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Back A Fractured Infinity Save as PDF
Chapters (41)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 36
  39. 37
  40. Acknowledgements
  41. About the Author

Because we followed the laws of physics to stop the bus bombing. We put troops on the ground. We didn’t just make the attack disappear. If you pushed the Envisioner and said, “Make me fly,” maybe this universe becomes another one where people have wings on their backs, or maybe a precise gravitational wave hits the Earth localized around you and you float for a second. I don’t know. The key is, how does this work without violating laws of physics?

*   *   *

That was a lot of maybes for Yusuf.

He scooted off his bed and paced the room while he talked. I couldn’t think of anything else to say. No words, no stupid jokes. Arms folded behind my head on his pillows, I just let his words calm me down while the goofy half-smile slipped up my lips. After our trip to the observatory, he’d told me he thought he loved me. While I watched him pace, head-down, from the window to the other side of the bed and back again, over and over, throwing out everything he’d ever learned and rewriting laws of nature just to work out a way to believe me—that’s when I knew he really did.

20

THE FOOL

After the theories, I let Yusuf get some sleep while I wandered to the Footage Farm before sunrise. Hoping to find some sense with the mapped-out marker-board timelines of Figueiredo’s life. I was alone in the grayscale room for a few minutes before the lights cracked to life and I jumped in my chair to see Kaori at the door.

“Have a minute?” she said.

“Yeah. What’s up?”

She was still wearing her same wrinkled white button-down shirt and black slacks from the day before. She walked from the doorway and handed me a paper that had been folded down the middle, its sides slightly crinkled from what must’ve been the heat from her hands.

“Does this mean anything to you?” she asked.

Back to her asking questions that she already knew the answer to, like the first time we met.

I looked down on the paper to read Superflu, age 43.

“Not really. Do I have to guess?”

She crossed her arms, the light of my screen casting shadows on her face.

“Did you… do something to the Envisioner, Hayes, during the attack?”

She handed me an anvil and nudged me off a cliff with the way my stomach dropped.

“How about you cut the questions and just tell me what happened.”