The Man From Taured (15 page)

Shaw held up both hands. "Wait, that's a lot of stuff to digest. So, you mean that, out there, beyond the walls of this reality, there's another Dr. Shaw?"

"Indeed," Whitten replied. "There are many. Some of them died while young. Some of them are very old. Some became writers or scientists or garbage men. It all depends on what roads they took during their lives. However, from what I can tell, there are very, very few that have a duplicate in every dimension."

"There's more than one you, then?" Shaw asked.

"Yes. I have learned how to reach out to them. I have contacted sixteen of my alternate selves. In each case, I have discovered that the alternate Whitten is also doing experiments with alternate dimensions."

"OK, so, you've talked to alternate versions of yourself and discovered that each one is a scientist, like you, and doing experiments on alternate dimensions," Shaw said, trying to process all of this. "How old are you?"

"Ah, well, there you go, that is an interesting question," Whitten said. "You can probably tell by my manner of dress that I am not quite up with the modern style. That's because I was born in the 1800s, Dr. Shaw. Through experimentation, information gathered from more advanced dimensions, and my constant exposure to rift energy, I am one hundred and sixty-three years old.

Shaw choked on his mouthful of spaghetti. He coughed so hard that Whitten looked worried and patted him on the back, as if that would do anything. For a moment Shaw thought that he was going to pass out, but then he gathered deep breaths of air and settled himself, taking large gulps of water.

"Jesus," Shaw said. "This is all too much."

Whitten laughed. "I know it's a lot to process, Dr. Shaw. There's so much more, too. For example, although almost everyone has a duplicate, there are a few who have none. These are Rifters, people who sense and find these breaks in reality and weak points between dimensions. They are very rare and most of them have no idea that they have this ability. They just slip between dimensions from time to time."

"Whoa," Shaw replied. "So, there are a few that have only one version of themselves, but they just sort of sense and even seek out these weak points?"

"Indeed," Whitten said. "I have run into a few - very few - that can control their abilities. They deliberately seek out the rifts and travel to other dimensions. Some do it to explore, more than few do it to try and gain some financial advantage - to make themselves rich."

Shaw ate more spaghetti, his brain felt like it was going to explode. He was also excited. He wanted, more than anything, to head back to Gemini and see if he could open a rift and stabilize it. He had to see more. He had to know more.

"So, why does IDEA believe that opening dimensions is so dangerous?" Shaw asked.

"Well, it isn't easy to do. It takes a lot of energy and you are actually tearing a hole in the fabric of reality itself," Whitten replied. "In my experiments, the holes created are very tiny. The radio waves and communications need only a pinprick to get through. Those who want to travel, though, need to tear a large hole. It is IDEA’s contention that such holes do not really heal. In fact, they believe that the walls between dimensions are weakening naturally. It is a variation on the idea of the expanding and collapsing universe."

Shaw nodded. The theory was that the Big Bang had created the universe and sent it expanding and expanding in all directions. However, the theory also stated
that, at some point, the universe would stop expanding and then collapse back in on itself. That would bring about the end of the universe and all kinds of strange things would happen before existence vanished. Now, if the universe was expanding within itself as well as expanding outward, this would add a whole new spin on things - another dimension, it could be said.

"Recent discoveries have shown that the universe is not stopping or slowing down," Whitten continued. "In fact, it seems that the universe is expanding faster. That would be like throwing your keys up into the air, but instead of them stopping and falling back down, they'd keep going up and up and up, and get faster and faster. Now some believe that the universe will keep expanding and expanding until each celestial body is too far away from the other to sustain life. Imagine an Earth with an empty black sky, no stars at all, just emptiness."

Shaw imagined that and shuddered. "How does that apply to the idea of the multiverse?"

"That would mean that newer dimensions are created
and are being added to the onion," Whitten said. "However, the walls between these dimensions are getting thinner and thinner, unable to keep up. The theory is that the walls will be stretched too thin and just fall apart. This will cause the multiverse to stop expanding and collapse on itself."

"Wow," Shaw said. He had never felt less like a scientist than he did right now. There was so much more that he needed to know. "So, if I start opening up portals, will that actually cause weaknesses to form? Are the people at IDEA right? Would I be speeding up the end of the world?"

"No," Whitten said. "There are older and more advanced civilizations out there and they may have ways to stop this. We have to reach them. I have managed to get to a few of them, but there's only so much you can do via radio. The people at IDEA are running around between dimensions trying to figure things out, stopping progress all along the way, managing to accomplish nothing. They think they are doing good, but they are hindering things. They are preventing progress. You are the first in a long time, Dr. Shaw, to be able to breach the dimensions and your technology is far more advanced thanks to your affiliation with Gemini."

"How many others in those other dimensions already know about me?" Shaw asked, suddenly feeling as if his entire life had been on display and observed for a long time now.

"There are lots, and Mr. Void is one of them," Whitten replied. "Of course, you know that IDEA is also there, also aware of you. We are at a very dangerous juncture, Dr. Shaw. IDEA has caused many a scientist who has gotten close to just vanish. We have no idea what happens to them
;
perhaps they are
left in the space in between dimensions, but whatever it is, they have hampered progress for years."

Shaw felt chills running up and down his spine. He looked up and studied the restaurant. Suddenly the shadows of the restaurant were threatening and dangerous. In fact, one of the shadows appeared to move.

"Ah, you've seen them," Whitten said, stuffing more food into his mouth. "They've been here for a while now. They've been monitoring our conversation for some time."

"What do we do?" Shaw asked.

"Finish our dinner," Whitten said. "They fear me as much as they are curious. They know that I am close to Mr. Void and they fear him, as well, as they should."

Dr. Shaw looked down at his plate of spaghetti. What was the deal with that stuff? His mind threw up that crazy thought, as if trying to compensate for the cranial overload that he was experiencing matched with the insane fear that now gripped him. No matter how much you ate of that stuff on your plate, it never looked like the pile of pasta was disappearing. He shoveled another forkful into his mouth and swallowed. It tasted dry to him, now, like he was eating spaghetti made from noodles comprised of sand. He forced the mouthful down and then forced another. Sweat sprouted on his forehead, and when he looked up it appeared as if every shadow now had red eyes in the middle of it and all of them were moving.

Whitten, meanwhile, seemed completely unaware of the moving shadows, the red eyes, and the menace around them. The man was eating with obvious delight, even making noises as he slurped down pasta dripping in white cheesy sauce, sopping up anything that was not attached to the noodles with heaping helpings of bread. He dabbed his mustache and beard frequently.

"They're all around us," Shaw whispered.

"Mm?" Whitten replied and he opened his eyes and cast them around the restaurant. They were the one ones in the place and even the wait staff and cooks were absent. "Oh, yes, well, that is to be expected. They follow me everywhere. Plus, they have an interest in you, so they are doubling down. Most of the time they just rely on their rather fearsome appearance to intimidate. They don't do much more than observe and try to scare. What will be interesting to see is if they do anything this time. Perhaps they will feel that together we are a big enough threat and it’s too risky to try and harm us. Rather exciting, isn't it?"

Shaw swallowed hard and now it felt like the lining of his throat had turned to sand. He looked around the room and, sure enough, several of the shadow men were walking slowly toward the table. One of them was taller than the others and something about the gait, the way the figure stood, was familiar to Shaw.

"Ezekiel?" Shaw said aloud.

The air shimmered around the figure and suddenly Ezekiel Clay stood there in full view. He was wearing the long coat that Shaw had touched earlier and found it to be unlike any leather or fabric he had felt before. Now it made sense because Whitten had told him the coat was technology, not just material. Ezekiel wore his red goggles, which he now removed and placed on top of his forehead, on top of the brim of the wide hat.

"Hello, Dr. Shaw. I see that you have chosen to ignore our pleas," Ezekiel said, walking up to the table.

Whitten turned his head slowly from the plate that was not nearly clean of pasta and sauce, as if his head rested on rusty hinges. Whitten looked up with disdain at the figure standing beside the table.

"Hello, Ezekiel," Whitten said, "I would say it is a pleasure to see you, but I find that lying while I eat ruins my digestion."

"Augustus," Ezekiel said. "I am very sorry to see you, as well. Are you busy corrupting Dr. Shaw with your nonsense about progress and Mr. Void? Probably leaving out the true parts, like always, I bet."

"I think that truth is subjective," Whitten replied, forking one final mouthful of pasta into his mouth and chewing loudly and delightedly. "You should know that as well as I, Ezekiel."

"Not when the truth is backed up with irrefutable facts," Ezekiel said. "That Mr. Void you talk about is a menace. He's been in the middle of the multiverse for centuries. He's the darkness. He's the essence of evil."

Whitten leaned his head back and laughed long and hard. "Oh, Ezekiel, there was a time when you were a man of science. Talking about evil is the subject of theologians. Have you found religion?"

"The only religion I've found is that of fact and that of protecting the multiverse," Ezekiel said. "What you have become is corrupted. You want to destroy everything so that evil can infiltrate every dimension. It will tear down the walls, destroy everything. That's what it wants. It's been imprisoned for so long, that it will gladly destroy everything."

"Wait a minute!" Shaw said. "Stop talking to each other and talk to me. Ezekiel, what do you mean that Void is evil?"

"All of the stories you've ever heard about Satan, Lucifer, and a fallen angel stems from the tale of Mr. Void. One of the oldest beings in the multiverse he was banished to a place we believe is at or very near the center. Can you imagine how old it must be? And for all of those centuries, the creature has been trying to get out. It has been changing, absorbing the nearby universes and dimensions, absorbing the energy and knowledge. As it breaks through, it destroys whatever it touches and absorbs the people and places into itself. It's the ultimate vampire. The Void can also can break through the barriers just a little bit, influencing others in other dimensions. Whispering to them, talking to them via long-dead telephones and through computers. It drives some mad, causes others to become evil like itself, and each time it accomplishes that, it gains another foothold in that universe. Then, when the walls of that universe are weakest, it breaks through and absorbs it all. It's the only way it can free itself."

Whitten leaned back in his seat and looked at Ezekiel. Then a wide smile crossed his face and he clapped his hands together, slowly, loudly. Shaw was sitting in his spot with his mouth open and his meal long forgotten.

"Bravo, Ezekiel," Whitten said. "You have gotten so much better at that speech over the years. Why, I almost believed it myself that time. Too bad it's all lies. Have you ever spoken to Void? Well, I have and I can tell you that he is not evil. He's a creature, a man of science like I am and like Dr. Shaw. He wants the multiverses to learn from each other, advance, become one."

"Lies," Ezekiel spat. "Nothing but lies."

Ezekiel and Whitten stared at each other. There was electricity between the two of them that Shaw could feel down to his toes. He had been watching this conversation kind of like a spectator at a tennis match.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Whitten said. "You have no real authority, Ezekiel. You know that as well as I do. You cannot arrest me. You cannot kill me. You cannot harm either of us. I think it's even against your organization's rules. So, are we just going to sit here staring at each other all night?"

Ezekiel chewed at his lower lip for a moment. "Perhaps it's time to change the laws of IDEA, Augustus. Perhaps this time I'm here to do more than just talk to you."

Ezekiel reached into his pocket and removed a small rectangular device that reminded Shaw of a remote control. He pointed it at Whitten. Whitten's eyes widened just a bit, but then a smile crossed his face.