Part 50 (1/2)
”Nope, still broken, you f.u.c.ker.”
”Okay, I deserved that.”
”I built a new one. I reverse engineered it.”
Prime walked past John into the living room, where he sat heavily in a chair. ”I knew we could figure it out.”
”We?”
”Yes, we,” he said. ”You gotta remember I was a year younger than you. I hadn't had physics yet. I couldn't have done it. But you did. I had faith.”
John held his tongue.
”Now, why are you here, if not to punch my lights out?” Prime asked.
”I'm here for that too.” John sat across from him on the couch. Casey disappeared into the kitchen. John smelled coffee brewing after a moment. ”But I'm really here because I've run afoul of some renegades. They know I have a device, and they want it.”
Prime nodded. ”I know the type,” he said. ”The devices are rare or controlled. Some worlds, maybe all worlds, are used to dump exiles. Here too.”
”Did you-”
”No, I don't think they've even noticed me. Yet.”
”You're in danger, then.”
”Less in danger than in a legal mess,” Prime said.
”Carson.”
Prime looked at him sharply. ”How'd you know? What do you know?”
”Dad let it slip. Not what, just that something had happened,” John said. ”What's the story?”
”Carson's missing,” Prime said. ”They think I had something to do with it. They've charged me with murder.”
”Did you?”
”What do you think?”
John studied Prime's face and saw nothing there that he didn't see in the mirror every day. Murder? ”You had the chance to murder me and keep the device. You chose... the lesser evil. But you still chose evil.”
”Carson deserved whatever he got,” Casey said from the doorway. She handed John a cup of coffee. ”Wherever he is.”
”I'm sure,” John said. ”I knew him too, remember? Know him, I guess. He's in the universe I'm in too. I saw him once.”
Prime and Casey shared a look that John couldn't decipher. This John and Casey had been together longer than he'd been with his Casey.
”Why are you here, John?” Casey asked. ”What do you need?”
”I need help. I have to save my friends,” he said simply.
Prime and Casey shared another look. Finally, Casey nodded.
”Anything,” Prime said. ”It's the least I can do.”
”Wait here,” Prime said. He'd parked the truck in John's parents' driveway while John parked Prime's car behind his. They were dropping the car off, ostensibly. John was nervous, but the windows of the Unic XK were tinted; he doubted his parents would look out the windows, and if they did, they couldn't see him in the driver's seat. Still he didn't want to have to explain to them what was happening.
”What are you going to tell them?” John asked again.
”Camping trip, I said.”
”Right. Is that going to work?”
”I've borrowed his rifle before. Why won't he give me the handgun too?”
John nodded and Prime headed for the house. He waited, turning the dial on the radio. None of the songs were familiar, but the call signs and radio voices were what he remembered. This universe had rock and roll. He found that he missed the tw.a.n.ging songs of 7650, and he flipped the radio off in disgust.
They had hammered out a plan in Prime's living room. Casey had figured out John's idea the quickest.
”Surprise attack,” she said. ”They don't exist in every universe. Anything that comes from another universe or is built by someone from another universe is probably unique.”
”That's what I think,” John said. ”I don't think their facility will be there in this universe. I checked the phone directory. There's no mention of EmVis or Grauptham House here.”
”Oh, I get it,” Prime said. ”We have the device.” He chuckled. ”I don't know how I feel about using it.”
”We'll do it carefully,” John said.
”You sure it won't... cut my head off?”
”I understand it better than you do,” John replied. ”At least I know what some of the k.n.o.bs do.”
”We come in the back door,” Prime said. ”And the back door in this case is this universe.”
”Yeah.”
”We'll need firepower,” Prime said.
”Why? We can just sneak in,” John replied. He had no interest in killing anyone, not even Charboric.
”Sure, sneak in, and what happens when the plan goes off the rails? You wanna call a time-out, while we regroup?”
”No.”
”Luck favors the prepared, brother,” he said. ”Let's be prepared.”
”Fine.”
”And speaking of prepared,” Prime said. ”I need to call my insurance agent.”