Minutemen- Parallel Lives

by David Danforth

  “‘It is the only way this world will move forward. It is the only way we can move forward,’” Magic Kaylan recited. “It was his rally cry.”

  “It convinced enough people to follow him, and so began the Tech-Magic War, thirty years ago now.” Wizard Kildere said. His voice faded at the end as if he were reliving the event.

  Kaylan looked around. “I’m assuming you won,” she said.

  Wizard Kildere shrugged. “The world is run predominantly by magic now,” he said. “Is that a victory?” He shook his head. “The harmony between magic and technology this world enjoyed is forever gone.” He sighed. “I do not feel as if we won anything.”

  “You’re alive,” Kaylan said.

  Wizard Kildere smiled. “And now, let’s see what you are all about, shall we?”

  Kaylan watched Wizard Kildere begin to make a cursive-type gesture in the air toward her.

  “Wait,” she said, backing up. “Wait a minute.”

  She froze in place, feeling a familiar sensation. Her first few years with Jon and his Viking settlers were rough. Shelter was minimal, and on those cold nights, her skin felt electric, as goose bumps formed like armor over her arms and legs.

  It was a similar sensation now, only with her brain. It felt alive, electric, and at the end, she felt as if someone had hit her in the head with a brick.

  “Ow,” she muttered, falling to her knees.

  “By the gods,” Wizard Kildere muttered.

  “What is it, Master?” Magic Kaylan asked.

  Wizard Kildere was silent, looking from Kaylan to Magic Kaylan.

  “Don’t burden yourself,” Kaylan said, slowly standing. “I’ll tell her.”

  “But it shouldn’t be your burden either,” Wizard Kildere said. “This journey will take most of your life.”

  “I’ve been over that argument with my friend.” Kaylan paused. “Actually, an older version of my friend from another Earth.”

  The other two stared at her, and she sighed.

  “Do you know how strange you sound?” Magic Kaylan kept looking at Kaylan as if she were still in that invisible box her magic double had constructed earlier.

  “Yes, I know exactly how I sound. The ironic part is, if you had a tenth of the theoretical physics knowledge I have, you would understand what I’m saying.”

  “That’s frustration talking, Miss Smith,” Wizard Kildere said quietly.

  “Don’t call me that,” Kaylan snapped. “That’s anger talking.” She paused. “Besides, it’s ‘Mrs.’ now.”

  “Wait, I’m...married?”

  “I don’t know if you’re married,” Kaylan answered her double. “But I am.” Or was, she thought. She was sure if Gabriel were here, he could tell her definitively, based on Viking customs, whether Jon considered her dead. “My husband is back in another time, on another Earth.” Kaylan shook her head. “I need your help.”

  “My help?” Magic Kaylan asked. “With what?”

  “The Thorpe of my Earth, he was just as...megalomaniacal, and in his quest for power, he did something...stupid. As a result, an alien race has invaded—”

  “Alien?” Magic Kaylan asked.

  Kaylan nodded. “Beings that are not from Earth. They threatened to annihilate every human being on the planet. I can’t let that happen.”

  “I...I can’t help you,” Magic Kaylan said. “I have my work to do here, with the kids, with Master Kildere. I can’t go on some quest with you that will take years—”

  Kaylan shook her head. “Actually, I have some magic of my own,” she said and pulled out her device. She remembered when she first posed the idea to Elder Jess.

  “I got the idea from Kyle,” she had told her. “When he told us how he was able to fly that shuttle, remember?”

  Elder Jess had smiled. “Well, that might make constructing it a little easier, actually.”

  A little easier turned out to be four years.

  “That looks like tech,” Magic Kaylan yelled, stepping back. She threw her hands up and began to gesture.

  “Stand down, Acolyte Smith,” Wizard Kildere yelled.

  Kaylan took a breath as her twin relaxed. “If you agree, I can scan you now, and when the time comes that I need your aid, I can extract you from this time, right now. When we’re finished, I can return you to this time, right now.” Kaylan shrugged. “You’ll never miss any time doing...what you do.”

  Magic Kaylan looked at her. “But I’ll have memories of what I did...helping you.”

  “Yes.”

  “And if I die helping you?”

  Kaylan looked at the ground.

  “You will fade from the present,” Wizard Kildere answered for her.

  “I’ll die here too.”

  “You will fade from the physical world.” Wizard Kildere took on a tone Kaylan recognized all too well. “I’ve told you time and again, Acolyte Smith, nothing truly ever dies.”

  “Wow,” Kaylan said, staring at Kildere. “A zen Kildere that still manages to have that politely arrogant tone. I might have just seen it all now.” She turned to face Magic Kaylan. “Well?” she asked.

  Magic Kaylan turned toward her master.

  “While I can’t tell you what to do—the path you walk must be your own—I’d be remiss if I did not remind you of your destiny,” Kildere said.

  “Her destiny?” Kaylan asked.

  “She is the One,” Kildere replied.

  [You are the One.]

  “I had always thought that would apply to something I would do here, Master Kildere,” Magic Kaylan said.

  “Well, maybe it has to do with helping where you’re needed,” Kaylan offered. “Even if it’s to help millions on an Earth that is not your own.”

  Surprisingly, it took Magic Kaylan less than ten seconds to decide.

  “I’ll do it,” she said, nodding her head. “So what do I have to do now?”

  Kaylan held out her hand, which held the device. “Just stand still,” she said, and she flipped a tiny switch on the side. The device hummed, and a thin electric blue line appeared on Magic Kaylan’s body, sweeping from head to toe, then from left arm to right arm. The device blurted a quick beep.

  “I’ve taken enough of your time,” Kaylan said and pressed the middle button on the device. Her surroundings began to shimmer. “Nice to see you again, Kildere.”

  “Fare well with your quest, Kaylan Smith,” the wizard said.

  EARTH 2781

  1

  K aylan had amassed a small army of her other selves; some had turned her down, of course, but she expected that. A few were outliers, like the version of herself she had met ten years ago who knew magic. Kaylan had gone through different methods of tracking the days in her life. Shortly after her meeting with her magic self, she realized that there would come a time when she would simply forget how many days she had been at this. She was sure that some people would love to forget how old they were; for Kaylan, knowing how old she was was a necessity, and that meant keeping accurate records on the passing of days.

  A few dozen Earths after she met Magic Kaylan, she was able to procure an electronic tablet, much like the U-Board she had back at TPC. On that Earth, where Kaylan was working in R&D at a company called Apple, they called the device an iPad. Kaylan opened a document and typed in consecutive numbers to record the passage of days.

  That worked until the battery was drained. Kaylan hadn’t considered the iPad’s needed for an independent power source. U-Boards ran on diamond batteries created from nuclear waste.

  In the end, Kaylan determined the old-fashioned way was best: paper and pencil. One tick on the page for each day that went by.

  Ten years. Ten years since Kaylan last saw her husband down by the bonfire. Ten years since she last saw Elder Jess.

  Ten years, and she was staring at the front gates of the TPC campus, this one exactly like the one she called home for a short time. It was the first that looked like a clone. Exact in every detail.

  As she approached
the front gate, she checked her device carefully. Her guess was that this Earth’s Kaylan was inside the campus. She briefly wondered if Cobb’s access was the same as well—the opening around the side in the perimeter fence. Her curiosity was strong enough that she altered her direction for a moment, off to the right, for a couple of steps.

  “Good morning, ma’am.” One of the guards at the gate spotted her. “Out for a walk, are we?” His tone sounded subordinate.

  “Yes, so quickly I’m afraid I left without my access card.” Kaylan’s tone was authoritative. She half-expected to be mistaken for this Earth’s Kaylan—it had happened dozens of times before. And with each instance, she had gained more experience on how to make it work to her advantage.

  This time, however, she noticed the guard hesitate as she walked up to the pedestrian gate.

  “Wow, ma’am, if you don’t mind my saying, it looks like you had a late night,” the guard remarked.

  Suddenly she remembered the age difference. It was starting to show physically now. There were definite differences—especially around the eyes and mouth—between forty-three-year-old Kaylan and twenty-three-year-old Kaylan.

  “Also so quickly, I apparently forgot to put makeup on.” Kaylan produced her best smile.

  The guard still hesitated.

  “What’s wrong?” She raised her tone, tried to bluff her way through it.

  The guard looked down for a moment, then back at his partner standing guard at the vehicular gate, ten yards away.

  “Unless you are privy to information I’m unaware of, guard, I can assure you I’m not a spy that can magically change my appearance to look like Kaylan Smith. Open the gate.”

  The guard didn’t move.

  “Open the gate. Now!”

  “Yes, ma’am.” The guard rushed to open the gate, and Kaylan walked, steady and determined, through to the front of campus.

  It was uncanny how exact this campus was to her own. She walked the familiar straight walk, one of the spokes that was part of the circular wheel in the center of the campus lawn.

  I can check my old quarters first, Kaylan thought. Or maybe I’ll get lucky, and Bart will be handling the lobby desk.

  As she approached the main entrance, she saw a handful of guards; they were scattered over a wide area—a few near the door, a couple more standing on the lawn off to the right. They all cocked their heads nonchalantly.

  They’re receiving orders, Kaylan thought.

  Slowly, they all moved to block the front door.

  Damn it.

  “We need you to stop where you are,” one of them said.

  Kaylan looked at him, then pointed to the door. “I have an important meeting in five minutes, guard.” She tried an annoyed tone, hoping the guards would part.

  “That was your first mistake,” a familiar voice said behind her. “I know the names of all my security.”

  Kaylan turned around, and again she was looking in a mirror. Only this time, it was a warped corporate mirror. This Kaylan was dressed in a sharp black business suit. Her brown hair was pulled into a bun, and her face was as pale as a ghost’s; her eyes looked sunken with too much eye shadow.

  “Your second mistake was to mention my maiden name, not my married name. I’m not so vain as to be known by one of those hyphen names.” She chuckled. “Ridiculous. Your final mistake was thinking whatever you’re attempting was going to work.” This Earth’s Kaylan slowly took a step closer.

  Kaylan looked around. The guards were hanging on her double’s every word. “You’re...the CEO here,” she said.

  CEO Kaylan laughed. Kaylan winced; it didn’t sound like her laugh. It sounded fake. Rehearsed, like she didn’t laugh too often. “For a WPM spy, you sure didn’t do your homework,” she said.

  Worldwide Produce Manufacturing, Kaylan thought. So the world structure here is the same as my Earth’s. Two companies to rule them all.

  “It’s uncanny how much she looks like you,” a deep, familiar voice said. Until that moment, she didn’t even see the tall black man standing next to CEO Kaylan.

  “Cobb,” Kaylan hissed and rushed toward him.

  CEO Kaylan took out a small rod from her suit coat; it looked like a miniature version of the stunner that was brought back from Kaylan’s future. She fired the weapon, and Kaylan felt as if a heavy, wet blanket had fallen over her. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t breathe. It felt as if her heart stopped. She crumpled to the ground, landing hard on her right knee, and her chin hit the edge of the concrete walk. She felt pain in the roof of her mouth, and she tasted blood.

  “Take her to holding,” CEO Kaylan barked. One of the guards grabbed her left arm and wrenched it in attempting to get her back on her feet. With her right hand, she reached into her jacket pocket.

  “Whoa, whoa.” Cobb ran over to her and grabbed her other arm. He snatched the device from her and held it out for everyone to see. “What the hell is this?”

  CEO Kaylan walked up to her. “What is that?” she screamed in her face. Her breath smelled like she had swallowed a whole bag of breath mints.

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Kaylan said.

  “Some sort of weapon to kill me, no doubt,” CEO Kaylan sneered. “Well, our research team will discover how it works. Then we’ll get to work on the masking tech you used to make yourself look like me.” She smiled a poorly constructed smile, a smile that hid a murderous glee. “And if that involves some sort of evasive surgery, we’ll make sure not to give you any universal sedative.”

  Cobb gave CEO Kaylan a look.

  “Don’t you think—”

  “This woman was attempting to kill me, Nathan,” CEO Kaylan said.

  “No, I wasn’t,” Kaylan countered.

  CEO Kaylan slapped Kaylan hard. Her jaw ached so bad her ears rang.

  “Who was it who called in to alert us of this would-be assassin?” CEO Kaylan asked.

  The guard who let Kaylan inside the gate stepped forward.

  “I did, Mrs. Cobb.” He raised his hand.

  Wait a minute, Kaylan thought. She’s married to Cobb? Oh, this just gets better and better.

  “Lenny,” CEO Kaylan exclaimed. “Great catch.”

  “It was nothing, Mrs. Cobb. I knew—”

  “Of course, none of that would have been necessary if you had just followed protocol.”

  Kaylan watched the guard step back in line.

  “Lenny, your contract with us is hereby terminated.”

  Lenny began to cry. Kaylan understood that pain.

  “Mrs. Cobb, it was a mistake. I...I called it in—”

  “Understand what the normal corrective action is for this transgression, Lenny.” CEO Kaylan looked around. “Truth to tell, I would have done it myself, but there was no gun within my reach.”

  “You’re a real bitch,” Kaylan said.

  “And you’ll be dead before the sun rises tomorrow,” CEO Kaylan replied.

  2

  The holding area on the TPC campus of this Earth looked remarkably like the one that Jessica told Kaylan she and Gabriel were taken to on their first mission. Simple, smooth gray concrete and one small window, too high for her to reach and too small for her to crawl through.

  Simple steel bars blocked the front of her cell.

  Kaylan didn’t have to wait long before she had her first visitor.

  “Cobb,” she said. “I expected your...wife.” She cleared her throat.

  “Oh, she’s moved on from you,” Cobb said, taking a seat. He even looked tall sitting; Kaylan had never noticed until now. “She’s in the middle of her third-quarter earnings call.”

  “But you haven’t moved on from me,” Kaylan said. “What exactly do you do here, Cobb?”

  “I’m her bodyguard.”

  Kaylan nodded. “And her husband. How the hell did that happen?”

  “Romantically,” Cobb answered. “You sound like you have a real specific dislike for me, but we’ve never met.”

  “N
ot on this Earth, we haven’t.”

  Cobb smiled. “And there’s the other shoe. Dropping,” he said. “We ran a DNA scan on you when you first came in.”

  “I know.”

  “It matched Kaylan’s, every marker.”

  “And what did your loving wife say to that?”

  Cobb stared at her.

  “You haven’t told her,” Kaylan said, smiling.

  “So, what am I to you, on your Earth?” Cobb asked.

  Kaylan stared at him and said nothing. She wanted to jump up, run over, reach through the bars, and choke him to death.

  “Well?”

  Kaylan stood up quickly, and Cobb matched her action. She took a deep breath. “We’re good friends, Cobb,” she said.

  Cobb chuckled. “You are just as bad a liar as my Kaylan,” he said.

  Kaylan started to pace. “Yeah, well, that’s the only thing I have in common with that bitch.”

  “One more time, and you’d better tell me the truth,” Cobb said. “Real deal or no, I have no problems with my Kaylan taking chunks out of you hoping to find her supposed WPM assassin.”

  “Oh, come on, Cobb,” Kaylan said. “Who’s the bad liar now? I saw you interrupt her fun with me at the front door, and you seem awfully trusting of my explanation now.”

  “What explanation?” Cobb’s voice rose. “Do I believe in the existence of the multiverse? Sure, it’s a lot easier than any alternatives I can come up with. But you haven’t told me shit beyond that.”

  Too bad I can’t take Cobb with me this time, Kaylan thought.

  Cobb turned to leave.

  “Wait,” Kaylan called after him.

  He turned back.

  Kaylan sighed. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know, but I need to ask you one question and one favor.”

  Cobb smiled. “I’ll take the easy one first. Ask your question.”

  “How the hell did your Kaylan become CEO of TriPharmaCorp?”

  Cobb looked at her like she had asked him how the sun rises each day.

  “Damien Thorpe was CEO until Kaylan took over,” he said simply.

  “Yeah, of course, but...” Kaylan thought for a moment. My bitchy twin is CEO. That means Thorpe stepped down somehow? But if he was anything like the Thorpe on my Earth, he’d rather be—