Utility Company (Book 1): Blink

by Swardstrom, Will

  “Yeah, we might have a bit of a problem.”

  Penny’s New Job

  “It’s called Project Blink.”

  Penny was frozen. Out of it. Drug across dimensions and across the country by forces out of her control and now her body double was speaking to her about some convoluted science mumbo jumbo. She said her name was Penelope, but Penny had always hated the name Penelope. How could this woman be her? She glanced to her right, looking out the window. As if she was reading her thoughts, the woman across the room from her stopped. Her voice softened and then, “They weren’t good people, you know.”

  Penny looked back at the impossible mirror image a few feet away. “Who?”

  “Therese and Luc. Your escorts on the way here. They were not good people.”

  Penny couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Good people? What does that have to do with anything? Did that mean they deserved to die? Does that mean they were getting what was coming to them when their van exploded?”

  Penny was livid and standing on the balls of her feet, almost ready to come across the plush bed at the woman.

  A slight smile appeared on the doppelganger’s face. “There we go. No, of course they didn’t deserve it, but I needed to get you out of where you’d gone, Penny. I needed you here with me.”

  “Why?”

  “We’ll get to that,” Penelope said. “First though, I need you to understand our history. We wouldn’t be here without it. Neither of us.”

  Penny sat down on the edge of the bed, half-turned toward Penelope. Were they two heads of a coin? One good, one evil? Why else would Penelope have blown up Therese and Luc? Or did she? The woman cleverly avoided really discussing the explosion after Penny got upset about it. Perhaps, just like Penny, Penelope was being coerced by outside forces. Again, the answer came down to two things‌—‌Kira and Sisco. She needed to cooperate and go along with Penelope if she had any hope of seeing her kids again.

  “You said something about Project Blink?”

  “Yes. Does it sound familiar to you?”

  “No, why would it?”

  “Because the foremost researcher on Project Blink is‌—‌was‌—‌someone you knew quite well. Dr. Lleyton Bridges.”

  Penny gasped. Of all the things she had expected, her father’s name was the farthest thing from her mind. “You mean?”

  “That’s right, Penny, he was successful.”

  “Successful doing what? He disappeared a decade and a half ago. The government never told us why, just that they doubted we would never see him again. We buried an empty casket on my twenty-first birthday.”

  “Oh, Penny. I’m sorry you never knew,” Penelope said. She seemed, at least for a moment, genuinely concerned. “You see, your father has been here for almost fifteen years. Or at least, was here. He passed away on the eve of complete success with the portals. He originated the technology along with my father, but he was unable to see it through to completion. He would’ve loved to have seen you again. He talked about you often.”

  Penny hadn’t expected the news. Her father had been dead‌—‌in her mind‌—‌for years. She’d buried the empty box and buried him in her heart as well. For some reason, she always believed he hadn’t loved her enough to stick around. This news that not only did he live, but that he actually made a scientific breakthrough with her in mind this whole time...it was almost too much to bear. The emotions of her trip exploded with the news of her father. Penny wept. She didn’t care that Penelope was a few feet away. She felt the tears coming and did nothing to stop them.

  The bed shifted next to her and a hand gently touched her back.

  “I’ve always wondered about you. I mean, I was here with two fathers, while you had to grow up without him in your life. What was that like?” Penelope asked.

  Penny sniffed and looked towards the window at a world that suddenly seemed a lot more familiar. “It sucked. He died...I mean he disappeared when I was discovering who I was. I was devastated and dropped out of school. If it wasn’t for Nik I don’t know what I would have done. He let me grieve and I got myself together about a year later. Eventually I went back to law school, but this time in Indiana and we eventually settled near Evansville. Dad always wanted me to be a lawyer, and after the government covered up his death, I decided I would take on the government every chance I got.”

  Penny turned and saw a smirk on Penelope’s face.

  “What?”

  “Oh, the irony,” Penelope said. “You despise the government for what they did to your family. Meanwhile, I am the government.”

  “You? What do you mean?”

  Penelope stood up and seemed to stand a little taller than before. “You are looking at the Vice President of the United States of America.”

  Penny’s face fell in shock. “Get out of here.”

  Penelope laughed. “For real! After our dads successfully completed Project Blink here, I was able to pursue whatever I wanted and politics was a logical step after finishing top of my class at Georgetown. I got myself elected to the House a few years ago and when they needed a Midwestern view for Senator Hanson’s running mate, I was pegged by the Democrats as an up and comer. And here I am!”

  Penny was shell-shocked. Never in her life had she ever imagined running for office, let alone the second highest office in the land. But, then again, when her father died, her life shattered. Any hopes and dreams she had died in the lab with him that night. The terrorists had won and the government covered it all up.

  But...was this just another government cover up?

  Ultimately, Penny just wanted her kids back. She couldn’t care less that Penelope was the Vice President. She didn’t care if her mirror self was Queen of the Moon for that matter.

  Her face went from shock to skepticism.

  “So what? Why am I here? Where are my kids?”

  Still standing, Penelope began to pace a bit in the cramped hotel room.

  “Yeah, that’s a problem isn’t it? Well, for one thing, my representatives with the Planetary Portal Authority have told me that the portal in Southern Indiana is closed. A few hours after you used it, something happened on the other end. If we’re going to get you back home, we’ll have to use an alternate location. There is a hardline portal in D.C, so this is as good a place as possible.”

  Penny wasn’t ready to trust this woman yet. She didn’t know about the portal in her master bathroom, whether that was truth or not, but she knew she still didn’t have Kira and Sisco with her.

  “And my kids?”

  “They’re safe. I figured while I had you here though, you could help me out. Once you do, you’ll get Kira and Sisco back.”

  “So you’re holding them for ransom.” A statement, not a question. Penny was done playing games where her kids were involved.

  “That’s a matter of semantics. Just think of it as helping yourself out. In more ways than one,” Penelope said. “What I need from you is to stand in for me for a little while. Just a day or two at the most.”

  “How the hell am I supposed to do that? I’m a small town lawyer, not the Vice President of the United States.”

  Penelope reached inside her jacket and pulled out a DVD. She tossed it on the bed and nodded to the closet. “I left a laptop in there. Put the disc in and watch the videos. I included a few of my speeches, but I don’t think you’ll be giving any of those. There is also a complete dossier of all of the men and women I normally come into contact with in a regular day. Study up. I’ll check back in the morning.”

  Penny’s doppelganger turned to go back to the bathroom and mirror within. All the frustration, all the questions, all the rage bubbled up to the surface all at once for Penny. She lunged at Penelope, trying to tackle her at the knees. The two women went down together, each attempting to grab the other’s hair. Quickly though, Penelope got the upper hand, ramming her knee into Penny’s stomach.

  The politician stood and put her foot on Penny’s side.

  “I do
n’t need you. I can go with alternate plans, but you are convenient. Do this for me and I will make sure you get your kids back. If I don’t check in with them in about an hour, I can’t guarantee they won’t be sent through a portal straight to Damascus. Do you hear me?”

  Penny groaned, pain shooting up her abdomen. “Yes. I hear you.”

  Penelope took her foot off and walked to the bathroom. “Glad to hear it. I’ll see you in about ten hours. Get some rest and study my life. Your kids are depending on you.”

  The air pressure in the room changed suddenly and Penny knew her double was gone. She might be the same in a lot of ways, but even with two fathers, Penelope ended up a lot different than Penny, a lot crueler and harsh. This wasn’t her world at all. Penny looked at the DVD still lying on the bed and knew she needed to do her homework before the morning came.

  Revelations

  Smith gritted his teeth, trying to sort it all out in his head. “Ok, so Penny Bridges‌—‌excuse me, Davidson‌—‌is the double of the gal who is responsible for all of this in the first place?”

  Hoppy looked as if he would rather be anywhere else than in the same room as Smith at the moment. He nodded his head and answered, “Yes, sir. Penelope started out with the agency as an intern in college. Her dad was a bigwig scientist attached to the agency and she worked her way up the ladder fast.”

  He looked over toward Nik and nodded toward him, “That guy, too. They kind of came in as a pair and rose up the chain together. They broke up as a couple within the first year but always seemed to stay connected in some way.”

  Nik opened his eyes wider as Hoppy kept going. He couldn’t imagine Penny going in for this life. She was too committed to the family and to the life they led in their town. Something was definitely different here.

  Smith spoke up. “The dad, that was Dr. Lleyton Bridges?” He noticed Nik’s head snap to look towards him really quick. The poor guy had no clue what his father-in-law was into. Well he was about to find out. Smith smiled knowingly at Nik and pointed back at Hoppy, who was waiting to answer.

  “Yes he was,” Hoppy confirmed. “After the accident that brought the other Dr. Bridges here, the two of them became the top priority in research funding for the agency. Their project was classified at the highest level and was eventually brought in-house at the newly expanded UC building. Penelope and Nicholas were initially brought in partially as containment, but they ended up being vital enough to the project that they became more and more vital to policy.”

  “As the daughter of our Lleyton Bridges, Penelope quickly grasped the how important Project Blink was to the country and with her political science and pre-law background was able to leverage herself a spot as an attaché in the White House. Nicholas stayed here and his rise through the ranks seemed incongruous to many in the agency. He brought on many of his own guys and I think now that he was trying to bolster enough to support his side in the event of a schism.”

  “Meanwhile, Penelope scored well enough in her White House job to go back to her home county in Indiana and got herself elected to the House of Representatives. Then, in the last election the President decided that he needed a younger woman from the heartland of the country to balance his ticket, picked up Penelope as his Vice Presidential candidate, and they won.”

  Hoppy turned to Nik, “Congratulations. I believe that makes you the Second Husband of the United States.”

  Nik smiled weakly, “I get a nice house with that, right?”

  Smith cut in, “So, you were saying a few minutes ago that Penelope started all this. Why?”

  Hoppy shook his head. “I’m not sure, but I can theorize. I think the administration was trying to stabilize their political position while eliminating threats. They’ve been suspected of doing that on this side for years. Anytime a serious threat emerges against this administration or against its policies that threat disappears in one way or another in a matter of weeks or sometimes days.”

  Smith jumped in, “Did they get Bridges’ original concept machine to work out?”

  “Yes again,” Hoppy agreed. “Although I am one of only a handful of people on the planet that really knows about that.” He noticed that Nik and Marie were a bit lost and he clarified, “Dr. Bridges was working on a way to instantly transport a person from one location to another on the same plane of reality using a dimensional rift. The idea from an espionage point of view was priceless. You could get an agent in and out of a situation without the other side ever knowing what was happening. It would also be a highly effective tool to use in selectively thinning out the ranks of the opposition, something that it actually was used for in our reality.”

  “Really?” Marie asked. “So, what happened?”

  “At first it was used to take out the highest ranking members of Al Qaeda that could be found,” Hoppy explained. “Al Qaeda was dismantled within a year and a half. Osama bin Laden was sitting in a cell in Cuba until he was executed a few years ago. The Project Blink rift was so effective that it grew into having more of an influence in policy around the world.”

  “So how long was it before the rest of the world figured out that the United States had something up their sleeve?” Smith asked.

  “There wasn’t anything during the Takedown on Terror. The greater part of the world was happy to see us do the job and be so effective at doing it. That bought about five years of grace. However, you can only have so many Ministers of Defense, Finance or Internal Security disappear in countries around the world before they start to get fidgety. By the election of 2008, the rumors were pretty strong. The world was already approaching a tipping point with the U.S. before Senator Hanson was elected president. It was a bit less than a year before the untimely death of the Chinese Premier. By 2010, a worldwide distrust of the United States was beginning to grow.”

  “So cut to the chase,” encouraged Smith, “How bad is it now?”

  Hoppy wore a mournful look and his eyes welled up with tears. “It’s bad. We’re calling it the Second Cold War. The borders are closed, visas are refused all over the world. You wouldn’t recognize a current map of the United States because of all the secessions. We lost the Pacific States‌—‌Oregon, Washington and Central California‌—‌just last year.”

  “Secession? That isn’t legal‌—‌hasn’t been since the Civil War.” Dr. Anna threw in.

  “Try telling that to the First Texas Rangers Division, and we aren’t talking baseball,” Hoppy continued. “I’m pretty sure we would have been bombed by now if it weren’t for Blink.”

  “And what is Blink?” Nik asked.

  Hoppy waved around himself. “All of this. The portals to your world are just a small part of what we do here. Between this site, the Utility Company and The Hole, we can physically reach any sensitive location in the world in seconds.”

  “Which is exactly what got you into this mess,” Smith growled. “There’s always a slippery slope. One thing works so you go a little bit farther and a little bit farther. Before you know it, the rest of the world wants to bomb you out of existence.”

  “Yeah...” Hoppy slumped and looked off into space.

  Nick looked around at everyone, feeling puzzled about something. “I don’t get it. So you guys messed up. Why all the ventures into our world? Kidnapping people and families, and,” he paused, unsure of his next words, “Assassinations?”

  Hoppy shrugged. “I believe the idea is for a select few to make a break for your world, leaving certain others holding the bag.”

  “My wife...?” started Nik. “Penny?”

  “A stand-in stooge for Penelope after she escapes to your reality, at least that’s my guess.”

  “And my family?”

  “Knowing Penelope, they’re probably just collateral damage in this whole thing. I think that if she could escape into your reality unencumbered by your existence and that of your family, she would be happy.”

  Nik turned to Smith, “We’ve got to save her, Smith! What are we going to do?”
/>
  Agent Smith shook his head. “Calm down, Nik. It doesn’t help anyone to go in guns a-blazing. I’ll help. Lord help me, I’ll do what I can, but you need to understand that my job is to protect the United States of OUR America. And right now it looks like there’s a bigger danger in play here.”

  Nik walked to the other side of the infirmary and grabbed a chair. Smith eyed him for a second and turned back to Hoppy.

  “Ok, what I want to know is how big of a threat are we talking about here? How many people would be coming over to our side? And you said they’re positioning themselves well. What can you tell me there?”

  “As far as I can tell, it would be in the neighborhood of five to ten people. You guys arrived at the tail end of phase one. Phase two was about to commence, and some of the addresses I was given match up with some very highly ranked politicians and military personnel in our world. Some of the addresses are for less influential people in our world, but I believe they would be in advantageous positions in your world.”

  Agent Smith rubbed his right temple, “So for example, the Hall family from Tennessee?”

  “Right,” Hoppy paused and went over to a computer screen at a side table and typed a little. In a moment he looked back up toward Agent Smith, “Senator Hall is on the Armed Services committee here and is read in on Project Blink. Some of us believe there are one or two rogue Blink Rift generators out there somewhere and Senator Hall might be connected to one of them. So if he went back to your reality, he would be a farmer from the backwoods of Tennessee, but a very well thought of farmer who happens to have attended Harvard, is bosom buddies with the Governor and when the current Senator from Tennessee disappears next week there would need to be an emergency replacement.”

  Agent Smith rubbed his temples a bit harder. The headache was spreading. “So our world is about to receive an influx of people from your world who will place themselves in advantageous positions and they have one or two of those machines to bring along with them? And these are the people who screwed up your world in the first place?”