CHAPTER 28
2012
Abandoned Factory Building
Earth
Air condensed on itself in a spiral, creating a wind vortex. A spark of light ignited at the center of the vortex, and the light quickly combined with the air, spinning in a clockwise motion. As it spun, the vortex grew until it was ten feet across, pulling the surrounding objects toward itself. The armored man stepped out from the breach, and behind him came the steel cocoon he had encased Bethany in. The vortex vanished with a whoosh.
It was the middle of the day, and the sun was searingly hot. The armored man floated the cocoon to his face, then flicked his fingers, and the cocoon dissolved into flowing black particles. The particles flowed away from Bethany’s body to the armored man and returned to his suit, revealing Bethany. She fell to her knees, holding her head with both hands, her eyes tightly shut. She tried to open her eyes but couldn’t. Her head felt like it was both shrinking and ballooning, aching in ways she couldn’t describe. She fell forward onto her hands, still unable to see. She didn’t know where she was or when. The armored man remained in place, watching her.
Bethany slowly rose to her knees, wheezing. Before long, a familiar scent rushed up to her nostrils. Her eyes snapped open and she saw the armored man looking down at her. Her vision was blurry, but she could see him well enough. Despite the armor’s lack of facial features, Bethany could tell he was staring at her. She looked around and breathed deeply, trying to get her bearings. She stood and looked up at the sun in the sky. She was almost certain they were where she suspected, but that was impossible. Bethany tried to move, but the ground suddenly seemed too deep to step on.
She remembered Isaac bleeding to death in her arms, along with the memories of everything else that happened before the armored man took her. Bethany’s eyes moved to a rusty steel pipe on the floor, about three feet away. She took three quick breaths and jumped at the pipe. She grabbed it and charged at the armored man with rage in her eyes. She swung the pipe but the armored man grabbed it with his left hand. The armor dissolved into black particles and everything flowed into a black band around wearer's left wrist. Bethany froze, then stumbled back and dropped the pipe, almost falling. Tears formed in her eyes.
“Riley…” she wanted to scream, but she barely managed a whisper.
Riley stood silently, gazing at Bethany with pain in his eyes. He had longed to see her again. He had last seen her the day he vanished from the battlefield at the peak of the doomsday. He remembered seeing her on Exoginos, but he would have given anything to forget the memory of that day. His hands were shaking, so he clenched them firmly. He didn’t do it quickly enough and Bethany noticed.
Bethany saw the look in his eyes and knew it wasn’t the same Riley that attacked them on the alien planet. It was the Riley she knew, the one she hadn’t been able to get out of her head for three decades. She parted her lips as though she wanted to speak, but no words came. She was trembling but, unlike Riley, she did not attempt to hide it. She wanted him to see it. She wanted him to know how she felt, and for him to tell her that he was just as miserable as her for all the years she lived on the space station without him.
Instead, all she could ask was “Why?”
Riley struggled to keep the tears from his eyes. He had suffered loss before, he had lost his mother and his dog, both of whom he loved. Yet now a reunion hurt him just as badly. He wondered if it was seeing Bethany again or his guilt for leaving. He opened his mouth to speak but hesitated.
“I never meant to,” he finally said, his words snagging in his mouth. “I didn’t mean to.” Despite his best efforts, Riley couldn’t hold back the tears. They soon streamed down his cheeks and his resistance turned to mild sobs.
Bethany felt a chill. She had never seen him cry before. She didn’t even think it was possible. For the first time since Riley revealed himself, Bethany looked at him with an analytical eye. He was older than the Riley that had just attacked them. She shook her head, unable to make sense of what she was seeing.
How could there be two of him? Where were they? The questions flooded Bethany’s mind. Riley kept his head down, unable to look her in the eyes. Her instincts were compelling her to hold him, to tell him everything was going to be okay. She wanted to hold him. She hadn’t touched him in more than thirty years but she remembered what holding him was like. He was sturdy and unyielding. Even so, seeing him vulnerable for the first time, how could she ever bring herself to forget everything he’d done? He killed Isaac, whether it was him or another version of him.
Before she could think rationally, she was standing in front of Riley, her arms around him, pulling him close. An overwhelming sense of warmth engulfed her, and she burst into tears. Riley put his arms around her and held her. It wasn’t the first time she had embraced him, but it was the first time he had returned the gesture. With his strong hands pressing against her back, all Bethany could do was think of the man she knew him to be, the man she spent decades of her life searching for. She held him even more tightly and whispered in his ear.
“It’s okay, Riley. It’s going to be all right.”
Riley buried his face in her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
They held each other until their eyes ran dry.
“What’s going on, Riley?” Bethany asked once they had stopped crying.
Riley was finally able to look her in the eye. He turned toward the abandoned factory building, about a kilometer from where they stood.
“So much has happened, Beth,” Riley said. “I don’t know where to begin.”
“Start by telling me where we are.”
“You already know. We’re on Earth.”
Bethany ran in front of him, so she could see his face. “How? Earth is gone! The vilis won, they took Earth. All that remained was that black shrinking fluid. I spent thirty years watching it shrink by the day.”
Riley shook his head. “That’s the future, Beth. We’re in the past. Centuries before the end.”
Bethany’s eyes widened. “We time traveled?”
“Yes,” he answered. “We time traveled.” He started walking down the slope, approaching the factory building.
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Bethany looked up at the sky, then looked around. She smiled and shook her head, then followed Riley down the slope.
Riley walked to the gigantic front door of the factory building. There was a huge iron bar across the door, sitting on the hooks on each side of the frame. It must have weighed at least five hundred pounds. Bethany watched with awe as Riley lifted the bar with barely a grunt. He held it over his left shoulder and used his other hand to pull the door open, then walked into the building. Riley placed the bar on the floor inside. He heard the door creaking and looked back. Bethany was trying to close the door, but she could barely move it. Riley walked to the door and shoved it shut with one hand, then walked further into the building.
Despite the run-down exterior, the interior was surprisingly clean. They walked around the catwalk and several large stainless tanks and pieces of machinery and finally arrived at an open area with three beds. Each bed was at least ten feet apart and near a tank. Hanging from the ceiling were five white bulbs with dangling wires that ran toward the back of the building. Two of the beds had immaculate white sheets but the third bed, the one closest to the entrance, was messier. Riley walked to a switch and flipped it. The light came on, illuminating the area.
Bethany looked at Riley, but he wasn’t looking at her. He walked up and down, finding things to do. Bethany wondered if he was trying to avoid her because she saw him cry. When they first met, Bethany remembered Riley being a couple of years older than her. Now, the tide had turned. While he looked far older than she remembered, she now looked older than him.
Riley disappeared behind the tanks for a while. Bethany walked to one of the untouched beds and sat on it. She ran her hand over the sheet and felt tiny dust particles rubbing against her palm. She had expected the place to look like a dump but, knowing Riley, it didn’t surprise her to find everything so tidy. The air felt cold against her skin, and it smelled like grapes. Riley returned, carrying a box. He placed the box on the floor in front of Bethany.
Bethany looked inside the box. It was full of cereals and canned foods. She looked up at Riley but he was already leaving again.
“Riley,” she said, calmly, “you know you can’t avoid me forever.”
Riley stopped.
“Tell me everything,” Bethany requested. “I want to know. You can start with why there are three beds.”
Riley sighed. He walked to the used bed and sat on it. “That day on Exoginos,” he began, “I didn’t just kill them, I killed you. I killed everyone.”
“What are you saying? I’m dead?”
“No, I changed that. I went to that point because it would have the least effect on the timeline, as you were about to die. I was there to save you and Isaac from… him… from me. It should have been easy but that man, Goliath, appeared and complicated things.”
“What is Exoginos?”
“That’s what the planet’s called. It isn’t just a planet; it’s a living being, a very violent one. I’m surprised it didn’t kill you before you landed.”
“It tried,” Bethany said, sadly. “We lost everyone. Lily, Sayeed, too many good people.”
“Who’s Lily?”
Bethany smiled. “You never met her. You would have liked her.”
Riley didn't respond.
Bethany pulled the box closer. She rummaged through it and took out a can of green beans. She removed the lid, grabbed a spoon, and scooped the beans into her mouth. Bethany closed her eyes and savored the taste. She couldn’t remember the last time she tasted anything organic. Not since they left the Titan II. Even on the station, the food never tasted this good, this natural.
“I know they’re only beans,” Bethany said, “but I don’t know if I have ever had anything this good before.”
Riley snorted. “Space will do that to you.”
Bethany emptied the can, put it on the table beside the bed, and opened another one. “How long has it been for you?” she asked. “We found you less than two hours ago on that planet, Exo… Exoginos? How long has it been for you?”
“Fifteen years,” Riley said, “give or take.”
“Why? Why did you attack us? We were only trying to help you. I was the one who insisted we go to that planet because you were there. I never stopped looking for you. It’s my fault they all died.”
Riley got up from his bed, walked to Bethany, and sat beside her. “Humans aren’t meant to travel the time stream; we aren’t built for it, at least not without adequate shielding. The Vindex in Machina’s shielding was far from adequate. At first, it was killing me. I’d emerge from a jump with a seizure. Sometimes, a stroke. Sometimes, amnesia. It reached a point where I would come out, and I would be hyperaware. One time, after I first jumped, I could still perceive everything that happened at the jump spot for about two weeks. In time, it got easier. Things that would nearly kill me became… normal. I’d come out of a jump, endure the pain, and in a few minutes or hours, I’d be well again. When I attacked you, I knew. I was aware of what was happening. I remember that day like it was yesterday. But the things I did… I don’t know why I did them. I wanted to kill you all the second I woke up. There was this instinct… this intense sense of preservation, and everything that wasn’t me or Vindex was a threat. That was how it felt. That was why I attacked. It was only after you… died, in my arms, that I got my memories back.”
Bethany looked at the spare bed. “That was for Isaac. Wasn’t it?”
Riley nodded.
“You came for the two of us, but not for the others. Why?”
Riley stood up and walked toward the door of the room. He stopped by the tank and looked back at Bethany. “Are you coming?” he asked.
Bethany got up and followed him. They walked to the edge of the building and turned into a large area. The walls had various guns hanging from them and at the center was a white circle. Riley walked to the center of the circle while Bethany stopped just outside, staring at the weapons.
“These weapons are old,” Bethany said. “Why do you need them?”
“We don’t need them, at least not most of them.”
He walked to the wall and took a sniper rifle, then walked through a small doorway. Bethany followed him. The passage led to a gun range with hanging targets. Riley clicked the safety off and raised the gun to his face.
Thoom! Thoom! Thoom!
He put holes through the centers of three different targets. Bethany pressed her hands tightly against her ears as the rounds went off.
“Everything that happened, it’s not what we thought it was.” Riley reloaded the rifle, then fired more rounds at the targets, hitting each one at the dead center. “The doomsday, the vilis, all of it. It isn’t what we thought it was.”
Bethany brushed a lock of hair from her face. “What are you talking about?”
Riley reloaded again, then looked at Bethany, who was about to cover her ears. “We thought the vilis came from beneath the Earth, but they didn’t.”
“I know,” Bethany said. “They’re aliens.”
Riley scoffed. “I guess you can call them that. Several years in the future, out in the Pillars of Jericho, I found something.”
Bethany moved closer to Riley. “What did you find?”
“There was this space that I couldn’t penetrate. Whenever I tried to enter the city, it put me into a time reset.”
“What’s a time reset?”
“It’s exactly what it sounds like. I needed to figure it out, to find out what was causing it and how it connected to everything, but I couldn’t get close. I couldn’t enter the city. Two years ago, I found the answers I’d been searching for. Those answers weren’t out there in the universe, they were here. I found it, Bethany.”
Riley hung the sniper rifle on the wall. He picked up a modified military grade 5.56x45mm assault rifle, aimed, and fired until the magazine was empty.
Bethany didn’t cover her ears this time. She hated that Riley wouldn’t just tell her everything she wanted to know, but she waited patiently.
Riley reloaded the gun and fired another burst of shots. With each shot he took, he hit the target at the center, without missing once. He squeezed the trigger until the gun clicked. He lowered the rifle and finally gave Bethany his full attention.
“There’s so much you don’t know, so much I can’t explain. Even if I tried, I don’t know that it would matter. All I know is that there’s a new player in the game; they call themselves the Children of the Corn. You met one of them. I don’t know where or when they’re from, but they’ve been sabotaging me. If my plan is going to work, I need them out of the way.”
“The big guy?” Bethany asked.
“Yes. Goliath.”
Bethany pondered for a few moments “You said you have a plan. A plan for what?”
Riley moved closer to Bethany until he was standing inches from her face. “After all these years, Beth, I finally figured how to prevent the end of the world. But I can’t do it alone; I need you and Isaac. We can’t do any of it without him, and you're going to help me save him." He stepped away from her, and picked a weapon from the shelf "But first,” Riley tossed the gun to Bethany and she barely caught it, “We're gonna need to work on you.”
Riley walked back to the wall and took another gun. He came up beside Bethany and prepared the gun slowly so she could see what he was doing. She repeated everything he did, aimed the gun, and fired at the hanging targets.