by Ryan Lohner
Pren didn’t flinch. “Maybe that would have worked before. But you think anyone who’s anyone is going to want anything to do with you after this? You’re the guy who got beaten by three kids you never needed to bother with in the first place.”
Chapman looked furious and the scar stood out even more, but he said nothing.
Pren turned back to Matt and his friends. “As I was saying, this isn’t going to be over when you get back. The general is quite unhappy with you. He’s not going to just let you go.”
Jane appeared to also be utterly done with the man. “Chapman’s right about one thing. You do talk too much. At the moment, we don’t care. We’re just thinking about that horrible death you were nice enough to warn us about. So for now, we just want to get back. And whatever happens, I just hope we don’t have to deal with a worthless piece of trash like you when it does.”
Pren goggled at her, quivering as he tried to respond. Finally, he just gave up on trying to adequately express his shock.
“Right then,” one of the scientists said. “That’s it.” The short-range corridor opened, through which they could see the portal back to their world. “It’s set to the same night you left. Now, just go through so we can all get back to work, please.”
Dave said, “I’d offer to come along, but unfortunately my ‘father’ isn’t available, and that would raise too many questions. Too bad, I did like you guys. Well, who knows? Maybe we’ll see each other again sometime.”
Jane said, “What about Bram? Things are going to be pretty bad for him if he stays here. Why don’t we bring him along?”
Jim turned to her in shock. “The man lied to us and made us spend a week thinking we’d probably have a very painful death. As far as I’m concerned, he deserves whatever he has coming.”
Matt shook his head. “A few minutes ago, I might have agreed. But now that everything’s worked out so well, I just can’t hold much against him. I mean, think about the life he’s led. Wouldn’t you feel desperate enough to pull something like he did after that?”
Bram scoffed. “I don’t need you to defend me, kid. Spending a few days with us isn’t anywhere near enough to say you really understand us. Besides, I haven’t taken any Neserene, and I don’t like our chances of getting some now any more than the last time.”
Jim said, “You heard the man.”
Jane threw up her hands. “All right, fine.”
One of the scientists said, “You know, you may want to get going. We won’t be able to keep this open much longer without attracting some attention you really don’t want.”
Matt said, “Okay, let’s go then.” He turned to Dave. “Despite everything, I do hope we see each other again. You reaching out to me meant more than you could realize, too.” As Dave and Bram continued to keep Chapman and his men covered, the three walked into the main corridor room.
* * *
Jim allowed Matt and Jane to precede him into the room. But just as he was about to go through himself, he heard a shout and turned around to see Bram on the ground, with Pren on top of him. Jim himself was too shocked to do anything but stare. The whole scene seemed to go into slow motion. Dave was spinning toward the fight, but too late. And Matt and Jane were simply too far away. Pren grabbed his pulser back from Bram, but rather than go after any of them, he instead shot a piece of equipment off to the side. Matt and Jane tried to come back into the room, but crashed against the short range corridor like it was a solid wall.
Pren stood up, as Chapman used the distraction to charge at Dave again. Now with the help of his men, he overpowered Dave despite all the young man could throw at him, and the other soldiers also sprang into action. By the time Jim was in any position to help, there was no point; several pulsers were pointed straight at him.
Chapman said to Pren, “Well, this is certainly a surprise. Maybe I misjudged you.”
Pren smiled. “No, you were right. I’m a nasty, insubordinate piece of work. But never underestimate good motivation. Like these people.” He turned to Jim, and Matt and Jane behind him. “You know, Reeves almost died. By the time we found him, there was barely enough time to get him fixed up. Him and me, I never really thought about it before, but I guess you could call us friends.”
Jim was in no mood to hear this. “What the hell did you do?”
The smile got bigger. “I did some studying on the corridor. Yes, I read voluntarily, try to control your shock. It took some looking, but I finally figured out just the right part to hit. You can see and hear into the corridor room, but nothing physical. Oh, and the one going back to your world still works just fine. Too bad you can’t get to it.”
Jim spun back to look at Matt and Jane, sure that the horror in their faces matched his own. He turned to the scientists. “You can fix this, right?”
They shook their heads. “Not in time to do any good. This won’t be working again until tomorrow at the earliest.”
Chapman, voice unusually hard, said, “I suggest you say your goodbyes. Because if they’re smart, your friends won’t be sticking around any longer.”
* * *
Matt felt completely numb as Jim turned back to him and Jane. He couldn’t quite cover up the quiver in his voice, but Matt was grateful for the effort. “I’ve still got a couple days, right? That means there’s hope. However small it is, I’m not giving up. And Matt? I let you have the one before, but don’t you dare blame yourself for this. It’s because of me that we’re all here, not you.” He turned to Chapman’s men. “And even more because of them. So just hold on to that, no matter what happens.”
Matt couldn’t think of anything to say back. Luckily, Jane stepped in. “Well, we’re not giving up either. However this time thing works, it means we might be able to get back here in time if we ever find a way to do it. Right, Matt?”
Matt nodded, grateful for the starting point. “Absolutely.” He said it with far more confidence than he actually felt, but it just seemed like the right way to play it. Right now, Jim would be needing all the confidence he could get. Matt then turned to Chapman. “We will be coming back, no matter how long it takes.” Once again, he had no idea how he would make good on that promise, but it just seemed like the right thing to say.
And they didn’t have time for anything more, because more soldiers entered the room and started to take Dave, Bram, and Jim away. “I’ll be waiting for you!” Jim shouted.
Matt and Jane looked at each other, no words sufficient to convey what they were both feeling. So they simply walked into the corridor, and just as the scientists had promised, found themselves back in the woods where they’d been taken into Krell. They turned around and watched the corridor fade, though Matt couldn’t see it very well through his tears.
Chapter Twenty-Six
As Jim was being led from the room, he looked back over his shoulder and didn’t look away as Matt and Jane entered the corridor. He wanted to be absolutely sure that they got through and all this wasn’t for nothing. The second they were gone, however, he was free to let out the tears he’d been holding in. He’d put on a brave face as they said their goodbyes, but inside he’d been unable to think about anything but the horrific fate that awaited him in just two days. If he even lasted that long. He looked around at all his captors and was disturbed to find himself wondering if they could give him a quick death before being in the wrong universe caught up with him, and if that could be considered as them going easy on him.
He wasn’t too surprised to find Chapman evading his gaze. Despite what he’d just done, the man clearly did have some sense of right and wrong and it was killing him to break it for what he saw as the greater good. But at the moment, Jim wasn’t very concerned about any of that. “Don’t lie to yourself,” he choked out through his tears. “This was just about saving you.”
Chapman barked out, “Don’t you presume to know what’s in my head. No one your age could come close. When have you ever had to deal with anything like what I deal with every single day? When you
have, then maybe I’ll listen to you.”
And yet, the whole time, the man was still determinedly looking just to the side of Jim’s face. It probably looked fine from the others’ points of view, but Jim could see loud and clear how much the man was still torn up. He briefly wondered if he could keep playing on this to help his situation, as much as it could be helped, but that thought was squelched when Chapman stormed off down a side corridor, tossing out, “Pren, you’re in charge of the prisoners,” as an afterthought. It was one more sign of how much he didn’t want to be doing this, but unfortunately it also kept Jim from any kind of advantage.
Bram had stood firm the whole time. “I’ve been in this position before, you know,” he said to Pren. “And I’ve always got away. Sometimes on my own. Sometimes I needed help. But if this turns out to be one of those times, that help is coming. We don’t abandon our own. So my people will be coming for me, and you won’t be able to stop them.”
Pren turned to him. “Well, that’s certainly a pretty good argument for just killing you right now. I certainly doubt many people here would be that upset about it.”
Dave shouted, “Hey, wait a minute!” Jim had almost forgotten about him with everything else going on, but he saw that the clone boy was also under guard. Somehow, the image struck him as completely hilarious and he couldn’t repress a giggle. Then he suddenly snapped back to reality.
At least it got Pren’s attention off of Bram. The man didn’t seem to have much focus, on top of his habit of being a drama queen. Jim followed up the laugh with, “Sorry, miles away. What were you saying?”
It had exactly the effect he was going for. Pren seemed to forget about Bram completely as the flippancy sunk in. This was not how a captured person was supposed to be acting, and Pren was having trouble handling it. Jim was grateful the man couldn’t tell how scared he really was, or that would never have worked.
Pren simply stared at him for a few seconds. “You know, I believe I have just hit upon the perfect idea for what to do with you.” He turned to the other soldiers. “Boys, we’re letting this one go.” He turned back to Jim. “You’ve got, what, two days left? Maybe a little less? Well, why should you get to miss out on a single second of that? So we’re just going to escort you to the front door, you’ll walk right out, and then … well, I don’t really care. You won’t be my problem anymore, and what other trouble can you really get into before your time’s up? You’ll have all those hours to just think about it. Although, when the time comes, if you could just wander on back here, I’d really appreciate it. It’s the kind of show we don’t get to see nearly enough. Or not. Really no skin off my nose. I’ll still know exactly what you’re going through.”
That courage Jim had been struggling to keep up had shattered by the end of the speech. The idea of the bleak future ahead of him had him sitting on the floor, openly weeping.
Pren kept going. “Ah, no matter how many times this happens, I never get tired of it. Well, get to it, guys!”
Two of the soldiers grabbed Jim by the arms and dragged him down the hall. He was vaguely aware that this would leave him in the dark about the fates that awaited Bram and Dave, but he couldn’t bring himself to put very much effort into caring about that. Besides, it was hardly likely to be very uplifting anyway.
He simply zoned out as he was escorted out of the building. He’d been through the whole thing before, and nothing had changed, and at this point none of it mattered. He was only brought back to reality upon feeling the breeze on his face once he was outside, after which the soldiers turned around and walked back inside without a word or a look back.
With nothing to really do he simply turned away from the sun so it wouldn’t be in his eyes and started walking. And this continued on and on, the street seeming to go on forever. The most excitement occurred when there was an especially large pile of garbage he would have to walk around. He never saw any people, and guessed that anyone who was unfortunate enough to live in this part of town was either busy at work, in which case taking care of the neighborhood clearly wasn’t a high priority, or they simply stayed in their apartments, because why even go out? From all he could tell, there was nothing to see here, with every building being the same drab color and shape, with only the tops having any variety. With that thought he looked up and found himself straining to make much out beyond the layer of smog.
The one thought he kept having was of his parents. It seemed like only seconds ago that Dave had let him know he didn’t need to have been missing for a week when he went back home and they would never need to have worried about him. With that hope now cruelly stripped from him just before it would have come true, he supposed he should be angry. Instead, he found he just couldn’t summon the energy to feel much of anything. He was going to die, and it was going to be bad, and that was simply the way it was. What could emotions do but make it worse?
But since looking at the sky did give him something to do rather than staring down at the sidewalk so he wouldn’t step on anything nasty, Jim was now able to take a look at the buildings around him and realized one of them was the police station he’d just left. And upon that realization he had no choice but to laugh, long and loud.
Then he heard, “There’s a sound you don’t hear very much around this place.”
It was a familiar voice. And as much as the emotion could apply to him right now, he was happy to hear it. “Mike?” he called out.
His fighting teacher ran right over, accompanied by CJ. “Hey, you want to keep it down?” he whispered. “I’d rather not have anyone in this part of town knowing my name, if it’s all the same to you.”
Jim was abashed. “Oh, right. Sorry.”
CJ said, “Ah, think nothing of it. I’d be quite disappointed if we weren’t folk heroes around these parts by now. So what happened? We thought the idea was you wouldn’t be here anymore after today.”
“Matt and Jane made it. Me, not so much.”
They both stared at him for a second, taking in the full implications of this. “Oh God, I’m sorry,” said Mike. “There’s no hope at all?”
Jim shook his head. “Not unless Charlie feels up to planning another mission into that building just so I can get my hands on some Neserene. And within, oh, forty hours or so. And given what I’ve seen of him so far, I don’t think that’ll be happening.”
Mike said, “Well, look. We spent a lot of time together these past few days, and … well, I kind of like you. So I want to do whatever I can. And I’m sure CJ feels the same way.”
“Absolutely,” said CJ.
Jim snorted. “And what exactly would that be?”
Mike was silent for a few seconds. When he spoke again, it was with a sense of defeat he’d never shown before. “All I can think of is inviting you back to base. You’ll get good meals, a place to sleep, and anything else you want to do. This is bad enough without you just wandering around the streets with nowhere to go.”
Jim shook both their hands. After he’d been able to keep it together in front of the two of them thus far, this broke him and the tears escaped again. “I don’t know what to say, guys. Thank you so much.”
They led him to the place he had exited the base from that morning and stomped out the code. Then followed the now all too familiar sensation of that nauseating teleportation, though Jim was surprised to find that this time he was actually able to hold everything down once the base’s waiting room materialized around him. It seemed Bram had been telling the truth about that, at least. But it still was a horrible feeling that left his stomach doing flip-flops, enough in the moment to almost make him glad this was likely the last time he would have to go through it. Almost.
Lilah opened the door, saying, “How is it you guys are always the last—” and quickly cut herself off once she got a good look at the room’s occupants. “Jim? What happened? Why are you still here?”
Jim shook his head. “Just get everyone inside the cafeteria. I don’t think I’m up to saying this any more th
an one more time.”
* * *
Jim looked out at the sea of faces throughout the room as he finished the story. It seemed like the majority were sympathetic, though he definitely saw an occasional frown mixed in. That was probably Charlie’s influence, if he knew anything about the man by now. Well, he might as well smooth things over as much as he could. “This was no one’s fault. We all did our best and things just didn’t work out. So I’m sorry for what happened to Bram, but please don’t blame my friends for it. If you want to blame me, well, I guess you can go ahead since it won’t be for long anyway.” He stared right at Charlie as he said the last bit. Despite being near the back of the crowd, the tall man’s bald head made him easy to spot.
But he was quite surprised by Charlie’s response. “Oh, of course no one is going to blame you. I completely agree, sometimes plans just don’t work. And trust me, I am going to do everything I can to make your stay as comfortable as possible. In fact, could everyone give us some privacy, please? There’s something important we need to discuss.”
They all obediently filed out, leaving Jim and Charlie alone in the room. Suddenly it seemed far too big. He didn’t know what the opposite of claustrophobia was called, but he imagined he was feeling it right now. Charlie approached him, those slightly-too-large eyes more disconcerting than ever now that Jim truly had no idea what to expect. For a lack of anything better to say, he went with, “Thank you for that.”
Charlie waved a hand. “Oh, it costs me nothing to be friendly to you now. Like you said, one way or another this will be over soon, and you won’t be any further hindrance to me, so why not?”
Now Jim was on firmer ground, knowing where the man was coming from. “So you really did want to turn them all against us.”
He nodded, a slow and deliberate action. “You three upset the status quo around here, something I’ve been quite at pains to keep balanced for a while now. You wouldn’t believe how complicated that job is. But it’s close to paying off now, and you and your friends were a quite unwelcome intrusion. That girl provided some vague amusement, but in the end you did need to be got rid of. Oh, don’t look at me like that.”