Broken sky, p.24
Broken Sky, page 24
He stopped abruptly. “I want to go to a restaurant.”
“Now who’s always hungry?” Ethan said. “We just ate breakfast.”
“I don’t mean now, but before we go home. I want to try something we don’t have on Cirrus.”
“I’m up for that. But right now, I need something to drink. There’s a convenience store down the hill.”
“We don’t have phones anymore,” Sarah said. “How will we pay?”
“It’s okay, we still use debit cards on Earth. Some places even take cash.”
When they entered the store, Jack and Sarah were as awestruck by the display of junk food as they were by their first view of Earth.
Jack gawked at the shelves. “I’ve never heard of half of these brands. We don’t have this much selection back home.”
The clerk behind the counter overheard him and gave him a strange look.
“Um, they’re from Canada,” Ethan said. The clerk nodded as if this explained everything. Jack apologized for the disturbance to bolster Ethan’s story. Sarah rolled her eyes at both of them. Ethan paid for their snacks and they continued their walk to the park.
“Detective Singh said not to leave the neighborhood,” Jack said. “Do you know where we are?”
Ethan reached automatically for his phone, then his shoulders drooped when he remembered he’d left the useless device at the house. “Wait a minute.” He squinted at the miniature display on the dog’s controller, turned himself around and pointed. “The park’s that way.” Then he slumped again. “Right now, Dusty is better connected than we are. I’ve never been without my phone before.”
“And I had just got mine back,” Sarah said.
“What happened to your phone anyway?” Jack asked.
“Someone stole it. A guy with a gold watch. Terrance. I think he’s a friend of Niels.”
“How do you know about Niels?” Ethan asked. “We haven’t had a chance to tell you yet.”
She shrugged. “I just remember.”
“That’s so freaky,” Jack said. “But why would Terrance do that?”
“Well,” Ethan said, “he is a hacker.”
“He told you that?”
“No. But we were talking at the party and there're things he knows that only a hacker would.”
“But why would one of Niels’ friends steal Sarah’s phone?”
“He said it was to keep me safe,” Sarah said.
“From what?” Ethan asked.
Sarah stopped walking. “Jack, we have to tell him.”
Jack sighed. “Yeah, I guess it doesn’t matter anymore.”
He told Ethan what he’d found outside Fairview, and Sarah filled in the new details about CorpSec and the warehouse. Then Jack and Ethan relayed the full story of their escape from Fairview.
“So,” Ethan said as they reached the park, “Pieter Reynard is chasing you and me because of what Grandpa found, and someone else is chasing you and Sarah because of what you found?”
Jack nodded.
“Then it really is your fault, after all.”
Jack flung Dusty’s tennis ball at Ethan’s head, but he ducked it easily, laughing. Dusty ran after the ball.
“Why is Detective Singh sending us to Cirrus?” Jack wondered aloud. “Won’t we just have to keep running?”
“Well, I can’t stay here,” Sarah said. “If I don’t come home on time, my mother will call me, see that my phone’s not working, and report me missing. If that happens, there’s an automatic alert filed with the police. Priya doesn’t want to get officially involved until they’ve found your parents.”
“And they can also use it as an excuse to arrest us,” Ethan said. “You were seen with us. They might say we kidnapped you.”
“So,” Jack said, “we have to go to Cirrus to be seen by Little Brother? Then what do you and I do once Sarah leaves? Do we come back here?”
“There’s not much we can do on Cirrus anyway.” Ethan seemed to accept they’d have to do whatever the detective told them to. “Did she say when they’re going to the reservoir?”
“She doesn’t have enough information yet. Oh, she did say that Reynard might be a Traveller too.”
Jack wasn’t surprised at all. It was as if, as soon as Sarah said it, he knew it must be true. In the past two days, Travellers had been elevated in his mind from myth to fact. “Detective Singh said he uses his own portals frequently. I wonder if his future memories are as accurate as Niels’. How will the police catch him if he knows what they’re going to do?”
“But Travellers don’t know everything,” Sarah realized. “It’s like your grandfather said—I wouldn’t know for sure if I had just imagined Niels’ name if you hadn’t confirmed it. And he wouldn’t know me if I hadn’t reacted to the portals.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve felt déjà vu before, when I was standing next to a lot of portals at the aviary. Terrance didn’t know who he was looking for. If I hadn’t nearly fallen over, he wouldn’t have found me.”
“But don’t you have to pass through a portal to feel déjà vu?” Ethan asked.
“It wasn’t exactly the same as when we came here; it passed more quickly. But there were thousands of portals on that board. Maybe the same thing happens if you’re too close.”
“That sort of makes sense,” Jack said. “I didn’t experience déjà vu either, but I’ve always felt something around portals. I assumed it was like the worm-sickness others feel. But maybe it’s part of the Traveller Effect. Do you feel anything like that?”
Sarah shook her head.
“What do you feel?” Ethan asked.
“Hand me Dusty’s leash.” Jack rubbed his thumb over the controller. He went back and forth over a particular spot on the case until he was sure he’d located the portal crystal underneath. “It’s like forcing two magnets together.” He returned the leash. “Kind of like what we felt using Niels’ tractor beam.”
“I didn’t feel anything then, either.”
“No? I thought it was obvious. We could ask Grandpa if distance makes a difference, but then we’d have to tell Detective Singh about Sarah breaking into the reservoir. Would that help or just get her into trouble?”
Sarah winced. “There’s nothing we can do until this afternoon anyway. Let’s not think about it for a while. Look, there’s a soccer ball someone left behind.”
Despite the heat, Jack’s mood improved as they played. It felt good to be with friends and not worry about who might be chasing them.
“C’mon, Jack,” Ethan said when it was his turn in goal. “You’re not even trying.”
Jack wasn’t holding back, but Ethan was unbeatable, blocking every attempt with ease. “Do you play on a team?”
“No, but you’re telegraphing. I can tell exactly where you’re going to kick it.”
Jack made sure not to look at the side of the net he was aiming for, but Ethan moved as if he’d shouted directions.
After failing a dozen more attempts, he said, “I’ve had enough. It’s too hot.” He kicked the ball over to some younger kids, then returned to the shaded table.
At another table a short distance away, a woman received a phone call and reacted with shock. Then a group of girls lying on the grass nearby sat up and began texting with worried expressions. Soon, there were more phones ringing or beeping around the park.
Ethan noticed the spreading alarm. “Something’s happening. What a time to be without a phone.”
The woman nearest them called to her children with a note of panic in her voice. “It’s time to go.”
“Excuse me,” Sarah said. “What’s wrong?”
The woman began hustling her children from the park. “There’s been an attack.”
Jack was on his feet instantly and running down the hill. Ethan and Sarah raced right behind him.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“I need you all to return to Cirrus,” Priya said.
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Jack said. “Have you seen what’s happening?”
“I’ve been a little busy.”
Jack, Sarah, and Ethan had been watching news on the large monitor in Holden’s living room. Reports of an attack on the United States Navy were flooding the internet. The latest feed was a cellphone video of a frigate running aground on the coast of Japan.
“No one seems to know what happened,” Jack said. “Some reports say it was a chemical attack by a terrorist group or doomsday cult, or even a hoax.” He switched the monitor to television-mode for a local update on the large crowds gathering in downtown Seattle. “And they’re planning end-of-the-world parties and protests everywhere. People on Earth are nuts.”
“Some are,” Priya agreed, “but that has nothing to do with why I want you back in Caerton. Pieter’s men might start watching the house. If they see you or Ethan here, they’ll learn about your grandfather’s portal. We want them to think you’re in the Magnolia, in a different apartment.”
“What if Pieter’s goons are still there?” Ethan asked.
“They’re at the reservoir right now.” She flipped her tablet over to show a video of Danny Kou walking with another man through the glass doors of an office building. “My partner, Davis, saw them.”
The second person in the image seemed familiar to Jack. He was much taller than Danny, well-dressed, fit, and clean-shaven. “That’s Pieter Reynard, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” said Priya and Sarah at the same time.
Embarrassed, Sarah sat back in her chair and allowed Priya to continue. Jack had also been certain the man was Reynard, but had guessed from the video’s context. He wondered if Sarah had worked it out that way or experienced another memory.
“You three will leave the Magnolia together and stay on the surface streets where you’ll be safe. Go with Sarah as far as the theater on Third Avenue. She’ll go home by herself and you two will return here. Pieter’s men may be watching the building, but we will be watching them. If it’s not safe, Davis will stop you at the elevators and take you to our office. He won’t be wearing a uniform, but he’ll identify himself. If he lets you pass, take the elevator to the roof, then the stairs down to the apartment.”
“But what about Sarah?” Ethan asked. “They can’t search the whole building for us. Wouldn’t it be easier for them to kidnap her too and make her tell them where we are?”
“I would never tell.” Sarah sounded offended. “I—”
“It’s okay,” Priya interrupted. “I already thought of that. I used Little Brother to track you all leaving her house. Twice. If anyone else tries to track her, it’ll block them, create an alert, and notify her mother. I also asked Davis to use our facial recognition software to see if the AI could identify her.”
“And?” Sarah asked.
“You’ve been very smart. He couldn’t get a match. Most people your age aren’t that careful.”
“That wasn’t me. My phone was …. it crashed. All my photos disappeared.”
Priya was silent for a moment. “We’ll look into that when we have time. But even if they manage to identify you, your mother is a CorpSec officer. They can’t touch you without risking her including the whole department and thereby involving us.”
With the plan agreed upon, Holden taught them how to use the portal. He showed them a series of five squares within the wooden frame’s geometric border. At first glance, the shapes appeared to be inlays of different types of wood.
“These squares …” He touched one, causing them to shift from varied browns to a uniform tan. “Tell you how much charge is stored. There must be one bar for every person who will pass through. There are marks in the same spot on the opposite frame, but they may not match—it takes less energy to transport mass from Cirrus to here.”
“Why is that?” Ethan asked. “Why should there be a difference?”
“You cannot cheat the universe. Cirrus has an apparent normal gravity at the surface, but it’s much less massive and that’s what counts. Think of the solar system as a mountain. The portal allows you to make a short climb out of Cirrus’ gravity, then a long slide down to Earth. Going the other direction requires a lot more energy.”
Priya confirmed through the video link that the apartment was empty before she opened the wormhole. Sarah went first and expressed her disappointment at not experiencing déjà vu again.
Holden stopped Jack before he passed through the frame. “Take these and put them in my office, please.” He handed over a large bundle of rods, along with the coin portal he’d made earlier.
“Aren’t these your new portal crystals? Won’t they be ruined like the ones in our phones?”
“No, they’ll eventually be broken into segments and entangled by another process.”
Ethan was the last to go through the wormhole.
“Remember,” Priya said, “if you see anyone following you, don’t panic. They won’t touch you while you’re in a public place. Just get back to the Magnolia. And stay away from the reservoir. I’m serious.”
“Don’t worry.” Ethan grinned. “I know better than to argue with a third-level black belt.” Seeing her confused look, he added, “It’s okay, Sarah told me.” He pressed the hidden switch and closed the portal.
-- -- --
“I didn’t tell her that,” Priya said. “We have bigger problems.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have some experience with Travellers. As part of my training, I debriefed officers who were trying out for the intelligence branches. I met a few who had an actual first-time connection, like Sarah did, but none experienced valid memories beyond their first trip.”
“And you think Sarah is remembering things from future passages? That she’s a real Traveller?”
“It was a difficult interview—she’s a bright girl. As I asked questions, she jumped ahead a lot, making connections. But it was always with things she could have learned from Jack or Ethan. I also asked her about you, to work out what she might have known beforehand. She told me there’s a room at the reservoir similar to your lab. In hindsight, the things she remembered—which I suspect might be true—have a common thread: me. She thought I told her about the reservoir, and that I described your lab. And she seems to have told Ethan about my black belt. The reservoir and the black belt are things I could still tell her about. But …”
Holden continued her train of thought. “You’ve never been to my lab.”
“Exactly.”
“Well then. We should go downtown so you can see it for yourself.”
-- -- --
“We’re not going to do what Priya said, are we?” Sarah asked as Ethan jumped off the ladder.
“No. I’ve been thinking. How can your memory of the reservoir be true unless you actually see it? Let’s ride past and see for ourselves.”
“But,” Jack said, “the detective said her partner saw them there. So it doesn’t prove anything if Sarah sees them.”
“But, if she doesn’t see them, it proves the memory was wrong and the police are wasting time watching the wrong building.”
“I’m not sure anymore what seeing or not seeing them proves. One way or the other, it’s a paradox. And Priya told us specifically not to go there.”
“I know where the reservoir is,” Sarah said. “We’ll still be in a public area with Little Brother. We’ll ride past without stopping. I need to know if what I’m remembering is true or just my imagination. Please.” She reached out and grabbed Jack’s hand. “It’s important to me.”
Jack understood her desire to learn more about her newfound ability. He also knew her well enough to worry that if they didn’t go with her, she might go on her own, later. “Okay. It’ll be safer if we go as a group. And faster if we stay underground.”
“Are you sure?” Ethan asked. “You’re the one who said we should listen to Priya. She said to stay on the surface.”
“If we’re ignoring her warning about going there, we may as well ignore her other instructions. Besides, we don’t have a lot of time. She’ll be expecting us back soon.”
They rode the empty elevator to the bike garage. Sarah knew her hometown well and led them across several miles of freeway and bike paths before taking a ramp to the surface. A tree-lined boulevard separated the squat, featureless, industrial buildings from a row of taller apartment blocks.
“That’s it on the right.” Sarah pointed over a short fence, where rows of enormous tanks with domed roofs extended south for a mile. She was still in the lead as they approached the reservoir’s business office. Three men were standing by a CorpSec van. “That’s them. My memory was real. I predicted the future.”
Jack understood she was just happy to be proven correct, but he was only thinking that his parents were in there somewhere. He rode at the rear of the group and stole a quick glance as they passed by. They were far enough away that no one could have overheard Sarah, but close enough to recognize a face. He recognized one—Danny Kou was looking straight at him.
“Time to go.” Ethan had also seen Danny. He engaged his bike’s motor. “Which way?”
“Follow me.” Sarah turned a sharp left, bounced through the landscaped street divider, and sped in the opposite direction. Jack’s bike groaned as he slammed it up and over the berm. Ethan was right behind him.
Danny Kou didn’t stand a chance of following Sarah. Jack and Ethan could barely keep up as she zig-zagged through parks and alleys, snaking her way back to the freeway.
Jack pulled up beside her when she stopped at a ramp. “I’m pretty sure we lost them.”
Sarah leaned over and hugged him. “Take care, Jack. Don’t worry about me. They’ll be following you, but all you do is take the cross street and then go left at the second intersection. The theater and the Magnolia are on the same road. Call me as soon as you’re back on Earth. Goodbye, Ethan.” She waved as she rode away.
“She said they’re going to follow us,” Jack said. “You think she remembers that?”
