CHAPTER 27

2010

Tanadad Front City

Earth

Riley stood in front of a mirror with clippers in hand, staring at his scruffy beard. He couldn’t remember the last time he had trimmed it. He always told himself that tomorrow would be the day but that day never came. It was easy for Riley to ignore it; it meant he wouldn’t have to look at the face of the man who murdered his friends whenever he looked into a mirror. Even now, he didn’t want to see that face. He pressed the clippers to his scalp and slid them back, cutting his hair down to his skin. Riley stared at it for a moment, then did it again, and again, until there was barely any hair left on his head and only stubble on his face. He lowered his head to the basin and splashed his face with water, then dried it with a towel.

Riley put the pieces of hair into a paper bag, threw the towel over his shoulder, and walked out of the bathroom. He had been there for half an hour and as soon as he stepped out, a man who had been waiting walked in. Riley returned to his storage room. He changed into a new set of clothes: a black T-shirt, jeans, and a pair of boots. He opened a crate to one side of the room. It contained various handguns. Riley took out a .50 Action-Express handgun. He closed the crate and disassembled the gun on top of it. He checked every piece and cleaned the gun thoroughly to ensure it was good to go. He reassembled it, put on a shoulder holster, and shoved the gun into it. Riley took a combat knife from another crate, spun it in his hand a few times, then shoved it into the sheath on the other side of the shoulder holster. He pulled on a brown leather jacket, then picked up a tablet and opened a map with a blinking red dot. He slipped the tablet into his jacket’s inner pocket, then slowly approached the obelisk. He still had no clue what it did. Riley picked it up and the symbols glowed. It dissolved into black, dust-like particles. Riley jumped back. It hadn’t done that the first time he touched it. The particles spiked around his hand like Ferrofluid on a superconductor. It flowed to Riley’s wrist, then wrapped around it and solidified into a black band with the same markings as the obelisk. Riley tried to tear it off with his other hand but it was too hard. He tried to wedge his fingers under it, but the band was fitted perfectly to his skin and there was no gap. Riley gave up. He opened the door, stepped out, and locked the door behind him. Riley took out the tablet, opened the map, and plotted a route to the blinking red dot.

Riley made his way to the back of the storage facility, about seven blocks from his unit. There was a gas station and a diner by the road. Riley walked into the diner’s parking lot. He made sure no one was watching, then approached a blue pickup truck. It was an old truck Riley had been keeping tabs on for a few days. The owner had left it there for days without coming back. It was the perfect target because it didn’t appear to have an alarm system. Riley raised his elbow, about to strike the window, then stopped and tried the handle instead. The door opened. Riley scoffed and entered the vehicle. He pulled down the visor and a key fell in his lap. He put the key into the ignition and turned it. The engine came alive. Riley drove out of the parking lot. He attached the tablet to the dashboard and followed the route on the map.

Forty-five minutes later, Riley pulled into Eleanor Avenue, in a quiet suburban district. There was barely anyone out on the street. He stopped in front of house forty-seven and looked down at the map. He was right on top of the red dot. Riley looked at the building. It was a gray bungalow with a neat lawn and bright flowers in front of the porch. Riley drove on, not wanting to arouse suspicion by being the only vehicle parked on the street. He found a parking lot behind the town library. Riley parked the truck, took his tablet from the dashboard, and left the key in the ignition. He walked back to the bungalow, glad for the opportunity to stretch his legs. About half an hour later, he entered Eleanor Avenue again. Just as when he drove through it earlier, the street was eerily quiet and devoid of people.

Riley entered the garden and circled to the back of the house. He looked through a back window. There was no sign of anyone in the house. Riley took out his plasma lighter and created a thin, laser-like flame. He used it to cut a hole in the glass, then reached inside and lifted the bolt. Riley took another look around and climbed in. He dropped quietly onto the wooden floor. The room contained many large stuffed animals and brightly colored paintings on the walls. There were two beds in the corners of the room. He left the room, walked along a short corridor, and entered the living room. Picture frames were hanging on the walls, there were sofas, a wall-mounted television. It was a home unlike any Riley had seen in a very long time. It reminded him of his childhood. He looked down at the construction bricks strewn across the floor and smiled. He couldn’t remember much about his childhood, but he remembered his mother, his dog, and the time they spent at the beach. They were his happiest memories and the ones that would stay with him for the rest of his life.

Riley ran his fingers over the photo frames as he walked across the room. He stopped when he saw a photo of a blonde woman holding a little girl in her arms and a man carrying another girl over his shoulder. They were all laughing. Riley stared at the man. It was him. It was Garth Andrews, the man he had been searching for.

Something clicked at the front door and it opened. A blonde woman with a knitted scarf around her neck walked in, carrying her handbag in one hand and a grocery bag in the other. She looked tired and was struggling for breath. She was followed by two blonde girls who couldn’t have been more than seven years old. They looked identical, other than the different braids in their hair. They both carried school bags, oblivious to their mother’s exhaustion. They entered the living room, unaware of Riley’s presence in their home. He had quickly moved into the kitchen. The woman fell onto the couch and rubbed her temples. Her daughters sat next to her.

“Mom, when’s Daddy coming home?” one of the girls asked.

“Daddy has to work late tonight,” her mother answered, “but I promise you’ll see him tomorrow.”

“It’s not fair,” said the other girl. “You have to do everything without him.”

“I know it seems that way, Angie,” the woman said, “but your father has to work extra hard to provide for us. He does it because he loves us.”

“I know, Mom,” said Angie. “Chloe knows it too.”

The woman turned to look at Chloe.

“I know too, Mom,” Chloe said with slouched shoulders. “We just miss him being around.”

The woman smiled at her daughters. “Now, go and get changed out of your school clothes.”

The girls ran off to their room. Their mother picked up her bags and dragged herself to the kitchen. She placed the grocery bag on the table, then stopped and looked at the refrigerator. She opened it, rummaged around inside, then brought out a plate of cold beef.

“I knew you were hiding in there somewhere,” she muttered.

Riley was lurking outside the door of Chloe and Angie’s room. He slipped across the doorway and snuck along the corridor toward the front door.

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Chloe turned her head just as Riley crossed the doorway. “Dad?” she called.

Angie gave her a stern look. “Mom said Dad was working late tonight, dummy.”

“Then who was that?”

“Who?” Angie scoffed and shook her head. “You’re seeing things again.”

Chloe frowned. She was sure she saw someone, so she stepped out into the corridor. As she did, Riley turned the corner toward the front door. Chloe only saw a shadow move across the living room.

“Mom!” Chloe called.

“What is it, Chloe?” her mother answered from the kitchen.

Chloe’s eyes widened when she realized the shadow didn’t belong to her mother. Her breathing intensified as she scuttled into the living room. She approached the corner and peeked out to see whom the shadow belonged to. Angie jumped at her from behind. Chloe cried out, startled.

Angie laughed and pointed at her sister. “You’re such a weirdo, Chloe. What were you looking at?”

Chloe turned and ran toward the front door. Just as she stepped into the small passage, she heard the front door close. She hurried to the door, opened it, and stepped out to the porch, glancing around.

“I’m sure I saw someone…” she muttered. She stepped back into the house and shut the door behind her.

Riley was hiding just around the corner of the house, his heart racing. He wasn’t sure what would have happened if the girl had seen him. He could never hurt a child, but they would have called the cops, which would have made his job much harder. Riley’s eyes shifted to the roof of the house across the street. It had a loft window. He waited a few minutes, then casually walked across the street and straight to the front door of the house. Riley knocked a few times but no one answered. He tried the door but it was locked. He tried the back door but it wouldn’t open either. He looked through the window. When he was sure there was no one home, Riley looked around the backyard and found a piece of wire. He used it to pick the back door. He quickly checked every room to ensure no one was inside and was relieved when there was nobody. Riley found the hatch to the loft, opened it, and pulled down the wooden ladder. Riley climbed into the attic, pulled up the ladder behind him, and shut the hatch.

The loft was almost completely dark, except for the slither of light coming through the tiny window. It smelled like rotten milk and there was a thick layer of dust on everything Riley could see. He walked to the window and looked out. It was just as he had hoped: a direct view of the front of Garth’s house. He looked around the attic and found a box of old clothes. Riley took an old sheet from the box. He spread it on the dusty floor by the window and sat, resting his back against the wall.

About half an hour after Riley entered the attic, a car pulled up in the front of the house and a family stepped out. They entered the house, completely ignorant of the stranger lurking in their attic.

A few minutes after nine, Riley heard a vehicle in front of the house. He looked out and saw a gray van parking on Garth’s driveway. The engine shut off and a man in a gray jumpsuit and baseball cap stepped out of the van. Riley couldn’t see his face clearly, but he could tell it was Garth. Garth carried a small duffle bag to the door and opened it. As soon as he opened the door, Chloe and Angie ran to their father and jumped at him. Garth dropped his bag and picked them both up. He kissed their foreheads and watched as they ran back into the house. He picked up his bag and walked into the living room, where his wife was waiting. She greeted him with a kiss, then took the bag from him and sent him to take a shower before dinner.

Riley took out his journal from his jacket. He turned to the page with a sketch of Garth.

“Who are you really, Garth Andrews?” he mumbled.

All Riley knew was that, at some point in the future, Garth would obtain a mechanized armor with a time drive and wind up on Exoginos. Of the many mysteries Riley encountered on Exoginos, the Endurance armor was one of the most compelling, and he was about to solve it. At least that was the plan. Riley hoped Garth would give him something, anything, to point him in the right direction. If finding Garth wasn’t important, Isaiah would not have Riley there, he reasoned. Garth had to know something. At the same time, Riley wondered if Garth could truly be of any use, as he hadn’t even jumped yet. Then again, he just stepped out of a delivery truck, dressed as a courier. Why would he need a cover unless he was already part of something they don’t want people to know about? Riley sighed. The stench of the loft was affecting him. He had smelled too many terrible things on the battlefield in his time but the loft wasn’t much better.

Riley focused on Garth Andrews, the mystery about to be demystified. He wondered what Garth could tell him that he didn’t already know, or what could surprise him. He was probably wasting his time. If Isaiah knew better, why hadn’t he already prevented the end of the world? Or had he? Riley realized there was no way to know without returning to the future. He was exhausted; his head hurt trying to make sense of everything. Titan shouldn’t have had a space station, yet they had a fully functional station in orbit that no one seemed to know about. There was also the non-rocket spacecraft that moved at Mach speed that shouldn’t have existed for at least another century. Riley exhaled with a huff.

Garth had a good thing going here. He had a beautiful wife, loving children. Riley ground his teeth, knowing he would need to be careful not to bring any harm to Garth and his family.

Riley looked over at the house. It was late and they had turned off the lights. Most of the other households on the street had already turned their lights off. He rested his head against the wall, ignoring the grumbling in his stomach. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The following morning, the sound of children running out the front door of the house woke Riley. He opened his eyes and looked out the window. He saw the owners of the house walking out toward their vehicle. Garth’s wife was in front of her family home, getting the kids into their car. She waved at the neighbors when she saw them, and they exchanged greetings. Riley watched until both vehicles drove out of sight. He looked to the side of the building where Garth parked his van the night before. It was still there. Riley finally stood up. His back was stiff and he stretched until it loosened. He opened the loft hatch, lowered the ladder, and descended into the living room. Riley checked the rooms, making sure there wasn’t anyone left in the house. There wasn’t. He moved to the front window and looked outside. Riley saw Garth in his delivery uniform, carrying the same duffle bag he had the night before. He was heading toward the van.

Riley opened the front door and rushed out of the house. By the time he reached the curb, Garth was already in the driver's seat, closing the van door. The vehicle’s engine roared to life and Garth began reversing into the street. Riley sprinted across the road, reaching for his gun when he noticed that everything around him had slowed down. The van was still reversing, but far more slowly. The wind was blowing and the birds were flying, but they were doing so at less than half their normal speed. Riley turned around and held his hands up to his face. He was moving at normal speed but everything else was slowing down. Riley noticed an anomaly in the middle of the road, like a mirage. He walked toward it, circled it, then slowly touched it. It was as though the air was being condensed into a solid state, and it was constantly trying to explode, forming a vortex. Suddenly, a deafening thunder sounded in the sky, firing a powerful lightning bolt to the center of the vortex. It exploded, blowing Riley several feet back. Riley landed hard on the concrete. He groaned, both his ears ringing. When he finally regained his senses, Riley looked up and saw a breach opening in place of the vortex. It was unlike any breach he had seen before, glowing green and spinning anticlockwise.

Riley got to his feet, his face red from the heat of the explosion. He raised a hand to shield himself from the constant barrage of wind coming from the breach. Riley looked around. Everything had stopped completely, frozen in time. Garth’s van was now on the road, facing away from the breach, but it had also stopped. Even the birds in the sky were perfectly still. Somehow, only Riley was unaffected by the time freeze, or he and the emerging temporal breach. The longer Riley stared at the breach, the more he realized that something about it was familiar. Lightning, explosion, the behavior of the breach. He had seen it before.

Exoginos.

Riley’s eyes widened. He remembered and, at that moment, he knew things were about to take a very dark turn.

Five men walked out from the breach, all wearing the same outfit. Their suits were black and mesh-like, fitted with enough bulk to enhance their physiques. On their backs were artificial spines grafted into their suits and possibly also their bodies. The suits covered every inch of their heads, with no skin visible, and over their eyes were goggles that glowed bright, ominous green. Their elbows, knees, and knuckles were heavily padded. They looked military but they weren’t, at least not any military Riley had seen before. They carried huge ultramodern weapons that Riley didn’t have to see in action to know were deadly.

The men stopped some distance from Riley, looking directly at him. They looked at one another, shifted their gazes back to Riley, then approached him with their massive guns raised.