by Richard Lori
“I think I have it,” said Sue when she looked up from the screen of her laptop with a grin.
Sue and Fuller had arrived back at her house many hours before. They had been at the dining room table hunched over the computer ever since, crunching through the miles of collected data. Sue realized she had enjoyed the whole process. She also recognized that the thrill of discovery she was feeling had been missing for the last month. The loss of her father had been great but was amplified by a loss of something else she loved, her work.
In her mind, her father and work were intertwined. She had never done anything else except work with him, first as an assistant and then as a partner. He had been mentor, collaborator and companion. Until this moment, she did not think the excitement she found in her work would be the same without him. Her fondest memories of him were the way his whole being would shine when she brought him a solution to a problem they had been laboring over. His excitement and approval was so contagious she would be aglow for days. Now she knew discovery in and of itself was a thrill even without him there. It may never be as great as when her father was there to show his pride in her, but it could still be exhilarating even so.
Although she felt herself rusty from the long hiatus, she was proud of the way she had processed the data so quickly. She was equally impressed with Fuller’s ability to assist her with a program he had never seen before.
They had copied the control program off the quantum shifter’s master computer so they could feed the data through it for preliminary compilation. The trick had been to format the data files from each microcontroller into the correct file layout for the program to read. With Fuller’s programming expertise, he coded a program to convert each of the raw text files to a database file the control program could digest. She was then able to pull the compiled log files from the control program and perform the final analysis of the data.
“It looks like they’ve been shifting to two different universes.” Her finger touched the screen to show Fuller. “The first is here, and it’s the one they’ve been visiting the most.”
“What do those numbers mean?”
“It’s the relationship of our universe to the other with respect to the change in the quantum frequency and oscillation patterns to get to it.” She could see he was still puzzled so said, “I could go into a long explanation of the mathematics of what it means but just look at it like a grid coordinate on a map.”
“All right I can see that. Almost like a latitude and longitude.”
“Exactly. To make it easier though, let’s refer to it as ‘Universe A’. Now the second universe, which we’ll call ‘B’, is here.” Again, she pointed at the screen. “This one is farther away, so to speak, and takes more energy per trip to shift to it. However, they’ve been shifting there less often and moving less mass when they do. Overall, they’ve used less total energy going there.”
“Do you think they’re transporting guns there too?”
“Given the amount of energy used, I would doubt it.”
“I didn’t see any markings on those gray boxes, but do you think maybe they’re transporting them to Universe B?”
“It’s possible I suppose, but there’s no way to tell for sure. We’re still testing the amount of energy, versus the mass of an object, verses how long that object stays in the alternate universe.” She wished now that she had gone through the data that Humboldt had brought her. It would help to make the different shift parameters the conspirators were using clearer.
“What do you think was in those boxes?”
“At first I thought it was ammunition for the guns, but that doesn’t make sense.”
“Why not?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “That makes a lot of sense.”
“Well, for one thing, they didn’t use enough energy to keep the boxes there on the second transport. If they had, it would have killed the two men.”
Fuller smiled. “Maybe they’re getting tired of old Franz and Bobby.”
“I thought of that too but here…” She clicked on the coordinates that designated Universe A and then on the last trip in the list. “You can see they didn’t use anywhere near the same amount of energy as the trip with the guns. Here’s a comparison graph.”
She clicked again and a line graph came up showing the last several trips to Universe A and the power used for each. It showed less than 5% of the energy was used in the last trip compared to the one before. While she did not have the data compiled from the latest series of tests, she had been involved in the preliminary ones. She was confident the last trip did not have anywhere near the amount of energy to make the shift permanent.
“Hmmm. Why would they go to all the trouble of shifting those boxes if they were going to come right back with them?” asked Fuller.
“It doesn’t make any sense. At least not with the facts we have.”
They were both deep in thought when the doorbell rang out. Sue looked at Fuller, who acted like he hadn’t heard it. She did not think it would be anyone after him but still thought it best if he stayed out of sight.
“John?”
“Hmmm? Yes?”
“Someone’s at the door.”
“Yeah I heard.”
“Don’t you think it would be better if you got out of sight?”
“Damn, you’re right,” he said, jumping from the chair. “I’ll go in the kitchen again.”
Sue waited until he was there and for the second ring of the bell before she headed for the door. When she opened it, Bechler was standing there with a warm smile on his face.
“Good day, Miss Manders. May I come in?”
“Agent Bechler. We’ve been waiting for you to come back. Yes, come in.” Sue opened the door wide and motioned for him to enter.
“Thank you. You can call me Vince,” he said as he entered.
Sue led him to the living room, and Bechler chose the same overstuffed chair as before. He settled in with a smile. “What did you mean when you said ‘we’?”
Realizing her mistake, she tried to act bewildered. “What do you mean?”
“You said ‘we’ve been waiting for you to come back.’ Who is ‘we’?”
At first, she was going to continue the dumb act but then thought better of it. After all, Fuller was in no danger from Bechler.
“Well, I guess I can tell you everything. John, come in here,” she said, looking at the kitchen door. “John? Come on out. I think we can trust Vince here.”
Fuller peeked his head around the door and then emerged from behind it. He walked into the living room and sat next to Sue on the couch.
Bechler raised an eyebrow and asked Sue, “And this would be?”
“Vince, this is John Fuller. He’s from another universe too.”
“What?” Bechler said, leaning forward. “You mean another universe is investigating this too?”
“No, I’m not investigating anything. In fact, I’m not sure how I got here. I was walking up to Sue’s house a few days ago and some guy attacked me and knocked me out. Then here I was.”
“A few days ago?” Bechler pulled a cell-phone-like device from his jacket pocket and pointed it at Fuller. He pressed a sequence on the display and numbers flashed across it. He pulled the device back towards himself and looked amazed.
“This is remarkable!” Bechler exclaimed. “I don’t ever recall seeing anything like this.”
“What is that device?” inquired Sue.
Bechler leaned forward in the chair and held it so Sue could see the display. “Here, see? It’s a portable computer, but it has various sensors in it too. One is a sensor that can detect the electromagnetic signature of matter. With that, it can extrapolate the quantum frequency of the matter as well. It isn’t as precise as some of the devices I have back at the lab, but it’s pretty accurate.”
“That’s very interesting,” she said. “I would love to know how it works. We don
’t have anything like that—especially so compact.”
She stared at the device in fascination. They had various ways of measuring the shifting process and knew in theory how it would affect the matter. However, she had not analyzed any matter once it shifted. She thought it would be interesting to see how it would change the properties of the atomic structure. The ability to measure the effects would give additional insight into how they could modify their quantum shifter for greater efficiency.
“Like I told you before, we are a bit more advanced in our technology,” Bechler muttered while he continued to stare at the screen. He snapped his head up and looked at Sue. “This is strange. I can see by the quantum signature that there’s an odd harmonic oscillation present that I haven’t seen before. Despite this, his matter seems locked in this universe.”
*****
“You mean I’m here for good?” Fuller’s heart began to thump. He wanted to get back to his normal life again, and now this man was telling him he might never be able to.
“Well, I can’t be sure. The matter in your body appears to be stable in this universe, but with that strange oscillation, I can’t tell you anything for certain. I would love to get you back to our lab for further study.” Bechler paused and then said, “I’ll have to look into getting some better instruments here so we can investigate this further.”
Fuller was not paying any attention to what Bechler was saying. All he heard was that he appeared to be stable in this universe. He may never get home again. His mind raced with thoughts of getting back. He asked, “Do you know of a way to get me back home?”
“I can’t explain how you got here let alone figure a way to get you back.” Bechler looked at Sue. “I’m not sure why he isn’t dead. Every time we’ve shifted any living organisms with enough energy to lock them into a different quantum state, there was an enormous amount of cellular damage. Did you have anything to do with this?”
“No, I’m not sure how he got here. He just showed up on my doorstep.”
“Do you know what day and time that was?”
“It was three days ago around eight thirty p.m.,” said Sue.
Fuller doubted her statement so counted the days himself. “Yeah, that is when it was. It seems like a lot longer though.”
He thought back to the police chase and the narrow escape at the lab. So much had happened in such a short time. He was not used to this pace, so it seemed like a long time had passed. He yearned to go back to his programming job and normal life. Although he tired of her constant nagging, even seeing Rita would be welcome. At least it would give him some normalcy back in his life.
“I’ll see if the lab got any strange readings on that day around eight thirty at night. I’ll bring the data from my handheld back too and see if anyone can make more sense of this than me.”
“Speaking of analysis,” said Sue, “I have some data I think you’ll be interested in. We went to my shifting lab and pulled the data you wanted from the microcontrollers.”
“What?” Bechler shot forward, his hands thumping onto the plush arms of the chair. “Why did you take such a chance? You could have been killed like your father and Miguel.”
Fuller assumed Miguel was the agent with Sue’s dad the day he died. Bechler’s reaction confirmed his own fears that it was something they should not have done.
Sue folded her arms. “Well, I want to find out who killed my dad. Besides, we need to find out what’s going on, don’t we?”
“Yeah, but we don’t need any more people killed over this either.” He turned to Fuller. “Were you in on this too?”
“Yeah, but I knew how dangerous it was and tried to stop her. She’s pretty stubborn though. I knew she would go by herself anyway, so I went with her.”
Sue sniffed hard. “I’m not stubborn. I just knew we needed the data, and I was the only one that was going to get it.”
“Yes, you were,” said Bechler. “But I didn’t want you two to just stroll in there and get it. I intended to go with you along with one of my other agents. And believe me, we would have been armed to the hilt.”
“Well, that’s ridiculous,” Sue retorted. “We got everything we needed without any guns or knives.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” snapped Fuller, “but we were only about two seconds away from getting ripped apart by Franz and Bobby.”
He thought back to the narrow escape and how he almost attacked Franz. He shivered. Even now, he was not sure what had come over him. It was a very odd feeling he had. There was fear but somehow he had suppressed it so hard it no longer held any significance. Was it that he felt it his responsibility to protect Sue?
He remembered the long look she had given him when he showed he was willing to take on the larger man. There was something in her look he had never felt before. It was as though her eyes told him that she had every confidence in his ability to protect her. Nobody had ever shown any confidence in him, let alone with their life.
“Who are Franz and Bobby?” Bechler queried.
Sue glowered at Fuller. “Never mind them. Can we just drop this?” Her eyes were nothing like they had been last night. There was irritation there now. She turned to Bechler. “Aren’t you interested in what we found in the data?”
“Yes, I am,” said Bechler. He continued in a stronger tone, “But, before we drop it, I just want to warn you against doing anything that foolish again. Whoever is behind this means business, and I’m sure they won’t have any problems killing more people.” He eased back in the chair. “Now, what did you find?”
Sue sprang from the couch. “Come on over to my computer and take a look.”
The two men followed while she went into the dining room and sat in front of her laptop. They stood, one over each of her shoulders, when she brought the figures onto the screen.
“We were able to pull complete data for the last twenty shifts and partial data for two more from the microcontrollers,” said Sue. “What we found is that there are two different universes they’ve been shifting to. The first is here, and the second here.” Her finger rested on the computer display.
Bechler wrinkled his forehead. “I’m not familiar with this notation you’re using. How is this indicating the location of the universes?”
“Hmmm, I’m not sure how you would demonstrate this, but I can show you the equations I used to come up with it.”
She pulled a yellow tablet from her laptop bag and started scribbling notations on the page. Fuller’s eyes glazed over, and he took a seat in one of the other chairs at the table. Bechler knelt to study what she was writing.
Fuller looked at the joyful expression on Sue’s face and thought back to the award picture on the wall of her office. Although it was not quite the same, her excitement at explaining the math to Bechler came close to the warm glow of joy he had seen in the picture. She seemed in higher spirits now than the whole time he had been with her.
Fuller turned his attention to Bechler. The agent was looking back and forth between the numbers on the pad and Sue’s eyes, seeming to linger on her eyes more. He did not trust Bechler. What did they know about him after all? For all they knew he was part of the conspiracy, and Sue was telling him everything.
The more he thought, the more Bechler angered him. As she was continuing to explain, Fuller interrupted, “Sue, can I talk to you for a second?”
The two looked up and Sue said, “In a minute, just let me finish this.” She looked back at the equation she had been writing out and continued.
“It’s kind of important,” he said.
She looked up again, her brow puckered. “I said in a minute.” She shook her head and went on with the explanation. Bechler stared at Fuller for a second more then looked back at the page as well.
Fuller, who had been glaring at Bechler until he broke eye contact, thought to himself, Fine, if she doesn�
�t want to listen, that’s her problem. He rose and went into the living room. After he threw himself onto the couch, he wondered what it was with women. Every one of them in his life never listened to him or showed him any respect. They just walked all over him.
It started with his mother, where he grew up in a single-parent household. His father having run off when he was very young, he never had a male figure to interact with or emulate. In fact, all he had ever heard about his father and men in general was that they were deceptive and could not be trusted. Whenever he did anything his mother felt inappropriate, she would hold the father he never knew as an example. ‘Don’t act like your father,’ ‘You’re acting just like your father again,’ ‘I don’t want you growing up like your father’ is all Fuller ever remembered hearing.
She had always been very demanding, and he was never able to live up to her standards. He remembered in sixth grade coming home with his report card in hand, so excited to show his mother. He got straight A’s and knew that he would finally please her. She crushed him when she showed no pride or even acknowledged his accomplishment. She scolded him for not getting grades like that all the time and said she expected all future report cards to be as good.
His mother never listened to any reasoning either. He remembered how much trouble he had gotten into when his grades slipped the first semester of his freshman year in high school. It was after a day in early fall when he was helping to clean his grandmother’s basement after a flood. The smell of mold had been overpowering, and while he continued to work, he fell into an asthmatic fit. An ambulance had to rush him to the hospital. It was a long recovery, being several weeks before the doctor released him for school. When he did return, he was behind in all his classes and spent the rest of the semester catching up. His grades reflected this, but his mother wanted no excuses from him. He spent the second half of the year grounded until his grades came back up.
As he reflected on how unreasonable his mother was, he realized that Sue was nothing like this; nor was she like Rita for that matter. While Sue may have dismissed him a moment ago, she had been so kind to him, more so than anyone he had ever known. A pang of guilt like that of the night before hit him. He had just done the same as when he stormed from her office last night. He was seeing her through the distorted lens of his past and reading motivations into her that did not exist. She barely knew him but already had accepted him more than Rita or his mother ever had.
He thought about the look Sue had given him when Franz almost came around the corner of the equipment cabinet. Rita had never looked at him like that. She only showed him scorn and ridiculed him for not living up to her idea of what he should be as a man. With a single look, Sue had given him a more precious gift than any Rita had in the years since he had met her. Respect.
He could hear that Sue’s explanation was over and Bechler said, “Okay that makes sense. We have a different notation that we use, but it’s similar. I’ll work out a conversion later. Let me take a picture of your notes here.”
Fuller heard some rustling of the paper and then Bechler continued, “Now we can see where they’re going and how often, but we still need to find out why.”
“We do have one reason,” said Sue. “While we were collecting the data, several of the conspirators came in and shifted to Universe A. Before they did though, they sent about fifty cases of automatic rifles there first. See this shift here? That’s why the power utilization was so high.”
“Rifles? Why would they be shifting weapons to another universe?”
“It didn’t make sense to us either.”
“The only way we’ll find out is to go there ourselves,” said Bechler. “I’ll plan on shifting there as soon as we can get everything set up. That brings up something else I need to talk to you about.”
“What’s that?” Sue asked.
“When was the last time you were in your barn?”
“Hmmm, I don’t know. I never go out there. My dad used to have a workshop in it for some of his inventions, but that was years ago. We just use it for storage now.”
“Well, can we take a walk out there? I’d like to show you something.”
“What’s there?”
“Come on, I’ll show you.”
Fuller turned to see them rising from the table so sprang from the couch. “Can we talk now, Sue?”
“Sure.” She walked into the living room. “What is it?”
Fuller looked past her and said to Bechler, “You can go ahead out to the barn. We’ll be there in a minute. I just wanted to talk to Sue about something.”
“Sure,” said Bechler as he walked towards the front door.
Fuller waited until he left then said, “Sue, I don’t trust him. I don’t think you should have told him everything.”
“Why don’t you trust him?”
“What do we know about him? We’ve seen him only one other time, and now all of the sudden we’re supposed to trust him and tell him everything? Do we even know he’s from another universe? For all we know he could be one of the guys who killed your father.”
Her brows furrowed and head jerked back. “What? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Sure it does. I think you’re just letting him charm you. Just because he’s smart about shifting doesn’t mean you can trust him.”
“John, if you’d just think for a second, you’d realize how ridiculous you’re being.”
“Ridiculous! I’m not being ridiculous, you are. This smooth-talking guy comes along and gives you a line and you fall all over him.”
Sue let out her breath. “I don’t know what you mean by that, but I can tell you with certainty that he isn’t part of the conspiracy.”
“Oh really,” he said, crossing his arms across his chest. “And how do you know for sure?”
“Let me tell you. First, I had no idea my dad was killed until he told me. I didn’t know anything about the machine logs being erased or that the reason my dad was there was to collect data from the controllers. In fact, I knew nothing about any conspiracy and could never understand why dad was there working alone until Bechler told me.”
Fuller shifted from one foot to the other while she continued. “Second, I know he isn’t from our universe. There is no way he could have disappeared like he did the other day unless he was shifting back to another universe. Third, he has technology we don’t have. Did you get a good look at that handheld computer he had? I know I’ve never seen anything that can detect the quantum signature of matter like that, and I’m one of maybe a half dozen people that know anything about this technology.”
She stared at Fuller. The smug look she gave him was maddening, and he did not know how to respond. She was right of course, but he did not want to give in so easy. There was something in Bechler’s manner when he had been talking to Sue that he did not like. He could not figure it out right now, but he would.
“All right, what you say makes sense. But I still say there’s something about him I don’t trust. I just can’t put my finger on it.”
“Well when you do put your finger on it, let me know. Until then, can we go out and see what he wants to show us in the barn?”
With Fuller still mulling over Bechler in his head, they went to the barn. It was a typical old barn like any working farm would have. It was a large two-story building with the requisite hayloft over the large sliding door. The gray of the wood slats that covered it peered through the peeling red paint, which had seen brighter days. To one side of the large door was a smaller man-sized door, which Sue entered.
When Fuller followed, he was surprised to discover it was not a barn like one would see on a farm. The animal pens removed, the space was a large room that occupied a third of the structure’s first floor. Workbenches sat in its center and long rows of cabinets lined the walls. On the benches, were various pieces of test equipment, some of which he recognized, most of which he did not. In the far left back cor
ner was Bechler unpacking equipment from some boxes.
As they walked up to him, Sue asked, “What is all this?”
Bechler looked up from the box. “This is your new quantum shifter.”
“Quantum shifter? What do you mean?” she asked.
It did not look like the machine Fuller had seen at Gladstone. There was no wall of rack cabinets or large shifting booth. There was a single computer terminal, two equipment racks and a small booth open on one side.
“This is something we started working on with your father.”
“My dad never said anything to me about this.”
“No, we had just started moving equipment in when he was killed,” said Bechler. “It took us a month to get all this shifted here. In the last few days we’ve been assembling everything.”
“I saw the quantum shifter at Sue’s lab, and this doesn’t look anything like it. It’s a tenth the size,” observed Fuller.
“I thought you might say that,” said Bechler. “Like I told you, we’re a bit further ahead in this technology than you are. We’ve been able to miniaturize the coils for the booth and also incorporate most of the controllers into integrated circuits specialized for controlling the shifting process.”
“This is incredible!” exclaimed Sue. “I can understand integrating all the control functions into specialized chips, but how were you able to shrink the coils?
Bechler explained, “As you know from your own experience, the greatest challenge is to get an electromagnetic field strong enough and focused enough to change the quantum frequency of matter. What we’ve done here…”
Fuller tuned out again. He knew nothing about the physics of shifting and did not care to. He walked to the computer terminal and examined its layout. There was a compact keyboard the size of a laptop computer’s, only not as flat. The surface continued behind the keys and held a rectangular flat panel display angled up from the tabletop. Displaying virtual buttons and slide controls, he surmised it was a touch screen. This interested him. The controls would most likely change depending on what function you performed on the monitor.
The main screen also fascinated him, its image seeming three-dimensional. He moved his head from one side of the screen to the other. The control surfaces and graphs it displayed shifted around as though he were looking at an actual raised surface. He reached his hand out to touch one of the graphs and snapped it back when something appeared in front of it. It took him a second to realize it was a pointer of some type. He moved his hand back towards the screen and found that he could move it around the screen to point to different objects. It was like a mouse moving a pointer on a computer screen only it did so with the movement of his hand in three-dimensional space.
Fuller was moving his hand to get a better feel for its control when Bechler said, “Careful with that, John, I don’t want you to activate anything.
Fuller turned to him. “I’m not pressing anything, just moving the pointer around. This is a cool interface. I’ve never seen a computer like this before.”
“Yeah, I’d say it’s a bit different from what you’re used to, but I would guess that you have all the technology needed to create something like it. I don’t think we’re too far ahead of you in that regard.”
“Could be,” he said, nodding his head. “I’m curious about something though. Why did you bring this machine here?”
“I was wondering that too,” said Sue.
“As I mentioned before, this is something we’ve been working on for over a month. It was your dad’s idea, Sue.”
“It was?”
“Yeah. Once we found out more about the shifting activity on your machine, we wanted to investigate why and where they were going. Since we were unable to monitor the activity from our universe, he suggested we bring monitoring equipment here to your universe.”
“That makes sense, but this is more than just monitoring equipment. This is a quantum shifter,” she said.
“Yes, it is. The other reason we brought it here though is that once we found out what universe the conspirators were shifting to, we would be able to use this machine to shift there.”
“Why not use the machine in your universe or the one in Sue’s lab?” queried Fuller.
“Sue’s machine is guarded and not easy for us to get to. Besides, they’re already questioning its energy usage. We couldn’t very well use additional energy without raising even more red flags.”
“Makes sense,” said Fuller. “But why not just shift using your own machine?”
“In my universe, we’re experiencing an energy shortage. I know you’re in a similar situation, but we’ve reached a critical level. The cost of energy has skyrocketed, and our world economy is at the point of collapse. We have rationing and daily blackouts just to maintain our society, but we’re reaching the point where even that isn’t working. The energy budget for this project has been cut and cut again.”
“Wait,” said Fuller, turning to Sue. “I thought the whole reason for developing your quantum shifter is for producing energy.”
Sue replied, “Yeah, it is.”
Fuller looked at Bechler. “So why aren’t you?”
“Our physicists looked at that originally, but determined it would take more energy to shift matter to another universe than we would be able to get back,” replied Bechler.
“I think they better look again,” asserted Sue, her nostrils flaring. “My equations show we can get back more energy.”
“Well, if you don’t mind sharing them with us, I’d be happy to bring them back to my universe,” said Bechler. “For now though, we have to deal with the situation as it is, and that means having this machine here.”
“So how does having the machine here help?” asked Fuller.
“Until you and Sue found out which universe the conspirators were shifting to, we didn’t know where it was. We only knew that it was distant from us and would take a huge amount of energy to get to it. You see, as Sue knows, the more you have to alter the quantum frequency of matter to shift it, the higher the energy usage. Since our power is rationed to such a low level, we knew we could make limited trips to your universe. We weren’t sure we could make even one to this other universe though.”
“You’re going to use this as a relay point then?” asked Sue.
“Exactly.”
“So you’ll shift to this universe and then get in this machine to shift to the other one?” inquired Fuller.
“That’s the idea.” Bechler looked at Sue. “Your dad suggested we use your barn because he already had an ample power service installed from when he used it as a workshop.”
“I can see the size difference between this machine and the one in my lab, but does it use as much power?” asked Sue.
“No, it’s quite a bit more efficient, which is good because if it wasn’t, we wouldn’t have enough power here to run it. We also would never have been able to shift it here in the first place if the machine we used to get it here took as much power as yours does.”
They spent the next two hours finishing the setup of the machine, with Bechler showing Sue its operation. Fuller could see that once they programmed all the innumerable parameters into it, executing the shift was simple. The shift could be started either from the computer console or from within the shifting booth. Bechler explained they had done this so that it was not required to have someone stay behind to execute it.
“The main thing that’s important with this machine is to give it time to stabilize before shifting,” said Bechler. “This is a prototype machine and is different from anything we’ve ever built. It uses smaller coils in a different type of configuration.”
“We had talked about that earlier,” said Sue.
“Yes, but not in this regard. In testing before we sent it, we noticed instability in the EM field when shifting. To compensate for this, we set up a low-power bias field then wait for it to stabilize b
efore ramping the power level up. Look here.”
Bechler pointed to a graph on the computer screen. The yellow line on the left side of the graph showed spikes from time to time but eventually became smooth.
“Can you see the change in this graph?” asked Bechler. “Once the field stabilizes like this for a few minutes, you’re good to go.”
“What happens if you don’t?” Fuller asked.
“You’re taking a chance of causing any matter in the booth to not shift, or to shift to the wrong universe. It may even cause the matter to oscillate between different universes. I’m not sure though since we never did any testing like that. In any case, you’ll get unpredictable results, so just make sure the field stabilizes.”
“I understand. Don’t worry though, I don’t intend to use this thing any time soon,” said Fuller.
Bechler smiled. “I expect not. I just want both of you to understand its operation in case we need you to act as backup operators for us. I or one of the other agents will always be here when it’s used.”
*****
A loud hiss arose when Fuller emptied a bowl of diced potatoes into a frying pan of smoking hot oil. His hand jerked back as a fine mist of hot grease sprayed from the skillet. It had been several days since Bechler shifted from the barn, and he had decided it was time to start helping Sue with the domestic chores. While he cracked eggs into another bowl, he thought about Bechler not returning. He was both glad and depressed by this. While he felt a mild dislike for the man, he also knew the only way to get home again was with Bechler’s assistance.
“What do you want in the omelet?” Fuller asked as he started to whisk the eggs.
“Ham, cheddar cheese and green pepper,” Sue responded with a smile. She sat at the counter sipping coffee, watching him cook.
“We’re out of cheddar, but we still have some slices of American left. We’ll need to get to the store soon.” He felt a pang of guilt when he said this, knowing that while he was helping with the housework, he was not contributing financially.
“I was thinking of going to the lab later this morning anyway. I can stop at the store on my way back.”
He stopped beating the eggs and looked at her. “I know you need to get back to work and make some money, but with what’s happening there right now, do you think that’s smart?”
She chuckled. “I’m not going there for the money. I don’t need that.”
“You don’t, why not?”
“You’re looking at one rich lady.”
“Rich? What do you mean?” he asked, thinking she was teasing him.
“Before my dad went to work at Gladstone, they licensed several patents from him for products he invented. After that, he never had to work again. He kept working though because he loved developing new products. Those licenses still earn close to a million a year, so I’d never have to work another day in my life either if I didn’t want to.”
“A million a year?” Fuller responded, his mouth hanging open. “I had no idea!”
“I know you didn’t, that’s why I just told you.”
“I never would have guessed it,” said Fuller, scanning his eyes around. “I mean, this house is nice, but it’s no millionaire’s mansion.”
Sue chuckled. “No, I guess it isn’t. My mom loved this house though and my dad would never even consider selling it or living anywhere else after she was gone.”
“And you’re staying here too?”
“Yeah, I feel the same way he did. I have too many memories to ever leave here either.”
Fuller turned back to the eggs and began to whisk them again. He heard the hiss of the frying pan change tone and grabbed a spatula to turn the potatoes. While he scraped the bottom of the pan, he thought about what she had said earlier. “If it’s not because of the money, why are you going back to work?”
“I need to talk to my uncle about everything that’s happened. I was hoping not to get him involved until Bechler found out more, but I can’t wait anymore.”
“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” he said.
“Why not?”
“Well, we know some of the people working for your uncle are involved in this, right?”
“Yeah. So what?”
“He’ll start an investigation, right?”
“Exactly.”
“What if the people he puts in charge of the investigation are part of this?”
“I’m sure he would only put people he trusts in charge.”
“Well, he trusted this Phil guy, or he wouldn’t have brought him into the lab. He’s part of it, isn’t he? Once they find out what we’ve seen they’ll come after us. They may even make sure your uncle has an accident just like your dad.”
Sue stared into her coffee cup. “Yeah, I see what you mean.”
“Once we know who’s involved in this thing, then we can go to your uncle.” He turned his attention back to the potatoes.
“Well, how are we supposed to find out who’s involved?”
“We don’t. We let Bechler do it. That’s his job.”
“Bechler? I thought you didn’t trust him?”
Fuller’s hand twitched. He did not notice when a potato cube lurched over the side of the pan and into the burner. He put the spatula down and went back to the eggs.
“Well, it’s not that I don’t trust him exactly…”
“Then what exactly?”
“I don’t know. There’s just something about him,” he said as he picked up the pace of the egg beating.
“You said that before.”
Fuller said nothing. The swirling scrape of the whisk against the side of the metal bowl was the only thing breaking the silence.
“I can’t just sit here and wait for Bechler to come back. What if he never does?” she asked. “We can’t even go to him because he never gave us the parameters to shift to his universe. We have to do something.”
Fuller continued to look at the whisk while it twirled around the bowl’s perimeter. He said, “I’m sure he’ll be back at some point.”
“John, you know what we could do…”
Here it came. He knew it was only a matter of time before she brought it up. The pace of his beating increased to the point that the yellow froth was almost splashing over the side of the bowl.
Sue continued to stare into her coffee cup, her finger swirling around it as she caressed the rim. “We could use the quantum shifter ourselves and find out what’s happening in the other universe.”
Fuller spun around. He yanked the whisk from the bowl, a string of egg streaming with it. “Damn it! I knew that’s what you were going to say. We can’t do it!”
“Why not?” she asked, looking up at him.
“It’s too dangerous, that’s why. Don’t you remember what Bechler told us the last time we stuck our necks out?”
Sue frowned. “Boy, for somebody you don’t like, you’re sure ready to listen to him, aren’t you?” She thrust the cup to her mouth and gulped some coffee.
Fuller shook the whisk at her, drooling egg all over the floor. “Whether I like him or not isn’t the point. He was right.”
“What do you expect me to do? Just sit here calmly while the bastards that killed my dad get away with his murder and move forward with their plans?”
“For now, yes.”
“I can’t and I won’t,” she declared, her face reddening. “You may be right about waiting to talk to Uncle Bob, but that doesn’t mean I’m doing nothing. I’m going to the other universe to find out what’s going on, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me,” she asserted. She plunked her coffee cup on the countertop with a loud clack to punctuate her resolve.
She was doing it again he thought. She knew he was not going to let her go alone and was trying to shame him into coming with her. Fuller’s face reddened two sh
ades darker than hers. “You’re just trying to force me to go with you again, aren’t you?”
The scowl on Sue’s face dissolved when she rose from the stool and went to him. He gazed into her soft blue eyes, and he could see no deceit. The tears that moistened their surface glistened like a tranquil lake in the morning sun.
“John, I told you before I was sorry I forced you into coming to the lab. I’m not going to do that again. You have to understand though that I just can’t sit here when I know what those people have done.” A tear, blackened by her eyeliner, slid down her left cheek. “They took away the most important person in my life.” She swallowed hard. “No, he was my life. I know I’ll never get him back, but I’ll be damned if I’m just going to let them get away with it.”
Even in her apparent moment of weakness, he could still feel her strength and determination. She would not give in. She possessed the courage to keep fighting until she found the answers. He admired her for it and knew it was something he lacked. After all, what had he been doing but just sitting back waiting for someone else to fix his problem? She was being shoved around just like he had his whole life, letting others determine his fate. The difference was that she was fighting back.
“I understand,” he said. He held her in his arms to comfort her. In doing so, he brought comfort and strength to himself.
They were in a similar situation. He too had his life taken from him. He did not know how or why but felt that the conspirators had done this to him as well. There was a difference though. While she would never get her father or her life back the way it was before, there was still a chance for him. If they could discover the purpose of the conspiracy and how they had brought him here, he may find a way back.
He put his hands on her shoulders and drew back so he could look into her eyes. “You know what? You’re right. I’m tired of sitting around too. I’m coming with you.”
“You don’t have too,” she said, brushing away the tears.
“I know I don’t have to. I need to though. I’ve done nothing for too long while other people control my destiny. I don’t know why these people took me away from my life, but I’m going to find out.”
*****
It was midmorning by the time Sue was able to re-familiarize herself with the quantum shifter and work out the necessary conversions to set its controls. They set the parameters to shift them to Universe A but were not sure how to set the power.
“I think we should be a bit cautious and set it to a low level,” said Fuller.
“Okay, but we can’t set it too low or we won’t have enough time to look around,” Sue responded.
“I’m not worried about that as much as what we may be getting ourselves into. Once we’ve been there the first time, we’ll know where we’re materializing. If it’s safe, we can always set the machine to stay longer next time.”
“Makes sense. How long do you think?”
“I don’t know. Ten to twenty minutes?”
“All right. I can’t set a precise time, but this should be about right.”
“I know. Just so we aren’t there for hours on end stuck in the middle of an ocean or the heart of the conspirators’ camp.”
Sue engaged the controls and a low-pitched hum emanated from the coils. They watched the display, like Bechler had instructed, to make sure the power level was stable. When it was, they entered the booth.
Fuller felt like the shores of an ocean lapping up to meet the desert. His palms were wet and salty with sweat, and his throat dry as though caked with sand from a raging dust storm. While he had felt the sickening feeling of the machine’s field twice before, it was not this that made him anxious. It was not knowing what he would run into at their destination.
His trembling hand reached for the small control panel inside the booth. “Here goes nothing.” He pressed the large red button and the familiar nausea overtook him. On and on the feeling went. When he thought that something was wrong and it would never end, it did.
He felt like he was about to fall over so reached out to steady himself. His right hand landed on a rough brick wall, and his left grabbed Sue’s shirt. She pulled at his arm to steady herself too and they both almost went over.
Faintly, as though at a great distance, he heard Sue say, “Damn.”
As the pressure in his ears eased and his balance returned, he was able to look around for the first time. They were in the narrow space between two buildings. The one in front was made of a crude, salmon-colored brick, and the one behind a graying wood. A rancid smell of decay assaulted his nose and brought back the nausea, making him gag.
“Can we get out of here?” asked Sue in a nasal voice. Her fingers were holding her nose.
“Definitely,” replied Fuller.
As they walked to the end of the buildings, their feet sank into a muck of rotting garbage and feces. He realized the building’s occupants must have been using this area to dump trash and sewage.
The ground sloped down when they neared the end. Fuller looked back. “Damn, they’ve dumped so much crap in there it’s a good half a foot higher.”
Sue followed in silence, her hand still over her nose. When they got to the end of the structures, they found themselves on a dirt street lined with crude wooden buildings interspersed with some brick. Most were two stories in height with brightly painted façades. The windows had no glass and were open to the outside, several having a heavy fabric stretched across to block out the weather. Although better than the crevice from which they emerged, the stench was still quite strong from animal manure and sewage dumped in the street.
While there was an occasional ox or mule-pulled cart, most of the locals were on foot and were dressed unlike anything Fuller had ever seen. Both men and women wore one-piece, linen tunics that tapered out at the hips and flowed down to knee length. They were colored with bright wide horizontal stripes on the torso and an unbleached white in the half sleeves. All seemed to be tailored the same, but each had a varying width and color of stripes. There were bright crimsons and blues, dull oranges with glowing saffrons and bright greens with rich browns. Some had geometric patterns within the stripes—diamonds, squares, circles and triangles.
“This place seems kind of primitive,” said Sue.
“Yeah, it doesn’t look as advanced technologically as we are.”
As they walked farther into the street, they could see that some of the passersby were staring at them. They turned their wide brown faces towards them, pointing and whispering, but continued walking. Children in particular looked in fascination and the parents had to drag them along while they gawked at the oddly dressed, pale-skinned people.
“We don’t seem to be blending in too well,” Fuller said.
“No, we aren’t. Let’s get a look around before we shift back.”
Fuller looked up and down the street to see which direction was best to head. To the right, the street continued with the same types of buildings. To the left was more interesting. The street ran for at least a half mile then continued up a low hill topped by a building with tall stone columns. It looked like a courthouse or some other type of government building in Fuller’s universe.
He pointed. “Let’s take a look at that building.”
“Yeah. It looks like an old post office or something,” she said as they started towards it.
When they came to an intersecting street, Fuller looked up and down it. He could see that in both directions the street curved back towards the hill. As they continued walking, they crossed another street, which curved like the first.
When they came to the third, Fuller said, “It looks like all these cross streets circle the hill.” He motioned with his hand. “See how it curves back there and there?”
“Yeah, that building must be the center of the city,” she replied.
He nodded. “That’s what I
’m thinking too. It must be an important building.”
As they got closer to the hill, the streets changed from dirt to cobblestone and the buildings became more ornate. Almost all were brick construction and most of the façades had a smooth stucco finish.
They were just starting up the slope of the hill when an old man clutched Fuller’s arm. He was a starved, skeleton of a man and his cheeks were sunken to the point where he looked like a deflated blow-up doll. A single scrap of material over his right shoulder held up his ragged, grime-smeared tunic, exposing a bony collarbone which rose an inch above his left shoulder.
The man said, “Ignosco, vos es unus of novus deus es vos non?”
Fuller’s eyes widened. He had taken Latin in college as a language requirement so recognized the old man’s words. It had been a few years, but he interpreted it as a question about whether Fuller was one of the new gods.
He answered in the man’s language, “No, I am not a god.”
Sue asked, “What language is that?”
“Latin.”
“What?” she responded, her brow rising.
“You must help me, God,” the old man implored in Latin.
Fuller shook his head. “I am not a god, I cannot help you.”
“But I am hungry and need food,” he pleaded.
A passing man who was well groomed and dressed in a bright orange and yellow tunic came up beside them. He pushed the old man to the ground and said, “Leave him be, you old fool.” He looked at Fuller. “Forgive the old beggar, Lord, he knows no better.”
Sue shot around Fuller and said to the man, “What’s wrong with you! He’s an old man.” She knelt and began to examine him for any injuries.
The man said to Fuller, “I do not understand her.”
“It is all right. The old man is hungry,” responded Fuller. He took the beggar’s hand and helped him to his feet. “I don’t have any food to give him. Can you get him some?”
“I, Lord? I can if you wish it.”
“I do.”
The man raised an eyebrow. “Of course. As you wish.”
He took the old man by the hand, and they started to walk away. The old one looked over his bony shoulder. “Thank you, God, I shall worship you always.”
Sue turned to Fuller. “What was that all about?”
“They must think we’re gods or something.”
“Gods? That’s crazy! They’re more backwards than I thought.”
“Apparently so,” he said, shaking his head. “Come on, let’s keep going. I want to make it to that building before we shift back.”
After several more blocks, they were on the other side of the street from the large, columned building. Fuller read the entablature aloud.
“Senatus Secundus Romanorum Domus Imperator.” He gasped when the meaning of the words sank in.
“What does it mean?” she asked.
“It’s a government building all right.” He stammered, “But…”
“But what, John? What is it?”
“It’s nothing,” he declared, seeing her concern. “I just don’t believe it. It says it’s the Senate Building of the Second Roman Empire.”
*****
“This city does look ancient, but we should still be in America,” Sue asserted.
“Could we have shifted across the world besides to another universe?”
“I don’t think…” Sue began. Her eyes widened and she pointed in the direction of the building. “Look!” she cried.
He looked where she was pointing. Phil, Franz and another man dressed in a native tunic were descending the steps of the Senate building. Phil was saying something to Franz and pointing at Fuller and Sue. Franz broke away from the others and quickened his pace down the steps in their direction.
“Come on!” cried Fuller. “Let’s get the hell out of here!”
He took Sue’s hand and ran back in the direction they had come. When they got to the first cross street, he could see a crowd down the road to the right. He yanked Sue around the corner with him, her feet almost going airborne.
“Why are we going this way?” she panted out, pushing her hair back with her free hand.
“We can lose him in that crowd down there,” he gasped.
They ran almost the length of a block before entering the mass of people. Fuller snapped his head around to see if Franz was still behind them and saw he had just come around the corner. Fuller threw himself forward that much quicker, dragging Sue along. His elongated legs gobbled up ground with each huge stride, but her shorter ones were unable to keep up.
The street widened ahead but the throng of natives thickened when they entered an outdoor marketplace with vendors selling food and other wares. The booths planted in no order, they weaved back and forth like they were on a slalom course. Fuller pitched left to avoid a woman carrying a large basket, and his grasp slipped from Sue’s hand. She collided with the basket, throwing it from the woman’s arms. Sue stumbled but remained on her feet and began to run at a tangent to Fuller. His momentum had carried him forward and around several people before he realized he was no longer holding her hand.
Fuller slowed his pace and turned to see where she had gone. His six-foot frame towered over the locals who were half a head shorter, but Sue remained unseen behind the wall of people. She was equal in height to those around, and her jet-black hair blended in with them. What Fuller did see though was Franz still following. His round body bobbed to and fro to avoid the shoppers, but his eyes remained fixed on Fuller.
“Damn it! Sue?” he called, his head turning in every direction to find her.
He could not see her, and the din from the surrounding mob drowned out his voice. With Franz gaining ground, he ran faster, shoving people out of his way to get through the thicket.
He was gaining distance until coming to a man he could not shove aside. He was as tall as Fuller but much thicker in girth. The two impacted with a thud, and Fuller careened onto the end of a fishmonger’s stand. The merchandise flew into the air as one end of the table catapulted up while Fuller came down on the other. Fish of all sizes rained down on Fuller and the shoppers around him.
The fishmonger, who had been trimming fish for a customer, waved the large carving knife in his hand and started cursing at Fuller. His face turned deep burgundy as he tugged at his hair with his one hand and sliced through the air with the blade in his other. Fuller attempted to stand, but his foot skidded on a fish and he slammed back to the ground.
As the vendor’s verbal assault continued, Franz came to a stop next to them, towering over Fuller. He grabbed the wrist of the fishmonger with one hand and snatched the knife from him with his other. The merchant’s mouth snapped shut while he backed away, his palms open in a sign of surrender.
Franz turned his attention to Fuller, who was almost on his feet again. Still off balance, Franz shoved him down and pounced on him. Fuller felt his body painfully compressed as the caps of the cobblestones bowled into his back and the stout man pounded onto him. Franz thrust the blade at his chest, and Fuller grappled his knife hand in a futile attempt to stop the thrust. He was able to push it away with the strength of both arms, but when Franz gripped the haft with his free hand too, the tip of the blade dipped back down.
Fuller felt queasy once the steel pulsed into his flesh. Farther it sank, the image of Franz’s stubbled face rippling as his vision blurred to a jumbled kaleidoscope of random colors. Fuller’s arms shot forward into the barren ether when he faded into unconsciousness.
CHAPTER 7