"And you never spoke about him?"
Rembrandt sat there and glared at me.
"What is there to speak about? Now, if you can show me a laboratory, I can get to work." I started to stand up, but he barked at me suddenly, and rather than getting into another shouting match, I seated myself.
"There's all these secrets that you have. We don't really know anything about you, do we?"
"Whose we? Quinn and Wade? If you are right, he is effectively dead, and she is better off likewise!"
"You know what I mean. We don't find out anything about you until we get to some situation that you get uncomfortable about."
"So you know I have a son. So what was the point about you asking me about him?"
"I want to know why you never talked about him. I mean, we suspected you had some kid, but there's no records of you now. All the proof we have is the video and that photo. And, I figure that I deserve to know about him."
"And why would that be?"
"I guess, that if I didn't know for sure that you would come with me to rescue those people, strangers to you, there would be no reason for you to come with me. Oh sure, there's the whole loyalty thing, but it's a bit harsh to ask anybody to help a bunch of complete strangers who could easily be dead by now and forcing you to leave here. Or what of here is actually worth coming back to."
And so I decided to humour him.
"I suppose you remember the double of my late wife?" Rembrandt nodded and grabbed a bottle of water from somewhere. "Well, she did not die, because she and my double did not bother having children. Both considered their careers were to time-demanding for such a thing. My Kristina and myself however had a son, Evan. He was born a few years before Kristina died. The labour however was very difficult on her. It took months for her to recover, so she had to give up on her plans while I worked. She died a few months later." It still was uncomfortable mentally recalling everything, but it was not so bad after so long.
"What happened to Evan?"
"I looked after him as much as I could. I had no relatives who could have looked after him, since they were all dead, but Kristina's parents were all too happy to look after him while I worked. In-laws can be a god-send at times, but it was not fair on them to expect to look after him all the time, especially since they were both getting older and not so able to look after a child. So when I could afford it, he went to boarding school, and I made sure that my holidays coincided with his so I could care for myself."
"So you get on well with him?"
"Reasonably well. I suppose a part of me blames him for Kristina dying, although I have no way of proving that, and I know it isn't his fault. But he is my son, and I would do anything for him."
"Even taking a bullet?"
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Did you consider Q-Ball your son?"
"In a way, I suppose I did."
"So that was pure martyrdom on your part, taking that bullet."
I truly did not know what this was, but he was baiting me for something or other. "If you must know, I believed that if either Quinn or myself should die, and I had to choose, on a practical level, for yourself and Wade, Quinn would have had the best chance of getting you back home. In any case, I was not entirely convinced I had been cured. In actual fact I had not. A bullet would be a release from what I would be later suffering."
I decided to throw in a dramatic pause at that moment. "So why ask me these questions?"
"It doesn't really matter. I just wanted to know if you were with me on this. So, you figure you can make a timer?"
"Honestly, I believe I could. If I had a proper research facility and a few months of time to prepare…"
"Quinn had his done in about a month!"
"Yes, he did. He also had the grand unification theory solved for him by a rather obnoxious double who you did not have the pleasure of meeting. And he did not bother to properly research it. Ideally he would have made the blasted thing have it's home coordinates stored somewhere were it would not be corrupted at the slightest opportunity."
"That thing with his double shouting something about the power supply?"
"He probably compared his timer with Quinn's schematics, and figuring them to be identical, warn him not to fiddle with the power gauge. At the time of course we did not have much choice."
"Ice-burg world. I still miss my Cadillac."
"So if I did build a timer, I would need to work out some equations. Since I know some of them, it should not take too long, but the problem is getting equipment. If it really is as bad as you say it is, we have a problem. I suppose we could try outside San Francisco…"
"No go. It's gone all Mad Max out there. What about those people you were with? They would help, wouldn't they?"
"I suppose so. They were eager for me to return, but I suppose they would want something in exchange."
"What about the anti-Krommagg virus? They might go for that."
So it was finalised. Rembrandt told the others to keep a lookout for components for the timer, but everything was broken beyond repair. So he told the others he was sliding again to be on the lookout for technology to rebuild our world. He would not tell them the truth, possibly they might have considered it selfish of him, but they were eager to help when he said he was going for aid.
The way the tether worked was to create a miniature wormhole and broadcast a signal to the Consortium's slide-gate, that would open a wormhole big enough for us to travel through. Although it meant we could not open a wormhole anywhere, it meant that it would be harder for anybody who desired their technology to figure out exactly how wormholes were made, since it removed any possibility of randomness. Scientists can be paranoid of their own research being stolen, and I did not blame them for keeping their secrets to themselves. In any case, if the Krommaggs or other invaders discovered they existed, the damage they could do would be incredible. So it was reasonable to assume that there was some form of booby-trap built into the tether. Another little problem was that I needed to be near the exact point where I slid into before. I did not relish the idea of wandering in an open graveyard again, but since we did not have any other choice, we started to travel there in the early morning.
The sun was only starting to rise when we headed out to the park. Rembrandt pointed out some of the places that had been spared. He mentioned how Quinn and Wade possibly would have been happy that their old parlour of employment was one of the first places to be destroyed. He also started talking about the virus itself when we were ambushed.
It's not really fair to say ambushed. There was only one of them. But one Krommagg was enough. It somehow appeared in front of us, as if it had suddenly teleported from nowhere.
"I thought you said they were all dead!"
Rembrandt started to retort, but he instead dived behind a wall. The Krommagg trained a nasty looking rifle at where he had been and blew a portion of the wall away. I looked about to see some cover for myself, but there was none. Suddenly it stopped trying to shoot Rembrandt at stared at me.
It kept his gun pointing at me, but it did not look as if it was intending on shooting me. Instead it focused on me, and I felt it in my mind. I stood there, not knowing what was happening outside. It was similar to being sedated, but with a sense of fear about. It suddenly stopped, and I shook my head to clear it. The Krommagg was bleeding out of the side of it's head, and a large brick was to its side that had not been there before. Rembrandt grabbed me and started to drag me away while the Krommagg started shooting again.
We kept on running towards the park, not stopping for breath. Although we did not waste any air trying to guess what we had just saw, there were at least a few possibilities. It was definitely a Krommagg, and either it was here from before Rembrandt had returned and was immune to the virus he carried, or it was again immune, but had came here afterwards. Both possibilities were bad.
Rembrandt stopped for a few seconds. He knew a few people who stayed near the park and decided to run off and warn them, while I was to wait for him at the fountain. I finally managed to get there, and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
To alleviate my tension, I started to wander about the fountain. It was still filled with corpses, but I had adjusted to the fact that they were there. And then I saw it.
Maybe it knew what I knew when it was in my mind. Maybe it just got lucky. But it was prowling about the green, looking for something. Possibly us. I put my hand to my pocket and gripped my fob watch, and slid the tether off it. It was then that Rembrandt started running towards me. And the Krommagg saw him.
It started shooting at him but Rembrandt was obviously a veteran of being shot at, and so ducked and dodged the shots. Then it saw me as well. It just missed my leg, possibly I was to remain alive for interrogation. So I jumped back and threw the tether.
It span around it's axis, floating a metre or so above the air, and faded from existence, only to be replaced by the usual blue vortex. I yelled at Rembrandt to follow me in, caring not to be landed on, and jumped.
The wormhole opened up into the Consortium's sliding laboratory. Luckily there were cushioned pads and I comfortably landed, then remembering myself, jumped to one side. Rembrandt came through and picked himself up.
"Hell, best slide ever." I was not looking at him though, but rather the wormhole itself. It was still open. Then a panel to the left of the gate opened on the wall, the quartz on the ring of the gate shot Rembrandt with a stream of energy, and he was dragged onto to the panel.
It was holding onto him as if he was a metal pipe to a magnet. I ran to try to help him, but his body would not budge. He didn't look to be in pain, apart from the initial shock, but he was still afraid. Then the Krommagg appeared.
It had managed to follow Rembrandt through, but landed on it's feet It glared at us, trying to decide who to shoot first. Then the quartz again shot its energy and dragged it to an adjourning panel.
I rushed to the desk, but Kristina was not there. Her voice was coming over a loudspeaker from somewhere.
"Max, it's good to see you. But why are you here?"
"What the devil just happened to them?"
"Safety device. Stops invaders. It's not something we can risk."
"That's my friend!"
"The Krommagg?"
"No! Mr Brown, one of my companions from before? Surely you have read the wonderful memo's with my encounters on them?"
"That's him? Are you sure?"
"You are the one with the quantum signature technology!"
"All right. I'll be down soon. Your Mr Brown has some sort of anomaly in his blood-stream…"
"It's a biological weapon against Krommaggs. This one was immune somehow and it followed and attacked us."
"Fair enough. It's non-lethal to humans so he is safe. I'll be down in a second."
I ran to Rembrandt. He was not so terrified, but he was still secured to the wall. "Nice friends you have."
"You are the one who wanted to meet them!"
"What is that thing!" He nodded at the slide-gate. "It looks like that thing from that Kurt Russell film!"
Just then Kristina arrived, holding a device that appeared similar to a timer. She pointed it at myself, and then at Rembrandt, and smiled.
"Perfect match." Rembrandt gently fell to the ground. "Sorry for the discomfort, but we had to be sure that you were not with them." She nodded at the Krommagg, who was hissing and saying something in it's native language. "We have had problems with the Krommaggs before, but it is interesting to see one so helpless." Then she turned around to address the invader. "I am sure that my fellow Consortium members will have a lot to discuss with you." At the word consortium, it stopped hissing, and I saw something I have never seen before. Rembrandt was shocked and astonished at the sight as well.
The Krommagg was afraid.
Kristina pointed her device at the creature, and it seemed as if it was begging for mercy, as more energy coursed around it and it was dragged into the panel. Kristina sighed and turned about to face us. "So, you must have lots to tell me. Tea and coffee in my study?" She led the way, while Rembrandt shot me a look, as if to say "What the hell have we landed ourselves with?"
It did not help that I was doing the same.
Authors NotesNo more ice on ground. Out of cast, have wires removed from my arm. Huzzah! I can actually type again! And huzzah again.