Second Paradigm by Peter J. Wacks

Author:Peter J. Wacks [Wacks, Peter J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Time God, non-linear, read in any order,
Publisher: WordFire Press
Published: 2014-06-21T16:00:00+00:00

Relativity Synchronization:

The Eighth Cause

2044: Answers & Questions

Chris sat by himself, staring into space, lost in a maze of contemplation. Every thought was another wall, and there was no sign of the cheese at the center. He watched the barista as he fiddled with the bar, looking up from his work periodically to glare at Chris through black-rimmed glasses.

It had grown late and Chris was the only remaining customer. Generic music filtered through ancient speakers with a tin-like quality, as it attempted to fill the silence in the shop with a cheerful atmosphere, but failed abysmally. The clock on the wall above the counter, said it was not yet four but continued to slice away the past in one second increments. The gun weighed heavy in his pocket, pulling at his conscious mind, making him all the more aware of how alien this world felt even though he had no memory of his own. He stood to leave, clutching at the bundle under his coat with a sweaty hand. The barista watched him go but said nothing.

The brilliant oranges and reds of autumn light painted the landscape, the sun cast its rays though the maze of glass building fronts, making Chris squint from the glare on the closed storefronts around him. It was a picturesque scene, a forest of glass that felt more like a painting than a city. While many of the upper story windows had shattered that morning, the ground level seemed unharmed. He could no longer see smoke coming from behind the D.A.B., which looked like a chrome phallus sun, casting a second, silver brilliance down the mall, eradicating the shadows made by the slanting yellow light in the cloudless sky.

Chris walked down North Cherry Lane in a daze, only half noticing that the streets and skies were now abandoned. Jameson KNOWS something, Chris thought. He knows all about me … or least more about me than the record archives. Why did he give me this? He hefted the weight of the old handgun under his coat. It comforted him and yet filled him with suspicion.

Jameson said he didn’t need it because he never left the Corporate Zone, but he was at the coffee shop. But that didn’t make sense either. Jameson didn’t try to cajole Chris into trusting him. He had told Chris not to trust him.

He knows what I am, Chris stopped in his tracks. He figured out what I am while I was … sleeping. Goddamn him! He met with me and left and managed to not give me any answers about myself. Why did he bother? To give me this? Chris once again felt the weight of the gun under his coat. Then why?

Chris knew what he needed to do. This Frost woman knew something, too. He needed to find her, ask her all the questions that Jameson didn’t answer. Frost’s murder, whether or not by him, at least had been committed because of him.

His … ability, Jameson’s ambiguity, and the Frost woman who happened to be in the Punt at the same time he was.

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