by P. S. Power
“Oh… Sweetness, then. You’re both from the same world? The same town even! I did not see that one coming. Excellent. I love surprises.”
Jake nodded, smiling peacefully at the attractive, if too thin, woman.
“Mickey Robson? My family owned the hardware store? There was only the one. I filled some orders for you. You were… Distinct looking, so the name stuck. I always wondered what happened to you. I figured that the Zombies got you, to tell the truth. That’s what happened to almost everyone.”
Gwen gave the man a skeptical look, and raised a single eyebrow.
“Zombies? Um, sorry? They aren’t real. Not in my world.”
Jake nodded, and glanced at Ben, as if getting the man to back him up.
“They weren’t, up until the day they were released. It was a nano thing, not a virus or spell. Then a lot of people started dying. That was over a hundred years ago though. Are you certain it’s the same place?” That was for Ben, who nodded.
“Oh, yes. It’s exactly the same. I… I’m using the rips we used getting here, the boxes, but the feeling is correct. You seemed to have simply gone to a world that was in a different time frame, that’s all, Gwen. The one you came from today. It… You left the day before the undead started to walk.”
Gwen shook her head.
“Zombies. Easy to kill ones? Like on television? Poke them in the juicy melon with a screwdriver and they fall down forever?” There was a pantomimed motion to indicate what she was saying, so everyone sort of understood the basic idea.
Slowly, Jake started to change, his face falling a little bit. Everything about him changed then, like a different person was sitting there with the rest of them.
“No, Gwen Farris. They didn’t die, no matter what you did. We had to learn to destroy the brain, and take the heads. The fresh ones were fast, as well. Ninety-six percent of the true humans on the Earth perished inside a year. Given the problems you had, you wouldn’t have lasted a week under those conditions. Probably not even that long. That isn’t an insult either. Almost no one made it. Even the strong, the good fighters, died sooner or later. Most of those that lived at all were either very lucky or had powers of some kind. Except me. Naturally.”
He snapped out of it then, and smiled at the woman, his face friendly.
“So, the world you lived in isn’t there any longer. It’s changed and become something nicer, if that’s any help? It’s a good world now. There’s no war. Violence is nearly unheard of, and people work together. At least they better be doing that. Otherwise I’m going to have to go back and scold them. I faked my death, so I can’t just show up really. You could though? We need to get with Tipper anyway. She has more experience with alternate realities than most of the rest of us. Like Zack does?”
Dareg glanced at the man, who was eating some kind of savory grain dish with fried things, and a sweet and tart red sauce that was nearly clear. The food was unfamiliar to him, though it smelled fine. Good even.
“Right. So, we can go and get Merry’s family, if they still live? I wonder…”
He looked at the far wall, and then looked at Karina.
“We could set them all up on Mars? We need people, and they’re… People.” He didn’t know them, but it was a good place, and they had room. Lots of it. Especially if they were willing to work.
His betrothed nodded then and smiled.
“That’s the spirit! A great idea. If we need to, we can always put in a second city. Hess wants one anyway. I know, because he called me about it. Three times. I’m not certain he knows what the roll of an Ancient is, but he seems to think that it’s mainly about getting the hard work done.” She was joking with them, but Tor smiled at her mischievously.
“I’m fairly certain that’s about right. It’s why I haven’t told the people of Vagus about that part yet. So, I noticed that I wasn’t given anything to do? Is that some kind of abiding hatred, Ben? I can see that.” Why that was he didn’t speak out loud, but he seemed to think it might well be real for the other fellow for some reason.
The man looked over at Tor and waved the idea away. It was a bit casual, but clearly not ill meant.
“Not really. It’s just that keeping you out of the line of fire only makes sense right now. I wouldn’t take Brian or Zack, except that Brian is actually from a place that’s similar enough that he can blend in, and Zack will get us there more exactly and faster than anyone else could. It’s the dangerous mission really, since we might run into problems. Hence taking Dare with us. That way we get magic, and firearms.”
Dareg smiled, and nodded at his father.
“Also people willing to run away properly, if it’s the best plan, right?” For some reason everyone nodded, except for Tor, who glared at him, as if insulted.
“I can run away. It used to be my battle cry even. ‘Run away!’. I was famous for it.” He tired to look serious and earnest at the same time.
Karina covered her mouth, and refused to look at the wizard, but informed the others what the secret was in short enough order.
“It’s true. He used to scream that… As he charged into battle. After a while everyone assumed that he was ordering the people he fought to flee, to save their lives. Which, come to think of it, would have been a great idea for most of them. Dare kind of has a point though, Tor. You might be a bit too noble for this kind of work. Stealing people is best done by…” She stopped and blushed, her tan cheeks turning a deep and mottled red.
Ben helped her out however, if him speaking was ever going to be considered being useful to the women around them.
“Cowards. The next word is cowards. Which isn’t exactly true. I mean, I’m all for running if we can, but Dare here is nearly even brave. Intelligent though, and that will have to serve for this one. Brian is as well. Our goal isn’t to go and fight anyone, just sneak in, and then out. That’s it.”
It sounded hard, and final, as if he were in charge, when of course, it was obvious that… Really, Dareg decided that part wasn’t that apparent at all. It wasn’t him. That might mean that Ben was in control of the mission.
After a bit, where they did nothing but eat, Zack stood up, stretched and then looked at the others.
“Shall we? The sooner we go, the less chance we have of missing our time window.”
What that meant, Dareg couldn’t tell, but he stood and picked up his empty tray. Then he waved at Gwen, who he might have a date with sometime.
“After we get back? We can go and do something?”
The lady seemed flustered by that, which probably had to do with the idea of sleeping with Tor’s son as being gross, but when he got to the hallway, Ben patted his arm.
“Nothing like that. She’s nearly forty, and still a virgin, that’s all. I’d have gotten with her, but my girlfriend probably wouldn’t be as thoughtful that way as your fiancée. The rules are really different here, aren’t they? You have three women at one time and one of them suggests you get more? That’s incredible.”
Snorting, Dareg put his tray into the wall, next to the food unit, which got the others to do the same. They didn’t seem to think it was normal really, even though there was a marked slot for things to go in that said trash. Looking back, he noticed that Uni was with them, walking along as if she were planning to go.
He nearly told her no, wanting to protect her, but Ben smiled back at her and nodded.
“That’s a good idea. I mean, if you can’t die, then it won’t be that dangerous for you. You can stand over here by me. I’m sure the others won’t notice you if you do. Ben, by the way. You get to have multiple boyfriends, right?”
Brian chuckled then, and shook his head.
“You just mentioned your girlfriend not liking that? That sounds dangerous. Unless she’s never going to be in this world?”
Looking at the pretty magical girl, Ben heaved a fake sigh.
“See? Well, you have a point. Mags isn’t coming here, I don’t think, but she reads minds, so it’s best for me to re
main pure. Not that I don’t owe her one. She made a sex tape with Lissa and Clark. You met them? At the meeting?”
Zack nodded, his face pleased seeming as he waved them along. Toward the transport pod, of all things.
“Yeah. Lisa, in my world. We’re married. She’s one of my wives. So that part is more homelike for me. Not that most people there don’t do it the normal way. I was just kind of stuck… Well, because of my ability to move between worlds. It’s sort of a secret there, but also kind of known. So it made some money for me, and… Trouble. Mainly that last one.”
Brian grinned then, and wrinkled his nose.
“Clark is… Well, in my world, he’s dead. A child molester. That did not end well for him. Before you ask, I didn’t kill him. Hush did. Cindy. I haven’t seen her here at all. Your friend Sara is Penny though, which was interesting to see. She seems nice here.”
Meaning that she might not be everyplace else, or at least the Brian didn’t think of her that way.
It got him to think though, and consider things.
“I wonder what I would have been if things had gone differently? I mean, I watched my mother die, drowning in front of me. I thought I did anyway. Then, later, the stupid story she used to tell me about the great Wizard Tor being my father turned out to be true? That almost had to be a lie, but it wasn’t. Mainly due to the Adversaries meddling in Tor’s life. Which probably means that I was designed to be used against him. But here I am. Powerful, rich and not willing to do that on purpose at all.”
He glanced at Ben, since he was the only other him that was there still. Doug was off with Timon and would be for a while. Jake had stayed back with Gwen. They shared a world, or had once. That was special.
The mind reading man looked at him for a long time, and then, instead of pointing out every place that might have changed him, he shared his own life.
“My father… I’m a clone of him. You know what that is?”
Dareg actually did, and glanced at the others, who both nodded.
“Tor is basically the clone of his grandfather.”
Ben nodded, as if that seemed like a normal thing, which it might be where he came from.
“In one world, he died, and to get revenge, I allowed myself to be changed, and fought hard to learn what I needed to remove the government. Which is still there, but I did get the AI that… You know what an AI is?”
Uni made a pleased sound at that one.
“Like me?”
Ben stared at her, and then nodded.
“You know, for a magical world, this place sure has a lot of tech. Anyway, yes, it was an evil AI. So not really like you. In one world he died, but in another it was me. Put in a jail for a crime that I hadn’t committed, beaten and raped to death. I think that must have been my cute and boyish looks, since my father was just beaten to death. They killed my dog, too. I always wonder what would have happened if the AI had just decided not to bother? There wasn’t a good enough reason to do what it did. In the end… Well, it made me what I am, but still… I could be a chubby guy working at an automated coffee place right now, instead of annoying all the attractive alien women.”
Zack nodded at that one, and sighed. It was clearly fake, but the man was trying to seem normal, which was important, day to day.
“See, I was sold as a child sex slave, raped, and beaten for a long time, then as I jumped through a window, trying to kill myself, I was sucked into the void between worlds for a few thousand years.”
Looking at the rest of them, Brian smiled. It was kind of a cold thing, but not without a glint of humor in it. Near the back, Dare thought he saw that anyway.
“My childhood was fine really. A bit academic. My mother wanted a math genius, and well, I was one, so that worked. It wasn’t much fun, but it didn’t make me insane. No… That happened when I popped Infected and I ended up teleporting away to fight people at random. I take the place of people about to die, which as you might guess, is always a fun way to spend a day.”
Dareg looked at him, and nodded.
“I can get you a shield? And Armor? Magic doesn’t work against the Adversaries for some reason. Not directly. The solid armor… Here, let’s go to Mars first and leave from there? I can get you all some of both, before we leave.”
No one said no, so when they got to the red box he set that up, and they stepped out next to his door. He didn’t wait for them to comment on being inside a different world, just in case any of them had short attention spans. The door was closed still, which meant that when they walked in, he was a bit shocked to see another him standing there. This one was busily pilfering his magical chests, which was probably fair, being him after all, and didn’t notice that they were there at first.
He didn’t have an implant in his neck, but as Dareg tried to read his field the man spun, a weapon in his hand. It was a knife. A black thing that seemed like it was made of glass.
His voice was familiar.
“Oh. Well, this isn’t a good thing, is it?”
Dareg tilted his head, and noticed that the other man was shorter than he was, as well as moving at closer to normal speed.
“I don’t know… Which side of this whole thing are you on?”
The other him smiled, which did look both familiar and charming, which was better than he’d feared. Honestly Dareg had kind of figured that he might be a little bit creepy at times, but this looked friendly enough. Then, instead of attacking, which might not have gone well for him, given that Brian already had a weapon of his own out and aimed at the man, and Ben was doing something similar, while Zack held a hand out. Dare didn’t know what it was all going to do, but held up a hand to stop them and moved a bit to the side, then activated his armor.
It got a smile from Brian, who didn’t really look at him directly.
“Niiiice. You mentioned you can get me some of that? I can only carry a small amount of weight when my power activates. More if I use it on purpose, but I don’t always get a choice, even now.”
Shield on as well, just in case, he moved toward the other version of him, who stabbed at him, hard. The regular shield didn’t stop the blade, but the armor did. The effect was magical however, and not time based in particular. He could feel the area around the knife turning the shield off, in a very narrow space, letting it pass. Then click as it hit the black, solid, armor.
That meant the other version of him sliced his fingers as the narrow blade suddenly stopped and his hand didn’t. It could happen if you were using a knife with too small of a hand guard. He hissed, and then, rather more usefully, vanished.
He wasn’t gone, just unseen. It was magic, and a great trick really. The others seemed to think it meant he’d actually left somehow.
When Dare reached out with his mind, the work felt like his own, which meant that he was looking at a fellow builder, if nothing else. Turning the thing off from a distance, he nodded.
“So… You don’t have an implant, but made a knife that can pass through a regular shield? That’s different. You also don’t have the changes that Tim Baker made on me.”
That got the other version of him to stop, and tilt his head.
“I… Tim? My teacher? I don’t know what you mean.”
The man was getting blood all over his floor, which meant he removed his healing amulet, the one he carried for other people anyway, and tossed it over. Other Dareg looked baffled by the thing, but when he pantomimed turning it on, he actually did it, and then gasped.
“You have a general healing field? That’s supposed to be impossible. How?”
“Tor made it. Timon Baker’s brother? My father?”
The man just looked at his hand, and then shook his head.
“We can’t beat you then, can we? Not if you can do this. I, somehow, managed to leap, using a tear in space that enemy girl made, and ended up here. I’m not really certain that I can get back. You might as well kill me now. Like you did all those others.”
Ben got it first, and snapped his fing
ers. It was a bit commanding, and more than a little rude.
“I get it. You think that we’re the Adversaries. The Darkness? We’re the ones fighting to save all of the realities. I take it you are, too?”
Instead of calling the fellow a liar, the shorter version of him smiled. It was a bit stressed seeming.
“That sounds correct to me? Especially if it means I get to survive. Sorry about invading then? I came out of a box, so… Well, that means that the enemy I was following is here. Where are we anyway? I don’t recognize this place from my Earth.”
Dareg waited for the man to put the magical knife away, his armor already down, and his magical clothing back on.
“Mars. First City. In my quarters. Did you follow someone directly in here?”
“No… That would be stupid. I lost the woman anyway. There are hundreds of her here. No time warping for most of them. One of them, Eva? She said that you lived here. The door wasn’t locked, so I let myself in and poked around.”
Which was a good enough reason to come in, really.
“The enemy looked like Eva?”
That got a nod, and the healing amulet held back out.
“That’s the one. Almost exactly like her. Except she moved really fast. Sort of like you? At least when she wanted to. Now… Before I wander off into the night, and start crying, because I’m lost on a different planet, which shouldn’t be possible at all… Tor? He died, years ago. Timon told me about him, but… My father? That part was never mentioned. My mother used to tell me stories… That he was, but… Is this some kind of cross world thing? Where a story in my world is true here?”
Ben nodded.
“You’re clearly Tor’s. Not that it will help you. You should come here and learn magic. This place has a lot of things that you’re missing. Which makes sense. Without Tor going first… I get it now. I think that Zack can get you back? You need to get armor, and better shields. Even if you can stab through them. Right?” He looked uncertain then, but turned to Dare, not Zack to check on the matter of getting him back home.
So he smiled and nodded.
“You can make copies of what I have, if I can use your invisibility thing? That’s nicely done. No one here really has that yet. I sort of managed it with a device once, but you can’t move around really. Here, let me pass things out. Armor first, and shields for everyone. Excuse me.” He had to hop over the blood, but the man had literally sliced his own hand. Kind of clumsily as well. He didn’t ask about it but it seemed that while Timon might be his teacher, the man hadn’t bothered to get him fighting lessons.
