Our-World

There was a blinding flash, and the world went topsy-turvy. I swallowed hard. My ears popped, and the usual sense of dizziness began to fade. Piper stood two feet away. Her eyes rolled dramatically in their sockets, and her legs started to buckle. I caught her before she could fall and pulled her tightly to me.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this,” she said, pressing one hand to her lips. She took a deep breath and looked up into my eyes.

“It gets better with time. You’re in the same place I was shortly after all this started. The Transition still isn’t easy, but it no longer feels like my brain is in a blender.”

Piper swallowed hard and shut her eyes tightly. “I don’t know how you did it.”

Grinning, I leaned in and kissed her softly at the nape of her neck, just behind her ear. “Maybe I can take your mind off it?”

She slapped her hand against my shoulder and pushed me away. “Keep that up if you think vomit is sexy. What’s wrong with you?”

Laughing, I dropped down to sit at the end of the bed. “I’m just happy you’re able to make it back and forth. The side effects should improve over time. In the short term, you’ll likely recover more quickly. Just keep breathing. It helps.”

A plaintive chirp sounded from the cell phone on the nightstand. Our eyes turned to the device. It was the tone Esker had adopted when interrupting our time. I’ll admit I felt a surge of pride in the AI’s improving social skills.

“Go ahead, E,” I said. “You’re not interrupting.”

The phone screen lit up in time with Esker’s voice. “You’re sure? Your cortisol levels are elevated, and your heart rate suggests—”

Waving my hand in the air, I said, “What’s on your mind? Did you miss us?”

(more…)

Wild-Side

The garage buzzed with activity. Piper adjusted the strap on a rifle featuring a traditional stock and grip but missing the usual long, thin barrel. She focused intently on the chunky rotary assembly situated halfway down the stock. It was a grenade launcher with a six-round capacity, courtesy of the forward-facing, 40-millimeter chambers arranged in a ring, reminiscent of a classic six-shooter. Activating a lever, she released the cylinder and set it on the table. A replacement was close by, the previously empty slots now filled to capacity.

Lacy picked up the discarded cylinder and started dropping thick shotgun-like rounds into the chambers. The task took just seconds, and when she finished, she set the speed loader on the table alongside seven others like it.

Piper turned the mounted loader smoothly around one and a half rotations beneath the launcher’s barrel. She was careful to keep her finger away from the trigger and repeatedly checked the position of the safety as she worked. “This is a crazy idea,” Piper said, not taking her focus off the weapon’s preparation. “We should take our time with this. Rushing seems hazardous.”

Gray pushed a third of Lacy’s speed loaders into a saddlebag. He strode quickly to the Airbike, stepped onto the frame, and slung the bags on either side of the saddle seat. “Breslin is losing his mind like never before. If we’re going to take advantage, we need to move now.”

Wiping sweat from her brow, Piper exhaled and looked up in frustration. “Rushing is a mistake.” She appeared worse for wear, her hair in a tangled ponytail and perspiration causing her tank top to cling in a way Gray would have found distracting under other circumstances.

“Is Tripp in position?” Gray asked, glancing at Lacy.

“Almost,” she confirmed. “He promised to be ready.”

Piper’s gaze shifted between Lacy and Gray, noticing that Lacy wanted to say more.

“What is it?” Piper asked.

Lacy wiped her face, paused, then shrugged. “You should let one of us help. What was that phrase you used originally—lots of moving pieces?”

(more…)

Our-World

The heels of Breslin’s shoes clicked against the granite floors of the spacious suite as he approached Chris Ingersoll. The FBI agent had his back to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the cityscape beyond. The late afternoon sun had just dipped behind the high-rises to the west, casting the room into shadow. A light seemed to blaze in Breslin’s eyes, and Ingersoll wondered for perhaps the hundredth time if the rumors about the man’s animal savagery could be true. Although they had only met face-to-face a handful of times, there were whispers. Talk circulated about how Breslin could shift from calmness to unprovoked acts of savagery without a moment’s notice. Breslin was clearly already agitated, and Ingersoll was certain he was about to witness a new side of the man in charge.

“Agents are still conducting interviews,” Ingersoll said, trying not to cringe at the sight of Breslin stalking toward him. “The local PD is continuing the search. Ledger can’t get far.”

Stopping just beyond arm’s reach, Breslin’s gaze bore into him. The flesh rippling at Breslin’s smooth-shaven jawline suggested he was grinding his teeth. “He’s gone, and you know it. He travels throughout this country, and you can’t find him even with your so-called resources.” The popping of knuckles was unmistakable. Breslin’s hands were at his sides, though they were balled into bloodless fists. When he spoke, it was through a clamped jaw. “Tell me about the Kansas facility.”

Ingersoll gave a half-shrug in response but said nothing.

Breslin stepped forward slightly, his face contorting and his mouth beginning to open with a demand that was sure to follow.

“The forensic report came back,” Ingersoll said quickly. “But it contained nothing we didn’t expect.” Avoiding Breslin’s gaze, Ingersoll focused on a spot on the floor between them. From the corner of his eye, he noticed a slight tremor in his hands and quickly shoved them into his pockets. “A single-man assault on the installation. He parachuted in. We found the rig at the edge of a cornfield a little over three miles from the fence line. The techs believe it caught the wind and was dragged away. There’s no doubt it was Ledger’s, even though they have nothing to connect it to him.

“Evidence? I won’t be prosecuting him,” Breslin said. “You know better than that.”

Nodding slowly, Ingersoll said, “Sure—but you want to know if he has help.” He tried not to shrug again. That only seemed to infuriate the boss. “He was by himself.”

“He’s always alone,” Breslin snapped. He glared at Ingersoll for several seconds, then turned slowly and began to pace the bare room again. “Update me on Miranda Norton.”

(more…)

Wild-Side

A flash of light erupted and a ringing filled my ears. I knew everything had changed forever when I blinked away the orbs floating in my vision. I immediately noticed the lack of physical pain. The head-to-toe burning that had accompanied every Transition was absent. At most, there was a slight disruption in my balance. There was no strange taste in my mouth, and the urge to vomit had vanished entirely. Perhaps most importantly, I was still dressed. I wore the same tactical pants with pockets lining the outside of each leg, the same t-shirt and hoodie I’d had on when I laid down and closed my eyes, and the same hiking boots I’d worn back home.

Fighting the fear that I was dreaming, I patted my chest, stomach, and the front of my hips—arriving on Wild-Side in any form other than naked was a win. It was almost too good to believe. My wrist brushed something at my hip, and my eyes widened as I felt the holstered gun. It should have been the first thing I checked.

A smile split my face.

“Hell yes,” I whispered to myself. “About damn time.”

I was fingering the point where the subcutaneous, rice-sized adapter had been injected into my forearm before I became aware of it. The device was designed by Cormac and Lacy and included in the packs stowed with the Airbike when it was sent to Our-World. The tiny device would log everything possible from the Transition and then help me better adjust physically to the Crossing I experienced nearly every time I fell asleep. The idea was that by making infinitesimally minor adjustments to my existing biorhythms, the device would allow some control over my shift between Branes. The first step was to reduce the physical discomfort associated with each crossing. The second was for me to cross with my clothes and any gear I was in close contact with before the Transition. Cormac suggested that the second part might be easier than the first since I’d somehow managed to bring Piper with me previously.

“Way to go, Doc.” I grinned.

Clothes, and I didn’t feel like horking my guts out.

The tiny device in my arm would gather additional data with each subsequent Transition, ultimately giving me greater control over my shifts between Branes. Although I didn’t understand what that would mean at the time, I hoped to manage how I brought Piper to Wild-Side and only assist her in crossing when it was intentional. There was a possibility that the device would ultimately grant her control over her own Transition.

A beelike buzzing in the trees overhead brought me instantly to my feet and heightened my senses to full alertness. I hadn’t been that distracted by a Crossing since the early days. It was a bad time for my situational awareness to falter, and my heart began to hammer in response to the realization. My pistol was drawn and shifting quickly as my eyes tracked the sky, visible through occasional gaps in the green tree canopy. The temperature and the sun’s position indicated that it was daytime or afternoon.

My HUD blinked to life and displayed the time as one twenty-four in the afternoon, with the temperature at seventy-one degrees Fahrenheit. I had never even noticed the minor indicators in the corner of my eye that were meant to show the status of my HUD as it booted.

(more…)

Our-World
Shelbyville, Tennessee

For obvious reasons, Alison Springs wasn’t safe for us anymore. Besides, that unprecedented thunderstorm proved we needed to take immediate action to prevent another storm like it from revealing our position or affecting our general location with the same catastrophic consequences. We doubled back to Piper’s apartment to gather the few items needed for a road trip, but then we didn’t hit the road…

We took to the skies.

Derek Smallwood agreed to meet us just outside Shelbyville, Tennessee. With the Quad-Airbike cruising at an average of one hundred sixty miles an hour, we could make the trip in a little over three and a half hours. This was assuming we could fly the shortest possible distance, which was, of course, a straight line. This was more or less achievable, with some minor adjustments. We had to climb to extreme altitudes around densely populated rural areas and avoid a few commuter flight paths by diverting slightly.

Ultimately, we completed the trip in just over four and a half hours. Our gear was packed into overstuffed backpacks that hung like saddlebags across the seat behind Piper. We wore our armored suits, allowing us to transition to high altitude and back down to our more comfortable cruising level of around twelve thousand feet without making the trip unnecessarily tricky or fatiguing.

Smallwood had parked his rig in a small clearing in the woods, beyond what appeared to be a long-fallow field, two additional cornfields, and about a mile down a dirt road from an ancient-looking farmstead. He must have traversed the rutted, rocky, overgrown trail that skirted the barren field to reach the back and enter the tree line. It was no small feat considering what he was driving. I approached from the south and made a pass, searching for signs that the meeting location might have been compromised. Thermal and IR scans of the field and the canopy beyond the tree line revealed only the outline of Smallwood’s RV and what seemed to be a single human presence. The forest registered multiple life signs of various sizes, all too small to be human.

Circling again, I approached low and slow—buzzing quietly just five feet above the path’s surface. We traced the route Smallwood likely took as he drove in. The rough terrain would have been tough on his suspension. Piper laughed behind me, clearly sharing the same thought. “The last stretch of his drive must have been incredibly uncomfortable,” she mused.

(more…)

Our-World

My senses spun wildly with vertigo, accompanied by a Doppler-shifting thunder that struck me like a bolt of high voltage and made me feel as if I were being circled by a ten-foot-wide boomerang traveling at fifty miles an hour. The sensation could have lasted for two seconds or thirty. There was also a feeling reminiscent of the first few moments spent tumbling uncontrollably out of an aircraft—when the one-hundred-mile-an-hour slipstream slams into you and completely scrambles your orientation in space. In the next instant, I felt the down comforter, soft and gentle beneath the bare skin of my back.

“The fuck!” Piper croaked in a hoarse voice beside me and sat up with a jolt.

I cracked an eye and looked at her. She was completely naked, the same as me. We were positioned mostly parallel but askew on the bed in her room back on Our-World. The morning sun appeared to be just cresting the horizon, gradually backlighting the drawn blinds of the windows across the room. She was gently probing her right ear with the tip of her finger. As she worked her jaw, she quickly moved her finger to her left ear and shot me an accusing glance. That’s when I became aware of the pressure building up in my ears and worked my jaw to relieve it.

“Do you taste waffles?” Piper said, her voice loud. She was still having trouble with her hearing.

I ran my tongue along the roof of my mouth and smiled. “Maple syrup?”

She raised an eyebrow. Honestly, if she didn’t have an explanation for it, what could I offer? By that point, she was figuring this stuff out far quicker than I was, and we both knew it. I could only shrug.

Piper’s gaze shifted to the foot of the bed. At first, I thought she was just now realizing we were both naked. That wouldn’t be a good sign since that had been part of the plan. If her mind had been scrambled during the Crossing, I needed to assess the extent of her condition and how long it would take for her to recover.

“Did we just break the bed?” She said.

Her attention wasn’t on her physical condition; rather, it focused on the state of the bed. The bed was inclined, with the head raised at a noticeable pitch because the footboard had collapsed, leaving the bottom of the mattress resting on the floor.

(more…)

Wild-Side

I woke up lying on an anachronistic wheeled gurney, at least by the standards of the Seeley. The blankets draped across me were made of a material that felt like a cotton and wool blend. While this reminded me of home, it was unlike anything I had experienced during my hundreds of Wild-Side trips. I also noted two other key points. First, I was still naked—or maybe naked again? Umm, and second—I was completely clean.

Both observations were disconcerting because a third point surfaced in my mind… I didn’t know how I’d ended up in this bunk. My last memory was teleporting to a strange white room on the Airbike with Piper.

After that…

Piper slipped through the narrow gap in the hanging privacy curtain, and I watched as it sealed itself behind her. Aside from that neat little trick, the curtain reminded me of those draping the beds in every emergency room I had ever visited. Here, at least, I wasn’t surrounded by a chorus of chirping and beeping medical devices. With only a tall nightstand and a stool, it was just me and the bed. “Welcome back,” Piper said. Although her words were succinct and her tone upbeat, the concern in her pinched expression was unmistakable. “Nap time finally over?”

I felt she was asking the wrong person. “How did I get here?” I tried to push myself higher against the slight incline of the bed but discovered I had little strength for the effort.

Piper swiped at something in her private AR display and quickly turned her attention back to me. “I’m bringing your tech back up to full, but at incremental levels. Your strength will return.” Her eyes shifted to the empty space over my bed, and I knew she was reviewing information only she could see. “Your diagnostics are out of the red…finally. You should be on your feet in a matter of hours.”

I rubbed my eyes against the migraine that was gaining steady traction behind my right eye. “I’m gone for a few days, and you got your PhD in nanotechnology?”

(more…)

Wild-Side

It took me four days to move Pemberton’s body to a location I believed would be safe for an extended period. Part of the effort required a cross-country drive. And since the first time I drifted off to sleep, I would likely end up in Wild-Side; I couldn’t risk even a brief nap. My otherworldly excursion would jeopardize Pemberton, and compromising his comatose body could also provide Breslin with the information he might use for a successful Crossing. I didn’t know if Pemberton fried his brain or Crossed, but until I knew for sure, keeping his body safe was the only prudent course of action.

Fortunately, I had now enlisted the support of Pike’s team. They were technically on the payroll. More importantly, they were personally invested in the effort. With their firsthand insight into what Breslin was trying to accomplish, I had skilled operators to help protect Pemberton while I returned to Wild-Side.

It was a long, exhausting four days. While I could control the nanotechnology in my body, overclocking myself to run nonstop for that duration was beyond my capability. Thankfully, Esker was there to help. Even the AI was reluctant to make the adjustments. Setting technology aside, the human body wasn’t designed to run continuously without rest, he warned. This was why I couldn’t adjust the tech on my own.

The Crossing to Wild-Side wasn’t usual. Fatigue made me feel a bit like a struck match, and dark skies laden with low-hanging, angry-looking clouds poured sheets of rain that didn’t make me smile. It was dusk, as close as I could tell. I gave my HUD a minute to come online, but when it didn’t, I confidently concluded I was in one of the numerous dead zones. Not the end of the world…but I was tired. More tired than I could ever remember being. Usually, I was fatigued when I fell asleep back on My-World, but when I Crossed, something about the transition left me energized, though temporarily sickened and a little worse for the wear. Yet, the effects were slowly improving with time. It was as if my body was building a tolerance for the negative repercussions of the Crossing. But this time?

Not good. Not good at all. I felt as if every ache and pain I experienced back home was amplified on this side.

I knelt in the mud as a cool, light rain fell on my shoulders.

Super.

I climbed to my feet and braced my flimsy knees against the cold wind. I found myself at the edge of a small clearing surrounded by towering conifers. They would at least provide a respite from the wind, so I quickly slipped behind the boughs of the nearest shelter. As soon as I did, the whistle of the wind became hushed, and the woods fell silent. Not just silent from the wind, but devoid of the rustle of natural habitation.

Something is wrong.

I held my breath and listened intently. At first, all I could hear was the rasp of my own ragged breathing and the rush of blood behind my ears. I fought against the chattering of my teeth. The cold and the loss of my heightened hearing were feelings I acutely experienced at that moment as I strained to sense the danger I knew was nearby. The forest fell silent in response to that danger. It was a primal, natural reaction—wildlife responding to a predator in the area.

(more…)

Wild-Side

Gray was overdue, and although Piper was concerned, she sensed that no one was more worried than Doctor Cormac. He and the rest of his team tried to hide it, but the Seeley were not skilled at concealing their underdeveloped emotions. While she knew less about the science behind dimensional crossing, Piper understood Gray better than anyone. If he was alive, he’d be back. They just needed to give him time and try to keep the wheels from coming off the Bus until that happened.

“You mentioned there was an operation on hold until Gray returned,” Piper said.

Lacy sat at a table in the open-air amphitheater, a space commonly used for recreation. It was the closest thing the Seeley had to a park since they didn’t possess many recreational areas. Nor did they have the same appreciation for nature as the people from her world. Pushing the plate and half-eaten sandwich aside, Lacy nodded. “When Mara came out of her coma, she was able to provide us with more information about the expedition that led to her condition. We thought there might be a connection to the Elend based solely on the coincidental timing, but her spotty recollection of events adds support to the theory.”

Lacy thumbed the edge of the plate and gazed into the distance, as if contemplating how to express what would come next. “Her expedition took place in the Badlands,” she said. “And aside from Mara, the entire team was lost. We have no idea what happened to the team that day. All the data was corrupted. Seismic activity opened up some new faults in the area. We believe a new cavern or cave might have been exposed. If that’s the case, a team would have been dispatched to search for artifacts.”

“Artifacts?”

Lacy waved a hand vaguely in the air. “We occasionally discover things in the wilds. Anachronistic relics that must be quarantined.”

Piper’s face twisted in confusion.

With a shrug, Lacy said, “Can we skip the twenty questions on this one? We already went through this with Gray. I’m happy to answer all I can for you… I’m just not sure I’m up to this topic today. If I’m honest, my heart just isn’t in it.”

Not knowing what that meant, Piper chose to move on. “Fair enough.” There were countless peculiarities associated with the Seeley. Some of them Piper found charming. Some were entertaining. Many were simply baffling. For a group that was advanced and mostly enlightened, they could be shortsighted and narrow-minded at times. “Tell me about the operation you need Gray to help with.”

“Mara helped us pinpoint the location of her expedition.” She raised a hand in the air and swayed it back and forth. “At least she provided us with a general location. It should be sufficient to find the site. Gray was planning to take a team out to explore. If there’s anything there that might help us understand the Elend, where they come from, or how to combat them, it could be worthwhile.”

Piper waited. It seemed like there was more Lacy wasn’t saying. “A team? Who’s going with when the time comes?”

(more…)