GHOST FROM THE PAST

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Will stepped off the train onto the bustling fiftieth floor. The crowd swelled with each passing second, and Will bumped shoulders with businessmen and office workers as he made his way through the throng. Fortunately, he caught the last train before the evening rush; otherwise, he would have been stranded at the station for quite a while.

Will stepped out of the milling crowd and walked away from the congested platforms, with his phone pressed against his ear. It rang for quite a while before it was picked up.

Becca finally answered the call. "I'm at the station, Will. Where are you?"

"I just stepped off the train," said Will. "Send me your location, and I'll pick you up."

"Okay."

Will waited for a couple of seconds, and his slate buzzed. He gave the map a quick glance before heading towards Becca. A minute later, he found her standing between two shops away from the crowd. She gave a small wave as soon as she spotted him.

Will pushed past the crowd and was at her side a few seconds later. "Have you been waiting long?"

"No," said Becca. "Where is Remy? He said he would be here."

"He is at the freight station," said Will. "Come on."

Becca walked beside him for a bit before it hit her. "Wait, the freight station? How do we get in there?"

Will jerked his head towards the utilities section, and Becca caught sight of the 'employees only' signboard.

"Will..." Becca sighed. "There are so many people here."

"All the better to blend in with," said Will, and pulled his hood up, obscuring his face. Becca sighed and followed suit. They quickly approached the utilities section, and Will flashed the keycard against the barred door. There was a soft click, and the door swung open.

Will stepped inside, and Becca rushed in afterwards as if her pants were on fire. The door swung closed behind them, and she sighed in relief.

"Come on," said Will. "Make sure to stick close to me."

Becca nodded, and Will proceeded down the long, narrow corridor and took the stairs at the end. He escorted her through a maze of channels before they finally arrived at the station warehouse.

Will put a finger to his lips and motioned for Becca to stay behind him. She nodded and followed Will into the warehouse. Stacks of crates were placed in a grid pattern, and bots darted in between them, adding and removing boxes.

They froze as Will approached them. The strobing lights coming from his jacket gave them pause, and they stuttered to a stop before ignoring him completely. Will moved through the warehouse with Becca on his heels. More bots froze as they saw him, and they went back to work as soon as he was out of their way.

They were out of the storage section a minute later and found three heavy transport vert-trains waiting to be loaded. In front of the last one was Remy, his jacket strobing chaotically. The brunette looked up from his slate and grinned when he spotted them. He stepped into the waiting train and waved them in.

Will and Becca followed Remy. The train was stacked full of crates, and the bots rushed about securing each box. Will stepped out of their way and made his way towards the produce section where he found Remy lounging on one of the sacks of flour. Will plopped right next to him while Becca looked at the flour bags and sighed. Despite her reluctance, she didn't complain and carefully sat on one of the bags.

Letting out another sigh, she was about to speak when Will shook his head. He jerked his thumb towards the bots, and Becca understood. They remained silent until they had left the carriage, and the train doors slammed shut.

Remy grinned and clapped his hands. "Finally!"

The train shook as it disengaged from its docking port. A low rumble filled the carriage as the train picked up speed, and it soon descended at a steady clip.

"Okay, Remy, spill," said Will. "What did you find?"

"A lot," Remy waved his slate. "Our doctor is quite an interesting guy."

"Where does he live?"

"Whoa, hold on," said Remy. "I've got to give the backstory first to get you caught up. There's no point in getting to the end without the start."

"You're stalling just to milk the drama," said Becca. "Just tell us where he lives."

Will looked at Remy expectantly, and he sighed.

"Fine. He lives on Tower floor 20."

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Will groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Remy, we could have just met you on floor 20. Why did you drag us all the way to 50?"

"Because of her," Remy pointed at Becca.

"What, me?" Becca looked offended.

"It's evening rush," said Remy. "We would have never made it to twenty quickly. That's why I brought everyone here. Also, this gives you time to catch up on everything."

Will glanced at Becca and snorted. "You were right. He wanted to hold us hostage to brag."

Becca chuckled and shook her head.

"Alright! Alright! Settle down," said Remy and tapped his slate a few times. "Here, I've sent a file."

Will fished out his slate before it pinged and spotted the dossier on the doctor as soon as it arrived. He quickly opened the document and scanned through it.

There was a lot of information, but Will focused on the most salient points. "It says here that he graduated from Samberg with a doctorate in psionotronics. Most of his academic papers are about crystal printing of some kind, and he is a leading expert in biological interactions and etherite crystals."

Becca looked up from her slate. "You said there was a story here? What am I looking at?"

Remy tapped his slate. "Start from his medical history, and I'll fill in the rest."

Will scrolled through the file and found the section. His eyes widened as he read further. "He had psiono-signature deficiency?"

"Yup," said Remy.

"What is it?" asked Becca.

"It's a milder form of APS," Will said, clutching his metal leg. "At least the initial stage of it. There are a higher number of cases of it in the Tower since the signature is so static, and people aren't exposed to varying signatures."

"Yes," said Remy. "Luckily for the doctor, they caught it early, and he was able to live a relatively normal life. His eleven-year-old son, though, didn't share his luck. He had the same condition and suffered a major attack which left him half paralyzed."

"That's horrible," said Becca.

Remy nodded. "The incident left quite an impression on the doctor. Most of his work is based around field manipulation of biological etherite crystals. He has several patents on artificial field projection. The radioactive suits that we got were based on his work. They are cheaper and a lot more efficient. In a fundraiser a few years back, he said that his primary goal in pursuing the sciences was to eradicate the disease so that people of the world would be able to live under the sun once again."

"That's quite noble," said Becca.

Will frowned and gripped his prosthetic leg. "This could be just a fluff piece. I'll believe it when I see it."

Remy nodded. "His work earned him quite a reputation and the academies lauded him as a saint. He was a rising star in their circle, but all that changed five years back."

"What happened?" Becca leaned forward, now genuinely interested.

Remy looked pleased, and Will couldn't help but let out a wry smile. They were both now fully engaged, just as Remy had intended.

He cleared his throat before answering. "It all changed when the doctor received an invite from Langen-Huber."

"The defense contractor?" asked Becca.

"Yes," Remy nodded. "The doctor accepted their offer, and the honeymoon period between the doctor and the academies ended."

"Why would he accept?" asked Becca. "What did Langen-Huber offer him?"

"Money," Will suggested.

"I don't know," said Becca. "I think there is something more to this."

Will glanced at Remy. "Do you have any ideas on what he was working on?"

Remy scrolled through his slate. "During his time at Langen, he published several papers on artificial crystal printing, and his latest work involved printing on a natural crystalline substrate as a base layer."

"What does that mean?" asked Becca.

Will scratched his chin as he stared at Remy, who had a wide grin on his face.

"It means that they managed to print an artificial crystal on top of a biological one," Remy pointed at Will's shattered leg. "Just like this one."

Silence filled the carriage as the trio stared at the prosthetic leg. Will felt the shard pulse under his skin with a steady rhythm that matched his heart.

"So, the argument about whether it was natural or manmade is moot," said Will.

"Yup, it had always been both," said Remy.

The carriage rumbled as the train slowed down and came to a stop. The doors clanged open, and bots spilled into the carriage. They strapped the boxes they were carrying in place. Once satisfied that all the crates were secure, the bots exited the train as quickly as they had entered. With the bots gone, the carriage doors slammed shut once again, and the trio waited for the train to pick up speed before speaking.

"Okay," said Remy. "With that out of the way, now we get to the really interesting part."

"Hold on, there's more?" asked Becca.

Remy nodded and turned to Will. "Steady yourself. This one is going to hit close to home."

Will frowned as his slate pinged again and he received a couple of photographs. In the picture, Dr. Leibowitz was sitting in a cafeteria with a couple of his colleagues. They all wore matching white lab coats.

Will zoomed in on the name tags. "Ike Galaway and Frederick Seymour. Who are they?"

"Researchers who worked with the doctor," said Remy. "I don't know much about them, but I ran into something interesting when I checked their backgrounds. Some very interesting names popped up."

Remy sent a few more files, and Will received the dossier of two military officers with the surnames Galaway and Seymour.

"Okay, they are related to people in the military," said Will. "There is nothing odd about that."

"Look at the date of birth," said Remy.

Will scrolled to the section that mentioned the date and froze. He shook his head and looked again.

"How are they eighty years old?" Becca exclaimed. "They look barely thirty. And this... real-time age and subjected-time-shifted age? What is this?"

Will stared at the slate, gripping it tight between his fingers.

"What is it, Will?" Becca asked. "What's wrong?"

Will didn't answer and continued to stare at the date.

"There is more," said Remy, and sent more files.

Will's slate pinged again, and dossiers came pouring in. They were of military officers of different ranks, but all of them had the same discrepancy in their ages. All over eighty years old.

"Wait..." Becca said slowly, comprehension dawning. "Time slows down beyond the gate. Remy, this..."

"How are they related to Langen-Huber, Remy?" asked Will. "Where is the connection?"

"Look at the last file," said Remy.

Will scrolled to the final file and opened the dossier. It was another officer, green-eyed and square-jawed, with a head full of white hair. A scar ran around his neck, and Will's blood froze as he met the officer's steely gaze.

"General Walter Tennyson Brask," said Remy. "He still leads the same Displacer battalion that got pulled into the gate fifty years ago, and now is a major stockholder in Langen-Huber. Not just Langen, he has connections to several defense contractors, and most of the department heads are all related to him by proxy."

"Pulled into the gate?" Becca turned to Will. "That was fifty years ago! Do you know him, Will?"

Will gripped the slate to steady himself. It was fifty years past Final October, and everything had come full circle. His eyes bore into the General's green. "He was the commanding officer of the battalion that protected my family when the gate collapsed. All these officers are Displacers."