Final Exam by Rob Astor (free novel 24 .TXT) 📕

to him. Xack turned, just in time to see Rob, grinning at him, pushing him over the side. “Whoa!”
Xack tumbled into the water with a big splash. At the surface, he saw Rob looming close, cannonballing him. “Ah!” The water churned, washing over him and sending him further out. When Rob surfaced, they laughed.
“You should have said you wanted to take a swim before we left,” Rob sputtered.
“I didn’t know I was going to.”
They splashed and dunked each other a few moments before holding a railing at the side. “Did you get your research done?”
“Mostly. I need to work on the problem awhile when we get back.”
“It’s good to see you focused on something, Xack.” Rob smiled.
“Rob, can I ask you something?” Xack’s tone was no longer playful.
“You know you can ask me anything.”
Rob’s assurance felt good. But, Xack still didn’t know how to explain his intentions. “Have you ever thought what it would be like to go back in time, before the war, and change the past?”
Pausing, Rob took a deep breath and shrugged. “Not really. My life wasn’t so good. You were the best thing to happen to me.”
Guilt crushed Xack’s center. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. Especially today being my mom’s birthday.” Rob’s expression hinted his understanding. “If you had a chance to go back, a real chance, would you take it?”
“It would change a lot of things. Knowing what we do now about the New Zs, I wouldn’t go home. I’d try to warn the world somehow. I’m sure you wouldn’t leave your family. We’d be separated, Xack. I like having you as a part of my life. I don’t want to lose your friendship.”
Lowering his head, Xack nodded. He didn’t want to lose Rob either. “I don’t see how it would do any good going back. This invasion would still happen.”
“What about a parallel dimension, Rob? One where there’s a possibility the New Zs never show up?”
“I don’t know. I never had the normal family life you did. It’s conjecture anyway. I don’t think it would be worth risking.”
Not worth risking it to see my family again? Xack shifted from shocked to angry. How could Rob think the risk wasn’t worth taking? “Are you jealous of me?”
“No, Xack, of course not.”
“But, you’d be selfish enough to keep me here so I couldn’t go back and be happy?”
Rob stared deeply into Xack’s eyes. “Where is this coming from? Xack, what’s bothering you?”
“I thought you were going to help me be my own person.” Rob was clearly confused by Xack’s lashing out. Xack wasn’t even sure why he was suddenly trying to push Rob away.
“You’re getting upset over a hypothetical question.”
The question was no longer hypothetical. “What if your mom wasn’t so mean in a parallel dimension? What if your dad was still alive? Wouldn’t you like having a normal family?”
“Xack, I honestly don’t know.”
Xack was stunned speechless. When he finally found his voice, he said, “Are you going to go on hating your past forever, Rob? Aren’t you ever going to make peace with it?”
Something in Rob’s expression changed. Xack knew he’d found a line and crossed it. Without a word, Rob pulled himself up from the water and slogged across the deck. Xack’s expression hinted his embarrassment. His shame. “I’m sorry, Rob. I didn’t mean it.”
Rob paused. He took a deep breath, keeping his back to Xack. “I know you didn’t. But it hurt. I wish I knew what was bothering you, Xack. I want to help. But, you have to let me in. You can’t keep pushing me away.” Rob silently left the pool area.
Staying in the water, Xack lowered his head. I’m getting too good at saying the wrong things at the wrong time. He wanted to let Rob help him. What he knew now, beyond the shadow of a doubt, was that Rob would never understand Xack’s desire to go home. It would hurt so much not having his surrogate big brother around when he left.
* * *
The ride with Rob back to the Albany Youth Center was spent in silence. Xack sat in the hovercar for a while by himself, thinking. He also needed to wait until he could safely move the alien device inside. When the others all turned in for the night, Xack stayed awake, working on his calculations. He felt isolated.
Sitting in the darkness, looking at the inverted triangular holographic image, Xack was illuminated by the soft glow. Still wearing his team uniform, patterns of light played over his face. Xack swore under his breath a few times, coming up with incorrect figures. He scratched out his work and recalculated, trying to join points in the simulation.
So far, he’d only been able to plot a course to one parallel dimension. Xack couldn’t get his work to match coordinates to a point in his own past. He also couldn’t get any other dimensional points to line up. There was something in the math he was missing. Xack wasn’t at all sure what it was.
Having read some information he found in the New Z databanks aboard the ship, Xack gathered dimensions in close proximity to one another were nearly identical. Some changes in continuity were to be expected. The probability of other anomalies also existed. However, all detailed information on the subject gathered by the aliens was restricted.
Glancing over his shoulder, Xack saw Rob stretched out in his bed. Xack considered waking him to talk. Fear quickly made him reconsider. Xack also thought about writing Rob a note to explain things. There was so much to say.
Returning to his equation, Xack downloaded the information he’d completed to a crystal chip. The set of calculations for this dimension would have to be close enough. It would be real enough to be his own family, Xack was sure. Real enough for him to never notice the difference.
He switched the computer off. Quietly, Xack stood and put his books into his backpack, along with a few other things. Carefully, he zipped it closed and pulled it over his back. Xack stopped by Rob’s bed. He smiled, a lump forming in his throat. He touched Rob’s arm, wondering if Rob was seeking him out in the dream world. Xack would miss their nightly adventures.
Down the main corridor to the left was a janitor’s closet. The Tachyon Manipulator was safely hidden there. Xack crept in, closed the door and turned on the light long enough to activate the device. He slipped the computer chip into the programming slot. He turned the light back off. Xack touched the activation button on his control belt. His hyperpulsion boots came to life. Xack felt the sensation of magnets turned in the wrong direction sliding over one another under his feet.
The squat New Zimlliaan device hummed to life, glowing a soft blue from the crystal projection. Purple lights flashed. Xack wondered what would happen. Not knowing what to expect, when there wasn’t any visible indication the device was working, Xack slid forward on his skates, standing in front of the crystal. Without warning, he felt as if he’d been yanked backward. Arms and legs flailing, Xack tumbled through space and time.
All around him, lights spiraled in patterns of neon. Xack found he couldn’t breathe, his lungs pulling against a vacuum. The world grew into a dizzy array of colorful patterns. Blues, pinks, and purples in the shapes of buildings settled on his right, perpendicular to the natural plane of existence. In a flash, the world became real.
Tumbling wildly, Xack spun over and over on himself as he breached this new dimension. If he hadn’t been wearing the hyperpulsion skates, which wouldn’t allow him to crash, Xack would have been seriously battered. Gaining his balance, Xack himself on the floating skates looking around, breathing heavily.
The midday sun was bright. Xack was in the center of University Of Michigan football field. He saw birds and people. There was traffic. A jet flew overhead. He was in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was home! Xack lunged forward, skating as fast as he ever had.
* * *
What felt like hours later, Xack found himself standing in front of his home. Not the dark and unwelcoming home he’d seen when he discovered his family was missing. This home was vibrant and alive, the way he remembered it when he’d first gone to stay with Rob. Xack paused long enough to take in the sight.
Racing up to the front door, Xack turned the hyperpulsion unit off. Feet contacting the solid surface of the concrete, Xack walked inside. His breathing was ragged. His heart pounded in his ears. The living room was exactly as Xack remembered it. So was the dining room. The stairs were to his right, next to the entryway to the kitchen. Xack slid his backpack off. He failed to notice a family picture on the wall. There were four figures; a handsome man with brown hair and glasses, a woman with black hair, a boy with blonde hair and brown-rimmed glasses, and a boy with brown hair.
In the kitchen, a figure stood at the sink, her back to Xack. She was a silhouette against the white light. Water ran from the faucet. Xack’s eyes watered. He trembled. He tried to find his voice. “M-mom?” Xack’s words came as soft as a whisper. “Mom?” He was finding strength. The pack slipped from his hand with a thud. Xack gained her attention.
The world seemed to move in slow motion. She turned, holding a glass bowl. Her face was as pretty as Xack remembered, her black hair neatly combed. There was sadness in her expression, until her blue eyes focused on him. Her features seemed to melt. Anything stern left her. She gasped his name. The bowl shattered against the floor.
“Mom.” Xack walked forward. They embraced, holding each other tightly. They stood there, crying. Overjoyed. “I’ve missed you so much, mom. I never thought I would see you again.”
She kissed his head. She rubbed his back. She said his name over and over and over. “Oh, Xack, you’re home. You’re home.”
“I love you, mom.” He couldn’t stop the tears. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”
* * *
Leaning his arms on the wooden railing of the dock, Xack took in the sight of the lake as he ate barbequed ribs. The bright sun glittered across waves. The fresh clean smell wafted through the air on a slight breeze ruffling his hair. With a sense of déjà vu, he recalled his fifteenth birthday party, held at a pool the summer before going to stay with Rob. The summer before the world changed drastically under the oppressive weight of extraterrestrial occupation.
Xack received gifts today. Tokens of love. Trinkets expressing how much he was missed.