side in the kitchen and put his plate down, suddenly beaming with happiness. His right eye squinted in glee and his left didn't move. Jason noticed a metallic rim around the left eye, fixed into his face. The eyeball itself looked like a red marble with no pupil or iris.

  "Holy shet! Riley! You're home, son!"

  The two cyborgs rushed each other and embraced in a firm hug, laughing and brimming with pride.

  "Here ya go, Dad," Riley exclaimed, handing him the six-pack of beer. "This is from Jason's world. It's so good to see you! We had a little time to kill, so I thought we'd drop by."

  "Of course!" the man bellowed happily, smiling past his son at Jason. "Thanks for the beer! I'll put it in the fridge!" His gazed touched on Gliath for a moment, then he released Riley. "Hey there, Gliath! Come into the kitchen. Are you guys hungry? I cooked a chuck roast." Riley's father led them into the kitchen.

  "I will accept your offer, Gordon Wyatt," Gliath replied with his low voice. The older man laughed in response.

  "Ha! Come on, Gliath. Help yourself, you hungry beast!" He pointed at a very Earth-like stove and a large, covered pot. "Jason!" Gordon stared at Jason's face and body as he stooped to put the beer into the fridge. He closed the door, stood straight, and approached, putting a beefy hand on Jason's shoulder. "You look different! Did you make yourself younger somehow?"

  "I ... uh..." Jason stammered, his eyes darting to Riley, not sure what to say. He stared into the older man's red marble-like eye. Gordon must have thought that he was Jason 113.

  "Oh, Dad," Riley exclaimed, jumping to join them. "This is ... um ... a new Jason. This is Jason 934. A couple of weeks ago ... ah ... Jason 113 was killed on one of our bounty jobs."

  The older man's live eye contorted in surprise and pain. "No! Really?" He looked at Riley, then back at Jason again. "Damn—that's terrible! What happened?!"

  "It was..." Riley started, then shook his head and smiled. "I'll tell ya later, Dad. Anyway, this is our new Jason. We moved the Reality Rifter base to his world on u934. It's another Earth just like on u113. The new guy's been catching on really well." The soldier smiled at Jason. "We're actually gonna head to Citadel tomorrow to meet up with Walter to get Jason some minor augments."

  The man smiled. "Wally the Knife?! You're still associating with that scumbag?" He laughed then suddenly seized Jason's hand, shaking it firmly. "Alright, Jason Leaper 934. My name's Gordon. It's nice to meet you."

  "Nice to meet you too, sir," Jason replied, looking past their excited conversation at Gliath. The leopardwere had pulled a plate out of a cabinet and was extracting a large hunk of meat from the big pot on the stove. Gliath seemed to know his way around. Jason was honestly pretty surprised at how much Riley's world looked like his. "So, you have beef on this world? Cows here?"

  Gordon and Riley exchanged amused glances then they both laughed.

  "Ebonexus is a lot like Earth, Jason," Riley replied. "Only ... it's what you might call a desert planet, and our technology is a hell of a lot more advanced. The government's a lot different too, and we all have cybernetic implants. But yeah—there are still cows." He smirked.

  Gordon made sure that all four of them had a nice plate of food, then they ended up drifting to the living room and sitting around a big, low coffee table. Riley's father sat in front of the TV—which he immediately turned off—sinking into a worn spot of the couch as the rest of them found seats around him. Jason figured that the older man must eat his meals there a lot. Gordon looked like he might have been in his sixties, but he might have just as well been in his fifties. It was hard to tell with the man's lined and heavily sun-tanned skin. His good eye was steely grey—quite different than Riley's dark brown. Of course, Jason thought, those weren't Riley's original eyes, were they?

  As it turned out, they had indeed arrived in the afternoon. As the big, bright sun continued on its path lowering in the wide-open, clear sky, they finished eating and eventually broke out the beers. Gordon was very pleased with the bold taste of Jason's choice and Riley seemed very happy to see his father enjoying the 'Arrogant Bastard'.

  Jason sat in the chair he'd chosen and watched as Riley showed his father a variety of selfies and other photos he'd taken over the last several months with his CamComm—the Ebonexus equivalent of a smart phone. At one
point, Gordon pulled out his own phone and the two men synced up so that Riley's dad could keep the pictures. It seemed to be a regular thing between them.

  At one point, Gordon brought up that Riley had missed a birthday, which also seemed to be a regular thing.

  "So I'm twenty-nine now?" Riley exclaimed. "Shet. That means soon I'll come back here and you'll tell me that I'm fruking thirty."

  "Language, son..." Gordon warned.

  "Hey, what's wrong with thirty?" Jason asked with a smirk, trying to fit in.

  "Shet," Riley muttered, immediately startling himself and looking at his dad as if embarrassed after saying the strange, unique curse word. "Well, that means I'll be old soon."

  "Old?" Jason said. "I'm thirty-three. That's not old."

  "Shet, I wish I was thirty-three," Gordon added with a chuckle.

  Later in the evening, when the sun started to dip behind the horizon, Jason found himself sitting outside in the wind on a weathered and bleached lawn chair. He sipped at a second Arrogant Bastard, trying to take his time because they'd only brought enough for each human to have two. Gliath didn't partake in the beer, and Jason realized that he hadn't seen the Krulax drink any alcohol back home up until then either. Jason watched the sun set in growing awe as the larger star seemed to set the sky on fire. The hot wind quickly cooled down and Jason was actually starting to feel kind of nice.

  It was good seeing Riley interact with his dad. Jason had connected with the soldier quite a bit in the last two weeks. Two weeks or three weeks? he thought. Had it really been only two weeks since he'd found that infinity crystal sitting in front of his front door? Riley was a hard case and a bit of a goofball ... and a very effective killer. It was good to see a bit of his family-side, too.

  In time, the colorful mess of orange, pink, and deep red all around the blazing, brilliant ball of fire going down behind distant, sandy mountains began to subdue. Stars appeared through the darkening sky above Jason's head and the vivid sunset gave way to a pale blue that faded more and more toward inky indigo...

  "Hey, Jason," Riley said suddenly, emerging from the back door behind him.

  Jason looked up at his friend. "Hey."

  "Like my dad?"

  "Oh, sure."

  "Yeah, he's pretty cool." Riley sat in another sun-bleached lawn chair next to him. "So you can stay on the couch tonight. My dad put out some blankets for you. It's hot during the day, but it can get pretty cool at night here. Tomorrow morning, I'm gonna borrow my dad's hovercar, and—"

  "Hovercar?"

  Riley shrugged and smirked. "Yeah, it's old and clunky, but..."

  Jason chuckled. "No, that's cool. It's just that on my world, hovercars are something from science fiction. It's neat is all."

  "Okay." Riley scratched his beard in the darkening twilight. "Well, we'll head out in the morning to Citadel and find my surgeon friend. I reckon we should be back here by tomorrow evening to say goodbye and head home."

  "Sounds good." Jason took a swig of beer. It was a strong ale. "So, Citadel is a megacity? Some sort of huge dystopian metropolis?" He looked out at the empty world around him. In the distance, he could make out the glowing lights of other small houses far away. "And this is Firebrook?"

  Riley laughed. "Dystopian? I don't know about that. The town's called Fort Firebrook. Not far from here is a big range of volcanos. Back a long time before I was born, the closest one—Mount Havoc—blew its top and ran a river of magma down past this area, which was just the old fort at the time. Hence the name, Firebrook."

  "Was your dad in the Concordian Guard?"

  "Concord Guard. Yeah. Everyone goes into the Guard."

  "Everyone? Literally everyone?"

  "Yeah, unless you want to be branded an exile. It's just the way things work here."

  "Why's your dad live out here and not at Citadel?"

  Riley sighed and scratched his beard, leaning back to look up at the stars. "It's nice here. Citadel's really crowded. You'll see. Dad grew up here, then was in the Guard for twenty years. When he retired, he moved back here again. It's quiet."

  "I like it," Jason replied. "I mean—aside from the desert thing. I love the mountains, myself. But I could see living here if the whole planet's like this."

  Riley stood. He smiled. "I'm glad you're here. When you're done outside, lock the door on the way in. The bathroom's easy to find and I'll wake you up in the morning when it's time to get going."

  "I'm glad you showed me your house, too. Where are you and Gliath sleeping?"

  Riley smirked. "In my old room, of course. Good night, dude."

  "Good night."

  Jason dreamt of a big, black minotaur fighting against massive dinosaur predators, wielding a huge stone axe as big as a road sign.

  He woke to Riley's hand on his shoulder.

  "Get ready, Jason."

  Jason sat up, wiped his face, and yawned.

  Making his way to the bathroom, he found himself unfamiliar with a lot of the things he normally took for granted. The toilet was a surprise—something more like a pit toilet like he'd seen in campgrounds back on Earth. There was no running water involved. There was also no shower, but instead, a strange seat next to a system of water tanks and filters with a plastic rim as high as his ankles, perhaps designed to catch runoff.

  There were towels hanging from the wall—that much was familiar, at least. The sink had different sorts of faucets, and water ran very slowly. Everything looked designed for a world where water was very scarce.

  Unsure of how to use the tank-shower-thing, Jason grabbed a clean washcloth and gave himself a bit of a sponge bath at the sink. After everyone was ready, Jason approached Riley's room, knocking on the door.

  The soldier appeared on the other side, looking at him through a crack.

  "Hey, Riley. You said ... uh ... I can't bring my Glock?"

  Riley opened the door a little wider. "No. We'll leave our weapons here. In the city, no one is allowed to be armed. Leave your slug pistol, your extra ammo, and any knives you might have. You don't want to get locked up."

  A chill ran up Jason's spine. The idea of going anywhere totally unarmed was repulsive. Was this a world where weapon control actually made a difference? Or were the law-abiding citizens just walking around like helpless sheep while the criminal element carried weapons regardless of the rules? Jason bristled at the idea of not being able to protect himself.

  Well, at least if they got in trouble, he could always use rifting to get away. Hopefully.

  "Where should I leave my gun and stuff?"

  "Ah ... I guess you can put it in here."

  Riley opened the door and Jason cautiously stepped into the man's childhood bedroom. There was a small twin bed and various furniture and knick-knacks like he expected. There were also posters on the walls—lots of military-esque stuff. The posters also showed movie stars that Jason didn't recognize—mostly muscle-bound cyber soldiers with futuristic energy weapons—but Jason did vaguely recognize a female face.

  He paused to stare at a poster of a beautiful blonde woman with a shapely, athletic body, large breasts, and a pretty face. She was dressed in clothes of a fashion strange to Jason, and was turned partly away from the camera. She looked back over her shoulder seductively with one hand in her thick and flowing blonde hair. A scene behind the woman reminded Jason of a cyberpunk movie setting like Bladerunner or something.

  "Who's that?" Jason asked, much to Riley's obvious annoyance.

  "Here, I'll take your gun and shet," the soldier replied hastily.

  Jason looked at Gliath, who was stooped in the room in his warrior form, too tall and big for a small human room. The Krulax was laying his Blessed Warblade gingerly onto Riley's mattress and paused to meet Jason's gaze with no expression in his feline face and yellowish-green eyes.

  Looking back at Riley—was the soldier embarrassed for some reason? he thought—Jason handed him his Glock in its holster, his extra 15-round mag, and his pocket knife.

  "
Here ya go."

  "Great, thanks," Riley said. "I'll meet you in the living room in a minute."

  With that, Jason was gently shoved back into the hall as Riley closed the door.

  What was that about?! he wondered. Was Riley embarrassed somehow that Jason had seen his room?

  Wandering back to the main room, Jason sat for a moment on the couch, then heard Riley's father moving around in the kitchen. He stood and walked over to meet him.

  "Hey, good morning, Jason 934!" Gordon exclaimed with a broad smile. He was wearing a dark blue bathrobe.

  "Good morning, Gordon. You can just call me Jason."

  "Alright, Jason. You guys have fun in Citadel. I probably don't need to tell you, but since you haven't been here before, don't get on the bad side of the Guard, okay? They're a force for the common good, but you don't know our ways."

  That was weird.

  "Sure. So, Gordon..." Jason said, then lowered his voice to a whisper. "What's with the blonde girl on Riley's wall?"

  The older man chuckled. "Oh, that's Mabel McBride. She's a movie star and fashion model. Riley's had a crush on her since he was, oh, about fourteen years old."

  "Huh. Long time, huh?"

  "Well, she's about five years older than Riley I reckon. She's still in the movies."

  Jason smiled and nodded. Funny. That must have been it.

  Before long, Riley and Gliath emerged ready to go and everyone said goodbye. Stepping out into the bright, sunny morning, Jason could already feel the desert heating up. They approached an old-looking vehicle a lot like a full-sized sedan from the 60's back on Earth. It had bad paint and was parked in the sand out front. The hovercar didn't have tires. It sat on a series of struts and looked like something from a mashup between the Jetsons and the Fallout video games back home.

  As Riley unlocked the hovercar with a key a lot like Earth keys, Jason climbed into the back seat. It was a bench seat of old, cracked leather. He found something like a seatbelt and buckled in.

  Once Riley and Gliath were both in as well, Jason looked back at the house to see Gordon waving at his son from the front door, squinting with his one living eye against the sun.