Paradigm (Travelers Series Book 3) (16 page)

“Tell me.” For once, no riddles, no half-assed responses. Looks like I’m finally going to get some real answers—from a guy I don’t even know. It might not be information I’m ready to hear, based on my surroundings, but at least this Moose guy seems to understand how much I need to know things. Even if know I’m not going to like what I hear.

“When you allowed Cooper to take you to your true reality, you were fated to one day join us in our world, this reality in fact, to fight against the new government lead by Oliver Thornberry. Our numbers were small, but we had strength in our abilities and a great leader.” He looks over to me. “You.”

“That sounds like a nice way of saying you’re insurgents.” I don’t know why I stutter, but I’m trying to comprehend what he’s telling me.

“You say it like it’s a bad thing.” Moose’s smile extends to the glint in his eyes as he says this, obviously messing with me, but he still manages to breathe a heavy sigh. “Seriously though, it’s not always a negative thing to be against a regime, especially when fighting an army set to destroy the world. But yes, in essence that’s what we were. That’s the world we live in.”

“So this is my future?”

“No. This could ultimately be the future we face without you in it. This is the result of you never having jumped realities with Cooper. By our estimation, at least. I can’t tell you whether the outcome would be any different if you had joined our rebellion, but I can say with certainty: it couldn’t be any worse.”

“What the hell happened here anyway?” Moose obviously isn’t afraid to bring me to this world, even though it creeps the bejeezus out of me. There’s no one around. The buildings are dilapidated, the streets are void of traffic; the only signs that this city had a past is the litter strewn about. “Where did all the people go?”

“Gone.”

A big lump forms in my throat. I’ve always considered myself tough, unmoved by tragedy, but here I am engaged with a man who is about to tell me the fate of the people who lived here. I’m almost afraid to ask. A single flyer lay on the ground. I take a moment to pick up the piece of paper from off the pavement, so he doesn’t see the fear in my eyes.

He continues to talk as I read over the discarded flyer. “Some evacuated, others stayed put, and the rest are dead. This is the direct result of Thornberry’s control.”

I only half listen to what Moose is saying. I stare at the sheet of paper I held in my hand. “This says all residents are to report for testing and decontamination? What is this? What happened here, Moose?”

He gets up off the bench and continues to walk up the street, signaling me to follow. “It was all a lie. Thornberry convinced everyone that there had been an outbreak of some sort of super-flu. A special strain, he told them. Not surprisingly, everyone got into a huge panic and followed instructions to get tested for the virus. Others, who weren’t quite convinced, fled. You’d think people would be wary of anything labeled a super-flu. It’s so cliché.”

“I don’t understand. What super-flu?” A choice few statements by Moose has my mind flooded with questions. “Where did they go? Those that fled.”

We only go up another block before Moose brushed off debris and trash from one of the benches on the sidewalk and sat back down again. Neither of us bothered to look at each other as he continued to explain. Instead, we focused our attention on the graffitied walls from the abandoned buildings across the street.

“It’s not that complicated, really. Thornberry arrived in this reality in 2011, and in nine years’ time, he managed not only to destroy this place, but most of the major cities in the United States and abroad.”

“Why Alexandria? The District’s just across the Potomac,” I point out. “I would think attacking Washington would be on his list of priorities.” I can totally picture someone trying to take over the world from our nation’s capitol. But to what end?

“That’s kind of the point. Being within spitting distance from the nation’s capital has its advantages when you’re trying to take over the world. Washington was always in his sights, but he preferred to watch from the sidelines.”

“What about the rest of the world? How did he manage to take control?”

“With a very dedicated army, exclusively developed by him.”

“Developed?” That’s right. I forgot he said something about a genetically engineered army moments ago. I wonder if this anything to do with the paperwork my dad had hidden away. Papers that explained not only my powers, but files that detailed others like me.

“Thornberry managed to duplicate the serum that can manifest powers such as yours.”

“You mean my telekinesis?” This time, I’m not afraid to talk about my abilities. It’s like there’s something about Moose that makes me feel safe. He has a calming effect. Like he knows how I feel and knows how to pace the information he’s giving me. “I’m not sure I follow.”

“At some point in time, Thornberry was able to extract your blood. In short, he used it to develop a serum to create a super military force.”

“By just using my blood.”

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t just yours I’m afraid. The testing’s for the super-flu I spoke about earlier? Well, that was just a smokescreen for Thornberry to test others with similar abilities.”

“I wasn’t aware there were others with powers aside from those that were involved in my father’s research study. I found my father’s research papers that implied he and Thornberry experimented on us as children and that I was the catalyst.” I now recall seeing Moose’s name among the names of those that were involved.

“For a long time, that’s what we thought. Your father was in charge of a project designed to manifest abilities in children. The further we dug into your father’s research, we discovered that they weren’t only to create manufactured psionic abilities in others, they were trying to replicate it. At first, they assumed you were the only one born with this type of ability… ” He lets the sentence run off so I can absorb what he’s telling me.

“You all were born with abilities too,” I finish for him.

“You, me, Cooper, Jenny, the twins… all of us. We were all brought together so that your father and research team could isolate the source of our abilities. When Thornberry came up with the idea to use it to his advantage, your father ended the program. Only the Prometheus Project didn’t end with your father. This future is now our responsibility.”

“I don’t understand. From what Cooper and Maggie have told me, my father was a physicist. How would he even be interested in something like genetics?”

“You father was a pretty brilliant scientist. Yes, he was a physicist, but when he realized you could travel not only through time, but dimensions as well, his research moved towards another direction. He still saw the project as a means to travel to other alternate universes. He combined what knowledge he had of chemistry and genetics to further his research.”

This doesn’t make much sense either. “Dumb question, but I don’t see the connection between time-travel and genetics. Or even why Thornberry did all this for that matter. ”

“It was your abilities that gave your father the big breakthrough he’d been searching for. As for Thornberry, well, there’s never any logic or reason for madness.”

“Through me? How is it possible for me to travel? I’ve never done it before.” I know I’m capable of doing
something
. I can make things move with my mind whenever I get upset, but time traveling? Going to other dimensions?

“When you were a little girl, your father used to take you on his travels. He realized that by simply being with you, you could transport to other timelines.”

As he continues to talk about my childhood, one that I myself don’t remember, I get sidetracked once again by the empty street in front of us. The lack of people around makes me nervous. It struck me that perhaps we could be in danger. “How are we able to just sit out here out in the open? Aren’t we in danger just hanging out like this?”

Moose shakes his head. “Not really. I mean, there’s a risk, but I can sense emotions. Anyone that comes within a few feet from us, I’ll know it. Besides, I wanted you to see what happens to the world.”

I nod in understanding. “Now what?”

He stands up and offers me his hand. “Do you trust me enough to show you something?” He pauses for a second before my hand reaches his. “Better yet, can I trust you?”

I nod. “You can trust me.”

Present Reality

M
oose’s revelations are completely mind blowing. If there was ever any doubt about what I have to do, he just pushed me further into their corner. I’m still not entirely convinced that I have to go back with Cooper, but Moose certainly helped put things in perspective.

He drops me off about a block away from work. We were gone much longer than I anticipated, but I head straight to the office, expecting the worse. Is it even worth going in at this point? Maybe I can still call in sick. Or Audrey might still be in court and won’t even notice I’ve been missing.

But I walk into a ticking time bomb instead.

“You’re late,” she accuses, sitting at my desk. “It so late, in fact, you might as well have played hooky.”

Audrey doesn’t look at all pleased that I’ve basically taken the whole day off going off with Moose and I can’t say I blame her. I had my cell on me, the least I could have done was lie and call in sick.
Too late now.

“I’m sorry, Audrey. I guess I wasn’t feeling so well.” After what I just went through, it’s an honest admission. I’ve never called in sick before, so perhaps she’ll buy it.

“That’s no excuse, Etta. You’ve always been an exemplary employee. Is there something going on? Something you want to talk to me about?” Her words sound caring, but I can tell by her underlying tone that she really doesn’t care if something’s troubling me, so there’s no point in explaining.

It’s not like Audrey to be so cold and uncaring. She’s sounds like she’s concerned about me, though only on a superficial level. In all the years I’ve worked for her, she’s always treated me like a sister, not an uptight micro-managing boss. Sure, she’s a demanding boss, but she’s always been great to work for. I slip up this one time and she’s all wound up about it. She must really be pissed about me coming in late.

“No, nothing going on. I just overslept and since I’d already filed all your motions yesterday, I figured you wouldn’t miss me.”

Audrey’s determined to make a point out of my lateness. “Our voice mail was full with clients calling. Not to mention the fact that no one was here to greet anyone. What’s wrong with you? You
know
I was in court all day.”

Yeah, that’s why I figured you wouldn’t notice.
“I’m sorry, Audrey, really. Am I fired?”

A sigh escapes Audrey. “No. Although maybe I should fire you.
But
, I do need to keep an eye on you, so for now, you get to keep your job.”

Keep an eye on me? What is she, my mother? Okay, that’s not being entirely fair to Audrey. It’s my job to show up on time and be here, not go galavanting with guys from an alternate universe.

And of course, at the most inopportune moment, my best friend just happens to walk into the office.
Great
. Now Audrey will think I entertain my friends while on the job. This is just what I need right after being chastised not two seconds ago.

“Etta! I—” Jaime notices Audrey sitting at my desk, glaring at the two of us and stops. “Oh, hi, Audrey.”

“Jaime. How nice of you to stop by,” Audrey says, in a not so welcoming way. “Please, come in, sit. I’m sure you have much to talk about with you friend here. I’ll leave you two alone.”

Audrey doesn’t have to be all sarcastic about it, which makes me feel worse about the whole situation. Why couldn’t I tell Moose I’d go to the future with him tomorrow on my day off? God, just the idea sounds even more ridiculous in my head.

“What’s up with her?” Jaime asks.

“Oh, not much. Got busted coming in late today. Like really late. Like three hours late.”

“Jeez, Etta. What were you doing? More importantly, who were you with? I got a phone call from Alex. He told me you two are splitsville.”

“Is that why you came storming in here? To lecture me about my relationships?” What the hell is going on with her? I certainly don’t have to defend by behavior to her.

“I asked you first. Who were you with, Etta? Was it Cooper?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but no. I was with a friend. Which is more than I can say about you at the moment.”

“That’s not fair. You have no idea what I’ve gone through in order to be your friend.”

“Yeah, about that. You keep saying how you’re supposed to watch over me and now you’re implying that it’s been hard being my friend. What the hell?”

Of course, Audrey chooses this time to pop back into the main office, just as I’ve put Jaime in a corner. To my surprise, she doesn’t say anything about our argument, nor our raised voices.

“I’m off to run some errands. I trust you two will work whatever is you two are fighting about before I get back. Oh, and if a client walks in, please try to keep it civilized.”

Call me crazy, but something about the way Audrey strolls out and nods to Jaime as she walks out the door doesn’t sit well with me. I watch as Audrey leaves and I turn my attention back to Jaime. In the last twenty minutes, they’ve both indicated that they’ve kept watch over me, and that coupled with their obviously phony contempt for one another is enough for me to question what’s really going on.

“Why do I have the feeling you know something?” My internal instincts have never steered me wrong. Not only can I feel something’s wrong, but I can see it written all over Jaime’s face—she’s hiding something. My eyes follow her every twitch and jitter as I wait for her to answer. “I’m going to find out, so you might as well spill it.”

I also know that if I push her, she’ll cave. If only I’d known she was keeping something from me, I would have done this sooner. Jaime tries to act tough, but I’ve always known it was an act. In reality, she makes up for what I think is a low self-esteem. I’ve always forgiven and admired her over-the-top dramatics, but not now, not today.