“What about the people?” asked Junco.
“There were five in total, six if you include Sweetness.”
“How did you overpower them?”
“That was easy. Gas. They are probably still out cold.”
“I assume that was how you got the finger?” said Ani.
“Yes, but I left him a note. Said that if he wanted a free replacement to go to the body shop and that the bill will be covered,” said Teal.
“Okay no problem.”
“Another interesting thing,” Teal began, “When they were out cold their bodies seemed solid, as solid as anything else here or even on Level Minus One, but when they were conscious they were anywhere between fairly solid and downright ethereal. They kept fading in and out. I got the impression that the process was a fully conscious one. These people seemed very much in control. I am not sure about this but I think that they may have been existing on multiple Levels simultaneously.”
Ani broke the short ensuing silence. “We need to go back to the house. I have many questions for our friends from the future. On a different subject Teal, how did you get the building sample?”
“It was sticking up from the floor and I just pulled it. There was a bit of resistance but not too much – it came away fairly easily.”
“This all sounds a little to easy,” Ani said. “These people could have swatted you like a fly yet they let you render them unconscious and vandalize their living space. Something isn't right.”
“I must admit, I did wonder about that,” said Teal.
“There is a bright side though. If they wanted to harm you they probably would have already done so. This should mean that we can return without too much of a risk – even after what you have done.” Ani concluded.
11. AN ISLAND RISES
Yellowlegs, the original, not the clone, came rushing into the bar with Skua right behind.
“Hey guys how's the Rubidium Beach acclimatization tour going?” asked Teal.
“Never mind that,” said Skua, you have got to come and see this.”
Skua and Yellowlegs started grabbing the others and pulling them to their feet.
“Hey, enough,” Said Junco. “Maybe it's time to sober up a little?”
“We are sober,” replied Yellowlegs. “As soon as we saw what was happening we ran the Soberup routine. Trust us, you will want to see this!”
“Okay. We are coming, just give us a second.” Ani was obviously not enjoying the sudden loud interruption.
As soon as they were outside the noise hit them. The roar was deafening and it was coming from the direction of the liquid metal sea. The sea itself was beginning to swell. The rise was slow and gentle but did appear to be gradually speeding up. Then Teal pointed at the most recently formed island. It was rising! It was definitely coming up out of the water. From where they sat, the island appeared to be lifting very slowly. Junco suspected that it would seem a whole lot faster for anyone close to or even on the island.
Ani suddenly looked worried. “I think there are people on there.”
“How so? It has only been there for a couple of days,” said Junco who, was pleased that potential loss of human life concerned Ani. He really was mellowing in his old age, or whatever age he was at.
“Tourists and Terminals.” said Ani. “The tourists simply want to be among the first to go there and then to talk about it. Not much time for them, I must admit. As for the terminals, the island represents new and different ways to get injured or killed. I like them more than I like the tourists.”
Now it was unmistakable that the island was rising. The liquid metal sea was slopping up over the railings and splashing the metal promenade. Suddenly it became more than a splashing as a wave rolled over onto dry land. The group had just enough time to get back inside the bar and slam the door shut. The 'thud' was massive but the door held. After a couple of minutes they ventured out again. The liquid had receded back into the sea. The island that was a part of a plateau was now completely clear of the water and rising very slowly back towards the plateau.
Teal started to make an observation. “Something very odd about this.”
“You think?” said Junco. The others shushed him, encouraging Teal to continue.
“Well, the physics are all wrong. The island is dry the moment it leaves the sea. If a large chunk of land rose up and out of a liquid the water would come off it like a waterfall. This is like watching a movie being played backwards.”
The island continued to rise until a part of it appeared to touch the plateau.
“Well,” said Ani, “if Teal is correct we should now witness the island reattach itself to the plateau.” That was exactly what happened. By the end of the scene it was impossible to tell that a separation had ever taken place.
The group hung around for a while chatting and assisting both the tourists and the
Terminals that were now washing up onto the mirrored beach. After depositing approximately a dozen of each to the body shop the group went back inside the Jupiter Moon.
12. SCOTER'S ASSASSIN
Ani got up out of his seat and indicated for the others to follow him out of the bar through the Plateau door, and into the transporter that was waiting for them. Less than two minutes later they were on the central platform of the walkway overlooking the Rubidium Beach model.
Suddenly the model was moving backwards in time and at a greatly accelerated rate. After a couple of minutes the scene below them froze. Ani looked up. “This is exactly how things were two days ago. Now I'm going to run time forward. Watch the bench where Scoter was shot.” Time then flowed in the correct direction but at about twenty times normal speed.
Scoter shouted stop and Ani did as requested. Scoter pointed at a man approaching the bench where he was shot. “Thought so. That is the man who shot me.” Ani then unpaused the model and allowed it to run at normal speed. The man who shot Scoter walked up to the bench and sat down. He did not move a muscle until he stood up and walked away, exactly one minute later.
Ani sped up time. Within a few seconds he had stopped the action again. The same man was walking towards the bench. “Right here are a couple of interesting bits of information. Firstly the man appears from nowhere. He just materializes a few yards away from the bench. He disappeared in the same manner last time around and I'd be very surprised if he doesn't do the same here. Secondly, this is exactly one hour since his last appearance and I predict that he will sit on the bench for exactly one minute before walking off. Ani restarted the model. Sure enough both of his predictions were borne out.
Ani then sped the model up and sure enough Scoter's assassin appeared at the top of every hour and sat down for exactly one minute before leaving. He always materialized and dematerialized at exactly the same place. He never as much as blinked or twitched a muscle while he was sitting down and his expression was always completely blank.
“Let's go talk to him,” said Ani.
The six of them were waiting by the bench. The talk was mostly about Skua's and Yellowlegs exploits on the acclimatization exercise that turned into an epic pub crawl and the upcoming apology tour that the pair would have to conduct if they ever wanted to drink outside of the Jupiter Moon again.
Ani interrupted the banter. “Its now thirty seconds before he should reappear.” And reappear the man did – right on cue. He materialized in exactly the same spot, walked towards the bench, sat for precisely one minute and left in his now usual fashion. He did not answer any of the multitude of questions that were hurled at him. It wasn't that he was being deliberately rude as far as they could tell. He didn't seem to be aware of the group's existence.
“So what now?” asked Skua.
“We come back in an hour's time,” said Ani.
Junco and Teal used the time to grab a bite to eat and freshen up on Level Minus One. Junco had a few meal sims that slowed time down and they used one of these to stretch a twenty minute break into a two-hour one. They returned to find the others dis
cussing recent events and bombarding Ani with questions.
“What is going to happen, and what are we going to do the next time we see him?” asked Skua.
“I am not sure,” said Ani. “I really am just playing out a hunch here. What we do very much depends upon what the assassin does.”
“This is not encouraging at all,” said Yellowlegs. “That sort of approach to life would have you killed within the day in Violencia.”
“Fair Point.” said Junco. “But we are not in Violencia. We have the luxury of being able to be a little more trusting.”
Scoter added his thoughts. “I must admit that I don't like this seat of the pants stuff. I'd much prefer something more concrete.”
Ani tried to reassure them. “I think that you are all worrying too much. If this person or these people wanted us dead we'd already be dead.”
“Two things come to mind,” said Junco. “One, they did try to kill Scoter and two, who are 'these people?'”
“Well, the assassin is part of the Alien House crowd.” Said Ani.
It hadn't been obvious to Junco before but now that Ani had stated the thought it did seem to make a lot of sense. It certainly reduced the number of coincidences at play and that was never a bad thing in Junco's experience.
Ani continued, “As far as Scoter's assassination is concerned, the more I think about it the more I think that whoever did it knew that I had the means to put him back together again. I would go as far as to say that if we hadn't put him back together again they probably would have.”
“What is driving your thinking here?” asked Scoter. It seems very optimistic and that is a little out of character for you, Ani.”
“Something else has happened. The land affected by the earthquakes, south of Neon Cove, has been put back together again. It is now exactly as it was before all of this started happening.”
“What is this all about, then.” asked Teal.
“I think that they wanted to get my attention,” said Ani. “But I could be wrong.”
For the second time the group waited by the bench. The assassin appeared and sat down on the bench. This time though, he spoke. “Meet us at the house in Neon Cove.”
Ani nodded. “When?”
“Whenever you like. It really makes no difference to us. We will be waiting.”
“All of us?”
“Yes,” answered the assassin. He then stood up, walked a few feet and simply disappeared.
“Looks like we've been summonsed,” said Junco.
Ani agreed. “I want to find out as much as I can before the meeting.”
“What makes you think it's going to be a meeting?” asked Teal. “It could be our execution.”
“Unlikely.” Ani replied. “I get the impression that this crowd can take us out any time they please. They may have a taste for theatrics though.”
Teal was getting impatient. “So, when are we going to do this?”
“I need about a day,” said Ani.
“Okay,” said Teal. “Let's meet up back here in twenty-four hours. That should be enough to let Ani do his thing and give the rest of us a chance to grab a break – even if the time stretching thing works against us.”
“Remember, I will be able to contact you but you probably won't be able to get hold of me,” said Ani. “I'll probably be going between there and the White Room. I have a feeling that I am going to need more than twenty four hours to do what I need to do.”
The others knew better than to quiz Ani to closely. He was as cagey before executing a plan as he was exuberant after putting it into action. Things tended to be need to know at this stage of the proceedings.
13. THE ALIEN HOUSE REVISITED
The six stood outside of the metal door. Junco knocked while knowing that the action was completely unnecessary. He just needed to do something. The door opened and Sweetness invited them all in. No messing around, being kept on the deck this time. They walked through the second door and into the room which was as Teal had described it. The walls were comprised of lots of triangles, of different sizes, that were were present to varying degrees, some appearing absolutely solid while others were barely there at all. The furnishing was minimal.
Sweetness went to join his five housemates on a sofa that took up most of one long wall. He indicated an empty sofa, of the same curvy design but much shorter, opposite the occupied one, and Ani and the rest of the group sat down. The two groups were now facing each other across a distance of around eight feet.
Then things got really interesting. The six residents started to change. Bone, muscle and skin started to slowly realign with cracking and popping noises. Appearances changed faster now and in one case the apparent sex seemed to change from male to female. That was the one who was missing a finger. It soon became obvious that the group's features and body types were morphing into those of the guests. There were now two Juncos, two Teals, four Violencians, Two Anis and a pair of Scoters. The guests all looked shell-shocked, apart from Ani. Junco had a feeling that he was expecting something like this.
Teal was pissed. “Enough with the cheap tricks.”
The other Teal, who now had a full complement of digits, responded. “There is no easy way to tell you this, so I'm going to let you have it straight. We are you. We are just thirty thousand year old versions of you. We can tell you some things but there is a lot that we cannot tell you. Basically if we will not answer something it is purely to avoid screwing up a timeline. You know how it works, I'm sure.”
Future Ani picked up the thread. “Here are the answers to some of the obvious questions. A version of yourselves will be alive in thirty thousand years but it may or may not be you. It could be a back up, a recreation and it may or may not have your memories and sentience. I cannot tell you any more on that particular subject.”
“Regarding time paradoxes and changing timelines. They are not as big a problem as many predicted. Treading on a butterfly will not cause the Nazis to win World War II.”
There were five blank expressions plus Scoter's one of semi-understanding on the guest couch.
“Forget that reference, think of a butterfly effect through time,” continued future Ani. The visitors appeared to understand. “We have to be a bit careful. Giving certain information about the future could certainly cause catastrophic changes. We have run models and simulations to work out exactly what you cannot know at this stage. One thing that you most certainly cannot know is your own individual fates.”
Junco summed up. “So you can tell us some things but not others and any questions about ourselves, how we end up, are completely off the table. Is that about right?”
Future Junco replied, “That is about it. To put it in your language, it is all a bit of a crap shoot.”
“Fair enough. This one is just for curiosity. Are we speaking the same language?” asked Junco.
“Not even close. We don't even use our mouths and ears for communication any more. It is all telepathic. Terms such as word, sentence, grammar, are all obsolete in our time. Our bodies possess the vestigial remnants of vocal cords but they are strictly non functional. We added some code to Rubidium Beach to make the illusion of conversation seamless. We know this is a comfortable medium for you all – especially Teal.”
Ani bristled at the thought of others, even future selves, messing with the nuts and bolts of his precious code. Nonetheless he was curious. “Okay. Lets get the big one out of the way. What are you doing here?”
Future Teal fielded the question. “We needed to make some adjustments to the timeline. There are certain points in our history, your history and future, that require tweaking for an optimal present – our present not yours.”
Present day Teal was not overly impressed. “Well, I suppose you at least deserve points for honesty. Was Scoter's assassination the start of the process?”
Future Teal again. “We were here for a while before then. We had to do some groundwork.”
“And by groundwork you mean messing aroun
d with my code.” said present day Ani.
“Yes.” Responded future Teal.
Junco was not any more at peace with the idea of sitting across from a mirror image of himself than he was when they first sat down. The others seemed to be coping much better than he was. He also noticed that it was future Teal who was taking the lead for the future team. Future Ani had said very little and appeared content to take a back seat. This confused Junco at first but it didn't take him long to see the logic of the situation. Teal was always the sharpest of the group. Her background as a top-notch scientist and brilliant military strategist attested to that fact. Thirty thousand years would be more than enough time for her to catch up with and surpass Ani in just about every field. Junco glanced over at present day Ani and he seemed very comfortable. He had probably worked this wrinkle out for himself already.
Scoter asked the next question. “Why have you allowed me to live? You had obviously decided to assassinate me.”
Future Teal answered. “We ran the numbers and with the way that the other events panned out it was decided that your assassination was no longer necessary.”
“That's good to know,” said Scoter.
“If it is any consolation your death was the lowest-priority objective,” said future Teal.
“No, it is no consolation at all. I have to ask my future self something though. Why did you approve of this?”
“I cannot answer that I'm afraid,” said future Scoter. “It falls under the heading of stuff that we can't have you knowing.”
Ani asked, “I assume that the other three assassinations were your doing?”
Future Teal replied. “You assume correctly.”
“I suspect that you won't answer this but I'll try. Why those people?”
Future Teal was more open than Junco expected. “The Head of Rubidium Beach emergency services was going to save the life of someone who would go on to become the biggest mass murderer ever. Billions would die at his hands. We would have killed the murderer ourselves but there was no 'in' – no way of doing it without sending the timeline off at a really bad tangent.
The Rubidium Beach Series - Episodes 1 Through 4: Cyberpunk/Dystopian Science Fiction Page 25