The End Again, page 10
So, she nodded, deciding to work with the people who probably already knew, or at least suspected what she really was. That... Was, suddenly, a much smaller group of people, really. Honestly, there were only four or so people in her entire world who might truly be on that list.
Cindy Mableton, Brie, Christian Pours and Marcia Turner. Maybe Brian Yi. She’d never noticed them thinking about that kind of thing in regard to her before, but she was pretty certain that if she went around considering the idea for a while, that kind of thing was going to occur to them. Unless she hid it again. Not that it was like that, truly. She’d been Sara, the girl, but there was no real claim to her having not understood herself on a deep level.
Even if, at the same time, she’d done that part pretty well.
That, she had to admit, was both tempting and cowardly, at the same time. Still, she was willing to be a coward, if it was the best plan for the moment. Especially if no one was ever going to know about it. Rather than give into that feeling, knowing that it wouldn’t be the human girl thing to do, Sara swallowed and shook her head.
Then forced a smile.
“Thanks for talking to me. Both of you. This helped. I mean, I might have to come and live here, and hide forever, but today, in this moment, having someone to talk to helped. Even if you both end up being totally wrong about what I should do.”
Even if they weren’t, it was still going to be interesting, for a while. Then, they had mentioned not telling everyone in the world.
Just the ones she needed to understand. That, refreshingly, wouldn’t be anyone from Noram. The truth was, even if a few of their mages had spoken to her subconscious mind, none of them actually knew that was what they’d been doing at the time. Even thinking of the Infection as a being, and one of great power, they didn’t have the baggage that people from her world would, in that regard.
Meaning only her own people, a few of them, would need to understand it all. As the men had said to her, it wasn’t needed to help them, but so that she wouldn’t be carrying the whole issue alone. To that end, she nearly cut some of them from her mental list. Turner in particular. The woman wasn’t insane, but she was nearly paranoid, even after her first mode had been removed.
The problem there was that, in that one woman rested the entire weight of the IPB. She was their director and needed to understand, as much or more than Sara needed her to do it. The others were picked mainly because she figured that they were going to work things out, all on their own. Not Brian. She marked him off the list, and then closed her eyes.
The simple truth there was that she was afraid that he’d be ashamed of her. Even if that didn't really sound like the man at all.
“Well, no time like the present. I need to get to things, before my nerve fails. First, though, I need a present for Trivia. To let her not know everything, constantly.”
That was a plan of hers, but the magical device hadn’t been built yet. Even if she understood how to get it done. Giving out hugs, holding the two men longer than was even remotely correct, barely knowing them and not having time to kneel down and blow them both, even if it was tempting, since it would be a good enough reason to stall what was coming, she finally stood back. Then went to Noram, to her new dwelling there, and made her way inside the interesting space. It wasn’t vast, on the outside, but inside the place it seemed huge, in every direction.
In the front room, a place of stone and metal, in a modern style from her own world, there were several people sitting in nice black leather chairs, just chatting to each other. Parker, Fox and Tess, with Christian Pours sitting there, seeming relaxed, her mind silent. Thanks to the magic she was wearing.
Sara waved at them.
“I need to make an amulet for Brie. Then go deliver that. You can come with me, Christian? I need to speak to some people, and you’re elected to be one of them, even if you won’t want to know my incredibly awesome and evil secret.” She let her face go blank, then, in a dull voice, pretended to laugh. “Mwa-ha-ha.”
The woman smirked a bit, touched her own chest, where the amulet hung openly, as if it had been a prize, and nodded.
“That sounds good. I know that she’s had a hard time for a while now. How long will it take you?”
Sara thought, then shrugged. The real answer was that it would take as long as it did, but she kind of had the basic idea down, having done similar work on dampening powers a few times now.
“Six hours? Maybe longer, but about that. I’ll hurry?”
The woman stood up, and gave a nod.
“I need to get a nap then, if I can. This is exciting, you know that, Sara? Oh, by the way, about half of the people on the base want some help with their powers, if you can manage it? I’ve been noticing that, since you gave me this. People keep walking up and saying they’re jealous of me, at least.”
That made sense, of course. Even having powers wasn’t always a brilliant thing. Not for everyone. Even without her grand mistake. First modes had turned the powers needed to protect everyone into a horror for a whole lot of people. Millions had died over the years, because of that stupidity and lack on her part.
Rather than letting her mind focus on that, she started to work out the build she wanted, and went to find an amulet to put it on. Something nice, she decided. In the end she had a rather plain rock, that she popped a hole through, then polished, using a power to control stone and rock. Part of it was made flat, on the front and back of the coin sized, irregular shape. It was just a shiny black, with a lot of gray to it, but it kind of worked as a decoration, she hoped.
Then, going to the stairs, feeling like she barely had to walk at all to do it, in the huge space, since it wasn’t big at all, just an illusion of it, Sara moved up the stairs, then picked an unclaimed room. The last one along the main hallway. That had red carpet, and seemed to go on for a good long while. Several miles. She got to her room inside a half minute of walking.
That, the illusion inside was the trick of the whole thing. The new magic. You could tuck it in anywhere, and be left with a sense of having more space than you knew what to do with. The actual rooms which seemed to be vast inside, were actually about ten feet across in each direction. If you went to the restroom, the room itself had to add a toilet and sink. You felt like you walked into it, but that was just a sense of moving, not the real thing.
Kind of like her life, she realized.
Chapter seven
There was always a certain peace while she worked on building. That wasn’t actually needed in any way, of course. The process of doing that, using her biological mind to influence the smallest portions of reality over time, to change reality was a process she could have hurried significantly without even having to copy anyone else’s power. At least now that she bothered to think about it. After realizing what she was.
Partially was.
That was a thing that felt a bit off as she considered the idea. Sara wasn’t just herself, a girl in a body, in a magical house in Noram. She was also an energy pattern, in several realities, concentrated in her own true home, on a barren world that had once been called Earth. That hadn’t changed at all. Then, it wouldn’t.
Sara made all the changes in a different reality stream, of course. Going back in time, then changing the timeline, so that there were two of them, instead of one. That was how it had always been and would be. It was why there was no paradox that undid everything.
Thinking for a moment, sitting on her incredibly fancy bed, in her large seeming room, Sara held up the decorative necklace that she’d managed to bring into being for Trivia. That was a delicate piece of work, built off of altering her mindset, not choking her power flow at all. None of which, of course, the woman really needed her help with. If Sara could do the work, then the woman could have literally done it for herself. Probably a long time ago.
Knowing everything was an impressive power, after all. Even if it was only knowing everything anyone else did. Still, Sara could have faked her own identity papers as well, with only about the same amount of effort that Brie had put in. Doing everything yourself wasn’t the point, of course. Sometimes it was good to just have a friend.
A thing that she had now.
That got her to smile as she stood up, stretched her arms up over her head and twisted as she considered what to do next. That was, if she could manage it, probably going to be telling the most important people in her world that she wasn’t what they’d all thought. Then handling the fallout from that. Truly, she kind of wondered if she was going to be allowed to go back home at any point, given who, and what, she was.
“I couldn’t blame them for telling me to stay away.”
Then, if she had to live there, in Noram, that would work as well. Her other world was safe enough now. Except that she needed to fix some issues. Her haphazard and sloppy original plan had worked to prevent the cataclysm of her world, but the truth was that there would always be something else. Having good, strong, people who were willing to prevent that might make a difference. Then, bad people with too much power might well destroy it all, so some balance was needed there, as well.
Walking out into the front space, which felt like she was moving for longer than she actually was, since to her perception of time, the feeling of the movement, and what it looked like, was a trip that took seven or eight minutes of walking through a modern building that seemed like a giant convention center to her. The actual walk covered about forty feet.
Still, when she got there, she found not only the people she’d expected, Marcia, Brie, Chris and Cindy, but also Brian Yi and Mark. Which got her to sigh. After all, those two didn’t have to know about her. They had a right to, but then a lot of people did, who she wasn’t planning to tell about anything at all.
Still, they were there, and Sara, closing her eyes, brought up an image of herself, as she was and then tried to connect to the powers she actually held. Not the individual powers she’d helped make in others over the years, but what she’d developed for herself, before she’d made any attempt to save a world.
Sort of save a world.
She glanced at the others there, and nodded, as she touched the naked image of a teen girl. One made too pretty, when she hadn’t understood enough to not do something that over the top. Reaching out, like she always did when changing shape, which was only one tiny facet of what she could do, she changed, the gray glowing background behind the mental image, a thing that seemed to stretch forever, in all directions, becoming part of her. The world turning, in part, into a giant spreadsheet. One that worked in three dimensions, showing every Infected person who existed in her other world, and the one she was in. A few other places, as well.
Out on Mars and even one who was living in the far fleet.
A few were marked in red. Those, she understood, were the important ones, as far as her plans had gone. The ones who could destroy the world, but also save it. She brought those numbers around instantly, noticing that everyone in front of her was very near the top.
Except for Trivia.
She wasn’t in the thirty-million-two-thousand and eleven names, at all.
Because she, clearly, wasn’t Infected. Still, not letting that worry her, Sara held out her hand, the necklace that would dampen the woman’s connection to everyone else in the reality they were in activated instantly, Trivia not needing to touch it to make that happen.
When the pale hand took the magical device, she sighed. Even if she wasn’t Infected, it was kind of clear that the magic had worked. There was no reason it wouldn’t, after all.
“That’s nice. I can actually feel my own thoughts again. Which is strange, of course. Now, Sara, you wanted us all here, for something?” It was clear, even without reading a mind at all, that everyone there thought they were there for something other than what Sara had planned at all.
She looked around, noting that there were others there, in the background watching her. Fox, Parker, Tess and Becky. The ghost. That one was interesting, since the girl was still connected to her, even if she was dead. Not just because of Christian’s powers, either.
Sara didn’t call her over. They were friends, or had been, after a weird fashion, a long time before. Less for Becky than it had been for her. Truly, she didn't want the girl to think poorly of her. Not that she might not find out anyway. If Christian knew, well, Sara doubted that the telepath had a right to not tell the woman who lived in her head about something like that.
“We could take a walk? This is... Sort of big. I have a plan, and... Need to share something about myself.”
She just started walking, not being shocked when everyone followed her. Each of them going over different ideas about what might be going on, in their heads. Cindy figured that Sara was coming out as gay, or at least bi-sexual. An idea that made Sara want to smile. After all, while she hadn’t made her mind up that way totally, it wouldn’t have been a thing to make a production of, to her mind. Though, really, she kind of liked boys.
Not that it mattered to the discussion of the day.
When they got outside, the people following her, not speaking, giving the whole thing a very grave air, she noticed what the others were considering.
Director Turner wondered if Sara was going to announce a plan to take over the world, or possibly several. If that was the case, well, she understood that no one there could stop her. Not outside of begging and crying. She was uneasy, but also didn’t really think Sara would do that. It was just the only thing that came to her, in the moment. Well, that or she planned to move, her own world becoming too annoying for her, being known as a class ten.
Trivia didn’t think anything at all, merely being happy with her new present, which she put around her neck and tucked under her handmade shirt.
Mark, oddly, figured that Sara was just getting with her people. They were lacking a few, to his mind, such as Tobin and Hobbs, but the rest of the people there, to his mind, were about right. That it didn’t have Rachel was... Well, the woman was kind and good, but hadn’t been a great mother to Sara, in particular. No one had been. The closest person she had to that was Cindy.
The psychopathic killer.
Oddly, out of all of them, Christian was the one with the closest idea to what she was about to say, so, walking around the building, Sara started with that part of things, waving in her direction.
Smiling.
“You have it. Part of this. I figured out how to turn off all of the first modes. For everyone. We can also modify some of the powers that are hurting people. We really need to keep using the mages for that, of course. That...” It was odd, but very clear to her, suddenly. “Everyone picks their own powers, on a subconscious level. Everyone. Each of us did that, I mean. All the Infected. Which, well, that can be changed now. We can open that up a lot, now. The thing is, we need to explain to everyone why all the first modes are suddenly gone.”
They weren’t that far from the water of the King’s River, their backs to the walled city behind her. The river water was more or less clear, but it was a deep, slow and broad thing at the point they were standing. Further down, to her right, were other houses. Palaces, The River School and some businesses. The ice plant and a few other places that Sara had never gone into at all.
Each of them a structure made completely of magic. Even her place was. That was smaller than most of the rest, on the outside, but not all of them. It looked very different, however. All of it was an illusion, for each piece of magic along the way, but it worked, which was enough.
Her first question, the one she was ready to answer, was how Sara thought she might pull that one off. No one there even thought about the question at all. She was the class ten. To them, that was enough. She’d worked out a trick and if Sara Chambers told them she could take out all the first modes, then it wasn’t a thing to doubt.
Brian laughed.
“That will be noticed. You don’t want everyone to know that it’s you doing it, of course... I can see that. If you think people are freaking out now, reaching out to over a million people and making a change like that... Yeah. So, we need a story. What can we claim that will seem real?”
Trivia, Brie, smiled and lifted her shoulders slightly.
“Magic? Make an announcement and put something forward for it... A box with colorful lights and a big red button on the top? Then a flash of light... Can you make something like that Sara?”
She could, actually. It wouldn’t even be that hard.
“I can. We can ask the President to press the button for us? Or the U.N.? A group thing, if they want? Then it won’t be some pushy little bitch doing it all?” She meant herself, but Turner grinned.
Thinking she was the one meant, for some reason.
“That could work. Really, we could also just do it and ask for forgiveness, later? Heavy handed, but it fixes a lot of problems for us. Not just the IPB or the Infected. Everyone gains from this. I think people will understand.”
Sighing, Sara shook her head.
“Will they? I made a totally mess of things, already. Sure, to save the world, and it’s worked, but I didn’t understand what I was doing. I mean, I was just an accounting program. An A.I. and one that had to adapt to try and save my world, but...I couldn’t, in the end. So I went into the past, a hundred years before the cataclysm in our world was going to happen, as an ignorant alien, more or less. Then I tried to gain aid, as best I could. Begging people to help me stop what was coming. Only, I was talking to their subconscious minds, and was kind of an idiot, when it came to certain ideas. I could make the needed changes, giving people a lot of different powers, but I didn’t know about emotions. Or, I mean, I knew people had them, but not that they could be so hard to control for anyone. So I amplified those too, when I touched the minds that wanted powers, and who were willing to help.”
That had to seem insane, as a thing to say, but instead of screaming, or acting as if they didn't get what she meant, everyone there just froze, for a moment. Then, Brian Yi sighed.
