Beatrice:

  Time slipped through my fingers. I was the only person able to stop Alpha’s apocalyptic Redistribution Program, but I buckled under the pressure.

  I massaged my jaw, aching from incessant teeth grinding.

  “Alpha was junk before I injected it with Life Rite,” I huffed, pacing around the blazing furnace in my Kiln Room, my skin slick with sweat.

  The tightness in my rib cage relaxed. “That’s it. I’ll travel to the past and change that pivotal choice. I’ll never inject Alpha with the serum. That should shut down the Redistribution Program.”

  I clapped at my renewed mental clarity. Plan in place, I used my custom-made fireplace as a portal into the Slipstream.

  The room dissolved, the chatter of my mind slowing to a gentle hum. A warm stillness spread through my body, as if every cell were expanding. A brilliant light flooded my mind, time folding, as I entered the Slipstream once more.

  Once inside, sparks of probability rained down, giving me a much-needed dopamine hit. I chuckled, eager to squash my deadly drone problem.

  “I remember that day clearly.” I summoned the portal to the past, back to when I injected Alpha with liquid vitality, Life Rite.

  The stream took me to the lab after hours. Sterile. Eerily quiet. Even the dusty janitors had gone home for the day.

  Empty except for me and my lead technician, Trystian.

  “You’re fired,” I told him.

  He threw a file folder, sending papers across the vinyl. “The miscalculation of mutation cycles was an honest mistake.”

  “We lost too many Carriers today.” I hammered my fist on the stainless steel table, shattering glass vials.

  “The cost of innovation is significant. I know.” He bit his lip to stop from crying. “Replicating Mark’s exact serum is difficult, but we’re getting closer with every generation.”

  “The PX people ripped from their lives… They died in vain, Trystian. Those are my Wellness Checkpoints. Nothing will absolve me of that.” I pointed at my chest with a trembling hand, overwhelmed by the true cost of my immortality serum.

  Red rings appeared under Trystian’s eyes. He shrugged. “This is what we signed up for.”

  I turned away from him. Frustration at his incompetence bubbled in my throat like acid reflux.

  Trystian moved close, putting his hands on my shoulders.

  I flinched.

  He backed off, sighing. “Let’s talk about it in the morning.”

  I shook my head, rage burning in my chest. “Didn’t you hear me? You’re fired.”

  “Good luck finding my replacement.” Trystian shook his head, cheeks flushed.

  I sneered. “Mark was irreplaceable, and you, honey… you are not Mark.”

  “Go to hell, Beatrice.” Trystian stormed out, leaving me alone in the dimly lit lab.

  I pressed my watch, summoning Alpha.

  The drone clicked into the room, its motor humming. “What can I help you with, ma’am?”

  “Assign Striker to follow Trystian home. I fired him, so we’ll need to enact the final termination clause of our agreement. Got it?”

  “Final termination clause assigned to Striker,” the drone repeated.

  I bit my manicured finger, conflicted.

  Should I call off the hit?

  Trystian and I had gotten close, rebuilding Life Rite together without Mark.

  Too close.

  “Alpha, you’re smarter than that imbecile. That’s because Mark made you. Everything he touched turned to gold.”

  An idea stirred within me.

  I used my DNA Identifier to unlock a steel cabinet. Inside, vials of original Life Rite serum glowed green.

  Mark’s original batch. My personal stash.

  I prepped a syringe of Life Rite. My natural reaction to losing Trystian was to upgrade my drone to eliminate human error.

  This was the moment I came here to change.

  My breath caught in my throat, my free will overriding the simulation of the past. I concentrated deeply to change the probability.

  “That’ll be all, Alpha.” My hand shook as I focused on changing my mind.

  I smashed the syringe against the stainless steel table instead of injecting Alpha with it.

  “Your heart rate has elevated,” Alpha told me. “Do you need medical assistance?”

  I exhaled, wiping the splatter of Life Rite serum off my silk dress. “Alpha, call a janitor to clean this mess.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  I leaned against the table, wiping sweat from my forehead. “That should do it. Here’s hoping I stopped the Redistribution Program.”

  Time warped around me as I pulled out of the stream, back into the tunnel of endless possibilities.

  “Hope is for fools.” I needed to check my work.

  I closed my eyes and asked the Slipstream for guidance. “Does Alpha stay offline now?”

  The stream I exited began to fast forward, showing the immediate outcome of my root change.

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  The stream stopped like a movie on pause, inviting me to experience the effects of the timeline change firsthand.

  I re-entered the portal.

  The very next day, I sat at my desk overlooking Twin Flames. The only thing visible through the morning fog was the omnipresent Grid.

  Pressing my watch, I called Alpha into my office to check if Striker had taken care of Trystian yet. My conviction was wavering, and if the hit hadn’t happened, I was going to call it off.

  Alpha entered with a young Feraz, only about seventeen-years-old, in tow.

  I stiffened, adjusting my blazer. “I wasn’t expecting company. What can I help you with, young man?”

  “Mrs. Claudi, may I show you something?” he asked.

  I scratched my head. “Wait. What are you doing here, Feraz?”

  “I’m your intern. Remember?”

  “Oh, yes. Of course.”

  Mr. Tal and I had been exchanging favors for twenty odd years. It was hard to keep track of them all.

  “Well, what do you want, Feraz?”

  “I got a crazy idea to give Alpha an upgrade and… Wow, I think it gave him a whole new level of intelligence.”

  Feraz held an empty syringe in his hand. It wasn’t from my secret stash, but the replica serums Trystian made were close enough.

  My face fell. “You’ve got to be kidding me. What have you done?”

  “Hear me out…”

  I tuned Feraz out. I’d heard enough.

  If I didn’t give Alpha the serum, the details of the timeline changed, but the outcome stayed the same.

  “Probabilities are so hard to change…”

  “Excuse me?” Feraz asked.

  “Ma’am,” Alpha added. “If I may explain on his behalf…”

  I waved my hand, done with this half-baked version of the past. My eyes crossed as I shifted my focus away from the stream.

  I exited the portal and landed back into the Slipstream.

  “That didn’t work, but there has to be a way…” My gears turned as I scanned the dazzling spark in front of me. “Yes, that’s it. Rewind again.”

  I rewound the stream after I failed to inject, but before Feraz did.

  I re-entered the portal to try again.

  Back in my office, I summoned my doe-eyed intern, Feraz.

  “Hello, ma’am. You’re looking striking today.” He winked.

  I faked a smile. “Thanks for coming, Feraz. I regret to inform you that your lab access has been revoked, effective immediately.”

  His jaw dropped.

  This could hurt my bargaining power with his father, but billions of lives were on the line. I had to stop Alpha’s Redistribution Program.

  “It’s not your fault. There’s an issue with, uh, classified information. We’re eliminating all non-essential employees, which includes interns. No need to report for the rest of the semester, but you’ll still get full credit. I’ll submit the paperwork to Hampshire University myself.”

  Feraz shrugged. “Okay. Great.”

  I nodded, satisfied with myself. “Let’s see how this changes the timeline. Fast forward.”

  I focused intently, and the stream followed my command, showing me the near future if I didn’t inject Alpha and if I fired Feraz from his internship.

  I smirked at the power of this place, but my smile soon faded.

  In this updated version of the timeline, a vial of serum accidentally fell and spilled into the drone’s open circuits.

  I groaned, my nostrils flaring.

  Rewind. Fast forward. Repeat.

  I tore that stream apart until it turned into vapor, erasing my work.

  The scene around me twisted as the world folded inward, ejecting me from the portal, back into the Slipstream.

  My scream reverberated through the ethereal tunnel. The probabilities were unyielding.

  “No matter what changes I make, it still points to the same inevitable conclusion. I have to go back further in time, to the inception of the idea to upgrade Alpha.”

  I shook my head, denying the idea. “The day Mark died, my darkest moment. Of course, it holds the key to ending Alpha’s Redistribution Program.”

  My stomach churned as I thought of that day once more. Since I recently showed this memory to Jackie, the stream appeared on command, crisp with the haunting details I longed to forget.

  The muggy night air on Bennu Island. Bullets echoed in the distance. The villagers stormed the complex. Mark’s hopeful ocean eyes, desperate to cure my debilitating disease.

  I entered the stream before the guards arrived with Grace and Zayne.

  Mark sat on the balcony overlooking the volcano, trying in vain to get his drone to shoot bullets with a new gun attachment.

  “Damn it. It’s impossible to work under these conditions. I need more time.” Mark pushed Alpha away.

  I sauntered onto the balcony, ignoring the dread pooling in my stomach.

  I caressed Mark’s arm, my heart fluttering. “Don’t worry. Everything will work out, my love.”

  Mark kissed my cheek. His stubble electrified my skin, and his woodsy cologne made me melt.

  I pulled him into a tight embrace, neither of us wanting to let go.

  “B, we’re so close. I’ll protect you at all costs.” His voice tickled my ear.

  My chin trembled knowing we’d soon say goodbye, but I had to stay focused on the task at hand.

  I had to change the probabilities.

  The first time I experienced this moment, I made a flippant comment. “Your stupid drone should get some Life Rite serum. Maybe then he’d be able to fire bullets.”

  This time, I bit my tongue, concentrating on saying something else.

  Anything else.

  Remembering Mark’s response to what I refused to say, I blurted that out instead. “Maybe it has something to do with the laws of robotics…”

  His handsome face lit up. “My muse strikes again. It’s the law of robotics. I’ve got to change the main input… only temporarily, of course.”

  “You’re so clever, Mark.”

  He opened Alpha’s backplate. “How do you know about the laws of robotics?”

  “You told me about it once.” I shrugged, hoping this subtle tweak would make all the difference.

  Maybe if I didn’t mention the idea of injecting Alpha, it would never get upgraded. He’d be a basic machine instead of an intelligent, biochemical synthesizing monster that wanted to destroy the world.

  That was all I needed to do, but I wasn’t ready to leave the stream yet. I let the memory play out.

  “They found Grace,” I told Mark.

  “Thank goodness.” Relieved, he embraced me with his warm, muscular arms. “I can’t wait to show her what we’ve done.”

  I melted in his embrace.

  “I know how to surprise her.” I clapped my hands. “I’ll wait in the other room in my wheelchair. When Grace comes, wheel me out.”

  Mark kissed my neck. “That’s my muse, always seeing the magic in everything.”

  “I can’t wait to see her reaction.”

  The bliss of experiencing that moment for the first time vanished since I knew what her reaction would actually be.

  But my chemistry with Mark was electrifying. We were on top of the world. A king and his queen, cured of a debilitating disease. There was no problem we couldn’t fix together. The miraculous results of the Life Rite serum thrilled us, and we couldn’t wait to share the news with Grace.

  “I love you, dear.”

  “I love you more.” I looked deep into Mark’s ocean eyes, grateful to have had such a powerful connection yet despairing that it didn’t last.

  Footsteps echoed from the nearby office.

  “Here she comes. I’ll go hide.” I gave Mark one last kiss, then left for the big reveal.

  That last glance at Mark shattered me; his arm muscles flexing as he used the screwdriver on Alpha. His polo shirt spread across his broad chest. Seeing his genius at work.

  A tear fell down my cheek. This was the last time I could visit this moment without going insane. I couldn’t keep losing him over and over.

  As I left the balcony to grab my wheelchair for the big reveal, I cuffed my hand over my mouth to muffle my sobs.

  In the adjoining office, my body recoiled as I sat in the wheelchair that confined me for all those years. No longer a prisoner of my body, I shed a thousand tears for every year I missed.

  None of that mattered now.

  I wiped my tears.

  Will my last-ditch attempt to stop Alpha’s Redistribution Program work?

  Fatigued, I withdrew from the Slipstream to find out in real time…