“You don’t know where you are anymore, do you? You have no power except knowledge, but it’s trapped.” Kaylan lightly tapped her forehead. “It’s trapped in there.” Kaylan began to cry. “God, I so easily could be you. I might still become you.”
“Kill us all, yes, that’s the answer.”
Jessica walked over, her eyes full of concern.
“Are you all right, Dorothy?”
Kaylan nodded. “Yes.” She stood. “I think Kaylan needs her rest now. I’ll come back later.”
“Of course,” Jessica said. “Please come back soon.”
The entire course of her long walk out of the psychiatric hospital, into the parking lot, past the gate, and onto the street, Kaylan’s repeated steps, her shoes making contact with the tile floor, the asphalt, the concrete, it was all she could hear and focus on.
Without a word she pressed the button on her device and left this world.
EARTH 24307
M y name is...Kaylan, that’s right. Kaylan Smith.
My father’s name is Thomas.
My mother’s name is...I can’t remember, but she died saving the universe from my grandson.
My actual father’s name...I can’t remember that either. There’s a reason—no, he’s the reason...for what?
Someone captured the Mulvari, I remember that. But I don’t know why it’s important.
I am...what am I doing? I am...gathering an army to fight...something.
I hope to get home, to 2075, before I die.
Kaylan opened her eyes, knowing that there wouldn’t be too many more visits before she would forget why she was reciting that mantra. Was it even for her benefit anymore?
Once again, she stood in front of the TriPharmaCorp campus, but this time there was a giant bronze statue of her looking upward and pointing, as if she were giving an order to someone.
She told the guard she was Kaylan’s mother, here to see her. It had been almost ten years since she’d seen herself in an insane asylum. She was close to seventy now, or was seventy. She was sure she was off on her day tracking now.
The guard called it in, and again a security squad came running toward the gate. Kaylan considered walking away, but if things unfolded in such a way that she would have to run to try to escape them...well, it was an unseasonably hot day for Denver, Colorado. She would probably collapse from a heart attack before she lost them in the surrounding woods.
Besides, that’s what the Kaylan who left the Viking camp would have done all those years ago. Nope, she was staying put, and whatever happened, happened.
Her eyes betrayed her—not the first time she wished she had U-Specs—because she wasn’t able to spot her younger self enveloped by all those guards until they were at the gate.
“I hear you want to see me?” her younger self said.
“Yes,” Kaylan said.
“You are not my mother.”
“No, but what I have to say is very important, and I need to tell you in private.” Kaylan coughed. She did that far too frequently these days after speaking more than just one short sentence.
Her younger self regarded Kaylan carefully, taking her in from head to toe.
“All right, I can spare a couple of minutes. Let’s take a walk over there.” Younger Kaylan pointed to an area that marked the start of the tree line off to the west.
“Ma’am, I feel I must remind you—”
“Sergeant, please. I’m sure I can overpower this woman if need be, and I guarantee you she is not a spy for the coalition.” Younger Kaylan nodded to the guard to open the gate. “Just in case, stick around though, OK?”
The sergeant smiled. “Yes, ma’am.”
Younger Kaylan passed through and gestured to Kaylan, pointing to the tree line. “After you,” she said.
“Thank you.”
Younger Kaylan waited until they were at the tree line before speaking again.
“You’re me, aren’t you?”
Kaylan looked at her, her eyes wide with surprise.
“How could you know?” She had been the first in more than twenty years to guess that.
“Something in the eyes,” Younger Kaylan said, staring at her.
“I’m you, from another Earth,” Kaylan said.
“Of course you are, you would have to be,” Younger Kaylan said, smiling. “I’ve banned time travel and set the Mulvari free.”
Kaylan had to find her voice. “Set them free?” she asked. She felt something cold and wet on her cheek. Was it raining? No, the sun was out, it was warm.
“Yes, no need to cry about it. It was a very happy occasion,” Younger Kaylan said.
Kaylan wiped away the tear. She had been doing that a lot recently—crying and not realizing it. “But Thorpe would never have approved that.”
“Yes, well, darling Dad had no say in the matter, once the board voted to make me CEO and oust him.”
“You’re CEO of TriPharmaCorp?” Kaylan noticed what her younger self was wearing for the first time. Business suit, her long auburn hair pulled back in a bun. Like a more delicate, softer version of something she had seen before but could hardly remember now. She had been missing details recently. It was getting close to time now. Time to go back home.
“Yes. After the war, I pushed my advantage to—”
“War.” Kaylan’s eyes grew wide, and she straightened. It was as if the word itself gave her sudden strength. It was enough for Younger Kaylan to take a step back. “The Guardians. You were at war with the Guardians.” Kaylan looked around once more at the TPC campus and realized the significance of the fact that it was still standing. “And you won.”
“Yes.” Younger Kaylan said, smiling.
It was then Kaylan realized who she was talking to. Younger Kaylan, yes, but they all were. This one, this Kaylan, she was something else.
She was Victorious Kaylan.
This time Kaylan knew she was crying.
“I have been looking for you for a long time,” Kaylan said. “In my travels I have come across Kaylans who have not heard of the Guardians, Kaylans who were in the middle of the war, but never a Kaylan who had fought the war.”
“Until now.” Victorious Kaylan gently put her hand on Kaylan’s shoulder. “Please, ask your questions.”
“I only have one. How? How were you able to beat them?”
Victorious Kaylan nodded and sighed. “Water,” she said.
“Water?”
Victorious Kaylan nodded. “Humanity’s pollution of the water made it toxic to the Guardians. We had to manufacture water-based weapons. After that it was easy.” She shrugged. “Relatively.”
“But I’m sure the Guardians didn’t just idly stand by while you made your weapons. How did you fight them in the beginning?”
Victorious Kaylan shrugged. “We...just fought them. We had Jessica’s Anarchists. We also had a faction of the Slaxxians who—”
“Slaxxian?”
“That’s the name of their race,” Victorious Kaylan said. “Anyway, a faction of them did not believe the Mulvari were sacred.” She laughed. “We called them Atheists.”
“So you fought them, held them back long enough to make the weapons, then beat them?”
“You make it sound so easy,” Victorious Kaylan said. “They still had weapons that could kill us. We sustained losses, but the water weapons turned the tide. We mopped up their ground forces in a matter of months. Then we had to turn our attention to their ships.”
“Ships. Plural?”
Victorious Kaylan laughed. “They had over a thousand ships hovering over the planet. We had to infiltrate them and clear them out. My father—not Thorpe—told me stories as a kid about war. One particular war—the Vietnam War—they had people whose job was to find these foxholes. They called them that because the hole was so small you could only fit one man in them. Once the foxholes were found, these people had to make sure they were clear and clear them if they weren’t. Imagine not knowing if there was an enemy in that dark hole,
just waiting to kill you.”
“My God,” Kaylan whispered.
“It was kind of like that. Jess and I volunteered to go. We eventually got them all. It took us over three years. Losses were heavy.” Victorious Kaylan looked at the ground. “Jess didn’t make it.”
“I’m sorry,” Kaylan said. “I’m recruiting for my battle with the Guardians. I know I have no right to ask you this, you already had your war, but—”
“No.” Victorious Kaylan said, looking around. “Let’s walk back to the campus. We’ve spent enough time out here.” She guided Kaylan toward the gate. “I have vowed not to time travel anymore. I have to keep that vow, Kaylan. I hope you understand.”
Kaylan nodded. Perhaps if she had come across Victorious Kaylan when she was younger, healthier, she would have put up a strong argument to break that vow and travel to the fight when called, but that Kaylan was gone.
“You gave me valuable information,” Kaylan said. “That’s enough.”
“Besides, I still have wars to fight here,” Victorious Kaylan said.
As if on cue, the security squad ran past them and formed a wall. As Kaylan turned around, she heard a buzzing sound. Beyond the wall of black uniforms, three people—two men and a woman—were carrying guns and shooting.
“Kaylan, get out of here now!” Victorious Kaylan shouted as she pulled out her own gun.
“For the coalition!” one of the transgressors shouted.
Kaylan pressed the middle button on her device, and her surroundings began to shimmer.
“Don’t forget,” Victorious Kaylan yelled, “there are always threats. After the Guardians, beware of the coalition. The coalition, Kaylan. Their leader—”
And then Kaylan was gone.
EARTH ORIGINAL
W hy am I sitting on the grass?
I think I’m supposed to recite something.
I think there’s a war going on somewhere.
I think my family may have started it.
This is not my Earth.
Kaylan shrugged and slowly rose to her feet. It had been six months since...since what? She felt something significant had happened at that time. Like she was given a key to the universe, but she had lost it. Keys could be the damnedest things to find.
Kaylan was in front of a building she recognized because she had seen it thousands of times, but she couldn’t remember the name of it.
“Can I help you, ma’am?”
She’d heard that countless times too, but she didn’t recognize the uniformed man in front of her.
“I don’t know,” she answered.
“Larry, what are you doing talking to the Undertow?” Another uniformed man joined him.
“You don’t know she’s Undertow, Prentiss,” Larry replied.
“She sure as hell doesn’t belong here.”
“Yes, I do,” Kaylan said, turning toward Prentiss. She did belong here, but she couldn’t remember why.
“You’re a TPC employee? Really?” Prentiss asked, full of arrogance. “What department do you work in?”
“I...I don’t know,” Kaylan replied.
“OK, let’s give you an easy one,” Prentiss said. “See those buildings behind me? Which one do you go to every day?”
Kaylan looked behind him. There were several five- and six-story buildings made from glass and steel, but only one building made from what looked like white marble that towered above them all. Kaylan pointed to that one.
“The Ivory Tower,” she muttered.
“Old man Thorpe’s building?” Prentiss chuckled. “She’s all yours, Larry. Get rid of her.”
Prentiss walked back to his post. When he was out of earshot, Larry opened the gate.
“What the hell are you doing, Larry?” Prentiss walked back.
“You’re not going to hurt me, are you?” Larry said to Kaylan.
Kaylan shook her head.
“You just want a little something to eat, don’t you?”
Kaylan was hungry.
“Follow me,” Larry said. To Prentiss, he said, “I’m just going to give her something to eat and send her on her way.”
“You give food to her, her friends come around tomorrow looking for a handout...where does it end, Larry?”
Kaylan fell in line with Larry as they walked toward the Ivory Tower.
“This is exactly the kind of shit Thorpe finds out about,” Prentiss called after them. “And then it’s your ass.”
“Just cover for me,” Larry called back as Prentiss closed the gate.
As they walked toward the white building, Kaylan struggled to regain pieces of her memory. That conversation alone brought up little snippets—Thorpe. TPC. TriPharmaCorp. She used to work for that company. But not here.
“This is not my Earth,” she told Larry.
“Um, sure. Maybe you can just keep quiet while we’re in the cafeteria. Maybe not even talk at all,” Larry said in a nervous tone. “That would probably be best.”
The rest of her memory was still eluding her though. It was like trying to hold water in your hands. You think you have it, then it suddenly slips through your fingers, and you have nothing.
They entered the lobby. The man at the front desk looked familiar.
“How’s the family, Bart?” Larry asked. “What are you doing covering the day shift?”
Bart.
“Doin’ great, Larry. Wade is having fun on his TPC-mandated PTO. He went to Hawaii. Probably will come back all sunburned.” Bart laughed.
Wade.
Larry led her down a hall to a bank of elevators. They took one to the tenth floor, and from there, they entered the cafeteria.
Tenth floor. Living quarters were also on the tenth floor.
Larry grabbed a bottle of chocolate protein mix and handed it to Kaylan.
“This should hold you over for today,” he said.
“This is my favorite,” she said. Was it? She said that, but she wasn’t sure why.
She had finished about half of the bottle when two women walked into the room. One had long blond hair; the other, long brunette hair. The brunette looked familiar. They both did, actually, the more she looked at them.
“I’m telling you, Jess, I’m not ready to be a grandmother,” the brunette said.
Jess. Jessica.
“Oh, come on, Kay, she’s four. It’s not like she’s pregnant now.”
Kay. Kaylan. Herself!
“Margaret already named him. Kyle. That’s what she’ll name it if it’s a boy,” her other self said.
Kyle.
Kaylan dropped her protein drink.
“Oh, my God,” Kaylan said, her eyes popping. “I remember it, I remember it all. Oh, God, oh, my God—”
“OK, why don’t we just leave now.” Larry pushed her, trying to get her to leave the cafeteria, but Kaylan didn’t budge.
“Larry, who do we have here?” The pair walked over to Kaylan.
“Oh. Nobody, Agent Smith. We were just leaving.” Larry pushed hard, but everything—everything—came back to Kaylan now, including Ulf’s training:
Always remember, you are the hunter. Everything you do, every movement you make or do not make, must be a reminder to your prey just who it is they are dealing with.
“Wow, I guess she’s a little stronger than I thought,” Larry muttered.
“Obviously, she’s somebody, Larry,” Jessica said. “And she seems to want to stay.”
“She’s Undertow, Agent Waters. Really, I was just giving her some food, but she’s got to go now—”
Agent Kaylan put her hand on Larry’s wrist. “We’ll escort her to the gate, Larry. You can go now.”
“Really, it’s OK, Agent Smith,” Larry stammered.
“Now, Larry.” Agent Jessica’s voice rose.
Larry almost tripped in his haste to leave the room. “Thank you, Agent Smith, Agent Waters,” he sputtered.
“Larry?” Agent Kaylan called after him.
“Yes?”
“Never
let me hear you say that word again.”
Larry nodded and left.
“Now then,” Agent Jessica said to Kaylan. “Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll get you another protein drink.”
They sat at the table farthest from the cafeteria door. When Agent Jessica came back with the drink, Kaylan decided it was best to cut to the chase before she forgot things again.
“I’m you,” she pointed to Agent Kaylan. “From another Earth.”
The two agents looked at each other.
“You know it’s possible,” Kaylan said.
“It’s possible,” Agent Jessica said, “but probable?” She shook her head.
“That guard called you both agents,” Kaylan said and took a drink. She was getting her strength back. “He treated you two like royalty. This is your heyday, isn’t it? You’ve made a lot of trips through time.”
Again, the two agents looked at each other. They both smiled.
“Yes, you could say that,” Agent Kaylan said.
“Is Stuart still on your team?” It was a general question, but Kaylan was staring at Agent Jessica as she asked it. She kept staring until Jessica looked down at the table.
“No,” Agent Kaylan answered for her. “Sadly, he—”
“Died in 44 B.C. during the Julius Caesar mission. You replaced him with Gabriel.”
“How...how in the hell did you know that?” Agent Jessica asked.
“You told me,” Kaylan answered. “Fifty years ago, my time.” She breathed a heavy sigh. “Fifty years from now, give or take, your time.”
“Holy shit,” Agent Jessica whispered.
“Why are you here?” Agent Kaylan asked.
“I couldn’t remember why,” Kaylan said, “until I saw you two.” She shook her head. “Do you believe in the saying, ‘Time is like a river’?”
“You mean insofar as the nature of a timeline flows one way only—past to present. Certain events, even if you could go back in time and try to change them, cannot be changed?” Agent Jessica asked.
“I didn’t at first,” Agent Kaylan answered.
“Makes sense,” Kaylan said. “I didn’t either. Until I learned the multiverse theory is correct, but I don’t know. If you hadn’t come in when you did...I was lost, adrift in time, lost within worlds.” Kaylan pointed to the agents. “You two were my anchors. And I think now I’m done.”
Minutemen- Parallel Lives Page 14
