Dad Radar

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

Aubrey had her own version of Peter Parker’s “spidey sense.” It was just as reliable, though a lot more annoying. She always threw up right before her father showed up. A lot of details about her life seemed fuzzy if she thought too long about them. But her weird “dad-radar” was something she never forgot about.

It’s not like she knew he was coming. His visits were random. She could go months without hearing from him. One time it was years.

And it wasn’t as though she didn’t enjoy his visits, as infrequent as they were. She didn’t want him to feel bad, so she never told him about the dad-radar. Right now, though, she really wished she had.

Dad, as usual, had showed up at her door without warning. Well, without conventional warning. Aubrey had just finished cleaning the sick taste out of her mouth when he knocked on her door.

Aubrey’s genuine smile of pleasure disappeared in a rush of confusion as her father, instead of joining her inside the house, pulled her outside and started to run. She barely managed to shut the door as she fought to keep her footing.

“What are you doing?” Aubrey asked, falling into step beside Dad, whom she could now see looked terrified.

“No time to explain. We’ve got to get out of this timeline.”

“This what?”

“This timeline. It’s about to implode.” He pulled a bizarre-looking device from his jacket pocket. He glanced at it, then announced, “Just a few more steps and we’ll be clear.”

“Clear of wh…”

Aubrey never finished her question. Reality twisted, taking her stomach along for the ride. Except this time her body felt two-dimensional, and she couldn’t have brought anything up even if her stomach hadn’t already been empty.

Another twist and Aubrey, surprised to realize she was still holding her father’s hand, stumbled into a world her senses denied. She gaped at the bizarre, bright orange humanoids who walked past her on three legs. None of them reacted to her presence at all, though she was sure she must seem as strange to them as they did to her.

“Breya.”

Aubrey turned at the sound of her father’s voice. “Who’s Br…”

Another question unfinished. Aubrey started to hyperventilate. One of the orange humanoids stood where her dad had been. It held her hand. She pulled, trying to free herself from its grasp.

“Breya,” the creature repeated in Dad’s voice. “Try to calm down. Look at your hand in mine.”

Aubrey did so while the humanoid adjusted something on his device with a third hand she hadn’t noticed until now. Her hand was orange! With a final adjustment, the creature aimed the device at her and…

“Garax.” Breya straightened, taking her hand back. “How long?”

“It took them almost four hundred years to find that splinter universe and shut it down.”

“So long to be in hiding, to not know who I am.” Breya felt the weight of the years, though the splinter loops kept her from aging. Her body was still nineteen, though she had lived millennia. “Can I…”

“I’m sorry my lady. It’s still not safe for you to return.”

“Another splinter, then? Another universe and oblivion for who knows how long as who knows what kind of creature?”

Garax bowed to his queen. One day she would return to claim her kingdom. Until then, she knew, he would keep her safe, no matter how many splinter universes he had to burn.

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This weird flash fiction grew from the idea of someone having their own version of Spiderman’s “spidey-sense.” Like many of the speculative fiction pieces I write, this one leaves me wondering about both the history behind the predicament in which Garax and his queen find themselves and what their future holds. Please share and comment.