by Al K. Line
She wiped away her tears, trying to focus, to listen to what Dale was telling her, but it wasn't easy. She wanted to curl up into a ball and sleep. Sleep until her old life was back and nothing bad had ever happened to her, ever. "Sorry, I missed that." Dale had been talking; she hadn't heard a word he'd said.
"I said, I had one jump left on the Hexad and I risked everything to find you. I could have been stuck ten years into the future."
"How? What? I don't understand."
"I went to try to find Cray."
Amanda shot up from her chair in a panic. "What!? Are you mad? He's deranged. Was deranged."
"You remember what Tellan said? That sometimes he was good, sometimes bad, sometimes both. Well, I just hoped I'd find a good version of him, and luckily I did. At least I think I did at any rate."
"Seems like a nice guy to me," said Peter, "if a little serious. But I suppose all police are a bit like that. It's kind of like they're institutionalized." Peter got another warning from Dale. "Oops, sorry."
"It's okay. But look, what happened? No, not now, I'm too tired. As long as I know you tried, that's the main thing."
"Of course I tried. I'm so sorry you thought I'd abandoned you, Amanda. I would never, ever do that. I love you."
Amanda sat back down and sighed deeply, her body sagging like she was made of nothing but tiredness. "I love you too. One more thing?"
"Anything."
"Don't let me sleep on the sofa again, I think I'd freak out if I woke here. I'd imagine Laffer was going to come and get me."
"Let's get you to bed then," said Dale, holding out his hand.
Amanda took it and said, "Goodnight, Peter, great to see you again," as Dale led her toward the bedroom.
"Night-night, sleep tight," said Peter, smiling broadly.
"I hope Wozzy comes back, I kind of missed him."
Peter stared at the spot where he'd disappeared. "Yeah, I've kind of got attached to the little dude."
~~~
Dale walked into the kitchen to find Peter munching on a huge block of cheese. "She's out like a light."
"I'm kind of getting a sense of déjà vu here, dude, it's like we're doing what we did a few days ago all over again. You sure it's her this time?"
"I'm sure. Damn, I feel awful about this. I wonder what happened to the other Amanda?" Dale looked exhausted, drained of energy like he'd finally come to the end of his reserves.
"She will have returned to where she's supposed to be. You did the right thing, Dale, you did what she wanted. Here, have some cheese."
Dale stared at the offered lump of cheese and realized that he was starving. He took it and had a huge bite, knowing it would take a lot more than that to allow him to recover. But at least he could relax for a moment now.
But could he? "Well, I guess all we have to do now is figure out how to save the universes, stop Hector and Laffer, save the Amandas and hope for the best."
"Yeah, easy-peasy, right?"
Dale passed the cheese back to Peter.
"Just a walk in the park." Dale put his head in his hands, wondering if it would ever all be over.
Peter took a huge bite and chewed, then frowned. "Um, Dale?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, how come I... er, how come I remember that you were here with the other Amanda? Surely, if you jumped back and made yourself and her disappear before you, er, then jumped back here with her and then realized it was the wrong one, how did it happen if now it means you didn't do that as you both disappeared before you came back? Er, that's right, isn't it? What about the Amanda that jumped with you when you went to do all that? There were three of her at one point, right?"
"Oh, shit!" Dale looked panicked, but slowly a smile spread across his face. "You know what, Peter, I honestly don't give a flying fuck. It's the paradox thing. You have to remember it all, and it has to have happened, as if it hadn't happened then I wouldn't have jumped back to confront myself and get the right one. I think."
"Oh, well, why didn't you say so?" Peter took another bite of cheese then hunted for some crackers.
Some Down Time
Present Day
For two days nobody did anything apart from eat, sleep, and talk. Peter kept away apart from a few brief visits to check on her, although she got the impression he was more concerned about if maybe Wozzy had turned up. Dale had promised to call if he did but Peter popped in anyway.
By the second day, Amanda felt a little more like herself again, although there were constant flashbacks to time spent in solitary in a straitjacket, times when she felt truly insane surrounded by others that always looked just like her, no matter how hard she tried to do what Hector suggested and picture them as having different faces — that had never worked, and she knew that she had fought it to prove to herself that it was him that was mad, not her.
Slowly, the drugs left her body and her mind became her own again, allowing her to think, which she wasn't so sure was a good thing. Too many thoughts and memories crowded in, forcing her down into a dark place she didn't want to dwell in.
She was home. She wanted to be happy, but that simply wasn't possible, not knowing The Ward was still there in the future, other versions of her being manipulated, used and abused like nothing more than cattle.
Life was out of control — too complicated, too dangerous and way too depressing.
At least I'm home, at least Dale's here.
Amanda smiled as she turned and looked at him out in the garden, scowling into the hedge as the squirrel jumped from the apple tree into the dense cover and made its escape. Some things never changed, and that was good. She watched him as he hung up the feeders and then glanced into the hedge again as he made his way down the garden. She chuckled as the robin landed on the feeder and sifted through the seed, discarding everything apart from the sunflower seeds, littering the lawn with feed that the wood pigeons and collared doves would soon peck at eagerly.
Why couldn't every day be like this, instead of what seemed to be a constant circle of madness they never even remembered?
Amanda considered what Dale had told her over the last few days, giving her pieces of information when she asked but never overloading her by going into too much detail too quickly, just providing the basics and clearly glossing over anything he thought would be too much for her to take.
It seemed that he'd repeated what had happened to them in other timelines, and rather than wait for ten years Dale had used his last jump and gone forward to the time when they were supposed to have found a chest full of Hexads in the garden and then inexplicably phoned it in as a bomb threat, fulfilling an act that led to all kinds of insanity but nonetheless had to be done if they'd wanted to change what had happened — that was what they'd been told, at any rate.
It meant he had taken a number of Hexads, but it also meant that he met Detective Inspector Cray, a man somehow involved in their lives across space and time — he seemed as linked to the Hexads as they themselves were. Dale hadn't told Cray anything — he didn't want to risk causing any more problems in the future — so had gone in for questioning, talked little, and once home he'd jumped to where they were stored and took every last one of them before Cray managed to take one for himself, which he would if he repeated what he'd done before.
All of that had been a little over a month ago for Dale, and he had told Amanda he was sure Cray felt he was to blame for the strange devices having gone missing, not that he could prove it. But Cray had called on the phone a little too often, even turning up and acting like he was on official business when Dale was sure he wasn't. Still, it didn't matter, he'd done it and got the Hexads, that was the main thing.
Amanda had asked him why on earth he'd bothered getting the police involved at all. Why hadn't he simply taken all the Hexads and kept them for himself rather than making things so convoluted? Dale had squirmed at the question but told her he'd got himself so upset and confused that he'd not thought it through properly, but believed he was supposed to do t
hings how they'd been told they had happened, so had called it in as a bomb threat then realized it was a bit pointless if he was going to steal them all back anyway.
Amanda had laughed at his embarrassment, calling him a muppet, but said she understood as the whole thing was so damn confusing how were they supposed to know what to do, what was right and what was wrong?
Dale had said he still felt like an idiot as he jumped away from the room where the trunk was secured with arms full of Hexads, wondering what on earth he'd been thinking and cursing himself for getting so caught up in the madness he didn't know if he was coming or going and had just made his life more complicated.
But at least he'd got Amanda back, that was the main thing. He'd jumped endless times, just hoping to find her somewhere where it was possible to help, but without risking getting caught himself as then the game really would be over. Finally, he thought he'd found her, climbing through the window, so jumped away then back at the right moment, sure it was her. He'd been mistaken — one more mistake among many.
Amanda told him it didn't matter, he'd done the right thing, and now all they had to do was figure out how to stop it all, for good this time. No loose ends, no paradoxes and doing things they'd been told they'd done in the past, just putting stuff right and getting rid of the nightmare life they found themselves living.
All that remained was one question: How?
"Damn squirrel," moaned Dale as he came into the kitchen and washed his hands at the sink, staring out at the hedge like he was daring it to come out of hiding while he watched.
"Maybe we need to buy one of those squirrel-proof feeders?" suggested Amanda.
"Have you seen how much they cost? They're bloody expensive."
"Maybe, but I bet with the money we'd save on feed it would still pay for itself pretty quickly."
Dale seemed to do some mental calculations and nodded. "Probably. I bet he eats more than the birds."
"He?" giggled Amanda. "How do you knew it's a he?"
"Dunno, I just assumed with a name like Roger he was a male."
"Roger!? You named it?"
"Um, well, yeah," said Dale, shifting about and fidgeting as he wiped his hands on his jeans to dry them. "I see the little sod so often I felt like I should give him a name."
"Roger, the squirrel?" Amanda raised an eyebrow at Dale, wondering if he'd named the robin too. Best not to ask, it's probably called Shelia or something.
"Look, I've been thinking, not that I'm changing the subject or anything."
"Okay," said Amanda warily.
"I think the best thing to do is jump to wherever Hector would be now, once we find out, and shoot the man dead. Pow, and he's gone for good. No problems in the future, no Ward, nothing. We then forget all of this ever happened and everything is right with the world."
"That simple, eh? You think we can just do that?"
"Well, I don't see why not. Or I don't see why we shouldn't at least try to do it anyway."
"You know what? I think that's the most intelligent thing anyone has said to me in a very long time."
Dale smiled, pleased Amanda was agreeable. "Right, all we need to do now is get a gun, and learn how to use one I suppose."
"Maybe we should stick to something simpler. Poison? Stab him in his horrible face until his brains fall out of his ears and pull off his arms and—"
"Amanda!"
"Sorry, but he deserves way more than we could ever do to him. Way more."
"I know, honey, and I'm sorry for what happened. Do you think you are up for this then?"
"You have got to be kidding, I wouldn't miss this for the world. That man is pure evil, the worst person I have ever met in my life by far."
Meow.
"Wozzy!"
"You're back."
Dale and Amanda stared at the counter top and the small form of Wozzy, ginger and white coat as pristine as if he'd just had a wash and blow dry. One minute the counter was empty, the next it was the resting place for Wozzy.
"How are you, dude? We missed you, kind of." Dale picked him up and got a deep rumble of pleasure from Wozzy. "Poor guy, this must be where he jumped to when he disappeared."
"If it's him. It could be the other Wozzy," said Amanda, smiling.
"Don't even go there. This is Wozzy and that's that. It was weird not having him around all those months. Not as weird as not having you around, of course," added Dale hurriedly, "but I got used to the little fellow. Ow, ow, gerroff you little sod." Dale hopped about as Wozzy clawed his way up Dale's t-shirt and scagged the skin on his neck, pulling it until it bled.
"Just stroke him," giggled Amanda, "it will calm him down. Still glad he's back?"
"Maybe, maybe not." Dale stroked Wozzy until he relaxed, then put a finger to the scratch on his neck, staining his finger red. "Little sod."
The Return of Wozzy
Present Day
After some food, a lot of food, Wozzy pointedly ignored Dale and Amanda and sauntered into the living room to curl up on the sofa for a sleep, scagging the cushions and rearranging them until he had a nice comfortable resting place.
They left him to it — not that there was much choice in the matter.
"I wish I knew how all this worked," moaned Amanda, finding the more that happened the less she understood about time travel. "But more than anything what I want to know is why me?"
"Why you?"
"Of course. You remember what Tellan said, about what has happened before? All this damn time travel craziness, the Hexads and damn chambers and all of it," said an exasperated Amanda. "Why is it all based around me? What have I ever done to anyone to have to be the one that powers the things?"
Dale did the only thing he could, he hugged Amanda tight and stroked her hair. It was already regaining its luster after more shampoo and conditioner than seemed healthy, but then it made Amanda happy to at least try to get back to a semblance of normality so he said nothing as she took shower after shower. "I wish I had the answers, honey, but I don't. I don't know how to find out, and I don't know what we can do to ensure that none of this ever happens again. All I know is that we have to try. We have to stop Hector, and the simplest answer is to just bloody kill him stone dead. That's the end of it then."
Amanda stepped away, refusing to cry, and forced a smile. "Let's get on with it then. Where do we start?"
"I guess we start with research on this Hector guy, find out who he really is and how the hell we can beat him before he even knows what he gets involved in later. I guess the Internet is the best place to start."
"What, right now?"
"Yes, right now. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go back to normal."
Amanda felt herself deflating at the thought of what was to come, but did her best to summon up energy from reserves she knew she didn't have. She needed rest, time to recuperate, but she knew Dale was right and that there was no way she could truly rest until they'd finished what they'd inadvertently started. How they had started it by digging up the note was still unclear, but if Amanda knew one thing about time travel then she knew it was sure to be confusing as hell and probably downright impossible.
They went to work.
~~~
"Wozzy, you nutter, get the hell off the keyboard." Wozzy reached up a paw and swatted at the screen. Dale cringed as he saw his HD monitor wobble as Wozzy went in for another try at getting the pictures on the screen.
Amanda reached out from behind him and picked up Wozzy. "He probably wants more food. I guess jumping forward through time gives you an appetite."
"Well tell him it's in the kitchen, not in the office."
"No need to get grumpy, he's just a cat."
"Sorry, I guess I'm frustrated."
"Come on, Wozzy, let's go take a break." Amanda kissed Dale on the top of the head and took Wozzy into the kitchen, where he meowed loudly and insistently until she finished opening a can of tuna and upended it into a bowl on the floor.
She left him to it a
nd went back into the office. They'd been doing research all day and both of them were coming to the same conclusion — they weren't detectives.
"We need someone who knows what they're doing here; this is getting us nowhere. I can't make sense of any of it, maybe Peter will have better luck? You know what he's like with computers." Dale stretched out in the chair, his back creaking as he put his hands behind his head.
"Or the detective. Why not get Cray to help?"
"Are you serious?" Dale swiveled the chair and looked at Amanda as though she was joking.
"What? Why not?"
"Because I was an idiot for getting him involved at all, but at least he doesn't know what I took were time travel devices. Look, he seemed nice enough, but you heard the stories. Let's leave him out of this. I don't think I could stand having another problem to deal with. What if he goes off on one and then we have two maniacs on our hands?"
"Okay, fair enough, just an idea. Peter then?"
Dale nodded. "Peter. I'll give him a call."
~~~
"All done. I don't know how you guys even figure out how to turn the computer on. That was too easy." Peter slumped onto the sofa and looked expectantly at Amanda.
I can read him like a book. He's like Wozzy: always wanting food. "Fine, I'll make something now. What do you want?"
"Surprise me, but I'm starving."
"How did you do that so quickly?" asked Dale.
Amanda checked her watch. "It's only been quarter of an hour. We were at it for hours and hours."
"Aha, tricks of the trade," replied Peter, smiling.
"Okay, whatever. Thanks, Peter, we appreciate it."
"Hey, for you guys anything, although, um, you know, I don't really fancy getting involved in murder or anything, and, well, I don't think you'll like this anyway."
Amanda had a sinking feeling. Why was nothing ever straightforward? "Spill it then. What's the matter?"
"Make me a snack and I'll tell you. Or better yet, maybe I should just show you. How about letting me have a Hexad, Dale? It's only fair."
