Paradigm Rift

Chapter One - Crossroads

I stopped at the corner, waiting for the light to turn red. Everything looked so surreal, yet it had become part of our daily life. A hundred worlds into one, that is what the Great Rifting had created. Whole chunks of present San Francisco had been torn out, replaced by strange structures, strange vegetation, both of past and present worlds, human yet alien.

My dad was one of those lost in the Great Rifting. A skyscraper had become destabilized after a rift took out part of its foundation. Without time to evacuate, the skyscraper collapsed, bringing down several other buildings, including the one where my dad was having lunch at.

Thousands died that day. I was only three so I don't remember it well, and I guess that was good, but I don't remember my dad either. I would look at his pictures constantly, trying to remember us together, playing or something, but I couldn't. Seventeen years had passed since then.

Nobody knew why or how it happened. There was mass panic as people and objects disappeared in the blink of an eye. Now we know they had walked into other worlds through invisible rifts. In the panic, many were lost. Most were never seen again, and those who returned brought with them stories both of wonder and terror.

Naturally, just as people walked into other worlds, people of other worlds walked into ours, frightened nonetheless. They were human, yet we feared them. We feared the unknown, where they came from. Some looked just like us, wearing the same clothes, with the same hairstyles. Others looked different, more sophisticated.

Yet the ones that caused the most fear were the cavemen. No doubt they were frightened, and in their fear they attacked us. It was their way of defending themselves and instead of trying to understand them we killed them for it.

Anyways, that was a long time ago and we had learned to adapt. When the light turned red I looked both ways, as everyone did. Rifts were unpredictable; they could appear anywhere, at any moment, so we had to be careful, especially crossing the street. I had lost count how many people had been killed by cars that appeared out of nowhere.

Passing by people both local and foreign, I made my way to the pier on this breezy morning. I sat on a bench, overlooking the bay and the grandiose skyscraper, North Star, that stood over Treasure Island. North Star was built by the government as a way to control what came through the portals. With the help of people that came from more advanced worlds, new technologies had been created that helped us monitor the rifts. The fact that the rifting never spread past San Francisco made it a whole lot easier and although the rifts had subsided over the years, they still posed a threat so North Star was always on watch.

"Hey, Adam," Kai slapped me on the back, taking a seat next to me. He took out a sandwich from a paper bag and placed it on the bench.

We both had black hair and brown eyes, but other than that we didn't have much in common. He was the life of the party, the cool guy all the girls flocked to. It was hard to imagine considering he had one of the most brilliant minds, constantly immersing himself in books and learning new things. Sometimes I wondered how he found the time to live in both worlds. Can't deny I envied him a little. Not that I couldn't be more like him. I just couldn't live my life knowing my dad couldn't live his.

Kai offered me an apple.

"Only because I know you won't eat it," I said, grabbing the apple and taking a bite.

Kai unwrapped his sandwich. "So what is so important that you couldn't wait to tell me at work?" he asked as he ate.

"I'm leaving." I didn't even dare to look up. We had been friends since we were children and I knew he would be angry. I still remember when he helped me cope with the loss of my dad. He would visit me every day, keeping my mind busy so that it would not wander to those dark corners where there was nothing but pain and solitude.

He put everything down and walked to the edge of the pier, the wind blowing on his hair. I could hear the foghorn of a cargo ship at the distance. "It's about your dad, isn't it?"

"They never found his body." That was the only hope I had.

"What do you mean they didn't find his body? There were thousands of bodies."

"But there's never been any conclusive evidence. There's no way there could have been with what little they found." It was true. They had only found pieces and there was so much blood that they couldn't separate it. There was no way to know who was who.

He turned around and looked me straight in the eye. At last, he understood what I was trying to say. "You're not just leaving San Francisco are you?"

I reached into my coat and pulled out a small device. It was small, the size of my palm, and it contained a screen. "I took this rift locator yesterday. With it, I can hopefully find a rift strong enough to allow travel."

Kai frowned at the idea. "Ludicrous. There's nowhere to know where you'll end up."

"My dad could be out there and I can't live with the uncertainty. My only regret is not having done this sooner. I just didn't want to leave without saying goodbye."

"What about your mother?"

What about her? She didn't do anything for dad. She gave up just as easily as everyone did when she was the one that was supposed to fight the hardest. "She's so immersed in her work that she won't even notice I'm gone."

"I won't say goodbye, you know," said Kai, knowing he wouldn't be able to change my mind.

"I know."