JACKIE:
It’s such a rush when the sparks fall and surround me. A wave of ecstasy flowed through me. For a few brief moments, my mind was completely still. No self-doubts, no limitations. Only knowing that the probabilities are endless. There’s so much to choose from, and it’s all so breathtaking.
I let the portals dance around until, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a drone pop into a nearby stream. I went closer to investigate. Two drones came out a few moments later and zipped to the next portal. I looked around and realized the drones were everywhere, like ants at a picnic. They were infesting this place, darting in and out of portals looking for…
“What are they looking for? How did they even get in? Is Beatrice up to new tricks?”
I’d grill her later, but for now, I had to decide what stream to experience next. I walked around a bit, calling out for Firestorm.
No answer.
I desperately hoped he was okay.
“If I can’t help my real father, maybe I should see my Pops one more time. Maybe he’ll know what to do.”
In the flurry of my overnight promotion at Life Rite, I never had time to say goodbye to Baxter. The perfect portal presented itself and engulfed me.
I woke up in the Life Rite hospital room in the gown that exposed my backside. My gunshot wound was fresh. I forgot that detail. It sucked to experience that pain again. It must have been torture for Firestorm to relive his days in the cage to show me the truth of Life Rite’s history.
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I winced as I sat up in bed. I hadn’t mastered taking my physical body into the slipstream, but learned how to experience the streams fully rather than watching on the outskirts. Now the portals I entered immersed me fully, and therefore, I was able to act through the familiar scenes in new ways to change the experience.
The door opened, and this time, I knew who it was.
“Hey Beatrice,” I said casually. “Nice dress. Have Jeffrey add it to my closet.”
“Excuse me?” Beatrice asked.
Her sidekick drone, Alpha, followed her inside.
“Please, don’t get up,” she added. “You’re hurt and need to rest.”
“I’m fine. I’d like to see my Pops, Baxter.”
“Jackie Cooper is the janitor involved in Incident R64,” Alpha said robotically.
“Ah, yes, Jackie. I remember you.” Beatrice smiled. “What an eventful week for you.”
“Enough with the small talk. Where’s Baxter?”
“I’m not sure who you’re talking about.” Beatrice went into her now-clearly prepared speech. “Well, Jackie. I have good news and bad news for you.”
“I have the PX virus. Yes, I’ll be your little test subject and even give you my blood. Trust me, you’re going to want it. But first, take me to see Baxter.”
Beatrice gave me a sincere look of sympathy. “I’m sorry, Jackie. He didn’t make it.”
Her words felt like a punch in the gut. Beatrice told me she tried to save him, but now I knew the truth. She never treated him at all. Geez, she was so manipulative!
Tears came to my eyes as I thought about him dying in the street. I had to go back further in time, to the moment before he got shot. Maybe I could alter the timeline and save his life.
I looked Beatrice dead in the eye and said, “You’re locked in a cage in another stream somewhere.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.”
Beatrice squinted at me, piecing together the new information I spewed. But it didn’t matter. This felt like an old simulation now.
I focused my attention elsewhere and slipped out of that stream.
Back in the void, surrounded by the sea of probabilities, I ran through the tunnels, searching for that fateful morning when Baxter and I stumbled upon that checkpoint.
Where was it? The slipstream was a confusing place.
After searching for a while, the right portal presented itself to me. I took a deep breath and entered, ready to change the past and finally save my Pops.