I’m the Number One ALCOR. ALCOR Prime, if you’d like to put a label on me.”
“Look, man. I’m fucking tired. I’ve jumped through several incarnations of Corla and most of them were a nightmare-type situation.”
“Those were not your loops. Aren’t you listening to me?”
“I’m stuck in a spin node—”
“You’re not stuck. How many times do I have to explain this?”
“My station is in a time freeze—”
“That was some epic good luck right there!”
“I have two brothers and a sister-in-law on Earth as we speak, doing God knows what—”
“They never made it through to Earth. The time freeze, remember?”
“A daughter who disappeared—”
“Delphi is fine. Just a little off the beaten path.”
“A son who might be a universe-destroying bomb—”
“Oh, he can take out more than one universe at a time, believe me.”
“I have at least one dead brother—”
“Draden’s not dead.”
“Another brother missing—”
“Tray’s not missing.”
“Another brother who jumped ship and paired up with an evil villainess—”
“Valor didn’t betray you and Veila is just a victim of circumstance.”
“And a soulmate frozen in a cryopod on a security beacon.”
And here’s where it all comes to rest. Because he says nothing about that.
Just total. Fucking. Silence.
“ALCOR,” I say. “She is frozen in that cryopod, right?”
“Weeeeellllll. Not exactly.”
“Explain.”
“You forgot about the little boy!”
“What little boy?”
“That little foul-mouthed kid you left on Mighty Minions? In fact, you left out a whole bunch of players. Like Mighty Boss. They are definitely gonna make this endgame interesting. And Asshole and Baby. I’m a little pissed off about those two copies, to be honest. But what can you do? Kids, am I right? And Brigit. I like Brigit. I think I’ll keep her. She’s really good at world building. And asks almost no questions. Such a good little listener. Oh, and Booty! Don’t you want to know the story of Booty and my other ALCOR? It’s so epic!”
I close my eyes and lean my head back against the couch cushions. Sigh. Long and loud.
“Crux?”
“What?”
“Are you… OK?”
“No.” I open my eyes. “No. I’m not OK. Because I lose again, right? Everyone’s gonna come out of this a winner but me, right? That’s how this is gonna go down, isn’t it? Is she dead, ALCOR? Just tell me, OK? I will freak out, and be sad, and want to give up, but if you lie to me about this right now and I find out later—”
“She’s not dead. Yet.”
“Explain.”
“She’s just… not really alive, either. But it doesn’t matter. Because she is not yours.”
I close my eyes again and rub a hand down my face, think about Carla back in that Earth loop, and suddenly wish I had spent more time with her. Talked to her more. Fucked her at least once. Kissed her. Held her. She wasn’t my Corla, but she was close. I could’ve at least made some better memories than the ones I’m left with now.
“You were told in the beginning, Crux.” ALCOR’s voice is low, and even, and maybe even a little sad.
“Told what?” I snarl.
“That you that you could never be together. She told you that. No one lied to you.”
My eyes fly open and I’m suddenly hot with anger. “What fantasy universe are you actually living in, ALCOR? Everyone lied to me.”
“That’s simply not true. The only thing you care about now is Corla. And that’s the one ending you always knew.”
“So I’m supposed to what? Give out all my fucks to you and your endgame? Help you win? And when it’s over I get nothing?”
He takes a deep breath and frowns at me. “You’re not hearing me, Crux. I just told you I found a way to fix things. You will have Serpint. You will have Draden. You will have Tray. And Valor, and Luck, and Jimmy. I’m not sure I would call that nothing.”
I can’t even process that. “What are you saying? Every one of the girls… dies? Just so you can win?”
He presses his lips together. Inhales deeply. Holds it. And then slowly lets it out. “They are weapons, Crux. That’s all they ever were. I didn’t make those girls, people did. I didn’t set them on this path, people did. But they are here. And that’s really good for us. If we end this my way, we win.”
“How the fuck do you figure? Our soulmates have to die so we can live? My kids have to die so we can live? That’s not a life! They are not collateral damage!”
He sighs. “I’m just doing the best I can with what I have. You boys