Quantum Poppers (16 page)

They had left
Tony’s house in Bartley’s moderately specced Volvo. He had been excepting
either a hi-tech convertible to go with the technologic theorising Bartley had
delivered, or a rusted and decrepit automobile to match his raincoat. Hardly a
word had been spoken during the journey. Questions and contradictions flooded
Tony’s mind, as did the incessant nagging that all this was a wind up. It had
to be, yet certain aspects just seemed to fit. There was also the ongoing fact
that Tony wanted to believe. Why couldn’t there be some crazy and unexplainable
aspect in this life which was a step removed from the ordinary? It was also
empowering that there now stood the possibility that Tony’s life suddenly had
meaning. He had lost something so special; now it was time to entertain the
possibility that something else had taken its place.

‘Where are we
going?’ he had asked as they rode to the outskirts of Hambleton. Tony found
himself looking out on passersby more so than he had done for days, almost
daring a vision to occur in order to entrap Bartley with questions and a chance
to prove he wasn’t a nut job who’d read too much science-fiction.

‘You’ll see
soon enough. We are going to kill two birds with one stone; gaining your proof
whilst completing a necessity.’

Questions
continued to bombard his mind despite the outpouring of information. Who
exactly were these people? Government funded? International? And could Emma
really be the key? It sounded as though there was still more to come. Was
Bartley and his group aware of an event approaching that could directly have
affected Tony’s quantum alignment? He couldn’t help but smile as he thought
this, he really was trying to convince himself that Bartley’s word was true -
quantum
alignment
, he was now thinking like them too.

To Tony’s
surprise their final destination was the West Hambleton Co-Op, the local
supermarket specialising in over-priced brands and under-stocked shelves. It
sat opposite the bathroom shop in which Tony had his interview. They pulled
into the car park; for all Tony knew he was being taken to a supermarket by a
lunatic for reasons he wouldn’t allow himself to comprehend. He’d be prepared
to flee at the slightest sign of odd behaviour.

They had been
walking up and down the aisles for the past fifteen minutes. Bartley led the
way, occasionally glancing at his watch, or grabbing a tin off of a shelf,
attempting to blend in with the fellow customers. He would reach into his coat
pocket as if it contained a necessary item he didn’t yet want to unveil, and
would then head off again, leading Tony past the fruit and veg one more time.
Tony held back, hoping his proof, which would no doubt be proof that this guy
was a liar, would come quickly.

‘So, have you
seen her yet?’ Bartley suddenly asked, not looking over his shoulder but
continuing to pace the aisle.

‘Seen who?’

‘Her,’ the
emphasis indicated that Tony should know but at that moment there was no one in
the particular aisle. They continued to walk, pacing up and down, Tony on the
lookout. They passed the usual array of customers - elderly men out shopping, a
plethora of women and kids swarming the store, going about their daily shop –
but nothing out of the ordinary.

‘Who am I
looking for?’ he said, glancing twice at everyone they passed.

‘Your proof.’

‘Can you see
her?’

‘Only one of
them. We have already passed the shadow once, but we’re not interested in her.’

Tony glanced
around for any sign of a double. The aisle they were in, yogurts and milks, was
empty. He could see people passing by out the front of the store under the
intense glow of sunshine. It was as though they were being highlighted for his
benefit and Tony began to think that this was where the action was to take
place, but Bartley wasn’t interested in these. They reached the end of the
aisle, turned and walked up the next.

Bartley reached
into his pocket and pulled out an item that Tony couldn’t clearly see. It was
larger than a television remote control, at least twice as thick, and there
appeared to be a screen on it. Bartley brought it to his lips and said:
‘QP8898765, the 3rd, 5.27pm. Subject to be popped back twenty seven-seconds. We
are currently on the plain.’ He turned to Tony. ‘You ready?’

‘Wait,’ Tony
reached out as if to force Bartley not to go any further with whatever was
about to take place. But all he could see was a smiling Bartley as all around
them glowed white. There was a moment when he seemed weightless, as though
everything was in slow-motion and he was being pulled up into the sky. There
was a gentle hum that crescendo-ed into a silence (he would later be informed
that this was referred to as a silent sonic boom) before everything faded back
to normal. They were stood in the same location. Bartley had one thing going
for him, he knew how to put on a light show.

‘What
happened?’

‘It is done. We
are now twenty-seven seconds in the past. By latching on to her strand with a
secondary wormhole of my creation we have remained in the same physical
location but have crossed from the quantum plain to the quantum strand that our
subject, a Miss McClure, also inhabits. Do not touch anyone.’

Suddenly Tony
almost believed. He felt a necessity to adhere to Bartley’s rule of not
touching anything, just in case. There was certainly something odd about their
surroundings, somehow off.

‘Follow me.’
They continued to the end of the aisle. Around them people continued with their
shop, but if what Bartley was telling him was true, these were all ghosts.
Anti-matter replicates of their doubles in the present. They all were, except
the woman they were here to extract.

‘And that’s
her.’ Bartley motioned to a woman being served at the till. She was middle
aged, filling up a couple of plastic carrier bags. She chatted to the cashier,
clearly unaware anything was amiss. There was still the strong possibility that
nothing was. ‘Now look to your right.’

Tony turned to see
her exact double approaching. It was the same woman, yet she held two full
shopping bags, had edged around the barriers which divided the queues and was
heading for the exit. He and Bartley stood directly in her path. Tony went to
dodge her but Bartley held him steady. She grew nearer and nearer until at the
last moment, as Tony understood, he relaxed and let her walk straight through
him.

‘Did you see
her?’ asked Bartley

‘Yes, that’s
her ghost?’

‘The woman who
just walked through you is our subject's shadow on the quantum plain. I can’t
see her but you clearly did.’

‘Then how did
you know?’

‘The actual
self is twenty seven seconds behind, currently being served. The other was
finishing when we jumped. She would be exiting about now. You’ve just seen for
yourself. Not often you’ve seen the shadow act in advance of the actual self is
it?’

No, it wasn’t.
From where he stood, (if it was all true, he reminded himself) then he was now
seeing the images in reverse. The double was the one leading. Tony said nothing
but watched the woman continue to be served, pay, and head towards the exit on
the exact some path as the woman who had just left.

‘Follow me.’

They left, the
automatic doors still registering them, a minor detail that struck Tony despite
all the potential craziness he found himself in. They followed the woman past
the front of the shop and into the car park that lay behind.

And then Tony
witnessed the most bizarre thing he had ever seen. In the distance he could see
their subject approaching her car whilst towards them an exact copy approached
at pace, in a sitting position, arms out-stretched, and two feet from the
ground. He stopped.

‘What do you
see Tony?’ asked Bartley, clearly curious and disappointed that Tony could see
so much more of this world then he ever would. He didn’t speak. They were both
standing on the pavement and suddenly Tony realised what was happening. Her
course took her towards the main road, gaining pace. He was watching her
shadow, twenty-seven seconds ahead of the actual self, driving. But he couldn’t
see the vehicle, just the driver, floating as if driving an invisible car. His
gaze followed as she passed.

‘She’s driving
isn’t she?’

Tony nodded as
the vision indicated and carried out the actions of someone pulling into the
street and headed out of view. ‘So, we’ve established you can only see people,
not the items they interact with.’

‘It would seem
so.’ And it now seemed strange that he had never seen anything like it before.
If his visions were what Bartley had described then he should have seen a lot
more of that strange behaviour. But then again, he had. The girl in the red
dress had a glass which materialised when she had touched it. He could recall
the dogs on leashes of the women he had seen outside his parent’s house. And
there was the fundamental basics such as clothing. He could see simple (or what
stood as definition to ‘simple’ in Bartley’s world of quantum popping) items
that were interacting and connecting with the shadows, but not larger, more
complex items such as cars. And now, looking back, could he have been sure that
there had been two separate dogs that day? Leads certainly, and one dog, but
had his mind filled in the blank empty lead of the second dog walker?

It was probably
good that he had never witnessed something as inconceivable as an invisible car
from the quantum plain. If he had thought he was going crazy before then it
would have been confirmed after seeing that.

He turned back
to Bartley who looked towards the woman. She was almost at her car and was rummaging
in her bag for keys. They approached.

She dropped one
of her bags, out of which fell a can of peaches that rolled towards Bartley. He
stopped it with his foot.

‘Here, let me
help you,’ said Bartley. He picked up the can and handed it to her. As they had
crossed the car park he had put on some gloves. Bartley’s words about
precautions came back to Tony as he took a step back.

‘Thank you very
much,’ said the woman who took the can, dropped it in her bag. ‘You’d think
they’d give these bags stronger handles.’ She then turned back to her car.

‘I’m sure all
will be fine,' said Bartley. Without another word he reached into his pocket
and pulled out the black device. Tony took another step back, unsure more than
ever whether he should be here right now, there still hadn’t been any definite
proof. Just further unexplainable visions.

‘QP 566097,
subject to be popped back twenty-seven seconds.’

Noticing that
they were still behind her, as well as the words just spoken by Bartley, the
woman turned. Doubt as to why these two men were still so close in this
deserted car park shadowed her face. She looked at Bartley and the device he
was holding and then glanced to Tony who must have looked conspicuous under the
circumstances, lurking behind Bartley. Unsure of how to react or what to
expect, he gave the woman the most reassuring smile he could muster. As Bartley
pressed a button and the world once more faded to white, all he noted was a
look of fear and confusion on the woman’s face.

There was none
of the physical sensation this time. Just a brief light which resulted in the
disappearance of the woman. She had completely vanished, dropping her bags as
more cans and fruit littered the floor.

‘Where’s she
gone?' said Tony breathing heavily.

‘She is back on
the plain. We are not.’

Bartley then
glanced around the car park and seeing something he was after, headed away from
Tony, reached down and returned. He was holding a brick.

‘What’s that
for?’

He threw the
brick at the driver’s side window of the car. It exploded into tiny fragments
that fell like stars across the driver’s seat and onto the floor at their feet.

‘Demonstration
number two.’

Bartley raised
his gadget, keyed something in and in a flash that this time did entail the
weightless sensation and the feeling of slowly rising, everything went white.
Imploding to nothing.

Reality faded
back around them as if struggling through a veil. The car and woman were
nowhere to be seen. A couple of cars sat waiting for their owners but the rest
of the area was deserted.

‘Where is she?’

‘Follow me.’

They headed
towards the exit of the car park. Again, Tony allowed himself to be led. So
far, more questions than answers were forthcoming.

‘Our subject
has just had what we refer to as a chasm leap. She has jumped back to where her
body is on the quantum plain; she has jumped from standing in front of her
parked car to replace her shadow that you saw driving off. As you can see for
yourself.’

They walked out
to where the car park exit intersected with the main road, and sure enough,
twenty metres away, the car was parked up on the side of the road. The driver
gradually extracting herself from the vehicle. ‘She just returned twenty-seven
seconds in a physical leap from the car park to the interior of that car.’
Horns bibbed as cars backed up behind her. She had to be seriously
disorientated. ‘We best stay back, the last thing she probably remembers is
seeing us.’