ruBracks, Nazis, the Death of the Universe & Everything (The Parallel-Multiverse Book 1)

by Ward Wagher

  “That seems to be the case,” Josiah said. “They completely fooled the commodore.

  “Can you access the Vanderbilt so it is back under our control?”

  “Of course.” the cyber-int chuckled. “I have already sent the necessary commands, Scott. The Malthusians were both on the bridge. The command instruments on the bridge are locked out and they are locked in.”

  The paladin listened to the reply. “Very good. Please let Clevis know he can re-board. And lock down the comms on that ship!”

  “I shall take care of that.”

  The paladin nodded and disconnected, turning back to Simpson.

  “I think Josiah will get things back under control. I can’t believe Clevis let this happen. Hopefully, the radio transmissions won’t raise too much of a ruckus.”

  “Do you have any further instructions for me?” Simpson asked.

  “Damage control, David. Our friend Josiah will be able to block some of it, but ultimately, we will have to answer some questions. We just have to keep it from getting out of control.”

  “Very well, Sir.”

  The paladin looked out of his office window at the Chicago skyline. It was midmorning and the first snowstorm of the season enveloped the towers. The meteorologists predicted another cold winter. He wondered if the climatologists were wrong and the planet was heading into another ice age. He knew the Quebecois were concerned. Across the northern part of the North American continent, several fairly large cities had been abandoned due to glaciation. The ice and snow no longer melted completely during the summer and the mountains of ice were slowly grinding their way south.

  He stepped back over to the desk and picked up his comm unit. He punched in the code for the laboratory in Urbana.

  “Good morning, Paladin,” Arnold Gingery said. “How may I help you today?”

  “I need a quick status report on your activities.”

  “Of course,” he giggled. “The Woogie has developed a set of equations that seem to match the events much more closely. The ruBracks are bouncing around into various other parallel universes with the data collection apparatus Edgar built. Edgar and Sally are attempting to engineer a solution that fits the Woogie’s math. Quintan, however, is still missing, along with Mrs. Wallace.”

  The paladin pulled the comm away from his head and looked at it. He put it back to his ear again.

  “Arnold, are you all right?”

  Gingery chuckled. “Yes. I’m just fine. And how are you, Paladin?”

  “When did you last go home?” the paladin asked.

  “Oh, I go home every night. Not that it matters. Our atoms will probably soon be scattered to eternity and back.” He laughed again. “Eat, drink and be merry.”

  “Okay, Arnold. I’ll talk to you later.”

  The paladin slapped his comm onto the desktop and wondered what else would go wrong. He got up and walked to the door and stepped into the outer office. His wife had just arrived and was starting to review the overnight reports. She looked up at him with a smile.

  “Hi, Precious,” he said. “Welcome to chaos.”

  “And the day has barely started,” she responded.

  “Where do we start? The Malthusians almost succeeded in hijacking the Vanderbilt. Josiah got that settled, although they managed to broadcast briefly.”

  “How did Clevis Oates ever allow something like that to happen? I have always thought he was only marginally competent, but this?”

  “It seems they tricked the ship’s AI to declare an emergency and issue the abandon ship order. Clevis did not do a good job of counting noses before the cut he lifeboat loose.”

  “I do not understand why you continue to rely on him,” she said.

  “Water over the dam at this point, Precious. Josiah has things back under control. And I assume he will monitor the situation and try to prevent further trouble.”

  “I certainly hope so.”

  “Now are you ready for the next thing?” he asked.

  “What now?” she asked.

  “I spoke with Arnold Gingery this morning to get an update on the lab, and he was giggling as he told me?”

  “Laughing?” Her eyebrows rose.

  “No. Giggling. I think we need to run down there today. Arnold might be losing it.”

  “I will get David to set things up,” she said.

  “He was here a few minutes before you came in,” the paladin said. “He was pretty horrified about the Vanderbilt. He feels responsible.”

  “Who could have known?” she asked.

  “Exactly. I told him to do his best to limit the damage if any of their broadcasts got through.”

  “Cannot Josiah do that?”

  “Probably. I’m concerned about Josiah becoming too visible, though.”

  “There is that. No telling what would happen if it became known we had a Class A cyber-int.”

  “They usually do a good job of keeping a low profile,” he said, “but they are concerned about the Urbana lab.”

  “It would be hard to blame them,” she replied. “Let me get with David on the arrangements so we can get moving.”

  § § §

  Quintan Rogers was weary. He had spent a day dragging fallen limbs and branches towards the campsite. He had the beginnings of a crude cabin constructed. The walls were not very high, but he planned to lay branches across the top and then cover those with reeds from the cattails. He had given careful thought to how to survive the winter in this wilderness. He hoped for a quick rescue, but nothing in the current situation told him that they would soon be found by the ruBracks, or anybody else for that matter.

  He needed to build a hearth, but there was little native stone in the area. He had designed a triangular shaped chimney at one end of the cabin. He was fairly sure that if he plastered the inside of the chimney with mud he could keep a small fire going. If he could line the lower part of the hearth with stone, it would be much safer, plus he thought the heated rock would reflect heat back into the cabin.

  Mrs. Wallace again returned with another armful of cattails. His stomach growled as he thought about eating. This time the roasted pods tasted like ham and potatoes. As long as the ruBrack was able to keep going, he would eat well. His main concern was the increasingly cold weather. He was still wearing the wool suit from his trip into that ancient European nation. It would be inadequate if the winter here was as rugged as it was in his universe.

  “Will we place the roof, tomorrow?” she asked.

  “I am planning on it,” Quintan said. “Once we can be assured the interior will remain dry, then we can start mudding up the chimney. If, in your travels, you happen to find some stone that you can carry, please bring it. I would like the base of the hearth to be made out of stone. And, we need the shelter so that you do not kill yourself trying to protect me.”

  “You have completed some amazing work, here, Mr. Rogers.”

  “And I appreciate what you have done to keep me alive. I just wish we could figure out where we are.”

  “As I,” the ruBrack said. “I did pop out of this universe today for a few moments to see anything looked familiar.”

  Quintan looked frightened. “What if you had gotten lost again, Mrs. Wallace?”

  “A calculated risk,” she said. “I have come to believe that if we do nothing, we will not be rescued.”

  Quintan shook his head. “I just do not know what we are going to do.”

  “I do not believe the Maker will leave us stranded. However, we must continue to look for ways.”

  “It is getting dark,” Quintan said, “and I am tired. If it is alright with you, I think I shall try to sleep.”

  “Very well, Mr. Rogers. A long day awaits us tomorrow. And tomorrow night you shall sleep in your cabin.”

  Quintan Rogers rolled himself up in his bed of grasses and weeds. And Mrs. Wallace prepared to keep him from freezing in the late fall night.

  The wind rustled through the willow trees and the cattail fronds. A huge
harvest moon rose in the east casting shadows across the prairie. No night-time bugs sang; no coyotes howled; Mrs. Wallace stood as an unmoving presence over the camp; and Quintan Rogers slept.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  “Is there something wrong with Herr Gingery?” Bach asked in his broken Anglo.

  He had walked over to the laboratory to lunch with Sally and Edgar. While he had developed many friends and acquaintances since his involuntary travel to twenty-fifth century North America, he had grown close to the Rogers family. He had initially stayed with Sally and Quintan in their mother-in-law apartment, while they had helped him adjust to the new surroundings.

  “What do you mean, Johann?” Sally asked.

  “He laughs at everything. Even the things that are not really amusing. It seems to me that…” then he shook his head. “I do not know.”

  “He is under a lot of pressure,” Sally said.

  “Ja,” he replied. “So are we all. But, it appears he has a leak in his wind box.

  Edgar spun around in his chair. “You may have a point, Johann. He has been acting funny lately.”

  “I will pray for him,” Johann said simply.

  “And pray that the ruBracks will rescue Quintan,” Sally added. “This not knowing is tearing me apart.”

  “Ja, I do that, too. I pray for Quintan all the time.”

  Shuurely had been quiet during the conversation and now spoke up. “Prayer good thing. The Maker knows where Quintan is. Just needs to tell us. Got ideas.”

  “You have ideas?” Sally asked.

  “Sure thing, Salleroo.” the Woogie thrummed over to the equations displayed on the wall. “This variable here. Not a constant. Flip variable, flip traveler.”

  Edgar stood up and walked over to the display. “That is the Clenèt constant. It is not a variable. It cannot be. It is one of the fundamental constants underlying our entire understanding of the universe. And it works for the parallel universes as well.”

  “The Woogie wants to rethink the constant. Think it a variable.”

  “The constant has stood for three hundred years since Audry Clenèt formulated it,” Sally said. “It has been proven repeatedly.”

  “Changing to a variable does not disprove it,” Shuurely said.

  “But,” Edgar argued back, “if you change the value of the Clenèt Constant, it would give you...”

  “Parallel Multiverses,” Edgar, Sally and the Woogie said at the same time.

  Edgar stared at the equation and was speechless. Sally slowly shook her head.

  “All of a sudden a lot of things start making sense,” she said. “The branching equations over here will work either way, whether the Clenèt is a constant or a variable. If we change the value of the Clenèt, it completely changes how we view them. They become multidimensional.”

  “They are already multidimensional,” the Woogie said. “Adds another dimension.”

  There was a popping sound and the Tasker appeared in the room.

  “Mein Gott!” Johann exclaimed. “That always startles me.”

  “What progress?” the ruBrack asked.

  “I believe we have fundamentally changed our views of the multiverse,” Edgar said. “There is still a lot of work, but I believe this will give us the framework to begin constructing a solution to the problem.”

  “Is there time to do this?” Mrs. Tasker asked.

  “No,” he said with a sad smile. “There are years of work ahead of us.”

  “We do not have years.”

  He nodded. “I am aware of that. The quantum sine waves are starting to kick up again, which means we will see harmonics. What I do not know is when one of those harmonics is strong enough to discorporate our universe.”

  “The Woogie will not go down without a sink,” Shuurely said.

  “What?” Sally asked.

  “Something wrong with the human’s hearing?”

  The door to the lab slid open and the paladin walked in.

  “Just wanted to check on the progress of the project,” he said as he walked over to Forsenn.

  “I think we have our theoretical breakthrough,” Edgar said. “Just as soon as your friend Josiah completes the validation of the math, we will begin on the engineering side.”

  “Are you going to finish in time?” he asked.

  Forsenn raised his palms up. “I cannot answer that, Paladin. It looks as though we are getting a buildup to more harmonics. However, we are working feverishly on this.”

  The paladin nodded, then turned to the ruBrack. “You are Mrs. Tasker, are you not?”

  “I am.”

  “What are you doing to rescue Quintan Rogers?”

  “We are searching.”

  The paladin studied her for a few moments. “I have learned from my own challenges that it sometimes useful to change your approach.”

  The ruBrack seemed to gather herself. “I do not believe you are in a position to give me advice, Paladin.”

  “You do the intimidation thing really well,” the paladin said. “But, have you ever heard the definition of insanity?”

  “You are well known for your trenchant observations, Paladin. Suppose you tell me the answer.”

  “The definition of insanity is doing the same action over and over while hoping for a different result.”

  “I am not required to remain here, Paladin,” Mrs. Tasker said.

  “I do not always please the Heavenly Father, either,” the paladin said. “But He has called me to this job. Did He call you to yours?”

  Mrs. Tasker looked around at the others in the lab. “I have an errand to take care of. I will return.”

  And with another pop, she was gone.

  “Pop goes the weasel,” Shuurely said.

  The paladin snorted. “I don’t know if I would phrase it that way.”

  “Mrs. Tasker was unhappy with you,” Edgar said.

  “I can deal with that. For what it’s worth, I have the authority here, and she is the guest. I get annoyed with pushy people. I might have behaved better.”

  “Okay to behave worse,” the Woogie said.

  “Thanks, Shuurely. And since I am here, I need to find out something else. Do you think Arnold is losing it?”

  “He has not said he lost something,” Johann said, “but he laughs all the time. I am concerned.”

  “Well… yes,” the paladin said. “What I meant was I wondered if Arnold was… this stupid Anglo, I can never find the right words. Do you think he has mental problems?”

  Sally looked at Edgar and then back at the paladin. “He is not handling things well.”

  The paladin ran his hand through his hair. “Very well. I will find someone to watch over the building and get Arnold some help. I don’t have time to play twenty questions with him, though.”

  “You have always seemed to do whatever you needed to do, Sir,” Edgar said.

  “This will involve me getting autocratic, which upsets my wife,” the paladin said. “But there is too much at stake to wait around and see if he settles down.”

  “We understand, Paladin,” Sally said.

  The Paladin sighed. “Very well. Let me make some comm calls. Then, I will go to see Arnold.”

  “Does the platinum need assistance?” Shuurely asked.

  “Huh?” The paladin looked nonplussed.

  “The Woogie can ride to the rescue.”

  “Oh. No, but thank you, Shuurely. I have some people here with me to help. Thanks for your time.”

  It was quiet for a few moments after the paladin left the lab. Then Johann spoke.

  “I am convinced the paladin is more to be respected than Frau Tasker.”

  “I would not argue with you, Johann,” Edgar said. “The paladin has a way of making things happen.”

  “Time for the Woogie and Edger and Salacious to make things happen,” Shuurely said. “Telemetry not good.”

  Edgar nodded. “So, you noticed. The sine wave has been building up for a couple of days. But, if
we have the theory wrong, we could simply make things worse.”

  “Theory correct,” Shuurely said. “Time for action.”

  A trumpet fanfare came out of the Woogie’s vocoder.

  “Why are you playing Handel’s music?” Johann asked.

  “Fireworks music. Seemed like the thing to do.”

  Edgar groaned and put his hand on his forehead. Johann pulled a plascine sheet of scores out of the portfolio he carried everywhere. He took a stylus and began scribbling music. A few minutes later he took it over to the Woogie, who had returned to work at the comp term.

  “This is for you, Shirley.”

  “Shuurely,” the Woogie corrected.

  “Ach! Whatever. Much better fanfare.”

  “Shuurely looked at the music and a few tentative notes came out of the vocoder.”

  “Oh, nein, nein, nein,” Johann said. “Like this.”

  And he hummed the notes for the Woogie.

  “Uh, Johann?” Sally said.

  “Yes?”

  “We do really need to get busy.”

  Johann colored. “Oh. I am sorry.”

  The German retreated to the cubicle where he generally worked whenever he was in the lab. She looked over at Edgar and shrugged.

  “Not wanted to hurt the Box’s feelings,” Shuurely said, the volume on the vocoder set low.

  “Very well,” Edgar said. “How do we want to approach building a test apparatus?”

  “The Woogie thinks we can adjust the original equipment. Do you have schematics?”

  “Oops,” Edgar said, “Harmonic coming.”

  The background humming noise returned as everyone held their breath. After a few moments, the sound stopped. Edgar turned to his comp term and typed several commands.

  “Okay, that was not too bad.”

  “But they will get worse,” Sally said.

  He nodded. “They will. Shuurely is right. We need to get busy on the apparatus.”

  The door to the lab opened and the paladin stepped in.

  “Was that a harmonic, or were you guys working on something?”

  “It was a harmonic, Paladin,” Edgar said.

  “I do hope you know what you are doing.”

  “So do we, Paladin. So do we.”