Brink by Mikel Parry

CH-ROGUE BEGINNINGS

Thomas collapsed onto the serene blanket of cold white. He was heaving for air. A million tiny needles felt as if they had been pulled out of him in a mere heartbeat. The feeling was overwhelming. Still gasping for air, he did his best to pull himself back together.

“Like I said, you’ll get used to it.”

Looking up, he saw Banks hovering just above him, extending out a hand. He slapped it away, feeling his damaged pride.

“I’m fine. Just give me a second.”

Grunting in pain, he rose to his feet. The blow he had been dealt persisted. Placing one of his fingers up to his mouth, he felt the warm stream of blood dripping from it. He was quickly reminded of the card. Along with the memory of the card, came the correlation he had made almost instantaneously.

“Where’s Roslin? I’ve got some questions.”

“Hold up, alright? Just let me know exactly what you’re talking about. Roslin doesn’t really show up on request, if you know what I mean,” said Banks.

“The killer showed me something—a card. It was a card with some sort of symbol on it. I’ve seen it before. I’ve seen it on Roslin.”

Thomas caught Jo’s head out of the corner of his eye. He was hovering around curiously as if caught in a stupor of thought.

“Can I help you?”

Jo put on an impish smiled.

“So he gave you something? A literally physical, tangible object that had been transposed into that singular, relative time and space?”

Thomas’ eyes glazed over. He suddenly felt annoyed and tired at the same time.

“Do you even know English? And he didn’t give it to me, directly. He just put it where I could see it.”

Jo frowned. The finding appeared to be disappointing. Thomas, however, was just beginning to burn.

“I watched it get ripped apart into a million pieces. I guess that answered one of our questions about what happens to things left behind.”

Jo’s frown turned upside down. He squirmed in excitement.

“I knew it! The momentary energy being sustained was destroyed in the very moment the connection was severed. It’s mind numbingly awesome!”

So many profanities popped into Thomas’ mind that trying to keep quiet merely plugged a ready to burst dam. But Jo’s excessively eccentric personality was starting to grow on him. He truly had found his place in the circus. He took a deep breath.

“Fine, fine! But why would he do that? Why give me something? This whole thing has blown wide open!”

Banks looked perplexed. He was silently debating the new information.

“It’s a trap. He could have just been trying to manipulate you then to affect you now. You’ve seen it before, unless we’ve forget David Schilling.”

At the mention of the name, Thomas shuddered. It was true. A pebble had been dropped into the pool of time and its ripples changed reality in the worse way possible before coming to an abrupt end. He couldn’t be sucked into the same game. And yet a part of him needed to know. He needed to delve deeper into the mystery. The attention to detail displayed by the killer was immaculate; almost as good as his own. He wouldn’t have released such a whimsical detail for nothing. There was a deep purpose here. There was a deep, dark purpose.

“I understand. But this is different. He saw me. He knows who I am. Surely, now, he knows what I’m doing. And if that’s true, he’s already onto me. He could have killed me.”

Banks suddenly looked shocked at the possibility. He peeked over at Jo, who looked just as surprised. Thomas took on a much quieter tone.

“He was right there. Literally just a few steps in front of me. But he tricked me. He hit me and ran. Then he did what he had gone back to do. He had wanted me to survive. He wanted me to see it, but why?”

Everyone sat silently. It appeared that none of their imaginations were creatively inclined to answer such a complicated synopsis. But Thomas’ mind had moved on, like always. It was now journeying through all of the possibilities and compounding them into the script that had been played out. Every detail he had seen and experienced played a part. He felt he had an answer.

“Where do you take a tiger?”

The abrupt and odd question glued both Jo and Banks to their spots. Their mouths hung wide open in combined confusion.

“Thomas, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

This comment had been the last straw for Thomas’ patience. He needed to do something to speed things up. He needed to do something extreme.

“I need to get to the docks, now! I’ve got a ship to find. But I want to go this one alone; I’ve got some things I need to do, and I need to do them fast.”

Banks shook his head.

“Absolutely not! You’re not going rogue; not now. We’ve got too much at stake for you to play your own game.”

“It’s either that or we both end up dead. You’re of no use to me out there. You haven’t seen what I’ve seen or understood what I understand. You’re only getting in the way!”

“I understand and have seen more than you know! Don’t be so arrogant! You’d risk more lives just to go out on some selfish quest? Are you really that prideful?”

“Believe me! I don’t like it! But whoever this is would expect us to be together, wouldn’t they? If we keep playing by the same stupid rules than we’re playing his game!”

Banks let out a burst of anger before he turned away. He saw two beady eyes peeking out from the corner of the tech hub room, belonging to a retreated Jo. He felt the sour taste of logic beginning to win out against his sworn allegiance to order.

“No promises. I’ll do what I feel needs to be done. But if you think this will help save lives . . .”

“It will.”

Banks looked confounded by something he wanted to say but couldn’t. The moment passed. Without saying another word, he walked out of the room, leaving Thomas behind. Once alone, Thomas suddenly felt the cold touch of reality trickling down his back. He was going solo. In almost the entirety of his career he had always had a partner. Even if not by choice. But now he had pushed the only human connection he felt he had away. In his mind, there was only one person he needed to see, but the thought of forcing himself to do so made him want to vomit. Could he possibly endure what was to come?