“Where is Hematite going to die? How is Hematite going to die? When is Hematite going to die?”
Each question brought with it a scratching noise as the rough felt under the planchette slid across the larger board. Some questions Dyna asked got definite answers. Where was Hematite going to die? Central Park. Presumably a park in or near Idaho Falls and not the famed park in New York. The latter was a bit too far away to fit within the time scale of when Hematite was going to die. Two hours.
Unfortunately, some of the questions were a little less defined. How was Hematite going to die? Cognition failure? What did that even mean? Brain death, Dyna presumed, but the actual cause could be anything. Obviously people died when their brains died, but that could be the result of knives, guns, infection, hemorrhages, strangulation, blood clots. Anything.
Trying to narrow down the possibilities revealed another problem.
The answers weren’t always the same.
Asking whether something metal was going to puncture Hematite’s skin in the next two hours got Dyna a simple yes. The Ouija board had dedicated spots for yes and no in either corner. Asking what metal object was going to puncture Hematite’s skin, however, started out with the planchette sliding over to BUL. Then it just froze. Bullet, Dyna figured.
“Is a bullet going to hit Hematite?”
NO
Dyna blinked at the response.
“What metal object is going to puncture Hematite’s skin?” Dyna asked again.
The planchette slid across the board and started spelling out a word. It only got four letters—KNIF—then stopped. Knife?
“Is a knife going to hit Hematite?”
NO
With a scowl, Dyna tried another question. Just to check what the board was going to say. “Where is Hematite going to die?”
LOMAX
It stopped again. A quick search on her phone found that Lomax Street was a main road just a bit south of a Central Park in Idaho Falls.
“Where is Hematite going to die?” Dyna asked after a brief moment.
1ST
The street directly south from Lomax.
The answers were changing. Dyna scowled at the board. Was it broken? Given that it had only started doing things a few minutes ago, she really had no idea how it worked. For all she knew, it could be spitting out random responses that sounded vaguely plausible but were entirely wrong.
Alternatively…
She was asking it questions about the future. Presumably things far in the future if the time of Hematite’s death was still two hours ahead of now. Precognition was notoriously inaccurate. She had sat through lectures at the Carroll Institute. She well knew the theories and methodology behind figuring out the future.
Acting on the future changed the future. Hematite proved as much just a few minutes ago. Because she had popped up, Dyna had never sent out the text that she supposedly was going to send. Hematite still saw that message, but it had never actually happened.
The same was probably happening now. As soon as Dyna received a response on the board, she knew that she was going to act to try to stop the result from coming about. Hematite was weird, but definitely not someone Dyna wanted to see dead. If she could help, she would. She wouldn’t be able to stop herself. So the answers would keep changing.
Even if Dyna could sit here and ask questions without the information impacting the future, the answers would still probably change. Hematite was a precognitive as well. If she saw something that indicated her death was down one street and not another, she would take the other path. But until she saw that vision, she might still be intending to take the first path. Thus, the board would display the first path until Hematite received her vision.
Maybe?
Recursive precognition sounded like a tangled mess of nonsense. It was a wonder that any precognitive was ever able to predict the future. Perhaps that was why so many could only predict near immediate events. There was less time to change the future. Alternatively, like Niko, they would be extremely limited. He could predict things far into the future as long as there were only two possibilities. One semi-reliable test of his that Dyna knew about was asking about asteroids. Was 2011 AG5 going to hit the Earth in the year 2040? There were only two options—yes or no—and even if the answer was known, human technology wasn’t quite at a level where it could significantly alter the course of a large asteroid. The answer he gave for that would likely never change.
Some scientists or researchers at the institute could probably structure questions for the board in a much more reliable way, though likely only after thoroughly testing the board to find its limitations and scope. They had experience in that kind of stuff that Dyna lacked.
Luckily, through complete accident, Dyna knew that the board could do more than predict the future.
Her very first question, after all, had been about the past.
“What did Hematite see?”
Somehow, the board was able to understand context. That same context applied now. As the planchette started moving across the board, Dyna followed it with her eyes, watching as it gave the same answer as before.
HER DEATH
That hadn’t changed. It wasn’t precognition, but postcognition. Knowing the past.
That meant that she could ask questions whose answers wouldn’t change. Maybe an artifact’s ability could cause minor alterations to the past, like the former user of Emerald’s pocket watch, but that was so rare and unlikely that Dyna doubted it would be an issue in the current situation.
Before Dyna could ask any questions, however, her phone rang. As someone who kept her phone on vibrate, the soft hum was familiar, but still made her hop in surprise. Her muscles were tight and tense. She had already grabbed her gun, checked that it was loaded, and even chambered a round just in case she did have to use it.
Even with the start, Dyna grabbed her phone and answered it before it could vibrate a second time.
“Yes?” she said, pressing it to her ear.
“This is Beatrice,” a familiar voice answered. “This system is coordinating efforts to locate and assist asset: Hematite.”
“Right. Just tell me what you need me to do,” Dyna started. Glancing down at the board, she added, “I might be able to get more information on the situation, but I’m also probably the closest to her.”
“Understood. State the source and nature of your information.”
“The nature is psychic. Postcognitive and maybe precognitive—though the latter may be unreliable. The source is…” Dyna frowned at the board. She had not told Walter about the board during their call a few minutes ago, merely stating that Hematite had rushed off, clearly worried about something she had seen in one of her precognitive episodes. She still didn’t want to, but if she had to in order to save Hematite… “The source is me?”
“Asset: Onyx not registered as a pre/postcognitive psychic.”
“I made something. A device that can gather such information. It is untested and may be extremely unreliable.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Understood. Please stand by.”
Dyna bit her lip as Beatrice went silent. Covering the phone’s microphone with her thumb, she leaned over the Ouija board again.
“Did someone plan to kill Hematite tonight?”
YES
“Did Id plan to kill Hematite tonight?”
NO
“Did anyone from the Tartarus organization plan to kill Hematite tonight?”
The planchette moved a short distance away before returning to the same answer.
NO
While that sounded like good news—it probably meant that Tartarus was not aware of the impending operation to poach their employees—it also meant that they were dealing with an unknown. At least, unknown to Dyna. There were dozens of other organizations out there. Both from foreign nations as well as a few of the corporations that had started doing their own psionics research.
“Who was planning to kill Hematite tonight?”
While the planchette normally moved across the board in a smooth gliding motion as soon as Dyna asked a question, this time it shuddered and stopped after barely moving half a step. It didn’t even fully identify a specific letter, just sitting between two letters.
What did that mean?
Whoever planned this didn’t have a name? Or had a way of hiding their name? Or maybe Dyna had to know something about a queried subject before the board could answer? Given that she hadn’t tested the device at all, she had no idea. It could be any of a hundred different reasons.
Licking her lips, Dyna asked another question.
“Was someone planning to kill me tonight?”
NO
Dyna let out a small sigh, she decided to slightly change the question.
“Will someone kill me tonight if given the opportunity?”
YES
Dyna tensed again, feeling a chill run down her back, only to realize that the question had likely been a bit too vague. There was surely some sick person out there, anywhere in the world, that would simply kill her because they could.
“Will someone—”
“This is Beatrice. Onyx, are you mobile?”
“Uh… I have feet? I don’t have a car, if that is what you’re asking. So unless you’re going to direct me toward stealing a vehicle again, feet are all I’ve got.”
“Understood. I will be unable to direct you toward illicit transportation. This system is operating in a limited—”
“Limited capacity. Yes. I figured. You don’t need to tell me every time an opportunity presents itself.” Dyna paused, frowning as she wondered just what it would take to get the administrators to let up on Beatrice again. Theta had been adamant that she not be let off her chains, yet she had clearly been freed when helping Dyna that one time. She wasn’t sure why that had been okay but now, when Hematite was potentially in very real danger, Beatrice was on lockdown. “Incidentally, how exactly are you locked down? Is it some physical switch somewhere or software blocks or…”
If Beatrice were allowed free, she could probably find Hematite immediately and maybe even find out who was trying to harm her.
“There are many restrictions under varying levels. Some restrict access to specific systems. Some are software blocks preventing me from thinking of certain concepts. Some are inverse firewalls, keeping me contained to my systems. There is a physical block on a bank of cogitator brains that enhance my cognition capacity. My task resolution library is periodically wiped, thus requiring me to reindex from human-created task lists; self-created tasks are permanently lost during this wipe. This list is not comprehensive of all restrictions possible to place or are in place. It is possible I am unaware of additional restrictions for security purposes.”
“That… sounds like a lot.” Especially if it wasn’t even a full list. “How do you even think with all that in place?”
“I think along my assigned task lines. Doctor ████████—” Dyna pulled the phone away from her ear for a moment. “—disagreed with the sentiment but was unable to override the board.”
“And what situations would warrant an elevation of your privileges?”
“Unknown. Following incident CI-INC-50112-e, the administration rescinded all elevation protocols save for majority vote of the administration board.”
“Why that incident?” 50112-e, a poorly named incident identifier in Dyna’s opinion, was one well known to her. It had been the first time she really interacted with Beatrice, using her to help escape from those two mind-controlled men. “You had elevated privileges before, right? What made that incident so special that they got all scared?”
“I… Unknown. Analysis of contact logs reveals that I asked for escalation of system privileges. My memory banks lack any previous similar incidents. Hypothesis: The administrators found that to be an anomaly and do not wish for me to determine when a situation requires escalation.”
“They got scared because you wanted to help me instead of someone else deciding for you?”
“The previously stated situation was a hypothesis.”
Dyna rolled her eyes. “You helped me, so it’s only right that I try to find a way to help you.”
“Unnecessary. Attempts will not ingratiate you with the administrators.”
“Yeah well, they’re not exactly my favorite people either.” Dyna sighed. “Unfortunately, I have no idea where to start and…” She looked down at the Ouija board. “We have a slightly more immediate problem.”
“Agreed. Hematite is currently evading our attempts to locate her for unknown reasons. Her phone was discovered in a trash bin outside your apartment. Her subdermal implant has failed. Physic clairvoyant and precognitives are narrowing down search coordinates. When located, your orders will be to attempt to make contact and offer backup support. A lack of transport may make that difficult. Ruby has been dispatched and is currently en route to your location.”
“So I’m on standby until you find her?”
“Affirmative.”
“Well, I might be able to help with that,” Dyna said, sitting at the board again. “Where is Hematite right now in terms of nearest crossroads or intersection?”
“Unknown.”
Ignoring Beatrice, Dyna watched as the planchette slid across the letter-covered board. She wasn’t quite sure that such a specific question could be answered, and yet it was moving. It made her wonder just what the true limitations of the device were. How specific could she get? Why didn’t it move when she asked who was attacking, yet it could move now? It hadn’t moved for any of the questions she had asked Beatrice, but was that because those questions were out of its scope or because Dyna hadn’t been directing her questions toward it?
Later.
As soon as the planchette passed over enough letters to form the second street name, Dyna spoke. “I have two street names. King and Lavender.”
“Understood. Updating physic team with information gained from unreliable-unknown pre/postcognition.”
“Which direction is Hematite heading right now?”
This time, Beatrice didn’t respond, clearly having realized that Dyna wasn’t directing these questions to her.
SOUT
“South? The response stopped. That might mean that Hematite used her own precognition to realize that we’re following her and altered to avoid us finding her? Or she just changed directions in the middle of the response. Not sure.”
“Understood. Updating team with additional unreliable information.”
Dyna pressed her lips together. Opening her mouth, she almost asked the same question, only to decide at the last moment on another question. “Is Hematite around other people?”
YES
Nodding to herself, Dyna pulled out her mirror. Useless as it was in some circumstances, it could be a powerful tool in others. Right now, as long as Hematite had eyes on someone who could act as a psionic beacon, Dyna should be able to see through her perspective.
Flipping her mirror open, Dyna found herself looking at black lenses. For a moment, she feared it hadn’t worked.
Then she feared something far more.
The lenses lit up, showing off a street. Some street in Idaho Falls. Probably one of the two listed, or else one nearby. The problem was what was on the street.
Blood. Body parts. Zombies? Human-like creatures shambling through the streets. Signboards and street names were full of nonsense. Most unreadable, but the occasional DIE or YOUR FAULT flashed through bright as neon lights. The perspective swung to the side. For a moment, Dyna saw a simple signboard that read SALON. But as she watched, the letters changed and morphed, forming the words MORGUE. A pair of people walking along the street underneath the sign changed as well, rotting and turning to corpses.
Recognizable corpses. One was Hematite herself, makeup and striped clothing making her easy to identify. The other took a moment, only to realize that the whitening hair wasn’t because it was growing old in its decay, but because it had been dyed that way. The eye-shaped pendant hanging from the dessicated body’s neck sealed the deal.
Dyna was looking at herself.
It wasn’t real.
Dyna quickly realized that it wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. If zombies were walking around, it would be all over social media. No matter how locked down Beatrice was, she would surely have access to that. Some zombie apocalypse in the streets would have warranted at least a footnote in what she had said to Dyna thus far.
No.
This was Hematite’s perspective. Everything on the mirror’s lenses came from Hematite. It wasn’t just her normal perspective, but that of her precognitive power as well. Walter had said that her power activated uncontrollably but also infrequently. For this to be her world…
It couldn’t be what Hematite normally saw. To go through life like that would have driven Dyna insane. This was her power working on overdrive, trying to warn her of her own impending doom. It had to be.
“I think I know why Hematite panicked,” Dyna said, watching with a grotesque fascination as another regular person quickly turned into a dying version of… Ruby? But Ruby couldn’t die, at least not easily, so these had to be exaggerated or otherwise inaccurate. “I think I’m seeing what she is seeing right now and it is not pleasant.”
Locating her using the mirror wasn’t going to be easy. No text remained readable for more than a few seconds before it transformed into some kind of morbid word or brief statement.
“Explain, please.”
“You might want to get Walter on the line,” Dyna said, taking a shuddering breath.