Branch Off

by Dario Solera

  “The other Sarah found them all by herself.”

  “I’m not the other Sarah, and I have a plan.”

  Twenty-one

  “You’re crazy, you know that?” Will said, looking outside the window. “And how are you going to get close to the anomaly?”

  “By car.”

  “By car?” he said, turning toward her. “There are roadblocks everywhere near those fields.”

  “I’ll find a way. I’ll walk.”

  “I’m not going with you, Sarah. This is too dangerous. Léa, tell her something.”

  “I already did.”

  “It’s a chance for you to return home,” she said with a tentative voice.

  Gagnier shook his head. “I can’t leave my men here. I am responsible for them, and I gave my word I would be back.”

  “And what about all the other people?” Léa asked.

  “Sarah,” Will pressed, “you are being egoistic. You can’t drag all of us into this because you have to scratch an itch of yours.”

  “Scratch an itch?” Sarah blurted. “They’re my parents! My family! How dare you talk to me like that? And you’ve known me forever. You know how this is important to me.”

  “You have given up. Your words.”

  Sarah’s lips parted for a moment, then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, shaking her head. “I’m going to bed.”

  ***

  “I am sorry for yesterday’s show,” Sarah said in front of a cup of coffee.

  The four fellows were having breakfast at the kitchen table, crunching on stale cereal and UHT milk.

  “I have no right to involve you in this,” she continued. “I will go alone. Feel free to remain here, if you want. I should be back in a few days.”

  “You can’t go alone,” Will said. “We’ve talked about it, and we’re going with you.”

  “You’ll need someone who knows how to move on the battlefield,” Gagnier said. “It might sound like overkill, but you’ll need me.”

  Sarah saw Léa nodding.

  “What about the roadblocks?”

  “I have a friend that owns a small private flight school and owes me a couple of favors. We can borrow a helicopter. I will fly it. Less questions and no external people.”

  “Don’t you think that they’ll try to stop a helicopter flying near the anomaly?”

  “Yes, but they can’t do anything loud. They are not going to shoot at us. With a trick or two, we should be able to fly through without trouble.”

  “I am sort of afraid to ask what those tricks are.”

  “Well, I can simulate a failure and tell the radio I cannot control the helicopter, and accidentally fly into the anomaly.”

  Sarah sipped at her coffee. “This is more complex than I thought,” she said shaking her head. “It would be asking you too much. I can’t do it.”

  “We are friends offering help, Sarah,” Will said. “Even though you are still a little egoistic.”

  “You allowed us into your home, taking risks for that,” Léa added.

  “I only have one condition,” Gagnier said with a grave expression “We have to come back and rescue the others.”

  “Of course.”

  “It will be a chance to see the situation on the other side. Before even trying to bring them back,” he added.

  “Looks like you have thought about all the details. What do I do?”

  “We should leave now. We’ll take the shuttle bus to the airport. Pack your stuff,” Gagnier said. “We don’t have much with us, so we are sort of ready to go.”

  “Will, I have to ask you something,” Sarah said.

  “Tell me.”

  Sarah glanced over at Léa for a second before continuing. “I can’t talk to my parents. In their world, I am dead.”

  “Are you serious?”

  She nodded.

  “How did you die?”

  “It doesn’t matter now. When we reach their address, you will have to talk to them for me.”

  “I’m not sure—”

  “Please. It’s not about chatting with them for an hour. You just have to ask one thing: where they lived before moving to Geneva. Only that.”

  Will brought his hands to his chin and massaged the short stubble. “OK. Guess it shouldn’t be that hard.”

  “Thanks,” she said giving him a kiss on the cheek. Sarah fetched a backpack and shoved a couple of clean T-shirts, some underwear, and a warm pullover into it. “Almost ready,” she said as she put on a pair of boots. Back in the living room, she picked up the phone and dialed the neighbor’s number. She talked to the answering machine. “Hey, this is Sarah. I’ll be away for about a week; I have to travel abroad for work. Would you mind coming to feed Jones for me? He’ll sure love it. Thanks, bye.”

  “I will go out first,” Gagnier said. “I’ll walk alone to the bus stop. Ten minutes later, Léa will follow. Then you two can go as well. During our entire journey, we must act as if we don’t know each other. Léa and I will keep hats and scarves to cover our faces a little—just in case. Everything clear?”

  The group nodded.

  “Good. We’ll meet at the airport terminal’s entrance.”

  Twenty-two

  With backpacks in their laps, Will and Sarah sat at the tail of the shuttle bus between an airport worker wearing a bright yellow top and a young couple with a truckload of luggage.

  Gagnier was at the front, while Léa had found a place midway back.

  “It’s strange,” she said.

  “What?”

  “Going to the airport without departing.”

  Will giggled.

  More people got on at an intermediate stop, shuffling in and dragging their baggage. Two cheerful kids were drawing gestures with their hands in the air, mimicking an aircraft taking off.

  “Business as usual,” Sarah added. “Like nothing has happened. Families going on vacation.”

  “We’re doing the same,” Will joked.

  “Sure.”

  A police car overtook the bus, loud sirens whining. Sarah’s blood froze in her veins as she watched the passenger in the car waving a signaling disk at the bus driver. The vehicle stopped, and the two police officers got out of their car just as the bus’s front door opened to let them in. She could hear her own heart in her ears, thumping hard and fast. Sarah shot a glance at Will to her side. His face was that of a ghost, pale and flat.

  Léa slightly turned her head back, but then thought better of it and looked forward.

  Gagnier sat still into his seat. Maybe too still.

  The entire bus watched the policemen walking down the central aisle and looking at everyone’s face.

  When he reached Gagnier, the first officer hesitated, inspecting his face for long moments.

  Sarah stopped breathing—her chest just froze, with her diaphragm refusing to pump air into her lungs.

  It seemed like an age, but then the man moved on.

  Confused thoughts flashed through her mind. Her body told her to run, but where to? There was no exit. Perhaps she could break a window and jump off.

  “Madam, please get up and follow us,” the policeman said to Léa.

  She raised her head and looked at him. “Me?” she asked with trembling voice.

  “No. The lady to your left.”

  “Did you hear us? Please get up,” the other said louder.

  Léa, with shaking legs, rose from the seat and moved a couple rows toward the back of the bus. Her eyes were wide and her expression a mix of fear and incredulity.

  “I didn’t do anything,” the woman said.

  “Move. You are under arrest. You don’t want to put up a show here, do you?” The two men took the prisoner by her armpits and dragged her out of the seat. Handcuffs clicked around her wrists. “Thank you for your cooperation,” one of the officers said before jumping off.

  As the driver closed the doors, the passengers started chatting and commenting on what had happened. Only then did Sarah realize how
silent the bus had fallen. She began breathing again.

  “Fuck,” she heard Will muttering, “that was close.”

  The bus pulled away, and after a few more minutes the low, wide airport’s terminal came into view. Passengers poured out of the open doors and walked to the entrance, dragging their luggage and looking about. Sarah and Will blended in, with their backpacks slung on their shoulders.

  Inside, hundreds of people whizzed by, going here and there, oblivious to what those newcomers were about to do.

  Léa and Gagnier reached them, emerging from the crowds. “For a moment I feared the worst,” he said. Léa’s face was still white.

  “You OK?” Sarah asked her.

  Her friend nodded.

  ***

  “You’re better than most of my instructors,” the man told Gagnier. “Of course I can lend you a helicopter. Are these your friends?”

  “Yes. This is Léa—she’s a doctor—and this is Sarah and Will. They are American, and I thought an air tour would be a nice experience for them.”

  “They’ll love it. I could give you a pilot; you don’t have to do it yourself. You could enjoy the flight.”

  “There’s no need to, really, and I know I’m asking a lot already. Also, you know I love flying.”

  “All right,” the man said raising his hands. “You win.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Come in,” he gestured, inviting them to follow him to the back of the shop.

  Gagnier’s ability to lie and act cool was surprising. A sense of anxiety tingled in Sarah’s chest, as she was not sure whether they were breaking the law. After all, no one was being forced to do anything, nor were they stealing the chopper or killing anyone, and yet she was out of her comfort zone. What they were doing felt illegal.

  “Oh,” the man said as they reached his private office, “there’s a no-fly zone just north of here, near the border with France. Here,” he said, pointing at a map on the wall that had an area marked out with red tape.

  “Ah, well, we’ll stay clear of it.”

  “I’m sure of it. How long do you need it?”

  “Not more than a couple hours.”

  “Right. Let me see,” he said, checking a board behind his desk. “I have a Bell 407, an AgustaWestland AW139, and a Eurocopter EC120 ready for flight.”

  “We’ll take the EC120, if that’s fine with you.”

  “Of course. If you want to go cheap, then who am I to stop you?” the man joked.

  ***

  The helicopter trembled as Gagnier ignited the turbine.

  “Why cheap?” Sarah asked over the intercom.

  “This is the least expensive model. You know, in case we crash.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.” He hit some switches on the dashboard and checked the pedals, cyclic stick, and collective lever. He spoke to the tower over the radio for a few seconds. “We’ve got permission to take off. Second thoughts?”

  With her heart pounding, Sarah considered jumping off the helicopter. She glanced over at Will to her left.

  “All right,” Gagnier said just before throttling up the engine.

  She watched outside as the aircraft detached from the concrete, giving a wobbly sensation. “Whoa.”

  “Nice, isn’t it?” Will said.

  “I’m not sure.”

  The helicopter rose a few meters off the ground, and as Gagnier increased its pitch, it started moving forward. “On our way,” he said. “Ten minutes.”

  That was a very little time. It had taken her a couple hours to get there by car, and it had seemed an epic journey, made worse by the snow and traffic jams. There was no going back now, and she hoped she had made the right decision. In a way her friends had snatched control of everything, which didn’t feel fair, but her emotions were on the brink of crumbling to pieces now, so she tried to focus on the next steps: finding that address on the opposite side of Geneva. Fate had played an evil role in those circumstances, placing her parents’ house as far as possible from the anomaly and on the other shore of the Rhone River.

  Getting there by helicopter would have been fantastic, but Gagnier had warned them that they would probably have to land just after going through, near the anomaly, and proceed on foot.

  “Sarah,” Gagnier said, “tell me once more how high the anomaly is.”

  She thought for a moment. “Its center should be at roughly thirty meters. Because it’s a sphere, it’s widest at that altitude.”

  “Copy that. You mentioned a crater?”

  “I did. Fly above it, east to west, and that should be it.”

  “Right.”

  Cars flashed by beneath the aircraft, giving a strange sense of proportions, still too close to look like tiny, fake figurines, and yet not appearing natural.

  “First time in a helicopter?” Gagnier asked.

  “Yes,” answered Sarah and Will in unison.

  “Nervous?”

  “A little,” she said. “It doesn’t feel very safe.” Her eyes darted around as her mind tried to cope with the unknown idea of being inside a flying box without wings. The aircraft was noisier than she had imagined, and everything was vibrating.

  “Trust me,” he said with a smile, glancing back at her. “It’s safer than an airplane in many aspects.”

  “Many?”

  “Sorry, I worded it poorly. Anyway, we’re fine, don’t be worried.”

  Will glanced over at her with a crooked smile of challenge, reminding her of their reckless youth together. A few years ago, they would have stolen the chopper without thinking twice.

  “That should be the crater. It’s enormous!”

  Sarah leaned forward to have a better view of the landscape. “Yes.” A thrill traversed her chest. The time had come. “There,” she said, pointing in the distance where the anomaly was visible. The fog had cleared a little, and she could even see trees on the other side of the dimension’s gate.

  On cue, Gagnier reduced speed and altitude, speaking into the radio. “Last time to change your mind.”

  She took a deep breath, trying to ease her heartbeat down, and considered his offer. Other than going forward, what else could she do? Sarah remained silent, as though not wanting to decide.

  “Let’s go.” He pitched the helicopter forward, and it gained velocity once more.

  The sound that came next was like that of a swarm of small pebbles or gravel hitting on the bodywork of a car: sharp but muffled at the same time. It was not a single occurrence but rather a fast sequence of dozens of tings.

  Immediately, amidst angry beeps from the dashboard, the aircraft began spinning out of control. The ground below rotated at a sickening speed.

  “We’re hit!” the radio crackled. “They’ve fired at us!”

  Gagnier killed the engine, but before he could do anything, another gust of bullets rattled on the aircraft’s thin aluminum shell.

  “Fuck,” Will said.

  For a long second, the helicopter hung still in the air and then spun in the opposite direction.

  A sense of nausea overwhelmed Sarah for the violence of the motion. Her brain told her to look down, to search for the ground, but doing so only worsened the effect. The vehicle’s movements pressed her against the large, windowed door, forcing her to watch outside, barely able to keep her head off the glass.

  Everything went blurry. At first she assumed it was her mind playing tricks on her, almost hoping to pass out, but then the apocalypse came into view. Fires raged in the distant city, and arrays of tanks and armored vehicles idled below.

  The scene captured Sarah’s attention, and for a long while she ignored the fact that the helicopter was falling out of the sky.

  Tanks fired. Machine guns erupted bursts of flames. A vehicle exploded.

  French, Swiss, and German flags were printed on the vehicles that inched upward, as though the entire earth was moving toward the chopper from below.

  “They’re fighting each other
,” Sarah said with wide eyes. “They are not firing at us. We can land here!”

  “I can’t control it anymore, the rotor’s hit!” yelled Gagnier. “We’re going down!”

  Once more, the quiet, snowy countryside blurred into clarity.

  Léa screamed. “Will!”

  Sarah turned to her left just as treetops became visible outside, close and strangely big from that point of view.

  Will was covered in blood.

  Fumbling with it in the excitement, Léa unbuckled her belt and jumped forward, holding his throat with both hands. “He’s bleeding. We need to land!”

  He gurgled something and fought to keep his eyes open. Blood seeped through Léa’s fingers.

  “Impact! Hold on!”

  The helicopter dove with its nose slightly down until it slammed hard into the ground, knocking the air out of Sarah’s lungs. Léa was propelled back against the seat and banged her head on the metal struts.

  In the very moment that the shock wave traveled from the aircraft’s body and through Sarah’s bones, she felt a piercing pain in her neck. She fainted at the sight of Will saying something to her, blood trickling out of his mouth and nose.

  ***

  A muffled voice made it to Sarah’s ears. She groaned and forced her sticky, heavy eyes open. Dark shapes mixed with white spots in a blurry and incomprehensible scene.

  “Sarah.”

  “Yes,” she tried to say. Her vision cleared.

  Léa was in front of her with a bump of a sickening color on her forehead and a trickle of blood oozing out of its center. “You OK?”

  “You look worse than I feel,” she groaned. “It should be me asking if you’re fine.”

  Gagnier was in the pilot seat, fumbling with switches and control gauges. He turned, and at first he looked at Sarah, but then his gaze moved to her left.

  And then she remembered.

  Muscles in her neck tensed and her head turned fast, sending a piercing pain through her spine, down to her back, and sideways into her shoulders. She feared passing out again, so she closed her eyes and fought to find the right position, the right angle, so she could look to her side.