Vic breathes out a curse.
Phaedrus leans back, stretching his shoulders and rolling his neck. He moves oddly, the joints and limbs seeming to pop in and out of place. “It should be simple to find her now… Paris, you say? It sounds lovely twenty years ago.”
“You fail in Paris,” Vic says.
Phaedrus frowns at him. “You think so?”
The lock clicks and the door swings open. The soldier that had driven us down the tunnel appears in the doorway. He takes a key out, unlocking Phaedrus’ handcuffs.
Vic pulls his gun, aiming it at the soldier.
“Drop the key!” Vic shouts.
“Drop your gun!” Phaedrus shouts back.
Vic’s hands begin to shake and his gun falls with a clatter onto the floor. He stumbles backward, his face ashen.
“What did you do to him?” I shout, jumping to my feet. I throw myself at the tall man but something lights up in my head like a spark and I crumple on the ground, writhing in pain.
Phaedrus stands, towering over me. “As I said, don’t play with toys you don’t understand.”
The soldier picks up Vic’s gun with a contemptuous grin.
“Be seeing you… earlier,” Phaedrus let’s out a small laugh and turns on his heel. The two men sweep past us and into the hallway.
“What just happened?” I ask.
Vic rolls over onto his back. “I failed her”
“We can go after him!” I shout, climbing to my feet.
“No, we can’t,” Vic says. “Didn’t you see what he can do?”
The building shakes again. Dust and small pieces of concrete rain down on both of us.
“The other soldiers can stop him,” I say.
“It’s no use,” Vic says.
I get down my knee and slap him across the face. “What about Jane? We still need to get her out of here, or have you forgotten?”
Vic gives a slow nod. “Okay…”
I climb to my feet and run out into the hallway. The short technician is running toward me, his face red. “What happened?” He yells. “Who authorized his release?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “That guard just walked in there and let him out.”
“It wasn’t Andrews?”
I turn to see Vic behind me, emerging from the door.
“Not that I know of,” the tech responds.
“Then go tell him!” Vic shouts.
The tech’s face goes a shade redder, and he turns, running back up the curving hallway.
“What now?” I ask.
Vic looks down the hallway as he thinks. “The plan hasn’t changed. We get Jane and your buddies and we get out of here.”
“They’re in a locked cell. What, are we just going to ask to be let in?”
“It worked last time,” Vic says. “Come on.”
Ahead of us, a soldier is at a large shielded door.
“Excuse me,” Vic says.
But the soldier steps inside, not hearing him. Vic sprints forward, grabbing the door before it closes and pulls it back open.
“Come on,” Vic says.
We step through the door, and Vic slows in front of me. I step around him, immediately understanding why he had stopped. We are in a huge cavernous room. It is as long as a football field and cut straight into the rock. Huge banks of lights cast their glow across the space, illuminating a circle of massive structures.
“Did you know about this?” I ask Vic.
He shakes his head. “Not a clue.”
I realize with a start that this is the circle of machines I had seen on the Security monitors. Except that I had the scale all wrong. Without anything for comparison, I had assumed each platform whit’s corresponding structure wasn’t much taller than a man. Ten feet at the most. But from this newer vantage point, I can see that the shortest structure is thirty feet in height while the tallest is nearly a hundred feet, and it still falls short of reaching the roof of the cavern.
I move further into the cavern until one of the giant structures comes fully into view. Two metal spires stand above me. A shimmering light fills the space between them, and through the light I see stars.
“What do you think, Agent Moore?”
It takes me a moment to realize the man is talking to me. I turn and see man, dressed in the short-sleeved button uniform common to scientists and engineers everywhere. I glance down at his badge. Mark Downing.
“That’s… outer space.” I say.
Downing nods. “And there’s the moon.”
I follow the direction he is pointing to and see a round disc, barely visible in the hazy light.
Downing smiles. “If we keep at it, we’ll make it to the moon before President Ford does.”
I shake my head. “How come the air doesn’t get sucked through?” I ask.
“Come on, how many times do I have to explain this to you guys?” Downing shakes his head. “Every gate has some difference in air pressure. Each gate is basically a giant electromagnetic conductor that creates a field to stabilize the pressure. Look I don’t understand all of how it works. I mean, we’re talking technology that’s than a hundred years more advanced than our own. But that’s the gist of it, best I can tell.”
Another tremor shudders through the cavern causing the lights to flicker.
“Damn earthquakes,” Downing says.
“You’re telling me,” I say.
Downing smiles. “Take it easy, Agent Moore.”
I nod, politely, and step past him to stand in the middle of the gates. Through one I see a street scene that looks like New York. Through another I see an Asian market. The implications of this is overwhelming. It’s like an intersection to any time and any place. And then a dark thought occurs to me. That kind of power could change everything. I continue walking, numb to the views in front of me. But then one image cuts through all the others. A simple stone wall sits, propped up by beams, in between the other gates. It looks as if it doesn’t belong, like it had been excavated, moved and then put on display. Like an old piece of furniture in a museum.
But to me, it’s immediately recognizable.
It’s the tunnel.
The shadow in the wall is still visible.
Something inside me grows cold.
Turning back, I find Vic, standing under the gates where I had just been.
“Having fun?” Vic asks.
“Just reliving some childhood trauma,” I say.
“You know, that was one of the first gates.”
“Really?” I say.
Vic nods. “The ISD didn’t find many for the first few decades of its existence. After the nineties, things really started to pick up.”
“The nineties haven't happened yet.”
Vic lets out a small laugh. “Oh yes they have.”
Turning, I notice another gate. Through the shimmery light I can see a jungle scene.“Hey that looks a little like the jungle on the other side of the Camton tunnel.”
Vic follows me gaze. “Is it?” he asks, his voice serious.
I step closer. Through the thick trees, a small structure made of bamboo poles is visible. Around the “house,” if I can call it that, is a defensive perimeter of sharpened sticks. Within the perimeter I can make out a rudimentary chair and table. There’s a large trough to hold water, and even a clothesline. On the clothesline I can clearly see one of the same jackets I had worn into the tunnel just a few days earlier.
“Yes, that’s the same jungle,” I say. “Those bastards have been watching us.”
Vic draws in a breath. “So they found a tunnel, but instead of taking it, they’re just spying on whoever uses it.”
“Andrews lied,” I say. “He knows exactly who Jane and the others are.”
“Well, hold on,” Vic says. “He knows that they are holding that tunnel, but he may not know more than that.”
I grab Vic by the arm and point with my other arm. “We’ve got our ticket out right there.”
Vic pulls his arm out of
my grasp. “The first plan is still the best. Remember, you're not in your own body right now. Your body is currently lying on the floor of a van about a hundred feet up through solid rock.”
I nod.“You’re right.”
“Now you’re catching on,” Vic says with a grin.
Vic takes off across the huge chamber and I follow him at a slow jog. I look up at the giant rings and spires above me, their gateways to different times and places shimmering in the artificial light.
“Hey, Vic!” Someone shouts.
We both turn to see a soldier jogging across the huge space. The younger Vic has just entered the cavern through the same doors we had came through.
“Your partner is here,” the soldier says.
The younger Vic gives the soldier a thumbs up.
Vic stops and grabs me by the arm. “This way,”
We make a large circle around the younger Vic.
“Over in mechanical. Also, we’ve got one of the perimeter guards coming down the freight elevator that wants to talk to you. He was saying something about a van.
“A van?”
“Yeah, he said that you are going to want to see it.”
Vic pauses in the doorway, his face going pale. “You get Jane,” he says. “I need to watch him. I—I don’t like the sound of this.”
“Shit. How am I supposed to find them?”
Vic pauses, turning back to me. “You’re an ISD agent. Ask!”
I exit into the hallway. Another tremor shocks the tunnel. Dust falls from the ceiling, coming through cracks in the cinder blocks. I think of the hundreds of tons of rock above us, and of the water just on the other side of that rock.
I hear shouting and the sound of approaching footsteps from beyond the curve in the hall. I step out of the way just as Colonel Andrews rushes and half a dozen soldiers, guards, and analysts rush by.
“What’s going on?” I ask, grabbing the arm of a passing soldier.
“Preparing to evacuate,” the soldier responds.
“Shouldn’t you be going the other way?”
The soldier shakes his head. “We evacuate through the gates. Come on!”
Another massive tremor sends shock waves down the hallway, and several of the soldiers in the hallway are knocked to the ground. The lights go off and we are momentarily in pitch black. Then emergency lights flare to life and warning sirens scream. I wonder briefly how I’m going to be able to talk to someone long enough to be pointed in the right direction. But at that moment, every door in the hallway swings open.
I have a feeling that this will be remembered more than the escape of one unknown Interloper. Something Vic said earlier comes to mind. It was only last night, but it already feels like a lifetime ago. Something about drawing people like me and Jim into Jane’s storm. Well, I think I can add a few other names to that list.
Ahead of me I see Vance, Aleisha, Quincy, and Jane appear in the hallway, stepping out of a door.
Jane looks past me, and the look on her face nearly destroys me. I have never seen failure distilled so potently into someone’s eyes. She pushes her way past Quincy and Vance and begins to sprint down the hallway.
I grab Jane by the arm. She turns on me, eyes blazing.
“Let go!” She screams.
“I can help you,” I say. “I can take you to…” Remember, you’re an ISD agent. “I can take you to Agent Rom.”
Jane pauses, narrowing her eyes. “Why should I trust you?”
The others catch up to Jane and gather around me. “Because I am going to help you get out of here alive.” I look at each of them with as much sincerity as I can muster on this alien face. “Do you hear me? I want to help you live.”
Quincy nods, and then Vance and Aleisha, and finally Jane.
“Follow me,” I say.
I make my way back up the curving hallway. The facilities employees are all streaming in the large chamber for evacuation. I know Vic said to meet him outside the Station, a mile up the road. That was before the whole thing went straight to hell.
Besides, I’ve got a plan. An insane plan, but I suppose that insanity is par for the course this evening.
I go back into the central chamber of the Station. I don’t have to look in order to sense the others amazement at the sight in front of us. The six gates stand like centurions amidst the seething mass of people.
“What is this place?” Vance asks.
I raise an eyebrow, feeling like I am officially the biggest bullshitter in the world. “This is the ISD.” I scramble to think of a plan. If I bring them to Vic, they won’t recognize him either. Do we carry on a charade or do we come clean? Hell, I’m not sure if Vic has thought that far ahead. “Wait here,” I say.
I scan the room. The freight elevator. That’s where he had gone. But where is that? I make my way through the crowd, pushing against its force as, what—dozens?—hundreds? of people push their way toward the circle of gates in the center of the room.
There’s another shock wave and dust fills the air. Dammit, I’m not going to find anything in here.
“Agent Moore!” a voice calls out.
It doesn’t even register at first that the voice is addressing me.
“Agent Moore!” It’s a woman’s voice, closer, more urgent. Then I remember that Agent Moore is the name of the ISD agent’s body that I’ve invaded. I turn to see a woman who I instantly recognize as Jane.
No, not Jane. ISD Agent Molly Gardner. She looks to be in her late thirties, with hazel skin, shoulder length dark hair, and stern eyes. She’s wearing a simple uniform: khaki pants, a cotton shirt, and a light-weight wool jacket.
Now this looks like a government agent, But I shouldn’t be talk to her. I shouldn’t be anywhere near her. Not if I’m going to help Jane get out of her alive. But Molly is Jane.
Fuck…
“Agent Gardner, what is i?”
“There’s something wrong with your partner,” she says.
“Wrong? What do you mean?”
“I’ll show you.”
Molly turns and I hurry to keep up with her. She leads me to the far end of the cavern. There are fewer people here—most have already made it to one of the gates in the center of the room and have begun to stream through it.
I slow as I see a freight elevator set in the far wall.
The van is parked there.
“Over here,” Molly says. She points to two figures. The younger Vic is standing over Vic in Carter’s body, who looks to be having an epileptic seizure.
Is this a Recursion Event? You should never come into contact with yourself. If there’s anything I had learned from Jane’s story, it was that. But that’s not really Vic on the floor. It’s some electronic representation of Vic in another man’s body. But did that matter when the older Vic’s actual body was just a dozen feet away?
“Get away from him,” I yell.
The younger Vic stands up in surprise. I’m guessing Agent Moore is not much of a yeller.
The body of Agent Carter is twisting in the ground. I bend down, turning him on his side. I have a foggy memory that this is what you’re supposed to do when someone is having a seizure, but I have no idea why? But this doesn’t look like any ordinary seizure. And then I remember where I’ve seen this before. When Vic first used the neural hijacker on Agent Carter’s body, it looked almost exactly the same.
So why isn’t this happening to me. Maybe it will soon? Maybe I’m looking into my near future?
“What’s wrong with him?” the younger Vic asks, standing and turning to me.
I glance over at the van, sitting in the shadows, as Vic inside Carter continues to shake in my arms. Do I tell the truth? How much do I risk letting a younger version of the man who is keeping me alive know?
I am so fucking unprepared for this.
I close my eyes and take in a breath.
You’re a writer, Ellis.
Fucking write.
“Time traveler’s sickness,” I say.
A
gent Gardner leans into me, eyes wide. “What?”
“I’ve never heard of that,” the young Vic says.
I nod. “I just heard it from our doctors myself. Too much time spent near the, uh—the gates.” I nod at the six monoliths in the center of the room. “I just need to get him,” I struggle with the spasming body. “I need to get him some place comfortable.”
Molly points at the van in the freight elevator. “We can take him in there.”
“Molly, we’re evacuating,” the younger Vic says.
“You two go,” I say. “I’ve got him.”
The younger Vic stands, and I feel the seizures immediately begin to subside.
I look up at the two agents as they begin to make their way back across the room. “Agent Gardner?” I shout.
She turns backs to me. “I haven’t heard the official word. What is this, some kind of—of earthquake?”
She glances at her partner. “A Recursion Event,” she says.
I look down at Vic inside Carter. The seizure has almost completely subsided. “What’s the cause?” I ask.
The younger Vic shakes his head at me. “What’s with you, Moore? These evacuations have been happening almost weekly. Who the hell knows.”
“Come on,” Agent Gardner says. And then they’ve turned and are lost in the crowd.
I look down at Agent Carter and feel myself trembling. Is the same thing happening to me? Carter stirs. Or Vic. I don’t know what to call him when the other Vic was just speaking to me. But this is Vic as well…
Vic’s eyes blink open. His mouth parts. I hear him trying to say something.
“What the fuck are we doing here, Moore?”
Even though the voice is the same voice I had been speaking to for the last few hours, I know immediately it is not the same man.
I hear a van door sliding open behind me and I turn just as Vic, scarred face and all, leans out. “That’s not me, that’s him!” Vic shouts. “Come on, get in the van!”
I push Agent Carter away and scramble up. As I stand, my vision goes spotty. I turn and stumble for the van. Vic reaches out and grabs me by the hand, pulling me in. Fingers rake at my back and I glance back to see an enraged Agent Carter lunging at the door just as Vic pulls it shut.
Dispersion: Book Two of the Recursion Event Saga Page 18
