Chapter 24
Janis stormed out of the Imaging Chamber, doing her best to hold back tears.
“What just happened?” asked Addison, approaching her with wide eyes. God, she wished she had been able to be present in there when all this went down.
“Your stupid Accelerator leapt Ben away before Sam could speak to my Dad, that’s what!” Janis let out a frustrated groan, and continued to Ian’s workstation, where Magic was standing, looking decidedly deflated.
“He chose that phone call over coming home,” Magic muttered. His face was a conflict of relief that Sam had spoken to Al, and frustration that they’d lost him again. “Damn, that man is stubborn.”
“Sam always does what Sam wants to do,” Janis said through a sigh. “It’s how he got stuck out there to begin with.”
Magic gave Janis a look. “That notebook of yours… it’s our only record of Sam’s leaps, isn’t it?”
Janis crossed her arms. “I’m not handing it over. Not until I can be sure there aren’t any rogue leapers around.”
“And how can you expect to know that?”
Janis turned her gaze to Ian, who was hanging back at their computer. “Ian—you volunteered to help with my project earlier, right?”
“Hang on, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Jenn approached the group, setting her handlink on the desk. “Just what happened to the ghost hunters? Did they turn out okay?”
Ian chuckled. “I’ve been waiting for someone to ask that.” They turned to their monitor, and gestured to a video on the screen—grainy infra-red footage of the room where Ben and Sam had been trapped. The space that had originally been lined with foam and rubber, but was now just a normal, ruined hospital room. Ian paused it as the camera panned across one of the walls.
“This is footage from their pilot,” Ian explained, tapping on the keyboard to advance the video frame by frame. “Check this out.”
There on the wall, in the same handwriting as the floor, was the message: ‘S + B – Thank you.’
“The pilot didn’t get picked up for series,” Ian continued, “but Iris and Greg swore up and down they were possessed during the shoot. Gee, wonder why that might be? Anyway, the gang went on to adapt their show for YouTube and became quite successful debunkers of other people’s ghost videos. Guess they were pretty well knowledgeable about that, huh? But because of their experience, they now claim to be believers, and want to get to the bottom of what happened.” Ian turned around with a triumphant smile.
“Well, that’s great,” Magic said, “as long as they don’t actually find out the truth.”
“I think we’re pretty safe there,” Ian said, “unless one of them finds a vocation later in life as a quantum physicist.” They removed their cat ears. “I think it’s safe to take these off now.”
“Don’t be too hasty,” Janis said. “You and I have things to do.”
* * *
This place was extremely badass. Ian marvelled at Janis’s apartment—no, not apartment. Lair. It was definitely more of a lair. The makeshift Imaging Chamber loomed large on one side, with a server stack against a wall and a desk strewn with electronic components, being overlooked by several computer monitors. It was the first time Janis had been back here since Jenn had tracked it down.
“You know how long it took me to build this Imaging Chamber?” Janis asked, gesturing to the large sphere. “Months. All to warn Ben about Martinez, and I couldn’t even do that because you guys just had to shut me out. You’re all a collective pain in my ass, you know that?”
Ian looked at her, sheepish. “Well you weren’t exactly forthcoming about your intentions, were you? How were we supposed to know you were trying to help us when you nearly exploded Jenn and Magic?”
Janis opened her mouth to answer, but decided against it. Instead, she placed something into Ian’s hand.
Oh, cool!
Ian was extremely into the aesthetic of the old handlink. The rainbow colour scheme, the blocky design—very avant garde. And the little noises it made! They were so adorable!
“It looks like something a robotic unicorn coughed up,” they remarked, turning it in their hands.
Janis raised an eyebrow. “Uh… if you say so. Dad used to compare it to a bunch of gummy bears smooshed together.” she shook her head. “Anyway, do you think you can adapt it?”
“Well…” Ian tilted their head. “Yes, I think so—but how the heck are we going to configure it and test it out? Got any leapers around to use it on?”
“That’s the tricky part, isn’t it?” Janis asked, running a hand through her hair. “I had to coax someone out of hiding for this. I just hope…”
“Out of hiding? What do you mean?”
A knock came on the door.
“That’ll be her now,” Janis said, crossing to the heavy, fortified door and yanking it open.
Ian wasn’t expecting to see an older lady—maybe late sixties? She had long, frizzy hair tied into a half ponytail. Upon meeting Janis’s eye, her face brightened.
“Janis… I can’t believe you’re so grown up!” She wrapped her arms around the woman, squeezing tightly. Janis was stiff at first, but soon leaned into the hug.
After a moment, the two separated, and Janis turned to Ian.
“Ian, you need to promise me you won’t speak a word of this to anybody. Not Magic, not Addison, not Jenn—nobody.”
Ian grimaced. “You realise I get super anxious when I try to keep secrets, right?”
Janis looked into their eyes, pleading. “Ian, please. This is for Sam’s safety.”
Ian swallowed. “Okay. I promise.”
Janis let out a breath. “Okay.” She turned to the woman. “I’ll let you introduce yourself. It’s going to be the three of us against the world for a while. I hope not too long.”
The woman approached Ian. “I’ve heard a lot about you, and the other folks at the new project,” she said, extending a hand. “My name’s Donna. I’m Sam’s wife.”
“He has a wife?” Ian blurted out as they took the woman’s hand and shook.
Donna nodded. “It’s not exactly the most physical of relationships,” she admitted, “but I’m the only person he trusts with his secrets.”
“You’re… you’re the mysterious contact in Hawaii…”
Donna put a finger to her lips. “I haven’t been to the mainland in years,” she said. “And as far as anyone knows, I’m still in my little trailer on the old Beckett property.”
“Wh-what are you here for?” Ian asked, realising they were being entrusted with something phenomenally important.
“Because she’s our best chance of finding Sam,” Janis said.
“And if we find Sam in the present, then we can configure the leap detection system…” Ian said, putting together Janis’s line of thinking.
“Exactly,” said Janis. “So all we need to do is wait for Sam to make contact.”
“And how long will that take?”
Donna offered them a weak smile. “That’s the question, isn’t it?”
Ian looked at the two women tensely. “Well, uh—guess we’d better get cracking.”