Keystones: Altered Destinies

by Alexander McKinney

The thrust of acceleration came over him, followed by sounds of the capsule’s docking with Ring Two. The comfortable embrace of gravity returned, pressing Jonny into his seat. Passengers swept out of the capsule like water gushing from a hole in a plastic container.

  Jonny headed to the nearest train stop. It was a small irony of living on the Rings that traveling the shortest distances tended to take the greatest amount of time. The portions of the habitats between capsule-docking stations were the most time-consuming to reach. Jonny lived in such an area.

  His favorite form of short-distance transportation was the moving walkways, which were fast and free. A series of parallel strips, the outermost walkways moved the slowest and the inner three quite fast. On this section of Ring Two the walkways, made of a shiny black material with neon blue stripes, were in good repair. There were handles that you could hold onto that eased the difficulty of crossing over from one speed to another. Carrying his meager luggage, Jonny moved to the middle walkway.

  The Rings were built to sustain much higher populations than they actually held. After the Doppler-Bubble Drive was invented, many who wanted to live in space ended up moving out much further than the Rings, building habitats on moons throughout the solar system. Others went to artificial habitats located in the Lagrange points between planets and their moons. The upside of this was that Jonny’s apartment, while inconveniently located, was large and low-rent.

  Ten minutes later Jonny was getting close to home and downshifted to the slower walkways. After he disembarked it was a five-minute walk to his apartment complex.

  Approaching his door, he felt like a new man. Gone was the dusty traveler who had been attacked by wild animals. Facial-recognition software and biometric scans identified him and allowed him entrance.

  His living room was divided into one section for a bar and entertainment area, another for cooking, and a third for dining. The predominant colors were an off-white for the stone walls and floors and blue for most of the furniture. The crowning glory was a huge window that looked out on space, with a view much like that of the Elevator terminal. From it Jonny could see Ring Three passing by, as well as the sun in all of its magnificence. Depending on the time of day and lunar month, the moon was also known to make an appearance.

  It wasn’t just being home that was important to Jonny. It was the overall sense of living on the Rings. Whereas Earth was a mishmash of organic materials when it came to construction, the Terra Rings, like every other man-made structure in space, were artificial and sterile. Walls, doors, furniture, clothing, and fixtures all were made of metal or plastic or polymers. Nothing of natural origin was left. After his experience in Kenya, Jonny found this very comforting.

  Dropping his bag on the floor, Jonny addressed the first order of business—getting clean. The water from the shower rained down on him, penetrating even the worst of the grime from his trip. When he stepped out of the shower, he felt that he was clean for the first time since he’d visited Earth. Rejuvenated, he was ready for his next task.

  Still toweling his hair, Jonny made a call over the embedded entertainment system in his quarters.

  A sullen voice answered, “Hello?”

  “Derek, you know it’s me.”

  Jonny’s wall-screen flickered to life. The expression on Derek’s face as he replied could best be described as restrained distaste. “Yes, but I don’t know why you’re calling me. It’s been three years.”

  “I have something that I need to work out, and you’re the only person with the right sort of background to help me.”

  “You know, Jonny, it means so much that you called,” Derek said, sarcasm lacing every word.

  “I can pay.”

  Derek paused. Jonny knew that he’d shifted the entire level of the discussion. “Wait, you want a favor that you’re going to pay for?”

  “Yep.”

  Eyes narrowed and chin pinched between his thumb and forefinger, Derek asked, “When did you become so generous?”

  “Did you see that video of the rat?”

  “I think everyone saw that hoax. It’s despicable how the news outlets try to cash in on the panic of‭. . . .‬”

  Jonny cut him off in mid-rant. “It was no hoax. I sold the footage to them. It was a secure live feed. I still have the original of the video if you want to verify it.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Jonny maintained a matter-of-fact tone. “The rat was crawling on the glass exterior of my Elevator.”

  “You took that video?” Derek infused the word “you” with amazement, shock, and disbelief.

  “That’s what I’m saying, yes.”

  “And they paid you for it?”

  “Again, yes.”

  Jonny observed the muscles tightening around Derek’s eyes. “What is it that you want help with?”

  “It’ll be easier if we discuss it in your lab.”

  “Ten grand.”

  Jonny had known that Derek was going to be angry with him, but this was outrageous. “What?”

  “I want ten grand up front as a show of good faith.”

  “Are you out of your mind?”

  “Hey, you’re the one with the sudden windfall who needs a favor. Besides, you did screw me on that last contract.”

  “Fine, but if I’m paying you up front, I expect an open mind. I also expect you to spend several hours helping me work this out.”

  “Deal.”

  Derek sat at his desk leaning on his elbow and pressing his fist into his cheek. The white coat that he wore, as well as the accreditations lining the lab’s walls, were reassuring to Jonny after his adventures in Africa. Derek’s demeanor was less so. Listening with a skeptical expression on his face while Jonny narrated his story, Derek was not convinced.

  “Let me make sure I understand you properly,” said Derek. “All extraneous details aside, when you were attacked a dark and cold liquid jetted out from your palms, saving you.”

  Jonny kept his voice level and calm. “In a nutshell, yes.”

  Derek’s response carried almost no inflection. “So what is it that you want me to do?”

  Jonny tried to keep his tone light, not wanting Derek to get the better of him. “I want you to figure out what the hell’s happened to me.”

  “Uh huh. How exactly?”

  “How should I know? You’re the geneticist, and you demanded payment up front. Test my DNA. Put together some research protocols. How were the original Keystones tested?”

  “I never paid attention to the protocols. Before now it has always been my professional opinion that the original Keystones were hoaxes.”

  “Right, and the rat on my video?” Jonny felt a tangible sense of irritation growing.

  “You hoaxed a major news network. Congratulations. You’ll be going to jail.”

  “What?” Jonny couldn’t help but feel that Derek was baiting him.

  Derek sat up straighter and smiled, looking as though he were having a pleasant daydream. “Well, no. Realistically they’re probably just going to sue you for everything that you’re worth.”

  Jonny’s nostrils flared, and he bit his lip to hold back angry words. “I’ve already paid for your help. I’d like a little bit more than this.”

  “I’m keeping the money,” replied Derek, “but I’m not going to be part of your deluded fantasies.”

  Derek’s smug expression proved to be too much. “Listen here, you insufferable son of a bitch,” Jonny exploded while pointing his finger at Derek’s face. “I came to you with documented footage of part of my story and‭. . . .‬” As he began to get into the swing of his tirade, a stream of icy, dark liquid sprayed over Derek. Jonny stared at the tip of his index finger. It was as dry as a desert stone. Derek’s face, clothes, and desk were covered by the stuff. The smell was familiar, very familiar.

  Derek shivered a few times and gathered himself before licking his hand twice, an incredulous expression on his face. “Guinness? Really? Guinness? Your superpower is that you can spr
ay cold Guinness at people? Christ, could you be more of a frat boy?” He looked down at himself and his desk. “I need a shower. Then I need to come up with some protocols. I don’t even know where to begin. There are absolutely no precedents. You know that, right?”

  “DNA testing?”

  “What the hell do you want me to look for? The Guinness gene? First discovered by Arthur Guinness in 1759?”

  Jonny did his best to hide his own shock at what had just happened. “Okay. I’ll wait here while you get cleaned up.”

  Derek walked back into his office and found Jonny pointing into an Erlenmeyer flask with one finger, jabbing in the opening with his finger.

  He smirked and said, “So you’re having limited success then?”

  Jonny looked at him with narrowed eyes reminiscent of a movie villain and pointed a finger in his direction. Derek dodged behind his desk.

  “Are you going to help me work this out or not?” asked Jonny.

  “I’ll waive the fee of ten grand, but I want half of the profits.”

  “Profits? What profits?”

  “That’s a deal then?”

  Jonny waved away Derek’s confusing comment. “Sure, whatever.”

  “Excellent. Now then, have you heard the stories about mothers’ lifting cars off their children or similar such events?”

  “Yeah, of course. Who hasn’t?”

  “Do you know what they all had in common?”

  “Stupid kids?”

  “Yes, that too, but more to the point they were people under emotional duress. They were able to do something that they normally couldn’t.”

  Jonny processed this in his own way. “So I need to be angry at you, or scared, before I can make this work?”

  “That’s a starting hypothesis, but it seems narrow. I’m guessing that right now you just need an agitated emotional state.”

  “What about my DNA?”

  “What about it?”

  “I’d like you to run tests on me to find out whether this is going to kill me.”

  Derek shrugged. “Fine. Roll up your sleeve.”

  “What now?”

  “You want DNA testing, so I’m taking blood.”

  Grumbling to himself, Jonny rolled up a sleeve.

  The needle that Derek reached for looked as though it would have been appropriate for a large animal like a whale.

  “Don’t you have anything smaller?” asked Jonny.

  “Scared?”

  Jonny promptly shut his mouth, not wanting to let Derek win.

  Derek took eight test tubes of blood in all.

  “You need eight samples to test my DNA?” inquired Jonny.

  “No, I need eight samples so that, if I think of something else to look for, I don’t need to call you back to the lab each time. This will go a lot more smoothly if you don’t question my every action.” Derek placed seven of the test tubes in a lab fridge and set one of them in a DNA sequencer.

  “What are you looking for?”

  Derek sighed. “What did I just tell you about not questioning every little thing?” Despite his annoyance, he answered anyway. “At birth all of us are sequenced. If there have been any significant changes in your DNA, they will show up. Are you done with that line of questioning?”

  “Yes.”

  “Great. Now I think we should start looking into what triggers this response in you. Anger is one stimulus, fear another.”

  “So I should just try getting angry?”

  “Well, maybe. We’re going to have to design protocols that include directed anger, undirected anger, and a host of other emotions. Chances are that this isn’t going to be fun for you.” Derek reflected a little more before smiling maliciously. “I, on the other hand, should be able to entertain myself enormously.”

  Indirect Information

  Calm sat next to Cay’s bed. The boy looked young lying there, his skin pale under the lights of the room and against the sheets of his bed. A tube led into his nose and another down his throat. The entire room, with its lack of decoration, conspired to make the medical care seem crude and the environment claustrophobic.

  This was Calm’s second time visiting Cay. Two days after the accident the boy still hadn’t awoken. The equipment monitoring his slumber indicated that he was in a coma.

  None of the machines registered brainwaves, and the prognosis was grim. Meanwhile the medical team had been working around the clock to determine the cause of Cay’s lapse into unconsciousness. So far they had met with failure, which made estimates of when he’d wake up little better than wild guesses.

  Calm dragged a passing researcher into the room to question him while he visited. Who knew? Maybe Cay would hear the conversation. “What do you mean that it’s as though the solar system is invisible?” he asked. Calm watched the man struggle to find a simple way of describing the situation.

  “Well, we’re still in the gravity field of a solar system.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “The gravity from the sun was all that ever held the Oort Cloud together.”

  “So?”

  “The physics out here are still acting as though there is a central gravity well. It has a minimal effect, but it is still measurable.”

  “What does that mean in simpler terms?” Calm inquired.

  “Well, it’s just a theory, but you’ve been told how all of the stars have changed, right?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “It’s possible that somehow Cay affected the artifact and that our entire solar system has been teleported to a new location in the universe.”

  Calm rolled his eyes. These so-called explanations weren’t helping at all. “And how would that turn the sun invisible?”

  “It wouldn’t. It would just mean that the light from the sun would need time to reach us again.”

  “Beg pardon?”

  “We’re almost a light year out from the center of the solar system. If something happens in there, the sight of it would take almost a year to reach us.”

  “So you’re saying what exactly?”

  “That we might see the sun out here in a year, or much sooner if we headed inward.”

  Calm took an interest in the ceiling while he worked out this idea. “So you’re inferring from the presence of minimal gravity that we’re still in our sun’s gravity well?”

  “Yes.” The scientist looked relieved that Calm understood him.

  “Could it be any star?”

  “Well, yes, I suppose so.” The academician’s voice was dismissive. “But if it isn’t our sun, then you’d expect the light to have already made its way out here.”

  Calm stood up and paced in circles before posing his next question. “Is there a way to test this hypothesis of yours?”

  “Well, it’s not my theory, but it’s the best that any of us have come up with.”

  Straight answers here were in short supply. “Answer my question.”

  “We’ll be sending a probe to the inner solar system to determine what’s there now.”

  “And what about us?”

  “In what sense?”

  Calm realized that a scientist who had chosen to live in the most remote settlement ever established by mankind might not understand the need to reconnect with the rest of humanity. “What do we do? How long can we survive?”

  “Oh. Well, we haven’t yet finished mapping the surrounding area, but the portion of the Oort Cloud that we were in appears to have made the same trip as us. That means we have what amounts to an unlimited supply of raw materials. The FAME stations were designed to be self-sufficient for extended periods of time due to the impracticality of regular supply chains.”

  “So we’re not in any immediate danger of starvation or atmospheric breach then?”

  “No, we’re safe, more or less indefinitely.”

  “Indefinitely?” Calm asked, not believing that the man could really believe that.

  “Yes.”

  “How many women are at this s
tation?”

  Comprehension failed to glimmer in the man’s eyes. “Twelve.”

  “And men?”

  “Forty-seven.”

  Understanding still eluded the cosmologist. “I’m going to go talk to someone with a higher pay grade,” said Calm.

  The Pet Shop

  Deklan sat with Susan in her office. A sign on the door said “Out for lunch.”

  “I think you’re being hasty and overly dramatic,” she declared.

  “Oh? How?”

  “You’re suggesting that because of one venomous dog and rumors in an ER, we should flee the planet.”

  Deklan thought about this. It was an incomplete summation, but accurate as far as it went. “You are aware of the stakes here, right? If I’m correct and we flee, we survive. If I’m wrong and we flee, we get a holiday.”

  “What is this ‘we’ business? I met you today while you were bleeding in my office. I have half a mind to bill you for services rendered.”

  Deklan had learned over the years that being rude sometimes got through to people in ways that being polite didn’t. “Fine. Stay and die.”

  Susan bristled. “That was uncalled for. I’m just saying that perhaps a little research is in order.”

  Deklan rolled his eyes. “What research do you need to do? Dissect a few more stray dogs to see whether they’re hosts to deadly viruses?”

  Deklan swore that he heard a miniature sonic boom as Susan’s head snapped around. “Do you think a Keystone could do that?” she asked.

  “Who knows what a Keystone can do? Calm is famous for being the next best thing to indestructible. Did you see the footage of him kite-surfing in the hurricane?”

  “Yes. What does that have to do with animals?”

  “My cat ripped a door off its hinges and nearly killed a Great Dane.” Deklan struggled to believe this, despite having lived through the experience only that morning. “Animals outnumber us, and not just by a little. If a tiny percentage of them become Keystones, and a tiny percentage of those become dangerous Keystones, then humans will stop being the apex predators of the planet.”