The Flipside

by Jake Bible

  “Of course,” Tressa said.

  “Excuse me? Commander Bloom?” Olivia asked as she walked up to the two. She pulled off some heavy work gloves, both coated in dark fluid that was not mud. “May I ask you something?”

  “Certainly, Ms.…?”

  “Herndon. Olivia Herndon,” Olivia replied. “I was hoping you can tell me if—”

  “Astrid is alive and well,” Bloom interrupted with a huge grin. “She hasn’t stopped talking about you since she arrived with the others. Lovely woman and a great storyteller.”

  Olivia stood there, stunned. Tears filled her eyes and Tressa wrapped an arm around her shoulders before her legs could give out.

  “She’s alive?” Olivia asked, sniffing loudly.

  “She is and healthy as any of us,” Bloom replied. “She’ll be here in a couple of days, so you can see for yourself.”

  “Wait… She’s coming here?” Olivia asked. “Why is she coming here?”

  “I believe that is a discussion we’ll have later,” Tressa said, eyeing Bloom. He nodded. “Until then, Patrick.”

  “Tressa. Ms. Herndon,” Bloom said, nodding his head as he walked off. He was barking orders at a group of operators before he’d made it a couple yards away.

  “Tressa?” Olivia asked.

  “I don’t know for sure what is happening, but I will find out,” Tressa said. “As soon as I do, Liv, I’ll let you know.” Tressa paused. “No, you know what? You’ll find out when I do. We’ve been through a lot together these last few months and you deserve a seat at the table. You’ve certainly proven yourself.”

  “What do you mean?” Olivia asked. “I’m not a Topside Industries employee or military.”

  “So? I think every one of us—Mike, Ivy, Haskins, Doc—we all had our butts saved by you at some point,” Tressa said.

  “And you guys have saved my butt too.”

  “Exactly. I’ll add in Cash and Raff and that’s my administrative team,” Tressa said.

  “What about your father?” Olivia asked.

  “I’m CEO, and he’s only chairman of the board,” Tressa said and held out an arm. “You see a boardroom anywhere?”

  ***

  Stunned. Shocked. Angry. Resigned.

  The faces not in the know, registered all of those emotions and feelings, as the news settled in.

  “I had a feeling that—” Cash started, but Tressa held up a hand and he stopped. “Right.”

  “So it is not a matter of when Lakshmi and Brain get the bubbles back and the turns working, but if,” Tressa said. “Is that correct?”

  “Yes,” Bloom stated as he stood at the end of a makeshift table set up in the armory, which had become the temporary command center for Flipside FOB. “That is correct.”

  “We might not be going home at all?” Tressa asked.

  “Yes,” Bloom answered.

  Tressa’s attention was drawn to the immense amount of work going on outside the armory.

  “None of this rebuilding is for short-term fortification,” Tressa stated. “You’re building for the long haul.”

  “Yes,” Bloom said.

  “Jesus Christ,” Cash said and shook his head. “This is home now. Could be worse.”

  “Uh, how?” Mike asked. “I was really looking forward to not being here anymore.”

  “All the people I care about are here,” Cash said. “Except Mandy.”

  “Everyone from the coast is on their way?” Dr. Raskov asked. “How many are we talking about?”

  “Two hundred,” Bloom replied. “Including six surgeons and three GPs. But this is your base, Dr. Raskov, so I do not have a problem with you taking the role of Chief Medical Officer. Two of those surgeons are experts at cybernetic rebuilds. They’ll be able to get you some legs.”

  “We don’t have the supplies for that,” Dr. Raskov said.

  “Oh, we have plenty of parts,” Raff said, leaning back in his chair at the far end of the table. “Combots. It takes some doing, but we’ve dealt with enough amputations that the surgeons have it down pat.”

  “Children?” Olivia asked.

  Tressa and Cash started to respond then both closed their mouths and looked at Bloom.

  “We have eight toddlers from various bases and seven infants,” Bloom said with a smirk. “You can’t stop the human race from multiplying. I think all of history has taught us that.”

  “I’d like to coordinate child care and education,” Olivia said.

  “Sounds fair,” Bloom said. “We have some great people already dealing with that, but like I said to Dr. Raskov, this your base.”

  No one argued despite Olivia not being TI personnel or military. She received only approving nods.

  “Mike will handle tech and coordinate with our techs, engineers, and mechanics,” Raff said. “We only lost a handful on the retreat from here to the coast.”

  “How did the combots get here?” Cash asked. “If you have been on the coast, how did you not cross paths?”

  “They came south,” Raff said. “From what will be South America one day. They’d already taken out the Argentina and Brazil bases, so it was only a matter of going for a very long walk.”

  “Which means they can do that again,” Cash said.

  “They can, but we don’t think they will,” Bloom said. “I believe they’re coming across the ocean. Once they realize they are trapped here and the combots they sent are no longer responding, they’ll make their move. Which is why we have to be ready.”

  Bloom gestured toward the armory doors and the work taking place outside.

  “Well, at least I only have to break this news to my father and not an entire base filled with personnel and operators,” Tressa said.

  “I’ll let Barbara know,” Cash said.

  “Why isn’t Ms. Chin here?” Bloom asked. “I was going to talk to her about documenting our time Dino-side.”

  “Flipside, Commander,” Raff said. “You’re on U.S. soil now. Flipside.”

  “We’ll see about that,” Bloom said.

  “I’ll talk to her about documenting everything as well,” Cash said. “I’m sure she’ll be fine with that. But I’ll save that for later. She’s still dealing with the loss of her cameraman.”

  “We’re all dealing with loss, Cash,” Bloom said. “And we will continue to. This land is dangerous and does not give second chances. More will die before Topside finds a way to get us all back home.”

  “Copy that, sir,” Cash said.

  “About the sir part there,” Tressa said. “You and I need to discuss chain of command, Patrick. That should be established immediately.”

  Bloom hesitated then nodded. “Agreed. Should we do that in private?”

  “That would be preferable,” Tressa said, looking about at her people. “Everyone alright with that?”

  “Fine,” Cash said.

  “Knock yourself out,” Raff added.

  Everyone else nodded.

  “Good. Then go make yourselves useful. We have a lot of work to do,” Bloom said.

  Everyone except for Tressa stood up and left the armory.

  The group split up, leaving Cash and Raff alone to walk toward a long row of covered corpses a few yards away.

  “Meet me at the wall when you’re done talking to her,” Raff said and patted Cash on the back before jogging off to start shouting orders at several operators busy trying to pull an ATV out of a mud hole.

  “Hey,” Cash said as he walked up to Barbara.

  She stood over Zach’s body, her eyes closed.

  “Hey,” she replied without opening her eyes. “How’d the meeting go?”

  “As well as can be expected considering,” Cash said.

  “We aren’t leaving here, are we?” she asked.

  “Not anytime soon, no,” Cash replied. “But I have confidence in Lakshmi and Brain. With the resources they have Topside, they’ll get us back.”

  “And until then?” Barbara asked.

  “We rebuild.
We build better and stronger, actually. Bloom believes the Russians will make a play at taking this base so they have complete control over Flipside.”

  “Why? They’re stuck too.”

  “Total control means total control of resources when the bubbles return,” Cash replied. “I doubt they’re going to deviate from their original goal. They’re single-minded that way. At least that’s been my experience.”

  “So we rebuild and wait,” Barbara said. “I’m not good at waiting, Cash.”

  “Neither am I, but if you haven’t noticed, it’s not exactly boring Flipside,” Cash said. “And Bloom wants you documenting our time here. That’ll give you something to do.”

  “Yeah? Sure. I can do that,” Barbara said. “And us?”

  “What?”

  “Us. Where do we stand in all this? I’d rather not have a complicated relationship right now.”

  “Then we won’t complicate it. We’re two adults that like each other’s company and we stick together until we no longer like each other’s company.”

  “Stick together? That’s how you want to word it?” Barbara laughed. “Good thing you aren’t in charge of documenting our time here. The videos would be filled with grunts and single-word sentences.”

  “I’m a little more articulate than that,” Cash said and shrugged. “But only a little.”

  “Ma’am?” an operator asked as she came up to Barbara. “We need to move the bodies for disposal. Are you done here? If not, you can take more—”

  “I’m done,” Barbara said.

  “Walk with me,” Cash said and took Barbara’s arm.

  She gave Zach’s body one last glance then followed along with Cash as he steered her toward the main gate. They wove through the hustle and bustle of simultaneous cleanup and rebuilding. No one was sitting on their asses and waiting around. Every single person was accomplishing a task and moving at peak efficiency despite the fatigue that everyone must have felt.

  When they reached the gate, Raff was waiting for them.

  “I had a feeling you’d bring Ms. Chin,” Raff said. “Come with me.”

  He maneuvered around the workers busy strengthening the gates and walked outside the wall. Cash and Barbara followed and were stunned at the sight. They’d come back to the base from the opposite side and hadn’t seen the carnage to the west of the base.

  “That’s a lot of teeth,” Cash said, blown away by the sheer amount of dino corpses that were as far as he could see. “I can’t believe anyone survived.”

  “Came close,” Raff said. “But that’s not what I wanted to show you.” He lifted an arm and pointed. “The coast is that way. Our people will be here in a few days. Once they get here, we need to make this no man’s land. You get what I’m saying, Cash?”

  “Trenches, razor wire, mines, tunnels,” Cash said. “We go World War One on this land.”

  “We go World War One on this land,” Raff agreed. “I’ll speak with Ivy, but I think you should be in charge of that. Cool?”

  “Sure,” Cash said. “I can handle that.”

  “Great,” Raff said. “It won’t be hard taking orders from me, will it?”

  “Who says I’ll be taking orders from you?” Cash replied. “Tressa and Bloom are working out the chain of command now. I could end up your boss again.”

  “No offense, buddy, but Bloom and I have been through the shit,” Raff said. “He may allow Ivy to be Head of Security, since she technically is and this is still Flipside FOB, but I’ll be second, for sure.”

  “You two need to whip ‘em out and measure?” Barbara asked.

  “I’d rather not,” Raff said. “My dick is sensitive to light.”

  Barbara laughed.

  “You and Bloom are certain the Russians will come for us?” Cash asked after a few minutes of silence.

  “We are,” Raff said. “They have nothing else to do, so why the hell not, right?”

  “True,” Cash said.

  “And we are just going to wait? Not try to stop them at the coast?” Barbara asked.

  “We’ve put measures in place that will slow them down when they reach our settlement,” Raff said. “That’ll thin their numbers somewhat, but not enough to stop them.”

  “Then I’ll start working on plans to make from this wall to out there as inhospitable as possible,” Cash said.

  “Keeping dinos in mind too,” Raff said as he looked up into the sky. He shook his head as a flock of pterosaurs flew by. They remained well out of firing range. “We can’t ever forget where we really are.”

  “I don’t think any of us can do that,” Barbara said.

  The three stood and watched as operators attempted to clean up the dino corpses as fast as possible before the pterosaurs decided that free food was worth the risk of getting shot.

  ***

  Thompson nodded as he sat up in his cot. Tressa was on one side and Cash on the other.

  “So I get to die Flipside,” Thompson said. “Not a bad way to go.”

  “Lakshmi and Brain will—”

  Thompson held up a hand and Tressa went quiet.

  “They are very capable, but not miracle workers,” Thompson said. “In all the decades I have been overseeing this insanity, not once has anyone figured out how the bubbles appeared or how they work. Dozens, hundreds, thousands of theories, but not one provable. We could all end up dying here. Prepare for that.”

  “We are,” Cash said and Tressa nodded.

  “Bloom and I will share command,” Tressa said. “Raff and Ivy will run security operations while Cash is in charge of off-base military exercises once the No Man’s Land is completed.”

  “I’ll be training the civilians in survival tactics out in the field,” Cash said. “Plus, I handle all scouting operations and off-base security squads when civilians need to leave the base.”

  “Good choices,” Thompson said. “And where is my part in all of this?”

  “You don’t have—” Tressa began.

  “You get to take care of Elvis,” Cash interrupted. “We have no idea how valuable he may be now that he is back in his element. He loves you for some reason, so you get to work with him.”

  “Alright,” Thompson said.

  “What?” the siblings replied.

  “You expected a fight I don’t have in me. Taking care of a dinosaur is a fine way to retire. Between you two, I know this base will be run correctly. And our fate is out of our hands anyway, so why should I argue?”

  “That’s very… That’s…” Tressa stammered.

  “Enlightened?” Cash offered.

  “Something like that,” Tressa said.

  “You are both hilarious,” Thompson said then shifted against the wall. “Now, I’ve been awake for fifteen minutes and need a nap. I have to save up my strength if I’m going to deal with a multi-ton dinosaur that acts like a toddler on the best of days.”

  Thompson closed his eyes and that was the signal for Tressa and Cash to leave. They were used to the brush off.

  The two siblings left the bunker and made their way back to the armory.

  “He’ll make a move at some point,” Cash said. “You know how he is. Retire, my ass.”

  “He doesn’t have a power base here, Tre,” Tressa said. “No board. No money. Nothing.”

  “He’ll make a power base,” Cash said. “Or maybe not. Maybe he’s telling the truth.”

  They shared a look that said neither fully believed that.

  “I’ll keep an eye on him,” Tressa said. “I believe Patrick will too. The commander is fine with sharing power, but I don’t think he’d be happy if he lost it.”

  “I get that feeling as well,” Cash said.

  They reached the armory and Tressa gave Cash a hug.

  “I have a ton of work to do,” Tressa said. “Where will you be?”

  “I am going to mindlessly hammer bolts into support beams out in a field,” Cash said with a grin. “Manual labor without thought sounds relaxing right now.”


  “I envy you,” Tressa said and rubbed at her temples. “It’s going to be a long time before I can go mindless.”

  “Raff keeps saying we’re going to eat and drink like royalty tonight, so maybe you can get mindless then.”

  There were several gunshots and Cash grabbed at a rifle he wasn’t carrying. They turned and watched four pterosaurs fall from the sky about halfway inside the base’s perimeter.

  “Or as mindless as this place will allow,” Cash amended.

  ***

  “Thank you, everyone, for your hard work today,” Bloom said as he stood on top of a speed roller, holding a metal cup above his head, as he addressed the assembled crowd. “We have weeks of work before we are ready, but in just a few days, our numbers will nearly quadruple and the work will go by faster.”

  He paused.

  “Most of you that know me, know that I don’t spin BS,” Bloom continued. “I tell it straight and honest. So, let’s get that out of the way now. Some of us will die here. Quite possibly all of us. It could be a generation before Topside finds a way to get us back home. I am prepared for that. We will be prepared for that. In order for this place to work, we will have to thrive, not just survive. You have all been given duties and I want you to know that no one’s job is any less important than anyone else’s. If you think that is not the case, then I want you to picture what this place will be like when children are running around. Then think what it will be like when their children are running around. That is what we are building.”

  He received several nods of agreement.

  “This is now our home. That simple. We will build this base up so that we are not only secure and safe, but so we are able to grow as a community and create a better life day in and day out.” He held his cup higher. “This is to all of you. It is an honor to help lead you and an honor to be led by you! Cheers!”

  He downed what was in his cup, grimaced, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

  “Damn. That is some awful beer.”

  Everyone laughed and downed theirs, all making similar statements after a few gasps, burps, and belches.

  The crowd broke up and moved to the makeshift tables that were loaded down with grilled steaks and ribs.