****
Frank looked out the ship’s main window. Carson’s nebula
was the main cosmic feature. They were on a run to Alpha
Reticuli B384-875 with supplies. So far, the trip had gone smoothly.
He went mid-decks to the garden. Most of the
ship’s crew spent as much time as they could there. This kind
of ergonomic benefit made space travel endurable. Frank
was lucky and he knew it. He took a deep breath. Life was
starting to make sense.
****
Whatever was going on with the parallel universes, Tsnelda
was in on it. And it had to do with what was in the cooler.
And, since I was experiencing this parallel phenomena, I was
part of it too. Natricia probably knew what was going on in
the universe where she shot me, but not in this one, but I
couldn’t be sure. He called Joel on one of his throwaway cell phones.
“Frank! Where have you been?”
“Joel, have you seen Natricia?”
“No, Frank….She seems to have disappeared…Frank, do
you know what’s happening?”
“Not a clue…and I would suggest let me take care of it…
don’t look into it or try to discover anything. I think there
is something dangerous for anyone who finds out. I’ll call
when I can.”
He hung up. He went to his apartment….cased it for a while,
and snuck in the back. The place looked fine…perfect. The
lights were off in the kitchen. He checked the floorboard, and
the hair he had left across the seam was gone. He looked inside,
and nothing seemed disturbed. This was troubling. He knew
he couldn’t stay long, or take anything…no one could know
he’d been back. He went out quietly the way he came in.
He took the subway to another borough and went to an
internet café. He punched in the code for the private chat
room. Someone was there…nickname “coffee10” He
checked in as “Nick”.
coffee10: “you have it?’
Nick: “yes”
coffee10: “problem?
Nick: “I had to change cases.”…
There was a long pause.
coffee10: “where is it now?”
Nick: “safety deposit box”
coffee10: “it has to get out of there.”
Nick: “we have to meet.”
coffee10: “impossible”
Nick: “someone knew…they tried to take it.”
Another long pause.
Nick: “I’ve had some….unusual experiences.”
(more pause)
coffee10: “tonight….8 PM…Union Station…wait in
the main waiting area.
****
He had some time before 8. He went for a walk to
air out his mind. What was happening to him had seemed
part of his writing process, but the story had taken over his
life…did he have the “Jarry complex”? Was he loosing his
mind? Nothing he was experiencing seemed like a dream or
hallucination. He could be making it up, but hadn’t he made
up his whole life before then anyway? When he talked to old
friends about their past experiences, at times their memories
seemed almost incompatible. He usually attributed that to
brain damage. He knew a man once, Bill, who had been in an
accident and had brain damage…Bill was fine, same level of
intelligence and functionality, but his personality had changed
completely. Before, he had been calm, and a bit shy. Now he
was gregarious and hilarious…at times, outrageous. Bill himself
couldn’t understand what had happened.
He sat on a park bench along the side of the road. He liked to
come here and sit. The ocean was panoramic here. You could
hear distant tugboat whistles and train whistles. There were
seagulls and you could smell the Atlantic.
If he had to, this is where he’d do it.