by Adam Moon
As she walked away Kim quickly whispered to him, “We need to leave.”
“They’ll never stop chasing us if we do.”
“We can’t trust her. She’s a killer.”
“I understand people like Samantha. If she can’t make the Morians see reason then we’ll jump out of here.”
“What if they disable the device again?”
“Then we’ll jump to a random universe and I’ll fix it. Relax. We might have found a way to end this.”
“What about Steve? She’ll kill him.”
“He deserves it.”
“My dad would never say something like that.”
“That’s because he was a good man. But good men don’t always prosper. Sometimes you need to be a heartless jerk to do the right thing.”
She sighed. “I hope you’re right.”
“Me too.”
The Morians bickered with Samantha and then amongst themselves. When she returned she was breathless. “They agreed but they have conditions: I must choose the Earth for you and take you there. Then you’ll give me the device.”
“What if we don’t like the Earth you pick?”
“You will. I promise.”
He glanced over her shoulder at the expectant Morians. “Why are they suddenly being so generous?”
“At this point, they’ll do anything to get their device back.”
It made sense. He’d already killed one and injured another. Now they just wanted to get the jumper back without any more bloodshed.
He looked down at Kim and she nodded eagerly so he agreed to the terms. He could hardly believe the tide had turned so quickly. Samantha was a Godsend, despite her past transgressions. She was the perfect intermediary. If only they’d been able to communicate before now, lives could’ve been spared.
Samantha stood shoulder to shoulder with him and input the new coordinates as he held onto the device.
She leaned closer and turned her back to the Morians when she was done programming the jumper. She whispered, “You deserve to know why they’ve killed to safeguard this technology.”
He cut her off with, “I really don’t care.”
She smirked. “Indulge me then.”
He nodded. She was wasting precious time but she was eager to explain so he allowed it.
Interdimensional, Intergalactic Rules
✨
SAMANTHA TOOK a deep breath and said, “I know this tech probably seems like magic to you, but there’s more to it than you know, and unleashing its full potential could be catastrophic. It’s not just a means to jump from one dimension to another. If that was all it could do then the Morians wouldn’t be spending so much time and resources tracking down each stolen unit. The last set of coordinates allows you to choose where on Earth you want to jump.” She pointed to the end of the long string of numbers on the screen. “But it’s not just limited to the many Earths. Any coordinate can be plugged in.”
“I know that now. Beth told us that technicians from her world could program it to drop us off at a different spot on this Earth but she betrayed us before we got to see if she was telling the truth.”
Samantha’s mouth dropped open. “If she was telling the truth and the blue-backs know what the devices are truly capable of then we have a big problem. I need to tell the Morians what you just told me.”
Neil shook his head and Kim scratched hers.
Samantha clarified for them. “With the final set of coordinates we can jump anywhere in any universe we choose. It doesn’t just have to be to Earth. The devices traverse the multiverse but also allow instantaneous travel throughout each universe. They allow access to any planet or galaxy, as long as you have the proper coordinates.”
Neil raised his eyebrows but it made sense. If it could drop you off anywhere on Earth then why wouldn’t it be able to drop you off further afield than that? Just because he believed it, though, didn’t mean he was close to understanding how it was even possible. “So the Morians will be upset when they find out that the blue-backs know the device’s true capabilities?”
“The Morians will be furious but it’s not them I’m worried about.” She paused and looked him up and down, as if weighing whether she should continue. He must have passed her test because she went on, “They explained to me that our species wasn’t the only one to independently develop jump tech. There are other planets in other galaxies where dimensional jumps are common. Their tech is old and reliable. But those alien civilizations have rules and limits which every other jump-capable civilization must abide by. Their number one rule is that no one should abuse the tech. Their number two rule is that we must confine our jumps to within our own solar system.”
Neil took a deep breath to help cleanse his mind. Interdimensional jumping was almost too much for him to comprehend, and now he had alien civilizations to process too.
She continued, “The Morians were visited just once by an advanced alien race from the opposite end of the universe. That race came the moment the Morians developed jump tech and they came with a warning: should it be abused, our entire sector would perish, including every rendition of planet Earth.”
“Holy shit! Why didn’t the Morians destroy their jump tech immediately?”
“Are you serious? Would you?”
“I guess not. So if any of those alien civilizations find out that the blue-backs are mistreating the tech we might all be killed?”
“If they make too much commotion, it’s a guarantee. The ripples will be felt and when they are, we’ll all suffer the consequences.”
“Maybe someone should explain this to the blue-backs then. If they’ve figured out how to jump to other planets then you need to tell them the risks. Maybe that’ll stop them.”
“The Morians didn’t tell them because they didn’t think they were smart enough to figure out how to change the destination coordinates. It might be time to pay them a visit.”
“Good luck with that. I sure hope you find a way to avoid interdimensional, intergalactic warfare.” He said it and it immediately sounded stupid, like a huge understatement. If the blue-backs kept at it, they could doom all the Earths.
But he now knew why the Morians had treated the blue-backs so gently despite everything they’d done: If they waged a full-scale war, that would be seen as an abuse of the technology and there would be ramifications.
His head was spinning with all the new information. In a way, he wished Samantha hadn’t felt like divulging it all to him. Maybe she just needed to get it off her chest. He couldn’t be sure why she suddenly trusted him with such a huge secret. In a weird way he trusted her even less because of it.
She took a deep breath and forced a smile. “I just thought you should know why they’ve been trying to kill you.”
He sighed. It made sense to him now that he knew what was at stake. He could only hope the Morians could put a stop to the blue-backs but it was out of his hands. He had more personal issues to worry about, like keeping his daughter safe and finding a home for them.
She cleared her throat and said, “The world I’m taking you to is like this one but better.” She held her hand out for the device but he didn’t trust her enough so he took a step back and said, “I’ll jump us there. Then you can have it.”
She chuckled. “I don’t blame you for a lack of trust. People lie and cheat and steal for the technology in your hands. I’m sure you’ve been betrayed at every turn.”
She had no idea just how devious the jumper made those around it. He’d seen the worst of humanity recently and he was glad to rid himself of the tech. He just hoped this wasn’t another betrayal. If so, he still had a gun and he knew how to use it.
He asked Kim if she was ready. She took on
e last look at her mom’s house and then nodded so he pressed the button.
They arrived on a street nearly identical to the one they’d just left. It didn’t take long to figure out that this world was close enough to what he’d hoped for. Samantha had fulfilled her promise.
He handed over the device and started to thank Samantha when she interrupted him. “Don’t you feel like you owe me something?”
Then he remembered the deal. He scrolled through the readouts on the device and then pointed to one. “Steve is here.”
She committed it to memory. “Thank you. Good luck.”
She walked backwards to a safe distance and then hit the button, leaving them on their new home world.
Plan of Attack
✨
SAMANTHA RETURNED with the device. The Morians cheered when she showed it to them. They’d chased it across dimensions. They’d seen it change hands several times. They’d killed for it. And now it was safely returned to them.
At that moment Brian burst through his own front door with a shotgun in hand. He leapt the damaged front steps and looked up and down the street. Then he screamed at Samantha, “Where did that little shit go?” Somehow he was too stupid or too inebriated to notice a ship from another dimension right in the middle of his own street.
He pointed the gun at her and yelled, “Tell me or I’ll blow you away!”
Samantha cocked her head to the side, pulled out a handgun and shot him in the face before he had a chance to pull the trigger.
The Morians’ jubilation turned to anger as they dragged her back to the ship. They jumped away before further bloodshed occurred. She knew better than to attack someone on another world but it felt like the right thing to do at the time. The guy seemed like an asshole.
She would be reprimanded for it but she was within her rights to shoot him because he was armed and dangerous, and clearly had murder on his mind.
Once their nerves calmed, she explained to them what Neil had told her; that the blue-backs had discovered the devices could travel through space as well as across dimensions. Despite fears of repercussions, she would delight in a full scale war against those blue-back bastards. It was the entire reason she’d decided to join forces with the Morians in the first place. The fact that there was a very severe reason to avoid conflict hardly mattered to her.
She might be able to use their fears against them and convince them to use more brutal tactics with the blue-backs. The thought of it sent a chill up her spine.
But first, she would find, and then torture and kill Steve.
A Better Home
✨
THE ABSENCE OF their fellow travelers was sadly apparent. It felt odd to be so far away from Kara, Jim, Pam, and Sandy, but it seemed utterly surreal that they’d never see any of them again, given everything they’d been through together.
It didn’t take Neil long to acclimate to the world they found themselves on, though. Samantha wasn’t wrong, the place was similar and yet better. People were pleasant and they fit right in without much adjustment.
The first thing he did was to find shelter for them, which wasn’t hard because they’d arrived right outside Peggy’s house. If she existed in this dimension, he hoped she was alive, healthy, and unencumbered by an asshole boyfriend. Painful memories kept his enthusiasm from blossoming, but she had always been the love of is life, despite the fact that he’d now seen her as a junky and also as a corpse. He had to see if she was here.
It was immediately obvious that Samantha had done her homework because everything was just how he hoped it would be.
Peggy answered the door and fainted at the sight of Neil and Kim. Neil had to imagine that that was a good sign. He hefted her over his shoulder and took her inside. The furnishings were different but the photos on the walls were eerily familiar. Kim dominated them and Neil breathed a sigh of relief to see his own face in many of them too.
He quickly scouted the house to see if they were alone and when he was sure they were he woke up Peggy, who was as beautiful as he remembered. She was nothing like that toothless junky he’d met on Kim’s world. She was so perfect that he could hardly believe his own eyes.
She woke slowly and then screamed. “What is this? Who are you?”
“I’m Neil and this is Kim.”
“Am I dead? Are you ghosts?”
Neil shook his head.
“You both died. How’s this possible?”
“I’ll explain everything soon. Do you have any food around here? We’re starving.”
She touched Neil’s hand to make sure he was real and then she lunged at Kim and wrapped her in a bear hug. Kim stiffened at first but after a second she hugged her back and started to cry.
Peggy kept Kim’s hand held and then touched Neil’s face. “I don’t know how this is possible but promise me you won’t leave, even if you’re only real in my head.”
“We’re not going anywhere. We missed you.”
Part 3
✨
A Family United
✨
PEGGY HAD NO CHOICE but to trust their story. It was implausible and nearly supernatural but she accepted it desperately. Neil had his wife and daughter back, Peggy had her daughter and husband back, and Kim had parents that were not hers but close enough. They had once been so alone on their respective worlds and now they were complete again; a family, intact and better that ever. There was a lot of crying and holding the first few hours and then everything came together so neatly that it was as if they’d always been together.
Two days later Samantha arrived on the doorstep. The sight of her frightened Neil half to death because he hadn’t expected to see her ever again. He hated to let her in to his new sanctuary but it was the least he could do considering she’d reunited him with his family.
She took a seat and Peggy took Kim out of the living room to give them some privacy.
Neil waited anxiously for her to announce why she’d returned. He was sure he wasn’t going to like it. He was sure he was about to be betrayed again, but he couldn’t have guessed that the truth was beyond anything he could’ve imagined.
First, he thanked her profusely for his new life. He couldn’t adequately express the gratitude he felt.
She shrugged. “I killed Steve so it was worth it to me.”
He could tell she was trying to downplay what she’d done for him.
Her mood sobered. She looked down at her lap and said, “The unthinkable has happened. I brought your jumper back. Hold onto it for the time being, until the threats are taken care of.” She leaned forward and placed the jumper beside him on the couch. He picked it up gingerly and put it aside; wondering what could be so serious.
Then he remembered her story about the alien overseers and his mood darkened. “Oh no. Did those alien races figure out that the blue-backs misused the technology?”
“No. Not yet. It’s not that bad but it’s bad. The blue-backs finally found the Morians’ Earth. The Morians fears have been realized. The blue-backs invaded. They attacked them without mercy.”
Neil’s eyes widened as he considered the ramifications. Then he nodded and said, “But they now have the perfect excuse to take them down, once and for all.”
“They can’t. Too much chaos will bring unwanted attention from outside our galaxy. Anyway, it’s too late to regain the upper hand. To keep the peace, The Morians fled their own world and now the blue-backs have hundreds of devices, confiscated from them.”
“Shit! They need to be stopped before they get us all killed.”
“I’m glad you said that because I need your help.”
Neil stared at the jump device. It had given him everything he’d ever wanted but it
seemed like an evil talisman now that he’d found the perfect life. “What are the Morians going to do?”
“They’re setting up base on an uninhabited world as we speak. But they need scouts who can blend in on the blue-backs’ world. That’s where you and I come in.”
“I don’t like where this is going.”
“It has to be done. We have to stop them or they’ll doom us all.”
“Forget it. The Morians can sort it out themselves. I have a family now and I’m not going to leave them to fight someone else’s battle.”
“But I need your help.” She said it desperately, like she could barely believe he’d refused.
“It has to get a whole lot worse before I’ll even consider going with you.”
She bit her lower lip and then nodded. “I’ll keep you up to date. Keep the jumper safe.”
War
✨
SAMANTHA GAVE NEIL two handguns and a shotgun. She told him to get his affairs in order because she might come back for him.
He explained once more that he wasn’t about to leave his newfound loved ones behind when there were others who could do the fighting instead of him. It was a selfish thing to say, given how much she’d helped him, but he wasn’t going to jeopardize the life he’d been so lucky to find unless it was absolutely necessary for the survival of his family.
Samantha barely concealed her anger and disappointment as she left his house and his world.
Neil had expected something to go wrong. His perfect life was not really his. He knew it could be taken from him and a part of him felt like he deserved no better.
He explained the situation to Peggy and she snarled, “I’m glad you told her no. I can’t let you go. I only just got you back.”
He nodded as he considered the possibilities. “I sure hope the Morians succeed in stopping the blue-backs. If no one stops them they’ll get us all killed.”