Selfless Series Box Set

by S Breaker

  “You lost me. The lid on what?” Maia blinked.

  She narrowed her eyes again. “Your lab assistant. And Simon,” she listed. “You knew what all those guys were running scared from. Or more accurately who.”

  Maia’s mouth formed an ‘o’ as it clicked what Laney was referring to. “Ohhh. You mean why nobody wants to get close to you because everyone knows you’re Noah’s primary?” She clenched her teeth sheepishly. “Yeah…sorry, but it’s kind of like you’re spoken for.”

  “But I wasn’t even his girlfriend!” Laney insisted. “It was the other Laney. Oh, this is so not fair!” She folded her arms across her chest, annoyed.

  “What’s the matter?” Maia asked expectantly. “I thought you would be relieved. Now you understand, Eleanor was never the one for him. You two can be together.” She elbowed her lightly in encouragement.

  “That’s not what that means. And that’s not even the point!” She rolled her eyes, annoyed, trying to refocus on her argument. “I already have a boyfriend. I can’t just—just—”

  Maia was looking at her in a way that said she wasn’t buying it.

  Laney blew out a breath, exasperated. “Just when I thought this world could not get any weirder,” she commented.

  “Oh, come on.” Maia slung her arm around Laney’s shoulders. “We’re growing on you a little bit, aren’t we?”

  That made Laney chuckle, her mood lightening as she regarded Maia’s comical expression. “What about you? I just realized it hadn’t occurred to me to ask.” She looked curious. “Do you have a…husband, boyfriend, fiancé?”

  “Are you kidding me?” Maia gave her a funny look as she straightened up. “I’m married to my work. Most of us are.” She gestured around to nothing in particular. “Can you imagine it? With all these scientists, with something like the Primaries theory being kicked around? We’re all too cerebral to risk it. That is simply a place only the brave dare go.”

  She shrugged in faraway thought. “Of course, some people still do the whole marriage and kids bit. But later, you know, after pursuing their career goals, reaching their aspirations. Maybe I will someday too, but right now, it’s more important to discover the genetic secrets of the multiverse,” she concluded, wiggling her eyebrows.

  Laney nodded in understanding.

  Maia gave her a sideways glance. “Besides, there’s only one reason anyone would ever propose a commitment like that.”

  “What?”

  She gave her a meaningful look. “Because they’re really sure,” she stated, a tinge of commendation in her tone. “That Noah’s a rare breed.”

  Laney resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. “I’m sure he is.” She had no doubt he was a rare breed. But of what? That she wasn’t sure.

  Maia jerked her thumb in the direction of the main chamber. “If you’re feeling better, you should go check out that map. Berry’s ‘brane’ thing is absolutely amazing and some of these other dimensions are mind-blowing!”

  “Of course you would think so,” Laney quipped with a grin.

  “Interestingly, one dimension is a musical. Everyone sings everything. Can you imagine it? I would totally rock that world!”

  Laney made a face. “Jeez, please don’t tell me we need to go to that one.”

  Maia laughed. “Nope! Noah, of course, nipped that plan right in the bud. By the way, you’re gonna wanna get in on that. You know, given that you—never know where you’re going, or what’s going on, or everyone’s using your brain as…what was it? A personal playground?” she finished, her expression slightly mocking.

  “Thanks for the support.” Laney shook her head in feigned derision. “You’re supposed to be my best friend.”

  Maia looked surprised. “I’m your best friend?”

  Laney stopped short, momentarily caught off-guard. “Um, sure,” she replied with a shrug. “In this world, why not?”

  Maia’s smile was wide. She nudged Laney’s shoulder. “Anyway,” she started. “What I came here to tell you. I got a message from the University and I have to pop out for a bit. Besides, it’s almost midnight and I need my beauty sleep.”

  She smiled back. “Sure. You coming back to see me off in the morning?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Well, gotta go. World-class laboratories don’t run themselves, you know?”

  Laney chuckled, mimicking a little salute. “Ciao.”

  “Hey!” Maia gave her two thumbs up in approval as she walked away.

  Timetable

  Laney craned her neck as she passed a huffy Noah on his way out through the doorway as she was walking back to Berry’s holographic map table. She raised her eyebrows, not stopping. “Noah’s upset,” she stated. “Must be Thursday.”

  Berry chuckled. “Don’t mind him. He’s having some kind of existential dilemma.” He pulled down the strange contraption over his eyes which looked like brass magnifying goggles and turned his attention back to the instrument table beside him. One of his little robot pals was holding steady a small silver cylinder, while Berry fiddled with a vaguely familiar-looking gadget which caught Laney’s eye.

  “What is that?”

  “It’s Maia’s memory serum again. Obviously, we can’t return you to your homeworld remembering all of this,” he relayed. “Once you’re clear of Eleanor’s tracking solution, Noah will drop you off at your world, give you another hit of this before he comes back here.”

  She bit her lip warily. “Is that a good idea?” she asked. “We had enough trouble undoing it the last time around.”

  “Well, all going well, there won’t be any need to undo this next round. I mean, you’ll have missed about a week from your world that you won’t be able to explain but trust me, it’s better than being burdened with all this knowledge.”

  Laney watched as Berry carefully filled the small gadget with the serum, her thoughts turning to the last eight months of not remembering what she had gone through in this world the first time.

  It seemed absurd that she would just go on to live her life as though none of this will have happened. However, she couldn’t argue with his point. It would be too difficult to go back to her old life otherwise. And there were definitely certain events that she wouldn’t want to remember.

  And certain people…

  She shook it off with a small sigh, studying the big holographic map to try to distract herself with actually important things. “How’s the traversal path coming along?”

  “Oh, we’re still running the search, taking certain factors into consideration, you know, the world has to have a nitrogen-rich atmosphere, where English is still an understood language, humans haven’t evolved into quadrupeds, that sort of thing,” he listed, almost absently.

  Laney couldn’t help an amused shake of her head.

  Berry reached wide to click a few buttons on a different console and the holographic screen overlay a red progress bar onto the map. “Looks like it’s at…thirty percent. It should be done in the morning.”

  Laney gazed up at the map forlornly. “Are you sure we’re going to be able to do this? It’s such a big map. I mean where do we even start looking?”

  For a change, Berry gave her a reassuring smile, even with half his face covered with his magnifying goggles. “Well, the good news is, in about a few dozen worlds at least, Eleanor and I will have already marked where the portals are between dimensions,” he told her. “I mean I can’t guarantee that all the markers will still be in their original locations, but then you can use the Zeta device to detect them.”

  “What did you use as markers?”

  “Oh, just something inconspicuous,” he drawled, focused on his work. “Something we’d found almost always existed in any world.”

  “What was it?”

  “You’ve seen them already. We had a bunch of them back at my office at GNR,” he reminded her. “Traffic cones.”

  “What?” Laney’s expression was of skeptical disbelief.

  Berry thought he needed
to explain. “You know, one of those reflective orange cones you always see at construction sites.”

  Laney dismissed him. “No, I know what they are,” she said. “Are you telling me that there are orange cones in my world that are actually markers for portals between worlds?”

  “Precisely.”

  Laney let out a short laugh. She gazed up to watch traversal paths displaying at random across the map as the search algorithm worked. Fascinating…

  She shook her head again. “You know I was never a girl scout, but I always did like maps. I mean my family never traveled much.” She sounded wistful. “But looking at maps always made me think that there’s such a big world out there, I would never run out of places to explore if I had the chance. Like, the possibilities were just infinite,” she said, her eyes gleaming.

  Berry grinned, looking up. “Maybe there’s a little bit of scientist in you after all.”

  She chuckled. “Mind you, I’d probably still get lost all the time,” she amended. “It’s too bad that locator device thingy is gone now, huh? I should have kept it instead of giving it back to Eleanor.”

  “What locator device?” Berry prompted offhand, pulling up the goggles off his face as he moved to get another gadget that the little robot was handing up to him.

  “Oh. I mean, that necklace, you know the one I’m talking about,” Laney replied with a prompting wave.

  But Berry looked like he couldn’t breathe. “What?”

  “Back in Paris, eight months ago,” she said, matter-of-factly. “You know, Noah gave me that necklace that used to be Eleanor’s? The one with the cool antique clock thing on it? The lo-jack device.”

  “The lo-jack device,” he echoed, his voice lowering. “You gave it to Eleanor?”

  “Yeah, why?” Laney narrowed her eyes at the funny expression on Berry’s face.

  “You…gave Eleanor…the transdimensional locator beacon.”

  “Yes. Why?” Laney repeated, still at a loss.

  Berry’s jaw had dropped slightly. “The beacon system is still online, back at my office at GNR.”

  “Sssooo…?”

  He coughed. “It means we might have a way to locate Laney! The real Laney.”

  “What? Really? That’s great!”

  Berry instantly stopped short, his expression neutralizing. “Don’t tell Noah.”

  For the first time ever, it sounded like Berry was giving her orders. She looked taken aback. “What? Why not?”

  He screwed up his face. “Look, it’s just—he can get really obsessed,” he explained. “It’s-it’s not healthy. He’ll just be distracted from this mission. And our priority is to deliver you home safe and sound. That’s all.” His eyes were urgent. “Just please, promise, you won’t tell him.”

  She blinked. “You’re asking me to keep this from him? This is a pretty big deal,” she pointed out. “So, what, he’ll never find out where the real Laney went?”

  Berry waved it away. “I’ll tell him. Look, I promise I will, but not until after we’ve sorted you out first. Alright? Do we have a deal?” His eyebrows were raised expectantly.

  “Sure, okay.”

  “Laney, I’m being totally serious right now. You cannot tell him,” he pressed.

  “Fine, fine. Mum’s the word,” Laney assured, gesturing zipping up her lips.

  Then Berry dropped his gaze and put two fingers against his ear. “Yeah.”

  Laney knit her eyebrows. “What?”

  Berry held up a finger to signal quiet before speaking again. “It’s all set up?” Then he nodded. “Good.” He dropped his hand and looked up at Laney again.

  “What was that?”

  Berry gestured to his ear. “I embedded my walkie-talkie in my inner ear.” He patted his little robot before slipping the memory serum gadget inside a little black pouch and beckoning Laney over. “Come on. I have something else to show you.”

  “Why, Dr. Berry Vermillion, you built a quantum jump platform on the submarine?”

  Laney easily recognized the highly imposing glass-and-mirrors platform similar to the one she had arrived onto this world five days ago.

  An ethereal green light was already shining up from underneath the platform, indicating that it was already activated. Another handful of people wearing white lab coats and safety goggles were purposefully adjusting dials and turning knobs on several control panels arranged in racks to calibrate the machine.

  “Moved, actually,” Berry corrected. “This is the same one from GNR. The smaller version. I managed to adapt the sub’s power source to boost the reactor. Mind you, it wasn’t easy. I almost thought I wouldn’t be able to get it to work in time.”

  Laney grinned at him. “You know what? I think you underestimate yourself,” she said, patting Berry’s back. “You’re the smartest person I know. Why else do you think Eleanor kept you around?”

  “How about ‘easy to boss around’?” Berry supplied with an ironic smirk as they walked toward one of the control panels around the platform. “I should put it on my resume.”

  Laney laughed.

  Just then, a set of doors to a closet in the corner, what must have been the armory, swung open with a thud, and Laney and Berry both turned to look in time to see Noah come out.

  He was holding two big laser rifles, a belt of pressure grenades slung over his shoulder, two handguns peeking from his back pockets, and several other more subtle-looking weapons on a utility belt around his waist.

  Berry shook his head quickly. “Oh. You can’t bring those weapons.”

  Noah looked at Berry like he was crazy. “Can’t bring weapons? Are you kidding?”

  “It’s already enough of a risk bringing any of our technology through to other worlds,” Berry rationalized. “It would be too dangerous to bring any more. Like I said we want to make sure what we do has the smallest impact on the spacetime continuum. Otherwise, we might run into some more…problems,” he finished, sounding hesitant.

  Laney watched his face carefully. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re not telling us absolutely everything?”

  “Because if I told you absolutely everything, you’d likely flip out and run out that door screaming.” Berry gave each of them a look to advise, “You need to blend in. Be incognito.”

  Noah glowered in displeasure but he began to unload himself of the weapons, plunking them one by one onto a table.

  Laney was wearing the usual clothes she wore to school, jeans, and a monogrammed sweater, what she was wearing when she arrived in their world. She looked over at Noah, gesturing to his attire with a critical look. “Are you going like that?”

  Noah glanced down at himself before meeting her gaze, the slightest look of offense in his eyes. “What?”

  “Well,” she began pointedly. “That jacket makes you look like you’re about to join an airstrike over Germany. In 1939.”

  He tugged on the bottom of his vintage flight jacket obstinately. “I love this jacket.”

  “I think what Laney means is—” Berry cut off as Noah’s dark glare turned toward him and he put up his hands in surrender, finishing loudly with, “Is we all love the jacket, don’t we? Looks great.”

  Laney noticed some of the lab coats nearby who’d overheard were exchanging mirthful looks and she chuckled.

  Noah narrowed his eyes at her but she gave him an undaunted look.

  “That reminds me,” he started, walking up to her.

  “What?”

  “We’ll need to work out some sort of signal,” Noah proposed, his tone all business.

  “For what?”

  “We don’t know exactly what we’re going to find out there,” he reminded her, glancing over at Berry who was preoccupied with configuring the control panel. “It’s going to be dangerous.”

  “Why are you saying that like I don’t know it’s going to be dangerous? Of course I know it’ll be dangerous. What about any of this is even remotely safe?” she asked, making a face.

  He cleared his thro
at. “I’m just saying, maybe we need a code word. Something to signal trouble. Something that stays between us.” His voice lowered on his last statement and Laney caught a hint of intensity in his eyes. But it was gone as fast as it came.

  She swallowed. “Okay.”

  He tilted his head and she realized he was waiting for her to suggest something.

  “Oh.” She shot him a look. “I’m sorry. Are you under the impression that I come up with code words in my everyday life?”

  “No.” He looked at her. “I’m giving you the prerogative to come up with one. It’s called manners.”

  She made a show of shrugging. “I don’t know. How do you come up with a code word anyway?”

  “It needs to be a neutral word. Or a phrase. Something innocuous. Something that can flag if something is wrong.”

  “How about ‘Help me. Something is wrong.’?”

  He frowned at her cavalier attitude. “Are you going to take this seriously or not?”

  Laney’s shoulders shook in mirth. “Alright, fine, Mr. Bond. What do you usually use in your super-secret spy missions?”

  Noah pursed his lips at her sarcastic tone. “What’s your favorite food?”

  She stopped to think. “Are we talking cuisine or all-time favorite? Or dessert? Because you know that’s a completely different category altogether—”

  “For crying out loud.” He groaned in exasperation. “What about least favorite food? I already know you hate tomatoes.”

  “You want the code word to be ‘tomatoes’?” She looked skeptical.

  “Fine! So not food then?”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know.” He looked around, trying to think. “Maybe something to do with science?”

  “You think a science word will be innocuous?” She resisted the urge to laugh.

  “How about ‘relativity’?”

  “What? I can’t say that. That’s ridiculous.”

  “It’s better than tomatoes,” Noah pointed out.

  “Better how?” She gave him a stubborn, expectant look.