Haley scrunched up her face, “That’s not really nice. They’re people.”
Amy shrugged, “Most of the time I’ve spent in this world was in Florida. I’ve heard that the benefits for working at Waffle House aren’t bad, but the dental care some people got before working there wasn’t great.”
Haley shook her head. “That’s restaurants. The full time staff get benefits, but most jobs are part time and they don’t get benefits at all. Are things different in your world?”
“It’s better than the alternative,” I said, and thought about what I might be getting. In addition to the practical knowledge of the Nine’s operations which we’d need to track whether we’d succeeded, Rook and Dr. Mind weren’t the only inventors who’d ever served the Nine.
We’d get in trouble with the government for stealing the Nine’s tech, but not for using their ideas—probably.
It did worry me that Rook had likely brought back Abominator tech from the Moon and Mars. I didn’t even know where it was if I wanted to destroy it.
“Weird,” I said, “but not surprising. Rook used Abominator tech for his implant. We used it too, but we modified ours with Xiniti technology in such a way that we can’t replace their parts without consent. For all I know there might be a way to turn things back. I think it’s unlikely, but you never know.”
Dayton sighed but followed it up with, “He’ll probably like the power upgrade.”
It didn’t take long to reach the surface, relatively speaking. Izzy lead us down a hall off of the main room, giving me a chance to look at the dead, frozen bodies of all the people Rook had turned into robots as well as his own transformed body.
Amy shuddered as she passed it, telling me, “The little bit of him that’s left saw his dead body. Even for him, it’s weird and creepy.”
Lim glanced off to the side, adding, “I really should go now. I’m going to assume that explaining what’s going on with Ray’s corpse and the Xiniti is one of those things that would cause more problems if you explain it than if you don’t. Tell me if that changes.”
“Sure,” I said, intending to say nothing forever unless Ray reappeared on Earth.
Lim stared into the camera for a moment, giving the impression that he was studying me even though I knew he was just getting a still of the Rocket suit in his video feed. Continue reading Reality Tweaks: Part 3→
The glowing ring of the portal appeared before us, with the grey concrete of the dock’s control room visible through the circle. It grew larger by the instant, making it clear that we were exiting immediately.
It was less that we stepped through to the room, so much as fell through at an angle. There was no law, I supposed, that a tunnel through time and space had to synchronize with the orientation of the exit point.
Haley let go of my hand, rolling and coming to her feet. I turned on the suit’s anti-gravity, floating to the ceiling like a Rocket-sized party balloon.Continue reading Reality Tweaks: Part 1→
Melisende’s expression changed, her smile widening. “Nick, I didn’t expect to see this version of you ever again. I know you told me I would, but with alternate universes, it’s not that simple.”
It was still Melisende’s voice, but the accent had changed. Amy’s held a hint of the Florida woman whose blood she’d used to learn English.
I spoke over the comm system’s general channel, “Magnus is powering his people up. If I had to guess, he’s powering up everybody he can. Expect people with powers to become more powerful. Don’t be surprised if they develop new ones or if unpowered people start changing…”
I stopped, and Amy added more, “Magnus is trying to escape into the portal. Some of his people will be trying to escape with him. Watch for that.”
Jody’s eyes fired off bolts before I had time to warn Dayton. Several shots hit, the red bolts striking his torso. Though I didn’t see a hole in Dayton’s suit, something must have made it through because he yelped.
In that moment, Rook punched him, throwing Dayton backward.
He did roll and come up on two feet, but something about the hesitancy in his movement told me that he was hurt.
Jody might have continued to fire bolts at Dayton, but he didn’t get the chance. As Dayton fell back from Rook’s blows, the Bloodspear pierced Jody’s back. Continue reading Stage Three: Part 12→
With the Rocket suit’s speed and the short distance, I might as well have teleported.
If he were anything like the Xiniti I’d fought, he would have still been able to avoid me anyway, but instead, he stumbled sideways, still faster than a scooter, but not faster than I flew.
I punched him and he hit the ground, turning and pointing his arms at me as if to fire his weapons. Except the weapons didn’t fire. There wasn’t even a spark.
