Other Worlds Than These

You Can't Be Lost If You've Gone AWOL

He walked somewhat quickly, not in a major rush but still wanting to make progress. He wondered what Wendy Wower and Trevor Trengrove were up to now. 20 years in the future, the two of them must have been accomplished scientists by now. Trevor was a tad allergic to hard work, but Beck thought he could pull through. Wendy, well, she would absolutely be making major strides in the field of robotics with her smarts and spirit, Beck thought. He wouldn't be surprised if she was a professor at SFIT too. She'd definitely understand his situation, though she'd definitely be disappointed in him for not telling her about the amplifier in the first place.

Actually, Granville and Callaghan would be majorly disappointed in him too. He'd kept this awful secret from them, the amplifier was more dangerous than anyone could imagine. Would they even help him, or would they never trust him again? Beck couldn't afford to think about that right now. He could take his pride being destroyed, he just wanted to go home and fix his mistakes. He wanted to make things right, like they were before he had created the energy amplifier.

Ignoring the bad possible outcomes and focusing on how nice it would be to be back in his lab with Starset music blasting and making robots like how he did before, he kept going. He ignored the fact that his forearms still felt red-hot, and the ache in his chest that he was certain was from smoke inhalation. Beck had one goal, and that was to get to SFIT. Being shitty to Hiro, as much as he hated that he had to do it to a fellow genius, didn't matter in the long run because he'd be home in a week and he'd never see Hiro again. Or, if he did, Beck would be 37 and that was a completely different dynamic.

He was still wrapping his head around the fact that because it was August, he was actually 16 again. He'd still be 16 until his birthday in December, actually, so it was kind of like he had gotten younger, in a way. But Beck wanted to keep his birthday, so he was fine with being 16 again. It wouldn't matter in a week because he'd be back in December of 2023, 17 again, and back to his old life.

He was getting closer to SFIT now, very happy he was walking downhill instead of uphill. He supposed he could've taken the tram (he was surprised it had the exact same route as 20 years ago), but he was fine walking a few blocks. And it wasn't like he'd have to walk back. He wondered where he'd stay when he got back to SFIT. Chances were, his lab was no longer his- but at least it was summer. He could probably find somewhere to camp out for as long as it took to rebuild. And, with 20 years of more advanced tech, rebuilding the amplifier would definitely be easier than building it in the first place. It might not even be a week before he was done.

He turned a corner and was face-to-face with a scene he was expecting, but wasn't ready for. The SFIT expo hall where he remembered showing off his hyperspectral cameras to the world, where Granville had spotted him and accepted him, was in ruins. It was a heap of rubble and ash, with firefighters and what looked like arson investigators still poking around. What had happened, Beck thought.

Beck had been expecting a lab fire, those were usually the deadly type. But in the expo hall? Then, he realized something. Today was August 30th. Five days ago would have been the SFIT expo, where prospective students would be showing off their projects. What if one of those projects had set fire to the hall? Tadashi, Hiro's brother, must've been helping out at the expo and got caught up in the flames.

Or, another thought crossed his mind. Hiro had already graduated high school, and there was no minimum age to be accepted into SFIT. What if Tadashi was there because Hiro was presenting something at the expo? In that case, things got much more horrifying. Beck, an only child, couldn't really imagine what it would be like to watch his brother die, but it was probably one of the most awful things someone could witness.

This possibility also meant that Hiro could very well have been accepted into SFIT. In which case, the fact that Beck would be leaving in a week was kind of disappointing. Twenty years separated him and the only other person near his age at SFIT, and he wasn't liking that one bit. But he had to get back to his own time, before something else went wrong. He had apologies to give, and plus, he had to study this phenomenon. Time-travel wasn't something to take lightly, Beck wasn't going to sell it, but he did need to find out everything about it at some point, he was a scientist after all.

He turned, still scanning the crowd for Granville or Callaghan. The crowd was looking at the gates to the actual SFIT campus. Maybe Granville and Callaghan were over there? He walked over to the steps. Beck hated crowds, they were loud and too packed together for his taste. Beck really wished he could just lift off into the air to look over everyone and see what was going on. But instead, he had to fight his way to the front.

What he saw shocked him to his core. There were two framed photos sitting on the stairs, surrounded by flowers, candles, and incense. One was of who he assumed was Tadashi, he looked rather similar to Hiro. The other looked exactly like an older version of Professor Callaghan. His eyes were wide, he had never gotten along with Callaghan but he didn't want the man dead either. But where was Professor Granville? The two professors had always had a strained relationship but he knew she would be devastated if he died.

But there was no sign of Professor Granville, even after climbing one step to look over the crowd. Where was she? Surely someone here knew where she was. He decided to ask someone in the crowd, a tan guy with longer, shaggy blond hair and blue eyes.

"Do you know where Professor Granville is, by any chance?"

"Sorry man, no clue who you're talking about."

Alright, maybe that was a fluke. So, he tried asking someone else. But everyone he asked didn't know who he was talking about. What was going on? Sure, Granville had never been as famous as Callaghan, but he'd assume at least a few people would know who she was. Even some people wearing SFIT hoodies and hats didn't know who she was. He ended up back at the front of the crowd, looking down at Callaghan's photo.

What have I done? Professor, what have I gotten myself into, he thought. But he was really out of luck. One professor dead, the other missing. Two people gone, the only two that would understand. His last option was Wendy, but he had no clue where she might be, because she wasn't here either. There was a woman that looked a little like Wendy, but her hair was bright green instead of brown. Wendy was never that wild, and plus, she'd be 40 years old and probably the CEO of a robotics company by now. Wendy was off the table as an option for now.

As for Trevor, Beck didn't see him here either. Though, maybe Beck just didn't recognize him. Whenever he got access to a phone or computer, he'd have to look the two of them up. After all, he did want to know what the two of them were up to, even if he couldn't ask them for help right now. But, now, he wasn't sure what on Earth to do. Where could he go?

Nobody was here that he recognized, Callaghan was dead, Granville was nowhere to be found, Wendy and Trevor were gone too, and he had just ruined his chances with Hiro. He had no money, and it had been 20 years since he had been in Good Luck Alley. Any of his contacts from there would be long gone. He'd need to go back there at some point though, some of the parts for the amplifier could only be produced in their fabrication shops because of their small size. But how would he even rebuild now?

First things first: shelter. The streets were dangerous, and he didn't want to be out after dark. But he didn't have money for a hotel room either. He had exactly two dollars and a few bolts in his pockets. This would be harder than he thought. Maybe he could find an abandoned spot to camp out at? There were plenty of abandoned buildings in San Fransokyo, at least a few had to be still standing today. It wouldn't be a comfortable existence, but he could manage. Then he could steal parts for the amplifier from SFIT and local shops, scrounge up money for some time in the Good Luck Alley's fabrication shop to machine up the final pieces, reassemble, and use it to go back the way he came. He hoped it'd work.

He started making his way through the crowd when he spotted a very familiar marshmallow of a robot.