The Shortcut

Janet took the shortcut home again. Bob hated her taking the shortcut, so maybe she wouldn't mention it. There was apprehension of course, but the interstate traffic was backed up so far tonight, and her back was screaming its familiar tune after a long shift at work. It was a dark drive through a mostly deserted industrial area. There were some dilapidated spots word of cement and lots of trash flurries along the edges, Mainly scrap yards and a few gravel pits operated along this stretch of road. It was pitch black, except for some flickering streetlights. Yes, many things could go wrong out there at night, and she was a woman driving alone, but there were no red lights or stop signs for the entire stretch. There weren't typically any other vehicles, except the occasional straggling gravel truck, no cops cars, nothing to stop her from speeding her ass off, so she could get out of her work clothes, slip into a hot bath, and sip on a nice glass of chardonnay. She could almost taste it now.

Janet scanned the straight away, seeing no other vehicles in her path, flicked on her high beams, and gunned the engine, speakers blaring a crunchy metal tune. Way up ahead the only thing moving was the flickering of the streetlights. 'Why do they even bother,' she wondered, 'the rest are blown anyway. Might as well take them all down.' But what Janet didn't know was that those lights weren't flickering randomly. They were in fact reacting to the movement of an energy wave, rippling in a very complicated pattern, a pattern bouncing back and forth along a small stretch of the highway, involving subatomic particles that scientists hadn't even discovered yet. The pattern looped over and over, endlessly between a small section of the decrepit road. She approached the wave as she had done so many times, oblivious, but this time she goosed the engine for just a little more speed aligning the car with wave, against astronomical odds. As she passed the streetlights, the timing was perfect, and suddenly it disappeared.

Janet suddenly felt her stomach plummet as she was falling. The sky was bright instead of dark, and the car didn't respond even though she slammed on the brakes instinctively and turned the wheel desperately. Airbags deployed, and the car jerked back up into the air. Everything went black.

Orst sounded the alarm immediately and bent over the cliff’s edge to watch the huge net bounce, swollen with its bounty. A graveyard of vehicles and bones lie at the bottom of the canyon below, a relic of the innumerable vehicles and beings that had come through the strange portal before. When the net settled, Orst began to crank the arm that would raise it all the way up to the platform. Galin and some others arrived and helped wrangle in the entangled vehicle. They carefully lowered it over the platform, and opened the net. The beast creaked and groaned loudly as it fell onto all four wheels. Orst opened the car’s door, and dragged Janet’s limp body out, discarding it to the side.

“Galin! Wha’ a given ‘ere?” Orst asked in wonder.

“Me’s slapped! You run, get Old Deke!” Galin ordered, slowly circling the car.

“And dat der?”, Orst pointed at Janet's discarded body.

“Dis a Salvage, not a beast fix ‘em ah!” he laughed, the others joining in.

Orst returned with a tottering elder, dressed in flowing robes, pulling a box behind him.

“Wha’ a given Old Deke?” Galin asked. The old man circled the car slowly, tugging on his beard, and consulting several well-worn books that he carried in the box. After several grunts and nods, he exclaimed triumphantly,

“Dat a auto car! Dis a given right ‘fore da’ Dark Time! Right ‘fore da’ War on Earth of Mothers," he continued, "right 'fore! Only two suns 'fore!"

Galin’s face went pale, and he froze, “You save it Old Deke?” he pleaded.

“Galin, it a shiny! Orst set da’ net true! Me’s sure Gov’ner will be smiley…” he went on.

“No Deke! Reckon, you save it?” he pointed to the crumpled body lying a few yards away.

“Oh,” Deke bent to examine Janet, “Reckon so. Orst, pull me bag, ah? Gavin, it needs a tank or two. Me reckon da Gov’ner be might mad?”

“No worry Deke. Gov’ner will be might smilely if you save it, matter not the tanks,” Galin answered heavily, pacing across the platform’s metal grating.

Janet slowly blinked, but the light hurt her eyes. There was pain throbbing in her head and in her chest. After her eyes acclimated, she looked around to find that she was in a small room with metal walls. There was a window with metal bars allowing in the blistering sun. She slowly sat up, pulling at the mask on her face. After swatting it away, she tried to breathe, but her lungs would not fill. The air was utterly barren. She fumbled to put the mask back on, and when she did a flow of fresh air filled her with relief. After realizing that there were a few cracked ribs, a broken nose, and bruises everywhere, she approached the door cautiously. She shook the knob back and forth, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Is anybody out there?” she yelled. There was only silence for several minutes. Finally, the lock turned in the door, and it slowly opened, revealing a creature with scaly, grey skin, dressed in laborer’s clothes. It had features that Janet recognized as human, but the eyes were much smaller and the nose much bigger and flattened. She jumped back reflexively, unable to comprehend the juxtaposition of features: human, but not human. She stumbled, and the creature reached out a hand to steady her.

“Where am I?” Janet implored.

“Nah where, but when” Galin answered, “da net good fa’ catchin’ all number ‘o beasts, some from old times, some in da way years. Most dead in da New World, ‘cause dem can’t breathe” He shrugged, and continued, “da Gov’ner makes a council, beast.”

“Beast? I’m not a beast! You’re a beast!” she protested, trying to pull away. Galin clamped down a set of cuffs on her wrists, pushed her into the hallway, and rolled the oxygen tank behind them. In her injured state, she offered little resistance. After dragging her through the maze of hallways inside the complex for several minutes, they finally emerged into an amphitheater filled with noisy citizens. A hush rippled over the crowd as Janet was presented to the Gov’ner. He sat on a metal throne, welded together from the spare parts of the salvages bounty, decorated with ornamental pieces. Janet’s own Chrysler emblem was freshly welded to the apex. He drank deeply from a large stein and ate from a bowl containing large grubs. He motioned for Galin to bring her up onto the stage.

“This is a mistake!” Janet protested, “I don’t belong here! I swear! I was on my way home, not bothering anybody! I don’t even know who you are! Please, let me go…I want to go home!” Whispers rustled through the crowd, as no one expected her to speak.

“Shut it!” the Gov’ner’s voice roared through the amphitheater, and there was silence. He stood up, his immense body shaking the platform with each step. He turned to Janet, “Beast, you ‘cused of crimes ‘gainst de people ah New World! Da sentence…death! By hangin’!” The crowd gasped. He turned to Old Deke, and motioned with his hand for him to come forward.

Old Deke came onto the platform, placed a monocle on his eye and read from a dusty book, “Beast, you ‘cused of crimes ‘gainst hoomanity, crimes made da Dark Time, and crimes of War on Earth of Mothers!” More gasps, followed by a rising cacophony among the crowd. Suddenly, they were all on their feet, booing and hissing, pointing fingers at Janet. He continued, “beasts from da time made war on Earth, killing all da mothers with bombs, making ‘ner plant grow, ‘ner da flock bird lay egg, ‘ner da stock beast lie birthing, ‘ner fish swim, ‘ner tree flower, ‘ner the seed grow! All da mothers gone, left New People scratch in da dirt, searching fa’ water, salvaging, wit’ ‘ner but grub and mold root!” The crowd was at a fever pitch now, jeering at Janet, throwing rocks and dirt.

“But, I didn’t kill anybody! I swear! I would never kill the plants, or the fish! I have a garden in my backyard! I recycle! I would never kill a mother…. I am a mother…”, Janet trailed off. The heart-shaped locket hung around her neck, containing the pictures of Liza and Garret, two little innocent faces smiling in perpetual bliss. She was never going to see them again, was she? What happens to them in the War of Earth on Mothers? Flashes of apocalyptic scenes ran through her mind. When will it happen? What did world governments do wrong? What did her country do wrong? Who should people have voted for? Maybe voting wasn’t enough? What did she do wrong? What could she have done differently? Maybe she was guilty after all? Maybe everyone was guilty? Maybe they were right, and she was the beast? She saw the grey skin and the distorted features, and knew that they were just people, people who had been distorted by time and the pain of a world gone wrong. Tears began to stream down her face, and she felt the air flowing through her mask getting thinner, and the heat of the sun bearing down. She raised her head to face the crowd, resolute.

“New People, Gov’ner, I can’t change the past. I can’t tell you anything that will make your lives better. My death won’t bring back the plants, or seas, or animals, and I’m sorry for that. I truly am. I know that my people did a terrible wrong that can never be made right,” she breathed deeply, “but I can tell you that as a mother of two beautiful children, I am sorry. I am sorry to the depths of my soul for what I have left my children to. I never imagined that my actions, no matter how big or small, would allow something so terrible to happen to them, and to their children, and their children, and so on. I’m sorry that I let my kids down, and that my people let you down…I’m just…” Tears ran down Janet’s face, cutting paths through the dried blood on her cheeks. The crowd was silent. Everyone waited with baited breath to hear what the Gov’ner would say next. Janet looked up at the orange sky and clasped the heart-shaped locket, sucking in the thin air. A rare cloud passed overhead, casting a shadow on the platform.

The cross-shaped headstone at the edge of the settlement simply read, “Old Mother.” Galin and Old Deke liked to visit it sometimes and tell stories of Janet and her tales of the Old World before the Dark Time. They brought Deke’s books and homemade root wine, staying until the blistering sun rose, forgetting the time. The heart-shaped locket hung from the cross, the pictures of Liza and Garret tucked inside. Sometimes they peeked in to see their plump faces, and smiled, despite their ugliness, because they had come to know them through Janet’s stories, and they were moved by the love she had for them. Gov’ner had traded as much of the New People’s reserve as he could for tanks to keep her alive, but it was never going to be enough, and they all knew it. The funeral was one of reverence.

“No worries Deke, da Old Ma right der wit’ da babes, sleepin’ still,” Galin sighed. Deke nodded thoughtfully before downing the last of his wine. The alarm rang, and they clambered up to get to the platform and see what Orst had managed to salvage this time.