by Aaron Frale
“Listen,” the woman said and spread her hands out.
Patel realized what Aunnika was finally saying. She pulled out her TF3 and pulled up the tuning app. After selecting a playlist and fidgeting with the dial, she heard the sound. It was something new, something she had never heard before. It was the sound of another universe. She scooted close to the edge of the lake, and the static got louder. The tuning point was in the blackness above the boiling lake. She wasn’t kidding about a leap of faith.
The priestess said, “The window isn’t open very long.”
Patel breathed deeply. She took a few steps back. While she thought all this stuff about the caves was hokum, she trusted Hector. They were there for a reason. It was time to find out. She took off at a sprint toward the edge. At the last possible second, she leaped into the darkness and hit the tune button.
18
John walked out to the hospital waiting room where Hailey, Meathook, Carrie, and Alex were milling about. They saw the grim expression on Jon’s face and knew that he had terrible news. Hector had been in critical condition for the last week, and there was no sign that he was getting better. His organs were failing and even life support was struggling to keep him alive.
“He’s dead,” Jon said, fighting back a tear.
Hailey buried her head in Meathook. Alex silently sat down on one of the chairs, and Carrie did the same. Jon sunk to the floor and slumped his head. Hector had never recovered from what the cultists had done to him. His last message was cryptic, and worse yet, the Tuners sent to decipher it hadn’t returned.
The techs who survived the fall of their second HQ had scattered to the wind and were deposited in a universe of their choosing. The few who had stayed with the cause were here in U-66 though there wasn’t much to do. With the generator they had liberated, they had power but no equipment. Ernest and Samira were diligently attempting to cobble something together from the tech of this world, but it was slow going, and they’d be lucky to have a tracker for the Tuners’ movements in a couple months.
As much as Jon hated to admit it. Hector had become a father figure to him in the absence of his own father. Now he had to deal with the death of another father so close to the murder of his actual one. He hated the cultists more than anything. His only regret was not finishing off the High Priest himself.
As much as he hated to admit it, he was glad Ludie killed all of them or at least the ones at the station. It didn’t solve the overall problem of a universe full of them waiting to claw their way into the multiverse and destroy everything, but it felt good to Jon to think of them gasping for air and choking on their own fowl breath. He wanted the cultists to die and didn’t plan to show them mercy.
Before the rage could build up inside, he was surprised by the entrance of DeAndre, Magdalena, and a woman who looked like a more feminine version of Alex. Patel was nowhere to be seen.
“You made it back.” Hailey embraced DeAndre.
“Samira told us about Hector,” DeAndre said. “We came as quick as we could.”
“He’s gone, bro,” Meathook said.
DeAndre cursed and kicked one of the chairs in the waiting room. Hailey apologized to the staff and picked it up.
“First Patel,” DeAndre said. “Now Hector.”
“Wait. What happened to Patel?” Jon asked.
“Our mother—“ Anya said.
“You took them to see our mother!” Alex yelled.
“They wanted to see her—”
“Wait, what happened?”
“She fell,” DeAndre said, fighting to keep his voice calm. “As far as we can tell. She followed their mom in the middle of the night and fell into a boiling lake.”
“Wait, what?” Jon said.
“You let her go alone with Mother!” Alex yelled.
“She snuck out!” Anya defended herself.
“You at least recovered her body?” Meathook said, and Hailey punched him. “What? I’m sure that’s what she would have wanted.”
“Look,” DeAndre said. “Their mom is full-on kookydooks. She kept saying Patel found her destiny at this lake that was a boiling cauldron maybe fifty meters down. There is no way we could find her in that.”
“Did you at least find out why Hector sent us there?” Jon asked.
“There’s nothing there,” Magdalena said. “It’s a wasteland screwed up by these anomalies that are breaking down the fabric of reality.”
“Told you so,” Alex said. “Maybe if you had listened to me.”
“Maybe the anomalies are the key to something,” Meathook pondered. “Like a way to help us deal with the cultists.”
“Well,” Jon said, “we’ll never know now. Hector’s dead, and for what? Nothing.”
“Jon!” Hailey said.
“Don’t Jon me. We have got no leads. Even less than that. We should just suicide tune to the cultists' homeworld and blow the whole thing up.”
“You know they have a machine that was doing that—” Meathook said.
“Well, I don’t see any other options.”
“Maybe that’s not a bad idea,” Carrie said, and everyone put their eyes on her. “You know that tuning point you used to save me?”
“The backdoor?” Jon said.
“Why don’t we go back?” Carrie asked. “Ludie can’t monitor the whole station. Not by himself, and I don’t think he is anxious to get back in league with the cultists. Maybe we go back, take back HQ.”
“Then what?” Jon asked. “Half the techs are dead or scattered.”
“We turn it into the Death Star,” Carrie said. “We rig up a machine like the cultists had. One that could punch through the barrier, aim it at the cultist homeworld and poof.”
“They were melting the minds of other Tuners to do it!” Hailey said. “My sister included.”
“So we figure out a way to do it safely,” Carrie said. “Then we don’t need to suicide our way in. Just punch whatever we can through the barrier. Crates, boxes, you name it. Just keep sending crap through to create a breach in their world and watch it explode.”
“I don’t know,” Hailey said.
“It’s them or us,” Jon said. “I’m down.”
“I’m in too,” DeAndre said.
“Welp,” Alex said, “it doesn’t look like I’m going to get paid anytime soon, so I’m out of here. Come on, Anya.”
“But I just got here!” Anya said.
“And you’ll be stuck here if you don’t sit your butt in the car,” Alex snapped.
“But, Alexandria!” Anya said.
“Don’t you ever call me that!” Alex’s eyes narrowed. “What are you going to do, just leave Mom? Let her die like Dad did?”
Anya huffed and stormed out. Alex bowed and followed.
“Figures,” DeAndre huffed. “Bounty hunters.”
Meathook shrugged and stepped aside Jon, “The Death Star is pretty metal.”
“It’s settled then,” Jon said. “We’ll take back HQ and kill every last one of them.”
“It’s not settled!” Hailey said, “Is that what the Tuners is really about? We are in the business of killing now?”
“They killed Hector,” Jon said. “And Patel wouldn’t have died if it wasn’t for them. The High Priest and all his lackeys might be dead, but the cultists will come back. Let’s take the fight to them before they have the chance to regroup and retake HQ. This might be our only shot.”
“Yeah,” Hailey said. “But to destroy an entire world? There are people like Magdalena who are there against their will.”
Magdalena looked at Hailey then at Jon. She stepped over to Jon’s side and said, “We’ll be doing them a favor.”
“I know you are saying this because you still think there is a chance to save your sister,” Jon said. “But you saw what that machine does to people. She’s dead, Hailey, just like Hector, just like Patel. Just like us if we don’t do something about it.”
Hailey slapped Jon.
Jon said nothing, a
nd there was a tense moment between them. Their eyes said it all.
Hailey glanced around at the group, she turned and walked out.
19
Ludie kept the lights off to save energy while a drill built with the most durable materials he could find in the multiverse sucked a vast majority of the station's power to chip away at the vault door. To get around the Universe One restriction on anything that could come close to a weapon passing through the barrier, he had brought in the raw materials. He had the design in mind for a while and just needed the time to go to the various universes to get it.
Now that the station was clear of any distractions, he could finally get to work. Ludie left the air off in the place and had plans to refill his suit before his personal supply ran out. His former fanatic colleagues might be able to access the barrier that controlled who could tune in and out, so rather than try and figure out what devices should still be on the approved list, he kept life support functions off. Let them come. Not only was there no atmosphere, but the station was also near absolute zero with no heating systems. No one would be interrupting him anytime soon.
The undiscovered bonus to shutting down HQ was that whatever made the vault impossible to break through couldn’t withstand the cold temperatures. His powerful drill was making progress. Even though he had to change heads often, he was closer than he ever was to the contents inside. Soon, all the secrets of Universe One would be his.
The station was lonely in the dark. Walking through empty hallways with nothing but a headlamp was beginning to wear on him, mainly because he hadn’t bothered to clear the bodies of the cultists away. They were all frozen in their death sleep.
Living full time in his suit was also beginning to wear thin on him. He had made one for Hailey but couldn’t find hers after he shut down the air. It had been stolen, probably by Jon, which meant the Tuners were still out there.
Ludie wasn’t worried about his former peer group still being at large. He had survived two changes of leadership, and now he’d be the one in charge. As soon as he could break through the vault door, he could turn life support back on. An inventory of the TF3s left at the station would tell him what should be on the approved list so Jon and his friends wouldn’t be able to sneak in again. He almost wished Jon had been more reasonable. Even though he hated the guy, it was better than the solitude.
There was a scuffle behind him, and Ludie thought he saw a figure watching him in the dark. He turned off the device and scanned the empty chamber with his headlamp. When it turned out to be just him, he fired up the drill, and sparks spewed forth. He flipped the light off and sat back and watched the shadows dance off the wall.
He turned his head to the side and saw a figure sitting beside him. He jumped up and almost impaled himself on his own drill. He flipped his headlamp on, and indeed it was a fellow human in another suit much like his own. Through the faceplate, he knew exactly who it was by the charred flesh and intricate scars.
The High Priest smiled and said, “Do you think I haven’t been watching you? I had this suit made with the exact specs of yours. I knew you had it in you, that you were a true brother of the Flame.”
“But—I killed you,” Ludie croaked, not sure if he had finally snapped.
“The strong survive. The weak die,” the High Priest said. He inspected the hole being cut into the vault door and then added, “I see you are finally making progress on my weapons.”
“I—” Ludie was about to become indignant, but then thought the better of it. For better or worse, it seemed he was destined to serve. At least he finally had the respect of his new master. “I’m pretty sure we can get through soon enough so long as we keep the drill moving.”
“I will make sure this is in constant operation,” the High Priest said. “You have earned a rest. I will see to it that you have anything you want in any universe you want.”
Ludie nodded. He was getting sick of being in the suit.
20
At first, Patel thought she was falling in the pitch black toward her untimely demise and that the woman had lied, but after her heart stopped feeling as if it were about to pound out of her chest, she realized that she was on a cold metal surface.
“Hello?” she called into the darkness beyond and pulled out her TF3 for a light source. The batteries were completely drained. This was odd because she had put it on the charger before she went to bed, and it was full by the time Anya’s mom had entered the room. Without any source of light, she was forced to explore with her other senses.
She stood and reached out in all directions. There was nothing but air. She leaned down and felt the floor one more time. It was smooth, made by people. She knocked on it and didn’t hear an echo. The room was small or at least built with excellent acoustics. She stood and put her hands out in front of her. She raised her foot and took a step forward. It landed on a solid floor. So far so good.
She continued one painstakingly slow step at a time until her foot kicked an object. She felt at her waist level, and it was some kind of shelving unit. There were drawers in the front and knick-knacks on the surface. She even knocked something off and heard it shatter during her exploration.
From what she could deduce, she was in a living quarters. The drawers felt like they had clothes, socks, and underwear. The trinkets were an eclectic mix of stuff. One was the shape of a person that felt as if it had a big frown and had the feel of porcelain. It reminded her of those collectible hobo statues she always seemed to see at elderly people’s houses. Another was a glass box that had seams that made her think it must have been stained. There was glossy photo paper inside. There was something pewter and jagged. A rock that felt like a geode. There was no lamp or anything that felt like it was connected to a power source.
After going through the objects, she leaned over the dresser and felt a wall. It was the same metallic structure as the floor, and she ran her hands along the surface then turned to the left. One direction was as good as another in her situation.
Running her hands along the wall, she walked until she hit what she assumed to be a door. From the seam, she knew immediately that it was the same build as HQ. She felt around the door for a light switch, and her hand found one. She flicked it on, and the room lit up.
At first, she was blinded by the light source, but as soon as her pupils adjusted to the new light, she realized it was indeed a private room. There was a bed similar to the one she had as a Tuner. Another door led to what she assumed was the bathroom. From the looks of it, she had broken a vase and her hobo guess was pretty close. It was a clown with a long sad face.
There were posters on the wall of various movies that looked like alternative universe versions of the same one. She saw one with Elijah Wood as Frodo from the Lord of the Rings right next to one with a hobbit looking man called Pastor Jenkins for a movie called Ring Lord. There was another set of posters that said Star Wars and Space Wars.
While she couldn’t be sure that she just had teleported to another HQ-like station left behind by Universe One, she was pretty sure she might have actually made it to the place itself. It wasn’t until she opened the blackout curtain covering the long window of the living quarters to the hallway beyond. There was lettering much like the ones that marked the corridors of Tuners HQ. It said U-1 and then another dash with a long string of numbers and letters. There was another window in the hallway on the opposite wall. It was blue sky beyond.
She was in Universe One.
Her heart raced as she went for the door, but before she got one step, a balding middle-aged man with frizzed hair and glasses walked in front of the window. He didn’t seem surprised to see her.
Notes
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