Colin hadn’t seen Earth Prime like this before. It was pretty disorienting; after spending most of his childhood and adulthood here, seeing it reduced to a wasteland was heart-wrenching.
And he certainly would never have predicted having to row across San Francisco Bay in a dinghy, in the dead of night. But, here he was, doing just that, thanks to the many bridges of the bay either being demolished or set up as Kromagg checkpoints.
They were quietly rowing along the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, having arrived from the north. Their only light was from the bridge itself, so as not to draw attention to themselves. It was pretty spooky; this inky black water beneath them, and the feeling of exposure each time they passed into the beam of a light. He was just glad the water was calm tonight.
The timer had given them about 14 hours, and it was already down to 11. But, even when they reached the university, they had no idea what they would find there; or perhaps more importantly, what they might not find.
“You sure you don’t want a turn?” Colin said to the man who apparently contained his brother.
“You’re doing such a great job, I wouldn’t think of it,” Quinn replied, stretching his arms.
“You know he’s got a headache,” Maggie chided.
“Excuses, excuses,” Colin said, as he worked the oar, next to Rembrandt who was rowing the other one. “Back home, it was all: ‘oh, Quinn can’t do the dishes tonight, he has a dissertation to write,’ and then I’d find him an hour later playing Nintendo in his boxers.”
Beside him, Rembrandt stifled a laugh.
Quinn’s irreverent expression turned serious, as he seemed to struggle with this quip.
Again… why is he having so much trouble with me?
Ever since these two Quinns had been fused, he had been looking at Colin funny. And the comments about his jokes and speech patterns were baffling. It would be easy to dismiss as some unknown side effect of what had happened to him, but it was bothering him a great deal, and he wasn’t sure why.
“Hey,” Maggie said, poking Quinn in the arm, “I see that look. Stop thinking.”
“Sorry…”
* * *
It was an hour later when they finally reached the campus, and it didn’t look like it had been occupied for some time. While it seemed a relief that nobody was around, it was quite difficult for Colin to see the university where he’d spent five years of his life reduced to a ghost town.
“Jeez, this is bleak,” he said, moving a flashlight beam around the dark campus green, illuminating rubble and human remains.
“That’s one word for it,” Rembrandt mumbled, as he stepped carefully over a rib cage.
Colin kept a close eye on Quinn, who had gone very quiet since they’d reached the campus. He couldn’t see his face well, due to the low light, but he sensed a lot of discomfort coming from him.
A noise came from above, and Colin flipped off the flashlight as he peered upward to see a Manta Ship flying low overhead.
He’d only heard about these things, and to see one in person sent chills down his spine.
“Quick, don’t let ’em detect us!” Rembrandt hissed, and they all scrambled into the sciences building, the door of which was hanging off one hinge.
Inside, it was largely how Colin recalled it, except for the added dilapidation and blood spatter, which turned his stomach.
“Where to now?” Maggie asked. “It can’t be in the same lab as last time. Does this place have some kind of storage room, or…?”
Colin thought for a moment.
“Well, our best bet might be the Beckett wing.”
“Beckett wing?!” Rembrandt was looking at him with surprise.
Colin pointed to where Arturo’s office had once been, in 1978. Instead of the tiny office, it was the entrance to a whole new area of the building.
“Through there,” Colin said. “They built it in the eighties, I think, after Doc Beckett gave a big donation to the university. He and the Professor had a big hand in designing it, if I remember correctly.”
He turned to Quinn. “You remember, right? It’s where all our classes with him were.”
Quinn looked like a deer in headlights.
“You don’t remember…”
“There’s something not right about this,” was all Quinn said, as he cradled his forehead in his hand.
Colin frowned, but there was no time to press the issue. Instead, he headed to the entrance of the newest, most technologically modern part of the sciences building. The Beckett wing, where he’d studied engineering and physics under two brilliant intellects, was admittedly looking worse for wear, but Colin’s memories still caused great helpings of nostalgia for this place.
“Okay, I guess we fan out, search each room,” Maggie said, flipping her own flashlight on.
Colin placed a hand on Quinn’s shoulder. “You stay close to me,” he said. It wasn’t a request.
“Okay…” he replied, and allowed Colin to lead him towards the far end of the building.
As they walked, Colin watched his brother’s clouded expression. He was loathe to bring it up, in case of the physiological effects of his probing, but he just wanted to understand a little better.
“Bro, what’s going on?” he asked, as he busted open a door at the far end of the building with a kick. Inside, he shined his light upon a room full of dusty computers.
“I know my memory’s all weird right now, but something about this place is giving me the chills, and it’s not the skeletons,” Quinn admitted.
“Then what?”
“I have some memories of the sciences building. But, this part? Nothing. And I swear I’ve never had Sam Beckett as a teacher.”
Colin was silent for a moment, before being struck with an epiphany that left him breathless.
“Oh man.”
He turned, and kicked open the opposite door. Another normal classroom, with desks overturned and papers scattered under a layer of dust.
“What?” he felt Quinn’s hand pulling on his shoulder. He faced him with a grave expression.
“Well, we made a lot of choices in 1978, didn’t we?” Colin said. “Ones that changed our personal history.”
In the low light, Quinn’s pale face grew even paler.
“I think we’re coming up against the consequences of that,” continued Colin. “I don’t think Earth Prime Sam would have even come here if it weren’t for us…”
His mind began to race. “In fact, my memory of 1978 is pretty fuzzy. Just how much did we change?”
“Argh!” Quinn doubled over, clutching his head. Colin put an arm around him, steadying him.
“Damn, I shouldn’t have said that,” Colin said with a sigh.
“Guys… I found something…” Maggie’s trembling voice echoed through the corridor, and Colin walked Quinn towards her.
“Oh my god, that’s–” Rembrandt began.
Colin approached, and saw Maggie staring, wide-eyed, at a familiar-looking panel on the wall.
She glanced at each of them. “Should I… try it?”
Colin shined his light on the small, flat glass pane. “Well… there doesn’t look to be any power in this building, so I don’t think anything will happen, but…”
He stepped back, and Maggie placed her hand on it.
To everyone’s shock, the panel lit up, and a familiar voice blasted from a hidden speaker.
“Identity verified. Welcome, Ms Beckett,” the voice of Higgins barked, before the whole area of the wall opened up to reveal a well-lit stairway.
Maggie looked back for a moment at the three behind her, and then wordlessly entered the passage.
“So, uh, this just got weird, right?” Rembrandt commented, before following.
Colin looked down at Quinn, who was still clutching his temple, and relying on him for support.
“Why do I feel like I’m in Alice in Wonderland all of a sudden?” he mumbled.
Colin grimaced. “Down the rabbit hole…” he said, as they started down the stairs.
Behind them, the wall closed up, and Colin felt both relieved and trapped; a strange combination. The stairs went down probably fifty or sixty feet, having a turn to the right every fifteen steps or so.
Finally, they reached what seemed to be the bottom, where a small empty room awaited them.
“It can’t be a dead end,” Rembrandt whined. “I’m not walking back up all those stairs already…”
“There must be another Higgins panel in here, right?” Maggie said, feeling around the walls.
Colin’s eyes darted around what appeared to be three smooth cement walls, a floor, and a ceiling. A naked fluorescent light on the ceiling illuminated the space. No obvious signs of anything, except for a nearly imperceptible series of three small slits in a row on the ceiling, towards the back of the space. He pointed up to it.
“What do you suppose that is? A vent?”
Rembrandt stepped towards it, squinting. He flipped on his flashlight, and shined it up into the long rectangular openings.
“Huh, looks kinda like the pop filter foam on a microphone…”
“You think it’s some kind of audio?” asked Colin, and Rembrandt gave a shrug.
Maggie stiffened. “Wait… that just jogged a memory…”
She looked up to the opening. “Higgins, uh… let me in, please? Open sesame?”
“Password confirmation required,” Higgins boomed back, through what was obviously an intercom of some kind.
“Oh, crap,” Maggie said, deflated.
“Awaiting password confirmation. Alarm will sound in ten seconds.”
Colin locked anxious eyes with Maggie, and wondered if this was the end of the line.
“Awaiting password confirmation. Alarm will sound in five seconds.”
“Any bright ideas?” Rembrandt asked. Colin shook his head.
“Alarm will sound in three. Two.”
“We’re screwed,” Maggie choked out.
“Override accepted. Please wait.”
“Override?” Colin asked, raising an eyebrow.
Then, the room itself shuddered, and descended below the staircase. Evidently, it had been an elevator of some sort. After the stairs disappeared from view in favour of a set of double doors beneath, they slid open, and a man was standing before them, holding a small touch-screen device in his hand, with a large crack in the glass.
“Good heavens, isn’t this a sight for sore eyes?” Professor Arturo said with a warm smile.