"Dear God, my eyes are not to be believed," Reverend Johnny spoke inside the arcane control center of the twisted building. "There are two Ms. Forests."
One of those Ninas stood with the other Dark Wolves commandos. The second-the one who favored Trevor with a kiss-appeared amused at the predicament.
"No," Trevor regained enough of his senses to speak. "No, not two Nina Forests. One Nina, one imposter. What are you?"
The one standing in front of Stone feigned pain at the accusation. "What am I? Why Trevor, I’m a who, just like you. Just like her."
The Nina in command of the situation strolled over to the one herded with the Wolves. As she moved, Trevor took note of her clothing. She wore something looking one part rubber and one part leather; an outfit ribbed with protective bands along the mid section. Certainly some kind of battle armor and very different from the standard combat BDUs, worn by the other Nina.
Furthermore, the suspect one carried two pistols in dual shoulder harnesses as well as a scythe-like knife sheathed on her waistband.
The Nina in the strange battle suit approached her opposite. She gazed at her duplicate as if looking in a mirror. The new Nina brushed a curl off her brow as if expecting her reflection to do the same.
"So much…alike…" for a second the cocky confidence faded, replaced by a quietness revealing her own sense of awe for the enormity of the situation.
The suspect Nina changed directions. She walked toward Trevor, eyeing him suspiciously as she wagged a finger in the air.
"This is interesting, very interesting. I mean, I figured you’d come running after me, I mean, her. Then after I met her," she nodded toward the other Nina. "Then I figured, like, this whole thing was a bust. I was trying to find a way to salvage all this before we had to go but then here you are, just like my original plan. This just gets more interesting all the time."
"Then that was it, was it?" Reverend Johnny spoke. "It wasn’t about Ms. Forest. It was about Trevor Stone. And we walked right into it."
"Let them go," Stone tried to ignore the Rev. "If it’s me you want, you don’t need them."
This 'other' Nina said, "That’s the idea. In fact, our time is kind of short so let’s get this show on the road. Take them out."
Trevor warned, "Whatever you are, you damned well better not hurt them."
The battle suit-wearing Nina stepped close to Trevor. For a moment he was afraid — afraid? — she might kiss him again.
"You still don’t believe your eyes, do you?" Then she turned to the Wolves' guards and said, "Take them, but watch; there’s still a couple of his men sneaking around out there."
None of Trevor’s people budged.
The duplicate Nina looked at them with admiration, then she addressed Trevor, "Now that’s just priceless. They don’t want to leave you. That’s loyalty. That’s just great. Hey, I’m not planning on hurting him. Trust me. But I don’t need anyone else. I mean, so either they walk out or we drag them out. Which is it?"
Stone stared across the room at his Nina. So many things he wished to say but to that woman with the lost memories she would not understand.
"Go. I’ll be okay."
She did not move. None of them did. Trevor saw the concern in her eyes, reverence for her leader. Long ago, there would have been more. Now he only held her loyalty.
"That’s an order."
The Dark Wolves allowed themselves to be led out of the room by the mysterious soldiers. Reverend Johnny remained.
"Hey, let’s go. Time is short, you know?" she said to Johnny.
"I shall not leave. It would take the hand of God to budge me from Mr. Stone’s side."
One of the soldiers aimed the wicked bayonet of his weapon toward Johnny’s neck.
"Do you really want to meet God right here? Right now?" This 'other' Nina sounded exasperated. Trevor sensed she worked on a tight schedule.
Johnny stood resolved. "I am prepared to meet my judgment. Are you?"
"He stays," Trevor said.
"He goes," Nina insisted.
Trevor glared at her and for a moment-just a split second of a moment-he saw retreat in her icy blue eyes.
"He stays. You say you mean me no harm? Prove it. He stays."
Nina curled her lip and narrowed her eyes but it was not a pout, more consternation.
"Fine. Whatever. Screw it."
She turned her back to them and strolled over to the control panel where she consulted with the dark haired, green eyed woman.
Trevor turned to Johnny and said, "Thanks."
"I’d just assume leave you to clean up this mess you have made but Master JB would certainly scold me if I abandoned you at this point."
While the reference confused Trevor he said, "I appreciate the vote of confidence."
Johnny sighed and conceded, "I suppose we all look before we leap on occasion. Particularly in affairs such as these."
While they waited for whatever they waited for, Trevor surveyed the room in more detail.
Something akin to tree bark served as the basic building block with glowing crystals in the walls, a smooth floor, and those strange controls oversized to the point that the technicians working them seemed like children in comparison.
Trevor could not fathom the purpose of the place, but he felt certain that whoever this Nina may be, she and her people were as much interlopers as he.
A beep from Nina's utility belt grabbed her attention. She spoke into a small communications device, "All clear? Good. Seal things up, we’re going to jump."
Trevor and Johnny shared a look.
Nina spoke words to the technicians then returned to the two prisoners.
"Okay, we’re all set."
Johnny asked, "All set for what?"
Nina ignored his question and returned to the puzzle she contemplated prior to removing the other Nina. She raised her finger and wagged it at Trevor again.
"So anyway, what’s the story here, Trevor? I mean, I go out and grab Nina 'cause I figure you’re going to come to her rescue because, well, she’s your main squeeze. Right? Then I get here and she doesn’t know what the Hell I’m talking about. You should have seen the look on her face when I told her that you were going to come get her. Like, I think that shocked her more than seeing, well, seeing herself. Or me. I dunno. Shit, this is absolutely nuts. I can understand why she screamed."
"Sounds like you don’t have it all figured out, do you?"
Nina went on, "So I’m thinking that things are just, well, different over here. Or, at least, more different then we thought. I’m just about ready to scrap the whole idea and-shit-you come walking on in. So everything works out the way I planned."
Nina strolled to Trevor and looked into his eyes as if there might be an answer there. "So either, like, she’s a great actress and lied her panties right off or…" She peered even closer. "Or there’s a really good story here."
The dark haired woman-Jolene-interrupted the conversation. "We’re ready."
Nina nodded and told the men, "This’ll just take a sec. There’ll be a flash; no biggy. But you’ll feel a little, well, dizzy after."
"After what?" Trevor questioned.
Nina may have answered, he did not know because he could not hear. A loud roar filled the complex. The air seemed to shake. Next came the flash Nina warned of, as if a thousand cameras snapped a picture at once. Yet Trevor could not discern the source of the flash. It came from nowhere, yet everywhere.
As the spots in front of his eyes faded, Trevor felt a warm sensation across his body, almost like wind burn.
That immensely loud noise stopped.
"What in the Lord’s name was that all about?"
Trevor tried to answer his friend but, instead, fell to the ground on his hands and knees.
"I told…I told you," Nina stuttered as she too struggled with balance. "It’s like a really good buzz for a second or two. It’ll fade…whoa…I think."
"Y-you think?"
Trevor felt queasiness in his stomach from the loss of equilibrium. He was not the only one. He heard the unmistakable sound of someone vomiting.
"Good God, what did you do? What was that flash?" Johnny asked.
Nina ignored Reverend Johnny yet again. "We…we have to get going."
Trevor staggered to a stand as his stability slowly returned. He saw the technicians hastily gather cases and pouches as well as jackets and weapons with an obvious sense of urgency. Despite fighting dizziness themselves, the members of Nina's 'crew' hurried to leave.
Reverend Johnny grabbed her arm. "I asked you a question, woman!"
Nina eyed the hand holding her, mildly shocked at the strength of his grip. But the anxiety Trevor saw in her eyes did not come from any threat posed by Johnny.
Before they could exchange words, Nina’s communicator beeped. Trevor and the rest heard the panicked voice on the other end. "Team One, this is Perimeter. You need to haul ass because we’re out of time!"
Trevor touched Johnny’s shoulder but looked to Nina as he said, "We’ll get our answers, but we have to get going first. Isn’t that right?"
"Yeah. That’s right," she yanked her arm from Johnny’s grasp. "But we got to get going right now. I mean, right now."
Johnny put aside his anger.
Nina pulled the communicator from her belt and made a general announcement: "All units evacuate. Proceed to extraction zone for immediate egress." She holstered the radio again. "Now you two come with us. Trust me; you don’t want to do anything stupid. If you want to be stupid later, fine. But not now."
Trevor agreed and said more to Johnny than her, "I’ve filled my quota on stupid today."
"The day is young, Mr. Stone," Johnny shook his head. "The day is young."
Green eyed Jolene joined them. Nina led the group down the wide ramp. She set the pace first walking, then walking fast. They overheard radio chatter along the way.
"Command, I got movement at-" static enveloped the transmission.
"This is Kartright; I’ve lost contact with my outer ring."
"Kartright, this is Command, fall back to-"
"Oh shit it’s RIGHT HERE-!"
Static.
Nina’s pace changed from a fast walk to a jog.
Johnny spoke to anyone who would listen, "What in the devil’s name is going on here? Why are we in such a hurry?"
Trevor answered for their hosts, "Take a look around, Rev. This place doesn’t belong to our friend here. I think she stole it."
Nina spoke as they came to the lower level where a large open archway offered a glow of sunlight from outside. "More like, well, borrowed it."
"And now whoever you borrowed it from is coming to get it back, right?"
"Something like that," she admitted as the exit neared.
"Team One, this is Perimeter, the line has been breached at-oh SHIT! RUN! R-"
No further transmissions came from the radio.
Nina and her group of escorts and escorted took the advice of the last transmission: they bolted out into the cold afternoon and joined a mob of running people, some having come from inside the complex, others obviously the troops from outside.
Trevor stumbled as his surroundings came in to focus. They were in the woods but not the same woods. The trees here were of a similar hardwood variety, but scorched white and warped into horrid shapes. This was a forest after a fire or some terrible tree disease.
Reverend Johnny mumbled, "Tears of Jesus, what has happened?"
"Save the questions!" Nina hollered as the two men fell behind. "Your answers are ahead but you won’t live to see them if you don’t run!"
Two technicians scrambled around the slower-moving Trevor and Johnny, dropping papers from the bundles of notes and books they struggled to carry. Trevor wondered if those notes and books contained the instructions to operate the building Nina had 'borrowed'.
Despite the fleeing crowd to either side, Trevor heard something. Or did he feel it? Either way, he glanced over to Johnny and saw him staring back with the same question in his eyes.
What was that?
A low, droning hum growing louder…approaching from behind.
Thousands of sunbeams sliced through the canopy of twisted, lifeless branches casting sharp lines of bright and dark. Yet the sun could not chase away a feeling of emptiness, like death. Trevor felt a cold that came from more than the temperature.
The hum grew into a buzz, growing louder; closing on the mob running like forest animals from a spreading fire.
"Run!" Nina shouted and her blond ponytails waved behind her like miniature wings.
Trevor hastened his pace as best he could, jumping over fallen limbs and crashing through piles of dead brush but the physical obstacles were not nearly as overwhelming as the mental ones. From the sorry sight of the decayed forest to the buzzing danger pursuing from behind to this Nina Forest doppelganger and her band of strangely-clothed mercenaries, it felt as if he entered some warped wonderland.
A soldier with a badly injured leg ran-hopped at a sprint-forward. Every bound he made elicited a cry of pain yet he did not slow. Something-terror-compelled him to flight despite blood loss that would certainly kill him soon enough.
A woman in a white lab coat stumbled and fell. Another technician literally stepped on her back as he continued on without a thought for his comrade, ignoring her cries before he tripped over a tree root and landed face-first in a pile of dried leaves.
Trevor did not stop to help either of them. He followed Nina and the rest of the fleeing pack pushing through sharp barren branches.
"I will pour out my terrible fury on this place. Its people, animals, trees, and crops will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger…"
Johnny slowed as he spoke. Trevor turned and saw why; his friend dared a glimpse behind.
The humming noise bounced off the dead trees and filled the air like a demonic shriek.
Trevor followed Reverend Johnny's eyes to the forest behind them, behind another wave of running people, back into the sea of sunbeams slicing down from above.
Like lights in a dark hall switching off, those sunbeams flickered and disappeared one after another as the blackness came. Literally a flood of dark. A thick cloud oozing through the woods like a wall of black water running down a river bed.
A hand grasped his shoulder and spun him around. Nina screamed, "Haul your ass!"
Johnny mumbled, "Surely an agent of the serpent himself…"
Trevor did not allow the sight to clutter his already chaotic mind any further. Instead, he grabbed on to fear and let it guide him, shouting to his friend, "Let’s move, Rev. Let’s MOVE!"
Although his legs trembled, Trevor found more speed than he had ever known, easily keeping pace with Nina.
The ground shook. The hum seemed more a scream and it seeped into his mind; invaded.
Trevor…Johnny…the others…they stampeded, pushing through the horrid forest, flattening the withered foliage and weaving through the corpse-like hardwoods.
Screams from behind; those not fast enough.
Trevor dared a look over his shoulder after he jumped a fallen tree. The wave of black gained; fifty yards back and billowing forth.
They splashed across a stream, climbed a short ridge of red rock, then the forest of twisted, sick trees gave way to a large clearing. Four machines parked there. Trevor immediately saw them as air craft but he could not identify the type. They stood slightly larger than a Blackhawk chopper with a large rotor affixed to a raised rear quarters that gave the impression of the ship sticking its ass in the air. The main body sported two short wings with jet-like engines underneath and a large cockpit at the bow dominated by a huge, multi-paneled windshield.
Judging by their boxy design he guessed them to be cargo carriers or troop transports.
"This way! C’mon!" Nina urged as she ran toward one of the craft.
Rear ramps stood open on each of the ships.
Forest called to Jolene as they raced across the clearing, "Take Two. I’ll get these guys out on Three!"
Jolene directed herself and a group of running people toward one of the craft. Trevor and Johnny followed Nina inside another.
They boarded directly into a tube-like cargo area with rows of seats along the outer walls under small glass portals. Two flight chairs waited in the big nose cone, Nina headed for one.
A soldier shut the rear ramp immediately after Johnny and Trevor entered, closing it in the face of several technicians and forcing them to scamper for another means of escape.
As the ramp sealed, Trevor glimpsed the deluge of darkness flood into the clearing. Several people disappeared into its midst. He thought he saw-he could not be sure-those people turn ghastly white and then melt as the black cloud enveloped them.
"Everyone, take your seats!"
He did exactly as told. He did it and prayed she could launch the vehicle fast enough.
"Firing booster rockets!"
Following Nina’s announcement, a jolt pinned the passengers in their seats and a loud rush filled the cabin. The ship thrust skyward like a rocket ship destined for orbit. Trevor felt his belly sink.
"Hold on…almost clear…"
Upwards momentum slowed, the rush of the rockets dissipated. The ship held still and silent in the sky for a moment; the world seemed to stop.
Then Trevor felt his belly move to his throat as the powerless ride plummeted back toward Earth, gripped again by gravity.
"Booster rockets," he mumbled to Johnny who sat across from him with his eyes closed mumbling prayers so he probably did not hear. "For a quick take off in emergencies."
He heard Nina grumble, "Come on, damn it. Come ON!" She struggled with controls.
A click. A whir. Then a rumble that sounded to his ear like the blades of a helicopter. In this case, the big rotor above his ride. The metal floor vibrated and he felt their descent slow as the spinning blade overhead caught and stabilized flight.
"Sweeeet, yeah!" Nina cheered from the cockpit.
Trevor looked out the portal near his seat. He saw another of the helicopter-like things shoot into the air then start its rotor while he felt his own gain forward momentum and bank. As it did, his side angled enough to afford a view of the clearing below.
Whatever had come for them…whatever it was… surged across the entire field, covering it in a black, oily mist. An explosion erupted from the confines of that sea of darkness. Trevor saw fragments of another of the air ships as it died in a ball of fire on the ground. The explosion appeared muffled by that immense, inky entity, suggesting far more mass than any cloud.
Trevor's eyes remained fixated on below; he felt a chill along his spine and despite all he had seen, fought, and vanquished over the years, this thing made him feel insignificant; a flea in the shadow of an elephant.
– After nearly an hour of sitting in obedient silence, Trevor desired answers. He unbuckled and walked to the front of the craft. Glass surrounded nearly three-quarters of the cockpit providing a tremendous view of rolling plains dotted with forests, dead farms, and frozen ponds.
He sat in the empty co-pilot's seat and said to Nina, "I want answers, no games."
She shook her head in a manner suggesting a combination of amusement and annoyance.
"Where do you want me to start?"
"Let’s start with the big question. Who or what are you?"
"I am Nina Forest."
"Okay, then, where are we? That building was some sort of transport."
"That’s right, yeah," she told him. "You’re on Earth. And no, it wasn’t a time machine."
Trevor stared forward through the glass. He spoke with an edge in his voice. "So, I’m on Earth and you’re Nina Forest. Okay then, where are my troops? From what I can tell, we've been flying east for a while now. Army Group North should be around here, somewhere. If this is Earth and we’re still over Ohio some-." He caught himself. "Wait a second, that place…it wasn’t a gateway. I know that. I’ve seen them in action."
"No, it wasn’t a gateway," she confirmed.
"But it was a transport. You say we’re still on Earth?"
"I said, we’re on Earth."
Trevor understood. He eased into the chair and nodded to himself.
Why not?
So far in his life, aliens invaded his home world, he could communicate with dogs, learned he had a half-brother, and one of his best friends channeled Stonewall Jackson.
So why not?
"A parallel-what? — Universe?"
She smiled. "Wow. I mean, you’re taking that a lot better than I thought you would."
"I guess I’ve just learned that there’s a surprise waiting right around every bend in my life. Like everything else, I'll just accept it without thinking too hard and maybe I'll stay sane."
She laughed. He allowed himself a small chuckle.
There he sat, riding along in a strange flying machine over a world that was like his own but not quite the same. His eyes drifted to her.
Nina.
Different…but the same.
He said, "I've seen enough movies and TV shows about this type of thing. Everything is pretty close to my world but a little different. Well, at least you don't have a beard."
"Huh?"
"Never mind. So okay, you went to a lot of trouble to bring me here. Why?"
She said, "We monitored your broadcasts when we arrived on your Earth. I could tell you’re doing pretty well. You’ve managed to start taking back your planet. Pretty damn impressive, Trevor."
"And here?"
Her good humor faded. "For a while, great, but not anymore. These days the orders are always the same: retreat."
"Retreat? Who the Hell has been in charge around here?" She told him the answer he feared, "You."
He felt a wave of apprehension build inside. Seeing a duplicate Nina, that had been hard. But seeing a duplicate of himself, could he handle that? "I assume I’m going to go meet…well, me?" "Yes."
"Why all the secrecy? We’re all human, right? I mean, you are human?"
Nina looked at him again. "Yes, I'm human. Just like you in every way. You're flying in what we nicknamed a 'Skipper'. I know you have things like it on your world."
Just as he had studied her, examining him up and down, taking in the sight. In her eyes he spied something between surprise and awe, between desperation and relief.
She told him, "You need to see everything for yourself. I'm being honest when I say I don’t want to hurt you. You know that, don’t you? You can feel it, can’t you?"
In the last few hours Trevor walked in to a trap, faced and even kissed a second Nina Forest, traveled to some kind of parallel universe, and ran for his life from a wall of evil blackness. He now rode in a helicopter-like contraption-a 'Skipper'-above an Earth where humanity fought the same war of survival as he did. Yet, he nearly felt relaxed.
Why? Because he sat next to and spoke with Nina Forest. She even smiled, a little.
"Yes," he answered her question. "I can feel it."
"Good, we need you."
"Why’s that?"
"Because if you can’t help us, we’ll be wiped out."
He sat in the co-pilot's chair and contemplated that thought. Trevor did not know how he felt about that and he did not know how much he cared. He did, after all, have his own world to worry about. But these people were human, too. Certainly the event's of her universe connected somehow or someway with Armageddon on his world.
Below, the landscape changed from forests and frozen fields to a wasteland of bomb craters, vehicle wrecks, and scattered piles of remains. Occasional mounds of rubble, scorched patches of woods, and a dried riverbed broke the otherwise flat plain of destruction. Gusts of frigid air blew bands of dust and snow flakes over a seemingly dead land.
"Almost home," Nina whispered.
Another sight grabbed his attention; a break in the horizon. As they approached, that break took form. A city. A very large city growing taller and wider as they neared. But first came bands of defenses including trenches, barbed wire, sandbags, and pill boxes. He saw more remains below; fresher carcasses visited by scavengers and apparently stripped nearly naked of any equipment or gear that might serve the living.
You don't leave your own to rot in the sun, he thought in disgust.
The city filled the cockpit window. At the heart of the place stood a cluster of skyscrapers reaching dozens of stories tall yet lacking any style; any concession to aesthetics. He found them bland and boring; metal and brass structures dressed in a dull, almost sickly green.
That same utilitarian design carried over the entire metropolis. As they descended, he saw an industrial sector where chimneys billowed clouds of white and gray smoke, and squat rectangular buildings arranged like building blocks end to end stood in neat rows as if painstakingly measured to maximize every meter of available space.
It seemed to Trevor this city existed for function, not life. Then again, if mankind stood on its last legs here, then would he not also abandon style in favor of efficiency and purpose?
Still, if this Earth's topography matched his own, this place might just be "Pittsburgh?"
He apparently thought aloud. "Pittsburgh?" She responded. "Never heard of it. I think there are some differences between our worlds. Things like names. But that wouldn’t matter much in this case. This is the city of Thebes. It’s a new city, sort of. Only a few years old."
"Oh. What about the other cities? Have you re-taken any of them?"
Nina put a fine point on it. "Trevor, this is our last city. It was built for military purposes. Now it’s all that remains."
He sat in stunned silence, unable to accept such a thought. If true, would failure here affect the fight on his planet? Had destiny brought him here, too? Was his fight against Armageddon not merely planet wide but…but universal?
"You okay over there?"
He heard genuine concern in her voice.
"Yeah. Well, no. I mean, you're failing here. I'm failing, I guess. The version of me… well, you know what I mean. What I'm saying is, the idea of failure, it's the one thing that keeps me up at night."
"I understand."
"Sure, but you already met yourself. Now I get to meet me. That’s a weird feeling."
"Tell me about it."
The Skipper flew around the city for a better view. Most parts seemed covered in soot and dirt, a few stood out with glitzy designs resembling casinos on the old Las Vegas strip. Yet most buildings held more in common with warehouses, garages, and hangers.
"Boring."
"Like I said, this is all about military. The skyscrapers are dormitories, there aren't any individual houses."
"Hardly any windows and I see almost no lights. Let me guess, security reasons?"
"No windows for security, no lights to conserve power. Sorry, it's not very impressive."
"Feels like a big trap to me," he said but her expression suggested he insulted her so he clarified, "Not for me but for you. You're herded in here behind barbed wire and barricades. Makes for an easy target."
"Yeah, tell me about it. Hang on, we're going in to land."
The Skipper descended inside a fifteen foot tall wall. Trevor saw that the wall no longer protected the entire city; enemy fire had turned sections into rubble.
After the landing gear touched ground, the rotor slowed and the rear door opened.
"C’mon, it’s time for you to meet our Trevor Stone."
Sweat formed in the palm of his hands. He felt a shiver in his backbone.
Nina led Trevor, Johnny, and a squad of soldiers from the Skipper but this time Trevor judged the soldiers' behavior to be less that of guards and more escorts for a VIP. Still, they huddled around to hide Trevor in the midst of their group. He figured they did not want him to be seen. Two Trevor Stones walking around might be too much to handle.
They moved through a set of turnstiles guarded by artillery and an armored vehicle. Their path then opened up at a wide courtyard but Trevor did not see another soul.
"Come here, I want to show you something."
Nina led them toward the center of the square. As they walked, a horde of scrawny pigeons fluttered away. As the flock flew off, Trevor saw something standing at the center of the courtyard draped in shadows cast by the skyscrapers around the perimeter of the yard.
Sounds of distant activity drifted through the air: a bell ringing, the rumble of an engine, a voice barking orders; the wind whispering between buildings.
"My Lord," Johnny gasped as he viewed what stood at the center of the courtyard.
Trevor pushed out from the middle of the gang and approached the object that was the focus of the park. A statue of a man. A bronze statue atop a white granite pedestal. A man holding a sword and raising it in anger toward the sky.
Trevor saw his eyes, his hair, his face cast in bronze.
In Memory of Our Beloved Emperor
Trevor Stone