Aberrant: The Infinity Hour - [ItB:The Infinity Hour] - Keiko Hitsugaya

[Titan]

The last month had been crazy for Keiko Hitsugaya, even by her standards, and she found her never-failing energy... failing. She leaned back in a yellow chair and watched Bandy pace. He grinned at a world map with red pins stuck everywhere, then whirled and ran a finger down a paper tacked to a cork board. Roberto 'Bandersnatch' Flores looked like a kid who got what he most wanted for Christmas. He had worn the same expression since the Galatea exploded, and though she understood, and agreed, with his excitement, he was starting to get a little intense. Again, even by Keiko's standards.

"It doesn't make any fucking sense, Kay. Pardon my French. But look here, and here." Bandy pointed at two places on the map. California and Vietnam. "Two novus.... ah... 'erupting', yeah, erupting less than an hour apart, completely on the OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE WORLD."

Keiko nodded wearily. She had heard this four times, just today, from him. He's not wrong, she thought. But he's wearing himself out.

"And the World Health guys are there, BOTH PLACES, in less than four hours." He laughed, shrugging and shaking his head in disbelief. "Less than four hours, kid."

"Not possible." Keiko knew her lines. Bandy was a friend of hers from way back. He threw his hands in the air.

"NOT FUCKING POSSIBLE!" He slowly lowered his arms. "Pardon my French."

Keiko sighed and scratched at a bite on her leg. "That's not French."

"UNLESS!" He was undeterred by her attempt at humor.

"Unless they knew it was going to happen, I know Bandy, I know." She stood, sighing, and walked to the map.

"The same thing happens all over. They erupt, even the very first ones, and there is a near instant response. And now they are all conveniently gathered at the Aeon place in London. So what?"

Bandy looked at her like she'd gone crazy. "SO WHAT?"

"No, I mean, I get that it doesn't make sense. But what does that imply? They're responsible? They're prognosticators? Are they Illuminati? In league with the Visitors? Where does it fit?"

He nodded, pointed at her.

"That's what I want to know. I sold four of your articles-"

"What?!" This was the first Keiko had heard of it.

He shrugged, gazing again at the map.

"The New York Post, and the London Mirror wanted your stuff. National Enquirer bought two. Nobody seemed to mind the repub credit to the 'Eye', and the money was fantastic, so I took it. You sold them to me, I can do what I want with them."

He looked at her, noted her expression.

"Oh, come off it, Kay. You're getting paid, and an international audience. I didn't have to check with you, so I didn't. Your check is in the packet on my desk. So are your tickets to London."

"London?" Keiko felt some of that energy returning, probably adrenaline at this point, but who cared.

"I need you there. Supposedly, they are lifting the ban on aircraft tomorrow, so your flight will be the first one that lands."

"Roberto."

The sound of his real name turned his head to her.

"There are a couple of hundred journalists camped outside Aeon. What do you expect me to do, fake an eruption?"

He scowled, the first normal expression she had seen on his face in almost a month.

"Handle it. You go find me the story, Kay. The real fucking story." He smiled, and suddenly looked tired.

"Pardon my French."

[SalmonMax]

Keiko went to the desk, dazed at the sudden crushing impact between conflicting emotions within her. Rising jubilance in a head-on collision with a sudden sense of responsibility. She'd sold some articles! She was going to London! ...to do something she'd never done before. Oh sure, she was a reporter, an investigative journalist. She'd interviewed witnesses, tracked leads...the whole thing! But...there'd be competition this time! And this wasn't crazy old ladies living with their cats, or weird paranoid 'informants' with grainy photos of what might be a sea monster or what looked vaguely like a world leader meeting someone... This was the big leagues. Press conferences. Men and women with real power, and in some cases powers!

Two envelopes. One with her pay for the articles...a fraction of what Rob got, but she didn't care right now. She'd sold articles! The other with her tickets to London; one of the reasons she didn't care as much about the pay. She was going to London!

And just like that, the spell broke. The insecurities crumbled away and Keiko was washed along a torrent of excitement and glee.

Before she knew it she'd hugged Rob...who had not only tolerated the contact but even patted her shoulder awkwardly (the Bandersnatch had a thing about being touched sometimes)...shrieked and run outside to get started on preparations! Her cellphone seemed to appear in her hand of its own accord, and the first thing she did was call her mom to tell her she'd sold articles and was going to London! Her mom took the news with Japanese reserve, but Keiko could hear her smiling on the other end. She hoped her dad would relax a bit when he heard the news. These days it was always best to let her mom be the go-between. Mr. Hitsugaya-san did not think much of his daughter's ambition.

Just the thought that that might change made Keiko positively giddy.

By the time she'd finished chattering excitedly at her mom, she'd reached Starbucks and its wi-fi hotspot. The laptop came out of its carry case and she sat down to do some preliminary research into Aeon and its compound. She checked out the place Rob had booked for her to stay as well, to see what she was in for.

[Titan]

An hour later, Keiko sipped on her second drink and leaned back from the computer. There wasn't much on Aeon that she didn't already know in exhaustive detail from her recent articles, and the Bandersnatch's rants. Though, there was a tidbit from the London papers that- while not necessarily Aeon related- was almost certainly Novus related. Someone, or something, was trying to clean up the streets. Like an actual superhero from the comics. Witnesses reported a 'ghost', but Keiko was doubtful. Not of ghosts, of course, but that this particular vigilante was one. Still, might not hurt to check it out while she was there. Might be a story in it, and would help kill time until she figured out a way into Aeon.

The Hyde Park Suites was a pleasant surprise. Not exactly five-star, but it had pretty good reviews, and the pictures looked promising. Those articles must have brought in some serious money, Bandy was usually a Motel 6 kind of guy when it came to expenses. Ten days at the Hyde Park was listed at $799. Serious money, indeed.

As she sat thinking of luxurious baths in the tub that was pictured on the website, the mouse arrow moved on her screen, without her touching the mousepad. What the-? It clicked, of its own accord, on the start menu, then on the notepad icon. The notepad opened, and letters began to type across the screen.

Keiko. You really should not use public wi-fi without better security on your laptop.

She looked around the Starbucks. No one seemed to be paying her the slightest attention.

I know you want into Aeon. I think I know the way in.

She leaned forward, excited in spite of herself. Cautiously, she typed:

Who is this?

She waited, pins and needles, for a second, then another.

You can call me Mr. X

She stared at the blinking cursor in disbelief.

Mr. X? Holy-!

[SalmonMax]

For a second Keiko could only stare, goggle-eyed. She knew 'Mr.X' by reputation...no one in parapolitics or cryptozoology didn't. And the hotspot wasn't terribly big...he had to be somewhere nearby! He was playing it cool though, blending in with the crowd. She'd have expected nothing less.

Why do you want to help me? she typed. If you know where I'm going, you must have already been watching me. Why?

Inwardly she thought to herself...maybe if she could think of something that would get a reaction out of him. A laugh maybe, or a cough...anything that might identify him. But what?

[Titan]

Keiko gazed around the Starbucks. A young man sat in the corner, on a laptop. He wore a tie and a short brim fedora, like Sinatra's. Just as Keiko saw him, he laughed and raised both hands above his head, mimed clapping. He caught her looking, and his smile grew speculative. He ticked the edge of his brim and brought his hand down, pointing at her. Keiko pursed her lips. Probably not. She looked back at her laptop, where words continued to march across the screen.

The answer to both of your questions is the same. You believe.

Keiko glanced up, found a middle aged woman in a blonde wig bent over a laptop. She had a pink scarf around her neck. Keiko had never heard any description of Mr. X, and she didn't like to make assumptions. The woman would bear watching.

In your writing, you make your reader want to believe. I have learned much on the subjects about which you write, but I do not have your gifts of communication.

Keiko blinked at that. She controlled a grin, in case he was watching her, but Mr. X had read her stuff and liked it. That was pretty cool.

My purpose was originally to feed you information. Now, with the "Galatea" effect spreading so quickly, I need someone in the thick of things. My sources say that person is you.

Keiko leaned closer to the computer. A sudden tug on her sleeve made almost jump out of her chair. She turned to the little girl, who waved at her cheerily. The girl held a cell phone awkwardly in her other hand.

"My Mommy said to give you this?" The girl swayed on one leg and rubbed the back of her calf with her other shoe. "Mommy's new phone?"

Keiko jerked her gaze up and across the Starbucks. She found a young woman at a table with a stroller, cradling an infant. The woman met her eyes, and nodded seriously. Keiko glanced at the screen.

The woman is one of my people. She only knows to bring you a phone. Take it.

She looked back at the little girl, who seemed doubtful about giving her the phone, after all. The girl looked back at her mother, who made a shooing motion with her free hand. The little girl raised the phone to Keiko, who took it gingerly out of the girl's hand.

"I'm Haley. I'm four."

Keiko could not, for the life of her, think of anything to say. The little girl whirled and charged across the room to her mother, who was strapping the infant into the stroller. The little family left without a glance at her. She looked at the phone, your basic Motorola, then at her laptop.

You need to know. THEY did this. We are being brought into Galactic civilization whether the powers that be like it or not. Aeon is the key. I will call you soon.

The mouse arrow moved of its own accord to the red 'x' in the upper right corner of the notebook, clicked. The window vanished, and the arrow was still. Keiko looked around the coffee shop. She couldn't pick anyone out that she thought was Mr. X.

[SalmonMax]

Keiko must have sat there for fifteen minutes...an interminable period of time for her!...with her mind spinning in circles, not sure what to do. Call someone! Parents! Police! ROB. He'd want to hear this! But if she told anyone, she could scare X off. People with that many secrets, so much that they had to act through agents, didn't want to be talked about. If he'd wanted to include Rob, he would have.

Besides, this was her story.

Finally things started settling down. She'd pretend nothing had happened for now. She'd take the plane, take the tour, collect the brochure. When X called, she'd be ready.

But how could anyone be ready for THIS? Galactic civilization? Is that what the Novus were? Aliens among us? And which ones?! The Greys were known for genetic experimentation, which might plug into this... The snakemen had those top level ties to politicians that Aeon might be a cover for, or a result of... But it seemed to her that they'd want to wait until humanity had been introduced to the larger galaxy before granting them powers. Oh god, there were so many questions!

And it was possible, just possible, that X wasn't telling the truth. He might be a government agent, planning to use her to discredit legitimate inquiry by entangling it with theories that people were brainwashed into dismissing without thought.

...

Naaaaah!

Keiko got up, gathered up her laptop and headed home. She had packing to do. The phone from X was a lump in her pocket that felt weird to her, like a pebble in her shoe.

[Titan]

Keiko stopped by Sami's Newsstand on her way home. On a corner only a block from her walk-up studio, Sami's was incredibly convenient. He smiled brightly when he saw her.

"Young Miss Keiko! I have a Post for you." He held the folded paper facing her. She hadn't seen today's New York Post yet. She stepped forward, hand outstretched to take the paper, when the phone in her pocket rang. She checked herself, heart pounding suddenly. She fumbled in her pocket, found the phone.

"Hello?" She was confident her voice didn't shake.

A flat computer voice - **Hel-lo Kei-ko** Really? she thought. **Take the pa-per and keep go-ing**

She glanced around as surreptitiously as possible, with Sami watching her, grin never faltering. She saw no one, took the offered paper with a quick smile and nod. She turned in the direction of home and started walking, the phone at her ear.

"What is this? Why are you watching me?" She was starting to get a little upset, this went far beyond any paranoia she had previously dealt with. Mr 'X' was literally giving her a headache.

**Time is a fun-ny thing, Kei-ko. Don't you think. And. Speak-king of time. You are run-ning out of it. Bet-ter hur-ry.** -a click in her ear. She looked at the phone. The call was ended.

Was that a threat? she wondered. She felt bewildered, but picked up her step, a rill of fear running up her spine. She put the phone back in her pocket. Was that even 'X'?

Her eyes darted in every direction, behind every slender tree on the sidewalk, around every stoop and building's edge. Nothing. Not even a sound of traffic, there wasn't any to speak of this time of day. In the distance, children shouted and played in the Catholic school playground the block over, but here, it was quiet.

"Mom-ma!" the high pitched broken shout made her think of 'X's computer voice over the phone for one unsettling moment. She looked around frantically.

"Own nana Cu-ut!" from above. She looked up, and saw a toddler with double pony tails on a third floor wrought iron balcony. She swallowed her heart. The baby was reaching for a cup on a table. Keiko took in a deep breath, let it out in a shaky laugh. Running out of time? It seemed now almost deliberately corny. She took the phone out of her pocket and looked at it, relief flooding her. It be-deeped suddenly, and she almost dropped it. She pressed a button, opening the message.

Look again, Keiko!

She frowned, then looked up suddenly. The toddler was standing on the table, tilting the drink up. Her head went back with the cup, and Keiko suddenly saw what would happen. It ripped through her head like a lighting bolt. She felt as though she moved in molasses as she dropped the phone and pushed off into a run. The toddler, overbalanced, fell backwards. Keiko brought her other leg forward, opening her mouth to shout. A sudden cramp in her midsection almost caused her to double over, but she merely faltered in her stride. The table tipped forward as the little girl went over backwards. The back of her legs hit the edge of the balcony rail, and she flipped off.

"NO!" shouted Keiko. There was no way to get there in time, but Keiko pumped her legs anyway. She sprinted towards the falling child. Another bolt of angry fire rippled across her brain and she screamed. She did not falter her stride this time, stretching out her arms in what she knew was a futile attempt to catch the girl, who now screamed in fright. She was fifteen feet away.

A third bolt ripped through her, and she suddenly was blind by the light bursting before her eyes, but she pictured the descent of the girl clearly, and forced herself to keep going. Running. Out of time.

[SalmonMax]

It was the story of Keiko's life. Always a step behind, always a second too late. No matter how fast or hard she ran.

Her head was a symphony of pain, but she couldn't slow down to notice. It felt like a nightmare, where the more she tried to run, the slower she moved.

Then there was a sudden SNAP; and the pain was gone, along with the lights. It became pitch black, and Keiko finally had to stop when she tripped over the edge of a rise in the walkway. She reached out blindly and called out...but her voice sounded weird. Flat. Echoless. And all the other noises that had been around her were gone too. Smells...gone. Wind...gone.

It was like she had suddenly been transported to another world. The thought made her heart skip a beat.

"Hello?" she called. "Where am I? Is anyone out there?"

A voice answered from behind her. "Just one...but that one is here twice, so maybe that counts?" A young woman's voice, tinged with secret amusement, like someone setting up a practical joke might sound. Keiko scrambled to her feet and turned around.

There was a girl there...no, not a girl. She was standing there. The shock of it nearly froze her heart again. Even as she stared, dumbfounded, the little analytical engine that drove her mind noticed differences. The other Keiko was a bit taller, and, for want of a better word, a little rounder. Dressed in clothes she hadn't seen before. She was, if Keiko's brain was any judge, older.

"What's going on?" Keiko heard herself say. "Am I dreaming?"

The elder Keiko shrugged. "That's probably as good a way to think of it as any. Lucidly dreaming up a new cosmos. Honestly, this is my second time here, and I'm still not sure what it all really means."

"I don't understand," she protested weakly.

"It's okay," elder Keiko assured her. "You won't remember any of this anyway. Not until MUCH later. I don't look much older than you, but that's partly because I...well you'll see. Anyway...you need to know a few things." She ticked off her fingers. "First, the kid will be fine. Get under her and relax. Don't try to just grab her in midair."

"Second, don't let X dazzle you. Keep a clear head. Nothing's what it seems...especially when it seems like it's finally all starting to make sense."

Keiko put her hand to her head and winced. "No danger of that right now then."

Elder Keiko grinned sympathetically and handed Keiko a little plastic-laminated card. "Third, you forgot your press pass. Here. It'll come in handy pretty soon."

Keiko accepted the card and turned it over in her fingers. She looked at the other Keiko speculatively. "Why tell me all this if I'll just forget it?"

She shrugged. "Because that's what happens. Even here, now, that's important. Change the past, change the future...or A future. I can't tell you too much about all that just yet anyway."

"But where IS this? What about the girl? Are you some kind of hologram? Is this a spaceship? You said it's a dream, but why am I dreaming? Did I trip and knock myself out?"

"This is what it looks like when time stops," the elder Keiko said, spreading her hands. "All the light is just...hanging in midair. It can't move, so it can't enter your eyes so you can't see. Probably should remember that. The faster you go, the darker it gets. The fact is that stopping time entirely...almost pointless when you consider how hard it is to do. You won't be able to manage this trick again for ages. And right now? Think of this as your cocoon. A little pocket of forever you wrapped yourself up in, so you can finish what started in peace."

Keiko frowned, her head spinning dizzily. "Finish what?"

Elder Keiko, in contrast, laughed. "Erupting, of course. I'd say 'have fun,' but I already know you will." Her smile faded slightly. "At least sometimes. Bye."

The other woman winked out all at once, instantly vanishing.

Keiko looked around. "But...wait!" she wailed. "How do I get back?!"

In the end, she had no idea how long she was in that black void. Time, predictably perhaps, had no real meaning there, nor did it 'stick' in her head as memories. After a few minutes with nothing happening, everything else seemed like a fond fantasy of a world that had never existed.

Then there was a pinprick of light, hanging in the darkness. It illuminated nothing save itself. As Keiko got closer to inspect it...she had just enough time to notice that its surface seemed like a mirror, reflecting things that were not there. Trees and people and buildings...then she recognized those trees and people and buildings...

And then it exploded outward, and Keiko was back in the world of light and sound and movement.

The girl was still falling. She was standing now though. And everything was still moving slowly.

But when Keiko moved, she moved normally...not in the same molasses speed everyone else did. Bemused, she walked up to the child and reached out...then paused just before grabbing her and instead poised her hands underneath the almost-ill-fated girl. Then she tried to relax...to let a tension that was aching in the middle of her head go.

Colors and light flooded in, banishing the twilight world she'd arrived into. The girl completed her trajectory, but with Keiko's hands intercepting her course to the hard concrete. Everyone else just stared, then looked back up the street to where Keiko had been...and back over to where she was now. She'd crossed that distance in a flicker of movement, stepping between the ticks of the clock to where she was needed.

As the little girl stared at her, startled, Keiko's head abruptly felt like it was starting to cave in.

"Augh!" she cried out, setting the girl down...gently even in her pain... "Someone call...someone!"

Keiko didn't even notice her press pass was in her hand for some reason. It was still there when the ambulance arrived. By then, of course, it was already the word on the street.

[Titan]

Lincoln and Susilo pulled their borrowed ambulance up to the crowd of people, lights flashing, and Lincoln killed the siren. His heart beat crazily in his chest. By now, he was used to pulling some fast ones to get near these people who have newly become, as August called it, but this seemed pretty fraudulent. He reminded himself that the girl wasn't really hurt, exactly, and so no actual emergency personnel were technically necessary. It still felt kind of wrong. But, as he had since he met the man, Lincoln decided to trust in August. He glanced at Susilo, who grinned and opened his door. Lincoln followed suit, and slid out of the ambulance.

The two men met at the rear of the vehicle, and Susilo opened the rear doors. Lincoln moved through the cluster of gawkers, gently moving them aside. He was easily the largest EMT that any of them had ever seen, almost stretching the boundaries of credulity, and they got out of his way without protest. He knelt next to the young Asian woman. He didn't know her name, August never gave them to him. Lincoln didn't know if August knew the names or not. Lincoln placed an oxygen mask over the young woman's face, and began pumping the bulb, forcing air in and out of her lungs. He put two fingers on her throat, and nodded. In fact, he had no idea if her pulse was going strong or not, his own heart hammered too loudly in his ears. In the distance he heard sirens, as he so often did in these little missions of his. This particular time, however, the arrival of real emergency personnel would be more than embarrassing, it could throw the whole thing out the window. He looked over his shoulder.

Susilo was there, right on cue, with the stretcher. The Indonesian man set it on the ground near the girl, and Lincoln unceremoniously lifted her onto it. He didn't know if that was proper procedure or not, and he didn't care. Those sirens were getting louder by the second. He and Susilo grasped the sides of the stretcher and lifted, extending the wheels. They raced her through the crowd and slammed the base of the stretcher against the back of the ambulance. Just like they had practiced this morning, the wheels swung up and away. Lincoln grinned at Susilo. It had worked. The Indonesian climbed into the back of the ambulance, and Lincoln fastened the doors shut. He raced to the driver's side door.

He flipped the switch that turned the siren on, and looked through the windshield. Another ambulance was pulling up, coming from the other direction. The EMTs were looking out over the crowd, and Lincoln locked eyes with the driver, who looked puzzled and concerned. He cursed, and put the vehicle in reverse. He backed and filled, turning around as quickly as he dared, and drove away fast. Behind them, he saw some of the crowd talking to the newly arrived EMTs, and pointing after them. He cursed again.

In the back of the ambulance, Lincoln heard talking.

"What- what happened? Where am I?"

"I. Am. Susilo. No problem."

Lincoln turned onto a one way street, and suddenly realized that he was going the wrong way. He hoped that people would respect the siren and get the hell out of the way.

"We. Novus. Take you. August. Offer. Job."

"What? A job offer? I don't-"

Lincoln cursed again.

"No, dammit Susilo, you let me do the talking. This is not a job offer. Or- maybe it kinda is... No, no, what it is- Shit!" Lincoln swerved around a taxicab coming towards him, struggled to maintain control of the ambulance.

"What is this?" Lincoln couldn't see her face, but he was willing to bet that she was very, very confused. He shook his head in disgust.

"Look, everything is fine. We just need to get you away from that scene back there. They are coming, and we are best far, far away."

"What does that mean? Who is coming?" She sounded disconnected, strange.

Lincoln smiled tightly. Every time.

"Exactly. WHO is coming. And before they get their needles in you-"

"Lincoln. She sleep."

Lincoln cursed again, violently. This thing was all cocked up somehow. He gave up.

"Ok. It doesn't matter, Susilo. Take her, and I'll follow in a bit. I have to ditch this ambulance."

"No problem." Behind him, Lincoln heard a faint pop. He glanced behind him. They were gone. He sighed, and looked for a place to hide the ambulance.