Unparalleled

by D. S. Smith

  Chapter 45

  Stuart sat in his room staring at the TV, though not really watching. He hadn’t yet been informed of when the Harmoniser would be ready. Dr Cooper’s arrangements to insert the DNA sequences were set for the following morning. He took this as a sign that his departure was imminent. It could not come soon enough. He was growing tired of being restricted to the college campus grounds. There was little for him to do there which left him for the most part with his own thoughts. Thoughts of how Lauren was coping, of how she would react to his return, of how his return would be received generally and, of whether the machine would work. He decided to turn the TV off and go to bed, but before he had chance there was a knock at the door. He looked through the peephole to see who was knocking. To his surprise his brother and Terry stood outside. He opened the door immediately to let them in. “Dave, long time no see. Come on in,” Stuart said beckoning them into the room. “I really didn’t expect to see you when I answered the door. Terry, always a pleasure, come in, come in.”

  Dave entered his brother’s room but Terry declined the invitation.

  “Sorry Stuart, I tried to get him to go straight to his bed but he insisted on coming to see you. Anyway, now he’s here I’ll leave you two to catch up. I have work to do.”

  Terry bade them goodnight and headed off toward the main building. Stuart closed the door behind him and turned to his brother. “My god Dave, it really does seem like a lifetime since I last saw you. How are you coping with everything you’ve been through?”

  “How am I coping? What about you Stu?” Dave asked. “The last time I saw you we were all accusing you of being crazy. Now all this shit! That’s why I wanted to come over, I owe you a huge apology, Bro.”

  “No, no, don’t even go there. Had it been the other way around I would have definitely had you committed.” Stuart’s joking lightened the mood and the brothers spent the next twenty minutes bringing each other up to speed on what had been going on since they last saw each other. Stuart held back with some of the details thinking his brother had enough to think about. He certainly didn’t want to divulge information about the possibility the transfer would prolong his life. He didn’t fully accept that himself and it seemed insensitive considering his real brother may be dead. When Dave told him about what had happened in China it was Stuart’s turn to apologise but like him his brother would have none of it.

  “It’s not your fault they went for the more handsome brother, Stu,” Dave joked. He scanned the room looking for something before asking, “You don’t have anything to drink do you, like, alcoholic drink?”

  “I don’t mate, but I know where I can probably find something. Just give me a minute” Stuart grabbed his coat, left the room and marched off across the forecourt, heading for the refectory. He was enjoying Dave’s company and sharing of a glass of wine or two would be welcome distraction from his own thoughts.

  While his brother was off on the quest for alcohol Dave turned on the TV to watch the news. There was no mention of the incident at the hotel. He flicked through a few more channels but then Stuart arrived back sporting two bottles of red wine and two glasses. “Courtesy of Terry!” he exclaimed, holding the bottles up in the air. “He did say to tell you to be careful how much you drink after all you’ve been through.”

  “Ah, I’ll be fine.” Dave said dismissing Terry’s concerns.

  Stuart put the glasses down on a table, unscrewed one of the bottles and poured two generous measures of wine. Handing one to his brother he raised his glass for a toast. “To strength in the face of adversity.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Dave said, raising his glass in unison with Stuart’s. He turned back to face the TV. “So how different is it, you know, what you see here compared to your own world, planet?” he asked awkwardly nodding toward the TV.

  “It’s not all that different really.” Stuart replied. “World politics, economics, celebrities and sports all dominate the headlines just like here. What I have noticed is some of the big names are not always the same.”

  “Come on then, give me an example.” Dave asked sounding excited. “Ok, well the biggest difference I’ve noticed is the US president. Here you have Barack Obama. In my world the president is a guy called John McCain. Obama did run but didn’t win.”

  “Wow, ok. That is interesting. I tell you what, let’s have a bit of fun. If you’re up for it, how about I fire events and people from here at you and you say what or who they are in your world?”

  “Yeh ok… I think. Fire away then.” Stuart offered enjoying the banter.

  “Ok, how about……. the war in Afghanistan?”

  “Shit, now you’re going back a while. From what I can remember that ended in the late eighties when the Russians finally pulled out.”

  “Ok, that’s the same as here, but what about the more recent troubles over there after the attack on the Twin Towers?”

  “No idea, what do you mean by Twin Towers?” Stuart shrugged.

  “You’re kidding me, terrorist attack involving planes flying into the World Trade Centre, Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaida?”

  “I’ve heard of the World Trade Centre in New York but the rest of that doesn’t make any sense at all, and sounds pretty bloody horrific.”

  “It was,” Dave exclaimed. “Thousands of people were killed. Both towers collapsed.”

  “Shit,” was the only response Stuart could muster. Dave gulped down the rest of his wine and poured another glass, topping Stuart’s up in the process. “Ok, let’s make this simpler.” Dave offered, “I’ll say a name and you tell me what you know about that person.”

  “Ok, fare enough, but I should warn you, I’m no expert on world politics, or celebs for that matter.”

  “Don’t worry I’ll make it easy. Ready?”

  “Ready.”

  Dave − “Tony Blair?”

  Stuart − “Former Tory Prime Minister.”

  Dave − “He was Tory in your world?”

  Stuart − “No, Labour, sorry. I always think that for some reason.”

  Dave − “Right, Adolf Hitler?”

  Stuart − “Fascist dictator, leader of Germany, Started WW2, lost WW2.”

  Dave − “Yep, ok, erm John Cleese?”

  Stuart − “Monty Python.”

  Dave − “Correct, ok, Kate Middleton?”

  Stuart − “Never heard of her.”

  Dave − “Oh wow, ok Lady Diana?”

  Stuart − “Prince Charles’s wife.”

  Dave − “Alive or dead.”

  Stuart − “Alive!”

  Dave − “No way, Diana is alive in your universe.”

  Stuart − “Yeah, you saying she’s dead in yours?”

  Dave − “Yes, absolutely. Huge shockwave globally. She died in a car crash in France. Wonderful person, so sad.”

  Stuart − “That is sad.”

  Dave − “Ok, what about…….Facebook?”

  Stuart − “Never heard of it, what is it?”

  Dave − “What is Facebook! I’ll tell what it is Stu, it is something that you need to set up as soon as you get back because it will make you a fortune.” Dave explained what Facebook was to which Stuart replied, “Oh, sounds like the social media site FriendCon! Started by a guy called Mark Zuckerberg.”

  Dave − “Yeah, that’s the one,” he conceded sounding disappointed.

  Dave − “Ok, last one. David Beckham?”

  Stuart − “David Beckham, as in leader of the opposition party and tipped to be the youngest prime minister in the last 100 years?”

  Dave − “No way, no. David Beckham here was a top footballer and is now like a major celeb and role model.”

  Stuart − Yeh, same in my world. Just messing with you.”

  They finished the second bottle of wine and discussed more differences but none were as shocking as the revelations concerning the Twin Towers, Princess Diana and Barak Obama. They considered the implication of these differences. From what little Stuart h
ad observed, the world he was in really did not seem that different to his own. He mentioned the World Trade Centre attack again. That sounded utterly shocking and he wondered how they would react to that in his world. He asked his brother who the US president was at the time of the attacks. When he heard that it was George W Bush he found it hard to believe he had not retaliated with World War III. Bush had been US president in his world at the same time and Stuart could not imagine the man showing any kind of restraint. This led them to discuss how much influence one person can really have on history. What if for instance Adolf Hitler had not existed in one of the universes? Would World War II still have taken place? Was the political and economic climate of Germany such at the time that it was just waiting for a leader to instigate the events that followed, or was it just one man’s madness? And what if it had not happened in one of the worlds? How different would the demographics be between the universe having experienced the mass loss of life and the one that had not? Stuart tried to explain to Dave the harmonic balance the professor and his team had talked about regarding the exchange of energy between universes.

  “So how would this work if for instance millions died in one universe but not the other?” Dave asked slurring his speech as the effect of the wine took hold. “From what I understand, and I might be wrong,” Stuart tried to explain sounding equally as inebriated, “energy would still be exchanged just not people.”

  The brothers were struggling to grasp the fact they existed in different dimensions. That their lives were paralleled twice, maybe a thousand or even an infinite number of times. Just saying the words out loud seemed absurd. Yet, here they were, just hours away from being involved in the first artificially induced trans-universal exchange.

  Chapter 46

  Terry considered the information he received from Captain Mitchell. He now knew exactly what to expect from the Chinese Agent known as Lin Lee. An attack on the facility at the college was imminent and the personnel involved were in grave danger. Terry’s brief from his superiors was to protect the technology first and the people second. He did not agree with this approach but given the intelligence he had received, he felt confident protection of both commodities was achievable. His first thought had been to intercept Lin Lee at the safe house before she could take any action. The issue with this strategy was failure or success would alert her sponsors to the fact their plan had been compromised. There would be nothing to stop them deploying further agents to disrupt their program. Then there was Lin Lee herself who was clearly highly skilled and highly dangerous. In an uncontrolled environment, the risk of casualties would be unnecessarily high. Knowing her plan of attack would greatly reduce this risk allowing Terry and his team to take control of the situation without her knowledge. In addition to the intelligence, he now had the means to feed information to the Chairman’s syndicate and subsequently to Lin Lee. Agent Mann had been interrogated overnight and agreed to cooperate fully with the security services in exchange for a show of clemency for his betrayal. He informed them he had been having an affair with one of the analysts at their headquarters. He had been meaning to end the relationship to avoid breaking up his family but before he had the opportunity he was approached by a man claiming to know about his indiscretion. The man threatened to tell his wife if he did not pass on information regarding the team’s research. Mann claimed he had no idea to whom the information was being reported, only that it had been going on for the past month. The information he passed on to the blackmailer included names and identities of agents involved, shift patterns of security guards and blueprints from the college archive. It was agreed Mann would continue to pass on information under strict supervision from the security service, meaning they could steer Lin Lee straight into their hands. Terry had already delivered a plan to keep casualties to a minimum. All he needed now was agreement on the timing from the professor. He would have Mann leak back the selected information to his blackmailers knowing this would reach Lin Lee. Once she took the bait he would just reel her in.

  Chapter 47

  Professor Humphries held the small tube up to the bench lamp letting light shine through the thick red liquid. The tube contained just five millilitres of blood, a mere teaspoonful. Stuart lay face down on a gurney waiting for Dr Cooper to prep him for the procedure. “Within the next few minutes Stuart,” the professor declared holding up the tube, “this blood will be injected into your liver introducing a gene sequence that will alter your DNA.” The professor grabbed hold of a stool from the bench and dragged it over to the side of the gurney. He sat down, continuing to address Stuart. “The sequence will lie dormant until you pass through the Harmoniser, at which point it will be triggered.” Stuart felt surprisingly comfortable as he lay, waiting to have his genetics altered in a way that had never been done before. “The sequence will alter the structure of the messenger DNA molecules in each of the thirty-seven trillion cells that make up your body.” He leaned forward so that his mouth was nearer to Stuart’s ear. “Each cell will be programmed to reset after regeneration, so the outcome will always be a perfect expression of their previous form.” The professor stood again and began pacing in circles around the gurney. He raised his voice making sure Stuart could still hear him. “This process will have a wonderfully unexpected side effect. The resetting of your genes will force your endocrine system into production of a hormone that stimulates the secretion of the enzyme Telomerase.” Stuart started to feel sleepy, the professor words having an almost hypnotic effect on him. “The purpose of this enzyme, Stuart, is to maintain the length of a DNA sequence found at the end of your chromosomes, called a telomere. This sequence stops the chromosomes unravelling during cell regeneration.” The professor’s dulcet tones hummed in Stuarts mind like the sound of a car engine on a long journey. Is this real? He thought. Am I really hearing this? But the words continued. “It is well known that with each cell regeneration telomeres shorten. Eventually they become too short to maintain the structure of the chromosome and the cell dies. It is believed that telomeres erode completely after around one hundred regenerations. This is one of the main reasons the body ages.” Stuart sensed the importance of the words being spoken to him but he was engulfed by a calmness that rendered him motionless. “With this re-set gene present in your DNA,” the professor said leaning over so his mouth was near to Stuart’s ear again, “your cells will regenerate continuously, producing a perfect copy each time.” He handed the tube of blood to Dr Cooper continuing to address Stuart as he did this. “So, once you have completed your journey through the Harmoniser, you will never get terminally ill and as far as we know, you will never age.” He paused for a moment letting the words sink in before adding, “You really are a very fortunate man Stuart.” He patted him on the shoulder before instructing Dr Cooper to continue.

  The professor’s words floated around Stuart’s mind like dialogue from a science fiction movie…….and as far as we know, you will never age………What does that even mean? he thought. He couldn’t comprehend immortality, nor did he want to try. He wanted normality. He wanted to go home to his wife and raise a family. Go back to work at the zoo and tend to the tigers. Have a few pints at the pub with his brother and his mates. Before he had chance to consider this further he felt something cold and damp being rubbed into the side of his stomach, followed by a stinging sensation as the needle penetrated his skin. As it went deeper it felt like the muscles in his stomach were cramping but this passed quickly and before he knew it the needle had been pulled out.

  “You ok Stuart?” Dr Cooper asked.

  “Is that it?” Stuart asked, a little surprised by the lack of procedure. “Just one more injection to insert the sequence containing the plans for the Harmoniser,” the professor interjected. The second injection was into the top of Stuart’s leg and was over within seconds. “Ok, were done with you for now Stuart.” Dr Cooper advised “But if you feel unusual in anyway come straight back to see me.”

  Before he left the lab the professor inf
ormed Stuart that another set of tests had been carried out with the Harmoniser. They had more data to analyse but he was confident they would be ready to do the transfer the following evening. This came as quite a surprise to Stuart. He knew the announcement was imminent but having it confirmed so unceremoniously caught him off-guard.

  “Ok, thanks professor. Is there anything I need to do to prepare?” Stuart asked not knowing how to react. “Not really Stuart,” the professor replied, “I’d recommend you try to get some sleep tonight and maybe avoid eating too much tomorrow. Having said that,” he continued, “Terry intends to serve up one of his specialities later while he advises us on the protocol for tomorrow. A last supper if you like! Dr Carson and David will join us also.”

  “Well that doesn’t quite make twelve professor, but I’ll look forward to a welcome distraction.”

  “Yes, quite Stuart, I’m sure you have all kinds of things going on in your head at the moment. Just let me know if there’s anything further you wish to discuss?”

  “Thank you professor,” he said smiling, “but I think you’ve given me enough to think about for now.”

  Chapter 48

  Stuart was woken by the sound of a vacuum cleaner powering up by the side of his bed. He tried to reach over to switch it off but his hands were tied to the head rest and his feet were strapped to the mattress. He tried to shout out to the guard outside his room but a hand was placed over his mouth to stop him. He looked up to see a beautiful Asian woman putting her finger to her lips and quietly telling him to shush. She removed her hand from his mouth. He made no further effort to shout out. He was entranced by her beauty. She peeled back the blankets down to his waist revealing his naked body. She took hold of the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner and touched it to the bare skin on his side where he had received the injection the day before. “We can’t let you take that with you,” she whispered. He felt the nozzle pull on his skin. The noise of the vacuum cleaner grew louder as the suction against his skin grew stronger. He felt a tearing sensation in his side and the pain intensified as the vacuum pulled at his internal organs. He looked down at his waist and could see his stomach getting thinner. The noise of the vacuum cleaner changed from a low rumbling whirr to a high-pitched whine. The Asian woman began to laugh hysterically as Stuart’s stomach reduced in girth to an impossibly small size. The pain was excruciating. Stuart screamed out in agony as he banged the headboard against the wall with his tied hands, trying to free them. The banging grew louder until suddenly, he sat bolt upright in his bed, woken by the noise of someone banging on his door. “Are you ok Mr Milton?” a voice from outside asked. Stuart took a few seconds to compose himself, “I’m ok,” he shouted, “it was just a bad dream.” He was fully dressed and had been sleeping on top of the covers. He looked at his watch. It was six-thirty in the morning. He had no idea how long he had been asleep but was surprised he had slept at all. He lay back on the bed letting his heart rate return to normal. He could hear the birds singing outside as a new day began. He considered what this day would have in store for him and whether it might be his last.