The Lost Enclave

by Fredric Shernoff

  “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!” Goldman said.

  “I told you, you don’t need to. What you need to do is survive all of this. The collapse is coming, and I don’t have much at my disposal to fight it. You will be needed.”

  “So help me survive! Why won’t the portal work?”

  “Nobody should use two portals. This one is unused, and will transport you to a time before other events took place. There is too much opportunity to contradict history…too much overlap between different versions of you and the others. It simply can’t be allowed, not with everything else going on.”

  “We won’t interact with anything. I promise you. Get us back there and we will get away from our other selves.”

  “I’m inclined to give you what you wish for,” the not-Goldman said, “since at the end of the day maybe nothing really matters.” He laughed. “Man, if only you knew...”

  “Tell me!” Goldman said. “Help me understand.”

  The not-Goldman waved a hand. A rainbow trail of energy floated in the air where his hand passed, then it shot forward into Goldman’s eyes.

  Goldman remained in the trance far longer than Nathaniel had expected.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Lilli asked. “Is it killing him?”

  “I do not believe so,” Nathaniel said. “Perhaps making this book work is taking more effort than we expected. If so, we just need to give him—”

  Weber slammed into him from behind, knocking him into a tree.

  “What did you think to accomplish?” the Prophet asked. He took Nathaniel’s face in his hand and shoved his head back into the tree over and over, splintering the wood.

  Nathaniel looked between the powerful fingers and saw no sign of Lilli. She was hiding. He was grateful for that small blessing, but there was still the matter of Goldman, standing motionless with the magic book in his hand.

  “What is he doing?” Weber asked. “What does he have there?” He moved toward Goldman, and Nathaniel tackled him with every bit of strength he could find. The two Great Ones fell to the ground, and Nathaniel landed a series of quick blows. This was no mutant. He was facing one like him, maybe more powerful than him, and not just vicious but strategic.

  Weber caught Nathaniel’s next punch, planted his feet in Nathaniel’s midsection, and pushed him away. Nathaniel shot through the air, his body tearing through branches of the overgrown forest. He got to his feet again, and saw Weber moving toward Goldman. Nathaniel rushed at the Prophet again, but this time Weber kept his feet. They landed blows that echoed like thunder through the vastness of the woods. Weber caught him with a swift knee, and Nathaniel felt one of his ribs crack.

  “You won’t be able to stop me,” Weber said. “Whatever your band of misfits has planned will never work. Do you know how many people tried to defeat me tens of thousands of years ago? All of them are dead and gone now. Just like the rest of your miserable people.”

  They grappled for position, and Weber moved behind Nathaniel and worked his arms around Nathaniel’s head. “Time for you to join your ancestors,” Weber said, and he twisted his arms. There was a crack, and Nathaniel felt his body go numb as darkness swept over him.

  Goldman floated like a ghost above a dirty, sand-filled street. He heard sounds of conflict in the distance. He tried to move but he couldn’t even turn his head. His vision was fixed in front of him as if he were watching a movie.

  A man stumbled into view. At first Goldman thought the man was hurt, but the tears streaming down his face showed that it was grief that had left him in shambles.

  A couple, dressed in black, emerged from the other direction. “You okay?” the woman called to the crying man.

  “I’m fine,” the man said through tears. Then he stiffened defensively. “Who are you with?”

  The couple looked at each other. “We’re MMEA,” the man in the couple said. “We’re with Thomas Borgia.”

  “I know Thomas,” the crying man said, wiping his face with his arm.

  “You have trace amounts of multiversal energy in you,” the MMEA man observed.

  “Not enough,” the crying man said. “Not nearly enough. It all went wrong.”

  “This will all be made right,” the woman said. “Thomas will make it right. Tell me, who did you lose?”

  “One of the best people I’ve ever known,” the crying man said. “Bill. Bill Mansfield.”

  The world blurred and spun. Goldman spun with it, helpless. When the vision righted itself, he was floating in a field, not unlike the place he had worked before the government sent him on his mission. He saw a farmhouse not far away. He saw the same couple from the first vision, but not the crying man.

  The couple were in the middle of the field, ten feet apart from each other, slowly getting to their feet. A police officer approached them, weapon drawn.

  “Who are you?” the officer demanded. “How did you get here?”

  The couple looked at each other, and the woman nodded. “I’m Mac,” the man said, and this is Bella.”

  “Last name?” the officer asked.

  The couple paused and looked at each other again. “Mansfield,” the woman said. “I’m Bella Mansfield.”

  The world spun again, and now Goldman was back in the endless darkness with his doppelgänger looking at him curiously.

  “Did you see what you needed to see?” asked the not-Goldman.

  “Those people were Nathaniel’s ancestors,” he said. They worked for some kind of black ops group or something?”

  The not-Goldman smiled. “That part doesn’t matter. There was chaos then, and there’s chaos now. And what you need to understand is that the events you saw are connected to the problems happening across the multiverse now. And your worries are just one small component of that. Maybe even just a distraction from the bigger picture.”

  “Let me and my friends go where we need to go. Let us do what we need to do. And I will help you with no protest with whatever you need. I promise.”

  The not-Goldman seemed to think it over. “Okay. I’ll hold you to that. Go quickly.”

  Goldman returned to his body to the sound of the energy weapons firing. He looked around, trying to take in the scene as quickly as possible. Weber was there, advancing on him, but Lilli stood between them, firing two of the laser guns at the evil prophet. The shots seemed to hurt him, but they weren’t slowing him at all. Nathaniel was unconscious on the ground just feet away, with his head twisted at a strange angle and blood trickling from his mouth.

  “Lilli!” Goldman called. “Grab on to me now!” He ducked down as he talked, placing the book on the ground and grabbing hold of Nathaniel’s arm. He felt Lilli make contact and he touched the blank page. The page rose up, tendrils swirling around him and his friends.

  “What is this?” Weber asked. He darted toward them, and Lilli fired a shot that hit him directly in the eyes. Weber roared in pain and stumbled back. That was enough time for the paper to engulf Goldman’s head. He said a quiet prayer for himself and his friends as the magic book sucked them in.

  20

  The portal spat them out onto the same street they had left, and Goldman looked around in a panic, not sure whether Weber had followed them or if the Loyalty Guard would be waiting. There was nothing, just a quiet street in a small town. One car came close and honked angrily as the driver swerved to avoid them.

  “We’re back,” Lilli said as she got to her feet and slid one of the weapons back in her pants. She sounded breathless; in shock.

  Goldman stood up as well, and she handed him the other weapon. “Are you okay?” he asked, not liking the shakiness he heard in his voice.

  “I…I thought we were all going to die. You were in a trance for so long…felt like forever…and Nate…”

  They looked down at the Great One. Nathaniel looked even worse than he had a moment earlier in his home time period.

  “What happened to him?” Goldman asked.

  “Weber beat the shit
out of him. I think he broke his neck.” Her eyes widened. “He can’t be here! The portal takes so much out of him when he’s healthy!”

  “We don’t have any choice,” Goldman said. “But we need to get him help. Can you help me move him?”

  “Yes, but we need to be careful!”

  Goldman squatted and hooked his arms under Nathaniel’s armpits. “Get his legs,” he said to Lilli. He did the bulk of the lifting as they moved Nathaniel to the curb. The man was very big, but Goldman had always been stronger than he looked, and as long as Lilli was able to keep his legs up, they were okay. “Set him down gently,” he said.

  “What now?” Lilli asked as they made sure Nathaniel was safely on the sidewalk.

  “Now I’m going to go make a call. Will you be okay with him?”

  She patted the weapon, now just a bulge under her shirt. “Yeah. We’ll be fine here. Just be quick, okay?”

  “Okay,” he said. He locked eyes with her, and wished he could beam confidence into her mind. Everything will be okay, he thought, and wondered if he was trying to convince himself.

  Goldman went into the nearest open store. He knew with certainty that they had returned to a time before Nathaniel had first arrived. The entity that controlled the books—whatever the hell that meant—had wanted to avoid any altercations with their other selves. So that meant there was a version of himself imprisoned by the Loyalty Guard. That was okay, though. Let that Ben Goldman go through the motions to arrive at this point.

  He realized once he was inside that the store was the same place he had visited before with the hive mind, but that hadn’t happened yet. “Can I use your phone?” he asked the young woman at the register.

  “You don’t have a cellphone?” she asked. She looked at him like he was going to rob her, and he couldn’t blame her. He was dirty, bruised, and wearing clothes that weren’t anything like what people should wear in normal society. At least she didn’t know he had a raygun in his waistband.

  “It’s dead. My friend is very ill and I need to call for help.”

  “Okay, fine. Not my business.” She handed him a cordless phone receiver.

  Goldman walked across the store as he tried to remember the number he had to call for his government contact. The phone rang. “Hello, this is Zippity Flowers.” Goldman hung up instantly, thinking he’d dialed the wrong number. Then he groaned as he realized his mistake. He called back again. “Zippity Flowers,” said the voice. “Can I help you?”

  “I…I need a bouquet of roses.”

  “One or two dozen?”

  “Two? Two dozen?” He hoped he was saying the right thing.

  “Hang on, sir.”

  There was a pause, and Goldman could feel the sales clerk’s eyes on him as she tried to figure out what he was doing.

  “Hello?” said a voice on the other end of the phone.

  “Sims? Is that you?” Goldman asked. “It’s Ben Goldman.”

  “You were compromised?” Howard Sims asked.

  “Yes. Very much so. But that’s not the point. I need serious help. I need you to get an ambulance here to take my friend to the hospital, and I need this done without the fucking you-know-who finding out!”

  “Is anybody on to you right now?”

  Goldman looked at the sales clerk, who was still casually studying him. He gave her a smile and a wave. All good here.

  “Everything’s fine on that end, Sims. Just need help for my friend. Please. We’re in Ethos, PA, outside Sports and Collectibles. Google it.”

  “Ethos…I can’t get you an ambulance, son. I can get you a van to transport you offsite.”

  “Fine. Fine. Whatever. Just get here. Please.” He hung up the phone.

  “Did you get whoever you were trying to reach?” the girl at the counter asked.

  “Yeah. Thanks so much.” He handed the phone back to her. She nodded and turned away, not wanting anything more to do with him. That was fine.

  Goldman walked back outside, and saw Lilli sitting against the wall next to Nathaniel.

  “Is he still breathing?” Goldman asked.

  “I think so, yeah.” She looked at him helplessly. “Ben, how the fuck are we going to get through this? President Weber is a fucking Great One! We can’t beat him.”

  “We will do the best we can. But first we need to get to safety. For our sake as well as Nate’s. And help should be on the way.” He sat down next to Lilli, leaning against the wall, and waited.

  It seemed like an hour had passed when the black van finally pulled up, but Goldman knew it was probably far less than that. It maneuvered next to the curb, and he placed a hand on his weapon, just in case. The van’s door slid open, and a team of armed men in black suits looked at them with deep scrutiny from the empty interior. The passenger window went down.

  “There you are,” Howard Sims said through the window. “These friends of yours can be trusted?”

  “Damned straight,” Goldman said, surprising himself by how angry he felt to have Nate and Lilli questioned. “They’ve both saved my ass multiple times. They’re with us.”

  Sims nodded and turned back to the armed men. “Get the big guy in the back. And do it carefully. He doesn’t look well.”

  The squad of agents loaded Nathaniel into the back of the van. Despite the big man’s superpowers, Goldman was frustrated that there was no stretcher available and no proper medical attention. “Where are we going to take him?” he asked as he stepped into the vehicle.

  “We can get him to a medical facility near the airport, but that could be a couple hours’ drive. We can’t go over the speed limit.”

  “That’s just fucking great,” Goldman said. He helped Lilli into the van and the door closed behind her.

  “Who are your companions?” Sims asked. “You weren’t supposed to make close connections, Ben.”

  “Yeah, well things didn’t go as planned. The Guard took me in for questioning, and were in the process of beating the shit out of me when these people saved me.”

  “When was that?” Sims asked.

  “I don’t know. A week ago? More?” Then he realized what he was saying. “Look, I want to tell you what’s going on, but a lot of it sounds pretty crazy.”

  “Try me.”

  “That man right there, Nathaniel Mansfield, if your doctors start scanning him, I think you’re gonna find he’s not quite normal.”

  “What does that mean?” Sims asked.

  “Means he’s stronger than your average bear. And for the record, consider this my reporting in: Weber is superstrong too. He did this.”

  “Weber attacked you?” Sims asked, looking incredulous.

  “Yes…no…it’s a lot to explain.”

  “We’ve got a long ride,” Sims said, “so I suggest the two of you get to talking.”

  Goldman and Lilli shared some of their experiences. Goldman had been hesitant to talk time travel, but once he started, the story just poured out.

  “You went to the future through a portal…” Sims repeated. He frowned.

  “You don’t believe us?” Lilli asked. “You really think we’d make shit up when we’re in this situation?”

  “It’s not that I think you’re making anything up,” Sims said. “The Weber regime has been doing all kinds of tests, and there have been ample reports about some things that defy explanation and logic. I believe something happened to you, and you’ve been made to think you went to the future.”

  “Think whatever the fuck you want,” Goldman said.

  “You need to watch your tone, young man,” Sims said.

  “You have no idea what we’ve been dealing with,” Goldman replied. He shifted his shirt to the side and pulled the energy weapon out of his pants. Immediately he saw the agents around him point their guns. “Relax! I just want to show you this.” He flipped the weapon around and handed it to Sims.

  “It looks like some of the experimental guns the Loyalty Guard has been running around with,” Sims mused. “But not exact.
How did you get this?”

  “These guns are like cars in Cuba,” Goldman said. They were all that was left of society when Weber ruined everything, and the people in charge just learned how to maintain them and rebuild them over thousands of years. We got this from the future. Lilli has one just like it.”

  “Hmm,” Sims said. “Miss, if you’d be so kind as to hand over your weapon.”

  Lilli presented her gun to one of the agents. “Really trusting you people to look out for us,” she said.

  “We will,” Sims replied. He turned Goldman’s weapon in every direction. “This is insane.”

  “So you believe us.”

  “No. But I know there’s something crazy going on. And right now, I want to see to your friend’s condition. We’ll figure out the rest as we go.”

  They rode in silence for a while, the van bumping along the highway. The agents had hooked Nathaniel up to machines that beeped continuously. As the van moved along, the agents swarmed around Nathaniel, but didn’t seem to do anything to help him. Goldman thought about their previous escape from Ethos, which hadn’t happened yet. It hadn’t occurred to him when Nathaniel first rescued him to seek out the hidden Rowan administration. Sims or somebody else working for President Rowan could have intervened. But at the time, all Goldman could think about was traveling to the strange other world, putting as much distance as possible between himself and the Loyalty Guard. And look how that had turned out.

  The van exited the freeway after a lengthy period of driving and moved along smaller roads for a few minutes before turning down a ramp that ran underground.

  “Secret base?” Goldman questioned.

  “Something like that,” Sims said. “This isn’t the real headquarters of our resistance, but it’s a satellite outpost. And it’s convenient enough to an airfield for us to be able to get in and out undetected…most of the time.”

  The van went down, down, down, deeper into the tunnel. When the ground leveled off, they pulled into an underground parking garage. The door slid open.