Speculative Fiction inspired by the Israel-Gaza conflict. January-February 2009.
A young man gets sent to possible future, one that is bleak and besieged by war and terrorism.
From Pages 1 and 2
This was no longer a dream, nor was it the world Andrew Farmer could relate to: a world that was and was not his own. Head bleeding, Andrew hid behind a lump of wreckage that was once a mosque. Gunshots burst and missiles rained in the night of smoke and fire. The seventeen-year-old hugged himself, trembling slightly. He saw a woman trapped by debris, her pained face mouthing for help. Andrew crept away from the wreckage and crawled to her.
"Soon, the world will end," the woman uttered in Hebrew, her voice raspy and forced.
"What in the world's happening?" Andrew tried to push the pillar crushing her legs.
The woman croaked words the boy couldn't understand. Her eyes swelled and yellow ooze came out of her nostrils. Andrew flinched as the woman rattled wildly, growing scales as she started to mutate into one of those yellow-eyed lizard-monsters.
The boy tried to stand, but the woman tugged at his leg. "Fuck! Let me go!"
The creature cackled. A laser shot through its head. Its grip loosened. Andrew looked up and saw a beautiful lady in her early twenties staring at him with a silver pistol he had never seen before. Her black hair and dress fluttered against the wind. She looked Arab, but Andrew wasn't sure, particularly because he had rarely seen an Arab woman's hair. Squinting, she pointed the gun at him. "Impossible. You—I know you," she said in perfect English. She pushed her pistol against Andrew's forehead. "Are you his clone? Tell me," she threatened.
"Please, I don't know what's going on! I can't remember—" His head throbbed. "Tanya Farmer! My mom, she works at Technion. She could explain everything. She threw me into a well of dark water, and when I woke up, I found myself here."
"Farmer?" she mumbled. "Axis Mundi project." Her eyes widened. "I see now. Come with me."
***
Days had passed since Andrew entered this new world, 2137 CE—no different than his home universe of 2009 as he slowly remembered it, a world scarred by bloodshed and suffering. He was now stuck in a possible future that branched from his past. The lady who saved him, Rana Zayd, had brought him to Haifa, one of the safest places in Israel during the terrorist outbreak. According to her, a cryptic group had manipulated genes of the unborn, spreading altered humans to grow up normally and undetected until a certain smell caused their bodies to mutate into fierce creatures that, when fully transformed, no bullet or missile could kill. Sylphs, androids employed by the Israeli military, could not defeat them.
Andrew leaned back in his chair. "So you're saying my mother built these giant robots that could penetrate their scales?"
Rana nodded. "Exoskeletons, to be precise. Unfortunately, Dr. Farmer made only two prototypes, named after mythic twin angels, and both of them synchronize exclusively to your body."
"Uh-huh?" Andrew's eyes drifted to the glistening bay outside the glass dome shielding the balcony. No birds under the cloudless sky.
"People will lose lives, and the outbreak may extend outside Israel's borders unless the problem isn't solved. We, Operation Delta, are currently searching the source of terrorism. But for now, we need a pilot for the Sandalphon, the combat mecha of light." Her hazel eyes met his. "And only you can help us."
"That's crazy. This isn't even my universe. Why should I help?" He drank his tonic, a pomegranate-grape mixture with a hint of alcohol. He exhaled, feeling trapped inside a box of glass. What good could he do?
Rana touched his hand. "You know, my family passed away because of this war. More people will die if the source of this terrorism isn't stopped."
Andrew looked away. She was indeed beautiful. "I know how you feel," he said. "I lost my loved ones, too."
"You know, Operation Delta has been studying your mother's research. Your body has already passed through the Anima Mundi, the soul of quantum multiverses. So, by having you synchronize with dark water, we might be able to send you to a past universe, and perhaps, even back to a specific time."
"Seriously? That's great then."
"There's a problem though," she said. "Remember the two prototypes your mother designed? We're missing one of them."
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