* * *
The falling rain streamed down the exterior of the black semi and pooled on the asphalt beneath it. Two guards and the truck’s driver shared coffee under a makeshift tarp strung from poles near the cab. Bored and cold, they watched a few night workers and nurse’s aides hurry to the hospital under umbrellas.
A tight group of men and women with folded newspapers over their soaked heads passed nearby. One of the women stumbled. The guards glanced curiously at her. It was Leah! On cue, the rest attacked. Josh wielded a tire iron and Kendall swung a jack. Caught completely unprepared, both guards went down under the onslaught. The driver had time to leap for his cab but a flashing elbow from Quyron bounced his head off the door. He slid limply to the tar, unconscious.
* * *
Sal patiently watched Kendall step into his crosshairs and stop. The screen flashed a lock. “Got ya! Sucker!” His fingers prepared to launch his mind.
* * *
Kendall and Josh looked over the front edge of the hospital to the empty area below. There was nothing there. Josh hung his head for a moment and then gathered himself. “I think I can do one more. Do we run or should we…”
Kendall cocked his head in astonishment and then jerked straight upright. “Josh! The tickle! I…Ahhh!”
Sal took total control and stared maliciously out from Kendall’s eyes. “I got ya! Told ya I would!”
Josh instantly grabbed the front of his Dad’s shirt and glared fearlessly back at Sal through his father’s eyes. “Not for long!”
With every ounce of his strength, he yanked Kendall off the roof. Locked together, they both plunged to their deaths, again.
* * *
Alone in his sealed cockpit, Sal screamed in abject terror. His body flexed and wildly contorted. He was totally out of control. He pounded in a helpless frenzy against the sturdy transparent cover of the cradle. His eyes bulged in horror as his mind focused on the death roaring straight up at him. He screamed and screamed as his mind let go.
* * *
Shielded under the wet tarp beside the semi, Everett dug through the unconscious driver’s pockets until he found the truck keys. Josh nodded in delight and waved everyone together to explain his plan. Without warning, Kendall and Josh both collapsed heavily to the wet pavement. The others stepped back in surprise, their faces filled with confusion.
Kendall stared up, startled. He lifted an arm as if to fend someone off. “No! I won’t let you…” The rain struck his face and he blinked and suddenly looked around with widening eyes. “Where the..? What’s with the rain? Josh?”
Beside him, Josh sat up and smiled. He was looking straight up at Quyron. “Hannah? Hannah, how’d you get here?” He sounded euphoric. “Dad, look! We found Hannah!”
Leah went to her knees to help Kendall sit up. He stared at her, bewildered but pleased.
Quyron stood frozen. “What just happened?” She gave Josh a hand and pulled him to his feet. “And who’s Hannah?”
Josh grinned happily at her. “You are.” And then he noticed what was behind her, and started leaping. “Hey, the hospital’s finished…Dad! Look! The truck! It’s all around us! We found the truck! We’re there! Or here!”
Kendall climbed to his feet and laughed. He grabbed Josh in a hug. They gleefully pounded each other on the back in giddy relief. Everett watched with the dawning of understanding.
“We’re alive and in their timeline!” Kendall shouted. “We did it! Hugh’s a genius!” He noticed Everett watching them and quickly sobered. “Not you. I know who you are. You’re the bad Hugh. I meant the other Hugh, in our line.”
Everett touched Quyron’s shoulder with amazement. “Quyron, it’s your jumpers! Can you believe it? They’re actually here.”
* * *
Will was staring at red readouts from the bio sensors in Sal’s cradle. “Stat! Get Sal out of there! He’s red across the board. Move it! Now!”
Nsamba checked his sub line screens one after another in frustration. Most continued to display variations with Kendall and Josh still on the roof. Two showed small groups of workers gathered around sets of bodies. “Where did the jumpers from line four go? Which line are they in now?”
John’s voice came back. “Don’t see ‘em. Still lookin’…”
Vandermark called out harshly. “Echo? Which line?”
After a slight pause, Echo came back. “I do not sense them in any of the monitored lines.”
“What?” Nsamba exclaimed. “They have to be somewhere!”
“Are you checking new splits and alternates?” Vandermark demanded angrily.
“Of course,” Echo calmly replied. “They are not there.”
Nsamba was baffled. “That makes no sense.”
* * *
Just outside the Reiver’s truck, Josh struggled to integrate his new sets of memories. The others grouped around, waiting for him to talk. “Let me think for a sec. Wow! I’ve done a lot of scary stuff…how are you doin’, Dad?”
Kendall had his hands to his head and kept squinting. “It’s tough. It’s like my head’s about to bust with all the new…”
Everett interrupted. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have time. Our Josh was about to explain how to attack the truck. Either we hurry up or we lose our element of surprise.”
Josh looked at him blankly and then his mind caught up. “Oh, yeah, the plan – my plan! Let me see. The keys. You were gonna gimme the keys.” Everett held out the truck keys and Josh snatched them. “Okay. Now, Hannah – I mean…” He closed his eyes briefly and then went on. “Quyron – and Mom, you need to latch those outer doors. Dad…” He looked at Kendall. “Are you sure you’re up to doin’ this?”
Kendall loosened his shoulders and picked up the jack. “I’ll be fine. Tell me what you want.”
“Okay, you and Hugh…” He looked at Everett. “Quyron, wait. Are we even sure he’s on our side?” Everett gave him a dirty look.
Quyron and Leah were already moving toward the outer doors to the control room and cradle areas. Quyron glanced back over her shoulder. “He’s with us – as far as I can tell.”
“I’m goin’ with him then,” Josh said. “You guys take down anybody who manages to get out.” He climbed up and into the cab. “Let me know as soon as those doors are shut.” Hugh and Kendall nodded as they stepped back.
Inside the complex truck cab, Josh settled into the driver’s seat and, without a thought, stuck in the key. His hands and feet moved automatically to the correct locations. “Cool! This Josh knows all about drivin’ big trucks!”
Outside the trailer, Quyron and Leah swung the metal door covers shut on the exterior doors. Kendall hefted his jack with a pleased look. “I think I’m gonna like this timeline.”
* * *
Hahn smiled darkly at Vandermark. “Maybe you can’t find them because there’s no nanos where they are now.”
Vandermark snapped at her without looking back. “Don’t be an idiot. The only place without nanos is…” His face fell as he realized what she meant. “Here? In our own line?”
Loud thunks echoed as the outer doors slammed shut. From the front, their truck engine roared to life. The control room shuddered and suddenly lurched. Everyone was catapulted off his feet. Voices shrieked. Equipment tumbled.
* * *
Inside the truck cab, Josh rapidly shifted numerous times and gunned the engine, trying to gain speed. Rain made it difficult to see. A few innocent bystanders scattered for their lives. The truck clipped parked cars and continued to increase speed. Meshing gears and still building momentum, Josh slid into a hard turn and headed out of the west parking lot.
* * *
In the rear of the truck, trapped cradle riders screeched as they slammed into each other. Knocked loose from their moorings, a few cradles snapped their cables and rolled over in showers of sparks. Techs were tossed against the walls or crushed between the twisting racks of weighty hardware. The lights suddenly went out. Flames flared up around the ceramic
sides of a downed cradle.
In the control area, John and Will vanished under falling gear as their room plunged into darkness.
Nsamba crawled through debris and managed to locate the sealed door. In a rage driven by survival, he kicked against it until the external latch gave way and it popped open. Rain suddenly poured in but visibility improved. The tall African was streaming blood from a gash in his cheek. He strained mightily against the pull of the truck’s momentum and plunged outside, only to be drawn under the wheels.
Not far behind him, Hahn and Vandermark spotted the open door and fought with each other to reach it. Without warning, the truck suddenly swerved in the opposite direction and they were flung like rag dolls through the opening and into the wet darkness beyond.
* * *
Holding the driver’s door ajar, Josh cramped the wheel. The jackknifed trailer slid and tipped, twisting the cab. At the last moment, he leaped out his door but his feet slipped on the slick metal. He flailed in the air and struck his head, nearly catapulting into the spinning wheels. The semi trailer rolled majestically onto its access door side and slid into rows of parked cars in the doctors’ section of the parking lot.
* * *
Josh slowly stood up with a hand to his head. He watched thick smoke billow up from the rolled trailer. Muffled screams and frantic pounding echoed from inside it. Josh swayed and limped badly when he tried to walk. Quyron was quickly beside him and had a hand under his shoulder to hold him up. Leah and Kendall arrived slightly later. Everett staggered up last, wheezing from the run.
The rain was tapering off and the sky started to lighten with the beginnings of dawn. Around the smoking truck, stunned bystanders began to gather. Emergency teams and security guards streamed from the hospital. An ambulance, with lights flaring, headed toward the truck site.
Josh looked soberly at Quyron. “We can’t get stuck here. We’ve got things to do. I don’t know how soon it will be too late.”
Quyron looked into his eyes. “This isn’t the only reason you came, is it?”
Josh shook his head. “I don’t want you to think we know what the hell we’re doin’. We don’t – exactly. I mean, this is part of it, why we came, but…no; not the main reason.”
Quyron draped his arm across her neck and started off. “Lean on me. The car’s this way but it’s a bit of a hike now.”
Everett joined her to support Josh’s other side. They increased their speed toward the car. Leah and Kendall followed right behind.
* * *
The face down figure of Vandermark stirred and groaned. One side of his face was horribly scraped and caked in blood. He painfully propped himself up and wiped the rain from his eyes. He spotted Josh, with his huddled group, slowly working their way toward him. Carefully looking around, he realized one of the unconscious bodies near him was a truck security guard. He crawled over to him and pawed at his clothes until he found the gun. Pretending to be unconscious, he waited for the group to get nearer.
Josh, Quyron and Everett had developed a kind of rhythm in their walk. Josh was in pain but with the other two helping him, he was almost hobbling at a normal walking pace. Quyron angled them to the right. “The car’s over there.”
Just in front of them a figure staggered up and waved a gun. “Stop right there!” It was Vandermark. “You’re not leaving! Not after what you’ve done.”
They immediately stood still, in shock. Behind them, Kendall stepped in front of Leah to shield her.
“All of you are gonna pay.” Vandermark moved his gun to point directly at Everett. “But you’re gonna pay first.” Everett’s face paled as he saw Vandermark’s finger squeeze the trigger. Suddenly, the gunman’s head was whacked fiercely from behind. The gun went off. The bullet ricocheted harmlessly off the pavement and whined away into the distance. Vandermark dropped flat onto his face with a wet crunch.
Behind him, clutching a tire iron, was the flushed and bloody figure of Song Lee Hahn. She glared victoriously down at the crumpled body at her feet. “Shut the hell up! Just shut your…just…” Her weakened body slumped backwards in a dead faint. The tire iron clanked and bounced on the parking lot.
Josh nodded at Quyron. “Let’s get out while we can.” He doggedly continued to limp on toward the car, leaning against Quyron. Kendall stepped up to lend a hand. Leah was right behind him.
Everett opened his eyes and let his held breath out. He was stunned to still be alive. Shaken, but determined, he hustled to catch up with the group.
CHAPTER 36:
Near Fredericks, a Lexus sped by on I-70, heading east. The rain had stopped and the early morning light began to catch the undersides of the clouds.
Quyron was behind the wheel but her face betrayed concerns far beyond that of driving. “I don’t think you understand. Thousands of nanos are made every day and seeded into the lines. And they’re duplicated along with everything else in the timelines when they split. Do you have any idea the kind of numbers we’re talking about?”
Josh sat stiffly beside her in the front. “I only know what Hugh told us we had to do once we got here.”
“Okay, okay.” She was irritated. “Just pointing things out. What else did he say?”
“Your computer.”
“What computer?” she snapped. “We have lots of computers.”
“Your…quantum computer.” Josh slowed down as he rummaged through his new memories. “The artificial intelligence that runs…Reivers. The quantum computer that makes the…archives possible.” Josh paused. “Echo. Isn’t that what you call him?”
“Her. Echo’s a – we think of her as…female. Never mind. You can’t eliminate her either.”
Josh’s face hardened. “Look, we’re not asking permission. I’m telling you what we have to do.”
Kendall, in the backseat, was agitated. “I don’t get it. You helpin’ us or not? According to our Hugh we’re everybody’s last chance. So, if you can’t give a hand, then get the hell out of the way!”
Leah pulled at his arm and hissed, “Kendall, calm down.”
Quyron was exasperated. “No. You’re not listening. I’m saying you can’t physically get rid of Echo.” Quyron looked to Everett for support. “She has multiple locations and each one is shielded and insulated and protected, okay? She’s networked and redundant. Are you gettin’ the picture?” Her voice softened a bit. “And besides, Echo’s on our side…at least some of her, anyway. Without her help, you’d all still be locked up in the warehouse.”
Everett spoke quietly from the back. “Let’s start over. Quyron’s correct about the nanos and Echo, but there’s something here we’re missing. Tell me exactly what your Hugh told you. What was it he saw in the theory?”
Kendall had calmed down. “To be honest, he was pretty sketchy. Part of it was us – we’re not exactly rocket scientists, ya know – well…neither are you. But you get the idea.”
Josh turned in his seat to face Everett. “He wasn’t specific. He talked about his fears of his other selves, in other timelines. He was sure that with nanos and quantum computers, one of him would eventually unleash a disaster, but we were a kinda limited audience for details.”
“What type of disaster?”
“Total,” Josh replied, calmly. “The whole multiverse – everything.”
Quyron caught Everett’s troubled eyes briefly in her mirror as she asked, “Did he explain why or how to stop it?”
Kendall made a face. “Not in any way we could follow; so he simplified it. He said the multiverse was like a still pond in the woods that suddenly had somebody tossin’ rocks into it. To fix things, we would need to stop the rocks.”
Quyron glanced back at Everett. “What do you think he meant, Hugh? What’re the rocks and who’s throwing them?”
Hugh rubbed his nose in thought. “Not sure. But it’s hard for me not to trust his instincts.” He smiled sadly, “What was I like – this other me?”
Kendall stared intently at him. “You were old and
weak…in a nursing home. And alone.”
Everett wasn’t ready for that. He looked away.
“I liked that you.” Josh’s eyes glistened. “Tough old bird. We left you in a hospital; you had a heart attack. I don’t know if you’re alive or dead back there.” He wrinkled a forehead. “So, what’s up with that? You don’t seem as old. I thought time stayed the same – line to line.”
Everett nodded. His eyes were wet. “Time is time. The lines are like trains running side-by-side, on parallel tracks. There’s some lagging, but for the most part, they roll at the same rate, in the same direction. But what happens on board can cause very different results.”
“That makes sense,” Josh said carefully. “But…how is it that your trains ended up with all the best stuff?”
Quyron changed lanes to avoid a truck and answered for Everett. “Once we had the archives, Reivers Corporation was born. We could search for breakthroughs in any field and avoid dead ends. Everything speeded up for us. We mined other timelines for whatever we needed – their ideas, their inventions, whatever. We brought the best of all the timelines back to our own. So, we live longer, our air’s better, our technology’s ahead.”
Kendall sank back into his seat and watched the trees flicking by his window. “Didn’t you ever feel guilty about it?”
Everett looked down. Quyron stared out the windshield at the road ahead. “Guilty?” She repeated the word as if trying it on for size. “No…not until now.”
The car noises were all that was heard for a time. Josh finally broke the quiet. “In our timeline, your theory’s still on the shelf. It’s a curiosity. It never really went anywhere. Know why?”
Everett shook his head without looking up. “Why?”
“Because our Hugh killed it. He made sure it never caught on. He saw what he saw and it so scared him that he hid the most important discovery of his life, so what he saw couldn’t happen. But he always suspected that you were somewhere, doing just the opposite. He stayed alive as long as he could, to stop you.”
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