This story took a long time to write, but I’m happy with it. It’s about two brothers who are separated, throwing the older, but more dependent brother into turmoil as he tries to find out what happened. Their roles are reversed as he tries to help the brother that helped him his entire life.
It was a cold morning, so the park was mostly empty. Billy was glad, he didn’t want people asking questions. He leaned back in his bench, breathing in the moist air. He loved how the air felt after a rain shower, how it felt cooler against his skin.
As he watched the trees sway in the mist, he shifted his position on the bench. With a hiss, he rubbed the stump of his leg. It had been acting up recently, he assumed it was because of the stress. He lost the leg to a land mine when he was deployed to fight in Russia. It shouldn’t have happened though, the mine was seemingly placed on the side of a mountain far from where the Russians would’ve expected them. Stranger still, the explosion didn’t seem to cause any shrapnel and only affected his leg. As Billy was carried back to camp, many of his comrades stayed behind to look for parts of his leg. They couldn’t find it. In fact, they could barely pinpoint the source of the explosion. But none of that mattered now, he was discharged and all he could do is sit and think.
The cell phone in his cargo shorts rang, pulling him back to reality.
“How’s it going, Rey?” He said, holding the phone to his head.
“A little nervous, I have to say.” Rey said. “I’m going to do a test today, I can’t say what it’s about, but it’s gonna be exciting.”
Billy paused for a moment, “Is that at the laboratory you go to now?”
“Yep!” He said. “They’re doing a lot of cool things here, I wish you could see it.
Billy smiled. “I’m proud of you, buddy.”
“Thanks, I’m glad you’re with me.” Rey said before hanging up.
With that, Billy picked up his crutches and headed home.
Immediately after he got back, he opened his computer and started job searching. He had been searching since he was discharged, but missing a leg made it difficult to get a job of any kind. Even something as simple as dishwashing would require mobility that he simply didn’t have. He even considered getting a desk job, but he was never really good with numbers, at least, not as good Rey was. He felt useless, as if everything he worked for was destroyed, blown out of existence like his leg. He was lucky to have Rey, a brother who seemed to know everything, who picked him up when he was discharged and couldn’t find a job. Billy looked around the house, the size of it still impressed him. He still had no idea how Rey could afford it.
Rey was a blessing, he was born into a shitty household with nothing but a dream to keep him going. He was dealt a bad hand, but the one Ace he had was his mind, a powerful but curious mind that led him to books, and then to school. He never had to pay for college, some of the schools seemed to want to pay him to go.
But through it all, he still looked up to Billy. And when Billy asked why, he said “I understand a lot of things, I know all of the laws of physics by heart, I know how celestial bodies live and die, but I’ll never understand people as well as you do.” Billy never forgot that.
But still, he looked through countless job sites and found nothing. Eventually, he shut down his computer and drove to the store.
His car was modified for his leg so that it was easier to drive, another thing he couldn’t afford in a hundred lifetimes. The store was as busy as always, so he stuck to the quiet aisles as he loaded the basket that hung on the hook attached to his crutches, another thing that Rey made that was simple, but incredibly useful. As he made his way to checkout, he realized that he didn’t even bother to check the prices on the stuff that filled his basket, he knew Rey would cover it.
As he stood at the checkout line, he felt everyone’s eyes on him. He didn’t blame them, it’s hard to look away when you’re used to seeing people in one piece. One of them saw how he was trying to hold the bag of cat food.
“Do you need help with that, sir?” She said.
“Sure.” he said, trying to sound polite. “Thanks.”
She gently pulled the bag out from underneath his arm and held it in her arms as if she were holding a baby. She followed alongside him until the checkout, where two other guys emptied his basket before he could even lift it out of the hook. He felt like a race car being swarmed by people in a pit stop.
After that, the woman continued to carry the cat food all the way to his car, even though he insisted that he could easily make it on his own.
“Thanks.” He said again as she put the bag in his trunk.
“Is there anything else I can help you with?” She said with a smile.
“I’m fine, thank you.” he said before getting in his car.
He started the car and pulled out the receipt, it had a 30 percent discount.
He sighed, kindness is good, but he didn’t need their kindness. He wanted peace. So he drove home, back to the place where no one cares.
There, he did one of the few things that he could; He reads. Rey had amassed a small library of them throughout his years of education, so most of them are about various studies in science and whatnot, but Rey would never pass up the chance to enjoy some good old-fashioned fiction. Billy read what he could understand, he figured if he couldn’t get a physical job, he might as well try going the academic route.
Of course, books don’t always lead to degrees.
He passed the time with the encyclopedia that he found. At the time, Billy thought it would’ve been boring, but he found it somewhat fascinating to learn about various aspects of the world, even if some of the information was scattered and mundane.
He was learning about beekeeping when he looked at the clock and saw that it was already 9:00. Rey should’ve been there fifteen minutes ago, perhaps his test had a followup or something.
Billy waited for another thirty minutes before sending a text, which remained unopened for another fifteen. A strange feeling rose up in Billy’s chest, but he shook it off. Rey was just working late, he reassured himself, he does that sometimes. Billy forced himself to turn off the lights and head to bed.
The next day, he woke up early to the sound of his cat, Felix, meowing at the top of his lungs and scratching underneath his door.
“I’m coming, damn cat.” Billy mumbled as he shuffled to the door. Felix led him to his empty food bowl eagerly. “Alright buddy, hold your horses.”
Wait, he never had to feed Felix. Rey would always feed him before he went to work. The feeling in Billy’s stomach came back twice as strong.
“Rey?” He called, frantically searching the house, he even bothered with trying to hop upstairs with Felix close behind, still begging for food. He checked his phone to see the message that he sent was still unread. “Rey? Where are you??”
From the second floor of the house, a knock at the front door is extremely faint, but still, Billy heard it and came down the stairs as fast as a man with one leg can safely go. Rey must’ve had to stay over at the lab, he thought as relief started to wash over him, and maybe his phone died before he could read the message.
But when he opened the door, he was greeted with a sympathetic, but unfamiliar face in a suit.
“Billy Mills?” He asked, Billy nodded, shaking his hand absentmindedly, “My name is Dr. Samuels, and I’ve come to inform you that your brother, Rey Mills, is dead.”
Billy wasn’t planning on punching anyone that day, but the opportunity presented itself.
Dr. Samuels didn’t react much, he must’ve been expecting it. He simply caught the blood as it fell out of his nose and nodding before going back to his car. Billy slammed the door and slid to the floor, sitting with his back to it. Felix rubbed up against him and he stroked the thin, orange hairs on his back.
Rey was gone. He knew everything was getting to be too easy, he knew life was about to throw another roadblock at him. He just didn’t know it would be Rey’s death.
He shook his head, no, he didn’t need Rey. He could make his own way, he could find a job, with or without a leg. With or without Rey.
His stomach sank, Rey would know what to do next.
Billy did what got him through the military, he got to work. He fed Felix. He job searched. He read. Then, he realized that he forgot the milk on his last grocery run.
Getting the milk was harder than he expected, the store was busier than usual, and everyone stared more intensely than before. He assumed it was because of Rey, since he was pretty well-known, especially in that part of town, and now, he was not just “the poor guy with a missing leg” he was “the poor guy with a missing leg and a dead brother.” He felt like his every action was monitored closely. It made it nearly impossible to focus.
He went to checkout without speaking to anyone, and no one bothered to start a conversation. It wasn’t hard to tell that he wasn’t in a speaking mood, but the cashier tried his best.
“Hey, sir, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about…” He said as the receipt printed.
“It’s fine, thank you.” Billy said, taking the milk and the half-printed receipt before leaving the store.
The rest of the week fell into a chaotic routine, filled with mostly reading and job searching and the occasional walk through the park. The whole time, a sense of unease was rising up inside him, the feeling that comes when the world’s gone to hell. He ignored it when he could, but eventually it became too unbearable.
He had to do something. He had to find closure.
He started with going to the place he hated the most, the laboratory. It was the place where he died, after all. He’d get answers there. He had found the address of the laboratory in some of Rey’s papers, it hurt to see his handwriting
Billy’s mind was blurred, something didn’t feel right, he felt as if he was watching a movie, and his body was controlled by something else entirely. He brought a gun into the car with him, he didn’t know why, all he could think about was the lab, they killed his brother. They’ll get what’s coming for them.
He drove across town with the gun stashed in the center compartment, his eyes scanned the town until he came across a tall, silver building with the name “West Creek Military Research Center” plastered across the side of it. On the street across in front of it, a woman with a white vest crossed.
To Billy’s surprise, she started waving her arms for him to stop. Did she know what he was planning to do? Still, he closed the gun into the compartment.
When he rolled his window down, she put her hand out and he shook it.
“You must be Billy Mills, I was just going to speak to you.” She said. “I’m Teresa Collins, I worked with your brother.”
“What do you want?” He asked. “Are you going to kill me too?”
She chuckled. “No, I understand why you’re anger, but Rey isn’t dead.”
The words hit him like a truck. “What?”
She smiled. “Now that I’ve gotten your attention, will you pull over so we can talk?”
He obeyed, turning into the parking lot and putting his car into park. The hatred he felt seemed to be replaced with confusion and curiosity. He took another look at the center compartment where the gun sat. He felt guilty for even considering it.
He hopped out of the car and pulled out his crutches.
“Okay, now will you tell me where my brother is?” He said.
“Soon,” She said, “But it’s a very long story and it will be best if I show you, follow me.”
She led him through the glass doors of the laboratory, swiping her key card at the door. The lobby was beautiful, filled with vibrant, home made, glass art and colorful plants.
“So this place is for military research?” He asked as she led him through a hallway.
“Something like that.” She said distractedly, unlocking another set of doors. “This is the advanced testing wing.”
“Collins!” Billy heard a man yell. “Why are you bringing him here?”
I turned to see Dr. Samuels storming down the hallway.
“But I thought we decided…”
“We ‘decided’ nothing,” He leaned over her like a parent talking to a child. “We merely considered taking Mr. Mills in on the case.”
“Wait,” Billy said, “were you planning to put me in one of your sick experiments?”
“Not exactly, we need you to help us…” Teresa said.
“Don’t say another word.” Dr. Samuels said, grabbing Billy’s shoulders and directing him to the lobby. “Sorry for the inconvenience, we must’ve thought you were someone else.”
“Wait, stop, he knows too much already.” Teresa said walking alongside them.
“She’s right, I know my brother is still alive!” Billy said, shrugging Dr. Samuel’s hands off.
“No, unfortunately your brother is very much dead.” He said, “We were pulling a prank on you but now it’s time for you to go home.”
Billy planted the foot of one of his crutches on his toe, making him hiss.
“Both of you need to stop.” Teresa said. “You’re being ridiculous.”
“Alright! Fine!” Dr. Samuels said, pacing back down the hall. “Go on, tell him everything then, parade him through all of the restricted areas with a camcorder for all I care.”
He stormed off, disappearing around the corner.
Teresa shook her head, “Sorry about that, Mathew can be a bit of a loose cannon sometimes.”
Billy shrugged, “I know his type.”
“Yeah, he’s a character.” She said. “So are you ready? Do you have your camcorder?”
He chuckled, “Sure, let’s go.”
The restricted wing contrasted with the rest of the laboratory. It was filled with countless rooms of unknown purpose, and the doors ranged from plastic sheets to massive, steel doors. Groups of people in hazmat suits rushed past him. Billy felt out of place, as if he was somewhere where he wasn’t welcome. He wasn’t wrong.
They went through several more hallways and junctions until another tall, metal door stood in their way.
“This is the advanced testing lab, where we worked with your brother.” She said, sliding her key card through the reader. Billy heard what sounded like a million bolt locks slide open before the door groaned open to show Dr. Samuels glare at them from behind a computer.
“Great to see an unauthorized face in here.” He said. “I thought the lab needed better publicity.”
Teresa rolled her eyes. “Will you let this go so we can explain to Billy what we need him for?”
Billy looked around the room. It looked like the ground control of a space mission with rows of monitors and a main control panel at the front below a wide, bulletproof window that displayed a large concrete room with a strange monolith in the center.
Dr. Samuels sighed before getting up and walking to the window. “What you see in that room is an ancient Mayan monolith that was discovered in the Maya Mountains which was later apprehended by the U.S. government which was then given to us for research.”
“Why?” Billy asked.
“Because it was apparent that the monolith held unusual properties, it attracted lightning like a magnet and it seemed to radiate subatomic particle seemingly out of thin air. We studied it for years.” He said, walking over to the control panel. “Until we figured out that it could do this.”
He pulled a lever and a Tesla coil descended from the ceiling above the monolith.
“You might need these.” He said, handing a pair of sunglasses to Billy, who put them on without question.
The lights flickered as the Tesla coil struck one of the pillars, which created a wall of green light between it and the other pillar, making a loud, shrieking sound. The light faded as soon as the Tesla coil shut down.
“When we realize that particles seemed to disappear inside the monolith, we launched our first unmanned mission through it.”
“You mean that this is some kind of portal?” Billy asked.
Dr. Samuels nodded. “To another universe.”
“We couldn’t believe what we saw through the drone’s feed of the other side.” Teresa said. “It was incredible.”
“We had to explore it further.” He said. “Then your brother volunteered to go in.”
“That’s why we need you to bring him back.” Teresa said.
“But I can’t.” Billy said, glancing over to the monolith that changed his life. “Not without my leg.”
“You won’t need one.” Dr. Samuels said, leading them into a darker room in the back. “You see, the portal destroys all organic matter that passes through it, which is good because then we don’t have to quarantine every time something comes out, but still it makes it difficult for any manned missions to happen.
“So, we made these.” He led them to a row of metal, faceless bodies hung onto the wall. “Instead of going there ourselves, we put our consciousnesses into these and we explore it that way. We call them Cognitive Interface Devices, or CID’s.”
He led Billy deeper into the room, where rows of tables sat. Tables with monitors and neural feedback devices and glass covers.
But one of them wasn’t empty. One of them held the body of Rey Mills.
Billy dropped his crutches and hopped to the side of the tank, desperately looking for some sort of locking mechanism to open it.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Dr. Samuels said. “While I appreciate your enthusiasm, we need to keep him inside the stasis module.”
“I thought you said he was inside the portal.” Billy hissed.
“Yes, he is in the other reality.” He said as he walked to the other side of the module. “Well, his mind is anyway.”
“We lost contact with his CID yesterday, but we still get faint signals so we think he’s still alive.” Teresa said. “Which is why we need your help.”
Billy pulled himself up. “When can I start?”
“Whenever you’re ready.” She said.
He looked down at the body of his brother, Rey saved his life, now he was ready to save his.
“I think I want to do it now.”
“Now?” Dr. Samuels said. “Surely we can wait until tomorrow, my wife will start to forget I exist.”
“No, I need to do it now.” Billy said, “He’s helped me a lot through my life, now I need to return the favor.”
Teresa smiled. “Then let’s get to work.”
They had Billy remove most of his clothes before going into the stasis module where Teresa attached pads and neural feedback sensors to him.
“The first time you go into your CID will be very shocking, but you get used to it pretty fast.” She said as she inserted the IV. “The first thing you’ll notice is the tactile sensor array we put into the armor, it’ll also take the longest to adjust to.”
“I don’t know what that means.” he said, “I’m the dumb brother, remember?”
She chuckled. “Don’t beat yourself up over it, this is the most advanced government laboratory in the world, not a lot is going to make sense here.”
“How did you wind up here?” Billy asked.
“The same way Rey did, I climbed the ladder until I reached the top.” She said. “And the rest is history.”
“That must feel great.”
She shrugged. “Not really, I know it sounds ridiculous, but I didn’t really want this life. I got good grades and I was put down if I didn’t, so I just kept going.”
Billy smiled, “That’s okay.”
She widened her eyes, “Really? No one’s ever said that to me before, they always say stuff like ‘you’re lucky to get this kind of job’ and ‘you should be happy with what you got, most people don’t get as lucky as you are’.”
He shrugged, “People who are lucky are the ones who get to do what they love, and you clearly don’t love what you do.”
“Thank you.” She said, stepping away and closing the module. “Alright, start it up.”
The module hummed to life as warm liquid started to fill the chamber.
“Starting transfer process.” Dr. Samuels said.
A numbness started to spread in Billy’s hands and feet as he grew more and more tired. Within seconds, he lost any sense of feeling or movement and he had a moment of panic until his vision went dark. Then, all he had left was his mind.
Gradually, he felt the cold grasp of metal around his neck come into light. He reached up and felt the claw, reaching up further to feel large cables that seemed to go into the back of his head. Suddenly, Teresa’s panicked voice rang to life.
“Wait, Billy please stop moving you’re about to disconnect yourself.” She said. “Damn, we forgot to turn his microphone on first.”
A strange, bulbous version of the room he was in came to light. He looked down at Dr. Samuels, who looked right back up.
“Cameras are working.” He said before walking over to Teresa, who worked at a monitor.
She looked up at Billy. “Okay, are you ready? I’m going to release you now.”
Despite him not being ready, she pulled a leaver and the claw around his neck opened and he collapsed onto the concrete. He felt its coldness beneath his feet, that’s when he realized that he was naked, or at least it felt that way. He flinched when Teresa came up and touched his chest.
She laughed. “Yep, it’s working just fine.”
He found himself desperately trying to cover every part of his body, making her laugh more.
“Stop making a fool of yourself.” Dr. Samuels said, handing him a blanket, which he quickly covered himself with.
Billy suddenly noticed how tall he was, He must’ve been at least seven feet tall. He looked down at his smooth metal body, he could barely see the chinks and hinges in the armor. He touched his chest and he could feel the cold metal of his chest against his finger, but he also felt his metal finger against his chest.
“This is bizarre.” He heard a digitized version of his voice say.
“Aah, his first words.” Dr. Samuels said with a faint grin.
“Why did you design it to…. feel?” Billy said, touching himself again.
Teresa shrugged. “Research purposes.”
“I would avoid looking at your former body while you adjust,” Dr. Samuels said. “It does weird things to your psyche.”
“So what do I do next?” Billy asked.
“Follow me.” He said, leading Billy through the next room to an access door to the monolith room. “Before we send you through, you need to brush up on your shooting skills.”
“Wait, why do I need to shoot?” Billy asked as Dr. Samuels led him through the door and began wheeling a large metal wall to the front of the monolith.
“What? You think we hired you just because you’re Rey’s brother?” He said, stacking crates in various corners of the room. “Nah, we need that military experience, too.”
“But I haven’t fought in years, and I barely fought even when I was in the military.” Billy said, “And I thought you said that the other side wasn’t dangerous.”
“Eh, it’s like riding a bike,” Dr. Samuels said, handing Billy an over-sized, double barreled gun, “And while I would agree that the other side is beautiful, I never said it wasn’t dangerous.”
“Great.” Billy said, examining his gun. “Would’ve been helpful to know that before.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it too much, chump.” He said, patting Billy’s shoulder. “If you get destroyed and we have a strong signal, we can send you back to your old body before anything goes wrong.”
“Why didn’t you do that for Rey?”
“His transmitter was damaged.” He said. “The only reason we know he’s alive is because we’ve been getting faint, broken signals from the monolith.”
“It’s good to know that my life depends on having good reception.” Billy said. With a shrug, Dr. Samuels left the concrete room.
Billy looked at the gun again, it was nothing like any other gun he knew about. It was bulky, with high-caliber rounds, judging by the width of the barrels, which sat on top of each other. The magazine was square, and it went in farther back than most guns, almost by the stock. It had no identification number on it. Whatever this gun was didn’t exist.
“Okay, give it a whirl, Mr. Mills.” Dr. Samuels said over the loudspeaker. Billy didn’t have to look back to know he was in the mission control room. “And please avoid shooting near the monolith, I’m not certain whether or not that wall is bulletproof.”
Billy barely raised the gun before he came on again. “And don’t shoot at the walls either, that room isn’t meant to be a shooting range.”
With the CID equivalent of an eye roll, Billy pulled the slide back and lined up the sights onto a crate, a laser light appeared onto it. Billy assumed it came from in between the barrels. It only took a light tap on the trigger to shred the crate to pieces. He looked at the barrels, there was no smoke, and when he felt them, they were hot, but not nearly as hot as the should’ve been.
“Advanced coolant technology.” Dr. Samuels said. “They’re designed to be fired longer and harder for maximum effectiveness.”
Billy nodded, examining the gun more. “Impressive.”
“Now aim at the next one and flip the switch at the bottom.” He said.
Billy obeyed, and a metal shield folded out around the gun.
“There is a very low chance that you’ll have any return fire on the other side, but if you do, this’ll help.” He said.
“Neat.” Billy said, shooting several more crates before looking back to the mission control room. “I think I’m ready, can you activate the monolith?”
Dr. Samuels made a dry laugh. “No, we’re not letting you through there willy-nilly with priceless technology and virtually no training.”
“What?” Billy said. “I’ve had years of training.”
“Ah yes, you were trained in the military, but this is not war, you’re not going up against some ragtag terrorist group, you’re going up against the unknown.” He said. “And the unknown is far stranger and deadlier and something you can’t just fling yourself into, Mr. Mills.”
“But every second we spend in here is a second where Rey’s life is on the line.” Billy said.
“Yes, but if we send you in prematurely we could risk loosing you, another CID, and this entire operation.” He said. “And in case you don’t already know, you’re not supposed to be here, so if the higher ups find that we’ve been holding two mindless bodies in here, or if people start to notice that you haven’t been around lately, we could risk having this entire lab shut down.”
Billy paused, “Rey used to say that discovery is impossible without taking risks.”
“I suppose, but in this case the risk is too high, and it’s a risk that I’m not going to make on the behalf of Rey, this lab, and the hardworking people within it.” Dr. Samuels said before turning off the loudspeaker.
Through the glass, Billy could see Teresa turn to him as he hung his head over the microphone, he could only imagine what they were talking about.
“This could be our only chance.” Teresa said.
“I know, but we can’t make any mistakes.” He said. “We have to do this right.”
“You know, Rey would make the same risk.”
“Yeah, he would, because he’s foolish and he couldn’t see the problem with it because he’s got his head in the clouds.” He clenched his jaw. “But somehow, that damn kid would always make it work.”
“Maybe he did know something what we didn’t.” She said, touching his shoulder, making him flinch slightly. “Maybe he would see a bigger risk in staying.”
He nodded silently.
“Let’s stop worrying about the odds and bring him home, okay?”
He finally looked up. “Okay.”
Billy watched as Dr. Samuels disappeared from the window. He sighed, maybe it would be harder to convince him to let him through than he thought. But as he came to the door, the loudspeaker crackled to life.
“Mr. Mills, could you please move the metal wall out of the way, It may interfere with the portal.” Dr. Samuels said.
The door slid open a moment later and Teresa walked in, carrying an ammo belt.
“You’ll need this.” She said with a smile.
“What made him change his mind?” Billy asked.
“I might tell you later.” She said, putting the belt over his shoulder and tightening it across his back.
Before Billy could say anything else, she cut in. “The belt is made of a type of plastic so it won’t burn up in the monolith.”
Billy remained silent as he moved the metal wall and Dr. Samuels powered up the Tesla coil. He moved back in front of the monolith as Teresa went back to the control room.
“Are you ready, Mr. Mills?” He said.
“Yes.” Billy said, staring at the monolith.
With a bang and a crackle, the portal opened and Billy walked through, holding his gun close to his side.
“I’m coming, Rey.” He said as the green light enveloped him.
The Pondering Wanderer 