A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO TIME TRAVEL
CHAPTER 31 —HELEN
I looked at Ricky and crawled toward him, keeping an eye on where Jimmy was just a moment ago. I couldn’t remember exactly what happened, or where he went after telling us we had to take the generator out, but I wasn’t going to dwell on it any longer than I had to. It was like, one moment he was there, and then he was gone. For some strange reason, I didn’t feel like I could trust him anymore. Not that I ever did before. But not at this moment, I told myself. Things were starting to fall into place; I was starting to remember things—strange, out of this world things—and I looked up at Ricky and Jaleen.
“Are you still with me?” I said, grabbing Ricky by the foot.
Ricky looked down at me, and for a moment he looked just as confused about what was going on, as I’d been. He looked at where Jimmy had been standing just a moment ago, and I could see he was working it over in his mind.
“Where’s Jimmy?”
“He’s gone.”
“Gone?”
“One minute he was here, and then he just disappeared.”
“How does he just disappear like that? And where does he go?” Jaleen asked.
“Into the future,” I said. “He’s a Time Guide.”
I could see the exact moment when Ricky figured it out; I could see it in his eyes. He looked down at Jaleen.
“We gotta get you outta here.”
“Me? You mean all of us?” Jaleen said, looking up the tunnel at the guards standing near the generator. She ducked back around the corner, looking at Jimmy.
“We can’t trust Jimmy,” he said.
“Isn’t he supposed to be your brother?” she asked, looking at the spot where Jimmy was standing at a moment ago. “Where’d he go? Wasn’t he was just there?”
“I don’t have time to explain it right now, because right now, he wants to kill you,” Ricky said.
“Kill me? Why?”
“There’s no why in explaining any of this,” I said. “You have to remember what’s going on. You’ve been here just as long as we have—”
“Been where? What are you talking about?”
“Think!” I said. “Try to remember what’s happening.”
“Try to remember what? I can’t even remember yesterday.”
“Look, we gotta get you out of here before Jimmy figures out that we’re onto him,” Ricky said.
“Where’s that woman? Jen?” Jaleen asked. “How come she didn’t show up with him?”
“There. Now you’re remembering,” I said.
“Remembering what?” she said again, and I could hear the frustration in her voice.
“Whit. Do you remember Whit?” I said.
“He died!” she replied, and I could see her eyes tearing up.
“That’s right! He did! He died because Jimmy killed him,” I said.
“No he didn’t. I remember now. He got bit by a snake.”
“We don’t have time to explain it,” Ricky said. Now it was his turn to look around the corner and up the tunnel. He turned back to us and looked at Jaleen.
“We’re not about to let what happened to him, happen to you.”
“We’re gonna do everything we can to stop him,” I said, placing my hand on my holster.
I looked down in a panic.
My gun was gone.
“Ricky,” I said, my voice a harsh whisper. “My gun? It’s gone.”
“What? How? I mean, when?”
“I don’t know. I had it when Jimmy was here. Do you think he nabbed it from me, before he ditched us?”
Ricky shook his head. I guess he was trying to sort it out in his mind, but it was difficult trying to figure out what was real and what wasn’t. He looked at me and I could see a hard look in his eyes. I was starting to think it was familiar and that I recognized the look. It was the look of a man who’s just sorted out the birthday surprise party before it starts.
“He knows where we are,” he said finally.
“Of course he knows where we are. He was just here,” Jaleen said.
“No. I mean he’s changed the parameters of the game,” I said.
“What do you mean he’s changed them?” Ricky asked. “How does he even know where we are? No one knows where we are.”
“Except Elite games,” I said.
“Who? The SID?” he asked, shaking his head. “Are you trying to tell me the SID’s the one killing everyone? Impossible. He’s a ‘bot. He can’t enter the game,” he said. “He doesn’t know enough about the game, or how it works to pull something as elaborate as this off.
“Not him. But I think he knows who it is. He’s probably been helping him without even realizing it.”
“You mean Dwayne?”
“He’s the guy who installed the game,” I said.
“What game?” Jaleen asked.
“It’s complicated, too complicated to explain now. But if it is him, and he knows where we are because he set it up, it’s obvious he’s done something to the game. That’s why you don’t have your gun anymore.”
“If he knows where we are, why hasn’t he come back?” I said.
“He’s probably using whatever time he has to make all the necessary changes.”
“Then we better get as far away from here as we can,” I said.
“Maybe we can find a different way out?” he said, and crouching low, he darted across the opening to the other side without being seen.
The city, or what was left of it, was lost under an endless blanket of sand that’d hardened over the centuries; it had probably been blowing through the remnants of the city for centuries. Sand was piled up against the sides of buildings, some of it hundreds of feet deep, and just as high. Some of the buildings that hadn’t collapsed in on themselves were completely buried, with only tiny spires rising out of the sand like tombstones to show where they’d once stood. Most of the buildings were naked husks of what they once were, the empty shells standing up like fingers reaching for the sky. Some of the windows above the sand line caught the sunlight, glittering like mirrors, throwing back reflections that dappled the buildings around us.
“Do you think we can get inside one of them?” I said, looking at the path we’d followed. “I’d feel a lot better being inside, than waiting out here for him to find us.”
“Good idea,” Ricky said. He looked up at the buildings around us. He bent down and looked at the sand, pulling his long knife out and sticking it into the hardened surface. The sand gave way under its thin patina of crust. He stepped on it, driving his toes into it.
“They’ll know we were here,” I said. “You might as well paint a sign with an arrow, saying where we wen,” I added.
“That’s exactly what I plan to do,” he said.
He climbed up the side of the building, driving his feet into the sand, leaving a small trail behind him. He scrambled back down, half sliding, and then made another set of tracks going up the side of the building. He slid down and then made a third set of tracks.
“Okay, let’s go,” he said, picking up the pack and his weapons once he was down on the ground again.
“Go where?” I asked.
“Anywhere but here. I suggest we try to find something we can approach from the back, under the cover of shadows.”
“I don’t care where we go,” I said.
“Good. I’ve got just the place.”
I don’t know where he saw it from. If I had to make a guess, I’d say he spotted it when he was making the trail up and down the side of the building. He seemed to know exactly how to get there. Getting into the building wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, and that made me hesitate.
“It’s too easy,” I said.
“What do you mean, it’s too easy?” Ricky said.
“If it’s too easy to get into, there’s probably going to be others in there. Don’t you think someone’s in there?”
“Or something?” Jaleen said.
“Maybe, but then, maybe they were thinking the same thing and went to a higher floor? Remember, we don’t want to be caught outside. Now, get in,” he said, pushing a piece of rusted tin out of my way so I could climb through a window opening. I made sure to turn around and help Jaleen.
I pushed the tin sheet out of the way and held it in place as Ricky climbed through. I looked at the city behind us and noticed that some of the buildings had lights shining through the windows. I couldn’t see any lights reflected in the windows of the buildings across from us.
“We’re not alone here,” I said, still looking at the lights.
Ricky poked his head out of the window beside me, looking at the buildings around us. He nodded softly before stepping away, pulling me with him.
“We can’t let ourselves get distracted,” he said.
“I’m not,” I said.
“He knows where we are,” he reminded me.
“Why do you think that?” Jaleen asked.
“Because everyone here has been injected with nano-bots. That’s how he tracks his victims. The sky’s are still full of ancient satellites and GPS.”
“I’m not,” I said.
“You’re not what?” he asked.
“I’m not full of Nano-bots.”
“That might not be a good thing under the circumstances.”
“I’m willing to take my chances,” I said.
We made our way up a dark, twisted, stairwell. Ricky paused long enough to find the small, wind-up, flashlight, and good thing, too. There were large sections where the stairs had broken, leaving huge gaps we had to jump across. One was so large, we had to use the rope.
“Maybe this is why there’s nobody’s here?” Jaleen said, looking down at the broken stairs behind us. It made sense, I thought. Why would you want to live in a building that had limited access, when there were so many others to choose from?
There were numbers stencilled on the walls. Most of them were covered under multiple layers of dirt and dust, making it almost impossible to read them, but the higher we climbed, the more visible they became. Ricky reached up with a hand and scraped some of the dust away and then stood back to read his handiwork.
“Thirty-four,” I said, and reached down to pull the door open.
Ricky wound up the crank on his little light and directed it down the hall. I could see endless strings of cobwebs—angel’s hair and gossamer wings, I thought— and heard the rattle of a snake somewhere; I quickly closed the door.
“Maybe the next one.”
“What are you looking for?” Jaleen asked.
“Some place without spiders and snakes,” I said.
I finally opened the door on the forty-fourth floor, listening for the tell-tale rattle of snakes, or the sound of animals hiding in the darker recesses. I didn’t bother asking what kind of animals would be hiding in the shadows, but imagined they might be large rats, feral cats, or perhaps both.
Ricky stepped past me, through the door, shining his light down the hall. I saw the unmistakable glow of animal eyes that disappeared with a quick, mad dash, through the detritus of two centuries. In some places, the walls had fallen into the hallway and we had to climb over them; in other places, the ceiling and parts of the floor above had collapsed.
Ricky pushed his way through a door and a part of the outside wall fell in with it. I stepped over the rot and looked around in the gloom. There was a large opening where the sliding door once stood, and a century’s worth of dirt, sand, and grit, filled the space. I pushed hands full of dirt out of the way before I was able to climb up the pile and stick my head out, looking out over the city; I forced my way half-way through the gap before I was able to worm myself all the way through.
We were well above the wind-blown sand piles. The sand looked to be about three floors below us. It was a frightening sight, all the same, looking straight down at the broken city below me. The balcony had collapsed—probably a result of the sand’s weight—and I could see pieces of cement holding onto spindly rods of re-bar, some of which had fallen onto the mountain of sand below. The air was cold, and smelled of freshly turned-over sand.
There were stars out; the Milky Way spilling across the horizon in a pale ribbon of stars that faded into the distance. I was amazed to see that it had become so dark out. I didn’t think we’d taken that long climbing up the forty-four floors, and told myself it would take just as long climbing down. I looked out over the fallen balcony and shuddered at the sight below.
I climbed back inside.
“See anything interesting?” Ricky smiled.
“We’re above the water-line, if that’s what you want to know,” I said.
“What’s the supposed to mean?”
“We’re sitting above the sand.”
There was a brilliant flash of light out in the hallway, and a moment later Jimmy walked into the room. He was carrying a transponder that was no larger than a coffee cup.
I reached for my holster, but it wasn’t there.
“I changed things up,” he said.
“By taking my gun away from me?”
“Among other things,” he smiled.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ricky asked. “And can you give me one good reason why I don’t kill you where you stand?”
“Then you’ll never get out of the game, will you?”
“What’s he talking about?” Jaleen asked me.
“Nothing here’s real. It’s all a game.”
“A game? What sort of a game? Because if none of this is real, how come Whit died?”
“Whit’s dead because he killed him out in the real world. He’s here to kill you, too.”
“What do you mean in the real world?”
“You see? That’s what I changed,” Jimmy laughed. “It took a while getting into her pod because it’s not at Elite. She doesn’t remember the real world, and isn’t about to. To her, this is the real world. She’s alive as long as you keep her alive. She’s still in a coma outside of the game, so if she dies out there, it’s because she died in here; and if she dies in here, she dies out there. It’s up to you to make sure she doesn’t die.”
“What’re you talking about?” Ricky said.
“Well, when they made the game, they left a few little escape holes in case something went wrong. They had to figure things out after that guy died playing the game. You must’ve heard the stories? They couldn’t get him out of the game right away, because he’d had a stroke. He was alive, outside, but he was pretty well comatose. So they put him in a game scenario where he could just lay in a bed until he either recovered, or died.”
“What kind of game scenario?” Ricky asked.
“The kind that left him in your past.”
“My past? Why mine?”
“I’d made it all up long before you came along. When the SID signed you up for the game, I thought, wouldn’t that be fun?”
“Fun?” I said.
He smiled, looking down at the transponder for a moment.
“You just don’t get it, do you?’
“What’s there to get?” I asked.
“Everybody that plays the game, starts at a different time—whatever interests you. To put it simply, you can enter the game at any time you want. That’s the beauty of the game. You two decided you wanted to see what life was like after the Cataclysm. There’s still enough information in old records that allows you to see that.”
He turned and looked at Jaleen.
“She wanted a different story.”
“After the Cataclysm,” I said.
“Exactly.”
“So why throw us all together?” Ricky asked.
“You mean the glitch? Yea, that was the only way that was going to work. And it did. It opened up a new world of possibilities for me. Before, I could only follow one person into the game, or maybe a couple. I could kill them at will. But I had to kill them twice. Once in the real world, and once here.”
“Why do you have to kill the person in the game?” I asked.
“Because the AP can go into the game, and follow the character out from there. They can trace it back to me, at Elite.”
“Dwayne!” I said.
“And seeing you here, does that mean you already killed us in the real world?” Ricky asked.
“There’s one more thing I wanted to show you before I leave,” he said, turning the machine on and climbing through the broken wall. A bright orange light filtered through the dust in the air and centred itself on the wall across from us as Jimmy put the transponder on a small pile of wood in the middle of the floor. He smiled at me as he turned it on. There was a huge three-d hologram that spread across the far wall.
It was Jen.
She was in a large white room, with huge floor to ceiling windows, looking out over the city. It was our apartment. She’d been stripped naked and nailed to the wall. Blood ran down her torso like tears—but there was something else. The skin on her arms had been peeled back and tacked to the wall, exposing the flesh underneath, as well as the machinery. I could see the blood pumping through her veins, as well as oil.
She was a cyborg.
“You sick fuck!” Ricky screamed.
“What’re you getting so upset about? She’s not dead.”
“Is she a machine?” Jaleen asked. “She looks so real. How can they do that?”
“She’s part machine. She has amplified parts that allow her to react to things faster than you or I could. That’s how she won the game. It seems she had some trouble on the job, and in order to save her, they had to make changes. Sad, isn’t it? They don’t even let you die anymore,” he said.
“You’re sick,” I said.
“They always say that about genius, don’t they?”
“If she only beat the game because she’s a ‘Borg, how did you beat it?” Ricky asked.
“I cheated, of course,” he said with a grin. “I reprogrammed the game. They gave me one as part of the course I was taking.”
“Are we tacked up on the other walls?” I asked, still looking at Jen.
“No, but I like your mindset. But again, no. You’re still in the game pods we put in for you last week, and you’ll be there for as long as you’re able to live in this world. You’re basically stuck here, in this time, and in this world,” he added, looking around the room, “whatever you want to call it, until you die. But that’s the interesting part. You only get one life. If you die here, you die out there. But as long as you’re alive in here—in the game—you’ll live. See what I mean about genius?”
He turned the transponder off and Jen’s figure flickered, and then faded. Then he raised his hand and pulled his sleeve back, revealing the bracelet. He pointed it at the wall and I could see sparks as the circle opened and he stepped toward it. He took the bracelet off and tossed it on the floor.
“Oh yeah, and this bracelet? It never worked. It was just a gimmick,” he added, pulling a small fob out of his pocket. He stepped through the opening and turned around, looking at us.
“She is pregnant,” he smiled. “That part is real. She’ll have her child in the real world, while she’s in her coma, and never know it. This is the only place she’ll know it. ”
“You’ll never get away with this!” I shouted.
“I already have,” he said. “Having you in the game gives me everything I need. I’ve taken your identities and moved into your place. That day you lost your pouch at Elite? I had it. I copied your chip. I even recalibrated the AI. No one’s going to miss you. I’ve announced that you’re leaving the planet to take an extended trip through the galaxy. Ambitious, don’t you think? Most people would be content just seeing the solar system, but not you. And no one will doubt it either. But don’t worry, I’ll be here to look after you and make sure your vitals are stable, so you can move through the game freely. Have a good life,” he added, and then the circle closed and we were left in the dark.