Keystones: Altered Destinies

by Alexander McKinney

  Deklan ignored the teasing intonation in Susan’s voice. “Best job ever, and it doesn’t have set hours.”

  “So you’re not walking away from as much as I am then.”

  “Well, yes and no.”

  “Oh?”

  “The movies are a feast-or-famine work experience, and I was in a temporary famine period. Nothing to be worried about, just part of the business, but you’re not considering the other aspect of this situation.”

  “Which is?”

  Deklan sipped his coffee. “You and I met because my cat ripped my apartment’s front door off its hinges and attacked Paige’s Great Dane.”

  Susan motioned for Deklan to continue with his point.

  “I haven’t been home since. I’m wearing clothes that I bought en route to my parents. I left everything else behind in an unlocked apartment. I’ll be lucky if the place hasn’t already been stripped clean.”

  “That’s crazy.”

  “Which part?”

  “Well, all of it, but I’m still having trouble with the idea of your cat’s ripping a door off its hinges.”

  “Yeah, that surprised me too. You know the first thing she did when I pulled her off Paige’s dog?”

  “What?”

  Deklan pointed at his bandages. “She took a swipe at me. You can see it here on my forearm. I fed that animal for years, yet the instant she could hurt me she didn’t hesitate. I could be wrong about how bad things are going to get, but I don’t think so.”

  “I believe in your reasoning. I just wish I didn’t.”

  Just then a boarding announcement came over the airport’s PA system.

  “We need to go now,” said Deklan. “That’s our flight, and my mother will be panicking.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really.” He waited for Susan to get down from her barstool. “She’s probably worried that I’ve been mugged in here.”

  “And she let you become a stuntman?”

  “‘Let’? No. I lied for two years and told them I was working as a personal trainer. They both thought that it was a terrible waste of my law degree.”

  “But they do know now, right?” asked Susan.

  Deklan nodded. “Mom hates it. Dad thinks it’s awesome.”

  Boa Vista

  Deklan smiled as he heard the captain’s announcement: “We’re on our final approach to Boa Vista International Airport. If this is your first time visiting Boa Vista, we hope that you have a great time, and for all of you locals welcome home.”

  “Well, that was easy,” Deklan said to Susan. “Now just a quick hop up the Elevator and, well, then we watch Rome burn.” He frowned, his levity withering away. “I guess that part’s going to be a little harder.”

  Susan nodded and ran her tongue over her lips. “I feel guilty.”

  “For not telling people?” Deklan asked, trying to draw her out.

  She looked away, and he struggled to hear her answer. “Yes.”

  “Whom would you have liked to contact?”

  “Some friends.”

  “Would they have listened?”

  “Probably not.”

  He touched her shoulder. “So you’re feeling guilty over a change that you couldn’t have made?”

  “Yes.” She looked at him, her face expressing distress. “But I should have given them the chance not to believe me.”

  Deklan reached over and tapped Susan’s Uplink. “Then tell them.”

  “What?”

  “Go ahead and call them. Explain what you’ve done and why, and let them make their own arrangements.”

  Susan held her Uplink in both hands, a list of contacts already called up. “What if they think I’m crazy?”

  “You can’t have it both ways. If you’re going to feel guilty about not calling them, you should call. You and I both know that there’s a chance that this isn’t going to pan out the way I’ve predicted. In that case we’ll both go back to our normal lives back home.”

  The captain’s voice came over the intercom again. “Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that, due to an irregularity, there will be no ground crew. We’re going to have to use the emergency slides to disembark from the plane.”

  Deklan turned to Susan. “Still think I might be wrong?” he asked.

  “No, but don’t think that means I’m happy about it.”

  “Are you going to send a message to any friends or family?”

  “Yes, I think so. I prepared one on my Uplink while we were en route.”

  Deklan looked at her confused. “When? Where? We were sitting next to each other the entire time.”

  Susan looked a little furtive in answering, “I put the video together in the bathroom.”

  “Well, at least you didn’t panic the other passengers, though I think the captain may have succeeded at that,” he said, referring to a growing swell of murmurs in the airplane.

  “Deklan, your father and I are not happy about this,” Tricia declared from a few rows away.

  “So what do you expect me to do about it?”

  Tricia’s tone was snippy. “Fix it. This is the worst vacation that I’ve ever been on! Brice, tell him that this was a bad idea.”

  “What? Oh, yes, a terrible idea. Do they sell Twix bars down here?”

  Tricia Tobin aimed her eyes skyward. “Thank you, Brice. That was very helpful.”

  “Do they always bicker like this?” asked Susan.

  “Only on good days,” Deklan replied. “Mom, have both of you got all of your bags?”

  “Yes, of course we have. We’re your parents, not infants.”

  Deklan realized that his mother was using irritation to cover her fear. This made her less annoying, but not by much. “Okay, good,” he said, “because it looks as though the line ahead of us is moving and we’re going to reach the slides soon.”

  Nearing the front of the queue, Deklan remembered his parents’ checked luggage. He hadn’t brought anything more than could fit in a small carry-on, but his parents had packed several bags for the trip. Soon the contents of those suitcases were going to represent the sum total of all their possessions. “You guys go on ahead,” he said. “I’m going to find the captain.”

  “Why?” asked Susan.

  “With no ground crew there will be no luggage. I’m going to see whether I can get the cargo hold opened, and I’m guessing you have to do that from the cockpit.”

  Deklan made his way to the cockpit, where he found a pair of pale-faced pilots. “Hello, gentlemen.”

  “You can’t be in here,” replied the primary pilot in a hollow voice.

  “Isn’t that regulation only for when we’re in the air?”

  “Don’t argue with me.”

  Deklan held up his hands in as non-threatening a manner as he could manage. “Look, I just want you to open the cargo hold.”

  “Why?”

  “I want my luggage.”

  “We’re not supposed to do that without instructions from the ground team.”

  “What’s your name?” asked Deklan.

  “Thomas Alverone.”

  Deklan’s fingers danced over the screen of his Uplink. “Thanks, Thomas. Now you have two options. Either you open that cargo hold, or I’m going to distribute your name to the more than eight hundred passengers who will be upset that they can’t get their luggage. I don’t know what your corporate policies are, but that many complaint letters against a single pilot seems as though it would look bad. The choice is yours.”

  “You’re a bastard,” said Alverone.

  “Open that cargo hold.”

  “What did you do?” asked Susan upon Deklan’s return.

  “Threatened the pilots.”

  “Sorry, what?”

  “The pilots, I threatened them.”

  “Why?”

  “They weren’t going to open the cargo hold.”

  “Why not?”

  Deklan watched as several passengers shot down the emergency slide to the ground.
“This landing was non-standard. I’d guess that their reason for being obstructive was somehow wrapped up in that.”

  “I haven’t known you long, but I’m under the distinct impression that you can be a tremendous irritant.”

  “Was that a compliment?”

  “Under these circumstances? Yes, it was.”

  “Thanks. Now let’s go. I think that I spotted my mother’s suitcase.”

  “Remind me again. Where are we going? It had that stupid name. What was it?”

  “The Imperial Grand Hotel.”

  Susan used her Uplink to call up information on the Imperial Grand. “Right, and why aren’t we just heading up the Elevator tonight?”

  “We’re booked on the earliest trip that was available, and it’s not scheduled for tonight.”

  Doldrums

  Sebastian labored through the air. He’d thought about finding a cargo plane but hadn’t known where to begin. That left him pursuing the second option, flying the forty-eight hundred kilometers to Boa Vista.

  He’d read about the albatross, an extinct bird that had been known to travel thousands of kilometers in an effort to feed its young. It was famous for having a wingspan of just over three and a half meters. Sebastian figured that with his ten-meter wingspan he should be able to rival the albatross in terms of flight distance.

  That theory had served him well at first. Flying around New York, he’d expended little effort on energy conservation and a lot on learning how to fly between buildings with agility and taking off from a standing start. Now he was alone in the air save for his new Uplink and its GPS capability. He’d begun to get a sense for finding thermals and air currents, which allowed him to gain altitude for freer movement.

  Once Sebastian neared the equator, the air was stiller, and he was forced to make greater use of thermals to rise and stay aloft. It was much slower going. Muscles throughout his body burned on this extended trip. It was the most exhausting thing he’d ever done and the most impressive.

  Not yet confident enough in his abilities to travel over the ocean, he’d last landed in Texas to buy food, drinks, and an Uplink in the form of sunglasses. He’d made a stir there, not just for his appearance but also for his minor celebrity. Locals there had seen footage of his exploits in New York.

  At first he’d tried to get people to call him Sebastian, but everyone he’d spoken to addressed him as Michael. He’d been given his own table at a steakhouse and served an enormous porterhouse. He hadn’t told them that he’d only chosen the restaurant because it had high ceilings, a legacy from its previous existence as a train station.

  A bevy of giggling waitresses sat down with him, snapping photos. Half of them had insisted that he join one social network or another so that they could list him as a friend. A daring two asked for his contact number. Unused to such attention from the opposite gender, Sebastian had said yes and focused on not blushing. The entire place had filled up with people vying for tables near him. It was all very embarrassing.

  That had all been hours ago. After his dinner he’d walked out of the steakhouse and launched into the sky. After invigoration by the food and rest, taking off had been easier. Ignoring what he’d learned about thermals and energy conservation, he had pulled himself higher through sheer force of will.

  Now, just hours later, he struggled in mid-flight. His back ached, and his wing muscles were on fire. No longer parallel to the ground, his tired legs dragged through the air. Hungry and thirsty again, he was approaching the equator. A little further and he’d make it.

  Calm’s Expedition

  Calm surveyed the room in which he and the colonel sat with a critical eye. It felt less like a crude cavern than Cay’s infirmary room did, but only by a narrow margin. Calm sat across the table from the colonel in charge of the station. He was having limited success getting through to the man. “We can’t just stay here,” he asserted.

  “Yes, we can.”

  Calm palmed his forehead. “Look, you’re a military man. We need to know what’s out there. If we’re alone in this solar system, there aren’t enough of us on this station to repopulate the human race, nor do we have the necessary technical knowledge to sustain ourselves. Can we repair things once parts begin to break and the spares run out?” He paused for a moment, waiting for some indication of their level of manufacturing capability. None was forthcoming. “We need to find out what else is in this system.”

  The colonel’s tone made it clear that he thought Calm was both stupid and reckless. “And if something in this system is hostile, it will kill us.”

  “You’d rather live in fear than try to deal with our situation?”

  “Don’t take that tone with me.”

  Calm watched as a redness passed from the colonel’s neck up and over his face before reaching his hairline. It was much like watching a thermometer measuring a rising temperature. “I’m not taking a tone. I’m just saying that we need to learn more about our environment.”

  “Do you realize just how risky that’s going to be?”

  “Less risky than investigating an alien artifact that results in our entire station’s being teleported to a different star system?”

  “That’s completely different,” sputtered the colonel.

  “No, it’s not. We’re in a crisis situation, and sending an unmanned probe to the inner solar system that will take months to get there and back is a stupid idea. This is a situation that calls for human judgment, you need to send a manned ship.”

  The colonel’s face was transitioning to an intense shade of crimson. “You can’t speak to me that way.”

  Calm kept his fingers loosely interlocked, knowing that his lack of angry body language threw the colonel more than anything else. “Address the issue, not the conversation. We need to know more. I volunteer to go with whomever else is willing to go.”

  “I cannot ask men to do what you’re suggesting.”

  “I’m volunteering. I’m guessing others will volunteer because of the protection that I provide.”

  “The protection that you provide? Without you, we would not be in this mess,” sneered the colonel.

  “If you had an issue with my participation before this, I’m sure that you had every opportunity to lodge a protest with the appropriate authorities. All of this is beside the point. I am not in your chain of command, but I am respecting it. Announce an expedition to the inner solar system gracefully while I’m giving you the opportunity to do so.”

  The process of getting a ship’s crew together was painless. Choosing whom to leave behind was more difficult. Miners on long-term contracts, who no longer knew whether there was a firm to which they were still attached, jumped at the opportunity to find out what was going on with their lives. Cosmological researchers were fascinated at the prospect of being the first humans to explore a potentially new solar system. People who were bored or curious wanted to go on the ship just for a change of scenery. Every member of the community had an interest in the expedition. Scant hours after it was announced they had a full complement of crew ready and eager to go.

  Calm sat alone in his cabin aboard the ship. Being outside the chain of command, he had no duties to speak of. The luster of his celebrity had worn off for his fellow crewmates, who now treated him like a normal person, but he still liked his privacy. His thoughts were interrupted when a man walked through his door unannounced.

  Calm didn’t know this man, who was shorter than Calm, had dark hair, and possessed a wiry runner’s build. Despite looking only about ten years older than Calm, the stranger’s eyes looked ancient.

  “Hello, Calm.”

  Calm found his voice rising despite his intentions to the contrary. “Who are you?”

  “My name’s Cheshire.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to talk to you.”

  Calm jumped to his feet and strode toward the man, invading his personal space and leaving less than thirty centimeters between their faces. He scrutiniz
ed the smallest minutiae of Cheshire’s face—the curve of his lips, the set of his jaw, the directness of his gaze. None of it revealed anything to him. “Why?”

  “Back on Earth they’re calling the event that took place ‘The Sweep.’ It may well have been the singly most important event in our recorded history.”

  “How did you get here?”

  “You’re going to arrive safely in the inner solar system in a matter of days, and you will learn many things that surprise you.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. This is a multi-month trip.”

  “Remember, this is only the beginning, and the gates will change everything. They’ll even help to alleviate that boredom of yours.”

  Calm narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean gates?”

  Cheshire just smiled at Calm and vanished.

  “All stations alert! All stations alert!” blared the voice of their expedition’s leader, Captain Smithston, over the com system.

  Calm refused to believe that the two incidents were unrelated.

  “Calm, report to the bridge.”

  No, not a coincidence. Calm headed to the bridge, looking for Captain Smithston. Automatic doors opened and closed in his wake.

  Entering the bridge, he found a scene of frantic energy. Smithston pointed at him as soon as he entered the room. “Calm!” he said. “We need you as close to the prow of the ship as we can get you. Walk with me. I’ll explain on the way. Andrews, come along. I want to make sure we put him in the right place.” The captain set out with Andrews following him. “We’re accelerating at an unprecedented rate of speed.”

  “Why is that a problem?” asked Calm.

  “The Doppler-Bubble Drive has inherent limitations. Somehow this ship is bypassing them, and we have no idea how.”

  Calm felt a mild curiosity but no worry. “Bypassing them?”

  Andrews spoke for the captain, his voice hinting at an academic background. “We’re going about thirty times faster than theory says we should be capable of. That isn’t a problem unless we hit something.”