by Al K. Line
"I didn't ask you what I know, I asked you what this is, so answer me."
Amanda stared at him, trying to kill him by the power of her emotions. The silence stretched out. Laffer loomed over her, then moved over to Dale, still moaning quietly but unconscious.
"I believe Amanda here needs a little encouragement, Laffer."
"Laffer break finger now."
"No, wait!" It was too late. Laffer bent and grabbed Dale's hand. There was a sickening crunch as his left pinkie finger bent at an awkward angle.
Dale shot upright, screaming and clutching at his finger, staring around wildly, back in the present, the last few minutes coming back to him in an instant.
"I'll tell you, I'll tell you," screamed Amanda.
"Of course you will," said Hector. He looked around the room calmly, taking in their modest living room, decorated tastefully but on a budget, unlike Hector's own luxurious home. "Now, I'll ask again, one more time." Amanda took the warning as it was intended, a terrible threat. "What is this?"
"It's a Hexad. A time travel device." Amanda glanced at Dale. He was shaking his head, telling her not to say anything more, but how could she keep quiet?
"Hexad, is it? Hmm. Get back on the sofa, Dale, unless you like having your fingers broken?" Hector motioned with the gun.
Dale clambered out of the broken table and half crawled, half climbed onto the sofa and sat next to Amanda. "Are you okay?"
"I've been better," said Amanda.
"Now, why were you in my house? That was what, almost a year ago for me now? Eight years into the future from this point in time. Why were you there?"
"We had no choice," grunted Dale.
"No choice? I don't know you, well, I didn't. I've had plenty of time to find out all about you since then. You lead rather a strange life, you know? No, of course you don't, it hasn't happened to you yet. Hmm, I suppose it never will now, not now I'm here. One more time, last chance. Why were you in my house eight years into your future?"
"To stop you. You're evil, a terrible man," blurted Amanda. "The things you did, or do, you're a monster."
Hector looked shocked, actually took a step back, further away from the split coffee table. "I don't know what you are talking about. I'm not a bad man. You broke into my home and hit my son over the head. My son! And I've spent the last year finding out all about you, watching the lives you lead, in your own future. You're not easy people to keep track of, I can tell you that much. But this," Hector held up his Hexad, or, rather, Amanda's Hexad, "this explains why you keep on disappearing. I traced you easily enough. My surveillance may not be perfect, but I found you, even used the Hexad once before, and now I'm back, back to just a little later than the time you left it set at, and I want answers."
"Just give it to us," said Dale with a sigh, staring at his bent finger.
"Laffer." Hector nodded at Dale.
"No, wait!"
Laffer leaned forward, putting a huge hand on Dale's shoulder to pin him to the sofa, and with one hand he grabbed Dale's finger and bent it back into position.
Dale screamed, and almost passed out, his face ashen, sweat beading his forehead. "Oh my god, oh my god."
"I'm doing you a favor, my dear boy, better than it being all bent, no?"
"Gee, thanks."
Amanda tried to calm herself but all she wanted to do was run. "Just give it back, then everything will be fine. You can continue to raise your son, we can carry on with our lives, everything will be all right."
"I don't think so. Now, why don't we have a nice cuppa and you can tell me all about how you happened to be in my house and what exactly it is you think I have done, or will do."
The way he spoke made him seem normal to Amanda, like he wasn't a monster. And that was the whole point, wasn't it? Giving him the Hexad, and now this, it was just the beginning of it all. Everything that happened in the future was her fault. She'd done this to herself, to Dale, to all the Amandas and countless people in endless universes.
"Eh?"
Dale was looking at her strangely. "Make the coffee," he whispered.
Amanda looked at Dale, then turned to look at Hector. He seemed amused, as if he had been talking and she hadn't been listening.
"Two sugars for me," said Hector.
"Laffer have six."
Of course he does.
~~~
It was too surreal. They were sat at the kitchen table, drinking coffee, Hector looking like the perfect gentleman, Laffer frowning at the mug, the handle too small for him to use, slurping his coffee like a child, which she supposed he was. He was what, fourteen or fifteen at the most? He looked like a grown man, a slightly younger version of the man they had encountered at The Ward, but he had the beard, the muscles, the heavy forehead and the huge, deadly hands.
Dale kept staring at his finger. It was swollen badly, black and blue, but at least it was back where it was supposed to be, and pointing the right way.
Hector had his Hexad held in one hand, never letting it go for a second. Amanda wished she could say the same about the one Dale had when they jumped back from Hector's home — it sat in front of Hector on the table, no chance to use it unless they wanted to risk getting shot.
"Let's start again. Where did these Hexads come from?"
"It's a long story," said Amanda. "You wouldn't believe us if we told you."
"Try me."
Amanda glanced at Dale. He nodded — it couldn't make things any worse.
~~~
"I don't believe you," said Hector, arching his back to get the kinks out. Laffer remained motionless, as if he only reacted when ordered to by his father.
"I don't care if you believe us or not, we're telling the truth." Amanda knew it sounded ridiculous — as they told Hector the story it sounded far-fetched even to her.
They'd been sat at the table for over an hour now, going over and over how they first got their Hexad, at least this time, but as this reality was the only one either Dale or Amanda remembered it may as well have been their only experience with time travel, and anyway, it might have been — the other events could have been alternate versions of them, although neither of them believed that, not really.
"So you are telling me that this man called The Caretaker just appeared? Told you this crazy story about what you'd overlooked when you saved the world? That in another universe you saved it, and I was involved somehow? And that then a Hexad suddenly appeared and you went off writing books, jumping into weird chambers and then set things right again? But then messed up by digging up proof about time travel in your garden? Is that what you are telling me?"
Dale and Amanda nodded. "Yeah, you got a problem with that?" said Dale, wincing as he put his hands together.
"No, absolutely not. But what did I do in that universe to endanger everything? More to the point, what did I do, oh, excuse me, what do I do in this one to make you hate me so much?"
"That, I can't tell," said Amanda. She knew if she told him what he did to her then he would know how to power the Hexads, how to make them run, and then they really would be to blame.
"I don't think you have a choice, do you? Now, look, I have waited almost a year before coming to see you two, trying to find out about these devices you call Hexads, but I will do what it takes to find out why you have brought me into this. You attacked my son!"
"I'm sorry about that, Laffer," said Amanda. She turned to him but he ignored her. "Laffer?"
"Laffer got cut head. Laffer not like lady now."
"As you can see, my son is less than impressed with you. You will tell me everything. Why you were in my home, what I am supposed to have done, or will do, and how Hexads came into being in the first place."
Dale sighed. "Look, all we can tell you is that they are real because we made them real. We got drunk, said stuff about us leaving proof in the garden, and then they just started appearing. We can't get rid of the bloody things."
"Please, do you take me for a fool? Somebody had to invent
them, you can't bring things into existence by saying they will be there in the future, or whatever you did. Gosh, this time travel business really is very confusing."
"You're telling us that?" Amanda didn't know what to do. How could they get away? If she lunged for a Hexad they would be dead before she could set it, grab Dale, and press the dome.
Hector pushed back his chair suddenly; Laffer did the same a moment later, instantly on guard. "That's enough of this nonsense. Tell me who made them, and tell me now, or I will put an end to this." Hector raised the gun, pushed it against Dale's temple. He stared at Amanda, daring her to defy him.
"Hey, guys," said Peter, stood by the fridge, half a pork pie in one hand, Hexad in the other.
"Don't move." Hector swiveled the gun to Peter; Laffer put Dale in a headlock.
"Over here," came the voice of Peter from the living room.
"Better go and get me, I'm in there I think," said Peter, still eating his pork pie, seemingly unconcerned by the gun pointed at him.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
"That's me too, can you please let me in?" said Peter, crumbs from his snack stuck to his beard like dirty snow.
"What the hell is going on?"
"Hey, you, yeah, you with the gun, better look out." This time it was Peter's voice coming from the garden, voice booming from where he stood by the apple tree, his back turned to them.
"Laffer no like same man in lots of places."
"You think you're clever, don't you?" Hector walked toward Peter, gun aimed precisely at his forehead.
"I don't think, I know. I told you to watch out." Peter stuffed the last of the pork pie into his mouth and nodded to his left, toward the counter top.
Amanda watched as reality blurred and seemingly from the middle of the air a ball of fur, claws, and teeth flew at Hector's head. He grabbed for what Amanda assumed was a very annoyed Wozzy and screamed as he stumbled about the kitchen, blind and bleeding.
Peter disappeared from by the fridge, from out in the garden, and the next thing she knew he appeared beside Dale and Laffer and slammed a pair of red bricks either side of Laffer's head. He crashed to the ground, unconscious.
"Fancy going someplace else?" asked Peter with a smile.
"You bet."
"Oh yeah, buddy, too right."
"Hold on then." Peter put out his hand. Amanda and Dale grabbed a finger each and Peter slammed the dome of his Hexad into his chest, going, "Whooooooooooooooooooosh."
"Hey, that's my line..."
They vanished.
Poor Wozzy
1 Hour Past
"Oh, poor Wozzy, poor little dude."
"Don't worry, he's fine," said Peter. "Ah, here he is now."
Wozzy sauntered into what Amanda realized with a start was Hector's living room, just decorated differently to how she'd seen it an hour or so ago, licking his lips clean of a milk mustache.
"Wozzy!" Amanda scooped him up in her arms and kissed him on his head. "Ow, ow, ow. You little bugger."
Meow.
Amanda dropped him, scowled at her blouse, and then smiled. "Poor guy. Um, wow! Peter, how the hell did you do that?"
"And where exactly did you get a Hexad from?" asked Dale with a frown that quickly turned to a smile.
Peter spread his arms wide, smiled broadly, and said, "I think we deserve a drink." With that he wandered off, retracing Wozzy's steps.
Amanda and Dale stared after him, speechless. They were still there when he returned with a bottle of wine and three glasses.
Peter shook the bottle, smiled and said, "It's expensive. Really expensive."
"Why not?"
"Count me in."
They moved over to a large, carved table, definitely not the minimalist style Hector had favored on their last visit. Peter poured the wine while Dale and Amanda scraped back a chair and sat, still staring at him open-mouthed.
"Um, okay, how the hell...? Um, are we safe?" Amanda glanced around the room nervously, expecting Hector and Laffer to arrive at any moment.
"Don't worry, we're fine. I jumped us to an hour ago, so they are at your place now."
"Um, Peter, it doesn't work like that. They could jump here still."
"Nah, don't be daft, they are at your house."
"Peter," said Dale, "you can jump anywhere, you know that, you just did it. Um, loads of times."
Peter took a sip of wine, and said, "I suppose you're right. Don't worry about it, they won't know we are here. We could be anywhere, right?"
"S'pose," said Amanda. "Wow, thanks, Peter. You saved us there. Poor Wozzy."
"Yeah, but he doesn't seem to mind." Peter indicated the sleeping Wozzy, curled up around the head of a lion, the rest just a rather comfortable rug. "I got the idea from you, Amanda, when you did it when we first got chased by Laffer at The Ward, remember?"
"How could I forget?"
"Okay, come on, you have to tell me how you did that, it was pretty impressive," said Dale.
"Dale, let's fix your finger first, look at it."
Dale looked down at his finger. To Amanda it looked like a gone-off sausage, but Dale seemed hardly interested in it at all, like he'd forgotten. "It's fine, Laffer actually popped it back in. I'll be all right."
"Are you sure? Oh, my brave man." Amanda leaned to her left and kissed Dale. He smiled back at her, like everything was fine and what had happened was nothing but a dream.
Amanda felt her stomach flip — maybe it was nothing but the imagination of a warped mind and she could be back in her cell, strapped up tight, dosed on her meds, raving about time travel and how her psychiatrist was really trying to take over the world and was out to get her. She shook her head, focused on the here and now. This was real. Wasn't it?
"Amanda. Amanda!"
"Sorry, miles away. God, I'm so tired, I don't feel like I've stopped since I got out of that damn Ward."
Peter and Dale exchanged worried glances.
"What?"
"Well, we wanted it to be a surprise, but now is as good a time as any. Shall we do it now?" Dale asked Peter.
"Yeah, good idea."
"What? What's going on?"
"You'll see." Dale adjusted the Hexad he'd grabbed before they jumped as Amanda suddenly realized they'd left Hector with his and should have taken it, but she couldn't blame Peter for that oversight. "Ready?"
"Ready," said Peter.
"I guess," said Amanda, exhausted.
"Whooooooooooooooooooosh."
"Dale, do you have to—"
They jumped.
~~~
78 Years Future
"No more time travel, no more Hector or Laffer, no more madness. Just rest."
"Wow," was all Amanda could say.
"We were going to save it until it was all over, but, well, now seemed like a good time, right, Peter?"
"Absolutely. And don't worry, I'm not staying. This is for you guys. I'm gonna go and get Wozzy and leave you to it."
"Oh no, not yet you don't," said Dale, grabbing Peter's arm before he disappeared.
"What? I'm just giving you guys a break."
"You have some explaining to do first. How did you do all that just then and where the hell did you get a Hexad from?"
"Oh, er, um, I thought you'd be pleased." Dale stared at him; Amanda was too caught up in where she was to think about scolding him. "Okay, I nicked it. Happy?"
"Peter, we went through this," said Dale.
"I know, but c'mon, it's time travel!"
"Fine." Dale sighed. "Tell us all about it. Then you can bugger off."
Peter sat down on the sand and owned up.
Amanda was surprised he'd lasted as long as he had, but the truth was he had been a sneaky bugger and while Dale was in a bit of a meltdown, hunting high and low for her, jumping back and forth through time, doing his daft thing with the trunk full of Hexads in the garden and almost getting Cray involved, Peter had rather taken advantage, much to his shame, so he said, although he looked anything b
ut shamed, and had taken the opportunity to get himself a nice handful of Hexads.
He'd taken one out of Dale's hands when he fell asleep after a longer day of jumping than usual, and without explaining in too much detail Peter admitted he'd then proceeded to jump back time after time and take more and more Hexads from Dale while he slept.
Dale hadn't even noticed that when he woke up the Hexad display read one jump less than it should have, and Peter then had a never-ending supply. All he had to do after he had a few of them stashed away was jump to where he'd put them, take them all, jump away, put them back again with the others and double his loot each time.
That was just the beginning. After he had what he thought was enough, and Amanda didn't want to think how many that would be, he'd then come to own up, only to be faced with seeing Hector and Laffer in the kitchen with them. Dale and Amanda had interrupted him saying they didn't remember that, but he'd just looked at them like they were stupid — of course they wouldn't, he'd jumped away and then jumped back and did his little trick before any of that had happened, and he was quiet about what he saw and what had happened.
Rather, he'd jumped back into various places, did what he did, jumped away and kept jumping back to different spots, ending with a fast "here then gone," threw Wozzy, reappeared with bricks and the rest was history.
Amanda had to admit she was impressed. It was some serious coordination on his part, done with military precision.
"And there we have it," said Peter. "I saved the day."
"I still want the Hexads back," said Dale with a pout.
"Spoilsport," moaned Peter.
"Peter, I can't thank you enough for saving us, and for this," Amanda swept a hand around at the beautiful location, "but you know what we have to do. We have to get rid of them all. We have to go and get that one off Hector, and it's a shame you didn't put that into your plan, but you can't keep them, you know that."
"I know, and sorry about not getting Hector's. I didn't want to risk doing any more than I did. Okay, I'll sort it, promise. You guys just relax, I'll deal with it."
"Promise?" asked Amanda, almost asleep.
