Branch Off

by Dario Solera

  Tension eased and they lowered their hands.

  “And them?”

  “I know what is happening,” Sarah said, raising a finger to the sky.

  He seemed unfazed. “How?”

  “I—” she began. She didn’t want to use the wrong words. As she tried to find what to say, Léa’s left hand touched hers. It was unintentional, but this time it was Sarah that grabbed Léa’s hand. She took a deep breath. “I caused all of this.”

  The soldier’s eyebrows raised, and he stared at her for a moment. From his face, Sarah guessed that he was trying to decide whether to believe her or not. Without unlocking his eyes from them, he pressed the transmit button on the radio’s mouthpiece he had strapped on his shoulder and spoke into it. Soon, a group of soldiers reached the gate.

  “Come with us,” one of them said as the original guard raised the barrier.

  Inside the campus the grass was gone, replaced by mud and tracks left behind by wheeled and threaded military vehicles. At least they had saved the trees. Walking farther into the enclosed area, Sarah observed that all windows had been covered with steel plates. Soldiers were unconcerned by their presence, and most of them were gazing up at the sky, mesmerized by the alien aircraft circling above.

  A squad of four men escorted them toward the main entrance. The sliding doors were shattered, with just remnants of their frames hanging off the bullet-scarred walls. Léa remained beside Sarah, even if she no longer held her hand. Their shoulders pressed on each other as they followed Gagnier and two of the soldiers into the building.

  Professor Richards stood in the hall. His hair was unkempt and his beard thicker than usual. His eyes were fixed on her as she walked on the dirty floor. “Sarah,” he whispered with a bewildered expression.

  She produced a polite smile. The surprise for her was seeing that, in this world, he still worked for the Institute even after her death. For him, she imagined that it was like standing in front of a ghost.

  He lunged forward and studied her face. His gaze moved from her nose to her lips and then back to her eyes. “It’s you,” he said, finally smiling. He hugged her with a strong embrace.

  His move made her stiffen up a bit, as Richards had never touched her beyond shaking hands.

  “They told me you were here,” he said. “I thought about a joke, but—” He swallowed and laughed. “I believe you are the Sarah from the other side.”

  “I am, Professor.”

  “I’m so glad you are here.”

  Sarah wondered if his enthusiasm was only professional or if he was happy to see her again. Maybe the latter, she decided.

  One of the soldiers cleared his throat. “Colonel Rubais is in charge of operations,” he said. “Please follow me, sir,” he added, talking to Lieutenant Gagnier.

  “Mesdames,” Gagnier said, “it was my pleasure.” He began walking after the other soldier, but he turned and glanced back at Léa one last time.

  They watched him disappear into a corridor to the right as the other three soldiers returned outside. “We don’t even know his name,” Léa said, her eyes wet.

  Sarah rested a hand around Léa’s shoulder, squeezing lightly and feeling a little jealous. “Colonel Rubais?” she asked Richards after a moment.

  “Do you know him?”

  “No,” she lied. She wanted to ask if Colonel Rambald was dead, but she kept that card for herself. Maybe it was just a coincidence that Rubais had popped out. “Professor, we have to talk.”

  “Of course. This way.” He guided them into his office—the same office he had on the other side, two doors down the corridor that also led to the synchrotron control center. The place was as she remembered: brownish carpet, a tall plant with large leaves in a corner, and white curtains. Even the computer he had on the desk was identical, and the wallpaper on the screen was the same.

  “Is the accelerator functional?” she asked before sitting down.

  “No. A bomb destroyed a section up north.”

  “Shit. Just like I suspected,” she said. “Then we don’t have much time. Those aliens are here for a reason.”

  “Yeah,” Richards said, “I have guessed that. But what reason?”

  Sarah explained what she had thought while going there in the jeep. She told him of her theory about the bombs and the fact that the aliens had disabled both facilities. So far she hadn’t figured out why, but now the puzzle was coming together. “My guess is that we could have used the accelerators to reverse the process.”

  “How?”

  “No idea. Professor, was the accelerator operating last Sunday?”

  “Yes.”

  “What time?”

  “Well, it was early in the morning, as usual, probably around seven.”

  “I need the exact time,” she said, producing a slip of paper with some numbers scribbled on it.

  He fumbled on his desk, shuffling through a short stack of papers. “Ah, yes. Particle beams collided at seven thirteen and twenty-two seconds. Experiment officially logged as ended five seconds later.”

  The time matched. She swallowed hard as she raised her eyes from the note. “What experiment?” she asked with a trembling voice.

  Richards took a while to answer. “Yours, Sarah.”

  “What?” She stood and paced up and down Richard’s office. “But I’m dead!”

  “You see, we decided to go forward. You had prepared so much documentation, so accurate that, in fact,” he said with a slim laugh, “it was easy.”

  “What does that mean?” Léa asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Sarah said sitting back down. “The accelerator was running the exact same experiment in both worlds, at the exact same time. Maybe that’s the trick. Maybe that’s why the anomaly happened.”

  Léa nodded in silence, unsure she was able to grasp what Sarah was implying.

  “Besides, I died for nothing.”

  Someone knocked on the closed door. “Come in,” Richards said.

  “Professor, they are doing something.”

  They rushed up to the roof, following the man that had interrupted their meeting. He had a white lab coat, but Sarah did not know him. Other people were looking up at the sky. Some were soldiers, but many seemed like Institute scientists.

  The alien ships were lower now, still circling in a slow, fluid motion in the dull light of the dying day. A thin, orange strip of sunlight lit the horizon above Geneva.

  Craning her neck to look upward, Léa remained at her side. Her interest was different than Sarah’s. This was her own world, and she was scared to death that it could end. All those black things sent chills down her spine. She wanted them gone, now.

  “Look there!” someone yelled. A few people were pointing in the distance, away from the city, just where the anomaly was.

  Thirty-four

  Something was at the horizon, over the fields. The scene seemed apocalyptic, with the ample circle of alien vessels flying above the anomaly, which was set against the whitish background.

  “It looks like it’s glowing,” Sarah said, taking a few steps toward it and reaching the edge of the roof. A few days before, she had been standing there, looking in the same direction, but in a different world. “Maybe it’s just reflecting the sunlight.”

  “No,” Richards said. “Something’s happening.”

  “Up there!” Léa shouted. “More are coming.”

  Coming out of nowhere, more black objects were flying through the clouds and forming another circle, larger than the first and slightly higher in the sky, centered on the anomaly. It was like watching a black airbrush paint a white canvas. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of tiny dots were collecting in the area, commanded by an unknown force—or will.

  If she squinted her eyes, Sarah could see the anomaly in the distance. A tiny, glistening dot ten kilometers away. She hadn’t seen it the previous time, but now that she knew where to look, and what to look for, it was impossible to miss.

  “Dr. Davinson,” someone said from be
hind.

  Sarah turned.

  Requin stood there with a vicious grin, oblivious to the havoc that was unfolding in front of them. “I thought you were dead.”

  “You.”

  Léa took a couple steps back, leaning against the railing at the edge of the roof.

  “Sarah, do you know each other?” Richards asked with an incredulous voice and a frown.

  “Unfortunately, yes. We’ve had the pleasure on the other side,” she answered, pretending to talk as if the man was not there. “Well, it was his other copy.”

  “I would be glad to meet me,” Requin joked. “But I guess one of me for each world is enough. I’ve done my homework about your team, Professor. I found her name. I must say, however, that I did not expect to meet her … in person.”

  “Professor,” Sarah continued, addressing Richards, “you didn’t tell me he was involved.” She had suspected it, but not seeing him around had given her some hope. Obviously that had been a mistake.

  “I’m sorry. I haven’t had the time.”

  She studied him for a moment. He had never lied to her before, so she felt she could trust him and nodded. “While you are here,” she told Requin, “don’t try to stop us, as we must go there. We must know what’s happening and take readings.” For a second she feared that he could somehow know that she had escaped from his copy’s grasp.

  “No need, Doctor,” he said. “My scientists are already preparing to go.”

  “Call them back. We’re the ones who should go. No one else knows more about the anomaly than we do.”

  A man emerged from the staircase and said something into Requin’s ear. He seemed to make a surprised face and ask, “What?” He stared at the newcomer for a moment, thinking. “If you want, then you are free to go,” he then told Sarah. His expression was grave.

  Once more, this man had surprised her. Whatever he had in his mind, it was inscrutable to her. Or maybe he wasn’t as smart as she thought. Even worse, he might have seen something she hadn’t, and he was two moves ahead of her. She decided to push it further. “I want Richards and Dr. Bosshart to go with me. Oh, and Lieutenant Gagnier.”

  “Whatever.” He watched the sky for a moment, and then he disappeared into the staircase.

  Léa leaned in closer to Sarah and spoke with a low voice. “I don’t understand.”

  “Neither do I. Something’s up.” She turned and grabbed Richards by his arm. “Did you discover something?”

  “Nothing in particular.”

  “Think about it.”

  “No. There’s nothing. With the German attacks and everything, we haven’t even had the time to run simulations. The labs have been under German control for a couple of days, and we got back here only this morning.”

  “What could he know that we don’t? He might have understood something—maybe figured out a way to get something. Anyway, we must go. Let’s find Gagnier.”

  The three of them stormed down the stairs to the ground floor, with Richards lagging a little behind. From the corridor, Sarah walked over to the two guards just outside the broken main doors. “Where’s Lieutenant Gagnier?” she asked with urgency in her voice.

  “I don’t know him, madam,” one of them answered.

  “Where is command?”

  “Conference room five.”

  Knowing exactly where to go, she walked quickly in the hallway until she reached and pushed open the double door, followed by Léa and Richards.

  Inside, the chairs had been moved and stacked near the walls and had been replaced by desks with computers and other equipment. The chatter of people talking on the phone or via radio turned the room into a noisy hell.

  Colonel Rubais sat at a desk in a corner, without too much privacy. He was going through some papers, and when Sarah and her friends reached him, he removed the reading glasses he was wearing and looked at each of them for a moment. He seemed more annoyed than surprised for having random people interrupting his work.

  Sarah doubted he would say anything, so she began talking instead. “Where is Lieutenant Gagnier?”

  “Excuse me?”

  She didn’t want to waste time talking to this man. “We have to reach the anomaly. I’m sure you’ve heard what’s happening. We need Lieutenant Gagnier.”

  “And you are?”

  “Dr. Sarah Davinson.” Suddenly she felt the awkwardness of the situation. Her brain fought to keep the two colonels apart as this one hadn’t yet met her. “I talked with Requin, and—”

  “I’m glad you did, but he holds no power here. Not anymore. This is no longer a government operation. And it should never have been, if you ask me.”

  “You don’t have the authority!” someone yelled from the corridor outside the conference room. They turned and saw Requin being escorted away in handcuffs by two armed soldiers. She couldn’t help but get a thin smile on her mouth. “We have to go there,” she repeated. “Something’s happening and we ought to know what it is. The aliens are moving.”

  “I am aware of that, Dr.…”

  “Davinson.”

  “Dr. Davinson. My men are on the move.”

  “To do what?”

  “To—”

  “Actually, I don’t care. You know that thing outside in the fields? Well, I created it. Me and my copy in this world. We just need Gagnier.”

  Colonel Rubais stared at her without talking.

  “In front of you is the only person that knows what is happening,” she lied. Sarah glanced at Léa and Richards. They looked away, avoiding eye contact with Rubais every time he gazed at them, as he probably tried to spot if she was being serious.

  “Why Lieutenant Gagnier?”

  “Because we trust him. He helped Léa Bosshart—she’s a surgeon—coming back from the other side.” She wasn’t bluffing entirely, but she hoped he wouldn’t call it bullshit and dismiss her—or maybe put her under arrest.

  “Yes, he told me that. Indeed, his conduct has been good, despite leaving his men behind.” He rapped his fingers on the desk. “All right. I have no use for him now.”

  “Thank you, sir. I really appreciate it. Where is he now?”

  Rubais pointed at the opposite side of the room, prompting all to turn and look. In one corner was a set of chairs lined up neatly, and a few of them were occupied by some soldiers, maybe waiting for orders. Gagnier was there, his head bent down with his chin resting on his chest. The poor man must have been exhausted.

  With a gesture Rubais called one of the other soldiers so he could shake Gagnier awake.

  He looked at the disturber with a startle as the soldier pointed at Rubais. Lieutenant Gagnier stood, straightened his clothes, and began walking to Rubais’s desk. When he was halfway, he saw that Sarah and Léa were there and quickened his pace. He looked at them with a curious frown and then addressed his superior. “Sir?”

  “You must know these people, Lieutenant.”

  “I do.”

  “They are asking for your help to go and inspect the anomaly. Form a squad, take care of logistics, and get the equipment you need.”

  Hesitating for a moment, he answered, “Yes, sir.”

  “I’ll make sure the other operatives are alerted of your arrival so they won’t shoot at you. And don’t go to the other side—not even to rescue your men.”

  Gagnier clenched his jaws.

  “It is too risky, and I don’t want to count more casualties. Understood, Lieutenant?”

  “Yes, sir,” he said, taking a little too long to answer and attracting a stern look from his superior.

  “Thank you,” Sarah repeated.

  The group left the conference room and went outside.

  “Sarah,” Richards said, trudging behind like a forgotten dog. “Are you sure you want to do this? It might be dangerous.”

  “I have to,” she said, stopping and turning to face him. He looked preoccupied. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want.”

  “Oh, that’s not the point. I’m more worried a
bout you and your friends.”

  She opened her mouth and turned to look at Léa. He was right. Why would she be involved in such an endeavor? She was a doctor, and she was of no practical use. Léa returned her gaze and smiled, grabbing her hand and making sure that he saw that.

  Richards nodded. “Well, in that case…”

  “As for me, I’m a soldier. I’ve got orders,” he said with a wink.

  “Look, Professor, I’m being serious,” Sarah said with a soft face. “You are exhausted. Hell, you survived a war! Stay here, enjoy the show. We’ll take care of the rest.”

  His face softened a little, turning into a mix of relief and resignation. “Be careful.”

  “Of course we will.”

  “I don’t want to see another Sarah dead.”

  She smiled. “Yeah. Neither do I.”

  ***

  “We need a drone,” Sarah said. “Something is happening to the anomaly, and I want to see on the other side.”

  They were inside one of the tents. Gagnier was gearing up for battle and had insisted on not taking other men, despite the colonel’s orders. He didn’t want to risk their lives, or even worse, have to leave them behind. “We have some,” he said.

  “Can you program one to follow a predefined flight path?”

  “Yes. They can fly through way points.”

  “Excellent. We just need to have a very quick look around.”

  “What do you expect to see?” Léa asked.

  “I don’t know, but the fact that the anomaly is glowing is a simple sign that it’s emitting radiation. My theory is that all those alien aircrafts are pumping energy into it, and some of it is emanating back.”

  “How are they doing that?” Gagnier asked.

  “No idea.”

  “And what for?” Léa said.

  Sarah was pacing inside the tent on the soft tarpaulin that was laid on the ground. She turned and looked at Léa, shaking her head. “It’s just an enormous conjecture. Wild guesses.”

  Léa nodded.

  She wondered why she had decided to remain with them. Was it love for her? Perhaps. Did Sarah feel love for her? Something had changed over the last few days, but she feared that it was just the unusual circumstances. “That’s why we need to look closer,” she added, trying to flush those thoughts away. “Léa, Richards was right. It will be dangerous.”