Lund patted my shoulder and moved past me back into the office to take his desk chair again . After a moment, I followed him. “What does this mean?” I asked.
“I bet you thought the lost weight was due to your use of powers; you thought by using your abilities as much you did, you were using so much energy that it had to come from somewhere, and that somewhere was your body’s mass – yes?” I nodded.
“Well, if you saw the interview I just gave, you heard me say that these Quantum abilities are part of you, like your talent at music or math. These powers aren’t a like machine you have to keep buying batteries for, it’s more like the ability to whistle. Sure, you might burn a calorie or two whistling, but that’s about it. So if it’s not power use that’s causing your loss of weight, it must be something else, which is why I asked to see your face. It is not the face of a fifty-year-old. My guess is just as people tend to put on pounds as they get older, you’re losing weight as you get younger.”
I frowned, again taken aback at a new weirdness. “But why should I de-age? Am I de-aging so rapidly because of how much I have been using my powers? Are all Quantums de-aging, or just me? What does this mean?”
Lund smiled, almost annoyingly calm. “I don’t have all the answers, but I can tell you to completely put out of your mind the idea that how much you use your powers has anything to do with anything. Your ‘de-aging’, as you call it, has nothing to do frequency or intensity of power use. Also, I can tell you with a high degree of certainty that Glory is not de-aging, as I have seen several interviews with her over the past few days, and being only fourteen, even a small amount of losing age would be quite obvious on her.”
Lund leaned back in his chair, steepled his fingers, and thought a moment. “My best guess is that for some reason, your current state is not in equilibrium, and the de-aging is trying to bring you into balance. Once you near the point of equilibrium, the changes should decelerate, then stop.”
“And how do we know if that point of equilibrium is me at four months old?” I asked, partially horrified.
Lund calmly shook his head, “Whatever the reason for your physical transformation, it wants to take you to a different state. Once we know what that state is, I think that will explain why this is happening. There’s nothing about de-aging to an infant that would explain it. But you should start weighing yourself every 12 hours and logging it, as well as keeping on the lookout for other changes. Not only will that help us build a better picture of what’s really going on, it will let us chart the acceleration and deceleration of the speed of the transformation, which will, in turn, let us plot the target point well before we reach it.”
“Well, thank you for helping me!” I said.
Lund shook his head, “You’re helping me too, helping me understand something new and interesting about Quantums.”
“Well, unless you have anything else, professor, I think I need to go have a think.” I said – although what I was really planning on was a long afternoon nap as respite!
“I do actually have some more things to share with you, things you probably would be happy not to know, but if you’re going to be an important piece in the worldwide game of Quantum chess that is now starting, you will need to know.”
“Like a band-aid,” I told him, “rip it off quick.”
“Quickly…” Lund corrected under his breath – and he was right. “OK, then” Lund swung his chair around to face me straight-on again. “I am aware of three things you need to know. As you may well imagine, the instant Glory appeared and was confirmed, I began deep data dives on sources all over the planet, looking for any clues to anything that could be Quantum related. I’ve found some items that I think you should be told.”
“One: A meteor fragment fell into a California women’s correctional facility. Shortly thereafter, five inmates went missing. I am printing out their names and information for you, in case you want to look into it. I would guess that at least one received an ability, that let them escape.”
“Two: As I looked into other meteor falls, I’ve come upon a pattern of missing people near several of the locations. A handful would simply be people with powers that have gone off grid, but I have found at least a dozen or so. That probably means kidnapping, or worse.”
I interrupted, “You might as well know that someone tried to assassinate me, and succeeded, although not for long.”
Lund interrupted me in turn, “…because the young lady who said that bullets didn’t hurt you was wrong – it’s just that you didn’t stay hurt.” Lund surmised.
“Correct. Anyway, I killed one of the assassins and scared the other one straight, but I found out they had been hired to kill me by someone calling themself ‘Archangel’, who also had a Florida job for them afterwards. Glory ‘came out’ the next day, so I figured that was her, so I went and warned her.”
Lund continued to put the pieces together, “…which was why you were in Miami to rescue Miss Gonzalez that day, because you were looking for Glory. How did the meeting of the world’s only two known Quantums go?”
“A little bumpy, honestly, but well enough.”
Lund nodded, “It’s probably a very good thing that you and she get along, and keep in close communication. Meanwhile, someone is disappearing potential and/or actual Quantums – apart from you, my guess is Quantums are not death-proof. I know this sounds all cloak-and-dagger, but I know a guy who is enmeshed in that covert world that you could talk to, if you want to follow-up on who might be behind it.” Lund tore off a sheet of notebook paper, wrote contact info on it, and handed it to me. “If you want him to take you seriously, share with him that you are the Arbiter.”
“Three,” Lund continued, “and this is the worst news, there is a very special psychiatric hospital, an asylum where they study the most high functioning but deviant minds. People who are alien to anything we would consider human. Most simply have no concept of empathy or morality – but they are almost always excellent mimics. Each has their own motivations, some choose their actions randomly, some take on identities that have a ‘higher’ calling, some consider themselves artists who paint on the canvas of human experience”
“One of the strangest and most unknowable patients wasn’t brought there after being caught, instead he just showed up one day at the gate, carrying three human heads. They took him in, and he had been there ever since. His real name and identity are unknown, but he chose for himself the name “Sunyata” when he was asked to pick one.”
“Since a meteor crashed into one of the facility’s dormitories, he’s been missing.” Lund handed me another datasheet he just printed.
“What you do with any or all of this information is up to you, just keep my name out of it, is all I ask.” Lund concluded.
I took another deep breath, “OK. We’ll talk more later – when I have more data.”
“Two final questions before you go.” Lund requested. I gave a wary nod.
“Are those the clothes you were wearing in Florida?” Lund asked.
“Well, the hoodie and the mask, I do change my clothes every day, you know.” I semi-snarked at him.
“My next question isn’t for you to answer right now, but to ponder along with everything else: why doesn’t your hoodie have bullet holes all through it?”
“Oh, that’s because – I mean – wait – oh, crap.” Now I had another power mystery to solve.
“Until we meet again.” Lund smiled, and he stood and gave a small formal bow.
I sighed, tucked the papers in my jacket, and astralled back.