The Real World

by Jacob Long

  We stand on a platform that goes around the sides of the entire room. There are stairs guiding down to the cave floor which is completely covered. On the sides, the cave walls have not been covered and at the center of the ground floor is a giant mechanical ring. This must be the Quantum Spectrum that they have said so much about. I will say that it is not disappointing to gaze upon. "Say what about my house?" I ask as Barrett leads us down the steps. "We will be transporting you to the house of your doppelganger in the other world," says Barrett.

  We walk over to a set of monitors. Each image is displaying a guy that looks like me. "Are these all different dimensions?" "Yes," says Nina. "The men in these video feeds are all different versions of you." The first monitor that we walk by displays a version of me inside some sort of cage, fighting another man. It reminds me of the ones that we used to train in on the first island. There is a vast crowd of people. The next monitor displays a version of me that is slowly walking toward a bed. He is very thin and frail looking. The next one is wearing some a green military uniform. He is saluting a superior officer. The monitor after that displays a version of me sitting on the couch with some an electronic pen-shaped device in my hand. I can't quite get a good look at it because there is smoke everywhere. The corner of the screen reads; DENVER COLORADO.

  On the next screen, I am wearing ragged clothing and walking along the beach. Nina stops in front of the last two monitors and gestures to all of them. "These are all of your doppelgangers that we have been able to locate." She gestures to the last two monitors. "So far, we know that the Ministry is keeping tabs in these two worlds." She points to one monitor displaying a version of me in a nice button up shirt in a large office. The other version of me is wearing a light blue shirt, and walking into what looks like a strange movie theater. "They haven't been paying much attention to any of the others," she continues. "Especially that one." She points to the screen that is filled with clouds of smoke.

  “You'll be going to this world.” She points to the version of me that is wearing a light blue shirt. “So what exactly does my doppelganger have to do with all of this?” I ask as I look at the various monitors in the room. "You will need to retrieve some clothing and forms of self-identification so that you can properly make your way around his world," Barrett says. "You want me to steal my own identity?" I say as we walk up to the Quantum Spectrum. It's even bigger up close. "In a manner of speaking, yes," says Barrett. "That can't be the only reason," I reply. "Obviously the Ministry is keeping tabs on him. Why is he so important anyway, what is he a government agent or soldier?" I reply. "Not exactly," says Barrett.

  "The Ministry is targeting him. They're targeting a lot of people whose genetic potential is that of a level 5 super-human." "Oh, no. I'm just going there to get Callum and come right back. No one said anything about impersonating my other self, and thwarting some twisted plan for other world domination," I reply. "They're going to take him tomorrow," Barrett states in a powerful but calm voice. He will be imprisoned and experimented on. Beyond that, you are one of only four superhumans that have ever been documented as a class five. They will twist his mind, give him superhuman abilities and thereby create the most evil twin in this or any other universe. He will be a weapon used to seek out and eradicate all of the Ministry's enemies. Including but not limited to the island civilization of Idem."

  All of the Ministry's enemies? I didn't think we had any other allies out there. Maybe we don't. Maybe Barrett is acting dramatic for effect. Either way, he's right. That does a pose a considerable threat. I take a deep breath. "I go there, I bring back Callum, and I bring back my double. Nothing else." "Jayden, we don't know what else they have planned," RT says. I let out a sigh. “This will be a rescue mission. If there is a clear shot for me to extract information, I will. If there is not, I won't.” I say as I take another look at the Quantum Spectrum.

  They reprogram my headset so that I can stay in contact with RT across dimensions. The instruction and training doesn't take very long. I am less than excited to learn that it may take a couple of hours for my abilities to work in this other world. Soon, I am standing a few feet away from the Quantum Spectrum.

  The portal wall looks like a shiny silver wave pool while the machine calibrates the location. It makes a very distinct sound as well like a combination of ocean waves, and an electric current. First, it displays the image of a city unlike any that I've seen. All of a sudden, the portal solidifies, and I can see a clear picture of my doppelganger's bedroom. "Wait, if they can track the portals, why am I going directly to my doppelganger's house?" I ask, partially stalling for time. "The energy trace disperses after an hour. As long as they are not at his house, we will be fine." I step forward and place my right fingertips just up against the portal wall and slowly move forward until my fingers and palm are touching.

  The surface has a strange electric feeling to it. I look over to my right at Dr. Hamilton who is standing at the control station. He gives me a nod, a thumbs up, and a wide, nerdy grin. "She's good to go!" He yells over the sound of the beast. Now I feel very reassured. I return the the the nod, the thumbs up, and try my best not to imitate his grin sarcastically. "Thanks," I say. I share the smile and thumbs up with everyone as I look around the entire room. Barrett, Nina, and Liam stand several feet behind me on the same platform. Down below, RT is seated at a control panel desk. And a few other scientists are standing around him just looking up at me. Everyone is waiting for my big move. I turn back to face the portal. I step into it, and there is a tingly feeling of electricity. As I walk through further, I see sparks begin to fly all around me.

  It's too late now. I'm more than halfway through. I've already committed. I pull the rest of my leg through as fast as I can, hoping that all of me makes it to this other dimension. For a moment, I am stuck in what seems to be an inter-dimensional dark space. As I enter through the other side, I start to feel nauseous. There is also some a resistance fighting against my body. It feels soft, like clothing. I push through and find myself falling out of a closet full of clothes. I turn around and look up to see the portal shrink down and dissipate. As I look around the room, the feeling of nausea gets dramatically worse. I step forward and reach my hand out to a desk to catch myself. RT checks in,

  “Jayden, can you hear me?”

  "Yeah," I reply. "Tell Barrett they need to work out the kinks out of that machine." “I will. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I just feel a little strange.”

  “What's going on?”

  “I'm a little loopy.”

  “Your blood sugar is dropping. Stay with me. Take a seat.”

  I look around the room to see the walls covered with movie posters. At least, I think they're movie posters. Although they don't look like strange giant pictures rather than the illustrations that I have seen. “This guy must really like movies,” I say. “Stay focused,” RT says. “There is a meal substitute packet in the food pouch on your belt. Take it. You need the energy.”

  I grab open the pouch and take out the packet. My fingers have a slight tremble as I open it and barely manage to empty the contents into my mouth as I sit down onto the bed. I take a few breaths to calm down. After several seconds or so, I start to feel much better.

  “All right. Let's test out my abilities,” I say as I stand up. “That might not be the best idea right now,” RT replies. I lift my hand up toward the ceiling, curling my fingers slightly. I concentrate, but nothing happens. "Uh, I thought you said that it wouldn't take long for my abilities to come back?"

  "They're telling me that it won't be too long. They say that Callum had full capability after two days," replies RT. "Two days! That's ridiculous. Let's see if I can speed things up." I move my arms through the air striving to create a fireball. "What are you doing? You have to give it some time," RT says. I must look insane waving my arms around the room. It would be nice though to generate even a tiny flame so that I could have a glimmer of hope.

  “It's getting hot in here,�
� I say as I take my helmet off and place it on the stand to the right of the bed. I adjust the setting so that I can talk to RT without wearing my helmet. I walk over to the end of the bed and put my hands on my knees, bending forward. I didn't realize that I was exhausting myself until now. My heart and lungs are pounding. I guess I thought the meal substitute packet would keep me going. “What's wrong with me? I feel like I just climbed a mountain.” “You need to sit down” I hear RT say. “If you pass out, you could-” I hit the floor.

  10

  When I wake up, I find myself in a strange place on a floor that is unrecognizable in a room filled with strange things. I'm not sure where I am, or how I got here... after thinking for a moment, I'm not even sure who I am... Before I can get up to look around, a face hovers above me. "Are you okay?" asks a reddish-brown haired guy. He looks to be about my age. "Uh, yeah. I'm fine," I say as I roll over. He helps me to stand up.

  As I stand, I notice that the back of my head is throbbing. I reach back to nurse it. "Are you sure?" he asks. "That fall was pretty loud." "Yeah, I'm feeling... great," I reply as I lower my hand away from my aching head. "Could you tell me my name though?" I ask. He hesitates, scanning my face. "You're joking, right?" "No, I'm really not sure what my name is." O...kay. Your name is Jayden Lancaster, and I think we need to get you to the hospital." The name resonates with me and I remember. I am Jayden Lancaster. I am from the Island civilization of Idem, hidden away from the tyrannical Supreme Ministry. Well, I remember that much... Everything else is still a bit blurry.

  "Just kidding," I say to him. "All... right," he replies, not fully convinced. "Why are you dressed like that?" he asks, staring perplexedly at my uniform. "I thought you were at work." I'll have to think fast to get out of this. "I was, but they decided that they didn't need me today... Then I went to the store and thought that these clothes looked cool, so I bought them." He stares at me for a moment. "All right. Well, I'm going to go back to my room, but I'll keep the volume on my headphones down. Just let me know if you need anything." "Will do," I reply. "And thank you." The reddish-brown haired guy walks out of the room. He seems like a good guy, but I don't want to involve him in any danger. And whatever is going on, I have a feeling that there is plenty of danger involved.

  I look at the bed that is right next to where my head had been laying a few seconds ago, and can't help but wonder why I couldn't make it that far. Oh, well. I'm over it. I look around the room for some sort of clue as to my whereabouts. In front of me is a desk with a unique keyboard and monitor in the center. It appears to be a computer. There is another monitor, a larger one placed on top of a box behind the weird looking computer. Right next to the computer is a soft pad with a palm-sized electronic device.

  The remainder of the desk is filled with notebooks, stacks of papers, different colored small pieces of paper, a camera, some hand grippers, a stapler, and a mug filled with pens and pencils. Nothing. I look around and notice that movie posters are covering the walls in this room. At least that's what I think they are. Wow. This guy must really like movies. They look a lot different from all of the movie posters that I've ever seen.

  There's one with a beautiful dark haired woman. She's holding a sword. She appears to be a great warrior with a fierceness in her eyes that I can't help but admire. And she is beautiful too. Her dark hair and olive complexion remind me of a girl I once knew. I remember her, Elena. The thought of her overwhelms me. My breathing becomes heavy and rapidly increases. I almost feel like I can talk to her.

  That's impossible though. She's gone. I finally fall out of this trance as my eye catches the release date on the bottom of the poster. The year is 2017. Three years ago? That's impossible. I've never seen anything like this. None of the movie posters in the archives look as clear and as crisp as this poster does. I start to think that maybe I knew I was going to run into something like this, that I came to this place for a specific reason; if only I could remember what that reason was. I glance at the other posters nearby. I turn and look at the ones on the opposite wall.

  At the end of the other wall, right beside the last poster is a plaque. A plaque that the Supreme Ministry would destroy if they found it. It is a quote from former United States President Theodore Roosevelt. A great quote. An inspirational quote. I step forward to lift the plaque off of the wall, but I trip on something lying on the floor. The plaque drops and hits a storage compartment on its way down to the ground. As I reach down to pick it up, I notice my helmet on top of the storage compartment. I quickly check to see if it's damaged. It checks out, so I place it on my head and press the button.

  “RT, are you there?” I ask, half expecting to hear someone else.

  “Jayden? Yes, I'm here.”

  “What happened?” I ask.

  “I think you passed out.”

  “Where am I?” There is a pause on the other end.

  “What's the last thing you remember?”

  I try to think of the last thing that I remember before waking up in this strange room, but I only draw a blank. I recall a vague memory. "The radar picked up a ship heading toward the island. We were going to check it out." "That ship had friendly people on it led by a man named Myles Barrett. Do you remember them?" I think for a moment, and then it hits me. "Oh, yeah," I reply. "I'm not very excited to be here, am I?"

  "That's the spirit." "Haha, all right. The details are a little hazy. Can you give me a brief rundown of what's going on?" "Of course. You are on a mission to save two people, retrieve information from the Supreme Ministry, and to destroy a factory that they are using," RT says as if I know how to respond to that. "Right. That sounds great. I'm all in. Just one question: where am I?" Another pause. "RT, the pauses are making me a little nervous," I say. "Do you remember when you're grandpa taught us physics?" he asks. "Uh, yeah," I say confused now more than ever. "Do you remember learning about string theory?" he asks and I contemplate for a moment. "The one about different dimensions? Yeah, what about it?"

  RT explains everything about the Supreme Ministry's inter-dimensional travels and Barrett and the Faction. By the time he gets to explaining my doppelganger, I remember everything. Finding him will be like finding a long lost twin. A twin that grew up in an entirely different world. It's hard to imagine what life would be like in a world where the Omega War never occurred. I realize that I don't have to imagine it. I'm in that world right now. It doesn't appear that anyone else is at this apartment, but I look around to be sure. I go into the kitchen and open the fridge.

  "You need to be looking for a clue as to where he is. I don't think that you'll find that in the fridge," RT informs me. I rummage through the shelves looking for something decently edible. "Yes, I know, but I'm not going to be able to do that if I pass out from low blood sugar," I reply. I close the fridge door and look around the kitchen. I retrieve a peach from the counter. This will do just fine. I bite into the sweet fruit, savoring the experience. "Get something with protein as well," RT says. I search around and come upon a bag of cashews. I take my snacks and make my way back to the bedroom to continue my search for a clue.

  When I get into the bedroom, I notice something sticking out of the top dresser drawer. It's a red lanyard with the logo of a company on it. It could just be any company, and yet it is somehow very familiar to me. The lanyard reads; CineStar. Unusual name for a company. It sounds like 'sinister.' Aside from the obvious clue of the posters, and the fact that the prefix cine implies movies, somehow I know that this lanyard is from a movie theater and that my doppelganger works there.

  I have a sense of deja vu as if I've been in this room before, grabbing this lanyard. “RT, can you search this world's electronic network to find a local movie theater by the name of CineStar?” I ask. “Yeah, no problem. How do you know that he'll be there?” he asks. “That's where he works. I'm not exactly sure how I know. I just know.”

  “Well, you know yourself better than I do. It looks like there is a Cinestar theater about three miles from where you are.
I'm programming the directions into your helmet as we speak." "Perfect. Now, should I hijack a vehicle of some sort?" "We don't want you to draw too much attention to yourself. I ordered you a sort of taxi service," he says. "They will be there in about twenty minutes. I suggest that you scan some of your doppelganger's clothes and use one of your imitation devices. Now it's time to find some clothes. I search through the closet, confused by what I'm looking at. Most of the clothes in the wardrobe of my double appear to be casual. On Idem, one or two pairs of casual clothing are all we need. Tactical apparel is worn most of the time while we are outside. It's important to be ready in case the Ministry attacks. Even on the first island, we liked to walk around wearing our tactical gear. Most people worked long days either in the mines, the garages, the farms, or the gardens.

  On occasion, we would have island dances where we would dress up nice. Even though it's been a little over a year, we haven't had any of those dances on the second island. I think our people have been stuck in a survival mode of sorts. With me probably being the worst of these. It's all starting to come back to me, and I'm not sure I like that. I find a backpack in the closet and stuff my helmet inside of it. I walk out of the apartment looking like I am wearing a baseball cap, a pair of gray jeans, and a light blue shirt. The imitation device is a phenomenal piece of technology.