BooksBarbecue
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

We topple onto each other, thudding to the pink sand of me and Yusuf’s beach. Figueiredo’s head knocks into mine but I’m so radioactive with adrenaline that I don’t feel a thing. Only my fist against his cheek. Once, twice. Like I should’ve punched the TV screen back in the Compound the first time I saw his face and heard his voice. Again and again. His nose sprays blood on both of us. I hurl him off me—both of us heaving and snarling like animals—anchor him by the collar and shove a fist full of sand in his eyes and mouth.

The second he claws at his face, screaming, is all I need.

I pounce up and touch the Envisioner, opening a gateway beneath both me and the machine, sending us both freefalling and leaving him stranded there, finally. Swiping at his blood-smeared eyes and alone.

35

THE UNIVERSE MACHINE

First me and then the machine drop onto a rolling meadow of red grass. I land right on my ass with a jolt up my tailbone. I plop backwards to the ground, spent, and look up at the perfect blue sky for a while, sucking in breaths and trying to slow the manic heartbeat at my neck. The red grass is soft under me, the breeze over my bare arms smells of warm dirt and pollen.

Stranding Figueiredo away from his machine and anyone else is worse than killing him, I figure. But I know what I have to do next is worse.

I stay in the meadow just long enough to swallow a few mouthfuls of cold water from a nearby stream and wash his blood off me, my hands still shaking from the memory of my fists pummeling his face. In the reflection of the water, my face is warped and wavering. I’m almost done with all of this. Just a few more portals to wrap everything into a neat knot and maybe I can ignore the damage I’m probably doing to the multiverse, too. Another mouthful of cold water slides down my throat, frosting my insides.

I’d planned on dropping into the Theater back home and just wormholing the Envisioner there a million universes away, cutting us all free from this poisoned web. And sure, that would save Yusuf, but then he’d have a front-row seat as the world burned around him, and he’d just blame himself. And me. And grow to hate us both, probably. I can’t do that to him. I never asked for this connection to the machine, and I didn’t know what I was doing when I nudged it that first time to save him, but I can’t let myself off the hook either.