The Best of All Possible Worlds

by Richard D. Parker

  Adam cursed inwardly and pulled his hand from Vio’s bare breast then sat up on the blanket, his hair and his mind in complete disarray. Vio smiled up at him, happy and satisfied in a way she could never have imagined before making love. She stretched, naked in the dimming late afternoon sunshine. She would have been completely content falling asleep outside on the soft bank with her new lover, but the sounds of the motorcycles grew louder and then louder still and she sensed the growing uneasiness of the handsome man sitting above her.

  “What is it?” She asked, her speech still heavily accented but easily intelligible.

  “Bikers,” Adam explained. He stood abruptly and began to clumsily pull on his pants.

  “No,” Vio said with a pout and pushed him; he hopped once then fell heavily on his backside and slid a few feet down the sandbar toward what water there was in the creek.

  Vio laughed and with breathtaking speed was back on top of him, kissing him urgently and clutching at his naked body, her right hand moving down between his legs.

  Adam laughed with her. She was by far the most energetic and enthusiastic lover he had ever had…of course she only made four…two in college that at the time knew no more than he did about the art of lovemaking and of course Maggie, but she was far more tender and soft, not nearly as…athletic.

  “Vio,” Adam gasped as her mouth finally moved from his mouth to his neck, where she continued to kiss, suck and lightly bite him. He lost himself in the sensations despite the noise and threat coming from the myriad of motorcycles now idling somewhere in the campgrounds.

  ‘Probably just week-end warriors,’ Adam told himself as Vio coaxed another erection out of him.

  ‘She is going to kill me,’ he thought and wrapped his arms around her and gripped her backside firmly, pulling her tightly to his body.

  Vio giggled again but then a shout drifted over the noise of the cycles and was followed by the sound of gunfire. Vio’s weight was off of him in an instant as she rose and flashed across the bank to her clothes, but she did not stop to dress, instead she drew her kali, which were always close by since they’d met the killer in Dell Rapids. Without pause she sprinted naked up the bank. Adam, who was struggling with his pants, paused to watch her run. She was breathtakingly beautiful and he was dazed momentarily by the sheer splendor of her naked form in action, but then he heard a scream, followed by a shotgun blast.

  “Shit…shit…shit,” Adam cursed, on the edge of panic and yanked up his pants then hustled over to the blanket and pulled the Glock he’d taken from an agent, out from beneath his shirt and then he scrambled clumsily up the bank.

  †

  Pace led his gang of twenty-seven in the Goblin Valley campground about an hour before sunset. He was tired, sore and still very pissed off. However, his mood instantly improved when he saw the numerous trailers parked on the grounds, far more than he was expecting in such an out of the way area.

  ‘Easy money,’ he thought. He glanced over at Larry “The Ute” Crawford and smiled. Larry, who claimed to be a member of the Ute Indian tribe, nodded back with a grin. As they roared past the main cabin, Pace signaled the men behind him to secure the place and make sure no emergency calls were made to the state highway patrol. The rest of the group poured deeper into the park, spreading out in order to move against the maximum number of campers in the least amount of time.

  Originally Pace planned to circle all the way around to the back of the campgrounds, but before he’d gone halfway he spotted her, pretending to sword fight with a pair of wooden sticks. The girl was young…eighteen at most, beautiful and alluring and graceful beyond anything Pace could imagine. He signaled the riders on, glanced once more at Larry who was grinning eagerly. They gunned their engines and sped directly toward the young woman and her gangly opponent. The girl was built, her legs long, her ass luscious, and before Pace was within a hundred yards he decided he would have her, sore dick or no.

  Pace, flashed his sex smile as the two retreated before the roar of the machines and it wasn’t until he actually stopped and climbed from the bike that he noticed the girl was wearing what looked to be a pair of real swords about her, oh so inviting hips.

  “Hello my friends,” the young man said smiling and walking toward them. He was moving the Ute’s direction, extending a hand in greeting and grinning like a simpleton. Pace managed to pull his eyes from the body of the girl to look at the idiot. Though the boy was tall and young, probably around the age of the girl, and he was staring at Larry in an open, friendly way that would have seemed inviting except for the strange intensity in his eyes. It was his eyes that made Pace initially uneasy, and apparently the Ute shared his feelings because he suddenly shouted.

  “Stop! Give us your money!” The Indian yelled at nearly the top of his lungs. Pace would have wondered at his friend’s actions, but for the freakish way the boy continued to advance and smile at them as if they were his best friends in the entire world.

  “Stop!” The Ute yelled again and Pace noticed a hint of panic in the big man’s voice. The boy kept coming, still smiling. Seconds later Larry’s hand went to the butt of his .38 and he began to smoothly draw it from its holster. Pace smiled in agreement and shifted his attention to the girl, but she was not where she should have been, instead he caught a blur of motion streaking toward his friend.

  Pace’s eyes widened and he subconsciously noted that the young man was still walking and smiling at Larry. He failed to recognize the blur as the gorgeous young woman until she pulled to a stop after flowing past the Ute. She paused, one of her blades now dripping blood from the tip. Larry had just managed to clear the weapon before his head dropped from his body and by the time his pistol fired, the shot went wildly into the ground. The Ute died without another sound.

  “What the…” Pace shouted and fear gripped his belly. ‘A sphincter moment,’ he thought wildly, which was a biker joke, the first moment of fear they loved to cause in others. He spun and started to draw his shotgun from the holster mounted on the side of his bike. He struggled briefly with the snap holding the gun in place and found himself instinctively pulling his head toward his chest in an effort to keep it attached to his body.

  ‘Fuck!’ He thought, just as the young man shouted.

  “Don’t kill him!”

  Pace freed the gun, the center of his back itching, and he spun quickly only to find the girl, right by his side, her eyes blazing with righteousness. She neatly sliced through his right wrist though his disembodied hand still managed to squeeze the trigger of the gun sending shot straight up into the clear afternoon sky. Before Pace could even register the pain, the girl spun elegantly and sliced through the back of his leather pants and through the meaty part of his left thigh.

  Pace screamed and went down dropping the gun as he fell. The girl quickly snatched up the weapon and threw it across the open field.

  “Damn!” He shouted, his good hand going to the wrist of his injured arm. The girl looked as if she was preparing to give the coup de grace.

  “Don’t,” the young man insisted behind her and the girl paused. Pace was shaking with pain, watching blood pour from the stump of his wrist.

  “Bitch!” He yelled, his voice filled with only hate, all of his lust had evaporated with the wave of her blade.

  The girl jerked forward and Pace flinched just as the roar of approaching bikes filled the air. The rest of his gang was coming. Pace smiled wickedly as the young man pushed by the girl and knelt at the wounded man’s side. Pace shied away from the boy who was still smiling.

  “Fuck you!” Pace shouted at him, a bit freaked out by his friendly manner, but the young man ignored him and quickly pulled off his shirt and began to use it to staunch the flow of blood. Pace yelped at the pain and tried to fight the boy off.

  “I’ll fucking kill you and your bitch!” He croaked as more of his fellow bikers swiftly approached. Behind the boy, the young woman was moving off to meet them. Another shot was fired as the young man inspected th
e wound in his leg, and if the situation couldn’t get any weirder another beautiful woman topped a nearby riverbank, fully naked and running faster than humanly possible. Pace watched her race across the open field, in shock and was only dimly aware that the wound in his leg was no longer giving him much pain. Mesmerized, he watched the naked woman run. She was beautiful beyond belief, his cock twitched slightly and his desire momentarily returned, at least until she removed Alfie’s head as he rode past on his bike. The biker’s head hit the pavement and bounced along behind the bike which continued to roll forward for another fifteen feet, the dead man’s body still riding along; his hands still gripping the bars, as if they were still guiding the motorcycle through the park.

  Pace looked wildly around. Cal was also down and the rest of the nearby group were gunning their engines and pulling away from the two sword carrying she-devils. The young man, his eyes filled with anguish, stood and began to move away from Pace.

  Pace struggled to a sitting position, grimaced and suddenly his fear and wonder turned to rage. His hand was gone, his best friend was dead, and though he’d managed to block out the pain from his wounds, his dick was still very sore. Suddenly all he wanted to do was put a bullet in the back of the young man’s head and remove his smile permanently. He reached back with his left hand and with great effort freed his .45 from the back of his jeans. He struggled to work the safety, his left hand was no good, but eventually he managed to flip the switch and get a good grip on the gun. He held it up, eyeing the still retreating boy and though he realized he would probably die something inside told him if the boy died with him, all would be well. His hand was shaking as he tried to aim the gun but luckily neither of the sword carrying bitches was looking his way. Finally he lined up the young man in his sights but before he could fire something hit him hard in the chest. Pace was dimly aware of the fact that he’d heard a shot, but knew he had yet to pull the trigger. He heard another bang but the bullet ricocheted off his bike. Pace looked around woozily for his attacker and spotted a shirtless man running his way aiming a pistol at him. Pace moved his own weapon, briefly saw the man fire again and then oblivion.

  †

  “We have to go,” Adam explained to Dorothy while Vio was off dressing. Her nudity caused almost as much of a stir as the deaths of the bikers. “We have to go to Chicago. We need to talk to a friend…a reporter. We have to get Galen’s story out.”

  In all seven bikers were killed, six by Vio and Avigail and the last by Adam. The rest fled the area with a roar of smoke, noise and fear, but to make the situation worse, several campers somehow managed to notify the state police. Adam quickly decided that excellent cell phone coverage was not always a good thing.

  “Well let’s go then,” the large woman said waving them toward the RV, while at the same time nervously eyeing one of the dead bodies lying near the main road. Following the death of the assassin in South Dakota, Dorothy remained steadfastly devoted to Galen, but the attack from the bikers shook her confidence a bit.

  Adam made no move to follow Dorothy into the vehicle, instead he glanced from Vio to Christine and finally to Galen, who appeared a bit melancholy.

  “Well come on!” Dorothy insisted.

  “We’ll be traveling a bit faster,” Adam replied and watched as Vio emerged from the tree line now fully clothed, carrying the blanket and his shirt with her. Clothes or not, Adam’s heart still beat faster when he was looking at her. He just hoped Vio knew what she was talking about when she maintained that working together she and Avigail could get them to Chicago in an instant. Adam had his doubts…it was a very long way.

  Dorothy frowned at him before turning to Galen.

  “Vio and Avi can get us there much faster,” the young man confirmed.

  “Well then, I’m going with you,” Dorothy added forcefully, thinking the two women must have a fast car or a jet plane at their disposal. “Ned can follow along behind in the RV.”

  “Now honey…” Ned began.

  “I have to be with him,” Dorothy hissed, her voice dropping menacingly and Ned eased up. He knew what this meant to his wife.

  “You’re welcome to come,” Avigail piped up. “It will be no extra effort.”

  Adam groaned. The more people they brought along, the more conspicuous they would be, and with no car on the other end waiting for them their only mode of transportation in the windy city would be walking. He was sure Dorothy would slow them up.

  “I’d like to come as well,” Blue added with a glance at his wife. To her credit Camille only nodded without any argument.

  Adam couldn’t find any objections to this addition. Blue could be very helpful if things went bad.

  Everyone remained silent for a long moment looking around at each other but not speaking. They were in the very center of a large group of followers. Everyone from their camper convoy was present plus a good many of the random campers who decided to stop at the Goblin State Park. There were also a number of park employees, all stunned by the developments and all very curious about the group, especially the two sword carrying beauties who’d chased off the biker gang. But there was also a fair amount of interest in Galen even though he hadn’t spoken, or done anything to attract any special attention. People seemed to sense something special about the young man even when he tried to remain inconspicuous. The entire group of over one hundred people watched the inner circle intently until finally Christine stepped closer to Vio.

  “You understand where to take us…and how far it is?” She asked for the third time. They’d gone over maps of the United States in an attempt to give Vio and Avigail a sense of direction. Neither had ever been to Chicago and the way Vio explained Traveling to them…it was easier to locate their destination if they’d visited before. Christine could not help but have reservations, she was a scientist and could not easily believe such a mode of travel could be possible…oh she had no doubt it might be theoretically possible, but not like this, not without some kind of massive machine capable of enormous energy output. Creating a wormhole should not be so easy, but Vio insisted that they could Travel anywhere…they just might not hit the correct location the first time out.

  Vio nodded to Christine, a hint of a smile on her face. “We will go to the large city by the giant lake,” she replied and checked their supplies once more. They’d commandeered all the fruit Dorothy had in the RV, plus most of the candy and a large jug of orange juice, since real peach juice was harder to come by. Adam glanced around the circle, first to Vio and Avigail, then at Christine, Dorothy and Blue just as the first police sirens wailed in the distance.

  “Everyone ready?” Adam asked and when they all nodded he told Ned, Camille and Arny Stadler to move the crowd back. When most were a fair distance away, Adam slipped over and stood very close to Vio, taking her hand.

  “Will they be in danger of being sucked through with us?” He whispered into her ear, his mouth very close.

  Vio laughed, the sound slightly erotic to Adam despite her mirth. “No,” she assured him. “As long as we…stay in this world…mov…Traveling is quite calm.” Vio squeezed Adam’s hand and then dropped it. The howl of the sirens grew louder and louder but it was obvious that the emergency vehicles had not quite reached the entrance to the campgrounds

  “I am ready,” Vio told Avigail, who stepped away from Galen and moved closer to her teacher.

  The pair closed their eyes and began to weave their arms and hands in front of them in a strangely exotic dance that Adam could not help but find alluring, though to be fair he found everything about Vio alluring these days.

  The crowd fell silent and watched the dance with a hushed expectation. Blue was eyeing his wife, smiling encouragingly at her. “Call me when you get close,” he said to her, the sirens now very loud. Suddenly tires screeched in the distance. The authorities had finally reached the park.

  “They’re here. We need to hurry,” Christine whispered to her brother and took his hand. “How did we get into this?” She as
ked him with wonder. Her life had been so much simpler at Cryogen and she vaguely wondered what she would be doing now if she’d allowed Ian to terminate Galen in the beginning. She shuddered at the thought. Somehow her waking life no longer seemed real to her, but she’d take that over murdering Galen any day.

  The crowd murmured as the noise of the sirens grew ever louder, ever closer. Most were confused about what exactly was going on, even the dedicated followers of Galen. And then just as the first of the state patrol cars cleared the trees in the distance and raced into view, the bridge popped into existence.

  Adam cursed, though he could tell immediately they’d found the city of Chicago, because there before them, nearly filling the entire view of the far side, was the Cloud Gate sculpture…or as it was more readily known…the Chicago Bean. Milling all around the sculpture were dozens of tourists, though thankfully nearly all of them were focused on the sculpture. As far as Adam could tell only one little girl of about six was looking their way, her eyes wide as she tugged on her mother’s arm. Vio and Avigail’s aim was remarkable, but they could have chosen a less conspicuous place to arrive.

  “Travel!” Vio and Avigail said in breathless unison.

  “Freeze!” The first of the patrol men shouted as he climbed from his squad car. The group did not hesitate and immediately stepped through the bridge and directly into downtown Chicago.

  XXII

  “To emulate God, you must create something.”

  Galen Dawkins

  May 20th 2015 Old Earth

  “We’ve got them!” Agent Collier yelled excitedly as she threw open the door. It was after nine in the evening but the field office for the FBI in St. Louis was very crowded. Nearly everyone associated with the case was still hard at work trying to find a lead, any lead that would jumpstart the investigation. Agent Bradley looked up from his desk as Armstrong swiveled around to gaze at Collier. Also in the room was Manny Garcia, the FBI agent heading up the investigation from their side, Kyle Sanders of the NSA and Lauren Dodson, who was the division leader of homeland security for both the Kansas City and St. Louis metropolitan areas. For Armstrong, there were far too many agencies now involved in the hunt for Dawkins, but that could no longer be helped. He’d kept it quiet for as long as possible, and while the DOE had grown in stature and funding since 1977 when it was originally founded, they still did not have anywhere near the intelligence resources available to handle a nationwide manhunt on its own. Department Secretary Kwan would not be pleased, but she understood the situation readily enough.