The Place Beyond

by Ryan Lohner

  “That was half my usual speed, by the way,” Mike said. “It seems this will take some more work. I’m sure you’re looking forward to it. I know I am.”

  Jim wished he could tell how sincere that statement was.

  * * *

  CJ gave a hearty, “Well, good morning!” as soon as Matt entered the spot where they’d worked the previous day.

  Matt was in no mood for it. Sam had got him and the others some oatmeal for breakfast that morning, even using just half the usual amount of water, like Matt preferred. He had been quite looking forward to it … and then he had tried lifting the spoon and felt his entire arm getting revenge for what it had been put through yesterday. He was able to eat, but it became quite a chore and he soon resorted to lowering his head nearer the bowl like a dog, not caring at all who saw him. So now he just mumbled out, “Hello.”

  CJ made an exaggerated pained face. “Not very talkative today, huh? Didn’t get much sleep or something?”

  Matt replied, “Oh, that’s definitely not the problem. The problem is, I’m out of shape, and yesterday we pushed too hard.”

  CJ chuckled. “Yeah, I saw the little show you put on at breakfast. So is it just your arms, or anything else?”

  Matt lifted his legs, one at a time, to waist height. “Those seem okay.”

  CJ’s smile got a little bigger, “Well, it seems that’s what we’ll be focusing on, then. And from what I just saw, there’s plenty to work on, too. Here, watch.” He turned to the side and kept his leg straight as he lifted it until the foot was parallel with his head. Then it came down and he did the same with the other leg. “Now, I’m not expecting you to get quite that far in the time we have, but let’s see how much better you can get, shall we?”

  * * *

  Jane had never in her life imagined she’d be wearing a skintight leotard in public. She had never felt the need to go to any gym; she ate well, and wasn’t planning on ever doing an activity that required real fitness. At least it was black and made details hard to make out, Lilah’s one acquiescence to her discomfort when she had first been introduced to the workout wardrobe.

  Lilah simply sat on a bench and placed her chin in her hands, leaving what to do entirely up to Jane. She’d never been comfortable taking charge like this, but she simply sighed inwardly and launched into the routine. First she arched her back, which, even with her lack of experience judging such a thing, didn’t feel like it went very far. Then she raised her arms over her head, and raised her left leg straight out in front of her. The process reminded her of her brief flirtation with ballet in her childhood, which she had dropped after her mother told her it wasn’t all just looking graceful and confident, and her feet would take quite a beating before she got any good. She was only able to hold it up for about five seconds, though that was still an improvement on when she had started yesterday. Then came the other leg, which she was still only able to hold up for two seconds. “This isn’t doing anything!” she said, but Lilah simply kept watching her.

  She sighed and moved to the next step, reaching down for her toes. She had always been embarrassed by how bad she’d been at this in gym class, but at least that constant repetition had left her a bit more proficient at it than some of the other routines. Then came her waist, moving back and forward, and then side to side. This was another area where she was surprised by how much she seemed to have improved since yesterday, though she still doubted she was anywhere near as impressive as Lilah.

  Finally, the arms. Each one got pointed straight to the opposite side, with the other crossed in front of it, pushing it further to that side as hard as she could. She’d already found this one the easiest of all, so there wasn’t much of a noticeable difference this time.

  When she finished, Lilah got up and said, “Very good. I’m guessing you noticed some improvement?” At Jane’s nod, she went on, “All you need to do is loosen up the muscles enough, and they’ll do a lot of work for you. The human body is an amazing thing sometimes.”

  Jane wiped her forehead off and said, “Well, I’m still barely getting through it. How much progress is seriously possible in the time we’ve got?”

  Lilah looked her in the eyes and said, “Think for a moment about how our training works. Messages right into the mind. Which means the mind is all it affects. The muscles stay exactly the same. So why can we suddenly do physical things we couldn’t do before? Any idea?”

  Jane thought a few moments, as this had never occurred to her. Granted, she’d had a few other things on her mind. And try as she might, she had to say, “No.”

  Lilah smiled and said, “Confidence. If you believe you can do something deep in your heart, it’s a lot easier than if you have doubts. Oh, it’s not right away that the body is fully up to the task, but it gets there before long, every time. So that’s the secret. You need to believe you can do these things.”

  Jane looked at her feet. “Trouble is, I don’t. And I can’t see how that’s going to change.”

  Lilah touched her chin and brought her face back up. “With my help. My first day working in that factory, I saw another worker go inside one of the machines. Then there was a scream, and he ran out holding his own severed hand. The boss just sent another person in there, and they got the job done without hurting themselves. So the rules became clear to me: no one was watching out for me. I was expendable. So if I was going to survive, or even just stay in one piece, I could only count on myself. And I didn’t have any training programs to help me.” She paused and spread her arms. “And I went into those machines I don’t know how many times, and it’s all still here.”

  Jane said, “Well, I don’t suppose you have one of those machines here?”

  Lilah chuckled. “I don’t need them anymore. And you won’t need them either, because I’m here for you. And you’re in the exact same position I was. You’ve got five more days, and to have any hope of lasting beyond that, you’ve got to pick up as much of this stuff as you can. By the way, I’ve noticed you and those two guys have been pretty upbeat, all things considered.”

  Jane said, “It’s really not the kind of thing you like to think about, is it?”

  Lilah shook her head. “No, it’s not. And that’s exactly the problem. You’re not letting yourself think about it. Nothing conscious, but your brain is keeping you from realizing just how much trouble you’re really in, because if you did, you wouldn’t be able to think about anything else. And that’s what we’ve got to fix. You need to think about it, but in another way. Let it motivate you, just like I was motivated. I was sent inside for the first time just two days after I saw that man lose his hand. And by that time, I was prepared. There were a few close calls, but I did the job and got out. You’ve got twice as long, and me to help you.” She put her hand on Jane’s shoulder. “Just keep thinking that, and you’ll get through this.”

  Jane wiped away a tear she hadn’t realized was forming. “Thank you.”

  Lilah swatted her on the shoulder. “Ah, it was nothing. Now, up next …”

  * * *

  Things continued this way for the rest of the day, and the next as well. Their clothes quickly became too rank to keep on anymore and were taken to the surface to be washed with the rest by volunteers who bragged that they had become very skilled at not getting caught on these kinds of errands. In the meantime, they had to make do with the same grey, shapeless material most of the resistance members always wore. There was only a single bathroom in the headquarters, with the toilet working by means none of them wanted to ask about, which made things even more awkward between everyone. Luckily, they didn’t have to put up with it all for long, as the next day came the news that gave Matt, Jim, and Jane a real chance to get home.

  Chapter Seventeen

  At dinner, Matt hesitantly dipped a spoon into his noodle soup, all that Sam had been able to get lately. He had apologized, and said he suspected the boss might be catching on to him.

  Then Lilah had said, “Oh, don’t worry, he says that
all the time. But the man is good at what he does. He’d actually been on quite a roll by the time you showed up. Something like this is all we’ve got more often than not.”

  Matt found that his arm was still reasonably steady, so that was one more meal he could get through without embarrassment, despite again working mainly on his arms with CJ that day. No telling what the morning would bring, however, and he was already dreading the embarrassment of having to deal with something mostly liquid with his biceps refusing to cooperate.

  But then all other thoughts were pushed out of his head when he spotted Charlie come into the room. The leader of the resistance never ate with anyone else, their instructors had told them. In fact, as far as Matt could tell, he never seemed to come out of his office. It was a mystery what he did in there all day, and day after day, but after a while everyone in the group had stopped questioning it. He would never give them an answer anyway, and in the meantime he’d brought them together, and showed himself to be a great leader on the occasions when someone did speak to him, so there didn’t seem to be any point to finding out.

  But now here he was, those too-big eyes seeming to bulge even more than the last time they’d met. The man spotted them, and walked straight to them. He didn’t sit, but simply looked down as he told them, “We may have found a way to help you.” His voice was loud enough to carry over the whole room.

  They all began to get up, but Charlie stuck his hand out. Still talking just as loudly, he said, “No, no. Don’t get up. Anything to avoid wasting more time that you don’t have.”

  Matt bristled, and wondered if he was deliberately trying to get a rise out of them. No one with the reputation this guy had could really be so bad at talking to people, could he? Luckily, now even Jim had wised up enough not to rise to it.

  Charlie went on, “Bram’s spent the past couple days on the surface, getting any intel he can. Seeing as this was his screw-up in the first place, it seemed only right that he get the assignment. And today it paid off. He just got in touch with me.” Charlie tapped the side of his head and said, “I hear you don’t have contact implants where you come from. It must be very inconvenient.”

  Matt noticed Jane struggling to keep her mouth closed, and hoped she succeeded, at least until they got more information.

  “Anyway,” Charlie continued, “He’s found out about a new delivery of training programs to the local police station, and there’s been a distinct military presence in the area over the past couple days. So you’re probably wondering what that has to do with anything. Well, that’s why you’re lucky to have people like us around.” He grinned, revealing incredibly white teeth that just made him seem even more arrogant. “See, there have been no reports about you three, despite your arrival being a pretty important event. If only for novelty value.”

  Matt ground his teeth; this guy definitely had a gift for pushing buttons.

  He went on, “So, he and I got to talking about what this could mean. And what we’ve come up with is, the general wants no one in the public to know about you. Whatever reason he has for going to your world, it’s a secret. So that leaves him with the problem of how to get the word to his men about it. See, the implants work on a network that can be tapped. It’s not easy, but I know something about how the guy thinks, and this is definitely something he’d be pretty paranoid about. So we figure the idea is the news is hidden in the middle of some unscheduled special training for them. And it can’t be only that – the mail goes through some heavy security and it would pick up on the programs not having the usual amount encoded. So it’ll probably have some of the regular kind of stuff they get.” He paused for a second, and added, “That being, how to fight.”

  That was when Jane had enough. “Okay, this is fascinating, really, but could you get around to how it helps us get back home, or is this just an excuse to insult us?” Her tone was a bit quieter, but Matt was still uncomfortably aware of how every eye was on them, and got the feeling some of these people wouldn’t like her talking to their beloved leader like this.

  Those bulging eyes turned toward her, and then Charlie smiled again. “I can always count on you, Missy. You have the most amusing outbursts.” Jane fumed as he went on. “As I was saying, the idea is for you to get your hands on a few of these programs yourselves. I’m sure my people have done the best they can, but from what I’ve been hearing, it would seem it’s a wasted effort.”

  Jane and Jim both looked offended at this, though Matt thought that for once the guy was right on the money. Maybe the two of them had made more progress than they’d let on.

  And now Jim had reached his limit and said, “I still haven’t heard anything about how this helps us. How do we get the programs at all? If police stations here are anything like where we come from, that’s not going to be easy.”

  Charlie pointed at Jim and said, “You know what the important topic here is. Maybe there’s some hope for you. To answer that, we’re working on a plan of attack right now. We’ve got the plans for the building, and an inside man to let us know where the programs will be stored in the archives. I just figured I’d let you know we are working on something. Out of the goodness of my heart, and all.” A few seconds of silence passed, and then he said, “Maybe I’m just not quite up on how things are done with your society, but I believe a thank you would be in order.”

  All three of them said it at the same time, though Matt noticed through the corner of his eye that Jim and Jane didn’t do much to disguise how little they liked it. He hoped he had done a better job, though he doubted it. In just two meetings, the resistance leader had become possibly the most aggravating person he’d ever met. Even Pren hadn’t gotten under his skin quite this much. Charlie did appear satisfied, at least, and simply smiled again and left.

  Jane turned to Lilah and said, “He gets better, huh?”

  Lilah shrugged. “He did with me. Everyone else I’ve talked to says the same thing.”

  Matt said, “Maybe he just has a problem with people from other universes.” Everyone stared at him in incomprehension. “Oh, you think it couldn’t happen? Well, when you’ve heard some of the stuff I have in school, you start considering the possibility easier, I guess.”

  Jim said, “Well, whatever his problem is, this is good news, right?”

  Matt nodded. “Absolutely. Though personally, I’m not getting my hopes up.”

  Jane said, “Wait, so our chances just went from statistically nonexistent to definitely possible, and you’re not taking it as a win?”

  Matt shrugged. “Call it life experience. You know what my parents do, and how it made them move around a lot. Well, whenever we did, I’d be at a new school, with new people. And for a while, I tried to work with it. I tried to make friends. But every time I did, the kids had a problem with me. Maybe it was my skin color, maybe it was that I was adopted, and there were a few where I was never really clear on what the problem was. I guess they just didn’t like my face or something. So after enough of that, I just stopped trying. It wasn’t until we moved to Berkland that something got me to think I might have a shot again, and I did meet some people I liked. Except, then, well, look where we are.” Jim and Jane were both staring at him now. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to go on. It’s just, that’s why I’m not getting my hopes up. It generally hasn’t led to anything good for me.”

  Jim said, “That’s really what your life has been like? I had no idea.” Then he coughed and said, “Look, anything I’ve done to make it harder, I’m sorry.”

  Lilah snorted. “Plenty of people here have the same story. Oh, trust me, I’ve dealt with it. That kind of thinking never goes away. There are periods where it’s not considered very polite, sure, but they come and go. It’s been that way for centuries.”

  Jane also looked shocked. “I knew that stuff happened before, but … I guess I just never thought about it.” She looked between Matt and Lilah and said to the latter, “Oh God, I’m like the people who made you go into those machines.”


  Lilah put a hand on her shoulder. “No, you’re not. Because you’re able to even have that thought. Just hold on to that and you’ll be fine.”

  Jim nodded. “I’ll do that, too, if you don’t mind.”

  Lilah smiled. “Absolutely.”

  Matt said, “Well, now that we’re all one big happy family again … oh God.”

  Everyone leaned closer and Jane said, “What?”

  Matt looked down. “Talking about home again made me realize … we haven’t really had a chance to think about anything back home since we came here. But we’ve been missing for three days now. The town’s probably getting national attention for a bunch of kidnappings, and what about my mom and dad? Or yours?”

  That got everyone lost in their own thoughts for a couple of minutes. Jane stared into the distance and said, “My parents will be going nuts. My younger brothers are both huge pains in the neck but I hate to think what they’re going through, too. And Paul, well, we’ve always got along. He always stuck up for me with them. Maybe this will actually get them on the same page for once.”

  Jim looked at the floor and said, “I’ve mostly just been annoyed at my parents recently. They’ve always been so protective of me, and I wanted them to stop now that I can take care of myself. And now …” he trailed off.

  Matt was startled to see tears silently falling. “Hey, I’m sorry …” he started, but then Jim held his hand up.

  “Just shut up!” he choked out, and ran from the room.

  Once he was gone, there were a few scattered laughs. Matt and Jane shot the sources of them all sour looks and followed Jim. They headed to the sleeping quarters, where he sat on his bed, apparently finished crying.

  He stood up and said, “Thank you for making me water cooler material for everyone tomorrow.”

  Matt started again, “Look, Jim …”

  Jim interjected, “Hey, it’s okay. It needed to be said. If we’re going to get through this thing, we can’t lie to ourselves about what we’ll be coming back to.”