6x04 - Squeeze
The portal closed. Remmy stood before her, hand on the side of the containment unit, his face slowly moving between grief and resignation, but also a sense of final satisfaction. The door blew open. There were bursts of energy. Remmy was gone.
Kromaggs flooded the room, too many to stop. (I'll always be with you, Remmy). One had a large black bag. Needles... (Whenever you need me, I'll be there). She was disconnected. Darkness overcame her. She awaited the end.
She lay on the floor of a small prison cell, so small that she had to lie sideways to keep from uncomfortably contorting her body between the back wall and the transparent glass pane before her. There was a hallway that stopped at a T-intersection before her, one hall straight forward and disappearing into darkness, and the other running left and right, quickly out of sight. A single ceiling light illuminated the area right outside of the glass pane, where all three paths met.
There was nothing left in her. No energy, no hope, no power, no thought. It would never end. She wouldn't even be allowed to die.
A shadow appeared from her left, extending outwards in front of the cell, taking the shape of a person. Then there were two. Another slowly arrived from the right. Wade painfully sat up, leaning her back against the wall, knees to her chest and arms hugging her shins, head tilted downward.
Quinn appeared from the left, wearing a grey t-shirt, tan pants, and heavy black boots. He turned, knelt down at the glass, then started to wave at her, his face a mix of hope and worry. Wade kept her eyes on the floor. Remmy appeared next from the left, rushing to the center of the glass. Wearing grey pants with a brown belt, heavy brown shoes, and an orange shirt under a beige jacket, he gestured intensely at Wade, then at Quinn, but no sound came out. Finally, Maggie appeared from the right, wearing a buttoned white shirt with no sleeves, a beige pair of cut-off pants held up by a brown belt, and brown boots. She looked in with concern, then turned to Quinn, her face questioning.
The two men tapped on the glass, their mouths moving in silence. Wade's head sunk lower. Maggie waved her right hand at her, looked to Quinn, then back into the tiny cell. Wade closed her eyes, hugging her hands tighter. A tear welled in her left eye, then slowly ran down her cheek. Everything faded to nothing.
And there was daylight.
Wade's eyes flew open. She was lying in a bed, covered in a white sheet. She felt under the blanket, feeling something like a gown, like she had worn in the camps... but something was different. The room was brightly lit and painted white, there was a painting of a dog lying next to a fireplace on the wall ahead of her, and a window to the right looked out on a blue sky, and the green top of a massive tree. She lifted her right hand to feel her forehead; the rectangular scar was gone.
There was no emotion in her heart. She had been here before. She would not be fooled.
"Miss Welles?" a voice came from her left. She noticed someone was holding her left hand. She slowly turned her eyes towards the voice, but when she saw his face, a face she had not seen in over two years, she froze. He was the same as back then: long black hair framing his larger face, a clean and full mustache and beard, larger nose, shining and intelligent brown eyes. Her mouth working but not finding the words, Wade's face twisted into a mix of sorrow, confusion, and sheer horror.
"No..." she barely managed to choke out, shaking her head and weakly pulling her hand away from him. She tried to back up on the hospital bed, but there was nowhere to go. "No... no! Get away!" she continued, voice barely rising above a whisper. She curled up in the fetal position, turning away from the sick illusion, when she heard another voice.
"Wade," a woman's voice said. She slowly raised her head in recognition. Turning back towards the illusion but taking in more of the room around her, she finally noticed the woman sitting in the chair next to him: cream-skinned, short black hair, almond-shaped black eyes, round face, and button nose. She looked at the man, who was smiling. "You're safe now," he said, keeping his hand away from her for the time being.
It was him. Memories flashed through her mind. The Professor... Professor Arturo, stepping forward to protect Quinn, Rembrandt and herself, shot through the heart by Colonel Rickman. Now sitting in a chair next to her bed. "How...?" she started, her face twisting into sorrow, tears streaming from her eyes. He didn't move his hand, but she reached hers out to take his. He squeezed back gently, smiled, then placed his other atop hers.
"Suffice it to say, I've had precisely my fill of blue bridges," he said softly, still smiling. Wade's mind traced backwards, past the machine, past the camps, past her time with Maggie and the boys... so much had happened. What could he...?
Her mind stopped in its tracks. Her body froze. They were home, but not home. The Professor was acting strangely, but it wasn't really him. There were two... then a struggle... then only one. "That..." she started, then paused. She looked into his eyes. "We... left you behind," she said softly. "We ab... abandoned you."
Tears filled her eyes again. "It was..." she stammered, "It was our fault." She weakly tried to pull away, but the Professor held strong. "It was not your fault, nor Mr. Mallory, nor Mr. Brown's," he stated simply. "I am the one who should apologize. I couldn't do a thing to stop him. My efforts to take to the interdimensions led nowhere. And you, my dear Miss Welles, have suffered immeasurably because of my failures."
Wade shook her head, saying nothing. The Professor nodded his head towards Mary. "It was Marcellus here who was the ultimate breakthrough," he said proudly, taking his right hand off of Wade's. He took Mary's left hand, brought it up to kiss it, then let her go, bringing both hands back to Wade. Mary turned her head slightly and made a face of confusion, one that Wade mirrored. "Marcellus?" she asked.
With a nod, the Professor explained. "I was taken to a group of people who raid Kromagg outposts and rescue their victims," he said. "With the help of a spy within their ranks, as well as the help of a most savage warrior of a woman, God rest her soul, we were able to make entry into those monsters' lair."
He nodded towards Mary. "The true arbiter of your egress was one that these brave men and women named 'Marcellus'," he continued, then turned back to Wade. "Considering the potentially colossal size of the multiverse, someone working from the inside would no doubt be of the best and closest assistance to bringing you to safety, Miss Welles."
"You started all this?" Wade asked softly, turning her head on the pillow to look into Mary's eyes. "We didn't even know you. I thought you were dead..." The Professor squeezed her hand gently. "We all did, Miss Welles," he said gently. "And from this moment, I swear to you that this will be the last time. For either of you." She nodded, then looked back at Mary, who looked between them with an oddly neutral face.
"Quinn taught me, just by being there. My mast..." she started, paused, then continued, "the Kromaggs wanted me to gain your secrets. To learn about sliding. But his strength before them... it made me wonder. If he could do it, if someone else of my species could defy them..."
She paused, then continued. "I tried to learn more about them, more than they would want me to know," she remembered. "I couldn't gather much information at once, or they would suspect me. I watched as they brought thousands of women through the portals, women who weren't born lucky enough to have been their servant as I was."
With a concerned look on his face, the Professor slowly reached a hand out to take hers, but she turned her body and head towards the wall to the right, bringing her left hand over her right bicep, rubbing it. Understanding, he relented, and returned it to Wade.
"When I learned of how they send messages between the Dynasty and their outposts," she continued, "I was able to send short bursts of data to known human outposts. Coordinates, weaknesses... until one day, I learned about the Manta."
Wade's mind flashed through several images: the great, black interdimensional ship, on her knees and drugged in the containment unit, the explosions. Mary continued. "They were planning to make a direct leap from one point in the universe to another," she explained, "bypassing the Slidecage preventing them from returning to their homeworld. And they needed human consciousness to make the connection between points in interdimensional space.
"I couldn't let them finish their work," she stated firmly.
She looked to Wade. "I was surprised to see they chose you as the prototype Cyberiad," she said. Despite the Professor's confusion, she continued. "I remember you in the interrogation room years ago. You showed such defiant strength against my questions," she said, a small smile making its way to her lips, before her face fell slightly. "I am truly sorry about the pain I caused you." Wade shook her head, smiling slightly, but saying nothing.
"I knew that you could create links between space and time," Mary continued. "So I powered down the electric field. I didn't know what you were going to do: portal the Manta ship to a black hole, transport explosives from another dimension and set them off directly in the main control room... When the alarms rang out, I thought we were all going to die.
"But I should have known better," she concluded. "You didn't have the spirit to do something that might hurt any innocents within the facility, or in the Manta itself. You brought him," she said, nodding towards the Professor, "and Rembrandt Brown."
The Professor perked up at the mention of his dear friend's name. "So it WAS Mr. Brown!" he exclaimed. "Is he alive? Is he well?!" Mary blinked and said nothing, but Wade stirred under him. "He..." she started. "Yes, he's alive. As far as I know."
With a deep breath of relief, the Professor looked to the ceiling, a wide smile on his face. His mind began to race, and words tumbled out of his mouth. "If he's out there somewhere in the multiverse, there has to be a way to reach him," he said excitedly. "Our connection to him runs through our homeworld. If he were to find a way to return home, we could meet him there. Or perhaps we can send a message to him now. Mary herself," he nodded towards her, "has some knowledge of interdimensional communication. Or there could be a way to trace back our route from this world, back to the Azure Gate Bridge world, then slowly make our way back, world by world, to our home. Or perhaps we could chase Mr. Brown from there, and find some way to speed up the sliding process. We could make way from world to world in minutes, not days, and find him within a week. This is wonderful news! Absolutely..."
Something stopped him. He looked to Wade, lying sideways on her pillow, a small river of tears running from her right eye, down her nose, and meeting her left to then pool on the bed below her. "I..." she stammered, "didn't even know it was you. I thought it was a Kromagg trick. I sent you as far away from me as I could. I could... I could have killed you," she said through a shaking voice.
The Professor raised his head and laughed heartily. "My dear Miss Welles, you could not have put me in a finer position!" he answered boisterously. "I was well enough away from the carnage to catch my bearings. And your most excellent timing and locational skill put me into contact with that ferocious angel of a woman, who led me safely through the complex. Were it not for you, and the brave and continued conduct of our dear Lady Mary," he continued, nodding in respect to her, "none of us would be here now. Bravo, Miss Welles! Bravo!"
Wade's tears slowly ran their length down her face, then came once more. But this time, they were tears of joy. The Professor smiled, then turned back to Mary. "I found you in most dire straits," he remembered. "They discovered what you did, did they not?" She nodded. "There was observational equipment I wasn't aware of," she explained. "Newly placed and kept secret from me. I was only able to send one final message about the location of the new camp before they found out what I had done. They took me to interrogation." Trailing off, she looked away, and a heavy silence filled the air.
"Lady Mary," the Professor finally said, breaking the silence. She looked to him. "For years, you were under the command of those brutes. Your God-given conscience screamed to you from the deepest depths of your heart that what they were doing was wrong, only to be buried by their wicked brainwashing and conditioning." He paused, a lump forming in his throat. Clearing it and composing himself, he continued. "I am truly sorry we did not take you with us the first time. Had we known it was a trick, and not thought the worst, you would have made every bit a member of our ragtag group than anyone else in the multiverse. Your courage, your honor, are exemplary."
She turned to look straight ahead, then lowered her head slightly, saying nothing. Wade squeezed his hand. "Aren't you selling yourself a bit short?" she asked, finally smiling that brilliant and infectious smile that the Professor had waited years to see again. "You were the one who got us out, right?"
"Perhaps I had a hand in it," he answered humbly, chuckled slightly, then reached over Wade to take the Kromagg timer from a small table at her right. She hadn't even seen it. "But this," he continued, "might have been the greatest bounty recovered from that hellish camp... present company excluded, of course," he said with a wink.
The display was blank. "How much time do we have?" Wade asked, but the Professor simply shrugged. "As much as we need," he answered simply. "There is no display, no readout, no time to work against. We simply open it when we feel we are ready. It is providence that we have been on this world for so long and not been visited by the Kromaggs. Whether there were too many portals opened at the site of the attack, or this old beast is unable to be tracked, we are very much lucky to be here and safe."
Hope welled in Wade. "So that means, if we can follow Quinn and Remmy's trail," she reasoned, "we can just slide straight to them? Like you said?" The Professor nodded in slight skepticism. "Yes," he said, more as a word of thought than agreement. "Well, that would depend on how much power this little gadget has to offer, and how long it takes to recharge." He turned it over, examining the seal and screws keeping it closed. "I confess I haven't had much time to examine the belly of this particular beast," he admitted, "but I do believe we have a fighting chance, Miss Welles. I am more concerned about whether it can be tracked, but so far, it seems we are in the clear."
He reached over to place it back on the far table. A thought came to him, and he looked towards the ceiling, closing his eyes while laughing happily. "What's so funny?" Mary asked, as Wade looked to him with a smile. He shook his head, grinning. "The thought just came to me that I have an abundance of most excellent women to thank for our current situation," he explained. He nodded towards Wade. "The strategic intelligence and mighty skill of our dear Miss Welles," he said, then nodded once more towards Mary, "The endurance and heroism of our dear Lady Mary..."
Looking up, he smiled more broadly. "And the vicious protective power of my dear Miss Beckett," he finished. A small sound of surprise escaped Wade's mouth, and when the Professor turned to look at her, he saw surprise on her face. "Beckett?" she asked. "Maggie Beckett?" The Professor mirrored the look on her face. "You know of her?" he asked in wonder.
She nodded. "She took your place after yo..." she started, caught herself, then stopped. The Professor squeezed her hand gently, placed his other atop, and smiled reassuringly. She continued. "After Rickman killed him, she came with us. She wanted revenge on Rickman for what he did to her husband," she said. "She was nasty. Said horrible things about y... him. I was so angry... even wanted to leave her behind with the fog people and that parasite in her." The Professor nodded, more to soothe than in understanding. "But things started to change later on," she continued. "We spent time on vacation together on the snake world, just me and her... looked out for each other. Blew up that T-Rex together."
Eyes widening, the Professor interrupted. "T-Rex?!" he asked in shock. "Dinosaurs still alive?" Wade smiled and nodded. "I think..." she started, straining to remember, "...you weren't there. That was a few weeks after we got separated on the blue bridge world." Dark thoughts started to cloud her mind, and losing her train of thought, her mouth moved slightly, but nothing came out.
He patted her hand. "And after you brought low this mighty dinosaur..." he offered, chuckling in admiration and disbelief. She shook her head a bit, smiled a half-smile, and continued. "We got separated on an island full of... weird manimals. Maggie and Quinn were fighting them. Quinn pushed Remmy and me into the vortex... I don't know what happened to either of them after that, or to Rickman. When Remmy came to get me after that, Maggie was still with them, but there were two other people I didn't know."
Straining, the Professor tried to place faces to the people with Rembrandt. The tall fair-skinned man, the shorter and darker-skinned woman... and the other, a fair-skinned woman. But all his mind's eye could remember was Rembrandt. If that was the person that Wade knew...
"Likely she's still alive," he surmised, speaking confidently. "But if Mr. Mallory wasn't with them..." he continued, releasing his right hand from Wade's and gently tapping her bed twice, nodding with purpose, "then it appears we have four missions ahead of us: first, we find Mr. Brown and Miss Beckett, who can then explain what happened to Quinn. Second, we assist in the retrieval of Mr. Mallory, if possible. Third, we find a way home. And fourth..."
He stopped, then looked to Mary. "Will you accompany us home?" he asked. "You have earned every right to the hospitality of our world, and more." Mary thought for a few seconds, then shook her head. "I think... I want to go home too," she answered. The Professor nodded. "Then we will need to find a way to return you to your family," he said, extending his hand. Faltering a bit, she took it, and he shook. "If you can provide us any information as to how we can do so..." he started.
Mary rattled off a series of words in an unfamiliar language. It sounded thuggish, brutish, and harsh. After finishing, she spoke another series of words, this time letters, numbers, and symbols in English. When she was done, she looked between them. "Coordinates to the homeworld where the Kromaggs originally come from," she explained. "I have heard them spoken many times in hushed whispers between Manta pilots, technicians at sliding consoles, and lowly soldiers who practiced them through sheer repetition when they thought I was out of earshot. Years of service provided me enough opportunity to piece together the information."
When the others looked at her in silent amazement, she knit her eyebrows together in confusion. "Do you not employ the mnemonic method in your education?" she asked. The other two exchanged a glance. "It's much more efficient than simply repeating the information," she finished, then after a moment of silence, continued. "The human homeworld is safe. The Kromaggs were exiled, and only humans remain. I don't know what kind of information they have, but it might be enough to find out where I come from. We just need to find a way past the Slidecage."
"Well done, Lady Mary," the Professor said with a smile, then made a confused face. "But what is this Slidecage?" Mary looked to Wade briefly despite herself, then back to the Professor. "A prison that seized and held all interdimensional travelers attempting to reach the homeworld," she explained. "After it was erected, even native humans couldn't return. The experimental Manta was supposed to be their key there, to bypass the cloak."
The Professor nodded in understanding. "The very first thing we'll do, then, is find a way to input information into the brutes' timer, then find a way around this Slidecage. With luck, the records on this world will lead us to your family and world." He looked to Wade. "Once Mary is safely home, we will find a way to track down Mr. Brown and Miss Beckett, then lend our assistance to finding Mr. Mallory and getting home. Are we in agreement?" Wade nodded and flashed her brilliant smile again. "The band is getting back together," she whispered, then looked to Mary. She nodded silently.
"And we can expect support from this Maggie?" he asked. Wade shrugged. "I think so," she answered. "It was really rough after losing you... him, but over time, I think things were going better between us. But I can't be sure." The Professor smiled. "Perhaps she was developing into somewhat more of a team player than my Miss Beckett after taking my double's place," he reasoned, but slowly, his smile faded into a tight-lipped expression of dark anger. "Blast my infernal double for what he did," he whispered. "The utter scoundrel. If it wasn't for him..."
"No," Wade whispered softly, squeezing his hand. The Professor looked to her, seeing a fresh tear rolling down her right eye and over her nose. "He was..." she choked, starting again, "...was a good man." She bit her lip and stifled a sob. The Professor was overcome with confusion, but said nothing.
Her body shuddered, and through her tears, she spoke. "He helped rescue me from Logan, defen... defended Quinn at that murder trial," she said softly. "Saved Remmy and me from the fire. He delivered Remmy's baby!" she said, crying and laughing at the same time. Unsure of what to make from the peculiar sentence, the Professor simply sat silently. "There was that abandoned baby... he took a job as Santa to find her mom, he..."
She stopped, her body trembling. "Oh, God, he took the bullet for Quinn," she sobbed. "He was just lying there. There wasn't anything I could do. We left him there. We couldn't do anything..." The Professor leaned over to embrace her, holding her tight as she reached her arms around him. He buried his face in her shoulder, and despite himself, couldn't prevent a tear from staining her gown.
Cradling her shaking body, his anger began to fade. Memories of his time on the Azure Gate Bridge world, imagining his double abandoning, harming, even killing his friends, raced through his mind, and underlying the flood of memories, there was a deep sense of shame. Professor Maximilian Arturo, former Regents Professor of Cosmology and Ontology at the University of California, turned slider and interdimensional vagrant, left behind on a carbon copy facsimile of his own world... was not the only one falsely accused.
A short time passed. When Wade had calmed, her body lying still, the Professor slowly pulled away, taking her hand in his left again. "He did all that?" he asked. Wade nodded through her tears. Mary stood slowly from his right, but he shook his head slightly at her. "Please, Lady Mary," he said to her, motioning to her chair. "You are every bit deserving of every ounce of commendation for bringing us all together, and are as much a part of this group as I or Miss Welles. I beg you, please stay." After a brief pause, Mary sat down without a word.
Turning back to Wade, the Professor laid his right hand atop hers once more. "Clearly this Arturo has done you, and I, a great service," he said sincerely. Squeezing her hand, he nodded, then spoke once more. "Tell me of this man."
Wade spoke of the year before returning to Earth Prime, everything she could remember: Mel Torme, the dinosaurs, the world-destroying tornadoes and the seemingly low tech village in the valley, the Dream Masters, the dragon, the intelligent flame, the pyramid, everything she could, with the Professor's double at her side throughout.
When she was done, he was ecstatic. "How remarkable, the strength and cunning of this man!" the Professor said in complete earnest, to Wade's sobbing delight; he was essentially praising himself. "And what adventurous tales! A very far cry from our experiences around San Francisco," he remarked, then laughed heartily. "Could I have stood such physical demands as this bastion of virility?"
Wade laughed again, and in time, the Professor noticed his feeling of shame slowly dissipating. In time, he felt it turn to a sense of pride, camaraderie even, to this double of his. He had taken his place, done so much for his friends, taken care of them as any member of family would. And in the end... he made the ultimate sacrifice to protect them.
Continuing past that painful moment, Wade talked about the few months she spent with Maggie, reiterating the initial and painful loss she felt, and the slightest, tiniest bit of slow warmth developing between the two. Quinn and Remmy, likewise reeling from the loss of the Professor's double, did their best to console her, she remembered.
After she spoke of her time waitressing at the Chandler with Rembrandt playing music at the bar, her face began to darken. She remembered the initial invasion of the Kromaggs, the laser and gunfire, the ruined husks of buildings, destroyed wreckage and bodies in the streets... then the kidnappings. The Professor listened with barely subdued rage as she spoke of the prison cells, being separated from Rembrandt, being taken off world, the breeding camps, the experiments with the Manta, everything she had endured for two hellish years. When she was finished, he spoke. "You were brave to explain, Miss Welles," he said reassuringly, patting her hand.
A short silence passed between them, then he released his right hand from hers, and held up three fingers. "You have a strong sense of identity," he stated, lowering his ring finger. "A loyal, strong-willed, adventurous, compassionate, and idealistic young woman. A survivor." He nodded, keeping the remaining fingers up. "At any time, if you wish to define yourself in a different way, I implore you to do so," he continued. "If it feels right to you, then it shall become you. And if you need help defining who you are, I'm sure both I and Lady Mary can provide some ideas," he said, indicating with his two fingers between the two of them. Mary nodded slightly, a bit confused.
"You are taking direct and powerful action to act in kind with your identity," he continued, lowering his middle finger. "Returning Lady Mary to her family, finding Mr. Brown, Miss Beckett, and Mr. Mallory, getting home, you aren't giving up now," he said with beaming pride and a smile. Wade returned it. "So I have no need to remind you any more of this."
Keeping his index finger up, his face became serious. "The final battle will be within your mind, Miss Welles," he said softly. Her eyes lowered, and she looked away from him towards the far wall. "There will be a darkness assailing you from within. Thoughts that you know are not true, smothering ones that you know are. Shadowed memories, old feelings, things you wish you could forget."
He went silent, and as Wade returned her eyes to his, he shook his head. "You cannot allow this," he stated. She looked to him silently. "As painful as these memories are, you must not allow them to be buried, to fester and poison from beneath. You must don your armor, sword, and shield, confront this darkness directly, and allow it no purchase in your mind. Correct it, combat it, destroy it, with every ounce of will you have. Give it no ground, whatsoever."
Wade smiled through her tears. "Are you quoting Dr. Aaron Beck at me?" she whispered, to which the Professor laughed. "Half of it, at least," he started, then after lowering his index finger, made a happily confused face. "How did you know?" he asked. Wade closed her eyes slightly at a far away memory, then opened them slightly. "I used to be a Candy Striper," she answered. "I don't know a lot about medicine, but I did study the greats."
The Professor patted her hand. "Remarkable!" he said, then nodded, his face a mix of compassion and earnest. "Would that I could take up arms and stand at your side to face down these internal demons," he said. "But as you and I both know, this will be a battle of the mind from which you alone can seize victory."
He turned towards Mary. "I know we've only known each other for a short time, Lady Mary," he said, "but I should truly hope the same goes for you. I owe you a tremendous service for what you have done, and if there is anything that you require of me, you need but name it." She looked to him, face largely devoid of emotion, but she nodded.
The Professor looked between them. "Let me be your oasis, Miss Welles, Lady Mary," he offered. "If and when you tire from the struggle of the mind, let me be the one to refresh you. You need only ask."
Wade reached up to hug him, and he returned it, holding her tight. Mary looked on in silence.
The apartment door opened, flooding a small balcony with a little more natural light. The Professor, Wade, and Mary walked in, wearing clothes they had gotten from the local church. The Professor picked out the best grey sweater vest, white t-shirt, black pants, and black dress shoes he could find, and though the latter were quickly coming apart, his black socks prevented all but the closest looks from revealing that fact. Wade was wearing a tight pair of jorts that looked like a young boy would wear, along with a black t-shirt with a pink heart on it and black sneakers in rough condition. Mary managed to snag a single piece blue dress with long sleeves and white shoes.
They took in their surroundings: the balcony ran north and south and continued 15 feet forward, ending at a washer and drier combo at the end. To the left were several lines of metal bars, allowing a look out to the apartment across the street, but preventing access to the inside. A small, raised garden of brown dirt and brick foundation was just under the bars and next to the door, but wasn't yet housing any plants.
On the right were two doors: the first lead east to an 8x12 room with a large mattress on the floor, a mini-fridge and microwave in the corner, and a door at the northeast end. The second door on the balcony, a large, sliding piece of glass, led to a larger 12x12 room north of the first room, which had a double bed complete with frame and a TV on a rolling cabinet against the wall inside. A small hallway between the two rooms led east, north to a small and empty guest room with a raised wooden floor and sliding cabinets against the north wall, and south to a small bathroom.
Wade laughed, jumping onto the double bed face first, then rolled over to make a giant X and stare happily at the ceiling. "I can't believe Mrs. Stone comp'd our first month here," she said with a smile. The Professor turned a piece of paper over in his hands, nodding solemnly. "Yes," he answered, "but with our hospital bill and lack of funds, it seems we need to decide our next course of action."
Mary walked in next. "We need to take care of the bill and the monthly payment?" she asked. Wade sat up, nodded, then gestured for Mary to join her. She took a seat at the foot of the bed, and the Professor spoke up. "The bill is certainly lighter than I'm accustomed to," he admitted, "but even so, considering both our medical and living debt, there seems to be only one course of action."
Wade swung her feet lightly back and forth against the bed, then pointed at him. "Oh no," she said in a jokingly accusatory manner, "we're not skipping out on the bill!" The Professor smiled, looking between the girls, then the bill. "Perish the thought, Miss Welles," he replied in mock chiding. "I was simply going to suggest that the three of us get jobs."
"Great!" she replied, then looked to Mary. "What kind of skills do you have?" she asked. Mary looked upwards. "Translation, interrogation, cultural interchange, biochemical and medicinal warfare..." she started, before the Professor cut in. "As much as I would love to see your work as a spy or ambassador," he said, "I do believe there is something more down to earth that you could bring your talents to. Miss Welles?" he continued, nodding a head to her.
"Have you ever used a computer?" she asked, smiling.
With the library a 20 minute walk away, Wade and Mary took a break at a large local park, sitting on a wooden bench to look around. The center was dominated by a large pond surrounded by many wooden benches, where several elderly people were throwing bread crumbs into the water to feed an occasional duck. There were many quiet and peaceful trees surrounding the area, as well as a collection of see-saws, monkey bars, merry-go-rounds, and slides, one of which was in the shape of a giant elephant. They weren't in use, but several of the older citizens were making use of the ski tread exercise machines, and there was another group on the far side doing coordinated exercises on mats upon the grass.
"Work time," Wade commented. "It'd be nice to take a break like this most of the day. But even sliders have to support themselves." Mary nodded, then turned to look back at the ducks. Wade chuckled. "I remember Remmy card sharking those cowboy lawyers about two or three years ago," she continued with a smile. "They didn't know what hit them." She paused, then spoke again. "I dunno, would it have been better to have asked him to gamble us up rent money instead of taking odd jobs?"
"Until a bad set of hands," Mary commented. Wade nodded in agreement. "You're right," she answered. "It would take just one bad day to ruin everything." She looked at her feet, gently and absentmindedly kicking her black sneakers up and down. Silence continued for several uncomfortable seconds, before Mary spoke. "You miss him?"
Wade nodded. "At first, it was like he was the only one who really understood," she said softly. "We didn't know anything about what the Professor and Quinn were talking about with the timer or anything like that. I still loved them both, but Remmy... he knew what it was like to just be a normal person along for such a weird ride. And Maggie..." She paused slightly. "Maybe things could've gotten better. I guess it was nice to have another girl along for a while, at least near the end..."
She suddenly smiled, thinking of something, then stood up, offering a hand to Mary. "Shall we get to the library, then?" she asked. Mary accepted the hand up, Wade grinned wider, then the two headed back down the road.
Shortly later, they were at the library. With only the slightest bit of adjustment, Mary took to the computer quickly. She and Wade spent an hour there, quietly working with one of the public computers so she could learn the basics of the OS.
"This mouse is starting to try my patience," Mary muttered as the mouse cursor failed to move sideways on the screen for the 20th time, then turned it over to stare in annoyance at it once more. Wade smiled and took it, twisted the bottom, dropped the rubber ball out, then began scratching at the rollers inside to remove the rubber gunk. "Yeah," she said. "Sorry we don't have anything better. But I hope the keyboard is working out well."
Mary nodded. "This I can work with," she responded, her fingers a flurry on the keys. Several windows opened and revealed hard drive directories, a file search window, and a run dialog box, then she minimized them all, closed them one by one, then opened a text editor. "This is Mary and I'm going to get a job," she typed, then selected word after word, copied them, pasted them multiple times, undid them one by one, then shut down the editor in a flurry of strokes.
Placing the clean and complete mouse back on the desk, Wade nodded in appreciation. "You're fast!" she said. Mary nodded solemnly. "Let's try the paint program again," Wade continued. "You never know when you need to touch something up before sending it out."
Time passed, colors flew across the screen, and the two continued their study.
The Professor heard the door open, resting his back against the wall in the TV room. "She's a natural!" he heard Wade call out, and smiling, he looked up from the newspaper. "Excellent," he said, "And it is a continued pleasure, ladies," he added, holding the newspaper up. "I've made some notes of things we may need once we've settled our employment difficulties: a table and chairs for meals, extra sheets, detergent for when we've run out..."
He stood, then opened the paper to reveal several red circles, phone numbers, and other assorted information scribbled into the margins. "As well as leads on employment," he continued. "Miss Welles was correct that we landed somewhere in Fresno, and coupled with our fortuitously helpful landlady, the generous amount of time to pay our medical bill, and the opportunities presented, I believe we may well be on our way within two or three months.
"Miss Welles," he continued, pointing to a particularly intense and multi-circled job offering. She drew closer, then made a face. "Doppler Computers?" she asked. The Professor looked at the offer, scanning for any problems, then looked back at her. "Maybe," she relented with a shrug, "but getting away from that job and sliding out from Earth was one of the best things that ever happened to me."
Nodding, the Professor turned the page. "Very well," he said, "Then perhaps this will tickle your fancy?" He pointed to another set of numerous red circles. Wade took the paper and read in confusion. "That's an awful lot of hospitals," she said. The Professor put his fingers between the next page, turning it for her, revealing another set of red circles. Wade's eyes widened. "More?!" she exclaimed in disbelief, then looked up at him.
"It's strange," he said, knitting his eyebrows together. "Each of the ones I visited seemed very eager to employ, and even asked if *I* was interested. When I told them I had little experience, and even alluded to not having proper identification, they didn't seem to mind." He shrugged slightly. "You would be a shoe-in," he concluded with a smile, taking the paper back from Wade.
Turning to Mary, he flipped the newspaper to a relevant section. "As for you, Lady Mary, there are some possibilities in the typing pool," he said. On her confusion, he explained. "Data entry, my dear," he said, tapping a few of the circles. "Once you've learned enough of the related systems to our rudimentary technology, I have no doubt that you should be able to upgrade your employment to the Doppler store."
Mary looked to Wade. "The bad job?" she asked, but Wade just smiled. "As long as Hurley's not there, it's great," she said. "And what're the chances he's here, and not in San Fran? You'll do great!"
Three busy days passed. Wade took to her duties as nurse in stride, spending the first day or two learning the locations of the medicine, patient rooms, phones, and everything else, as well as her hospital's particular decorum of "Safety, Speed, and Smiles", as they put it. Bit by bit, her days in the hospital as a Candy Striper came back to her as she rushed from call request to call request to take care of the people within. To her dismay, there were almost no babies anywhere in the hospital to peek in on, but more than enough of the elderly to take care of. She even made a friend, Cindy: she was a young woman with long blonde hair, striking green eyes, a nubian nose, and a gentle curve of a chin. On the brief moments they had some time off, they spent time in the break room, where Cindy allowed Wade some bites of her homemade sandwiches and microwaved pizza slices. As far as the young woman knew, Wade had just graduated from college with a degree in extemporaneous poetry and prose, was living with some friends, and just needed a bit of an introduction to get used to life in the big city.
The Professor made his way between multiple colleges around the city, taking some paper from a university library in West Fresno Center to make several advertisements for private tutoring, and left them everywhere from West Fresno, to a bulletin board at California Christian College, to Fresno Pacific in the north. The advertisements promised quick scientific understanding for the reasonable price of $15 an hour, but with the caveat that the student had to meet at a library a few blocks away from the apartment he was staying at. The contact info on the bills were made to his "secretary." Several of the students were older than he expected, giving him hope that their pocketbooks were bursting to the seams and itching to be emptied on his expert advice.
Mary, being the youngest potential worker at the office, had some difficulty of convincing the interviewer of her knowledge of software systems. She was an elderly woman in a red sweater with curly white hair, rosy cheeks, and a fine smile, and offering Mary a seat next to her and in front of a computer, gave her the chance to show what she knew of the system. Her training paid off, and the quick keyboard commands she executed, her typing speed, and her knowledge of the OS impressed the interviewer enough to offer the job on the spot. Mary spent the next few hours converting documents into data on a beat up old office computer, and between bursts of typing, spent her time off unscrewing the back of the desktop tower and taking surreptitious looks into the internals, taking notes on the various parts she could see within to look up at the library later. On occasion, her private cellphone provided by the company would ring, and she would direct prospective students to a morning meeting with the Professor.
With his in-hand cash, the Professor was able to start stocking the fridge, then acquired a few comfortable chairs and a table from a secondhand shop. They delivered, but he had to haul them up the stairs to the TV room, where they could finally share dinner with one another. He was even able to buy an old and squeaky third mattress and bedding at a yard sale, so the girls could stop sleeping on the double bed together. He and Wade took the floor-borne mattresses, placed to the side of the double bed now occupying the center of the room, and Mary took the "throne", of sorts. Despite a slight protest, the Professor would hear none of it; she was working two jobs, after all. In mere weeks, the girls' first paychecks were due to come in, bringing them a massive step forward towards paying off debts, and doubly refunding the church.
On the third night, growing accustomed to the daily grind, the three had some time to share together that didn't just involve a shower and collapsing into bed. When Mary finally stumbled through the door after walking from the office, night was almost upon them. After a short greeting, she showered, then came out to the TV room, where Wade and the Professor were waiting. He was wearing black and red flannel-printed nightwear, while she wore a long-sleeved blue shirt and black and white striped pajama bottoms. They were standing in front of the table.
"Accustomed as I was to dining on the finer meats and cheeses on our world," the Professor said, "I could say little to the value or taste of tonight's meal. But, my dear Lady Mary," he continued, standing aside with Wade to present the table to her. The two made a flourish of their hands. "Miss Welles insisted you would love to partake," he finished.
"Yeah, chow down!" she added. "It's not much, but it's girls' night, so I picked." Mary stood in the tiny hallway, rubbing the white towel on her hair to speed the drying. She was dressed in a white dress covered with smiling suns, blue and red clouds, rainbows, green stars, red flowers and hearts, and the words "Hi" and "Smile" printed all over it, her usual nightwear. There were three plates of food: one covered with fried chicken, another with cheeseburgers and french fries, and the final a pepperoni pizza.
"We had to reheat them after walking everything over here and waiting for you," Wade said sheepishly, "but they should still taste good. Go ahead! Whichever one you like best, it's all yours." The Professor nodded. "You have been a vital part in getting us on our feet," he added, "and please don't think we haven't noticed your nightly studies. You should be proud."
Mary sucked her lips in a little in slight embarrassment, then approached the table. The Professor came forward, pulling the chair out for her, then scooted her in when she was seated. When they were all together, Mary reached for the fried chicken. She took a bite, chewed, then swallowed. "It's good," she said, then put it back on the plate. A bite of a cheeseburger and some fries came next, to which she raised her eyebrows. "Very good," she said in a more animated tone.
Finally, taking a slice of the pizza, she brought it up to her mouth and took a bite from the end, taking a piece of pepperoni along. Without another word, she swallowed, took another bite, then took another piece in her free hand, biting into it as well. Wade and the Professor laughed heartily. "I told you!" Wade said. "So I get to keep the change!"
The Professor nodded in satisfaction, reaching for some chicken. "Of all the inventions of the former colonies," he said, "has there been anything as heavenly as the American pizza?" Wade shook her head with a smile, grabbing a cheeseburger. After carefully removing the beef and turning one of the other burgers into a double, she placed a row of french fries on the now grilled cheese, then took a bite, a look of pure rapture on her face.
When Mary had finished her two slices, Wade picked up and offered her one of the large cups of soda. "Try this," she said. "What is it?" Mary asked, but Wade just gestured for her to drink. Bringing the straw to her mouth, Mary took a small sip, and was able to swallow half of it before the bubbles hit her nose. Her eyes became two lines, and she cough-sneezed the rest of the cola onto the floor to her right.
Prepared, the Professor reached down and produced a box of wet tissues next to one of the table legs, offering it to her with a smile. "It sneaks up on you, doesn't it?" Wade asked. Mary coughed once, then nodded with an embarrassed look, taking a tissue and cleaning up. The Professor took care of the floor. "It's very sweet," Mary answered, putting the tissue on the table. Despite her ordeal, she took another sip of the drink, carefully endured the bubbles, then swallowed successfully.
Wade and the Professor golf clapped, smiles on their faces. Mary bowed her head slightly in embarrassment.
When dinner was done, night had fallen. The streets quieted, and the three settled in. Wade and Mary were on the bed, chests down and chins resting on their hands, while the Professor leaned up against the foot of the bed on the floor. A large bucket of multiflavored popcorn sat next to him, and the girls took turns reaching in to grab from the various tastes. They all watched the flickering TV on the rolling cabinet in front of them.
A middle-aged man stood in front of the camera. He was standing between two elderly people: a curly-haired old woman on the right in a sweater lined with brown and green lines, and an old man on the left in a heavy brown tweed jacket over a white undershirt. They were in front of a large table filled with a large amount of products, including a multicolored plastic box with many small compartments of varying colors, a box picturing a smiling older woman biting into an apple, and what looked like a book for holding photos. "That's right! The more you buy, the more you save!" he said animatedly. "Choose from as many of the products in front of you, and every additional purchase, you save an additional 5% on your next order!" A small blurb on the bottom flashed by: "Limited to 30% off, all sales final, no CODs, US residents only."
He turned to the man. "Harry, how has your life improved, ever sin..." the man continued, before Wade flipped the channel. As the next program played, Mary looked to her, confused. "How did Harry's life improve?" she asked. Wade laughed, so Mary gave up.
The next station featured a smiling elderly couple at the bow of a massive luxury liner, looking at a sunset descending upon open waters, splashing deep oranges, yellows, and purples atop the massive sea. They smiled and looked at one another, the ocean winds blowing a pair of red scarves to the left. "So which one?" Wade asked, peering over the bed to look into the popcorn tower. Mary reached down and grabbed another handful. "Cheese," she answered, popping a few into her mouth. "Ok, dibs on caramel," Wade answered, taking a fistful. Mary peeked into the tower. "Dibs... on cheese," she copied with a slight smile. "Professor?"
He turned a sleepy gaze into the tower, and took out a single buttered popcorn. Science concepts raced through his mind after the day's tutoring as he popped it into his mouth. "I shall make do with the classics," he said tiredly, his eyelids slowly closing and opening. Wade flipped channels again.
Standing outside a red livery, a grizzled man in a red and blue flannel shirt, blue jeans, and tan vest with a bushy beard and eyebrows, stood before an older woman in a tight blue blouse, blue flowing skirt, and tall blue bonnet of a classic lady of the west. He shook his head in consternation, taking off his large black hat and slapping it on his knee before returning it to his head. "Consarn it, woman!" he exclaimed. "I've had it up to here with your complaining!"
She looked to him, taken aback with the haughty emotion of a slighted socialite. "How dare you, ruffian?!" she shot back, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "If my father were here, he'd have you clapped in irons and thrown into prison," she threatened. The man's eyes flew wide. "If it'd get me away from you, I'd let him!" he barked back.
Wade laughed a bit harder than she intended, clamping a hand over her mouth. "So mean," Mary commented. When she had calmed down and the movie shifted to a handsome cowboy riding a brown horse, Wade leaned over the bed. "Who was that, Professor?" she asked.
"That, my dear," he answered, stirring a bit, "was George Hayes. A guilty pleasure of a favorite of mine I must admit, and this would be Roy Rogers." His brow furrowed in thought as he watched the cowboy ride. "Strange," he continued. "Neither of them look a day over 50. Was this movie colorized?" he further wondered off-handedly.
As the movie continued, his mind went back once more to the battle with the Kromaggs. The women, the gun blasts... and Maggie. The tear dropping from her eye, the satisfied look as she made good their escape at the cost of her own life. There weren't enough words to thank her for what she had done. But at least, now, she and her husband were together. The Professor let out the briefest and most quiet of sighs, then returned to the movie.
The three watched in silence as the cowboy confronted a group of men in black hats, holding them at gunpoint. Before he could question them, there was a break in the movie, and the glass screen went dark as the station went to a commercial. Several seconds passed without a further broadcast, longer than normal. In the reflection of the screen, the streetlights and moonlight cast their gentle glow upon the screen, showing both Mary and Wade still lying on the bed. Mary's eyes were closed, her head upon her hands as she lay on her belly. Wade's eyes, though, were cast downward, as if she were deep in thought. Her bottom lip was sucked inward. The Professor looked at her reflection with worry as the agonizing seconds dragged on.
Then, with a slight shake of her head and a few blinks of her eyes, Wade returned her sight to the TV, smiling slightly in satisfaction. The Professor secretly returned the look on her face. (Good girl), he thought, his face bright even in the deep night.
A government broadcast played, extolling the virtues of keeping fit, showing several elderly people in a park leaning to the left, stretching their arms over their heads in the same direction in several thrusting motions, then leaning the other direction and repeating the stretch, happy looks on their faces. The hypnotic movement served to further tire him, and within moments, he was asleep.
As the days passed, the three settled into the familiarity of the daily grind. The Professor used some of his pocket money to get his own cellphone and take tutor requests privately, Mary transitioned from studying hardware to basic coding skill, and Wade spent more time with Cindy, even having enough money to treat her friend sometimes. The Professor bought a fourth chair so they could share dinner.
On that night, she arrived in a pair of blue jeans, green flip-flops, and a tight orange t-shirt. After washing up, the four sat around a feast of Chinese take-out. Wade and Mary took turns portioning out the various beef, noodles, dumplings, rice, and chicken, while the Professor made small talk.
"I hope life at the hospital is treating you well, Miss Summers," he said, nodding in appreciation to the two servers for the evening. Cindy smiled brightly. "Of course!" she answered. "The people there are really nice, and everyone's really healthy. Not too much happens besides the occasional fussy patient." Wade laughed. "Mr. Nathan was a real pill yesterday, remember?" she said. "'This pillow's not fluffy enough! No, more fluff!'" she mocked in a deep old man's voice. Cindy laughed, looking over the dinner with hungry eyes.
"Miss Welles made the unfortunate observation that you don't have too many babies in the hospital," the Professor mentioned. Wade nodded, still serving food, and he continued. "Is this a retirement city?" he asked. Cindy looked to him in confusion. "Everywhere's retirement city," she said plainly, then looked to Wade. "You're from San Francisco, right?" she asked. "It's no different up there, isn't it?"
Wade thought fast. "Yeah, of course," she answered. "The Professor's from a smaller country town in the UK. Things are pretty different there." He looked to her, impressed, then turned his eyes back to Cindy as Wade and Mary finished up and sat. "Oh," she said. "Sorry, I thought you were from here." He shook his head graciously. "Think nothing of it, my dear," he replied.
"It's the Grey Boom," Mary said, struggling to get her chopsticks around a piece of broccoli. Dropping it for the third time, she glanced up to see Wade and the Professor looking at her. She blinked twice, raised her eyebrows slightly, then looked back down to continue her fight with the broccoli.
"Yeah," Cindy said, getting a mouthful of noodles. She swallowed, then took a sip of black tea. "All of the baby care positions get filled within days. Personally, I check the classifieds every day to see if there's an opening. I can't wait to get into a room of the squirming little angels." The Professor smiled, and Wade nodded in agreement. "Even if it means changing a veritable ton of dirty diapers?" he asked, expertly bringing a piece of sweet and sour chicken to his lips. Mary watched intently, adjusting her grip on her sticks to mirror him. "Are you kidding?" Cindy answered. "I'd change a dozen to get to hold one of 'em for just a few seconds!"
"Does that mean you're going to have one with Justin later on?" Wade asked with a veggie dumpling in her cheek. Cindy smiled and shook her head, pointing a chopstick at her. "Practice first, Wade," she insisted.
When the meal was done and everyone said their goodbyes, the Professor went out to the balcony, and lit up a cigar. He rapped fingers gently and absentmindedly on the balcony next to the flower garden, taking the occasional puff, staring out through the bars and into the night sky. The glass door slid open to his right, and Wade and Mary came out to join him. Coming to his right, Mary looked at the cigar inquisitively as the Professor puffed it, then blew the smoke through the bars. Catching her curiosity, he looked down at the brown stick, then held it out to her.
She took it, mirroring his index and middle finger hold, then looked back at him. "Puff, but don't inhale," he instructed. "Professor..." Wade protested gently, but Mary had already done as taught. She blew the smoke out through the bars, made a face and stuck her tongue out, then handed the cigar back. The Professor laughed, and taking another puff, went back to looking at the stars.
"You tend to get like this when you're worried and thinking," Wade commented, rapping her fingers on the empty garden to his left and mimicking his other hand with a fake cigar. The Professor smiled at her, ashing into the garden. "I don't think it takes much thought to understand what Lady Mary very likely researched at the library," he answered, looking to Mary. "Can you tell us of what you discovered?"
She took a look at the cigar, sniffed, then took a slight step back. "The Grey Boom," she said, crossing her arms in the cold night air, still wearing the printed white dress. "Medical research on this world is many, many years above any world I've heard of. Cancer, heart disease, many causes of death have been almost eradicated for many decades. People live far into their 100s, and there are many types of medication, surgery, and therapy to deal with the natural effects of aging."
Wade put her fingers to her chin. "That would explain all the hospitals, the older people on the commercials, the TV programs..." she reasoned. "Nearly everyone at the office is elderly," Mary added, and Wade nodded. "My boss looks 40, but now I really wonder. And those men you talked about, George Hayes and Roy Rogers..." The Professor took another puff, nodding in thought. "Long since passed away, and well into his twilight years, the last I heard," he answered. "But here, still acting, still in phenomenal shape. I suppose there's one bright spot to say about this world, if only to see them once more."
Tilting her head in confusion, Wade spoke. "What's wrong?" she asked. "If people can live longer, that sounds good to me. I'd like to stay with my parents longer, and maybe someday, see my grandkids or even great grandkids growing up." The Professor took another puff. "Yes, that would be something to look forward to," he answered, still deep in thought.
Mary cut in. "It was difficult to find an accurate history of this world," she explained, "much less data on its current situation, or future predictions. But there are currently around ten billion people on this planet. This much is clear." Wade whistled slightly. "That's a lot more than ours," she said, but Mary shook her head. "There's more," she continued. "Over 90% of the planet is over the age of 70."
"Oh," Wade answered, her eyes widening in surprise. The Professor smoked silently, thinking. "But even the older ones have the energy of a 40 year old on our world," she reasoned. "That movie we watched, they looked in great shape for their age."
"Yes," the Professor muttered, eyebrows knit and still thinking. He ashed again. "Lady Mary, did you find anything out about the birth rate?" he asked. She nodded slightly. "It was very difficult," she answered. "The books at the library said nothing. The only information I could find was on the internet, and they didn't explain how they came across the information. But the numbers passed around seemed to be around 2.2 in the 1940s, and now, it's less than 0.1."
The Professor sighed. "Oh no," Wade said softly, and he nodded. "It's unclear what's happening with the next generation of this world," he surmised, "but this is one of the expected consequences of near clinical immortality. With no cap on population, and an increasingly top-down heavy class of elderly, the older generation will retire and make use of increasingly strained public services. Or, they may remain in positions of great influence from where they may bar upward mobility for the younger generations, as well as make up the strongest voter block to prevent societal change."
Taking a puff from the cigar, he blew the smoke out, then ashed. "It's entirely possible that this generation puts as much into the social system as they take out, maybe even moreso," he wondered aloud, still deep in thought, "but I can't imagine this burden becoming easier for them, or the younger, the older they get, and the more medical support they need. Mother Nature and Father Time will win out in the end... but the question is, how much more can this world take?"
He shook his head in dismay. "I fear that this world may be entirely the opposite of that accursed Lottery world we visited those many years ago, Miss Welles," the Professor muttered. Wade winced, and on Mary's confusion, turned to her and spoke of the Lottery, a method of randomized population control on a world long since visited. Mary made a face. "How... clinical," she said. The Professor nodded in agreement. "And barbaric," he added. "But if this world continues the way that it has, and resources run thin, they may have little choice but to implement something similar."
After Wade and Mary's paychecks cleared, the three were easily able to pay back and support their church benefactor, repay their landlady, and save up towards the end of their medical bill. Mary, having converted a majority of the company's papers into data, was asked to move into customer service. She quickly gave her notice and was soon working at the Doppler store at the help desk, fixing various issues with customer hardware and software.
"She's outearning both of us," Wade said one night over dinner. The Professor looked to Mary, who had just taken a bite of pizza. Pausing on the bite, she looked to Wade, then the Professor, then back at the pizza. Wade and the Professor laughed, Mary smiled a bit, then they all returned to their meal.
The Professor spent more and more hours per day traveling about the city, occasionally taking a bus out of town, to make frantic appointments between increasingly distant students as his wallet expanded. With his advertisements updated to no longer include the travel requirement of his prospective students, calls came in from all around the county for his expertise. His days were a mad dash between houses, checking an increasingly ragged and dog-eared map in a used coat he had just purchased, and a whirlwind of scientific concepts to mostly eager minds. He wondered sometimes how Mr. Green and Miss Lu were doing.
Of the three, Wade was taking the news of the world most to heart. She passed by the mostly empty nursery several times, but during a break, she really decided to take a careful look: there were dozens of empty baby beds, each with neatly folded blue and pink swaddling cloths and blankets, and tiny white hats that sat at the heads of the little beds. There was a smiling cartoon yellow duck on the wall hugging a little brown baby bear cub with a little red heart between them. To their right was a happy white rabbit in blue overalls, waving forward, with the word "Love" above it. A smiling yellow sun was to the left, and underneath the words, "You are my sunshine!"
She felt a sting, a sense that something was wrong. How could there be so few children? She breathed a very deep sigh of relief when she found that contraception was nearly perfect on this world: Silphium was a major crop on farms around the world, and was so effective at preventing conception, that many countries simply injected the substance into the food, with non-Silphium food clearly labeled, and rare, at the market.
"But that still doesn't explain the birth rate," the Professor said over another meal. They were having microwave dinners, and though the Professor got the macaroni and cheese for that night, he hardly noticed the all too familiar taste through his racing thoughts. "Any couple who wishes to have a child can simply choose to consume non-contraceptive meals, and produce the next generation."
A thought hitting her, Wade looked down at her two plates of mashed potatoes with gravy and mixed vegetables of carrots, corn, and peas. Both of the salisbury steaks were in front of the Professor. "Should we be eating this?" she asked in concern, seeing no label on the boxes, but the Professor nodded reassuringly. "If this is the same Silphium of legend that the ancient Greeks and Romans used," he surmised, "then it's most likely that the effect is temporary. After all, if the effect was permanent, they would not have farmed the plant to extinction as they did. One dose would have been enough." Wade breathed out in relief, then continued her meal.
His eyebrows knit together in thought. "Is this world so adverse to the concept of motherhood and fatherhood that they would simply forgo the process in its entirety?" he wondered aloud. Mary took a bite of her enchilada, swallowed, then spoke. "Then Cindy would be an exception," she reasoned. The Professor took a deep breath, thinking. "And how odd that we would be so lucky as to meet her, but not encounter the far higher chance we would meet one of the examples of the rule..." he muttered, before returning to dinner.
A month passed, and their debts were paid. A look into the Kromagg timer's internals led to no new developments; it was clear that whatever was to be learned of the device was through one of the four ports on the side. Not wanting to risk opening a test portal and potentially leaving themselves stranded in order to test its power, they agreed to meet that night and decide their next move. Mary came back earlier than expected, and the Professor's last tutor student had canceled, so they were in the apartment together, making a list to discuss with Wade later.
"Despite the relative peace of this world, it would behoove us to continue on," the Professor surmised. "We don't want to delay your return home, Lady Mary, nor would Miss Welles be happy if we hesitated a single second to find our lost companions." He took notes to that effect, tapped his pen on the notepad, then continued. "Our church benefactors have been repaid and restocked, mostly thanks to your efforts," he continued, making a note and nodding to her in respect, "our debts are paid, and our generous Mrs. Stone can keep our deposit for her faith and hospitality." He made another note.
"Do we need to tell our jobs that we're leaving?" she asked. The Professor nodded. "Yes, it would be kind of us to give that warning," he answered. "I'm sure a computer store, a fully staffed hospital, and tutoring that pays by the hour can adjust without us notifying them, but it would be better to do so than not."
Mary reached out for the notebook, and the Professor gave it and the pen to her. "We can't take the furniture with us, but we should take our money, our best clothes..." she said, taking notes. After a short pause, she looked to the Professor. "Should we take the microwave? It's helped a lot."
The image of Mary holding a microwave, tumbling out of an interdimensional tunnel and landing on the grass of a park, came to his mind unbidden. He laughed. "I would suggest not," he responded with a smile. "It might be dangerous to carry such a burdensome device." She nodded, striking through the suggestion.
The front door opened. "We're almost ready to go, Wade," Mary called back, turning to show the notebook. "We..."
"Guys, there's something wrong," Wade said, still in her nursing uniform. She held up a small sheaf of papers. "Cindy found something in one of the administrator's offices. The babies... they're injecting them with something weird. Some kind of vaccine." The Professor was nonplussed, reaching to take the notebook back from Mary. "What is it Miss Welles, MMR? DTaP?" he asked, flipping through the book. "Hardly something to worry about."
She shook her head. "No, I recognize those ones," she said, sitting between the two and placing a paper on the floor between them. She pointed to a chemical chain. "It's whatever this is," she said. Looking up from the notebook, the Professor's brow furrowed in surprise. "What the devil...?" he started, trying to make sense of the unknown molecule. "Ethylene, hydroxide, azanide..." he muttered, trying to make sense of the chain.
Looking at the complex mixture and eyes wide in surprise, Mary muttered something in Kromagg. The other two looked up at her, and she shook her head in disbelief. "It's a chemical designed to damage or destroy the human reproductive system," she explained softly. "I've seen it a few times, but never before at this stage of completion."
Wade looked between the two. "The..." she stammered, "the people in charge here are inoculating babies with a Kromagg virus so they won't ever have kids?" She shook her head in disbelief, saying no more. The Professor shook his head. "The chance is remote," he offered, "but it's far more likely that the ruling powers of this world developed this method on their own, and have decided to deal with their problem of overpopulation by removing the ability of their descendants to birth more mouths to feed. Barring changes in physical law, chemistry should be universal from world to world."
He sat back. Wade remained quiet. Mary flipped through the pages, past the normal disease inoculations, and returned to the original page. "Do the people of this world know what's happening?" she asked. "The newspapers and library say nothing of any of this. Only a handful of websites are even discussing the birth rate. Even they aren't talking of this injection."
"We have to do something!" Wade said, looking between the two. The Professor stayed silent, rubbing his chin. "Professor!" she continued. "They're taking away the chance of any of these kids to ever be mothers or fathers. It's not right!"
Without a word, the Professor stood, then opened the glass door leading to the balcony. The girls exchanged a glance, then followed him to the empty garden, standing to his right. Taking out a cigar from a pocket holder, he lit it, puffed, then blew smoke through the bars. Mary took a step back.
Pondering for a moment, he spoke. "It would seem nothing about this world is right," he replied, looking between the two. "The people of this world age to staggering lengths, with accidents seeming to be the highest cause of death. Given a population of people who are effectively immortal, a new generation of children would only serve to squeeze what little remains of this world's resources to effectively nothing. Starvation, war, and death would ravage this world in just a few years."
"So the old get to keep living, and the young don't even get a chance?" Wade protested. "Not to have families, not to even be born?" The Professor nodded in thought. "And to respond to this pressing issue is the secret inoculation of children to remove their full chance at a well-lived life," he continued, taking another puff from the cigar. Wade calmed, took a breath, then nodded.
Mary spoke up. "And if they go the other way," she surmised, "they would need to dismantle an entire health care system, stop technological advancement, and end the lives of billions of the elderly..." The Professor nodded again, ashed his cigar, then sighed.
"Well, I don't want them to die either," Wade relented, looking at Mary. "I don't think most of them even know what's going on. But there has to be something we can do." Mary shook her head. "Cure the inoculations, and the world's population explodes in a short while," she started. "End health care, and send billions to die. Say nothing, and the babies grow up damaged."
"Not to mention," the Professor added, "that if the health care system fails unexpectedly, or a new disease ravages the elder population to almost nothing, or anything else happens of cataclysmic note, that this world's population will suddenly be reduced to a few million people who were not affected by the event. Food production, sanitation, water treatment, plumbing, maintenance, every aspect of society would be in grave danger as the supermajority of the population that cares for these systems is wiped out. That would certainly be the beginning of tremendous conflict and death."
He looked to the stars. "Is this the most humane way?" he wondered aloud, ashing his cigar. Wade shook her head. "I still say no," she answered. "The older generations had their chance at a good life, and they need to do something to protect their children and grandchildren." She paused. "I just wish I knew what it was," she admitted. Mary looked to the side. "The clinical solution..." she said quietly, not elaborating further.
The Professor nodded in purpose. "Then it seems we only have one solution in response to this utter mess of a situation that this world has placed itself in," he said confidently. The two girls looked to him in hope. He took another puff of his cigar, smiling with it between his teeth.
"This is low, Professor," Wade teased with a smile. "I thought you were going to have us break into a TV station to make a live broadcast, take over a mayoral candidate's speech, anything but this."
The three barged into a small office at the top of the Pacific Southwest Building to the shock of the people at their desks inside. Every single one of them was old and grey, and they began to dial the phones on their desks, gesturing at the three intruders as they spoke into headsets and receivers.
The Professor laughed a hearty laugh, slamming a giant duffle bag filled with papers onto a desk near the office window. Mary and Wade followed suit. "Perhaps if Mr. Mallory were here, he would have had such a daring plan in mind," he conceded, then looked between the two girls. "But today, you'll have to endure your old' Prof's low-tech approach."
Mary smiled, opening the window in front of them. Unzipping the bag, she dumped the papers outside, and watched them begin their flight through the city. Wade and the Professor did the same, and when they were done, they closed the window.
"You're right about one thing," Wade said, turning towards the upset office workers. "This isn't our world... but the least we can do is let them know what's going on."
"I already emailed the inoculation specs to those websites," Mary added, taking a deep breath. She leaned back into the table, then looked at the ceiling. The Professor reached both of his hands out. Wade took his left immediately and shook. Mary hesitated at first, slowly looking between the Professor's eyes and his right hand. Eventually, slowly, she took it and gently squeezed before pulling back quickly, embarrassed.
With a grin, the Professor took out the Kromagg timer. "Any decision is best made with all relevant information available," he said, powering the device. "It's up to the people of this world to decide how to proceed from here."
The device streamed out a powerful energy blast, ripping open the swirling red portal between dimensions. Pocketing the timer, the Professor leaped through first. The girls exchanged a smile, then followed behind together. Shortly after, the vortex closed, leaving a stunned group of office workers, and a wild mess of paper on the floor, behind.