CALEB CRANE
MELBOURNE, FLORIDA
CALEB WOKE UP AT DAWN AND GOT DRESSED AS quietly as possible. While the rest of Sydal’s mansion slept, he crept outside and started to jog down the beach. The cold spray from the ocean tickled his skin. He kept up a steady pace until he was clear of Sydal’s property. Once he made it onto the public beach, he started to come across other early-morning joggers. They nodded and smiled at him like he was a normal person.
He found his way to a beachside juice bar. With a few bucks from his Earth Garde living stipend, Caleb bought himself a peanut-butter-and-banana smoothie. Drink in hand, sweat damp on his back, he settled into a chair on the store’s porch, which looked out over the ocean. Occasionally, Caleb glanced down at his watch.
He was supposed to meet Wade Sydal that morning at nine so the inventor could run some tests on him.
It was ten before he finished his smoothie.
“Oops,” Caleb said.
He didn’t make his way back to the beach house until a couple of hours later, when he was sure that Sydal had to have gone into his office. He was right. The place was pretty much deserted.
Caleb found Daniela out by the pool, soaking her feet while she finished the last few pages of her novel. She tipped her sunglasses down to look at him.
“Yo, everybody was looking for you,” she said.
“I went for a jog and lost track of time,” Caleb said, the lie practiced.
“Uh-huh,” Daniela replied. “Wade was all disappointed you didn’t go to the office with him, but Melanie volunteered instead. I guess she’s going to lift a bunch of shit while Sydal measures the energy stored up in her muscles.”
“Great,” Caleb said, plopping down next to Daniela and sticking his feet into the pool.
“Honestly?” She lowered her voice a little. “I don’t really want that dude running tests on me either. I made some chunks of stone for him to analyze. He seemed cool with that.”
“It’s weird, right?” Caleb said, relieved that Daniela was on his side. “It’s like he wants to figure out how Legacies work so he can cut us out of the process.”
Daniela held up her hand. “Okay, whoa. I just don’t want him poking me and ogling me like he does his assistants. I’m not going in on a whole conspiracy thing with you.”
Caleb and Daniela both turned as the screen door behind them snapped open. Lucinda, the Sydal assistant who had caught Caleb in the workshop the other day, stood there with a raised eyebrow.
“Aha,” she said. “There you are, Mr. Crane.”
Lucinda wore a pencil skirt and a blouse that she’d tied off to show a little midriff. Caleb hadn’t realized the word “sashay” was in his vocabulary until he watched Lucinda approach them.
Lucinda stopped in front of them, her hip cocked to one side, and smirked. She eyed Caleb for a moment before speaking.
“Mr. Sydal was very disappointed you missed your appointment this morning,” Lucinda said.
“Um, yeah,” Caleb said, swallowing. “I went out for a run and lost track of time. Tell him I’m sorry.”
“You can tell him yourself, at dinner,” Lucinda said. “You’ll be there, right? Or are you planning to disappear again?”
“No,” Caleb said. “I’ll be around.”
“Good,” Lucinda replied. She started toying with the knot on her shirt while she spoke, which Caleb found incredibly distracting. “Mr. Sydal would also like to know if you guys are okay with steak for dinner?”
“Uh,” Caleb replied. “What?”
Daniela snickered. “Yeah, that’s cool. Thanks.”
Lucinda smiled at Caleb, then swayed her way back into the house. Daniela elbowed him.
“I think she was flirting with you, man.”
“Seriously? No way.”
Daniela patted Caleb’s shoulder. “Accept that we’re superpowered rock stars.”
There had been guests at dinner every night since the Garde had arrive in Florida—officers from Sydal’s company, representatives from NASA and the military, rich friends—but tonight’s crowd was relatively small. It was just Sydal’s entourage and the Garde. Sydal sat at the head of the long table on the sunporch, a fire-pit crackling nearby, the smell of grilled meat heavy in the air. He was flanked by four of his assistants—two guys and two girls, one of them Lucinda—the ones that were currently staying at the beach house to jot down Sydal’s thoughts and see to his needs whenever they popped up. Was Sydal hooking up with one of his assistants? Caleb and Daniela had discussed that and come to no conclusions. He was affectionate with all of them, perhaps inappropriately so. Maybe that explained why Sydal’s lawyer, a frumpy older man fresh from the golf course, was also present.
The spread was delicious, even if Caleb didn’t want to admit it. Juicy steak, corn on the cob that was somehow fresh despite not being in season, potato wedges, a bunch of different salads—all served and bussed by Sydal’s jovial live-in waitstaff. Someone was always nearby to top off Sydal’s wineglass.
To Caleb’s relief, Sydal spent most of dinner deep in conversation with his lawyer, the assistants taking notes. Meanwhile, Melanie sat across from the Garde, looking bored. Eventually, she forced herself to make conversation.
“What’d you guys do today?”
“Chilled by the pool,” Daniela said.
“Nothing,” Caleb said.
Melanie sighed. “Cool. I hung out at Wade’s office all day because someone no-showed, but he didn’t even have time to experiment on me.”
“Tragic,” Daniela said.
“He’s going to give me a spaceship to apologize,” Melanie replied. Caleb wasn’t sure if she was joking or not.
“Sorry I missed our appointment,” Caleb mumbled to Sydal when the CEO caught his eye.
“Caleb, my man, no worries,” Sydal replied. “Like Melanie said, today was actually really busy for me. We got some offers on the Shepard-One. Seems like we’re going to up our production schedule.”
His lawyer, done eating and now busy with a tablet computer, slid the device in Sydal’s direction.
“We’ve already got patent license offers from Northrop and Lockheed,” the lawyer told Sydal, his voice low but not low enough to avoid Caleb’s ears. “The navy and air force both want to know if you see any applications for ICBMs.”
Sydal smiled. “Lots. Obviously. The propulsion system would scale perfectly. The range would be basically limitless.”
Caleb shook his head and shoved another forkful of steak into his mouth. They were talking about intercontinental ballistic missiles. Of course the military would be interested in that. He imagined his dad and his brothers back at the base, discussing the farthest distance they could kill from.
“Also,” the lawyer continued in Sydal’s ear. “We heard back from our contacts in Europe. They’re ready to sell. But the deal is happening in Switzerland and it has been requested that you come in person within the next twenty-four hours.”
Sydal stroked his chin. “Switzerland, eh? I could do some skiing, I sup—”
“Excuse me, but why would you want to put your technology on something meant to kill people?”
The table fell silent and everyone turned their attention to Caleb. He raised his eyebrows and swallowed an uncomfortably large bite of steak.
The duplicate that now stood behind Caleb’s chair didn’t have anything in his mouth. He fixed Sydal with a churlish sneer—it half reminded Caleb of Nigel, in that moment—like a student challenging a teacher.
Sydal’s lawyer looked uncomfortable but at the sight of the duplicate the man himself grinned.
“Finally! A demonstration! It’s as cool as advertised!” Sydal clapped his hands. He looked from Caleb to the duplicate and back. “I’m not sure which one of you I should even look at. Amazing! To answer your question, the primary purpose of missiles is to act as a deterrent not to, you know, actually kill anyone. But that’s not what’s important right now. Seriously, buddy, Caleb, we have got to run those tests. Like, I want to go back to the office tonight.” Sydal, mind working perhaps as fast as his mouth, glanced at Lucinda. “You see this? That’s matter creation right there. Imagine the implications if we could crack that. Got one potato? Boom. Now you’ve got twenty. No more famine.”
“If I’m a potato,” declared the duplicate, “then you’re a death merchant.”
That drew some murmurs from the rest of the diners. Caleb chanced a glance up from his plate and saw that the assistants were all giving him dirty looks. All of them except for smirking Lucinda.
Daniela put a hand on Caleb’s forearm. “Damn, dude, chill.”
Again, Sydal didn’t seem to take exception. He was unflappable.
“Death merchant,” he said. “That’s a good one. Would look cool on a business card. But no, Caleb, I don’t think of myself that way. I’m an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, an inventor. I like to say that I’ve got my fingers on the pulse of the future—”
The duplicate put his hand on Caleb’s shoulders. “We were attacked by weapons you made. Shock collars, grenades, all kinds of shit. And not just at practice in school. These were hillbilly Bible-thumpers shooting at us. You made that happen.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you, but—”
“Wade is just trying to keep the world safe,” Melanie interrupted, glaring at Caleb. “In case one of us loses control of our powers or something. Like what’s happening right now.”
Caleb had been taking a backseat to the duplicate’s rant—he’d already lost control and caused a scene, might as well let it play out—but Melanie’s sharp voice brought him back to himself. In an instant, he had absorbed the duplicate and was peering down at the scraps on his plate, cheeks flushed red.
“I’m—uh, I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
Daniela patted his back, trying to defuse the situation. “Too much sun for this guy.”
“It’s all good,” Sydal said. His smile had never faltered. “Passionate discussion is the backbone of intellectual progress, son. I heard what you said and I’m definitely going to think about it, I promise you.”
Sydal dusted off his hands like the matter was closed. Caleb felt immense relief—he even liked Sydal a little bit for how easily he’d let Caleb off the hook. Melanie was still glaring at him, of course, but he could live with that.
“I have some bad news, by the way,” Sydal began. “An investment of mine is finally bearing fruit and I need to go to Switzerland to inspect the results. I know you guys were planning to stay for a few more days, but I’m afraid I have to cut this visit short.”
Melanie glowered at Caleb, like this was all his fault. He sank deeper into his chair, avoiding eye contact.
“Well,” Daniela said. “It was fun while it lasted.”
After dinner, Sydal and his gang of assistants retired to his home theater to watch an advance screening of a new space opera that was set to be released in a couple of months. Sydal had been the technical consultant. Melanie and Daniela joined them, but Caleb decided it was best if he kept his distance.
He sighed. It was just like those first months at the Academy. He was the weirdo again.
Caleb wandered around the massive house. He soaked his feet in the pool for a bit, but January in Florida could be chilly, so eventually he went inside. He drifted by the screening room—he could hear Sydal crack some joke at which all the assistants laughed.
With a frown, he wandered to his room. Tomorrow, he promised himself, he would do like Daniela said. Blend in. Be like the crab. Be normal.
“You’re right to be suspicious of him.”
Caleb turned at the sound of Lucinda’s voice. She stepped out of the shadowy hallway that led down to Sydal’s workshop. She had a backpack slung over her shoulder, stuffed full of what, Caleb couldn’t tell. She had a mischievous twinkle in her eye, like she’d just been up to something and was challenging Caleb to call her on it.
“Uh, who?” That was the most articulate response Caleb could manage.
“Sydal, dummy,” Lucinda replied, smirking at him in a way Caleb found oddly familiar. “He talks and talks and talks—yes? Only evil men talk so much.”
“Are you . . . ?” Caleb glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were alone. “Are you sure you should be talking about your boss that way?”
“That handsy little toad is not my boss. I have no boss.” Lucinda stepped closer. “He has a deal with the Foundation, you know. That’s what he’s going to Switzerland for. To pick up some alien thingy they’ve got for him. You need to find a way to go with him, Caleb.”
“How do you—?”
As Lucinda drew near, her features changed. Her hair turned dark, her eyes sharp and knowing, her skin a flawless tan.
Isabela.
“Hello, handsome,” she said, and kissed his cheek. “I’ve come to destroy the bad guys. Are you going to help or what?”