by P. S. Power
“You’re what, my subconscious mind?”
The version of him in gray had all green hair and gemlike eyes to match his own in the moment.
“Something like that. I could go back to the floating words if you prefer? This is just a bit faster, and since you might well get us killed, it makes sense to me to help out as much as I can. After all, I’m the smart one.” There was a bit of a sly look then, as if the other version of him was trying to joke around.
It was true though. That was the part of him that understood everything before he did. That pretty much was what being intelligent meant.
“A point, actually. So is this the dumbest idea ever?”
“No. It’s right up there, but we aren’t being given a lot of choice here. Winston is an outlier however. He has to be stopped, but the job of doing that should really be his. Some other version of him. We can’t control that however, and it’s clear that he’s way too dangerous to leave alive.” They walked along for a while, the city street clean, but dark, the streetlights above them humming, and glowing in a yellow light that was kind of ugly.
“That was what I was guessing, too. So, you think I can use the tear back there to come out someplace else? I might need to sit down first, if I’m going to do that.” He had been before, though Ben had come out on his feet both times, which was interesting now that he thought about it.
Inner-self Ben waved a hand, and a green, painted looking line appeared on the ground.
“That will get us to a safe place for that. Just follow the line. You know that one. Unlike all my other helpful clues. I mean, I’ve been showing you mountains of useful stuff, and you still block most of it out. Have you seen the work that I’ve been doing with memories? That’s some pretty neat stuff.”
It was, so Ben nodded, and let himself smile.
“Like you mentioned, you’re the smart one. Sorry if I’ve been hard to work with. Going insane is…”
That got a laugh.
“All right. That one is pretty much just happening. You see things, hear voices and talk to yourself. Reality isn’t just one thing for you either. Still, you’re emotionally stable, more or less. That thing with Lissa aside. You could have handled that one better. I mean, come on Ben, ordering an abuse victim to have sex with you? That was really your big plan? All you have to do is be yourself, and let her know that you aren’t going to take her crap. Plus, you don’t actually care about her, so it costs you nothing.”
He rolled his eyes.
“Well, two things then. First, she was beating me daily with her thoughts about me. I get now that if we both shield right first that won’t be as bad, but I didn’t get that at the time. Second…” That part was more embarrassing, but the other version of him didn’t cut him any slack.
In fact his inner-self laughed a bit.
“The second one is that she’s hot, and you’re about as mature as any twenty-five-year-old man who grew up in VR? That part wasn’t lost on me. Still, you can do better than that. Sex is fun, and you are kind of biologically predisposed to enjoy it right now, but it isn’t the only thing in life. If we live, I expect you to do better that way.”
Ben nodded, then grinned.
“So, you’re smarter, but also a pain in the ass? Great to know.”
There was a pause, the other version of him smiling, but not walking, which got Ben to do the same for a moment. Then the mental projection nodded.
“Ben… That’s who we are. The world’s worst follower. Glenda has been nearly pulling her hair out, since we aren’t a bad guy, and work really hard, but cause problems all the time. It isn’t even because of our natural leadership ability. Really, I blame Mags for that one. She’s the leader of our little group, but since you’re the one with powers that the others care about and need, she’s been standing back and trying to let you do it. Poorly. You need to have a talk with her on that one.”
The green line led into an alley, where there was a cement set of steps that led up to a green door that had a sturdy looking lock on it. There were trash cans around, made of silver metal, and the place smelled like rotting things, but it also looked like the whole thing would be hidden from the road, if he sat on the stoop and didn’t take too long.
The other version of him just stood. Gesturing at the thing. Words in white showed up on the green paint that wasn’t there, saying have a seat. Even if Ben had already picked up on the idea himself.
“Right. So, from here, back into the tear that had been opened, and back here in time, while going over to Winston. That sounds simple enough.”
There was no speaking about it, and it was far from easy. In fact, it took hours, and the sky was getting light out when Ben got there. Worse, Winston was awake, and making breakfast, moving around his kitchen as if it didn’t even take thought for him to do. Ben was behind him, and tempted to talk things out, in order to try and get the man to come over to the side of right.
Which had the other version of him crossing his arms.
“No. This is an incredibly dangerous man. If he even turns around and sees you, you’ll die. Just shoot. I know that you don’t want to. That’s part of what we had to be, in order to be in the right place to help now. We can’t let it stop us though.”
Ben just did it. The silver weapon, sleek and rounded, not having a hole in the front, was pulled out from the holster on his back. As he did that two things happened. The first was that the targeting system he was used to, color coded for the beam weapon in his hand, came into being as his coat made just the softest sound from the movement.
The second part was that Winston started to spin in place, a knife in his right hand. It was meant for cutting up vegetables, which is what he’d been doing. There was no blurring yet, and hundreds of armed men didn’t attack instantly, but Ben saw his eyes go wide.
As he pulled the trigger, and made his head go away. The wall behind it as well. It took a moment, but the body, dressed in a robe with what seemed like cotton pajamas underneath, fell to the floor. Smelling like cooked pork that had gotten a bit too crisp. Part of the neck and jaw was still there, but there was very little doubt that the man was gone for good. Just to make certain, Ben changed the setting on the weapon, making the beam wider, and destroyed the body. That took a while and made a hole in the floor, but also had managed to set the wooden building on fire.
He started to panic then, as smoke filled the room, not knowing how to escape.
“No problem, just follow the line and go outside. Try not to breathe for a bit. This place is large, but not so huge that I don’t know where the front door is.”
Thankfully Ben was able to just walk along, the line on the floor a glowing blue this time, so that he could see it through the smoke. His lungs burned from holding his breath, but it really wasn’t that hard to find the door and work out how to turn the lock on the knob, letting him out into the countryside. In the distance he could hear a buzzing, which was connected to several things flying toward them, in the morning light. Craft that flew in the air, at a very good speed.
Getting that it was the police or at least a fire crew, Ben took off, running before they got there to see him. Not that he hadn’t been captured on video, or whatever it was they used in that place to do the same thing. If so, hopefully he wasn’t going to be dooming some other version of himself, innocent Ben, to prison for murder. Searching, as he ran, that didn’t seem likely, to be honest. That world didn’t seem to have anyone that was all that close to being him. Thankfully.
At a group of trees, the other version of him smiled and waved for Ben to hide under a tree.
“Good then. Try not to think about what happened there, until you get back and are safe. We need to eat more. I know that sounds bad at the moment, but it will be important to keep in mind, since I’m pretty sure that we just went vegetarian. That smelled like breakfast back there, and…”
Ben got that one, nodding. He hadn’t considered it yet, and sank under the oak tree he was near. He thought i
t was like the oak back at the compound. It might not be, but the leaves were like that. The ground was just dirt, under it, but he didn’t care if he got his clothing dirty at the moment.
There was a time limit, since the silver flying craft were dumping something that looked like white foam all over the large farmhouse, to put the flame out. That all went away, as he started to relive the fight in Boston, where Winston Mills had killed all those government agents. This time, he was able to get home pretty easily. That probably meant he was getting better at it all.
He even ended up in the rec center. Standing, since Dave had sunk down in his favorite chair. The man was alone, but sleeping, or at least resting his eyes. It was early, and the light of day hadn’t started to come through the front windows yet.
“Hey Dave.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but the man jumped, and smiled almost instantly.
“You’re alive. Sooner than anyone figured you’d be back. Did you not find him? It occurred to me earlier that planets are kind of big.”
Ben got that himself.
“That’s just the truth. I used a trick to get to him though. Um… He’s dead. It was the right version and everything. Or so close to it that I couldn’t tell the difference. Which means that in some other reality I just died, and he’s going to plague another group of people, but…” It felt almost like it wasn’t worth doing suddenly, but the other version of him shook his green head, and made a soft sound.
“Nope. It doesn’t work like that. Your job is to protect this reality for now. Do that, and then we can work on the others. Remember, we’re the side that is seeking the balance. The others want to take that all away. You did the right thing, and it’s enough. For now. We aren’t safe here yet. Our friends aren’t. There are three things left to do. That AI isn’t really on our side. You picked that up, right? Yes, it set us in motion, but with the cruelest method possible. It could see that it would be needed, based on the information it had, so took action. There were a thousand different ways that would have also worked, including simply explaining things to you. It might not be a reality killing evil, but it’s still bad. It still killed
Dad.”
Ben understood the idea, but didn’t answer, since now there was someone there to see him doing it. As if getting that the words appeared in front of him, floating, all in the familiar blue color. Suggesting that he change, and get a shower, as well as into the null effect.
Then they could get some food and take some pills to keep him awake for the day.
It was odd, but the figure, who was still standing next to him, spoke as well, knowing that Ben wouldn’t answer out loud right then.
“What those others were saying the other day… They were right. Especially that Brian guy. We still have real lives that we need to keep living. We can’t just fight this war and call it good. We need to do other things, and find a real life out of the wreckage. Or better, stop things from getting that messy. This isn’t the first time that this has happened, and won’t be the last. Oh, probably for you and your friends, but the others will need help. This… We’re way out on the fringe of this, you know? Here, I have a chart.”
The thing that appeared was complex and held more than five or six realities. There were millions of them at least, with different spots marked in glowing red.
“That one, right there? It’s going to be the hardest hit. It’s ahead of us in time, but if it goes down a big portion of everything else will too. Worse, it will lead the enemies to the trunk of existence. If they ever figure out which world line that is and go back far enough, then they can stop everything from ever having existed. Don’t get confused either, just because we’re here now doesn’t mean that we can’t be unmade. This isn’t time travel. Not only that. The rules are so different that it might be possible that the human mind can’t truly understand them at all.”
It was a nifty lecture, though Ben was pretty certain that he didn’t get it all. What was clear was that the spot that had been glowing was Tor’s world. It was up from his, by a long way, which was surprising. Magic seemed like a thing that should exist in the past, not the future, but what existed, did. Fighting it because he couldn’t believe what was presented wouldn’t help anything in the long run.
Dave yawned.
“I need to get going. I think I can get a few hours’ sleep. This is great news though. So it’s done? We won?” The blue haired man smiled, his clear blue eyes shining.
Ben shook his head, and yawned back, since the things were catching.
“Nope. Just to be safe here there are more things that we have to do. At least two more people to stop. An AI as well. Clark has that one. The other people…” Ben hesitated. The man knew everything, but it was different when you had to say the words out loud.
Like it was all suddenly real. A thing that would need to happen. Not matter what.
“They… They’re me. Two of them. One of them I faced before, though really, if they aren’t in this world, I don’t know how I’m going to find them. Wait for the next attack to start, I guess?”
The vision of himself crossed his arms and nodded, and Dave frowned and shook his head.
It was the real one that spoke, his face a bit sad.
“Be careful? You’re one of the only people here that will give me the time of day.”
It wasn’t really true, anymore, but Ben knew that not long before the fellow had felt pretty useless. Now he had meaning in life. Catching history as it happened, and being part of the real work being done.
“Oh, did the vid that you all made about Lissa go out? I’ve been kind of busy.”
There was a soft chuckle then, as they moved to the front of the place, and Dave waved a hand over the light plate, making the room go dark.
“It’s only been two days since we shot the thing. Bethany said it will be ready tomorrow though. Then we send it out. That’s the rough version, but it looks good so far. Almost like real professionals worked on it. I even get a credit for the camera and sound work, so that’s nice.”
A sense of pride came off the man then. It has been pretty good work, but just being a part of something real was what was most important to him.
Interestingly Dave walked him back to green one, not saying anything, and trying not to give away the fact that he was staying the remainder of the night with Felicia. It was obvious. Even that they’d been seeing each other pretty seriously for a bit. It wasn’t even all professional on the doctor’s part. She just liked the man.
Ben could see it. He was a bit easy going, but there were worse things that a person could find themselves being in life.
Once they got there he didn’t sleep, just showering and shaving, dressing in his daily wear. Then he snuck into the room he was sharing with Mags, and patted her on the shoulder. That got the world to go nearly silent in his head, and woke her up. She’d been tossing a bit, but smiled up at him, her all black eyes like pits, in the nearly black room.
“Hey. I was just having a dream about you. We were eating cake.”
Ben snorted.
“So, cheating on me with ultra-neat dream Ben? Having all the delicious sweets like that?”
“Oh… Yeah. So many things to eat. I think I might be a little hungry. Anyway…” She didn’t want to ask, and Ben laid next to her, not really wanting to think about Winston Mills. Which of course, meant he got to relive the whole thing for about a minute, the smell lingering in his nose after he came back to the real world.
“He’s dead. I… It wasn’t a fight. I snuck into his house and ambushed him from behind. It was… I murdered him.” Ben felt it then, and started to shake. It wasn’t all that brave or anything, or strong seeming, but Mags wasn’t Lissa, so she just held him for a bit. About ten minutes, then she sat up.
“You probably need to sleep. I can give you the bed for the day?”
Ben hadn’t cried at least, so just had to sit up and fake a smile.
“Not for this Cymed. I need experimental drug
s and to get to food and then meditation. Then training for the day, whatever they have in store for me. I need to get better at a lot of things.”
Instead of telling him that it would be best for him to sleep, or just to stay away from other people, Mags grinned and reached over to her nightstand, digging in the drawer for drugs. The names of them popped up, glowing as each was handed to him. Ben just took them, only half knowing what they were.
“One to keep you awake and alert, the other to help you relax. It’s conditional, and if you need to fight it will stop working, which is kind of the point. It’s for people on the battlefield. To prevent stress injuries and illness, while leaving them ready to fight at a moment’s notice. It should be safe for humans. It hasn’t been tested yet, but face it, neither of us is getting cancer.”
Ben smiled, the things both going down a bit roughly, since he hadn’t taken them with water. It worked though. Mags sat up, and kissed him, then hugged him close for a bit. She smelled warm, but nice.
“I should get up for the day then?”
Ben shook his head, recalling what his inner-self had mentioned earlier. A thing that had seemed important enough that he’d done it while they were on a mission to kill a man. It had seemed a bit off at the time, but it might actually be important.
“You tell me? It’s clear that you’re the one in charge of us here. Lissa is kind of weak, in her own way, and Clark is nice, but he almost never makes real decisions. You’ve been letting me be in charge, since I have all the nifty null zone powers, but that isn’t really how either of us feel.”
The words got Mags to close her eyes, and go still for a moment. Then nod.
“Oh, thank god. I was going insane trying to let you feel like you were the boss. You have no clue how hard that is for me. Or, well, I guess you do? Thanks. So, I’m getting up. Drugs, showering, and then Lissa dragging. She’s been having a hard time waking up the last two days or so. Really, do you want to do that part? She really doesn’t hate you or anything. I know that things haven’t really been going great there, but you kind of have to be the one to make that right with her. She can’t do it. She’s trying, but the damage is probably too deep. What she’s doing now is helping, but…”