Retroactivity

by Edwards, Micah

  A notif popped in Mat’s vision, letting him know that Foresight’s team had arrived. Mat sent a quick acknowledgement and left the room, walking to meet them halfway down the hallway. It was another technique developed to catch people slightly off-guard without making them uncomfortable or violating social norms. There was nothing wrong with meeting them in the hallway, but most wouldn’t expect it.

  Over the years, Mat had learned dozens of little tricks like that to use his null augment to best advantage. It had helped make him a good judge of character and a shrewd observer of the political winds in his department. It made him well-suited for the director’s position, a fact which Mat sometimes regretted. He occasionally wondered how different his life would be if he’d taken the deputy spot that Raul had, and Raul had assumed command. Possibly not much different; he and Raul worked closely together, and often he sent Raul to speak for the DAA when he himself could not go.

  Raul was currently at a conference in Los Angeles, networking and schmoozing. Without him there to provide a second viewpoint on this meeting, Mat had turned to the next person whose opinion he trusted.

  “Seriously, you could just show up,” he had told Alyssa. “Plenty of chairs.”

  Alyssa had shaken her head. “Nope. You don’t put all of your cards on the table. I’ll watch, but you wave me in. I’m your extra eyes and ears, but no one sees me, no one knows I’m there.”

  “Fine, have it your way.”

  “I mean it, Mat. No one knows. In no possible timeline do you admit to my presence. Got it?”

  “You’re being paranoid. This is Judah we’re talking about,” he’d said.

  “No, it’s an Aug-3 who can see the future who Judah happens to be associated with. Look, I don’t need to be there. But if I am there, we do it my way. With subtlety.”

  Alyssa’s point had been well-made. Mat still thought she was being overcautious, but he was a firm believer that there was no such thing as being too prepared. As he walked down the hallway, he said quietly, “All set?”

  “I’m in your head, boss,” said Alyssa’s voice. “Roomy.”

  Mat shook his head, but before he could respond, elevator doors down the hall opened and one of his employees stepped out, leading the Augment team behind him.

  The first impression Mat got was of a king and queen with their entourage. Foresight and Golden Ruler walked in front, gleaming in their respective white and gold. Golden’s face was hidden by her impassive mask, but Foresight wore an easy smile as dazzling as his white suit. Mat revised his first impression. This wasn’t a king walking with his queen. It was a king and the captain of his army.

  Behind them came Asclepius, the hood of his grey cloak pulled up to shadow his face, and Keystone, wearing her granite mask. Neither appeared timid or retiring, but behind Foresight and Golden, they almost faded away.

  When the final figure stepped out of the elevator, Mat was surprised into a short laugh. The last one to exit the elevator was him, down to the blue shirt and yellow tie he was wearing that day. Mat heard Alyssa chuckle through his wave as well.

  “I see Judah’s still got the same sense of humor,” she said, but Mat, already striding forward to make introductions, couldn’t respond without giving her presence away.

  “Foresight, Golden Ruler, Keystone, Asclepius,” he greeted them, shaking each of their hands in turn. “And Mimic. Good to meet you all in person. Mimic, I see you’re aiming to irritate our security guards.”

  The false Mat shrugged his shoulders, grinning. “Irritation makes pearls, they say.”

  Mat led the group down the hall to the meeting room, making sure to fall back slightly as they approached so that Foresight would be first to the door. Foresight opened the door without hesitation and walked in, striding to the window to gaze outside.

  Mat gave himself partial credit for his prediction. Foresight was in no way swaggering, but he definitely gave the impression that he owned the place. It wasn’t cocky or brash, though. It presented more as a fact. He was completely at home here, comfortable and in his element. It was an attitude few people, especially those not yet in their twenties, could match even in their actual homes. Mat was impressed.

  The others entered the room, and Mat noted each one’s chosen position. Golden took the seat closest to the door and managed to simultaneously appear to be both relaxed and coiled like a snake. She was on alert not due to the circumstances, but as a lifestyle choice. Though he had never before met her in person, he liked everything he’d read about who she was and how she’d gotten there, which is why he’d listed her among the possibilities for Foresight’s team. Meeting her confirmed Mat’s good impression. Mat had that suffused feeling of a choice well made that often meant his augment was nudging him.

  Asclepius, meanwhile, had sprawled out on the couch and was lounging with no hint of impending action. Beneath his hood, his eyes wandered casually around the room, taking it all in.

  “Interesting,” said Alyssa in Mat’s ear. “He’s an assessor, used to being overlooked. Good role for a back-line.”

  To Mat, it simply looked like Asclepius was eyeing the fridge and wondering about its contents. However, he stored Alyssa’s comment away for later discussion. Having her assessment of the situation was the entire reason he’d waved in her, after all.

  Keystone lingered in the doorway the longest, her eyes flicking to each wall of the room before entering. She sat down on the far side of the couch from Asclepius, pushing his feet off onto the floor. She mouthed something at him, which Mat was pretty sure was “Look professional.”

  Mimic, still in the guise of Mat, was last in the hallway. Mat turned to him and motioned to the door, a gesture which Mimic imitated.

  “After you,” they both said at the same time, in the same voice.

  Mat laughed and conceded. “Your impression of me is alarmingly good. You must spend a lot of time practicing.”

  “Don’t get a big head,” Mimic said, following him into the room. “You’re not that complex.”

  Taking in the entire group, Mat felt a vague sense of disquiet. There was nothing visually wrong. It was a brightly lit room, the people all looked relaxed and happy, and everything should have felt upbeat. But if Mat’s life were a movie, this would be a point where the unsettling string music slowly started to swell in the background.

  Mat plastered a smile on his face and launched into a pre-prepared spiel about the Department of Augment Affairs, buzzwords and talking points that the PR department liked to have used. As he spoke, he tried to focus on each person in turn, to see if he could get a more specific reaction from his augment. Who or what was the problem?

  His gaze swept the room. It fell first on Mimic, an old friend. He would have long ago noticed if there was anything wrong there. Definitely not the source of concern.

  Next came the Golden Ruler, a do-gooder if ever there was one. He didn’t need his augment to confirm what her record showed.

  After these two, his eyes swept across the unknown quantities: Keystone, who had said nothing beyond the initial greeting, and who appeared least at ease. Asclepius, around whom Mat’s feeling of disquiet seemed to thicken slightly. And Foresight, leaning casually against the windowsill, smiling and by all appearances very interested in Mat’s speech.

  Looking at Foresight, Mat’s aug-reaction slowly dissipated. He wondered what that meant. There could be a problem with the team, but Foresight would solve it? Foresight was a mild problem, but would become less so?

  Not for the first time, Mat sincerely wished he’d gotten more than an Aug-0. This would have been a great situation in which to have actual information and not merely vague impressions.

  Still, he thought, winding up his speech, at least it’s something. Gives me a point to start from.

  Out loud, he said brightly, “So! That’s who we are. Questions?”

  Mat’s eyes were on Foresight, the team’s leader, but Foresight simply leaned back against the wall and smiled enigmatically. Ma
t couldn’t read the smile, either with his augment or with his more standard instincts. It wasn’t mocking or subtle, but it also wasn’t entertained or genuinely happy. It was a Mona Lisa smile, and Mat had absolutely no idea what it meant.

  It was Golden who responded, drawing his attention away from Foresight.

  “You’ve skipped one important thing, I think. You’ve told us who you are, but not why you’ve asked us here. What’s the deal?”

  She asked this without rancor or suspicion, but Asclepius shifted on the couch as she asked, his increase in alertness revealing his interest in the answer as well. Mat looked around the room, taking them all in before answering.

  “The government has a somewhat precarious relationship with Augments in your position. You’re not officially sanctioned in any way, and yet you are given more leeway—and really, more responsibilities—than the average citizen. We greatly appreciate the work you do to protect people from criminals. In fact, we encourage it. Obviously people should be able to depend on their police and their government, but first and foremost, they should be able to depend on themselves.

  “Of course, the flip side of that coin is that you can’t be allowed to become a law unto yourselves. If you do that, no matter how good your intentions, you’re no better than the criminals you stop. Right now, public opinion is heavily in favor of Augments, and a large part of my job revolves around making sure that that stays true.

  “So this is just a check-in to say hi, and to make sure that we’re all on the same page, basically. You’ve been doing exemplary work, and again, that’s greatly appreciated by your government and your fellow citizens. So: thank you, and keep up the good work.”

  From the couch, Asclepius said, “So does this gratitude come with any sort of monetary reward?”

  Keystone smacked him in the shoulder, and Asclepius raised his arms in protest. “What? It’s a reasonable question.”

  “If you wanted, sure,” said Mat. “We’re always hiring. In all honesty, I’d love to have you all on the payroll and get you out of this nebulous ‘we approve of but cannot outright support you’ area that I just described. I suspect, however, that that doesn’t suit your desires.”

  Asclepius shrugged, settling back on the couch. There was a flicker of interest in Keystone’s eyes, though, which Mat noted. If he was looking for another friendly face on Foresight’s team, he might do well to develop a relationship with her.

  “Golden boy’s finally about to speak,” said Alyssa, startling Mat. He’d almost forgotten that she was still watching through his eyes. Sure enough, Foresight had straightened up from the wall, and that subtle motion had drawn the eyes of everyone in the room. He casually straightened his suit before he spoke, and Mat admired his air of leadership and command. Mat had put a lot of work into becoming a very good leader, but Foresight made it look as natural as breathing.

  “We’re obviously more than happy to work with you when needed,” Foresight said, “but you’re right. I think most of us would chafe under the bureaucratic strictures of the government. We’re able to do more good cleaning up our small area than we could if we were being flown across the country for a bit of patchwork here, an emergency fix there.

  “Even in the few months we’ve been active,” he continued, “there’s been a dramatic drop in violent crime in the city. We’ve only stopped a small percentage of that directly. We’re like a sticker announcing that a house has an alarm system. Just the knowledge that we might be there is enough to deter a lot of small-time crime. And it’s the small-time crime that affects average people the most. Muggings, liquor store robberies, carjackings.

  “So no, we’d rather not join your payroll. What you might consider, however, is establishing something like a council of unaffiliated Augment teams. Nothing restrictive, nothing so anyone feels like they’re on a leash, but simply a way to exchange information and share resources. If you do that, I’d recommend finding Aug-0s to head it so that no one feels like you’re letting powerful Augments operate outside of the law. It might encourage more small homegrown teams like ours, people who just legitimately want to make their town a better place to live.”

  Mat blinked. Prior to this meeting, he’d had a very similar idea. Practically identical, in fact, down to the idea of appointing Nulls to leadership positions to keep both sides happy. The Augments wouldn’t feel that they were having norms assigned to keep them under control, while non-augmented people wouldn’t feel like the Augments were just separating off and ranking themselves by power. Plus the Nulls would feel wanted and useful, and speaking as one, Mat knew how important that could be.

  Then he realized that there might be a very good reason that their ideas were so similar. In another version of this conversation, he very likely expressed this idea to Foresight. Foresight could well be simply borrowing Mat’s own idea from another possible future and parroting it back to him.

  Looking at Foresight, Mat understood that Foresight knew of this suspicion, too. His smile was still in place, but this time, Mat read something sad in it.

  “I know you don’t like me,” Foresight said after a pause, “but that’s no reason that we can’t work with each other. We don’t need to be friends in order to be colleagues.”

  “Oh, he cheats, boss,” said Alyssa softly. “He cheats worse than I do. Or better, depending on how you look at it. You can’t win this conversation. It is one hundred percent in his control.”

  Mat summoned a smile. “I wouldn’t say that I don’t like you. I don’t know you particularly well, but that’s not the same thing. Regardless, I agree that we can and should work together. We have the same goals. And I think your idea for an Augment council is an excellent one.”

  “It’s your idea,” said Foresight, his smile quirking upward, “but it’s kind of you to allow me the credit for it.”

  Golden looked confused. “How is it his idea?”

  “Different futures, ma chère,” Mimic told her. “He steals what could have been said.”

  Mat’s mind whirled furiously, trying to figure out the angle Foresight was playing. Expressing Mat’s idea as his own was a play to show that the two were similar. Even knowing that Mat would recognize this, it allowed Foresight to show his team that the two were on the same page, possibly strengthening his leadership with an implicit link to authority. But to then admit the origin of the idea undercut the entire ploy, revealing everything behind the scenes. It felt like chaos, but Mat could almost sense a pattern beneath it.

  He had the unsettling suspicion that if he spotted the pattern, though, that Foresight would change it again. What’s worse, he was pretty sure that Foresight knew about that suspicion, as well.

  Foresight was right. Mat didn’t much like him. And he also didn’t appreciate feeling like the only reason that he didn’t like Foresight was that Foresight had allowed that to happen.

  “You need bigger guns, boss,” said Alyssa. “I’m calling in a tactical nuclear strike.”

  Foresight walked past Mat and opened the door. He didn’t seem perturbed or angry in any way, but he was clearly about to walk out of the room without even a goodbye.

  “Is everything all right? Where are you going?” asked Mat.

  “You’re about to tell us,” said Foresight, smiling with what appeared to be genuine humor.

  Mimic made a snort of disgust and pushed himself out of his slouch against the wall, walking toward the door. He caught Mat’s eye, shrugged and said, “Whatever it is, I might as well get a good seat.”

  Asclepius and Keystone rose as well, leaving only Golden seated. She looked quizzically from Mat to Foresight, but before she could vocalize her question, a text wave popped into Mat’s view.

  I hear you have persons of interest, a team. Come visit. -Moloch

  Mat swallowed. He had no idea how Alyssa had managed that, but when she said big guns, she wasn’t kidding.

  By the door, Foresight was still smiling, one eyebrow raised now. “Care to tell the team why t
hey’ve all stood up?”

  “I’ve just gotten a request from Gammalock,” Mat said. “He’d like to meet all of you.”

  Keystone looked stunned. Asclepius said “Wow!” out loud, his tone completely without sarcasm for the first time since Mat had met him. Mimic grinned broadly. Golden’s entire body tensed, her hand gripping the arm of the chair before she forced it to relax.

  Foresight, meanwhile, was unruffled. “To the pods, then? Can’t keep the engine of America waiting.”

  They trooped up to the transport deck and climbed into a six-seater pod. Mat and Foresight took the front two seats, Golden and Mimic took the middle and Keystone and Asclepius settled into the back. Mat typed in the destination, and the pod sealed them in. Moments later, they were launched smoothly into the air, the DAA building vanishing almost instantly behind them.

  Mat made small talk as they traveled, and was met with easy banter from most of the team in return. Golden still seemed ill at ease, a marked departure from her commanding bearing earlier in the day. Foresight, on the other hand, was as calm as ever. His relaxed demeanor was probably why, despite a sudden overriding sense of something being very wrong, Mat was at a loss for how to react when Foresight began typing something into the pod’s keypad.

  “Override accepted,” said the pod in a mellow voice.

  Foresight typed rapidly. As Mat reached out to stop him, Foresight snaked out his left hand and grabbed Mat’s wrist, twisting it painfully.

  “Ow! What are you doing?” demanded Mat, attempting to peel Foresight’s fingers away with his other hand.

  “Testing security,” said Foresight. Although there was still no sensation of movement inside the pod, the view through the windows shifted abruptly as its thrusters fired.