by R. A. Rock
“What?” Grace said, a worry line crossing her forehead.
“This is the Assiniboine,” Shiv said, his face stony.
“But the Assiniboine crosses the Red River at the Forks,” Grace said and the three of us nodded. Audrey stayed silent. “You mean this is the Forks?”
Everyone nodded again.
“But the Forks is in the middle of Winnipeg,” Grace said in dismay, looking around.
We stood basically in the middle of nowhere.
“Then where’s Winnipeg?” she said, her eyes flicking from one to the other of us.
Where was Winnipeg, indeed.
All Is Lost
Chad
I stared at the two rivers, crossing each other at the point known to all as the Forks. The wind had picked up and blew across the water creating ripples. The sun was a menacing red orb balanced on the edge of the prairie, ready to fall off at any moment.
This couldn’t be.
“So where’s this Winnipeg?” Audrey said. “Are you sure we’re at the right place?”
“Yes,” Shiv said, his voice filled with despair. “Winnipeg should be here.”
“Well, I hate to point it out to you,” Audrey said, her voice dripping with mockery. “But it’s not.”
“It has to be,” Shiv said, running his hand through his black hair. He had a scrape on his forehead and he looked grubby. You could tell he had been roughing it for a few days. Usually he was neat and tidy. “It’s the only city with a tech sector. Regina has nothing that we could use. The closest other tech manufacturer is located in Calgary. Do you have any idea how far away that is?”
“None,” Audrey said. “But I’m assuming from your tone of voice that it’s very far.”
“This can’t be happening,” Gracie said, in denial.
“Our only chance to get home,” Shiv said, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Not our only chance.” Yumi contradicted him. “Our only moderately easy chance.”
I gave her an astonished look.
“You call what we’ve been through to get here moderately easy?”
She gave a half shrug.
I felt defeated, deflated, and completely wretched.
This had been our chance to get the parts we needed.
And after all the trouble it took to get here, we find that the city is gone?
It wasn’t fair.
I don’t get down very often, but when I do, I really get down. I sat on the ground and wrapped my arms loosely around my knees, resting my forehead on my kneecaps.
“This sucks.”
I heard the others plopping down on the ground, too.
I felt my mental shield slipping, my despair making me feel weak inside and out. But I pulled it tight again. It was still necessary to be careful around Yumi. There was no guarantee that her powers were back under control, yet.
No one spoke for a long time. If they were anything like me, they were going around and around in their minds about how an entire city could have disappeared in only three years.
I mean, there was nothing left.
We were standing on bald prairie, as if the city had never even existed. How could that have happened?
“What are we going to do?” Grace said.
“Go get Gideon and overwinter at Matt and Nessa’s?” Audrey suggested.
“Start heading west to Calgary?” I added.
“What about Grand Prairie in the States?” Shiv said, pulling geography out of that huge brain of his. “That city might have what we need.”
“But we don’t know what’s happening in the US,” Yumi objected. “What if the conditions there are even more messed up than here?”
“And you don’t even know if the city exists in this time and whether it would have what we need,” I said.
“I think we should stick to Canada. And Calgary’s much closer than Toronto, so we should probably head that way, as soon as we can,” Grace said.
“But what about winter?” Yumi said. “What if winter hits and we have no food and no shelter and we’re on the road? We might die.”
“That’s a very important point,” I said, thinking about the dangers of crossing the prairie in the winter. “I know the climate appears to have changed and since it’s still so nice so late in the year. But real winter could hit at any time. It wouldn’t have to be even much below zero for us to run into serious trouble. And we don’t have any food right now.”
“Since you guys seem to think it’s that far, shouldn’t we consider using the canoes again?” Audrey said.
“We could go part of the way by canoe and it would be faster, as long as it didn’t freeze up,” Shiv said. “But it’s not the most direct route from here. Still it would probably be worth it because of the time saved, even if we had to come back south. Anyone know what rivers we would take?”
“If you don’t know,” Grace said. “I doubt any of us does. Chad, and Yumi, and I are familiar with Manitoba waterways. But Saskatchewan and Alberta…?”
She trailed off with a sigh.
“What a fool’s errand,” Audrey said, getting up and stalking over to the water. She stood watching it with her arms crossed. “I called it, Yumi.”
“She’s right,” Shiv said, staring at the ground. “This has been a complete waste of time.”
“No,” Grace said, putting on a brave face, though I could tell she wasn’t quite as hopeful as she wanted to be. “We found out that Winnipeg isn’t here. So, it wasn’t a waste of time. Hopefully we’ll find what we need in Calgary or wherever we decide to look next. We’ll just keep looking till we find what we need. Eventually we’ll get home. I know it.”
The three of us exchanged glances.
That was so Gracie.
Always the optimist.
Our shadows stretched until the sun was gone and the sunset turned to dusk.
“What should we do about tonight?” Yumi said. “Chad and I slept outside last night with a small fire. It’s still warm enough for that.”
“We should find a spot further from the river, maybe with some shelter. No doubt people get water from the river and I think maybe we should avoid people for now,” I said.
“I agree,” Yumi said and Grace and Shiv nodded.
“Whatever,” Audrey said, with a careless lift of one shoulder. “I don’t give a fuck.”
I frowned and met Yumi’s eyes. Whatever was wrong with Audrey was still bothering her. Gideon had only been a distraction.
“I’m going to wash up first. Anyone else? Then we can go find someplace to spend the night,” I said.
“I’m good for now,” Shiv said with a glance at Gracie, who nodded. “We’ll come wash after.”
Yumi walked beside me down to the river. We knelt and washed our hands and arms as far up as we could and then scrubbed our faces. The water was cold and refreshing. It made me feel a tiny bit better after our huge disappointment.
“Hey Red,” Yumi said and it warmed me a little to hear her call me my nickname.
“Yeah?”
“See where the water meets the shore right over there?”
“Yeah?”
“Where the waves are lapping on the bank?”
There was a stiff wind that had got stronger after the sun went down and it was creating waves on the river.
“Yes, what about it?”
“What do you see over there?”
I gazed at the other bank in the dim light and tried to see what she saw.
“I don’t know,” I said, never taking my eyes off the point she had indicated. All I saw was shadows and more shadows. “I don’t see anything.”
And then the waves splashed harder and I saw it.
“Oh.”
“Ha,” she said with the satisfaction that she wasn’t just imagining it. “You do see it.”
“It looks like an intake pipe,” I said. “Probably left over from when there was a Winnipeg here. Didn’t the city get their water from the river?”
�
��Probably,” she said, looking disappointed. “You sure that doesn’t look like a current in front of the pipe?”
I looked again.
It sort of did. As if the intake pipe was sucking water. But that couldn’t be.
“It must just look that way because of the way the wind is blowing,” I said. “Come on, let’s go find someplace to sleep.”
“Sure,” she said, without complaint.
That was one thing you could count on with Yumi. She wouldn’t complain about the way things were. She might be grumpy and snarky. But she didn’t complain.
And at this moment, I wished I had her acceptance.
Because I was angry.
The fucking city of Winnipeg should be here.
It wasn’t fair.
Regaining Their Powers
Yumi
I didn’t agree with Chad’s assessment of that pipe, but I couldn’t explain it either, so I pushed it out of my mind.
It only took us about an hour to find a good place to camp and to make a fire. It was a hollow in the prairie that gave us some shelter from the wind and it was far enough away from the Forks.
We managed to scrounge some Saskatoon berries and dandelion leaves. The berries were sour and pretty dry and the greens were as bitter as I had ever tasted them. I chewed and chewed, trying to break them down enough that my stomach might have a chance of digesting them.
I knew that the food had lots of vitamins but I still wished for something more palatable. It had been a long time since that delicious meal in the Survivor community’s dining hall. Chad and I had hunted a couple prairie dogs but that also seemed like a very long time ago.
After our meagre meal, we sat around the fire in silence, contemplating our new circumstances. A thought popped into my head and I said it before I really thought it through.
“On a more positive note,” I said. “My powers are totally under control again.”
Four frowning faces stared at me, the firelight flickering on their scowls.
“What?” I said, not sure what I had done to piss them off.
“How do you know that?” Audrey said.
“Oh,” I said. “Well, Chad made us do the construct within a construct thing but it wasn’t necessary. I was in control of my mind the whole time. I was a little worried when we had to join minds but it went just fine.”
Chad wrinkled his nose as if I wasn’t telling it the way he remembered it.
“And second of all?” Grace said, her expression was displeased.
“And second, I tested a little today, that’s all.”
“You tested without telling us?” Chad said, aghast.
“I was far away when we were foraging. And you were all shielding. I checked.”
“Yumi,” Shiv said. “You should have told us that you were doing it.”
“You might have stopped me,” I said, feeling sullen. I was only trying to cheer them up a bit, and here they were turning on me.
“Of course we might have stopped you,” Grace said. “Because we like our brains unmelted.”
I huffed out my breath in frustration.
“Sheesh,” I said, feeling ticked off. “Remind me not to give you any good news next time.”
“That is good news,” Gracie said, relenting. “It’s just that you’re kind of scary when you’re out of control and after seeing what you did to those dogs, we’re kind of freaked out by your powers. That’s all, Yumi.”
“I know, I know,” I said, staring into the fire, upset. “You think I don’t know? That’s why I was careful. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”
“Not on purpose,” Shiv said, glancing at Grace and I didn’t miss when he looked at Chad. “Of course not.”
“What are you saying, Shiv?” I said, suddenly wanting a fight.
He held his hands up, not about to get into it with me.
“I’m not saying anything. I’m glad your powers are back under control. I’m assuming that’s because the ante-prefrontal cortexes in our brains are healing. Hopefully we’ll all be back to normal soon.”
“Maybe if we’re going to have a bunch of time on our hands, then tomorrow we could do more testing. Together,” Grace said, giving me a meaningful look. “We’ll all agree on the tests.”
Everyone consented and we curled up on the ground to get some rest.
***
I woke up at first light, cold and stiff from sleeping on the chilly, hard ground. I sat up and stretched as the others gradually awakened around me. We didn’t bother eating anything. Nobody wanted more berries and greens.
Instead, we straightaway began testing our powers.
Everyone except Chad and I tried communicating telepathically. They could all send and receive. Then I sent at my lowest possible volume and then louder and louder until I was sending in my usual mental voice.
Everything went great.
Our telepathic abilities were back and under control.
Thank goodness.
The relief in the group was palpable.
Then Shiv manifested something small.
We were all shocked as it appeared in the top layer of the skin on his hand instead of on top like it was supposed to.
“Shit,” he said, dropping the rock, that was now covered in his crimson blood. Grace ripped part of her shirt and wrapped it around his hand. He didn’t say anything but got a brooding expression on his handsome face.
Okay. So Shiv’s powers were not back under control at all. But his had only recently come back, so that made sense.
Grace was next. She practised her teleportation exercises, moving small objects, then larger, and finally herself. She didn’t move any of us. But she felt confident that she could if she needed to. We all agreed that she should not teleport people unless she was absolutely certain that she could do it safely.
Chad was silent throughout the whole testing period.
When we took a break, I went over to talk to him. I had to try and make this right. He was sitting on the ground, his hand rubbing his beard.
“Chad,” I said. “I think…”
“Yumi, don’t. Just don’t,” he said, holding out his hands. “This is hard enough without you making it worse.”
“Making it worse?” I said, hurt. “I want to try and fix it.”
“I don’t see how you could,” he said, bitter.
“But if we try and figure it out, I’m sure I could. You can hear Gracie’s mind.”
He stared at the ground, his face red.
“What’s wrong?” I said, putting my hand on his arm. His skin was warm but I didn’t get any comfort from the touch because I was hit by a huge wave of resentment. I knew that it wasn’t directed at me but neither could I discern what the exact problem was.
“What’s wrong?” he hissed at me, trying to be quiet and not attract the attention of the rest of the group. “What’s wrong is that I feel like a fucking invalid.”
He pressed his lips together.
“And don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what you did. And I forgive you for it. But I’m still really angry. Okay? Just leave me alone.”
“Chad,” I said, feeling terrible as guilt filled my entire body. “Let me at least open our bricks so you can hear us.”
“Sure, whatever,” he said, clearly still pissed. “But don’t you see? You can’t do that for an infinite amount of minds, Yumi. You can’t fix it.”
“You don’t know that,” I said, my voice getting louder. “I fused them. I can un-fuse them.”
“It’s not that easy. Some things can’t be undone.”
And I knew he was talking about her.
“That’s true,” I said, trying to keep my temper because I knew he was justifiably upset and that was why he was attacking me. “But this is not one of those things. Please, just let me come in and at least open our bricks?”
“Fine,” he said, making a careless gesture. “I don’t care.”
I sat down beside him and took his hand. I noticed that you
could see the top of the Y from his marking. Fun fact: a marking is called a tattoo in this time. I know that because Gideon was showing me his. During one of our long days canoeing he told me the stories of all his tattoos.
I glanced at my own hand and thought I could spot the Celtic knot showing faintly on my skin but not the C. The cream that we had used to cover them must be wearing off.
The Alliance had the same position on markings as The Agency had. We were professionals. No visible markings. You could have a marking as long as it couldn’t be seen when you were wearing your uniform. So we had covered the markings with the cream. Obviously after all this time the cream was wearing off. And we had no more to cover them with again. Not in this time. So, pretty soon we would be able to see them again. Everyone would be able to see them. I was pretty sure that wasn’t a good thing.
I didn’t really need any more reminders of how much Chad and I had once loved each other. I sighed and linked minds with him. Better get this done. At least doing this one thing would make me feel a tiny bit better.
A moment later I was in his public mind.
He pointed out each brick silently and I used the tiny jackhammer — it looked exactly the same as the one I had used before to open Gracie’s brick. I loosened all the bricks so that he could receive and send to us, at least.
An hour later I opened my eyes, satisfied that I had done what I could to help. I still intended to fix it. But that might have to wait till we got back to our time, since at this point I had no idea how to repair the damage I had done to his mind.
“Thanks,” he said, but it was in such a begrudging tone that I didn’t feel like he meant it. I felt sort of sad. But then I chided myself. It didn’t matter whether he was happy and grateful. I had done the right thing. I didn’t need any reward for it.
His eyes suddenly lit up and he smiled broadly at Grace.
“Yeah, I heard you,” he said in response to her mental question.
Well, he wasn’t smiling at me but at least he was smiling.
I had done that.
And it was the least I could do.