Chapter 21
From the conversation in the car, Ben had surmised that Brad and Todd were, in fact, freshman college students—having graduated from their high school the previous year—and the girl sitting next to him in the car was Janis’s girlfriend, Kat. Both were high school seniors, and Janis was set to go to Caltech in the Fall to start her degree in astrophysics.
While it was beneficial that he had prior knowledge of Janis, the lack of Addison was really beginning to get to him. He really needed to know what he was supposed to do.
“Here we are,” Brad announced, as he pulled into the parking garage of a mall. “First off, we’re gonna treat you both to a massage and mani-pedi, then we’re gonna get gelato, and then—” he winked, “—the surprise.”
Ben looked nervously at Kat, who beamed back at him.
“Come on, Jan,” she said in a low voice, “I know it sounds super girly, but even a tough bitch like you needs pampering once in a while. Relax.” She grinned, patting Ben’s arm.
“Well, I do deserve a little spa treatment,” he muttered, thinking about his quite relentless leaps. But, he worried, that this was going to be just like the last time, when he’d had a good night’s sleep only to have a heart attack at gunpoint the next day. It was like in a video game when you got your health restored before a boss battle, he thought.
Trying his best to look unconcerned—like Janis would—he shrugged, and busied himself with Janis’s phone. Though it was a normal-looking phone for the era—one of the unbreakable Nokias with huge monochrome pixels on the screen—the interface seemed different to what Ben remembered. He thought maybe Janis had customised it, or perhaps her Dad had given her the phone and it had some additions that a regular consumer phone did not.
He peered at the contact list, which included both Al and Beth Calavicci under ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’. Neither of them knew Ben Song yet, of course, but the prospect that he could call either and have them answer was thrilling. Could he come clean to them?
The car pulled to a stop, and everyone got out, heading for the mall’s entrance. As they entered, a sprawling tiled floor expanded before them, lined with the usual boutique stores of the era.
And beside a fountain ahead stood Addison, gesturing with her head for him to join her.
Ben grimaced. What excuse was he going to give this time? He’d already used the bathroom one.
He looked to Brad. “What time is our appointment?” he asked, checking his watch.
“It’s booked for two. The place is just up there.” Brad pointed to a shopfront that could be seen one level above them.
Noting that he had ten minutes, Ben whipped out his phone. “Okay. Listen, I just need to make a quick call. A private one, so you three just meet me at the spa, okay?”
Kat raised an eyebrow. “Hacker business?”
“Yes, exactly,” Ben said. “Hacker. Business. Very hush-hush.”
“Oh man, your life is so cool,” she giggled, and placed arms at the backs of the two boys. “Let’s leave her to her shady activities, shall we?”
Ben breathed a sigh of relief as they left him alone, and he placed the phone to his ear, sauntering up to the fountain and sitting on a free bench.
“Addison, have you figured out why I’m here?”
Addison took a seat beside him. “Uh, Ziggy might have, but I’ve been a little preoccupied, because of everything that happened. I’ll tell you when she tells me.”
“She?”
“Ziggy.”
“Ziggy’s a she now?”
“Yup.” Addison locked eyes with him, her face betraying nothing. “One of many changes that happened since Sam arrived home.”
“He made it home? Oh, thank God!” Ben grinned, but it faded as he saw Addison’s glistening eyes. “…Addison, please tell me what’s wrong. What happened?”
Addison took a deep breath. “Well, Sam popped out of the original Accelerator, into the same time you’re in now. Which was the correct time for him, but the fact he’s back now means everything changed, and…” She licked her lips, “And I don’t remember any of it, Ben. I don’t think you do, either, by the sound of it.”
Ben’s mouth drifted open. The butterfly effect that change must have caused…
“Well, you’re here,” Ben said, gesturing. “That means there’s still a project, right?”
Addison nodded. “Right. It played out a little differently, but the project was still revived when Al, Magic, and Sam convinced congress to give them the funding back in 2015. You still leaped to save me from Martinez, and so you and I are still in the same place.” She looked at her hands. “It’s just… I don’t recognise things any more, Ben. Sam works at the Project. My Mom works at the Project. Janis works at the Project. She has Jenn’s job.”
“What happened to Jenn?”
“Jenn is serving time for identity theft.”
“Oh my God!”
Addison sighed. “Now do you see what I’ve been going through? Everything’s different and I don’t know if it’s for the better.”
Ben tried to swallow down the lump emerging in his throat. “Why… why do you remember how it was before when nobody else does?”
“Sam seems to think it might have been a combination of the fact the old version of him was leapt into me when the change happened, and the natural quantum bubble of the Imaging Chamber working in tandem… or something. But the moment the retrieval was attempted, and you grabbed the younger version of Sam, that’s when I… came back. But it was the old me, not the updated model. He called it the ‘convergence point’.”
“The moment two timelines converge into one,” Ben murmured, his mind racing. “And you were the point it converged on, because you had Sam with you.” He met her eye. “I’m so sorry, I had no idea what I was doing. I was all loopy on painkillers, and I saw Sam there, and I was leaping, and—”
“I know,” Addison whispered. “This is just something we’re going to have to navigate now. And we did it—we got Sam back. That’s an achievement, right?”
“Y-yeah. I guess it is.”
A blip came from the handlink, and Addison peered down at it. “Oh, good. Listen Ben, Janis is gonna swing by for a bit. This is her speciality, I guess.”
Ben nodded. “Okay. I guess you have a lot to figure out without worrying about me, huh?”
“Yeah.” Addison gave him a pained look. “I’ll see you round, Ben.”
No sooner had she vanished, than Janis materialised in her place, looking amused.
“Heya Ben!” she said, looking him over. “Wow, now this is super weird, huh? Actually, the emo look suits you. Better than it did me, at any rate.” She looked around the mall. “So you’re about to get the massage and manicure, right? Oh jeez, this is so nostalgic. I haven’t seen Kat since I went off to college.”
Ben didn’t remember Janis being so upbeat. Not that he was complaining.
“What am I doing here, Janis? You must know? Does something happen?”
Janis’s smile dropped a little. “Prom is tomorrow night.”
“Yeah. That guy Brad said something about you and Kat being the first gay couple at prom?”
Janis gave him a joyless laugh. “That was the plan.”
“It didn’t work out?”
Janis looked up to the spa on the floor above. “That stupid conservative Mom’s group petitioned to have us banned, and the school buckled under the pressure. We only heard about it when we tried to get in. Ended up spending the night getting drunk on cheap wine in the park instead.”
Ben jumped to his feet. “That’s gotta be why I’m here! To stop the school banning you.”
Janis’s frown softened. “That would be amazing, Ben.” She looked down at the handlink, her eyes widening. “Oh, shoot, I almost forgot. The phone is about to—”
Her voice was drowned out by the loud ringing of Janis’s phone right in Ben’s ear. If anyone had thought he was speaking on the phone before, the illusion was now broken.
He cringed at the sudden ringing, and lowered the phone, checking the ID: ‘Dad’.
Ben looked up at Janis, waiting for a clue.
“That’ll be Dad telling me Uncle Sam’s come home. Answer it. Don’t give yourself away… yet. Gotta scope things out with Ziggy on that front.”
Ben nodded, and pressed the answer button before bringing the phone to his ear.
“Uh, hello…”
“Heya pumpkin,” said a very fatherly Al. “Listen, I know you’re not at school right now—I already tried there—and I’d scold you if I thought that would make a difference, but hell, I have bigger fish to fry. Remember Uncle Sam?”
“Tell him yes, you remember him from when you were a kid,” Janis prompted.
“Yes, I remember him from when I was—”
“—Janis, you don’t have to play coy now. I know he met you last year. Helped some kid come out of the closet, right?”
Janis nodded. “Ask how he knows.”
“Uh…” Ben said, “How… how do you know that?”
“Because he told me. He’s sitting right next to me in the car right now. Want me to put him on?”
“Okay!” Ben’s heart fluttered. He wanted to blurt out everything to Sam, but Janis was shaking her head.
“Not yet, Ben.”
“Why?” he mouthed to her.
“Because Ziggy hasn’t given us the okay yet!”
Just who’s in charge at the Project now? thought Ben. Ziggy?
“Hi, Janis!” came Sam Beckett’s upbeat voice on the line. “It’s Sam.”
“Hi… Uncle Sam,” Ben said, closing his eyes. “I’m really glad you made it home.” At least that part was truthful.
“Head for the spa,” Janis whispered, gesturing to an escalator. Ben nodded, and began making his way toward it.
“Me too,” Sam continued. “I thought it would never happen. I was going to be out there forever. But… then I met someone who changed my fate. I guess my life needed fixing too.” He chuckled. “Anyway, I’m on my way to see Donna in Albuquerque. If you’re free tonight, you can join your Dad there for dinner. I’d love to see you, Janis.”
Ben looked to Janis, who nodded. “You’re due to finish up here at five.”
“Okay, I’ll be there later this afternoon.”
“Terrific. It’s good to hear your voice again.”
“Yours too, Sam.”
He hung up as he arrived at the spa, where the other three were waiting.
“Ooh, who’s Sam?” Kat asked. “One of your seedy underworld contacts?”
Ben snorted. “No, he’s more like… a mentor.”