Back to Rip Time

By Melody Romancito

Dan watched Kate dangle from the rusty fire escape in the scope's viewer. Her feet kicked, straining for the next platform. He knew she couldn't see how far down it was. When she dropped she'd make a lot of noise. If those goons were still looking for her, they'd know she was out of the building. She'd have to risk that along with the drop.

It was good she decided to let go. Dan saw her over-sized gloves slip off on their own, lost now. The rusty railing gave away. She plummeted down the dark well of the fire escape.

The decrepit structure moaned and clanged when she finally landed. The whole tower shook. Rusty scale sifted over her as she crouched on a landing about two feet lower than she had expected it to be.

Dan scanned the area. No goons. But two floors below, he saw red-eyed rats swim through debris floating on pools of water. There were no other sounds coming over audio now, except for water drizzling from a pipe somewhere below, the rats and the rasping sound of Kate trying to catch her breath.

"This was a mistake," Kate's voice hissed through Dan's headphones. "I shouldn't have let you talk me into doing the run for you. This is your trip and now I'm in the middle of your shit!"

Dan scanned back and watched as she beat her knees with her fists. Tears swam in her eyes. Her lips drew across her teeth in a grimace.

"You owe me, little sister, and you know it." Dan spoke through the microphone poised over his mouth. He knew his voice was spreading through the bones in Kate's skull from the comm patch stuck behind her ear.

"Asshole!" Kate seethed. "You didn't tell me about those vampires back there. You said all I had to do was drop in and pick up the package. You said nothing about guardians!"

"That's a standard feature on these pickups, dear. You ought to know that." Dan was smug.
"Stop gloating and tell me the drop-out coordinates, asshole." He saw her switch on her wrist set and glare at the display as it came up.

"Looks like you're a mere 40 meters from where you need to be. I don't understand why you're so put out. I led you out of the snake den," he said and clicked his tongue. "23:14. You can make it easily on your own from here, Kate." He pressed the mute switch and waited for her to yelp.

"Wait! Dan! I'll cut the language. Just get me out of here!" she pleaded.

He waited.

"Dan, please! Please don't make me do it alone! Dan!"

Okay, time. He clicked off the mute.

"Thought you'd change your tune, girl," he hummed and dropped his voice to subvocal, then gave directions off the fire escape and over to the drop-out point -- the place where Kate departed the past and arrived unscathed with the contents of the package dry and untainted.

Kate was in the slimy water now, which had sunk to less than three feet up the sides of the building. There might be potholes and other surprises. She must not splash. She must not fall.

Rats were bad enough, but the water floated enough unsavory chemicals and oils to scald the skin if not washed right away. Some of the stuff was combustible. Farther down the alley pools of oil burned lazily.

Twice he heard Kate inhale sharply as rats bumped into her and tried exploratory bites. Her skin armor wouldn't give, but Dan knew how much Kate feared rats. Ever since she had fallen asleep in that stairwell during the solar cell run. Dan had dropped off on his end too and woke to her screaming bloody murder. She only had few bites but they'd been nasty ones. One took five weeks to heal, even with the antibiotic salve.

"Out, please," Kate said. She hugged herself.

"Keep your skin on and don't hold your breath," Dan scolded.

In a moment Kate was no longer standing knee-deep in foul waters.

Her slight, fifteen year-old frame vibrated with anger as it materialized in the Drop Box.

"We're even!" She peeled off a patch of oily debris stuck in her short blond hair. She flung it from her hand in disgust.

"Give me the package. Is it dry?" Dan licked his lips and held out his hand.

"Of course it's dry. Are we even?" Her light green eyes narrowed. She carried a blue and white bag. It was sugar. Dan took it from her and hefted it. He was two years younger than Kate was and more frail. Where Kate looked made of wire, Dan was made of rags tied together with string. He pulled a long face.

"Nice pick-up, Kate. I'm sure Rado will be relieved he doesn't have to slaughter us because we couldn't deliver. Here. Take a load off. Have you ever tried this stuff in a hot cup of chickblend? Truly enhances the flavor, I'm told."

"I say we're even. Don't make any more weird deals that involve me. Got that? I'm out of the loop from now on. I'll make my own deals and do my own runs," Kate said, and peeled off her wet clothes and skin armor.

"This deal is no more weird than your deal with the Hungry Ghosts. I would never have set up a guarantee for a kilo of heroin. You know how close to Rip Time you gotta be for that kind of product?" Dan wheeled his thin arms in the air. "It's too unstable. And anytime after that you gotta go scouting, big-time." He shook his head with his eyes half closed. "Let's say I saved your ass and a lot of footwork by going in while the shit hit the fan." He bent down to conceal the bag of sugar under a pile of greasy blankets. "And I'll never do that again, little sister. Not for you -- not for anybody." He dusted his hands.

They both knew that the closer to Rip Time they went back the more unstable the run was. Native-time people were unpredictable and panicked. Killed on sight, practically. The time he had dropped in for the heroin had been especially tense. The only places you could find it were military installations while there was still martial law; a short, three-year period after Rip Time and before the waters came.

Dan smiled as he remembered the look on the guard's face when he materialized right before his eyes. It had been easy enough to stun him with the shocker and relieve him of his keys. It was quick work to grab the heroin then drop out before the guard came to. Dan didn't want to let Kate know it had really been no skin off his nose to make the run. It was better that she felt she'd owed him one.

"Like I said, we're even. Don't deal me in on your salvage runs. I can make my own night mares," she growled.

"Are you sure, Kate? Now that we can pay Rado back, we're free to move the kerosene and that nylon line. If we work together, we could unload it in half the time."

She didn't answer, but glared at him from across the burrow.

"Awwww, come on, little sister. Don't be a slammer. We won't have to scavenge forever. We'll hit a big cache or we'll break the Rip Time Barrier -- something." Dan heard the pleading tome in his voiced and stopped. It wouldn't do to let her know her help was essential.

"I want something to eat besides this protein crap," she said, back-handing an open plastic bag of gray-brown nuggets on the table.

The bag flew across the burrow. Another dramatic display. Dan sighed, bent down and picked it up. He gathered the hard pellets one by one, blowing off the dust and replacing them in the bag.
She was off balance now.

"I'm tired of this! I'm tired of dropping in for pickups while you sit here calling the shots. I'm tired of living in this hell-hole and I'm tired of you!" The tears were flowing now.

"You ought to be glad we found this stuff." Dan gauged his voice to be quiet, chiding. He replaced the last nugget in the bag. "We probable eat better than anyone else in the world." He straightened and put the bag back on the cluttered table -- patted it into place.

"We? If I recall, I was the one who found the Rice-tein," Kate argued.

"Yeah, but I told you where to look. And anyway, I was the one that found the Drop Box, remember? Without that, we'd be living in The Hive and Rado would have used us up a long time ago," Dan retorted. He knew how much it chilled Kate to think about Rado's appetites.

Their mother had warned them over and over when they whined about being hungry and cold. It had been her strength and stubbornness that kept them from having to join The Hive.

But their mother's strength had given out when she died of dysentery three years ago. Dan stomach turned as he remembered her lying in a pool of her own watery excrement, pleading with them to swear they'd never go over to The Hive. It was better to die of hunger, she said, than let Rado extract his payment for shelter and food. He shook off the image and glared at Kate.

"One of these days, I'm going to figure out how to crash the Rip Time Barrier, and we'll be fat. Just you wait. Now are you going to help me out or do you want to go crawling to Rado?"

"Okay, okay. But you gotta make the next run. I'm tired of doing all the dirty work while you sit on your behind giving all the orders."

"Fine. I'll do the next run." He smiled to himself. He knew he'd won though it looked like he's given in.
That night, a storm blew in from the west and knocked out their solar cells. Dan had never seen anything like it.

He and Kate had been cutting the nylon rope into ten-meter lengths when lightning struck the cell tower. The explosive thunder cracked and sent them squealing as they leapt into each other's arms. And for a few seconds, blue static danced on everything connected to the polymer battery pack -- even the Drop Box. The battery melted.

It was morning now and they were above ground, surveying the damage.

"Looks like they'll all have to be replaced along with the battery. It's a good thing we've got plenty of spares, but it'll take a while to hang them and get the pack charged up again. And with this cloud cover, it may take all day," Dan said, shaking his head. "We can forget about making a run today."
She scowled. "Might as well be Rip Time."

"Might as well." He bent over and began to unbolt a shattered solar cell, carefully pocketing the nuts and bolts. "Stand watch, okay?"

"Sure." Kate took a position a few feet away and surveyed the barren landscape.

Dan remembered his history. Their mother told them all about how things had ended up such a mess. "Might as well be Rip Time," was a phrase everyone used to say, "We're powerless." Yeah, but not for long, Dan mused as he screwed on a new cell.

Rip Time was figured somewhere around January 5, 2045. No one knew what happened for sure. The story went that there was suddenly a big tear or rip in the sky all over the world. The noise, a high-frequency scream, was unbearable. It lasted for weeks. All electrical current ceased. It was a worldwide blackout. Everything came to a halt. Nothing worked. People simply freaked out and mayhem reigned.

Dan looked over his right shoulder in the direction where Short Hills, New Jersey, used to be. Looting and riots took up the better part of the first two years after Rip Time. Martial law lasted only three years, and then the government gave up. Petty territorial wars were fought. Earthquakes and floods followed. Another wave of turmoil hit as Eastern and Western areas filled with midwestern refugees. Then came typhoid and it was all over. Whole populations rotted into the past.

At this point, people were real sparse. They formed tight little survival clans, suspicious and cruel. Progress was slow and babies died usually before their first year. Everyone starved -- people and animals alike.

A slight turnaround happened occurred when someone figured out how to turn the lights back on. Electricity was flowing, but Dan felt everything was still moving too slowly, Dan felt.

He mounted the last of the solar cells. Now all they could do was wait for the battery to recharge.

They still had the kerosene, so they could take cover in the burrow. Neither of them liked to loiter out in the open, but they like sitting in the dark even less.

The next day, the batteries were up to full power and everything was back to normal. Kate and Dan finished cutting the nylon and decanted the barrel of kerosene into liter containers. It was a lot of work, but they new it was more profitable to trade the smaller quantities than to barter the larger lots.
They battened down the hatch and settled down for the night. Dan checked the Drop Box for storm damage.

"Looks okay, but I guess we won't know for sure until we make a run," he said.

"It's your turn to make it, remember," Kate called from the sleeping area.

"Yeah, yeah," he returned, half-heartedly. Too bad about the Rip Time Barrier, he thought. He flipped the coordinates to January 5, 2045, like he usually did when he thought about it. "Right about there," he mused. Absently he looked into the view scoop, expecting to see nothing, as usual.
But wait. There was something there. Through the viewer he saw what has to be electric cars slipping by on an expressway.

"Electric cars!" Dan drew in a quick breath. "I'm looking at before Rip Time! Kate! Kate! Come here quick!" He licked his lips, then looked up when Kate came into the main room with a scowl on her face.

"Now what?"

"I can see electric cars! And they're moving. I've got before Rip Time on the scope!" He began to hop in place.

"So?" Kate scoffed, wary of a trick.

"Don't you know what that means? If we can see it, we can go!"

"What do you mean 'we'? It's your turn!" Kate's arms crossed over her chest.

"I know that. You still don't get it. We can bring back food -- real food ... all sorts of stuff. We'll be rich! And full!" He was dancing around the room. Then he stopped.

"I wonder why we can crack the barrier now. What's different?" He checked the controls and settings again. "I wonder if the storm had anything to do with it." He chewed on his lower lip, hesitating. Then he made up his mind.

"I'm doing it. I'll come back with an armload of food."

"Are you sure it's safe?" Kate hung back.

"Won't know until we try, huh," he said and set the control for Drop In. They hummed softly as he strapped on the wrist set.

"Keep me in the scope at all times. We'll look around later," he ordered and stuck the comm patch under his left ear. "I'm ready. You ready?"

"You're going now? Why don't you wait until we know more?" Kate still hung back.

"Yeah, now. Conditions might change. Who knows? Might as well be now than never. You want a real meal?"

"I guess so. Just be careful," she said and sat down in the car in front of the scope.
"I'm off," Dan said and gave Kate a little salute.

"Yeah, and I'm stuck with you that way," Kate returned with half a smile.

Dan's skin tingled, and then the next sensation was of a cold wind seeping through his thin jacket. He was standing on one of the exit lanes of the expressway he'd seen in the view scope. Everything was brightly illuminated by street lamps.

"You there Kate?"

"I don't see you in the scope!" Kate's panic came through the comm patch.

"What do you mean you don't see me?" He felt a slice of fear.

"Just what I said. I hear you, and I'm picking your coordinates up on the screen, but you're not on the scope! I'm scared! Come back!"

"Wait. Let me try something." He bent down and picked up a piece of litter on the side of the road. "Do you see that?"

She didn't answer right away. He waved it around and got his answer when he heard her sharp intake of breath.

"You can't see me, but you can see things I move. That's just great. I can go anywhere I want without being stopped, but people'll see things floating around in the air. That means I'll have to be even more careful."

Dan studied his surroundings. He stood on the shoulder of an expressway. Traffic was light. Not far from the closest exit lane he saw a large complex of buildings. The large green signs over the exit said, "Bell Laboratories Research Complex." He couldn't tell what time of day it was, but guessed it was about eight or nine in the evening. He decided he'd better get off the road. If no one could see him, they might run into him. He walked down the exit ramp to the street level below.

"Where are you going?" Kate called.

"I'm going to check out what's down here. Later, when we know more, we can be more specific about where we drop in -- you know, grocery stores and stuff. Right now I just want to check some things out." He was on an access street and headed for the nearest building.

He thought he smelled food. He entered the glass doors and crept down a hallway. The smell got stronger. He saw that most of the people were going into a large room filled with tables and chairs where they sat, most of them eating from plates of food.

One end of the room was lined with glass cases and a tubular steel railing that wound around the cases. The smell was overwhelming. Behind the glass of the cases he saw green and orange cubes of glistening gelatin, unearthly red cherry pastries and chocolate layer cakes. In another case, stainless steel square containers held steaming heaps of meats and vegetables.

Dan felt his stomach rumble and his mouth watered so much he had to wipe it with his sleeve.
"Food," Dan subvocalized.

"Yeah. Lucky dog. Can you bring me back something?" Kate's voice whined through the comm patch.

"Sorry, not this time. No pockets. Tough luck I'm the one making this run, huh?"

"Shove it, Dan."

He sidled up to one of the cases. Hamburgers, hot sandwiches and what looked like it might be chicken. He waited until the attendant in the white smock, shoes and hair net glanced away. He shot his hand under the glass and grabbed a hamburger, then darted over to a corner shielding his catch with his body. His shoulder grazed a tall man wearing glasses and a white coat, carrying a tray. The man absently said, "'scuse," not looking up.

Dan kept his back to the room and unwrapped the burger. For some reason, it no longer smelled good to him. He took a couple of bites, but the taste was not agreeable to him. He spat them out onto the floor.

"Yuck. I guess you gotta work up to meat. I'm going to try something else," wiping his mouth on his sleeve again.

"Sure. Stuff yourself while I listen," Kate complained.

Dan made his way to the most colorful display. Cakes, puddings and sundaes gleamed under the fluorescent lights. He waited for the right moment, then snagged a piece of cake with pink icing, then ducked under the railing and sat on the floor.

This was more promising, Dan thought as he sniffed the piece of cake. The sugar jarred the cavities in his teeth and the artificial cherry flavoring filled his mouth with saliva and made his glands ache.
He finished the slice in three bites and went back for more.

With great interest he eyed the light green slabs of gelatin that quivered and caught the light, but he decided to go with more cake. The second piece disappeared like the first.

He thought about going back for a third piece, but he suddenly felt full.

I'll come back before I Drop Out, he thought, leaving the brightly-lit cafeteria.

Once outside he looked around again.

"This place looks sort of familiar, doesn't it, Kate?"

"None of this looks familiar to me," Kate sounded irritated.

"That's right. This is the place we found the Drop Box! Guess I might as well check up on our research team while I'm here," he chuckled. "I can always cancel funding if I'm not satisfied with the progress," he added with a smirk.

Novelty suggested he take the elevator rather that the stairs. It only took him a couple of tries before he figured out how to work the control panel.

He felt an odd sensation as the elevator rose. The cake lurched against the roof of his stomach as it slowed at the ninth floor.

"Argh." Dan felt like he was going to puke. "I should have taken my time with the new food." He leaned against the rail. The doors opened as he gagged. Hot gobs of pink fell on his boots and onto the floor of the elevator. He was still leaning against the railing. The doors stayed opened.

Finished and relieved, Dan stumbled into the hall, shaking the puke off his boots, wondering if the vomit would be sensed by those in native time. Halfway down the hall he got his answer.
A man entered the elevator, then gagged sharply.

"Hey! There's puke in here!" the man yelled to the empty hallway. The elevator doors closed on another gag.

"Sorry, man. I wouldn't do that to a dog on purpose," Dan said.

"You've puked on me plenty of times, little brother," Kate said, but Dan could tell her voiced sounded amused.

If he remembered correctly this was the floor where he's found the Drop Box. Yes, that's right, through the doors marked "Secured Personnel Only," and past the double doors marked "Danger."
Dan stopped short when two pasty-looking men came out from behind a padded partition. One of them wiped his glasses on the edge of his lab coat impatiently while the other seemed to grovel.

"I don't understand it either. Everything was fine until 17 minutes ago. I have no idea what the anomaly is or where it's coming from," the groveling man whined.

"We have to make our presentation in less than 12 hours. You do understand the future of the whole department hinges on this. If there are no results, there will be no more funding. It's that simple, Boggs."

The impatient man left the room while Boggs sighed heavily.

"I've checked everything. We had something in the scope less than a half an hour ago. I just don't understand," he trailed off and seemed to stare right at the space where Dan stood.

Then a look of bleak possibility crossed Boggs' face. "It's the only thing left to try," he said and disappeared behind the padded partition.

Curious, Dan followed him past the partition and through another door into a large room. In the center of the room stood what Dan recognized to be the Drop Box.

Boggs walked across the room and started up a short flight of stairs leading to a small, glass booth. Dan watched him as he closed the door and peered down on him and the Drop Box from the booth.
"So this is how it's supposed to be set up," Dan said, stroking the side of the control unit. There had been virtually no directions on how to set it up. "I see how it goes now, Boggsey Boy," he said with a glance up to the scientist, whose head was down. It looked like he was frowning over some readout on a screen.

"I wonder if I'm causing the anomaly you're so baffled by." Dan chuckled. "Wouldn't that be ironic..." he started to gloat but was cut short by a new expression on Boggs' face -- one of uncertain triumph and desperation.

For a moment everything in the room seemed to shimmer, as if all molecules were losing their cohesion. Then Dan's flesh began to tingle, then crawl, then burn. His ears began to hurt when a low frequency hum spiraled higher and higher until he felt his eardrums were going to burst.

"What's happening, Dan? What's that noise?" Kate's voice reflected her alarm. Suddenly, the adhesive on Dan's comm patch loosened and it fell to the floor.

The windows of the glassed-in booth shattered inward. At first Boggs didn't seem to notice. His face wore the same expression, and then his facial muscles went flaccid. He slumped to the floor.

Dan screamed. He felt his skin was going to fly off his bones. His vision swam as he pulled himself up by grabbing the Drop Box's control console.

On the console he saw a flashing green light. It was the comm light. Off and on. Off and on. He could almost reach it.

His nerves screamed and his fingers wouldn't obey his brain. Just a little more. If his fingers didn't vaporize he could push the button and maybe the hurt would stop. His vision began to black out.
There. He felt the pressure of his finger on the button. The green light went out. The sound didn't stop.

"Out, Kate! I'm scared!"

"What's happening? What's that sound? Your comm patch fell off. I can see you in the scope now, except you don't look solid." Her voice came through a miniature speaker mounted on the box.

"Can't move! Return ... coordinates ... out..." He was going to pass out any second.

"Hey! The screen says I can pull out at those coordinates. Get ready to drop out."

And he was standing, sweating and shaking in the burrow again. He collapsed in a heap.

"Once again, bro, I pulled your nuts out of the fire. You smell like puke," Kate said, matter-of-factly.

"Kate! I think I figured out what happened at Rip Time!" He was gasping for breath. His skin no longer hurt, but his ears still rang.

"I think it was me. I think I tore the whole universe just now, by being at Rip Time!" Dan shuddered.
"I said, you smell like puke."

"It could have been worse," he said, shrugging away the greasy towel he handed him. "You could have pulled back a pile of burnt flesh. You're lucky I didn't crap my pants just before you pulled me out."

"You lost a comm patch back there."

"Don't you see? I was the anomaly. Rip Time was me!" He felt tears stinging his cheeks. He was still shaking. "I caused all this."

Kate folded her arms over her chest and looked at her brother with narrowed eyes.

"Who cares, Dan? We've still got Rip Time. We're still here and we're still hungry. Now you owe me. Next time I get to eat cake while you sit and watch."

As if on cue, they both looked at the Drop Box. There was nothing on the scope. Dan flew to the control panel and spun the dials. Still nothing. The Drop Box was broken.

THE END

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