Chapter 144: What if they’re hot aliens?

Serenity took hold of James’s arm and pulled him aside, leaving Olaf and Star Boy to catch up Kimmie on all she had missed.

“So, what are you doing up here?” She elbowed him in the side. “I thought I gave you a mission. Did you flub it?”

“Hmm? Oh. Jessica. Yeah.” James sighed. “Didn’t… yeah.”

“She said no? What was your approach? Good god, James, the apocalypse is like the ultimate reason to hook up.”

“She… it’s complicated.” James crossed his arms and looked away. “I made my move, we stepped aside, she started getting into it, but… it felt wrong. So I stopped her, we got to talking, and she kind of fell apart.”

“Oh no.” Serenity’s eyes widened. “Why?”

“I don’t want to share her story, but… you know how she’s always had her shit together, super efficient, on top of the situation? That’s been a… I guess you could say she’s been displacing a lot of pain into being clinically effective at her job.” James stared at the ground. “She tried to rush things, to be OK with being physical, but she wasn’t. Not even the apocalypse could make what she’s been through OK.”

“Oh… the poor girl.” Serenity’s expression clouded over. “Don’t tell me, but I think I can guess. Men are just pigs. Most of them. So she fell apart?”

“She told me her past. Wasn’t… healthy. We ended up just sitting together for a spell, then I let her get back to work on the Bifrost.”

“Oh James. I’m sorry.” Serenity reached out and hugged him tight. “That’s just… this world, man. This fucking world.”

“Yeah. But it’s OK. I mean, it’s not, what she went through, but on some level, it keeps me… this is a weird word for it, but… focused? Keeps my eye on the prize, which is kicking some cosmic ass.”

“You can kick cosmic ass and get ass at the same time, you know. They’re not mutually exclusive.”

“Maybe in another timeline. One where I met Jessica normally, where we got to know each other slowly, where she had time to herself, to lower her walls at her own speed, to… I don’t know.” James sighed again. “Have a relationship.”

“Yeah, well, this ain’t that timeline. Sorry, hon. Anything I can do?”

“Nah.” James smiled at her. “I’m fine. Compared to what most people have lost, it’s a small thing.”

“We all deserve our moment in the sun, though.” She elbowed him. “Sorry you didn’t get yours. Miriam and Jason are still going at it. Who’d have thought quiet little Miriam was such a hellcat?”

James snorted. “What about you? Nobody caught your eye?”

“Me?” Serenity pretended surprise. “Nah. But if you see the perfect man, six foot three, maybe twenty-seven years old, shoulders and hands to die for, perfect mix of debauched and old school gentleman, let me know. I’ll bang him so hard his pelvic cradle collapses.”

James winced. “Damn, Serenity. Easy on the imagery there.”

Serenity laughed. “It’s funny. Before the apocalypse life revolved around relationships. Who I knew, what I could get out of them. I think I defined myself by who I was banging, or trying to bang. But now? I think I got that all out of my system. I’m fine being my own woman.”

“Good. Though now I’m all worried that this personal growth thanks to Arete is part of the System’s grooming us to become cosmic fighters for a war we know nothing about.”

“Right? Me too! What a world.”

They grinned at each other.

Denzel and Kerim appeared in the ballroom’s doorway. Denzel let out a yell of delight at the sight of Kimmie, and soon everybody was hugging all over again. Somebody found a bottle of champagne from somewhere, paper cups were handed out, and then Kimmie and Kerim set to comparing notes about their experience. Yadriel stalked in, looking grump, but even he couldn’t resist Kimmie’s cheer, and soon the ASOCC people were joining in, and a small, impromptu party took place.

About an hour later Jessica joined them, and everybody quit chatting and laughing to regard her as she approached with the Bifrost in hand.

“Hello, sorry to crash the festivities,” she said, smile wry as she adjusted her glasses. “But I have news?”

“Bifrost news?” asked Olaf.

“Bifrost news.” Jessica’s eyes widened at the sight of Kimmie. “You’re awake!”

“Hi!’ Kimmie gave a little wave. “But don’t let me interrupt you. Everybody’s dying to know what that thing does.”

Jessica beamed at Kimmie, then raised the Bifrost. It gleamed an oily gold, its complex sphere of a head looking as enigmatic and portentous as always. “So, yes, it is what we thought, a means of traveling through time and space. The technology I’ve developed downstairs was, if not familiar with it, capable of encompassing its abilities within its operating paradigm. I realized early on that it was a means of effecting travel, but it’s taken me till now to figure out how it works, and how we can use it.”

James felt constrained, awkward. But he forced himself to put their private conversation aside. “So you can operate it?”

“Yes.” Jessica spoke decisively, but frowned at the same time. “But it’s a little like catching a cab in New York if you’ve never been anywhere before. The cabbie asks you where you want to go, and you’ve no idea.”

“Statue of Liberty,” said Yadriel immediately. “Everybody around the world knows of it.”

“Cabs don’t go to the Statue of Liberty,” laughed Kimmie. “What, you catching boat cabs?”

“Children,” said Serenity warningly.

Jessica studied the Bifrost. “These keys in the head are spatial and temporal coordinates that use a system that I don’t understand but which my Omni can interface with. Its powered by a black hole in its center - though not really. The core inside the head is superdense, but is ported in? Borrowed? I don’t understand the tech. The device uses that density to open controlled wormholes to our destinations.”

“You said time,” said Star Boy. “Can it take us into the past?”

“No. Not in the way you’re thinking, sorry. Travel through space involves moving through time. Again, we’d need a really smart physicist to understand all this, but it allows us to move around… our galaxy? Though I don’t know where you’d want to go.”

“So it’s like having a cell phone but no one to call?” asked Star Boy.

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“Kind of, yes. It’s incredibly powerful, but without coordinates, I don’t know how to activate it.”

“Can I see it?” Kimmie reached out her hand. “It looks familiar. In a way I can’t express…”

Jessica handed the Bifrost over, and Kimmie turned it about in her hands.

Nobody spoke.

“Don’t press random buttons, yeah?” asked Yadriel.

“I… this feels familiar. Not the buttons themselves, but the… I can still sense like, potential pathways? Or… I can’t translate it into English. But if I close my eyes…” Kimmie did so and held the Bifrost before her in both hands. “It’s like I’ve still got some of that cosmic sense I used to swim through the stars. And I can feel… like… channels? Like I’m standing at an intersection and can feel the wind blowing from each of the cross streets?”

“How does that help us?” asked Star Boy, voice low as if he didn’t want to break her trance. “Can you get a sense of where these channels go?”

“Places I saw.” Kimmie frowned, focusing. “To the alternate Pits?” She moved the Bifrost through the air, turning in place. “There’s one.” She paused, her frown deepening. “Then…” She resumed turning, moving the Bifrost up and down. “There’s another. Other side of the galaxy.” She opened her eyes and let out a breathless laugh. “I feel kinda crazy, but it’s… you know when you finally bring a telescope into focus, and the moon or something leaps into clear detail? That’s the feeling I get. Like I can hone in on one of the destinations, like this thing is a wooden branch used for water dowsing. But I’m star dowsing instead.”

“I don’t understand that at all,” said Yadriel.

“So you think you could aim it at an alternate Pit?” asked James. “Open a portal to it?”

“I think… maybe? With Jessica’s Omni’s help? If it could translate what I’m feeling into the interface?”

“And what?” asked Denzel. “We hop into someone else’s apocalypse? How would that help us?”

“There’s no telling,” said Kerim soothingly. “But think on it: what if another species has made more progress than we have? What if they have information or knowledge we could share? What if we could join forces against this System?”

“Join forces with aliens?” asked Denzel skeptically.

“Sure.” Kerim smiled. “Why not?”

“What do you think, boss?” asked Serenity.

James rubbed at his bearded jaw. “I mean… it’s a wild card move. Whoever’s in charge hasn’t shown much interest in connecting our different groups together.”

“Wild card is good,” said Serenity.

“I say we do it!” Kimmie hopped up and down excitedly. “Allies could make all the difference! And we’re all in the same situation!”

“Or enemies,” said Yadriel darkly. “And how do we know we can even talk to these alien dudes? Or… I don’t know, breathe their air? What if they think we’re Nemeses and attack us?”

“Valid arguments,” said Jessica quietly. “But… it would be a wild card move. If we’re committed to breaking free of the System’s guidance, then reaching out with the Bifrost would be an effective way of flipping over the table.”

“I say we do it,” said Olaf stoutly. “I am tired of the Pit, of the demons and angels, of this game. I want new allies.”

“I also vote in favor,” said Kerim. “No small part being because I can’t deny my curiosity over meeting a new intelligent species.”

“I’m in,” said Serenity. “Running the gauntlet of Levels 19 through 27 don’t sound like fun. Let’s change it up.”

“Fine,” said Denzel. “But we need to get buy-in from Miriam and Jason. Somebody’s gonna need to interrupt them. They’re like the freaking Energizer Bunnies.”

Star Boy sighed. “What I wouldn’t give to hook up with Stamina of 200. And imagine what you could do with Agility that high!”

James smiled. “Fine. Let’s bring them in on this decision, but unless they can think of a good reason not to, I’m down for trying to find new allies.”

“I don’t know,” said Yadriel. “Everyone keeps assuming they’ll be allies. Nobody likes strangers showing up on their turf.”

“What if they’re hot aliens, hmm?” Star Boy waggled his eyebrows at Yadriel. “Like Kerrigan after she got corrupted by the Zerg? Think of the opportunities.”

“Dude,” scowled Yadriel. “Just because I was asking for help earlier doesn’t mean I need you to play intergalactic pimp.”

“Kerrigan, Queen of Blades,” said Star Boy, waggling his eyebrows even more exaggeratedly.

“Let’s rope in Jason and Miriam,” said James. “And reach a decision soon. If we’re going to make this happen, I’d rather we do it sooner than later. No telling when the demons are going to get pissed that we’re not playing ball and come swarming out of the Pit.”

“I’ll do it!” Kimmie raised her hand. “Want me to bring them down here?”

“We’ll all head up,” said James. He burned an Aeviternum and opened his teleportation gate. Fortuna Aeviternum saved the point for him. “Let’s head on up.”

“Can I come?” asked Star Boy.

Serenity rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because we need more nerd sex fantasies.”

“Course you can come,” said James. “Let’s head on up.”

One by one they entered the portal of white flames, and disappeared.

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