by P. S. Power
She looked at the rest of them, glaring, as if ready to yell if they claimed that it made sense that she’d be a guy in a different reality, even though half of all the versions of her probably were. That also meant there would be girl versions of him. Which wasn’t a disturbing thought or anything.
Ben nodded.
“I saw that, I think. At the fight? The man coming in like that. So, he got you weapons?”
“Right. He took me to a different reality, and helped me get some things that we just don’t have here. Even better, after I explained to the being that made them what the situation was, he went over how to make more of them. I’ve been trying to get enough materials around, but we can fabricate them. They’re better than anything we have. One shot, one kill, for the most part. I want to check your aim with them however, since the dynamics are a little different.”
Ben yawned again, just accepting her story. It fit, and if they had new weapons, that could only help, in the long run.
“In the morning? After meditation?” That wasn’t really that early, but there was a nod, as if that was the best they could do. At least it hinted at there not being any real help for them if they ran off and did it all right then. Besides, the others needed to eat dessert. Ben had a few more tacos, not really enjoying them that much.
They weren’t his favorite or anything, and he was really craving sweets. Badly enough that he decided not to give in. It really was a problem for him. It was intense at that moment as well. So much so that he nearly stole the cake off of Glenda’s plate. Only the knowledge that her faster than normal reflexes would probably stop him prevented that from happening.
With a bit of effort, he made it through somehow, and stood up, his legs feeling a bit weak. That would be due to sitting for too long, over the past days, he bet. Then, without really meaning to, he guided Lissa and Mags back to the house they shared, and showered. Alone, but they each did it too, and went to his room after. As if his joking about group sex was enough to make it happen.
It did. Which kind of impressed him. At the end he nodded.
“Right. We’ll have to be kinkier next time. Bring lube. For now, get out, so I can sleep? Or… I should wait for Clark. Micha… She went with Lenore?”
Mags shook her head, as she got her tunic back on.
“Nope. Her new boss had things for her to do, that were more important than watching Lenore live in an underground cavern. She’ll be back, I guess? She needs you to help her manage things. I don’t know what she had to leave for, really. She could have worked from here, but it’s secret?” Mags didn’t stick around to cuddle, probably understanding that Ben was being serious that night about needing to be alone soon. Unless they wanted to watch him drooling on his pillow.
That reminded him that Mags didn’t see things the same way that he did anymore. Her eyes, and mind, had been changed so much that he looked very different from her perspective. So did everyone else. Thinking back on it, he got that the others, Clark, and Lissa, weren’t particularly better looking to her now. They were the same kind of photonegative seeming things with light colored veins all over that Ben was to her. His pretty green eyes weren’t going to impress her then. Though she’d noticed that they’d changed.
The weight loss might, but that was about all. On the good side, to her they went around in cool seeming slightly blue-black outfits that glinted in the light a bit. It was much better than gray. Ben waited for Clark to get in, with his door open, simply dozing a bit. The other man didn’t make him wait long, but didn’t come to his room, probably feeling awkward about it.
Figuring that it would be his turn to pay Ben back as well.
That meant climbing to his feet, blurrily, and moving to the door to tap the man on the hand.
“You’re it.” He grinned, not knowing if the other man would get the reference, but Clark smiled at it. He was old enough that when he’d been a kid, they were allowed to play games like that still. Ben hadn’t really. Not in school. He’d had a VR version of the game though, when he was about ten.
“Heh. Yep. I’m pretty close to done in for the day. Did you… Manage to do whatever it was you needed to?”
Ben made a small, rather noncommittal noise with his throat. It was breathy and sounded silly, even to him.
“Yes and no? I didn’t get the Predictive AI shut down. I didn’t even look for it. I did manage to get into another reality? Physically, I mean. That was different. I think I can do that now, if I can find the places where other people are coming or going from? It’s pretty hard. Oh, also, I think that I’m the one behind all the terror attacks.” He left that for a bit, as Clark nodded at him.
“As in how?”
“Me from a different world, I think. I don’t know why I’m so evil, but when I was talking to Winston Mills he seemed to accept that it was that me, and not… me.”
“Ah. That’s rather different. How are we going to deal with this?”
Ben had actually been thinking about that, on some level, and the answer wasn’t that hard, really.
“First, we stop the New Year’s bomb. I’ll start on that in the… Midafternoon? Then… We take out both the AI and Traitor Ben. I… Have you been on the AI?” It made sense, but there was no psychic data coming at him, just then.
“Indeed I have. It’s in a few thousand parts, but I’ve been able to eat away at its processors for a bit. I figure that it won’t be functional soon. Which doesn’t stop the bombs at all, but can take out part of how things have been set up. Maybe even the planning of it all?”
Ben nodded, and felt jealous. After all, it was his job to take the thing out, to his own mind. Not that he was going to be stupid about it now. If Clark wanted the thing destroyed and could manage it, that was good enough. The man was his friend after all. That was nearly as good, revenge wise as doing it himself.
“I’ll have to teach you a little speech, for when you actually kill it. That thing murdered my dad.” He felt horrible suddenly, but Clark patted him on the arm.
“We’ll stop it. It won’t help bring anyone back, but that thing won’t be able to kill anyone else. Thousands have died because of it. Maybe more than that. We can’t fail in this.”
Ben gave a single nod, and tried to look heroic, which was spoiled by a huge yawn.
“Okay, in the morning though? I need to get to things, and right now, the main one is sleep. Blessed, comforting oblivion.”
“Night. See you in the a.m.” Then the man stepped away, going off to see to his own rest, most probably. It was kind of nice, not knowing all the time. Helpful when he did, Ben had to admit, but also as if things were made more complicated that way, rather than less, like it seemed should have been the result of his powers.
As he drifted off, that part hit him.
Ben Epson had real powers. Abilities that, if he could use them right, might really help some people. That was contingent on him both surviving and being able to keep working. It was… Well, he just didn’t know. Reality was sketchy for him now. Really, he was in bed, alone, and wasn’t totally certain that he was there at all. It was very possible that he was still in the darkness of the isolation room. Possible for the first time, having lost it and imagined the whole rest of what had happened.
That didn’t feel like it was taking place, but that was the point. Ben just didn’t have a way to tell. Not anymore. So in that way, the less likely he was going to be able to make certain that things were what they seemed.
It wasn’t even some trivial point or anything, either. It wasn’t like he could just go around assuming that what he saw was reality now. At least not where he was. Daily he saw things that weren’t that, just picking up what other people were thinking and recalling. The orange sphere was nice, since it let him know what he was imagining, and when he was in VR, which was as real as anything else, most of the time. That didn’t mean he couldn’t try to work it out all the time, for the rest of it, but at any moment that could all go sideways. If it ever did, it could
be very hard to come back.
There was simply nothing that he could do about it at the moment. Maybe not in the future either. The world was twisting around on him, or could, and the only thing that had worked so far was trying to pay attention and not go over the top in whatever came up.
With that cheery thought in mind, Ben drifted off to sleep, dreaming in such levels of reality that he wasn’t certain he might not have been awake, during most of it. There was no way to tell, and when he woke, Ben half expected to wake up a hundred times in a row, after starting his day. That didn’t happen thankfully. At least not yet. It meant he showered, and was able to get out of green one with everyone else in time to eat. He was hungry, but that felt nearly constant now.
Mags ate several large cinnamon rolls and some eggs, and Lissa had a plate filled with apple fritters. After their trip, someone seemed to have informed the kitchen that there was at least one food that Lis could eat each day. She looked across her plate, at his bowl of oatmeal and shuddered. Ben could understand that one, since he would have rather had what she was eating, but he didn’t dwell on it. That couldn’t be allowed to happen, at least not until he learned to control his desire for that sort of sweet food.
Brushing at her sleeve, the other woman looked up at him.
“So. My father is supposed to be in later today. For that interview? I… Could you come? I don’t want to be a bother, but…” She looked at him, as if there was something inside her that really made that happening an important thing to her. Ben still didn’t understand why, but he knew that she thought of him as some kind of protector, even if that was ridiculous.
“I guess? I probably won’t be needed for it, but…”
She nodded, then took a huge bite of fritter. The glistening icing on the outside calling to him. Causing him to stare. People watching would probably think it was about something else, like sex, but he really wasn’t. Just the food that he wasn’t getting and might never have again.
“Um… Dave wanted to get you to go over things? Psychically? And record it for the program. Not everyone has a famous psychic that can be in their specials after all, so it might help things stand out.”
Ben was about as virt ready as a toad, but still nodded. After all, it had been his idea. Not that psychics would really help sell the whole thing that much. People watching it would be coming to see what Casandra Banks was up to, and what had taken place in her life. No one wanted to hear what he had to say on the issue. They had to fill time however, so he could do his part.
The day went faster than he would have thought. Meditation was what it was, but he managed to try really hard, and push enough that he was sore after. A thing that Ben was counting as a good sign. Then he shot targets for an hour, the new energy weapons having a slight tendency to arc upward, which became more pronounced if you were further away. It was the opposite of what everyone else was used to, but as long as they practiced it would be all right, he thought. It wasn’t as strong as the pull of gravity on a regular round, for instance.
His internal aiming turned to blue and green, instead of purple and gold, so that he could tell which kind of process was going on. After ten shots his aim was nearly flawless. That got Glenda to pat him on the shoulder. Wanting to ask him about something, that she didn’t think was actually going to work for him. Ben nearly just took it from her mind, but forced himself to wait, not wanting to live things that weren’t going to need it.
“The… President called and asked us to send a team to the White House, for their Christmas celebration? It would be good to have someone there with Mags and Lenore, even if you are crap as a psychic when in contact with them. Is that…”
Ben nodded, since it had pretty much been the plan all along, probably. Even if no one had mentioned it to him.
“Sounds good. We’ll need to work it all out ahead of time. Go in with Lenore, meeting up before she reaches the city. Taking breaks to read the situation at irregular intervals. That kind of thing. Also, how to explain why we have a clutch of people walking around holding hands that includes her and Mags. We’ll think of something.”
Glenda didn’t wait on the answer to that one, just shrugging.
“No special excuse needed. We’ll just tell the truth. It’s not hidden or anything. We’re all pretty much out, now. Not the part where we want to overthrow the government, but the rest of it. You managed to get a lot of airtime, taking down those armored men. All of them died, by the way. Some kind of drug withdrawal. Unless we’re just being told that.” She seemed to think it was that one, but Ben couldn’t feel them.
“I think that’s right. They figured that would happen. I can only hope that their families will be all right. They were told that if they failed, the rest of their families would take their places. Did they say anything first?” They had to have been questioned.
No one would have missed a chance to do that. Government agent didn’t mean stupid. Not for most of them. They just disagreed about what was right or wrong with Ben and the others there.
Glenda made a face. It was annoyed, this time. The feeling coming off of her was more relaxed, the expression being about conversation, rather than to reflect her inner self.
“They spoke. No one can understand what they said, but that isn’t too surprising. They’re not from around here. Linguists are working on it now. After four days they all were gone. You got a bit more from them. We passed that along, but only what the others said you told them, and what Micha picked up. Can you go over that again?”
“Um, yes? I have a thing later today, with Lissa. Her dad is coming and she wanted me to be there. I… Honestly, I don’t really want to be. I kind of don’t like either of them. I’m trying with Lissa, but she’s soured me on the man already.”
That got a nod, and a gesture toward the door, so that he knew to leave. Not that he couldn’t pick that up from her. She’d worked out how to power the new weapons, or, more to the point, how to build power sources for the things. They were basically super capacitors that had a small attached unit that made a very thin, but incredibly powerful magnet vibrated next to a gold coil, generating the power needed. It was a simple enough design that Ben was surprised that no one had ever thought of it before. The materials for it were expensive, because you also needed a room temperature super conductor, but the things would last for about a decade, constantly putting out nearly enough power to run an auto without stopping the entire time.
That was a thing that she wanted to keep hidden however. The world’s economy would shift too much, too fast, if everyone had that kind of thing at home. Not that it would harm anything in the long run, it just needed to be introduced in a way that gave the system a chance to change more slowly than that. Over the course of decades, not days.
Ben got that and nodded.
“Only a fool would let that happen. We can’t have everything shut down all at once, and the power industry is what, ten to twenty-percent of the financial market?” He’d used the words incorrectly, but the larger woman spun and nodded at him.
“About that. The rest of it is driven by that portion however. We need to be careful. That’s all though. We can use this, and maybe even do it a bit better, now that we have the basic idea. Go though. I have my little project here, and there’s no reason for you to hang around and be lazy. Get a run in? Before the afternoon of sitting around, talking to cameras.”
Ben nodded, interested that she’d known that much about what was going to happen. It had been reported to her, instead of her picking it up on her own. That still worked however. The question wasn’t if the information was magical or not, just if it was true. There was a lesson in that for him, Ben didn’t doubt. One that would probably need to be considered. Later however.
Getting a run in felt like a great idea, given the last week. It would be foolish for him to think that he wasn’t going to be using that skill anytime soon. That meant throwing himself around the outer loop, fast, and trying not to slip on the snowy patches that w
ere still on the ground in places. No one had cleared it since the last snow, it seemed, but others had used it, braving the falling hazard that the thing represented. It was a challenge and Ben did hit the ground three times, ending up soaked in several places. Not really that cold however, thanks to the fact that most of his body fat produced significant heat now.
That was what he’d been told would happen. The other option was that Ben was still in bed, and not that cold at all. If so, he’d wet himself, because he truly felt damp. Not worrying about that, he tried to keep his speed up, and with a good bit of work, managed not to roll around on the snow again. The whole thing left him panting and feeling stupid, since he was almost certain that no one else would be doing that kind of thing while they exercised. Not that lived there, at the compound.
After that, he went in for a second shower, and a clean set of clothing. The real kind this time, the one nice suit he had, since he might end up on a screen. The idea didn’t thrill him, but he did it anyway, and then made his way to find the others.
Chapter fourteen
Lissa’s father, as it turned out, was pretty much just a man. Not a particularly special one, though he was a bit more psychic than the run of the mill person on the street, and figured that made him eccentric, rather than insane. When Ben saw him, he didn’t appear to be all that different from most people however. Old, gray, with thinning hair on the top, which meant he didn’t care that much about his looks, since there were effective treatments for that now.
There were for being overweight as well however, and most didn’t really bother with them. Why that was, Ben didn’t really know. Probably because it was just how most people were, now. The normal look for women was a lot heavier than it used to be, the trends having swung all over the place for years. Every few years someone would suggest that not being more than a certain amount too heavy was healthier than just letting yourself go, but then there would be push back about it from the press.