The Parallel Conspiracy: A Mystery Adventure of Alternate Worlds

by Richard Lori

 

  Fuller saw the scene unfold as he peered around the corner of the kitchen door. Bechler was there one second and then, just like he had said, he faded out. While he ran through the door, Sue bolted to the chair where Bechler had been sitting.

  Fuller cried, “Sue!” as he barreled through the opening between the dining and living rooms. Halfway to the chair he exclaimed, “What the hell just… shit.”

  Fuller’s foot caught the edge of the living room rug and he stumbled into the side of the chair.

  “Where the hell did he go?” Fuller gasped once he recovered.

  “If I hadn’t seen what things look like when they shift before, I’d say it was some kind of a trick,” said Sue, her eyes still wide. “I don’t think it was though. He must have been telling me the truth.”

  She sat down in the chair that moments before Bechler had occupied while Fuller began to pace back and forth, barking questions at her.

  “What were you two talking about? What’s this project you’re involved with? What’s this shifting and all the talk about parallel universes?”

  It took a moment for his words to penetrate her thoughts. While he waited for a response, it was Fuller’s turn to sit down, this time on the couch.

  “I can’t go into all the technical details of the project for security reasons,” she said as she looked over at him. “Even if I did, you wouldn’t understand unless you knew all the background physics and math involved. Anyway, you’re familiar with the idea of parallel universes, right?”

  “Yeah sure. Some of the science-fiction novels I’ve read use them as part of the story. Are you saying they really exist?”

  “Yes, they do. I can tell you from firsthand experience.”

  “So you’ve been to one?”

  “Of course not. Don’t be silly,” she said with a scowl. She paused before continuing, “Although after what I’ve just seen, I guess it isn’t so silly after all.”

  Sue shook her head. “Anyway, to explain what we’re doing, I’ll need to give you some background information. Are you familiar with M-theory or String Theory?”

  “I’ve heard of String Theory,” he replied with a nod. “Isn’t that where all matter like protons are actually small strings?”

  “Well not exactly, but close enough. Protons are made of smaller subatomic particles called quarks. If we combine one down quark and two up quarks, we get a proton. However, the quarks themselves are actually strings. In fact, all the myriad of subatomic particles we’ve discovered are component strings. Electrons, muons, neutrinos; all are different expressions of strings.”

  “Different expressions?” Fuller asked.

  “Yeah. You see a string can express itself in many different ways through its vibration. Think of it like the string on a violin. If we pluck it or draw a bow across it, it will vibrate at a specific fundamental frequency. But more than that, it will also vibrate with additional overtones or harmonic frequencies. The harmonic frequencies are what give the violin its distinct sound. You could play the same fundamental note on, let’s say, a clarinet, and it will sound totally different to you. That’s because there are different strengths of harmonics being produced by each instrument.”

  “All right I can see that.”

  “So the same holds true for a string. Depending on what frequency and harmonic components are in the vibration of the string will depend on whether it’s expressing itself as an electron or a charm.”

  “A charm?” he asked.

  “That’s a type of quark.”

  “Oh,” Fuller replied, frowning.

  “So, all forms of matter are strings vibrating at different frequencies and with differing amounts of harmonic components. The interesting thing is that these strings can vibrate in any of ten dimensions of space-time.”

  “Ten dimensions? I thought there were three dimensions of space and one of time?”

  “No, there are eleven, but I’ll get to the eleventh in a second.”

  “Okay, eleven then. But how come I’m only aware of three?”

  “Since the time of the big bang, all the dimensions have been stretching but not in the same way. The dimensions we’re familiar with are stretching in a uniform manner, like a sheet of rubber. The higher dimensions are stretching like a piece of woven material though. The weave has stretched so much that the material is like a net now. Wherever the fibers intersect, the dimension is noticeable, but in the large openings of the net, the dimension can’t be seen. The thing is, these intersections are on a subatomic level, so while an individual string can vibrate into them, larger groupings of atoms can’t move in them together. Therefore, on a macro level, we’re blocked from moving within them as well.”

  “All right, I guess that makes sense.”

  “Good. The next thing is there are four forces in nature: gravity, electromagnetism, weak and strong nuclear forces. Each of these forces is just a dimension in the universe. Einstein showed us that gravity is a bending of space-time: the more massive an object, the more it warps space-time. So gravity isn’t a force that’s pulling us towards an object, it’s a warp in the space-time dimension pushing masses of matter into each other. The same holds true for the other forces. They’re all warping of space-time, just warping of other dimensions which give a different push to matter.

  “On top of these first ten dimensions is an eleventh dimension. This dimension is the universal dimension and contains an infinitely long string called a membrane. All the strings in our universe are connected to this membrane which itself is vibrating at a specific frequency in the eleventh dimension. This causes all the strings attached to it to vibrate at this same eleventh dimension frequency. Now, let’s say we alter the frequency of one of the strings in our universe in this eleventh dimension. What do you think will happen?”

  “I don’t know. We get a different kind of particle?”

  “Nope. We would move that string onto a different membrane and therefore a different universe. Because our string is out of phase with the original membrane’s vibration, it will detach and re-attach to a membrane it’s in phase with. In other words, it attaches to one that is vibrating at the same frequency in the eleventh dimension.

  “So now that the string with the different frequency is attached to the new membrane, it will be in its new universe and interact with the matter and forces there. It’s kind of like tuning the dial on a radio. All the possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation are out there floating around. We’re just tuning the receiver to a specific one to pull out the radio station we want to hear. We can also look at the different universal membranes almost like a stack of papers.”

  “In what way is that?” asked Fuller.

  “Let’s say our universe was only two dimensional and all we knew was forward and back and side to side. We would know nothing of what was above us on the next sheet of paper up or the next sheet of paper down from us in the stack. Each sheet of paper would represent its own unique membrane or universe. While everything we know is happening on that single sheet of paper where we exist, there are certain things that may affect the entire stack. For example, let’s say we drove a staple through it.”

  Fuller understood some of what she was saying but did not want to ask for too much clarification and look stupid. Therefore, he just nodded his head. He could also see how excited she was getting at explaining this, and her enthusiasm intrigued him too much to try to slow her down.

  “Now, what I found through several equations I developed was that we can shift the eleventh dimension frequency of a string and push it from one universe to another. However, by doing so, we throw the multi-verse out of the natural balance it’s in. If we’re talking about only a few strings, the imbalance is there but minimal. The more strings we shift though, the greater the imbalance and the greater the force to bring it back into balance. If we shift a gram of matter to another universe, it will want to push back another gra
m of material to achieve balance.

  “It would be like if we snipped off a corner of one of our sheets of paper, balled it up and pushed the ball into the middle of our stack of papers. There would be a bump distorting the sheets on either side. The farther up the stack you go though, the less effect it has on an individual sheet. While the sheet of paper ten feet up from the ball shows no distortion, it’s still exerting force to smooth out the bump far below. Therefore, the bump will try to be smoothed out by the ball getting pushed back to its original configuration and universe. If it doesn’t get pushed back, then the force pushing down will continue and be felt in one or all of the other dimensions of force.

  “The dimension of force we’re most interested in is the electromagnetic. Since this is what we’re using to make the initial shift of the string’s quantum frequency, there is a natural tendency for the energy to come back as electromagnetism. In effect, we’re opening an electromagnetic gateway between the universes.

  “What I didn’t take into account with my original equations though was that the strings have a natural resonant frequency which they want to vibrate at. When we shift the matter’s frequency with the minimal amount of energy needed, the strings will return to their resonant frequency rather quickly; therefore popping back into their original universe. We have to use progressively more energy to change the frequency for longer periods of time. At some point though, the change becomes permanent, and the matter remains at its new frequency, thereby causing the equalization of the universes to occur in one of the other dimensions. This is the critical point we need to make the energy transfer happen. Otherwise, the balance between the two universes will just happen through the original matter coming back across the eleventh dimension. We won’t get the desired energy transfer through distortion of the electromagnetic dimension we’re looking for.

  “The other possibility of course is if we don’t achieve the balance ourselves through electromagnetic force, it will re-balance through another dimension, most likely the gravitational. This would mainly occur in the huge gravity wells of black holes in both universes.”

  “So that’s what the idea was? To transfer matter from our universe to another so we can get energy back?”

  “Yep, and it doesn’t take a lot of matter either. One gram of material is enough to power a small city for a year.”

  “Wow, that’s a lot of energy!” said Fuller, his brow rising. “So how do you shift this matter into another universe then?”

  “We’re doing it by using intense electromagnetic fields from some near-room-temperature superconducting electromagnets my dad developed. Once we permanently shift the matter to a parallel universe, a sort of gateway is open between the two universes and electromagnetic force leaks back through. We use the original electromagnetic coils that performed the shift to collect the energy on our side and turn it into a flow of electrons or electricity. The big thing we need to tackle now is to find a way to hold the gateway open once the shift happens. Then we can force the equalization to occur at a specific point and thus collect the energy on our side. Once we do, we’ll have an energy source that’s clean, efficient and unlimited.

  “The other big stumbling block is to use as little energy as possible to make the original shift so we can get back more than we put in. It’s only possible because we aren’t shifting the quantum frequency of the strings in the entire mass of matter.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Fuller.

  “Well, all we need to do is shift the frequency of the outer layers of the atomic structure. Once this starts to shift, it pulls the rest of the matter inside the mass through the gateway along with it. This is due to the nuclear forces holding the matter together. Once we make the transfer and the outer layer stays in the new universe, the inner will stay too. You see, after the strings attach themselves to the new membrane, its vibration will force them to vibrate at its frequency and hold them there. As long as we get that outer layer locked in initially, it holds the rest. If this didn’t happen, we would have to use more energy to transfer it over than what we get back. There is no free lunch when it comes to energy.”

  His skull buzzing from the overload of information, Fuller’s head fell back into the plush couch cushion. He stared at the ceiling for a few moments. “This is all so bizarre,” he said as his head rocked back and forth. “This must be some kind of dream I’m in. I can’t believe anything that’s happened in the last day.”

  “I know what you mean. It must be hard for you to absorb all this,” she said. A scowl came to her face. “Hell, what am I talking about? I’ve been living a nightmare for the past month too. I’m not sure what to believe anymore either.” She turned and gazed out the window. “Was my dad murdered?”

  Fuller’s own thoughts occupied him too much to hear Sue. Until a day ago, he lived a normal life. He had a respectable job, a typical wife and an ordinary home in an average neighborhood. It was not perfect, but it was his life. Now it was spinning faster and faster out of control, and he wanted it all to stop. He clenched his eyes shut and wished for all the insanity to end.

  When he opened his eyes and he was still sitting on Sue’s couch, Fuller yelled, “This isn’t happening! This isn’t real! I want this craziness to stop!”

  “Calm down, John,” said Sue. “Getting hysterical about this won’t help either of us. We need to think this through rationally.”

  He leaned forward, staring at her. She was part of this and therefore part of the frustration. All he could do was throw his head back into the cushion and yell, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

  Sue shot from the chair and sat next to him. She clutched him by the shoulders and cried, “John, stop this! You’re not helping anything by getting angry! This is happening, and we need to figure out why!”

  Her sudden force startled Fuller. Although he had known her for a short time, it seemed uncharacteristic of her. As he recoiled from the unexpected onslaught, he fixed on her eyes and saw hardness like he had never seen before. They softened though and calmness replaced the intensity. The peace seemed to flow through to his body, filling him with soothing warmth. The nerves, which had a moment before burned with exasperation, were cooled by the vision before him.

  Everything would be all right. She would solve the puzzle he was in and get him back where he belonged. He felt this in the instant he decided to call her from the payphone and felt even more certain of his faith now.

  “That’s better,” said Sue. “We need to think this whole thing through rationally and logically.”

  “That’s easy enough to say, but none of this makes any sense. How can you be rational over such an irrational situation?”

  “That’s the trick, John. I’m used to doing this though. I’ve worked on physics problems for half my life where it seemed that something was impossible only to come up with an explanation as to how it is possible.”

  “Yeah, well, you’re a physicist and you’ve been working on this quantum shifter. You’re used to what it can do. This is all new to me, so forgive me if I have some doubt about its reality.”

  “I suppose you’re right. I can hardly believe what I’ve seen, so I can imagine how you must feel.” She paused for a moment, her face softening. “John, I’m sorry for being so rough a second ago. I know this is very hard for you to accept, but we have to deal with the situation as it stands.”

  Fuller felt his whole being melt. He could not remember the last time someone had empathized with him. In the early days of their relationship, Rita had to some extent. Because her life had been somewhat analogous, it helped him to know that someone else had similar feelings. That was his main consolation though. As time went on and Rita turned more egocentric, even this commonality was gone.

  Although Rita never tried to understand his condition, he could see that Sue was. There were so many things he wanted to convey. To have an understanding ear that would listen and help make sense of his existence was somet
hing he had lacked his entire life.

  Sue’s voice pulled Fuller from his thoughts.

  “Okay, Bechler said my father was murdered in the lab that night and that he was there to get further information about the power usage.” She became excited and clasped Fuller’s arm. She let go quickly as her half-clenched hand thumped the open palm of her other hand. “I could never figure out why he was there, but that explains it. He never wanted anyone working alone in the lab, even for a minute.” She paused for a moment, staring off into space.

  Fuller felt his arm tingle where she had touched him. The sensation of her delicate fingers persisted long after she withdrew her hand. As the electric tickle spread throughout his arm, his eyes wandered around her face. He had thought her pretty since the first time he had seen her, but now, in her present state of exhilaration, she was beautiful. The sparkle in her eye, the movement of her lips across her teeth while she contemplated awakened a long hibernating thrill he forgot existed.

  “John, somehow what’s happened to you must fit into this too.”

  Lost in reflection, he mumbled, “Hmm? What do you mean?”

  “Don’t you see there must be some connection between this conspiracy and what happened to you? Can you think of any connection you may have to the project or Gladstone Industries?”

  Fuller became disengaged from his thoughts, and frustration began to grip him again. “No. I don’t know anything about Gladstone, and I’ve certainly never heard of shifting before.”

  “Well, I’m not sure, but from what you’ve told me, you have to be from a parallel universe. It must be one that’s close to this one because you said some people and places are similar.”

  Fuller did not respond but just stared at her. His mind froze while it attempted to process a fact that before today would have never entered his thoughts.

  “John, did you hear me?”

  As the impact of Sue’s previous deduction was absorbed, the tension in his shoulders melted. He felt a reprieve. He had questioned his own sanity in the last day, but this explanation would account for everything.

  “That means I’m not crazy! I’m just lost.” Fuller let out a deep breath. “The only thing is how do I get back?”

  “That’s easy,” said Sue like it was as simple an equation as one plus one. “Since you’re still alive, that means there wasn’t enough energy used to keep you here permanently. You should shift back by yourself.”

  “Really?” he said, snapping forward in his seat. “How long?”

  “I don’t know. We’re still testing the length of time spent in other universes in proportion to the energy used to shift the matter. In my absence, one of the other physicists at the lab is working on collecting that data. I’m going to be analyzing it over the next few weeks myself though.”

  “Can you give me even a rough estimate?”

  Fuller watched as she crinkled her nose and squinted in thought. He smiled and thought how cute she looked.

  “Hmmm. I’d say from our preliminary tests, it won’t be any more than a day or so. I can’t say for sure though.”

  “Thank God,” he said, a grin expanding on his face. “So, by later tonight, I should be home?”

  “I would say so.”

   

  *****

 

   

  As the sun crept up, its warm saffron radiance peeked in through the windows of the dining room. Reaching over, Sue turned off the squat hurricane lamp that had been the sole source of light through the night. She went to the front windows and drew on the cord that opened the drapes, adding a further joyful light to the room. When she turned back towards Fuller, she could see disappointment on his face. He sat forward on the couch with folded arms resting on his upper legs, his face angled down towards the floor between his knees.

  Although she felt sorrow for him, there was also relief at his not going. The more he was with her, the greater her sense of what she had missed in the weeks of mourning. The isolation she sentenced herself to had become so customary that it was no longer noticeable as something anomalous. Feeling lonely was just a normal part of existence. Yes, Uncle Bob had been there enough to fill a small part of the time, but it was not the same. She was not certain why but she somehow felt something different with Fuller around.

  With someone there almost constantly, she realized how much better it was to have someone to talk to and with whom to share a common experience. They had talked for hours on end through the night, Fuller finally becoming relaxed and opening up to her. At times, he had done more talking than she had, which surprised her given his earlier silence. Sue could not remember the last time she had interacted with another person so much—outside work that is. The life of seclusion she had been living seemed an aberration in comparison to what she was experiencing now.

  She walked back to him. As she towered over his half-prone body, she smiled. “How about a rerun of yesterday morning?”

  “Hmmm?” he inquired, his red-rimmed eyes gazing up at her.

  “How about a nice big breakfast again? It did wonders for you yesterday.”

  “Sue, I don’t understand,” he blurted out. “Why am I still here? You said I should have gone back already. Why didn’t I?”

  As his hurt look penetrated, she had the same feeling as the day before. He was depending on her to get him out of his situation. For some reason though, this time it did not scare her.

  “I don’t know, John. There’s still so much we don’t know about shifting. Like I told you, we’re still studying this, and there may be other unknown factors involved.”

  “Well, I understand it even less.”

  “Come on. As long as you’re still here, you may as well enjoy another one of my fantastic breakfasts.” She pulled on his arm and led him into the kitchen.

  This morning, Sue started with coffee brewed from freshly ground beans, moved to ripe melon drizzled with honey and then to a biscuit covered in pepper gravy. She finished with an omelet stuffed with oozing cheese and cubes of fried ham.

  Again Fuller could not contain his enthusiasm and stuffed himself as though starved for days. They talked while they ate, Sue doing most of the talking, and Fuller mainly acknowledging through his filled mouth.

  “I’ve been thinking,” said Sue. She lifted her coffee cup and took a small sip from its steaming rim. “I know what Bechler was talking about yesterday when he said my dad was pulling data from the quantum shifter directly.”

  “Yeahmm?” mumbled Fuller, his voice muffled from all the food he was bulldozing into his mouth.

  “The machine is controlled by a master computer which gives commands and gets feedback from a series of microcontrollers. From what Bechler was saying, the log files on the master computer are what the conspirators are erasing. What dad was going to do was tap into the microcontrollers and download the data directly from there.”

  “Uh hum,” he replied while he jammed another forkful of omelet in.

  “There’s twelve of them which control various functions on the machine. Normally, the master computer pulls the information from them in real time as they generate the data. They have an internal memory buffer though, which has the ability to store quite a bit of data too. There’s enough memory to store several shift’s worth of data.”

  “I seemmh,” muffled out Fuller, spitting a small fragment of egg onto the side of his glass of orange juice.

  “There should be no problem going there and plugging in my laptop. I’m sure I can pull the data from all the controllers in less than an hour.”

  Fuller stopped eating and half put down and half dropped his fork to the plate when the implications of what she was saying seeped in.

  “Whahhmm?” Fuller’s hand shot towards his coffee cup. He grabbed it and washed down the omelet remaining in his mouth. After gulping hard he said, “You can’t do that! Didn’t Bechler say that your dad was killed trying that
?”

  “Well, yes, but…”

  “But nothing! You can’t be serious about doing something as crazy and dangerous as that!”

  “Well, if we’re going to find out what’s going on, we need to get facts,” she said, cocking her head and flashing her eyes at him.

  “Getting facts is one thing. Committing suicide is another. There’s no way I’m just going to stand by and let you go there all by yourself and get killed!”

  Sue tried as hard as she could to freeze the expression that had been on her face. She could feel the slightest twitch of the muscle at the corner of her mouth trying to turn up but forced it back into place. She cooed, “Well, John, I’m glad you feel that way. I was hoping you wouldn’t want me to go there by myself. You’ll come with me then.”

  “I… I didn’t mean it that way!” Fuller stuttered.

  “Well then, you’d let me go there by myself?” Sue forced her lips into a pout.

  “Well, no! That’s not what I’m saying!”

  She could see she had him flustered now and would be able to get him to agree. She felt a small pang of guilt but knew it would not stop her. The times she manipulated her father like this had been rare. However, it had given her the experience to know that once she made up her mind to maneuver him into something, no amount of guilt could stop it.

  Sue leaped from the chair and was on him with a big hug. “Thank you, John. I knew you’d come with me and help!”

  “But, but…” said Fuller, seeming as though he wanted to object further. Her hug melted his resistance, and his stern look collapsed.

  Sue put a big smile on her face while she disengaged from him. Flashing her eyes she said, “We’ll go tonight.”

  All Fuller did was shake his head and murmur, “Aw, shit.”

   

  *****

 

   

  Sue drove on, lost in guilty thoughts of how she had manipulated Fuller. Several times, she considered turning back but did not. Now was when she always paid for her ill behavior. Whenever she maneuvered her father like this, she would feel remorse over it for weeks, agonizing about whether she should have done it or not.

  She could not come alone and needed Fuller. Although he did not seem like the bravest person she ever met, he did not seem like a coward either. She admitted to herself that she was scared, and while it pained her to force him into coming, there was no other choice.

  The resolve strengthened in her again so she kept driving. She turned the vehicle into the long dark drive that led back to the entrance of Gladstone Industries. In the distance, a pool of light glowing in the expanse of darkness marked the front gate. On either side lay an endless row of very dim lights, marking the shadow of a fence line. The points were like glimmering stars that stretched on endlessly, fading into the infinite blackness of night.

  Looking in the rearview mirror at Fuller in the back seat, she said, “Okay, John. Time to get down. We’ll be at the gate in a minute.”

  “All right,” he said, lying on the floorboard and covering himself with a black tarp Sue had given him.

  She knew all the security guards and was confident they would not do a thorough search of the car, hoping for only a cursory shine of the flashlight inside. She came to a stop at the gate and lowered the window to speak to the guard. “Hello, Andy. How are you tonight?” she said with a smile.

  “Well, look at this. What are you doing here at this time of night, Miss Manders?” The guard grinned back. “I didn’t think you were back at work yet?”

  “I’m not really. I was talking with Director Humboldt yesterday, and he said he wanted me to take another month off.”

  “Of course, of course.” The guard straightened up. Even though he was not an employee of the company, Humboldt was very important at Gladstone. The mere mention of his name made everyone stand at attention.

  “But I told him I’d start working a bit from home, analyzing some data.”

  “Oh, well that’s good. Kinda ease back in a bit.”

  “Yeah, that’s the idea. I need to get some files from my office though.”

  “This time of night?”

  “Well, I couldn’t sleep. Besides, it’s going to be kind of hard to see everyone for the first time since… you know?”

  Andy said in a soft voice, “Yeah, I know. I haven’t had a chance to tell you how sorry I was about your dad. Everyone misses him around here.”

  “Thank you, Andy, that’s very sweet of you.” Sue’s voice cracked and her eyes moistened. “I still get very emotional about it so that’s why I wanted to come by when nobody was around.”

  “I understand completely. Go ahead in. You need any help with the files? I can call one of the boys over to help you.”

  “No, that won’t be necessary; I can manage. It’s only a handful that I need, but thanks anyway.”

  “Well, you have a good evening.”

  “You too, Andy.”

  He walked into the guardhouse and pushed the control to roll back the big chain-link gate. After it was open, he waved to her from the window and she drove forward through the opening. When they gained some distance from the gatehouse, she let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, John, you can get off the floor now, but keep scrunched down in the seat in case we pass anyone.”

  The facility that lay before them was a vast complex of steel-shell buildings used for manufacturing the array of Gladstone products. Some were dark and dead while others were a beehive of activity as third-shift workers bustled about. Several fork trucks passed by loaded with pallets of materials to be transformed by the machinery humming away in the factory shops.

  She continued towards her target building in the far back corner. Although a sizable structure, the enormous warehouses she had passed dwarfed it. The building housed the research and development department, her office and the shifting lab. At this hour of night, there was never anyone in the building. She parked the car in the space closest to the door and called to Fuller that it was all right to get out.

   

  *****

 

   

  As Fuller exited the car, he stretched both arms and legs to get the circulation back into them. The contour of the backseat floorboard had forced him to contort his body into an odd position. As he continued to stretch, he looked around the shadowed lot, a single faint light over the building entrance the only illumination.

  Across from the building was the back of a mammoth warehouse, a halo hanging over it from the bright lights of the parking lot on the opposite side. His ears buzzing with a low pitch thrum, the scent of machine oil and smoke from a welder’s torch filled the air. Fuller could sense the bottoms of his feet pulse as the ground vibrated from the industrial engines buried within the building’s heart.

  The deep drone and the darkness surrounding him intensified the edge of fear he felt. In the past, he had always avoided danger of any sort and now everything within him screamed to run away. What the object of his apprehension was he did not know, but that there was danger here he was certain. Someone killed Sue’s father for digging into this strange mystery, and he did not want the same fate to fall on himself. He feared that at any moment a hand would grip his shoulder from behind and tear the life from his shuddering body.

  Sue removed a black Cordura case from the passenger seat. “C’mon,” she said in a hoarse voice, closing the door and walking off.

  She led them towards the solitary light and stopped under it to swipe a security card in front of a reader. It let out a beep then a sharp click as a solenoid in the doorframe released the locking bolt. Fuller clenched his body at the cold mechanical sound, as if the expectant hand had seized him.

  Sue tugged the glass door open and walked into a vestibule. The second set of doors opened without the card, and they walked into a corridor that gave three options: left, forward and right. All three were dark but for di
m nightlights in the ceiling every thirty yards.

  To Fuller, all options were imposing—a maze whose end could bring only punishment but no reward. He pondered the dreaded outcomes of each for only a second though as Sue took his hand and dragged him left into the threatening labyrinth.

  “My office is this way. I need to get an interface cable for the laptop so I can connect it to the controllers.”

  When they got to the office, Sue again waved her card in front of a reader and got the same beep and click as before. When she opened the door, the lights within came on. Fuller turned his head, the sudden brightness making his eyes feel like spikes had been driven into them. He followed her in, and when his eyes became accustomed to the illumination, he took in the room he had entered.

  It was of medium size with the standard arrangement of desk, chairs, bookcase and file cabinets to make it functional for its purpose. The walls were papered with a flowery pattern and lined to the point of overcrowding with pictures and charts. The photos were on the wall behind her desk and were of Sue, her father and co-workers. Undecipherable graphs filled the other three walls, so Fuller gravitated to the wall with the photographs.

  Before him lay a glimpse of Sue’s life, and he wanted to absorb as much as he could. Any fear shoved to the back of his consciousness, he reveled in the opportunity to learn more about the woman he was risking his neck for.

  As Fuller expected, most were of happier times and times of triumphant accomplishment. There she was in front of some unknown equipment with her father and again with her arm around a middle-aged woman in a lab coat. In another, she was sitting at the desk next to him, looking at her computer screen and deep in thought. One with a wood frame displayed her and her father with a whole group of people in a cafeteria.

  While all the photos were of interest to him, one grabbed him more than the rest: Sue and her father receiving an award. He stared at it with a sense of awe like he was in a museum and gazing at the work of one of the great masters. It was such a vision as he had never seen before, the smile on her face lighting the scene with an aura of happiness and beauty. She had smiled many times since he had met her but never like this.

  His mind was wrenched from the place it had been when Sue said, “Here it is. Let’s go.”

  He looked at her and then back at the photo, hesitating before following, not wanting to leave the sanctuary the picture provided.

  Back into the warren of dark halls they went, Fuller being turned and twisted about. If he had to, he was not sure he could find his way to the car.

  At the end of one hall, they came to a gray steel door different from any others they had passed. The ceiling in front of the door was lit fully as Fuller surmised the rest of the hall must be when the lights were turned on. Again Sue waved her card in front of a reader, but this time only the beep sounded with no click of a solenoid following.

  “What the hell?” Sue said when she pulled on the door to open it. She swiped the card again with the same results. “Damn it. This should open.”

  She repeated the swipe several more times, each time tugging harder at the door. “They must have me locked out of the lab. C’mon, we’ll go back to my office and call security.”

  When they arrived, Sue settled into her chair and picked up the phone. While she punched at the numbers, Fuller stood beside her and again became lost in the refuge of the award picture. This time he pulled himself out though as he looked back and forth between the picture and Sue to compare the two. Fuller thought to himself, God what I wouldn’t give to see her smile like that again.

  He sat in one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk from Sue and began to examine her. As he did, he started to see the small imperfections that plagued even the most flawless of women. One of her eyes was slightly smaller than the other. Her lips were thinner and face wider than the beauty standards of the day would dictate. Her nose, though nicely proportioned straight on, in profile came to more of a point than it would in the ideal of beauty.

  To him, these slight deficiencies made her even more attractive. They made her more real and human than any picture of flawlessness in one of Rita’s fashion magazines. He would take Sue over any score of the airbrushed glamour girls in those imaginary catalogs of perfection. Anyone who could light up a room with a smile like her had qualities far more important than a few meaningless physical inconsistencies.

  Sue hung up the phone. When she saw his stare, her brows knitted. “What? Is something wrong?”

  “No. No.” Fuller shook himself from his thoughts. “What did they say?”

  “My uncle ordered the lab locked down at night since my dad’s accident, so they won’t give me access. I’ll talk to Uncle Bob about it tomorrow, but I’m afraid that doesn’t help us tonight.”

  “Well, I guess we can leave then,” said Fuller, his body sinking farther into the chair when his muscles unwound from relief. Although he had been distracted from his earlier fear, he still felt uncomfortable being there.

  “Not yet. I have an idea that may get us in without security.”

  Fuller’s heart skipped a beat. “Come on, Sue, let’s go. That door looked pretty secure, so we’re not going to just break in there. Please, let’s just go.”

  His whining seemed to irritate her. “John, if you want to leave, then go. I’m sorry I made you come in the first place, but I’m staying. I can’t give up without even trying to get in there.”

  Fuller could see the look of determination on her face. He was also beginning to see how stubborn she could be, and he did not like it. He was always dealing with stubborn women who bullied him into doing things: first his mother and then Rita. Sue had maneuvered him into coming here just like the others, and he was tired of it.

  His anger rose, and so did he. Fuller stood. “Fine, stay if you want, but I’m getting out of here.” He walked out the door.

  He had only gone several yards before realizing he did not know where he was going. He was a rat in a maze and did not know the path to the treat.

  “Damn it!” Fuller cursed. He would have to go back and ask how to get out of the building. While he walked to her office, he could hear Sue sobbing inside, and he felt like that rat again. This time though not because of the maze but because he had walked out and left her alone. This woman was not his mother or Rita. She had done nothing but help him since they met, and the first time she needed something from him, he had abandoned her.

  “Jackass,” he said under his breath. He entered the office. “Sue, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have walked out like that.”

  She lifted her head from the desktop and dried her eyes with the backs of her hands. “No, John, I’m the one who’s sorry. I should have asked for your help instead of pressuring you. I’m asking now though. I need your help. Will you?”

  “Yes, of course I will. You’ve helped me through the last couple of days and didn’t have to. Now it’s time to pay you back.”

  Sue rose and went to him, giving him a hug. “Thank you.”

  Her warm body pressing next to his sent electricity through him. She released him far too fast for his liking and was all business again.

  “Okay, here’s what we need to do. I have some superconducting coils here that we use in the quantum shifter. All we have to do is run some power through them and get them near the lock on the lab door. The magnetic field should trip the solenoid and release the latch.”

  Fuller, still buzzing from her contact, muttered, “Okay.”

  “We’ll need to find an extension cord long enough to reach from the lab door to the closest electrical outlet.”

  Sue stashed three of the coils, some gloves, cellophane tape and a pair of scissors into her jacket pockets and they were off in search of the electrical cord. They looked in several utility closets before finding a floor buffer. It had a long cord attached to it that Fuller cut off with some difficulty using the scissor. When they returned to the lab
door, they found an outlet about twenty feet down the hall, giving them plenty of cord to spare.

  Sue attacked the end of the cord with her scissors and began stripping insulation from the wires. She cursed under her breath several times because it was like performing a delicate brain surgery with a meat cleaver instead of a scalpel. Finally, she got it though and used the tape to wrap the ends of the wires she had twisted together.

  “Here’s what we need to do: we plug the cord into the outlet, and at the same time move the coil around by the door latch to try and get it to trip. I’m not sure where we need to position it though. The main problem is that these coils won’t be able to handle the current flow for long and will heat up. We won’t have much time before they burn out, so we have to act fast. As soon as the latch trips, pull the door open.”

  “All right, let’s try it,” said Fuller as he took the coil in his hand.

  “Here. Put on the gloves,” said Sue, handing them to him.

  He donned the gloves and stood ready while Sue inserted the plug into the wall socket. The coil hummed to life with current and almost leapt from his hand as it yanked towards the steel door with surprising force. He tightened his grasp and pulled back against the invisible field possessing the coil. He started to wave the helix around the doorjamb by the latching mechanism to find the spot that would spring the lock.

  Fuller caught a whiff of insulation burning and was starting to feel the dull heat of the coil through the leather work-gloves. When he moved the coil to the left, a loud buzzing sounded as the solenoid oscillated from the magnetic forces tearing at it. He moved it farther left while the heat became uncomfortable and a smoke wisp began to rise from the glowing coil. There was a stuttering click, click, click as the lock started to release from its secured position, but the door would not open at Fuller’s lurching tugs.

  There was a loud crack and a blinding arc when the coil shorted out, its insulation giving way to the smoldering heat. Fuller’s hand sprung away from the exploding helix while he jumped back to distance himself from it. His feet tangled in the cord, and he fell to the ground on his derrière. Sue also reacted, jerking the plug from the socket and running to Fuller.

  “John! Are you all right?”

  His eyes were wide and his mouth formed a big ‘O’ as she knelt beside him. He could not see her, because the after image of the arc smeared a blue-white blob over everything he looked at. He reached for her several times before grabbing onto her shoulder.

  “What the hell happened?” Fuller croaked out, his body trembling.

  “The coil insulation melted, and it shorted out like I said it would. Did you get shocked?”

  “No. It just scared the hell out of me.” He blinked his eyes several times. “I can’t see a damn thing. It’s like someone just took a picture of me with a camera flash.”

  “That’s from the electrical arc. It should pass in a minute. Just sit here for a while until it does.”

  Sue sat next to him and rubbed his shoulder. After a few minutes, she asked, “Can you see all right now?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” He got to his feet and helped her up.

  “You ready to try again?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “All right, this time I’ll take the coil.”

  “Oh no you won’t. I’ll take it again. I could hardly hold onto the damn thing because it kept pulling towards the door. I don’t think you’ll be able to hold onto it with one hand. You’d have to use two, and then you wouldn’t be able to open the door. Besides, I think I know where to hold it now to spring the latch.”

  “Okay, if you’re sure.”

  Sue pulled a second coil from her pocket and went to work wiring it to the cord. When she was done, she handed it to Fuller. This time he did not put a glove on each hand but wrapped the right-hand glove around the coil and then held the whole assembly in his gloved left hand. They got into position and she plugged it in again.

  The coil whined to life and tugged his hand. It was not as strong this time as he held it farther to the left of the doorjamb, lessening the magnetic attraction of the steel door. This coil heated faster than the first and smoke wisped into the air. Fuller could not feel the heat this time with the extra layer of glove insulating his hand. As he brought it closer to the door, the buzzing started, but then there was a solid click when the latch released. He yanked on the door, and this time it opened.

  Sue jerked the plug from the outlet and ran over to the door beside him. “It worked!” she exclaimed.

  “It sure did! I don’t believe it!” When he opened the door fully, the lights automatically came on inside.

  “Just stand there and hold it while I get everything,” said Sue.

  She wound up the cord, gathered the burned-up coil and gloves, and shoved them in her pockets. She picked up the Cordura case last and walked into the lab with Fuller behind.

  Lights, dials and flashing computer displays assaulted Fuller. There was an excitement here, the equipment seeming to have a life of its own. It appeared to move with each flash of light and breathe with the unceasing whirl of cooling fans. It was alive with the energy of not only this but all the universes of possibility. He could see how this all-powerful entity, which could move through the whole of infinity, lured Sue. She dared to do what he never could, control and tame the beast to a purpose that would benefit all.

  For even Fuller, a man who embraced computers and technology in general, it was overwhelming. The mechanical creature had grappled him before, it bringing him to this universe. Its power was greater than any man’s, having torn his life from him and brought despair to Sue’s. He never imagined such a device possible, but with all he had witnessed, it forced him to acknowledge it.

  The monstrous machine was divided into various sections and formed a ‘U’ shape around the room. To the far left and right were rows of equipment racks filled with black-faced gear with flashing lights on their surfaces. Fuller recognized some of the devices to be computers, but most others were unknown to him. Several had large dials with digital readouts next to them. Others had no controls or displays of any kind but only a single switch paired with an LED to show that it was live with power.

  The equipment racks on both sides wrapped around the corners towards each other at the back wall and only stopped when they met a large glass-faced booth. It was dead center of the wall and measured about ten feet square. Its floor was several inches off that of the lab, and its ceiling rose to ten feet in height. In the middle of the ‘U’ formed by the racks and booth was a control console with seven computer displays flickering with various counters and moving line graphs.

  Despite his apprehension at the energies the machine contained, Fuller walked towards the mechanism’s control console and laid his hand on one of its displays. He felt its gentle pulse on his fingertips but knew it was only a mindless tool, even if one of great importance. One of such world-changing power that someone thought it was worth killing over. But then again, he knew men had killed for less.

  He looked at Sue, who had positioned herself in front of one of the other displays. This one was larger than the rest, and Fuller surmised it must be the main control. Her fingers flashed over a keyboard with an ease that spoke of familiarity. She was in control of this infinitely powerful instrument, and he felt justified in his earlier faith in her to return him back to his home.

  Sue turned to Fuller. “Okay, John. We’re all set here. We’ll need to go around to the back of that row of equipment racks to pull the data.” She pointed to the cabinets that stood on the left side of the control console.

  There was a short space between the back of the cabinets and the wall, which made it look like a narrow hallway that continued all the way to the back wall. Sue opened the door on the back of one of the racks and went to work. She removed a laptop computer from the Cordura case and plugged the cable she had retrieved from her office into it.
Once she started the computer, she plugged the opposite end of the cable into a jack on the equipment inside the rack. Her fingers flashed over the keyboard and numbers started scrolling onto the screen as the raw data dumped from the controller. They repeated this process four more times, opening different cabinets each time.

  They were in the sixth cabinet and watching the data spool onto the screen when they heard a loud click and muffled voices coming from the direction of the lab door. The drone of the cooling fans was too loud to distinguish how many there were or what was said. Sue and Fuller looked at each other in horror while they hunkered against the backs of the cabinets for protection, no matter how false a sense of security it was.

   

  *****

 

   

  As the voices continued to move about the other side of the equipment racks, Sue motioned for Fuller to come near. She whispered close to his ear, “Let’s go to the end of the racks to see if we can find out who they are and what they’re saying.”

  Fuller’s eyes were as large as a lemur’s, but he nodded agreement nonetheless. He was closest to the end cabinet so was the first to reach it. When he peered around the corner, Sue brushed up next to him and scrunched down to a level below his to look around the corner too.

  She could see three men standing near the doorway talking. The first, a man of medium height with dark brown, spiked hair, was wearing a black sports jacket and denim pants. She had seen him before, but his name escaped her. The other two were taller and more muscular. They wore steel blue slacks with white short-sleeved polo shirts adorned with an indistinguishable insignia. From this distance, she could understand what they were saying over the din.

  “I don’t know what that is, but it’s definitely something burning,” said the smaller man.

  “Yeah, smells like burning rubber.”

  “Can’t be anything serious or it woulda set off the fire alarm,” piped in the third.

  As they talked, another man came into the room. At the angle she was looking from, Sue was unable to see his face. He wore black dress pants with a blue linen shirt and his short-cropped hair was a dirty blond.

  He barked out, “What do you mean it couldn’t be serious? Something could have burned out in the quantum shifter, and now it won’t work. Damn it, Phil, find out where that smell is coming from.”

  “Sure, sure,” said the short man. “I’ll run a diagnostic from the master computer. Franz, you and Bobby check out the controller racks to see if you can tell which one the smell is coming from.”

  Sue pulled Fuller back around the corner when Franz turned and started to walk towards the equipment racks they were behind. She pulled him close and whispered, “Come on. We better get around that corner.” She pointed towards the back wall and started in that direction. They stopped at the cabinet where the laptop was and she disconnected the cable from the controller. As quiet as she could, she closed the door, gathered up the laptop and case and continued towards the back wall.

  After she rounded the corner, she felt a bit safer but knew that a thorough search of the room would find them. Again, she could hear the men talking but was having difficulty understanding all but the loudest words.

  “Diagnos… every… green,” said Phil. His voice rose louder to call out. “Franz, check behind all the cabinets and see if there’s anything burning there.”

  She heard that all right and, by his look, Fuller had too. He was turning his head back and forth like a trapped animal looking for a way to escape. She could feel his fear, and that of her own for that matter, as she also looked to find a hidden exit. There was none.

  They flattened their bodies to the backs of the cabinets to delay the inevitable as long as possible. After a few moments, Fuller, who had been farther away from the corner, brushed past Sue and got close to the cabinet’s edge. He stood there taking deep breaths, and when she looked into his eyes, she saw the fear was gone. In its place was something she had never seen in him before. Though the gaze seemed to last an eternity, she could not decipher its significance. Finally he turned. His fist curled up and his arm drew back while he readied himself to strike the man when he came around the corner. She felt gratified that her earlier assessment about him had been true. He was no hero, but he was no coward either.

  They were only in this position for a moment before Sue could hear the soft click of Franz’s shoes on the polished concrete floor. The snap of his heels ticked off seconds like a clock pendulum. Her apprehension built to such a frenzy, she dare not exhale for fear the approaching hunter would hear its release. She almost did when Franz’s shadow hovered past the corner, blotting against the wall and floor. She could see the tension in Fuller’s arm constrict further to the point that it quivered from the strain, ready to explode.

  Just as the outburst was to occur, they heard a voice call out, “Hey, Franz!” It was Bobby’s voice. He had stopped Franz just before he reached the corner. He was so close to the edge that when he turned, wisps of his long, dark hair floated around the corner then disappeared again as they settled back to his head.

  “What?” boomed Franz.

  “Phil said forget it. The smell is coming from the hall outside the lab.”

  “Okay. I’m comin’.”

  As he walked off, Sue could hear him grumble to himself, “I told ’em it was nuttin’.”

  Sue’s chest was burning while she continued to hold the same lungful of air. When she could no longer hear the clicking of the shoes, she let her lungs loose in a great exhale.

  “Damn that was close,” she whispered to Fuller after taking a few breaths.

  “You’re telling me,” he said while he shook his arm to relax it.

  “Let’s go back around the cabinets so we can hear what they’re saying.”

  Fuller nodded agreement and led the way back to the far corner. They assumed the same positions as before and began to watch and listen. They could see Phil at the control console along with Franz. Bobby stood to the side, shifting from one foot to the other. Their boss, who was no longer there, must have left Phil in charge Sue surmised.

  “When will you be ready to shift?” Franz questioned.

  “Another fifteen minutes or so and there should be enough energy built up. You can start bringing the guns.”

  “Sure thing,” said Franz. He and Bobby walked towards the door.

  Sue was not sure what they meant but soon found out when the two men hauled in crate after wooden crate. The black stenciling on the sides indicated they contained automatic rifles. She was puzzled when they stacked them in the shifting booth.

  Fuller nudged Sue and pulled her back around the corner. He whispered, “What the hell are they doing?”

  “I don’t know,” she whispered back. “They’re obviously planning to shift those guns, but I don’t know why.”

  “Do you know them?”

  “I’ve seen the shorter one, Phil, but not the other two. I didn’t get a good look at the tall blond one before, so I have no idea who he is.”

  As Fuller shook his head, she leaned back around the corner to see if she could find out more. After several more trips, the two had filled one side of the booth with a pile of crates four high. When they brought the last in, they dropped it to the floor and went to the control console.

  “All right, we’re ready to shift now,” said Phil. “Starting the countdown.”

  Sue braced herself for the familiar reaction that she knew was coming.

   

  *****

 

   

  Fuller could detect a low-pitched hum rising above the whirl of the fan noise. As it got louder, it also increased in pitch but remained low enough for him to feel it in his chest like a rumble of thunder. The hair on his arms began to stand on end, and his skin felt like a static electric charge was building in his body. He touched the side of the equipment cabinet, which he
knew must be grounded, expecting the sting of a discharge to bite him. There was no spark though, and as he continued to feel the odd sensation building, it turned to a definite feeling of nausea.

  The queasiness prodded Fuller’s mind, remembering the same feeling the night he first met Sue. Although his mind was still fuzzy, he remembered the feeling during the fight. Or was it after? Either way, he knew that was when he had been thrust into this universe.

  He could remember the first man had attacked him, trying to choke out his life. He must have thought Fuller was someone else so assaulted him. Had he tried to eliminate Fuller by throwing him in a machine like this? It was just as possible the second man had done so. He also may have mistaken Fuller and sent him into another universe as protection from the first. Whichever it was, the question remained as to who the two men were and why they sent him here.

  While the flutter in his stomach intensified further, Phil started to count down aloud. “Five, four, three, two, one…” his voice called out above the vibration.

  On the count of two, the crates within the booth began to shimmer. By zero, they had faded from existence with a noticeable whoosh of air when it displaced the matter that had been there the second before. The hum faded away, and the odd sensation that Fuller had been experiencing with it.

  Phil turned to Franz. “Okay, go get the empty boxes.”

  The two left, and a few minutes later returned with gray steel boxes in each of their hands. Fuller thought they were the size of cigar boxes, only taller. With the strain the men showed they were much heavier too. They stacked the boxes in the shifting booth just like they had the guns and left to get more. After several more trips, they stayed in the booth and stood waiting.

  After a time, Phil said, “We’ll have enough power to shift again in a minute.”

  The low hum started and Fuller could feel the charge building. When the nausea hit, Phil called out, “Five, four, three, two, one…”

  For a second time, there was a whoosh of air when the men and boxes disappeared, relieving Fuller, since he thought he might vomit. Phil stayed at the console, his fingers alternating between the keyboard and touch display.

  Fuller backed away from the corner and nudged Sue to get her attention again. When she did not respond, he whispered, “Sue.”

  “Hold on a second,” she whispered back, her eyes still glued on Phil.

  A minute later, Phil rose and walked from the room. Sue pulled back from the corner of the cabinet and looked at Fuller with a scowl. He thought she was directing the anger at him.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to distract you,” he said.

  “No, no, that’s not it,” she said. “I just realized who the guy in the black jacket was.”

  “Phil? Who is he?”

  “He’s with the DAP. I remember my uncle introduced him to me when he came to the lab one time.”

  “DAP?” Fuller shook his head. “Why would they be involved in this?”

  “They’re not. Uncle Bob is pretty high up there, so I know they aren’t. But at least one and maybe more employees are. They know what they’re doing though.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you know what he was doing before he left?” she demanded. Before he could answer she declared, “He was erasing the log files.”

  “That’s just what Bechler said they were doing.”

  “I’m not sure why or where they’re transporting those guns, but this is what Dad must have found out the night he was here. That’s why they murdered him,” she fumed. “I’ll kill every one of those bastards for what they did.”

  “Sue, we don’t have time for this. Let’s get what we came for and get the hell out of here.”

  Fuller was getting shaky again at the mention of killing. He knew Sue was not being literal about killing, but the men involved in this were capable of it without hesitation. He took her hand and pulled her back in the direction of the laptop.

  They downloaded data from all the controllers, even the ones they had already done. Sue wanted a complete data set to analyze. They made quick work of it though, all the while keeping ears tuned to the sound of the door latch. It never clicked, and they went unmolested in their exit from the lab and the building too.

  When back in safety on the car’s floorboard covered by the tarp, a frosty shiver ran through Fuller when he considered the danger he had been in. One more step forward and Franz would have killed them both.

  They had driven over a mile from the compound before he rose from the floor and returned to the comfort of the seat. Only then did the iciness in his body begin to thaw.

 

 

  CHAPTER 6