Always & Forever by: Elsbeth Numbers of the Beast “What’s wrong with having fun with a little math on a date?”

Maggie watched her sister look over the photos, no one else could tell, but Nadine was obviously distressed. She reached over and took one of the photos from her sister’s hands to study it.

More of Nadine’s scribbling, what was the big deal? She knew Nadine as well as herself, and right now, her baby sister was running ideas through her head.

Maggie then had a splendid idea. “Nadine, don’t tell me that you had a date with Alice, and you did math?”

“What’s wrong with having fun with a little math on a date?”

Nadine had a half-smile on her lips, but she didn’t take her eyes off the photos.

“So, that’s what they call it nowadays.” One of the military types laughed; most of the others joined him as well.

“Corporal, that was not necessary.” Kristophe made a face.

“Nadine, do you have….”

“Nadine, don’t tell me you snuck out of the house so you could go on a date with Alice and after midnight no less.” Nadine’s mother shook her head. “And I thought we raised you better.”

“Mama.”

“Simone, I thought that Nadine was dating Josephine.”

Kristophe could feel the control of the conversation slip away from him. “Who is Josephine?”

Maggie made some sort of cupping motion with her hands in front of her chest. “Oh, she is the big boobed redheaded freshman that Nadine sucked face with in front of the entire University.”

“Maggie!” Her father called out.

“So, that was her name.” Doctor Prins said to no one in particular.

Kristophe tried again, “Mademoiselle…”

“Nadine, are you telling me that you are dating both girls?”

“Mama, I’m hardly going out with either of them.”

“Young lady, you snuck out of the house with one to do math, and you kissed another one in front of the entire University and that kiss she gave you in the hall.” Nadine’s mother was still uncomfortable remembering that kiss.

“Mama, it was hardly in front of the entire University.”

“Don’t split hairs with me, young lady. Take responsibility for your actions.”

“Yes, Mama.” Nadine nodded. “Oh, the equations, I was just playing really. No big deal.”

Kristophe turned back; any control of the conversation was gone. “What?”

“I was just playing around a little you know having fun maybe showing off a little bit in front of Alice.” She gave Maggie a smile.

Captain Kristophe Vogel didn’t think that sounded right. The equations threw the whole research team into a tizzy. This little girl couldn’t have just been playing around; there was something about her that just didn’t add up.

“I saw you have some Quantum mechanics equations in there.” Doctor Moretti pointed out. “The equations involve some sort of complex system?”

Nadine turned and smiled at the Doctor. “Oh sure, I was playing around with them; they sort of fixed some of the issues I was having. I didn’t really have a plan, I was just playing, but I had to go because it was getting late.” Nadine looked embarrassed.

“Sounds like an exciting date to me, Nadine.” Maggie laughed.

Nadine rolled her eyes.

“She was just playing with Quantum mechanics.” Doctor Prins looked up and smiled. “Barbara, let me have the packet.”

“I still don’t approve, Doctor.”

“Well, good thing you’re not in charge of this research team, then Captain.”

The Doctor took a large envelope from the woman and handed it to Nadine. The young girl looked down at the cover letter. She smiled, working with the government for many years as Jack had seen such forms many times.

Reaching over she plucks a pen from Captain Vogel’s pocket then signed it. “Papa, you need to sign this too, I am underage.”

She ignored her father’s reaction to the amount of time one could spend in jail if the agreement were violated. Walking into the kitchen, she returned with a notepad, and a pencil picked up the packet and moved into the living room.

“You’re having thermal issues, I see.” Nadine’s voice called out from the other room.

Doctor Prins looked to his assistant. “Barbara time?”

“Fifteen minutes, Doctor.”

“I think that’s a record, Joseph.” The two Doctors stood up and joined Nadine in the other room.

--0--

The world was cold, irradiated winds swept the empty landscape picking up bits of dust and debris much of it human remains. A small figure moved down a slight incline to stand before the ruins a once-proud city.

Now only the rubble remained, like the skeleton of some giant animal steel girders jutted from the landscape into the sky. Alice looked down and kicked a bit of stone with her new pink Peep Toe Platform Pumps. She thought that the little skulls gave a nice touch, but now it bordered on the macabre.

The beast had lived here for some time, its influence seeped into the very ground. The possessed must have been a person of great importance. It used its influence to bring ruin to an entire world, no an entire dimension.

A smaller dimension on this planet was inhabited by the only real life, the only life that shifted and grew strength from the great pattern of the multiverse. Now like some unneeded organ, it would shrivel up and fade away into the Abyss.

Alice looked up once more. The grey upon grey was oppressive. She felt deep sorrow for the powers that be here, but there was little she could do.

Two young women walked the streets of Paris on a cool crisp afternoon getting towards the end of fall. Both women, fashionably dressed, walked in and among the little shops enjoying the day and each other’s company.

Standing inside one of the many jewelry stores, the tallest, a red-headed girl reached over and took the other girl by the arm. “I still can’t believe it, Nadine, one moment you’re a threat to national security and the next you’re given a job.”

Nadine smiled, reaching over the counter and pointing to a set of earrings. “Isn’t that just one of life’s little oddities? It seems I passed a test or something, the good doctors were looking for people with shall we say particular skill sets. Only one of them really objected, some Captain. I don’t have a clue what his problem was, maybe he doesn’t like girls, or maybe be doesn’t like lesbians.”

Josephine made a face. For the most part, through the years, the people of the French Empire have embraced the revolutionary ideals of Liberté, égalité, fraternité, "Liberty, equality, fraternity.”

A hundred years before most other countries women received the right to vote, religious freedom was the norm and arguments over sexual orientation didn’t come up much. Oh, there were plenty of holdouts, especially among older or more religious families but they were not considered the norm. Outside the Empire, the world was a messed up place just like Nadine’s old Earth.

Nadine paid for the earrings, and the two young women walked out of the store. “Joseph, my boss told the Captain that ‘His Majesty personally requested that I find the brightest minds in the Empire, who am I to go against the Emperor’s will when one of the minds I find is in the body of the sixteen-year-old girl.’ These are for you.” Nadine handed Josephine the set of earrings.

“Nadine, you shouldn’t have.”

“I know, but I wanted to, plus it appears I am going to be getting a salary. I think I should be able to afford a set of earrings for my girlfriend.”

“Wow, what about school.” Josephine smiled, then reached for her ears and replaced her old set of earrings with the new.

Before Nadine could answer, the red-headed girl wrapped her in a hug and gave Nadine a deep kiss; people on the street walked by with amused smiles mumbling something about young love.

“School, well.” The two smiled as they came up for air. “I wanted to finish the school year with Maggie, but we had a sister meeting, and she told me I was being silly.”

“Sister meeting?”

Nadine nodded the two girls holding hands continued to walk through the Paris streets. “It’s a twin thing, drives my parents insane on occasion. The others had no idea what was going on; however she pointed out with my honor classes I didn’t see her anymore in school anyway. I get to have lunch with her, and that’s about it. My only concession and they agreed was that I got to drive to school with her every day.”

“Do you two do this often?”

Nadine nodded. “We do for most things, we tend to talk about each other’s choices and approve or not approve. The only thing that is no longer on the table is relationships.”

“So, Maggie doesn’t object if the two of us are dating?”

“Oh, not at all, she likes you actually.” Nadine made a sad smile. “This was because of me. I was shall we say overly jealous over the fact she was dating. We had a little bit of a fight about it.”

Josephine reached over and kissed her girlfriend's cheek then looked confused. “Wait, so how are you getting out of school?”

“I tested out of it. While I was at it, I also took the University of Paris entrance examination.”

“No way, those tests are horribly difficult.” Josephine almost jumped up and down. “You didn’t even study, did you? I spent almost all of last winter taking these horrible classes to get in. Oh, I am so jealous.”

Nadine grinned. “But look on the bright side; I’ll be in class with you next semester. I imagine I’ll have to double up on some things, but that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Josephine looked very happy as the two walked towards the center of the city. The only thing she found odd was she thought she heard Nadine complain about having to go through Undergraduate again.

--0--

Dark smoke filled the evening air, as flames lit up the sky. Sirens followed several fire trucks as they passed the two women. Nadine had spent the entire day with Josephine and was going to meet her dad at the University to take her home.

The pair turned a corner and came upon chaos. Two older apartments were ablaze the firefighters spending most of their time now trying to keep the fire from spreading to other houses on the block.

Joining the crowd Nadine looked up at the flames. The older multi-family homes could be death traps if the owners didn’t bring the housing up to code. Beneath the flames, dozens of people ran out of the building as firefighters struggled on the ground floors.

A scream of utter desolation pierced through the roar of the fire. A young woman stood off to the side, two bags of groceries in her hands. “Louis!”

The woman screamed dropping the bags running towards the burning building only to be intercepted by two police officers.

“Louis! My son is up there, you need to let me though.”

The two police officers had not let her go. “Where is he, Madam? How old is he?”

“Louis, he is five. He’s been sick. I haven’t had the money to buy his medicine, but I do now.” She started to cry again. “So you need to let me get him.”

A firefighter in a white hat approached, she seems to be in charge.

“Madam, what floor do you live on?”

The grieving mother tried to break away, but the two police officers held her tight. “Fourth floor” She looked up most of the fourth floor was already covered in flames.

“I understand, Madam, but please step back and let us do our job.”
The mother moved to the side, her eyes never leaving the flames.

The firefighter in the white hat whispered to one of the police officers. “Try to keep her calm. If we can, we’ll try and get her son, but unfortunately part of the stairwell is blocked.”

At the sound of a building collapsing, the woman screamed, firefighters, poured out of the dying structure as it started to come down. The crowd was pushed back as the entire fourth floor collapsed on itself. The building continued to groan. Finally, the entire structure shuddered and came down. The second apartment damaged from its dying neighbor shook causing the firefighters to retreat from that building as well.

“Mon Dieu, how horrible.” Josephine looked at the woman still struggling to throw herself into the collapsed building.

“Mommy?” A small child no more than five stood safely off to the side of the burning building.

“Louis” The young woman broke free of her captors and ran over to her child. She began to thank all of the firefighters who looked very confused.

The firefighter with the white hat kneeled by his side then motioned to one of the paramedics. “Who rescued you, sweetie?”

“An angel.” He smiled then pointed to his blue coat. “She even made me put on my jacket because it’s cold outside.”

“You mean one of my firefighters?”

“Oh no, we learned in class all about firemen. It was an Angel she even walked through the flames” He leaned over to the Captain of the fire brigade. “She was very pretty. I was afraid of the fire and hid under the bed. She found me there.”

“Walked through the flames?”

“Yep, I could see them, but they didn’t come any closer. It was neat. I told her I was a big boy and didn’t need a jacket, but she said even big boys get cold.”

“You’re right, they do, baby.” The mother was crying while she rocked him back and forth in her arms.

The firefighters and police officers looked at one another. Paris was an old city, a very old city, and one learned not to question such things when they happened.

“Come, let’s go.” Josephine felt her hand being pulled.

“You smell like smoke, Nadine.” Josephine leaned over and smelled her girlfriend’s hair.

“I guess so.” Nadine giggled. “Papa will freak if I’m late, so let’s get a move on.”

The two girls left the area making their way back towards the University.