Infinite Horizons

Derrick and Mel drove Nico’s car in an uncomfortable silence. Unsure of exactly what to do, they’d moved the boy to the back seat and Mel had conceded that she probably didn’t need to keep a gun on him while they drove. Derrick drove them carefully through back streets towards the rendezvous point that Nico had provided once they’d sent a picture of the boy.

He had hair buzzed short but his eyes unsettled Mel. They were a steely gray and unreadable. The whole situation had her on edge. Trafficking cocaine she could handle no problem. Selling kids? She hadn’t told Derrick, but she was going to have some serious questions for Nico.

“So. Do you need water or food?” Derrick asked it so cordially that Mel cringed. She couldn’t imagine what his bedside manner must have been like.

“No.” The boy answered softly. He didn’t seem afraid or even concerned about his circumstances. Mel rubbed an ache in her left thigh and wondered what the hell she’d gotten into now. Before she could think about it long, the car came to a stop outside of a boarded up convenience store. Mel popped her neck, unholstered her gun, and marched with purpose towards the door.

“Hey Mel, wait…” Derrick’s voice trailed off as she stalked to the entrance. “Oh, not good.” Derrick rushed to help the boy out of the car and catch up.

Mel swung through the door and saw that Nico was seated at a small card table counting a stack of bills. To the left of the door, the large associate of Nico’s quickly came to attention and stepped towards her casually. Big mistake, she thought as she lunged around him and leapt at Nico. Midair, she saw Nico’s eyes go wide before she wrapped her legs around his neck, swung him out of his chair and slammed him to the ground. Keeping a tight grip on his neck, she pressed her gun to his temple and pointed at the big guy.

“Stay right the fuck over there while I chat with your pal!” Mel turned her attention to Nico as the door swung open and Derrick came in with the boy. “Care to explain why you are trafficking children?”

“What the fuck, man!” Nico shouted over Mel as he wrestled against her grip. “Trafficking? You really are as crazy as they say! For fucks sake, he’s a refugee. I smuggle refugees between worlds.”

Mel stared at him dumbfounded and it was Derrick who spoke first.

“I thought you ran drugs?”

“Of course you did, it’s a great cover. God damn, could you loosen up or what?” Nico tapped gently at Mel’s left calf and she slowly released him. “You thought what? I’m selling sex slaves or something? Fuck out with that shit! Disgusting.”

“I.. I’m sorry.” Mel stammered as she holstered her weapon.

“Don’t worry about it, not the first time honestly. Leo is actually a shit bodyguard.” Nico nodded towards his massive friend who shrugged sheepishly. “We help people, ok?”

“Right. I’m sorry, so who is this then and where’s he going?” Mel composed herself and gestured to the boy standing alongside Derrick in the doorway.

“We’re burning his real name, sorry. Now he goes by Ben, he picked it by the way. The less you know the better actually. His true identity needs to be as fully lost as we can get it. Just drop him at the designated coordinates on Earth-49. He’s going to be moving in with a woman there named Lee, she’ll be waiting for you. Jumper is downstairs.”

“Nice to meet you Ben.” Mel crossed the room and stuck out a hand, which he gingerly shook. “How about we get you out of here?”

The trio moved to a side door that led down rickety stairs and emerged in the basement. At first glance the place was in horrible condition, cobwebs filled every corner and a large stain covered the floor in front of them. Mel led them further into the room and around a pile of junk that filled most of the space. A photobooth took up the corner of the room and was the only thing that seemed to have working power in the room.

“Oh fuck yes, you ever use one of these?” Mel turned towards Derrick then looked at Ben sheepishly. “Ah, sorry about that…”

To Derrick’s surprise, Ben let out a long high giggle and he watched as Mel joined in with a loud snorting laugh. She noticed his expression and composed herself.

“What? That’s how I laugh, shutup.” Mel stared daggers at him in a very sudden shift. Derrick put his hands up in a surrender pose and stepped up to the photobooth. Pulling the curtain, he gestured for Ben and Mel to get in.

“Now what?” Mel was looking at the screen where the three of them were reflected once Derrick joined them. She prodded at buttons and eventually found a dial that moved a number in the corner of the screen up and down. “Aha!” She moved the dial until the number read forty-nine then tapped the middle of the screen where it said Start.

Derrick and Mel exchanged a look as the screen began to countdown from three and a large message appeared over their faces that said “Say Cheese!” Mel frowned and flipped off the screen while covering Ben’s eyes.

“I think this piece of sh….eet metal… is broken.” Mel said, censoring herself just in time. But as the booth's camera began flashing she felt the familiar feeling of her stomach dropping away from her body and in a flash she felt herself landing again. The sharp intakes of breath next to her reassured her that they’d jumped successfully and she looked down to see that the booth had indeed produced a string of pictures of them. The final photo showed them to be stretched to incomprehensible lengths like Gumby.

“That’s unusual.” Derrick was looking down at his hands and Mel gasped when she looked over and saw that his fingers looked stretched and bendy, almost like they were boneless and made from jello. All three watched in awe and disgust as Derrick experimented with them, pulling and stretching them or bending them the wrong way. Eventually, after about two minutes of this, he shook them and they began to return to rigidity.

“Well that was fu….nking… weird.” Mel frowned. She was not used to being around kids and she looked at Ben out of the side of her eyes. “Ready for this, Ben?”

Ben only nodded in response and the three of them slowly slipped out of the device to find that it was sitting at the end of a boardwalk with a beautiful view of the ocean. There were several old run down arcade machines sitting along the pier and as they walked back towards land, the place began to show signs of life. Couples made out in shady corners, a group of teenagers crowded around an arcade cabinet, a pair of parents won their daughter an oversized stuffed bear. The boardwalk was coming alive as dusk drew closer.

“Let’s find a car, hopefully we’re in the right state at least.” Mel steered the three of them through the merriment towards a parking lot. With minimal effort, they were able to find an unlocked hatchback with the keys in the cup holder and were soon on their way. Derrick and Mel drove in silence, while Ben slept in the backseat. It wasn’t a long trip, they passed through Philadelphia and Baltimore without issue and arrived in DC around midnight. Following Derrick’s GPS app to the coordinates that Nico had given them, they pulled to a stop in a DC suburb outside a Walmart.

“The hell? He wants us to drop him off at a Walmart?” Mel turned off the car and stepped outside, looking around. There were a few cars scattered around the lot, the store seemed to be open all night. Sharing the parking lot were a Burger King, a dentist’s office, and a beauty salon, all closed. “Well, Walmart it is.”

Derrick got out of the car and gently woke up Ben and helped him out of the car. The two came around to stand with Mel. Despite a very composed expression, it was obvious Derrick didn’t have the slightest idea what to do which made Mel sigh loudly.

“Come on, we’ll stretch our legs and maybe get some candy at least.” Mel led and the other two followed across the lot and through the automatic doors. Now walking side by side, Mel could feel Derrick’s alertness. He looked like a pretty normal guy walking through the store but she could see that he was assessing every other shopper they came across.

A twenty minute walk through the store provided no answers but it did reveal that Ben was a little odd for a child. Mel told him he could look through the toys but he didn’t really care to. He was very interested in tools of all kinds and they spent nearly half their time watching him handle screwdrivers and sanders and pliers. Eventually they got some snacks and cold drinks and made their purchase. Mel still had some cash and it wasn’t noticeably different from the currency used in this version of America.

On the way out, Derrick grabbed Mel’s arm and nodded towards a wall of missing children posters. Ben was staring at them from one of the pictures. The poster was different from the ones around it, there was no name listed, it was just the picture and a phone number. Mel took it down and once they were back in the car she made the call.

“Oh thank god, I thought maybe something went wrong! Do you have Ben?” The voice on the other end was a woman’s. Mel listened carefully to her voice but found that it sounded like every single normal suburban housewife she’d ever scammed.

“We’ve got Ben but we don’t have a lot of information. Who are you?” Mel kept her tone short.

“Well…” The woman hesitated before continuing, “Nico told me not to give my name just in case. He said that if the person who called was skeptical I could tell them, ‘say cheese’. Does that help at all?”

“Actually, yes it does.” Mel relaxed and asked the woman where to meet for the drop off. She hadn’t exactly bonded with Ben but she was wary of delivering him to just anyone. After getting the information she reassured Derrick and the group set off again.

Another forty-five minute drive through DC suburbs landed them in the parking lot of an insurance office two spots away from a silver coupe with rental plates. A woman stepped out of the car in a hooded jacket and black yoga pants. Mel noticed that she was very obviously wearing a wig and nearly laughed at the situation. She realized that to smuggle Ben from world to world he must have been in serious trouble and decided not to laugh at the safety precautions involved.

“Uh, hello there. I, um, I’m picking up Ben?” The woman shifted her weight uncomfortably and despite her large sunglasses, Mel could tell she was looking around anxiously.

“Calm down lady, he’s right here.” Mel opened the back door and let Ben out. She gave him a tap on the shoulder and attempted her best smile. “Alright kid, this is a fresh start. Good luck here.”

“Thank you for the ride.” Ben gently hugged Mel at the waist and waved into the passenger window at Derrick before turning to meet his new caretaker. Mel was surprised at the burst of emotion she felt and stuffed it down quickly.

“Listen, take good care of him alright? I don’t want to have to come find you.” Mel forced her face into a scowl as she looked at the woman and was satisfied by the obvious terror on her face. She got back into the car and nodded to Derrick.

“Are you ok?” Derrick looked at her with a piercing stare as he asked.

“Oh fuck off.” Mel shrugged and wiped at her eyes then started the car. “Long drive back to the photobooth, then a jump to Earth-71 so maybe you should take a nap on the way.”

Derrick shrugged and patted her shoulder awkwardly before she peeled out and headed for the highway.

Back in the photobooth, Mel turned the dial to the correct number and took a deep breath. Derrick gave her a reassuring nod and they tapped the screen. After the familiar sensation of jumping, they stepped out of the booth. Even Derrick gasped as they took in their surroundings. The scene directly around them was pretty normal, the photobooth had landed in an alley with clean white walls rising on either side. But when they looked up they found themselves staring into a dark sky through some sort of clear dome. And beyond that, they saw something they’d only seen in pictures. The Earth was floating there in space.