My second merge started at 11:48 AM on the West End High soccer field, in the middle of my big sister’s valedictorian speech.
My most recent one was fourteen hours ago, and it probably saved Alice’s life.
Alice believes me now. I’m not a liar, and she only is because she had to be. Now that her masks are gone, all she has is me—and the truth.
The merges keep piling up. Potpourri and flowers, and the bowels of dying realities. Shifting sands and ghost ships. Hyperrealities and monsters that erased themselves from my mind. The embrace of the void. And a return to an old memory…
The point isn’t what’s in my memories. The point is that something’s about to happen. It’s going to be big. And I’m going to be at the center of it.
Everything is important. And it’s happening now.
Port Angeles, Washington, USA - June 17, 2043, 8:54 PM
- - - - -
The sailboat’s mast whips over my head in the wind and rain, and I open a micromerge. The Port Angeles harbor’s in sight—at least, I hope it’s Port Angeles—and one second, I’m on the sinking boat. The next, I’m being squeezed through a too-small straw and spat out on the micromerge’s far side, Revolver in hand.
There’s not a single light on in Port Angeles. The rusted sheet-metal buildings rattle as the storm blows sheets of rain sideways against their windows and roofs. I hardly notice the downpour. My hoodie’s soaked all the way through with sea spray, and water drips from my hair onto my glasses; I’ve long since given up trying to wipe it off. All I can do is deal with it.
It’s not like I have any dry clothes to change into anyway.
[Claire,] James says, [the whole town’s abandoned, but I’m still getting power in a few places. The big one is the Olympic National Park visitor’s center up the main road. We can hole up there for the night.]
I don’t want to hole up for the night, in a creepy visitor’s center that’s probably filled with taxidermied animals or in one of the many hotels that line Port Angeles’s main street. I need to keep moving because there’s so much at stake—the fate of my reality and possibly of a few dozen others, for one. Also, my friend Sora and my dad are with the survivors of SHOCKS Headquarters Victoria and Vancouver Island, and I want them back. At the very least, I need to make sure they’re safe.
And there’s also the problem of Doctor Twitchy. That’s a messy equation, no matter how I slice it.
But even more pressing than that, Alice needs my help, and I’ve abandoned her in SHOCKS VVI, in the Joint Anomaly Management Enhancement System Experimental Sector. I need to figure out how to get her back to her body; it’s not going to be as easy as kicking her out of my Mindscape—where she’s trashing the place—and telling her to go home. That’d be nice, but there’s no way that’s the solution.
If I sent her back now, she’d be in SHOCKS VVI with no one to help her escape. In fact, she’d even be stuck in the JAMES tank. James would never forgive me for that. I wouldn’t forgive myself for that, either.
So that’s not an option.
“Fuck it,” I mutter, heading up the road in the direction James points me in. The visitor’s center at least has power, even if it’s going to be creepy as hell. And I need to rest and figure out what’s next.
The truth is that I don’t know what’s next. I just know that whatever it is, it’s going to be important, and it’s going to happen faster than I’m ready for it.
The visitor center’s not far, maybe a mile or so south through town. The whole time I walk, I don’t see anyone. Not a single person, and no anomalies. My ears don’t ring, and I don’t get a migraine. If it weren’t for the lack of lights in town, I’d be pretty sure it was just another normal night here. Whatever normal looks like. But without the lights, and with empty streets, it feels creepy. It shouldn’t, though.
This place reminds me of Ucluelet and the aquarium with the giant Pacific octopus, not Victoria.
Sure enough, the visitor center’s lights are on. It’s a wood-framed building with wide glass windows that are still intact, with one exception where someone broke it out. Shards of sharp glass lie all over the concrete steps and porch. I ignore them crunching under my boots; even if they cut through the thick rubber soles, I’ve toughened up a lot. It won’t hurt me much.
Then I’m inside. There’s a gigantic tree trunk cut thin that’s propped up against one wall and a desk with a sign that says ‘Hurricane Ridge’ next to a bumpy 3-D map of the national park. The road leading into the Olympic Mountains is marked in bright red, and when I push the oversized buttons, lights brighten on it. Hurricane Ridge Road.
It’s almost quaint after the overwhelming technology that SHOCKS had.
But of course, not everything in the visitor’s center is comfy and interesting. The stuffed animals are the worst. There’s a gigantic elk or moose or whatever, its antlers shiny and sharp-looking, that reminds me of the Stag Lord I killed in the JAMES Experimental Sector. And across from it, a mountain lion stares at me with glass eyes. No matter where I move, it keeps looking at me; if it weren’t for the fact that it’s obviously stuffed and dead, I’d put a reality skipper round through its head, just to be sure.
I almost do anyway.
Instead, I head for the theater room. It looks kinda boring in here, but the moment I step inside, a video starts playing about how cool and interesting and awesome Olympic National Park is. I’ll be honest: I don’t care about Olympic National Park, and James has already told me absolutely everything I could ever want to know about both it and SHOCKS Headquarters Olympia. But if it’s a choice between a nature documentary and those creepy-ass glass eyes, I’ll choose the movie every time.
I stretch out on a bench carved from a single gigantic tree, facing away from the screen and doing my best to tune out the voice telling me about the ever-changing cycle of life and death in the rainforest. Then I pull up my Status Screen.
[System Access: 100%]
[Recalculating Skills, Knowledges, Bonds, and Inquiries. Adjusting Stability]
[Claire Pendleton]
?Stability 8/10
?Skills - Endurance 8, Urban Combat 4, Anomalous Computing Systems 4, Physical Anomaly Resistance 12, Open Mind 1, Revolver Mastery 22, Compulsion Resistance 2, SHOCKS Database 1, Mental Fortitude 2, Reality Anchoring 3, First Aid 2, Toxin Resistance 6, Reality Skipper Shells, Bullet Time, Slither, Smoke Form, Analyze, Mergewalk 2, Mindscape, Soundbreak, Determination, Absolution 2, Truthseeker
?Truths - Anomalous Bond, West End High, SHOCKS Research Facility, JAMES, Stag Lord, Halcyon Bond, Li Mei and Infovampires, Dr. Dwyer, Provisional Reality AAA, Mergekilling, Part of the Ship, Guardian Angel, Void Bond
?Inquiries (3/5)
?What’s going on at Albert Head and West End High?
?Why don’t people come back from other realities?
?What truth does Li Mei need to hide?
?
?
I’ve got a lot going on, but the big ones I care about are Absolution, Truthseeker, and the mergebreaker rounds—plus my Guardian Angel and Void Bond Truths, because they’re the ones that change things.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Absolution, as near as I can figure, is less about destruction and more about freeing an anomaly. It’s hard to explain, but so far, it’s only really worked once I both knew what an anomaly was and why it ‘felt’ compelled to do whatever it was doing. It seems to stop it from having to do it anymore. Then again, it’s only worked against the ghost ship and Voiceless Singer so far, so I could be wrong about it. It’s disgustingly powerful, though. I’m pretty sure I could ‘free’ a Qishi-Danger anomaly with it if I had to, but only with the proper setup.
Truthseeker’s less blatantly powerful. From what I can tell, it should really be called Pastseeker. It throws me into an anomaly—or maybe any person’s—memories against their will and lets me dig for those tasty Truths I’m trying to figure out. It’s a set-up Skill for figuring out Truths and either activating Absolution or giving me somewhere to shoot with my mergebreaker rounds. Those are pretty cool; most of the time, they’re the most ‘normal’ bullets I have, but I can use them to close thinnings and merges between realities.
That includes the thinnings that I can see at the core of every anomaly now, thanks to…something? Either Guardian Angel or Void Bond. One of the two, but I’m not sure which.
Anyway, I’m going to need to keep growing, because while Li Mei might be defeated, she’s not even the most powerful anomaly I’ve encountered, much less the most powerful one I can imagine. And as possible as it was to simply shoot her to death, I had a pretty ideal situation in that fight.
And that’s a problem, because my growth is definitely plateauing. But it’s a problem for tomorrow. I’ve had a full day already, and even if I do catch up to Director Ramirez, Dad, and Sora, I need to be in shape to handle them.
The movie stops, and after a few minutes, the lights go out. I don’t even notice; I’m already half-asleep, with the purplish glow of the fragmented Voiceless Singer wings washing over my back and casting long shadows across the room around me.
South Port Angeles, Washington, USA - June 18, 2043, 3:58 AM
- - - - -
James wakes me up, and not for the first time, I feel bad about every time I had to drag Alice out of bed.
Part of the problem is that I spent a good hour in my Mindscape with her. It cut into my already limited sleep because she wasn’t happy with just one book. I know she can handle more than just being read to because Madame Baudelaire reported in on everything the ‘interloper’ did while she was there, but she doesn’t want to read chapter books when I’m there. She wants me to baby her. And I get it, I really do, but the math doesn’t line up for my personal equation. I have too much to do.
The other part is that it’s four in the goddamned morning, and the sun’s already starting to peek over the trees.
And then, of course, there’s also the wooden bench. It was made for a twenty-minute video, not for a six-hour sleep. So I’m stiff, and I’m grumpy, and I’d kill for an energy drink—or for a cigarette. I never got addicted—at least, I don’t think I did—but even the ritual ones with the Truth Club were relaxing. I can see how people get hooked.
Breakfast is…instant coffee from the staff room and nothing else. I get information from James that ruins my appetite; even though my body’s screaming for food, the thought of a granola bar is enough to send bile up my throat.
[I lost track of the Victoria and Vancouver Island survivors a half-hour ago,] he says. [I don’t think they’re dead, but I don’t know anything with one hundred percent confidence. They were near the Hurricane Ridge visitor’s center, at the end of the road.]
Something about his voice chills me to the bone, and I down the entire paper cup of cheap coffee, ignoring the bitter, half-cooked taste. My damp hoodie goes back on, covering my skin, and I push into the misty morning.
At least it’s sunny now; the storm’s broken, and even though every step on the side of the road means stepping in puddles, the morning mist isn’t enough to block the sun completely. It’s an improvement. As I hurry up the Hurricane Ridge road and past the entry station, the jungle slowly gives way to more rocky, dry-ish terrain. It’s more pine needles, rocks that have fallen from the occasional roadside landslides blocked by concrete barriers, and moss. So much moss.
And a ringing in my ears.
It’s faint, but it’s enough to tell me there’s something here. A thinning, or a merge. At the very least, something anomalous. Anomalous almost always means bad; all I can do is hope that it’s one of the lower-powered ones—an Anquan or Geren-Danger anomaly, or maybe a low Xuduo. A thought pops into my head. “James, where did SHOCKS have me rated on the danger scale?”
[Early? Mid-to-low Geren,] he answers almost immediately. [More recently, mid-Xuduo, with an additional Atero designation for your mission-critical status and interest in cooperating. I was the same when they had me in containment.] He doesn’t mention the tank or the Experimental Sector.
Mid-Xuduo? That’s pretty solid. “Did they update my danger rating after my most recent trip to Provisional Reality ARC?”
[No. They have no idea about the Void Bond.]
“And where would you rate me now?” I ask, hurrying up the road. The Void Bond’s cool-looking, but the wings won’t hold my weight. They don’t even let me glide. I don’t actually know what they do; so far, they’ve maybe let me see inside of anomalies and maybe helped me push my Skills harder.
[I’m not qualified to—]
“Yes, you are. You’re aware of almost every anomaly on Earth.”
James laughs. [It was worth a shot. High-Xuduo-Danger. Not any stronger than that.]
That stings a little. I’d like to think I’m powerful enough to threaten anything—especially after my victory over Li Mei—but he’s telling the truth. I have a long way to go before…
I pull myself out of my incoming equation before I can get too far into the numbers on my power level. It doesn’t matter. What’s important is that my ears aren’t ringing any more or any less, and I’ve jogged a good two hundred yards up the road.
That means that whatever’s out there, it’s following me. No. Not following me. Stalking me.
I ignore it.
I’m high-Xuduo, and even if I wasn’t, I’ve got more important things to do than track down an anomaly that doesn’t want to be found but wants to keep an eye on me. The forest stays thick enough that I can barely see through the first hundred yards, but the Olympic Mountains’ slopes gradually steepen as James and I push higher. So does the road.
Then we come to a tunnel. I hesitate. The dark tunnel’s not that long, and I can see the sun on the far side, but it’s the perfect place for an ambush. The one thing I don’t want is to get inside and find both exits blocked. I could escape, but I’m worried about the SHOCKS survivors, Dad, and Sora.
On the other hand…it’s the perfect place for an ambush.
I take a deep breath and break into a sprint, pushing my Endurance to the limit as I dash through the dark, creepy tunnel. Nothing jumps out to attack me—no giant spiders or horde of zombies—and the second I’m through, I push myself against the cliff on the other side and ready my Revolver.
Then I wait.
One minute passes. A minute thirty. My heart’s pounding consistently, and I can keep track of the time by its beats—plus, James has a clock running in my optic augment. The Revolver’s leveled at the tunnel exit, but I’m listening for anything besides the ever-growing ringing in my ears. It’s getting closer.
Then, suddenly, there it is.
There he is.
He’s missing an eye, and one of his ears is covered in a thick bandage. That’s the first thing I notice about him. The second is that he’s filthy; whatever color his curly hair and beard were, they’re gray-brown from the mud in them now. He’s got a backpack the size of a motorcycle, and his boots aren’t military grade; they’re worn leather hikers.
The pair of crystalline patterns orbiting him come into view a moment later. One is the color of the sky, and the other is moss green.
“You human?” he asks, holding his hands up as I keep the Revolver trained on the center of his tattered windbreaker.
[Don’t answer that,] James says.
“I think so,” I respond. The Revolver doesn’t shift, and his hands stay where I can see them. “You?”
“Mostly.”
Something about his response is a little chilling, and I hesitate, but he’s not lying. That means…that means he’s probably bonded with an anomaly. He’s not that different than me. “James, can you keep an eye on him?”
[Yes. I recognize him—vaguely, at least. He’s definitely bonded with an anomaly, but he’s severed his connection to the Halcyon System. He’s still growing a lot like you, but he’s removed his augments, and I don’t see any connected tech on him. Not even a GPS tracker, which I’d expect from an outdoorsman. I’ll do my best, but I don’t trust him,] James says.
Neither do I.
“I’m Claire,” I say, lowering the Revolver barrel a few degrees and sticking out a hand. My void-shard wings shift a little as a move, and I self-consciously narrow my eyes in case…in case he notices the shadow of Li Mei in them. The anomalies I’ve bonded with are…weird ones.
Not that his revolving crystals are any less strange. He hesitates, then tentatively reaches out, shakes my hand, and withdraws almost faster than I can follow. “Alexander.”
I’m not ready to make friends. Alexander feels untrustworthy; there’s something about the shifting eyes and the way the moss green and sky blue crystal matrices rotate to stay focused on me that tells me he doesn’t trust me, either. But he’s clearly moving in the same direction I was, and if my choice is between having him stalking me in the woods or traveling with me, in the open, where I can see him and react to him, I’d prefer the second one.
His eye doesn’t look predatory, anyway. It looks…
I take a good look at his eye. It’s blue. Not just the iris, either, but the whole thing. It’s like staring into the sky on a clear day. Like spinning into the void, but instead of nothing, it’s a sea of brilliant sapphire. I can almost feel myself getting lost in his eye.
Then he blinks, and it’s gone. “You going to Hurricane Ridge?” It’s not a question, not really. According to James, it’s the only place this road goes, so he already knows the answer. “Not much up there.”
“Yeah, I am,” I say. I tuck the Revolver away and get walking. “You?”
For the first time, Alexander smiles, and for half a second, his face does look predatory. Then it’s gone. “Yeah. I got work to do past Obstruction Point.”
I start walking, waving for him to follow. I don’t trust him at all, but better the threat you can see than the one you can’t.
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