“Dynark’s blood! Was he okay?” I inspected my hands. The knuckles on my right hand were bruised and raw, but I wasn’t sure that meant anything. I had been in a bunch of fights, including pounding Qualt a few days ago and punching out Dr. Tarsch on the Baeder.
“Yeah, he was fine. Hoedi pulled you off before you could do any real damage. But if it was me, I’d give Ackerman a call and smooth things over. His dad is some big shot lawyer. You don’t want them suing your ass or anything.”
“Good idea.”
We talked a bit more, but in Kane’s reality, it was July 2nd, and I had gotten messed up on my birthday. And there was nothing unusual about that.
For a brief moment, I was tempted to tell him everything. After all, we’d been friends for a decade or more. But a nagging feeling in the back of my mind made me decide it wasn’t a good idea.
“You want to go cave diving?” Kane asked.
“When?”
“This afternoon. Lucca said we’re coming up on the Tempest. We can take his redwing. I know we said we’d go tomorrow, but since you’re not too hungover…”
Roughly once a year New Torino floated over a deep underwater chasm called the Tempest that I loved to dive in. My first reaction was to go. One hundred percent. But then I realized that I couldn’t just plunge back into my old life as if nothing had happened.
Because something had happened.
And I needed to figure out just what the hell was going on.
18
I ended up bailing on cave diving, but made some vague plans to hang with Kane tomorrow. Then I set off walking again. Walking and pondering.
So now it wasn’t just Mr. Jeris who believed that it was July 2nd. It was Lirala and Kane. And while Kane’s description of what had happened on my birthday night didn’t match my own, it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility.
Sure, I liked to gamble. And sometimes I lost. Big. And sure, Lirala and I got into fights. Big messy ones. While I doubted I’d be enough of a douchebag to offer her to Ack as payment for a debt, I couldn’t say for certain that it wouldn’t happen. Especially if I was super messed up.
This was so weird.
I was just about at the end of Barrow Green when I received an alert from my Nimbus. Cece had located Chiraine. I jogged back home, grabbed another cup of moxa, and set my overlay to what I called “Sean mode.” This was a special modification done by Beck Salvage to spoof comm ID signals so that it appeared that my overlay was actually Sean Beck’s overlay.
I also spoofed myself by donning a slouch hat and my dad’s favorite canvas pilot’s jacket. It wouldn’t fool anyone sitting with me in person, but via overlay I’d look close enough to my dad. Especially when I dimmed the lights. Although I was hoping that Chiraine remembered me and would recognize me for who I actually was.
I took a deep breath and placed the call.
Chiraine’s face appeared on the overlay. Her red hair was pulled back and she wore a tailored suit. She looked very professional. “This is Dr. Portelle. How may I help you?”
“Chiraine, it’s me. Beck.”
“Yes, Mr. Beck. I gathered that from incoming ID. It’s an honor, sir.”
My heart sank. She didn’t recognize me.
“Are you calling about the equipment list? If so, I can save you some time. I sent it to someone on your team already.” Her eyes darted offscreen to check something. “Uh, to someone named Davotti.”
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do now. Chiraine continued to ramble on about load-outs and data specifications. She sounded nervous.
“Can I ask you something, Dr. Portelle?” I said abruptly. “Are you familiar with the rumor that the Fountain does not fully close in both directions?”
“W-w-what?” she stuttered.
“Based on research collected by your employer, it appears that one-way travel from the Nymorean system might be possible if the Fountain remains energized.”
“I… I’m afraid that I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mr. Beck,” she said quickly.
“That’s okay.” I smiled at her. “We can discuss it once we are working together. Good day.”
I broke the connection and rubbed my eyes. This was getting freakier and freakier and my brain was beginning to hurt.
If Chiraine didn’t recognize me, I seriously doubted Ana-Zhi would. Where did that leave me?
It was looking like possibility number one was the most likely. My memories were a dream. An elaborate dream. I didn’t go through the Fountain. I didn’t find my father. And I didn’t fight the Mayir.
But I was still having a hard time believing that. No dream could be that detailed.
And there was something else.
How could I have dreamt about a fact that I didn’t already know? Three or four days ago, Chiraine had told me and Ana-Zhi of the secret Shima research that suggested that the Fountain remained operational on a one-way basis. That was one of the reasons we went to Roan Andessa. If this secret research was just a figment of my dreaming mind, why did Chiraine act like she had seen a ghost when I mentioned the research just now?
This Chiraine might not remember me, but she knew about the secret research.
I sprang up from the sofa and began to pace.
What I needed to do was triangulate; I had to discover some more facts that I learned after my birthday. If I could do that, at the very least I could prove to myself that I wasn’t crazy.
I started to wrack my brain, but I didn’t get very far. My Nimbus announced that I had visitors.
Lirala blew into my hallway like a storm, shedding her scarf and riding jacket and striding right up to me with murder in her eyes.
“You have a lot to answer for, Jannigan Beck.”
“I know. I’m so sorry, Lir. Kane told me what I did, and—”
“You shaved,” she
