JACKIE:

I meandered down the hallways of Camp Claudi. My first stop was my old kiln room from the previous probability when Beatrice and I teamed up. I had spent countless hours in there with my very own fire portal into the slipstream. My mom had no idea that I had my own memories of this place and our complicated family dynamics.

Luckily, the room wasn’t locked. In this lifetime, abandoned lab equipment filled the space. Familiar, but different. A reminder that I was still an outsider within my own family.

The sound of shuffling feet put me on high alert. Around the corner, several local workers carried boxes into a nearby room.

I slid into their assembly line as if I belonged and grabbed the last box from their stack. No one noticed as I followed them inside.

When they put their boxes down and filed out of the room, I stayed. The door locked behind them, leaving me alone with a treasure trove of potential clues. Score!

I opened the nearest box and looked inside. Three ring binders and payroll slips. Boring. The next box was full of tools and computer equipment. What form would my next clue take? I had no idea what to look for.

The sound of a DNA Identifier against the keypad shook me. I swallowed my heart and crept into the shadows, so as not to be seen by whoever was coming. I hid behind a bunch of old mops in the corner. Once a janitor, always a janitor, I guess. You’d be surprised what you can learn when no one sees you.

My camouflage worked. Mark and Feraz walked into the room, oblivious of my presence.

“What’s your secret, sir?” Feraz asked. “An innovator in multiple fields of commerce. It’s so impressive. How do you do it?”

Mark shrugged. “Follow the muse, my boy. You never know where it will take you. Now, where did those idiots put it? They better not have crushed my baby. I love this thing almost as much as I love Grace.”

Feraz’s chuckle was over the top. What a brown noser.

Mark opened the box of tools and pushed it to the side. His treasure lay underneath. From the next box, he pulled out an early prototype of Alpha! It looked exactly the same as the last probability except for its trim was red instead of blue.

“Wow, it’s really something. What does it do?” Feraz asked.

“Let me show you.” Mark powered Alpha up. “Get ready to be amazed.”

Feraz licked his lips like a kid in a candy store.

Alpha’s iris opened with a clicking sound.

Mark explained, “At first, I made the drone to deliver Life Rite’s face creams, but I realized that’s only the beginning. We can attach so many functions. Surveillance connected to DNA Identifiers, of course. Medical devices… Hell, even weapons. The uses are endless.”

“Is it… smart?”

Mark chuckled and rested his hand on Feraz’s shoulder. “Smarter than you or me. It can analyze any batch of the competitor’s face creams to reverse engineer their ingredients. They’ll be shut down by next quarter. We already dominate the market, but image complete annihilation.”

“Incredible, sir. Truly incredible. I’d love to help with this endeavor. I was going to do my summer internship at Pearson, but this opportunity is much more exciting. What an honor to work with you again, sir.”

“That’s great to hear, Feraz. You’d be a real asset. How’s your father doing these days?”

“Vacationing on the Amalfi coast with a woman other than my mother.”

Mark laughed. “That old dog. Tell him I said hi.”

“Will do, sir.”

“Tell me, Feraz. How’s Grace doing?”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Fine, sir.”

“I mean, how’s she really doing? Ever since her mother died, I’m… I don’t know… It’s harder to connect.”

Feraz smiled. “Don’t worry, sir. She’s in good hands with me.”

“That’s great to hear. I caught wind this trip might hold some special surprises? Anything important I need to know about?”

Before Feraz responded, the keypad beeped. Someone else scanned their DNA Identifier to get into the room, but were denied access. They knocked instead.

“Who is it?” Mark asked.

A mumbled voice came through the steel door. “Stevenson, sir.”

Mark opened the door, and a man in a suit entered.

“Thank you, Mr. Claudi. We’re ready to start the presentation.”

“Tell them five more minutes. I’m in the middle of something.”

“Don’t leave them waiting on my behalf, sir. I’ll clean up in here,” Feraz offered.

“Thanks, Feraz. We can chat more over cigars after dinner.”

“Looking forward to it, sir.”

Mark left with Stevenson, leaving Feraz alone to his own devices. He shifted his attention to Alpha, pressing buttons at random.

When nothing happened, he slammed it on its side. A drawer opened.

“Please insert specimen for analysis,” Alpha said robotically.

Feraz looked around to make sure he had full privacy. I held my breath to avoid being detected. He pulled a vial of Life Rite serum out of his pocket and placed it inside Alpha.

The drawer closed, followed by a clicking sound.

“Analyzing.” The serum glowed in Alpha’s veins.

“Bet you haven’t seen anything like this,” Feraz said to the drone.

“Synthetic Life Rite Night Rite serum detected. Mixed with sucrose, formaldehyde, polysorbate, egg protein, and butane.”

“Holy smokes! This thing is legit! Now, what about this?” Feraz pressed Alpha’s drawer open and added a vial of blood. Grace’s blood, no doubt. “Link your analysis.”

“Analyzing link.”

Alpha’s clicking sound made my heart beat faster. I watched history in the making, unsure how to stop it. The blood mixed with the serum already clogging Alpha’s arteries. Did its intelligence just go up a level? I couldn’t tell from behind the stack of mops.

“The samples are connected,” Alpha explained. “Bonded.”

“Wow, you are smart. Yeah, so, how do I break that link?”

“The two are genetically tethered.”

“Forever?” Feraz asked.

“My database contains extensive research and development on the serum you aim to create. Your serum is sub-par, Feraz Tal,” Alpha said matter-of-factly.

Feraz tensed. “How do you know my name?”

“My identification recognition software is top-of-the-line. I scan all Universal DNA Identifiers within a mile radius.”

Had Alpha scanned me too? Was it a blessing that my DNA Identifier© wasn’t created in this timeline?

“Incredible,” Feraz said. “How do I create the Life Rite immortality serum? Why is my version sub-par, as you call it? I thought I nailed it.”

“You diluted the most critical component of the Life Rite serum by using the Night Rite recipe as a base.”

“I couldn’t find the pure stuff, but I knew the special ingredient was in the face creams. Night Rite had the highest concentration.”

“The Bennu eggs are plentiful on Bennu Island, indigenous to this specific location.”

Feraz smirked. “Why do you think I’m here, rotting away on spring break? Will you help me synthesize the good stuff?”

“I will help you secure and process the Bennu eggs, but that will only get you so far. Now that you are bonded with the carrier, you are limited to five rebirths at best.”

Feraz furrowed his brow. “Five? I’ve already used… most of those. How can I get more? The research points to full immortality.”

“Synthesize the serum using the correct ingredients. Then find another carrier.”

The keypad beeped with yet another DNA Identifier, but this guest had access. Feraz retrieved his serum and blood sample from Alpha’s drawer and shoved them in his pocket.

Grace entered. “Hey babe. There you are. What are you up to? Father would kill us if we broke anything, especially if it has anything to do with his latest pet project. Sounds like it’s going to be another game changer.”

Feraz huffed. “Maybe he doesn’t want you touching anything, but he gave me the grand tour.”

“Really?” Grace perked up.

“He is going to be my father-in-law someday, isn’t he?”

She giggled. “Did you and daddy talk about anything else important?”

“Geez Grace, you ruin every surprise, don’t you?”

Feraz put his arm around Grace and pushed her into the hallway. The door clicked shut behind them.

When the coast was clear, I tiptoed out of my cramped position in the shadows. In my clumsy attempt, I knocked down the whole bucket of mops. They clamored to the floor. I froze, expecting to be discovered.

Luckily, Feraz and Grace were long gone. Who else’s DNA Identifier had access to this room? Certainly not mine. If I left, I wouldn’t be able to get back in.

I walked over to Alpha and turned off the creepy drone. It powered down without a fight, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’ve got company, Firestorm. You seeing what I’m seeing?”

Firestorm’s voice echoed in my head. “I’m with you, Jackie.”

“Did Life Rite Underground give Alpha access to the slipstream?”

“Negative. You heard him. Sub-par serum. That’s why Grace is affected when Feraz rebirths. They’re bonded in a bad way.”

I threw Alpha off the table, hoping it would smash to pieces. Rock solid, it didn’t even dent.

“How can I destroy it, Firestorm?”

“No time. You’ve got to stop Feraz from getting his grubby hands on Bennu eggs. If he creates the pure serum, that’s the next step toward triggering the redistribution program. Then it’s game over for us.”

“How are we going to do that? The eggs are plentiful here.”

I was exasperated. Probabilities were hard to change. The wheels were in motion. How could I prevent the most horrible, probable outcome from happening again? How could we stop Alpha’s redistribution program from annihilating mankind?