Cal pulled back onto the street, giving his old pickup a healthy dose of gas. They whipped around the first corner and out of the officer's sight. Cal's triumphant chuckle trailed off as he glanced at Jamie.
"You did that, I assume."
"Yup." She gave him a hard-edged smile. "Are those people always such assholes?"
"That's pretty much a requirement for being a TSA officer."
Fifteen miles out of town, Cal steered into a Dairy Queen drive-through. They ordered burgers, fries, and shakes and drove down the street into a small park where they sat on a park bench looking out on Lake Michigan.
Her dad broke out his burger and bit into it with relish. Jamie sucked on her strawberry milkshake, letting the sweet taste seduce her into eating. Her drive to eat had been declining in recent months. She thought she could see the day when it would no longer hold any appeal, but she wasn't eager for that day to come. The illusion of human normalcy still compelled her.
"You could change the world," he said, his voice just above a whisper. "You could do so much good."
"That's what I'm here for."
"I'm not just talking about the aliens. You just had a glimpse of how bad things have gotten."
"Yes, well, the aliens pose a little more lethal threat." She glanced at her dad. He was studying her with his reflective brown eyes as her dad so often did, as though she represented a quandary that needed to be solved. "Uh, so, about Mom. Is she alive here?"
"Yes. He didn't sound happy about it. "Remarried and even had another kid. That was nearly twenty years ago."
"What about you?"
"Never married again. Lost the taste for it." He continued to eye her. "Is she alive on your world?"
"No. We lost her to colon cancer when I was around seven. You remarried and divorced twice after that."
"Doesn't sound like I had a happy life."
"No. Still, so far I'd say that version of you is cheerier."
"Well, you haven't seen my cheery side yet. I'm still kind of in shock." He looked at her. "You know, here your 'Elementals' might not even be plotting to destroy this Earth."
"I thought of that. That's why I want to take this slow, Dad. Cal. I need to see some people – the people who worked with me in my world. I need to trust some of them enough to tell them the situation and hope they'll keep quiet."
"Needless to say, mum's the word for me, honey."
"I know." Jamie struggled not to think of him as her actual father, but it was hard. "You believe me, but it won't be so easy with people who aren't my family. But if they're anything like my friends on my world, I should be able to convince them."
JAMIE HAD little question about who would be the first person on her list. Zachary. It had to be. She'd searched his name and all the others at a public library in Minneapolis to avoid exposing Cal's computer to this world's uber-surveillance state. Zachary Walters worked as a high-ranking scientist for the Environmental Protection Agency. Matilda (Tildie) Armstrong was employed by Portland State University as Assistant University Librarian for Administrative Services. Greg Horner – Hulk – worked for Galleon, one of this world's largest security firms. Jack Culler ran a custom auto repair shop of all things. Jay Ultrect, her team's teleporter, sold insurance.
Jamie hadn't located the others yet. She'd see how things went with the people she had located first.
Brian Loving was easy enough to find, but Jamie had no clear idea about how to approach him. He could be in direct, if unknowing, communication with the Elementals. The Brian Loving she knew was a true believer, and from what she'd seen online, he was here as well. It had been near-impossible to persuade Brian, even after walloping him over the head with loads of evidence and logic. What chance would she have here?
Jamie hadn't been able to learn Zachary's home address from Ucall – this world's equivalent of Google – but she knew he worked in the EPA Region 8 office in downtown Denver. No indication of a wife or anything personal, but of course she had no reason to concern herself with that except as it might affect her mission. Or so she told herself.
She considered just walking into the EPA section of the building – it shared its space with two banks and a pizza place, strangely enough – but she learned that the TSA ran security for all federal buildings, including the Environmental Protection Agency. She'd have to endure airport-style security measures, with the added bonus of a Personal Location and Enabling Device detector – a killer for her. Probably every alarm in the place would light up a brilliant Code Red.
Her internet searches had also revealed that the ominously pronounced "plead" PLED detectors were fairly ubiquitous in the cities, air, train, and bus stations and in many popular shopping places such as Walmart, Costco, Menards, and Lowes.
Though the government allowed some leeway for PLEDs breaking down – the TSA routinely issued "fix-it" tickets – the failure to repair them led to increasingly draconian fines and ultimately jail time. Failure to be chipped was a Class C felony carrying a minimum prison sentence of five years and a fifty-thousand dollar fine. She'd read about "chip protestors," and a suit against the Anti-Terrorist Identification, Assessment, and Detention Act had reached the Supreme Court, where the judges had ruled it Constitutional. Some of those who'd resisted being chipped languished in jail, but others, it was said, carried clever substitutes that transmitted acceptable information when probed. Jamie decided to look into getting one since lacking a PLED here would obviously be a complete pain in the ass.
She was learning that as she walked the streets near the EPA building. First, the small wad of cash she'd taken with her was worthless here, since cash had been abolished as a "terrorist tool" two years after Doomsday. It was impossible to legally purchase food, a subway ticket, or a hotel room without a PLED. Luckily, she didn't need to eat or drink, but it might've been nice to have a place to stay. As it was, she watched the building's parking lot from the sidewalks, occasionally sitting in outdoor cafes, battling boredom and a profound sense of isolation. This was a place where there truly was no rest for the "weary" – which meant anyone who did not conform.
Jamie was frightened by the anger building in her about the current state of affairs. How dare these power-crazed freaks do this to her country? She was afraid because she knew what she could do if she let her anger get the best of her. She wasn't here to change the U.S. politically. Her sole priority was to save the Earth from the alien threat.
But then what? It was starting to occur to her that she hadn't thought past dealing with hypothetical aliens. What, then? Reunite with Dennis and be a happy family again? But how could she – how could any true American, really – be happy under these circumstances, where citizens were treated like cattle to be prodded and controlled? How could even some great terrorist threat, real or imagined, have reduced them to that?
Checking out the EPA parking lot for the nth time, Jamie zoomed in with her super-vision on a tall, fit dark-haired figure in a leather jacket striding across the asphalt. It's him. She was reluctant to even name him because his name would summon a chorus of unhealthy and undesired emotions. Zachary. She closed her eyes, both basking in and battling with the word.
Then he was opening his car. Jamie had a flash of attempting to follow him overhead without bumping into a horde of drones. It could be done, but maybe she could avoid some hassle by meeting him now.
She popped up two or three hundred yards and then down to the asphalt on the passenger side of his light blue Lexus SUV in less than two seconds.
"Hi," she said.
Zachary performed an admirable attempt not to appear startled but couldn't halt one jerking back-step from his car. His gaze slipped swiftly through surprise and suspicion, ending in a puzzled smile.
"Hi," I said. "Where did you come from?"
"The sky."
"My guardian angel?"
Jamie smiled. "Something like that."
Neither moved for a few moments.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
> "I was wondering if we could talk. Maybe I could ride with you?"
"Heh." He shook his head and grinned. "I'm not usually one to turn down rides to pretty ladies, but I think you'll need to explain what you want to talk about before we take a ride together."
"You read science fiction, don't you?"
"Some."
"I'm from an alternative universe. I knew you in that universe."
"Did you?"
"Your dad was the president of North Dakota University in that world."
"And he is in this world." Zach's smile was sliding into unamusement by the moment. "Nothing anyone couldn't learn from a few minutes of research online."
"You eat your steak with Worcestershire sauce."
"Not much of a stretch."
Jamie took a deep breath. "Your favorite sexual position is on top with your legs curled around one of your partner's thighs." She rubbed her face, which she suspected was starting to burn. She lowered her eyes. "At least, um, it was with me."
Zach's face paled. Pale enough to make his pink lips appear artificially colored.
"You're saying...we were lovers?"
"Yes."
"Can I ask your name?"
"Jamie Shepherd."
"I don't know it."
"No. I doubt we ever met in this world."
He braced his hands over his window and studied her over the roof of his car. Trying to determine if I'm crazy or possibly dangerous, Jamie thought. She gave him what she hoped was a charming smile.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I can't deny I'm curious as hell about you, but my better judgment is telling me to get in my car and drive away. No hard feelings, I hope."
"No."
His door jumped from his hand and slapped shut. With a frown, Zachary tugged on the handle. The door didn't move.
"You might notice that your car's tires are now about two inches off the cement," said Jamie. "I have telekinetic powers."
Zach's world-weary sigh converted into a disbelieving grunt. "What the..." His eyes widened. He stooped, sliding his fingers under one tire. "This has to be an illusion."
"No. It's real. Many of us on my world have what you'd call superpowers."
Zach glanced at some coworkers strolling by with pleasant smiles. Jamie sensed he was thinking of asking for help but then reconsidering it. What, exactly, would they help him with?
Jamie eased the car back to the ground.
"All I want to do is talk, Zachary," she said. "I'm not going to hurt you or force you into anything. I'm here to help this world, and I think you might be able to help me help you."
Zach tugged on his door again, popping the latch. The door didn't budge.
"Are you preventing this door from opening?"
"Yes."
"Please release it."
"Okay."
He yanked open the door. He paused, looking from his car's interior to Jamie's unblinking blue eyes.
"All right," he said. "Get in."
Zach drove them out of the parking lot, his face a mask of grim concentration. Jamie thought about what she was going to say next.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"Wherever you want." She glanced at him. "I don't know anything about your personal life here. Are you married? Have a family?" She paused. "Girlfriend?"
"Girlfriend. No wife or family."
"Would she be waiting for you at home?"
"She's on a business trip. Look, Janie –"
"Jamie."
"Jamie. I'm not going to discuss my personal life with you. I'm not going to discuss anything with you until you tell me what this is about."
"In my world, you worked for the DHS Science and Technology Directorate as a biochemist."
"The DHS." He made a face. "Not likely."
"You have something against the DHS?"
He clamped his lips together. "I didn't say that."
"We met when they sent you to investigate me."
"Investigate what about you?"
"I was one of the first people to contract the 'superpower virus.'"
"So other people contracted it?"
"Pretty much everyone did. But the effects varied tremendously. Some people had off-the-chart powers like teleportation, telekinetics, psychic ability, projecting particle beams or incredible strength. A certain percentage could fly. Others hardly seemed to change at all. You were one of those."
"Figures. I'm more the mild-mannered type."
"Not so much." Jamie remembered a few things she had no business remembering. "You may not react the same way now."
"React to what?"
"I'm still carrying the virus." She braced herself for his reaction. "I was ground zero for most people on my world."
"You're telling me that I'm going to be infected by this alleged virus?" He didn't sound angry, but Jamie could hear the heat coming.
"I think so, yes. But I'm in unexplored territory here." She thought "unexplored territory" could be her middle name. "Maybe nothing will happen. It's too soon to know."
"What's the nature of this virus?"
"It's artificial. Technically a nano-device. The scientists on my world called it a 'nanovirus'."
"How does it give someone superpowers?"
"We're not sure. A combination of genetic and matter manipulation."
"The usual SF hand-waving, in other words."
"Except it works." Jamie chuckled softly. "I'm not a big fan of SF. Even less of one now. But as our scientists – our best and brightest scientists – pointed out, we were dealing with an alien technology magnitudes more advanced than ours."
"Alien technology?" Zach snorted. "Why am I not surprised?"
"One day a cylindrical object crashed down on my land. It contained the virus."
Zach steered them through traffic onto the highway heading north. A home in the suburbs, Jamie guessed.
"So an alien craft or object gave humanity the gift of superpowers," he said. "To what purpose? What was the catch?"
"The aliens were divided about us. The main group had decided we needed to be exterminated because of our future threat to other life in the universe. Fortunately, a few of them didn't agree. They were the ones who sent us the Object. The idea was partly to give us the power to defend ourselves. The catch – one catch – was that it turned our society upside down. No one knew how to govern people with superpowers. A special government agency, Department of Augmented Regulation and Enforcement – DARE – was created. I went from being a high school math teacher to working for DARE."
Zach was smiling straight ahead, tightlipped, his hands clenching and unclenching on the steering wheel as they jockeyed their way through traffic.
"I know it's a lot to take in," she said. "I don't expect you to accept everything I'm saying at first. You're the fourth person I've talked to and I still haven't figured out the best way to present all this."
"Who were the other three?"
"My husband...well, the man who was my husband in my world...and my daughter. Both, um, deceased in my world. And my father."
"How did they react?"
"After the initial shock and a demonstration of my wondrous power, they believed me."
"Perhaps I could talk to one of them?"
That drew a surprised look from Jamie. "Ah..." She couldn't think of any good reason to protest. "Sure. Why not? Which one?"
"How about your dad?"
"Okay."
Zachary pulled out his cell. "Go ahead and give me his number."
"I, ah, don't know his cell. But he owns the Buckhorn in Duluth, Minnesota. You should be able to Google his number easily enough."
"Google?"
"It's the most popular internet search engine in my world."
Zach tapped his phone a few times, one eye on traffic, which was thinning down as they continued north. "I have the Buckhorn in Duluth. What's your father's name?"
"Calvin – Cal – Winters."
"All right. I'm calling him. I'll put him on spe
aker."
Jamie couldn't help admiring the calm logic with which he was handling what had to be the most bizarre thing he'd ever encountered. What was more logical than checking out her story with another person she claimed to know?
"Buckhorn," came her dad's semi-frazzled voice.
"Is this Calvin Winters?"
"Could be. Who are you?"
"I'm Zachary Walters. Someone you might know is here with me. Someone with special powers."
"Jamie." She heard a slight smile in his voice. "You were next on her list, I take it?"
"I guess so. Just to be clear, Jamie Shepherd is your daughter?"
"Was. My daughter died three years ago. This is another Jamie. A super-powered version, I guess you could say."
Zach's face froze. It was as if the phone he was holding had zapped him with a thousand volts.
"She's from a parallel world," he said in a near-whisper.
"Something like that." When Zach didn't speak for a few seconds, Cal added, "Say, you aren't Perry Walters' son by any chance, are you? The president of UND."
"Yes. That's me."
"We went to Grand Forks High together, though he was a couple years older. Never really knew him, but I heard he had a son, worked for some government agency or other."
"Or other," Zach muttered.
"She's there, I take it. Can I talk to her?"
Zach handed Jamie his phone.
"Hey," she said.
"How's it going? Have you convinced him to join the cause yet?"
"I'm still working on him."
"After you left, I realized I had no way to contact you. You should get a phone or an email account or something."
"I'll see what I can do."
"Okay, superwoman. Call me when you can."
"I will. Bye...Cal."
She handed the phone back to Zachary, fighting back an unexpected round of tears. He seemed to notice that because his skeptical expression softened.
"I am convinced you believe what you're telling me," he said. "And if this Cal Winters is real, he believes it, too. But the rest..." He rolled his shoulders.
"You saw what I did to your car."
"What I thought I saw. As I look back on it, I'm not sure it couldn't have been an illusion. Though I don't know how. Maybe you drugged me? Maybe this is all part of some elaborate swindle?"
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