Note: Nietzsche is pronounced Nee-CHUH.
There was so much chaos. People were yelling and pointing, others looked around confused and bewilder, yet others grew impatient and violent.
Valter pulled a switch on the wall, and a loud, flashing klaxon ceased all commotion. The alarm only lasted for a few long seconds before it ended. With a loud CLUNK, he reset the lever, drawing everyone's attention to him.
"Sorry, everyone." he said with a terse smile, raising his hands. "It seems we've experienced an anomaly. Just keep calm, and I'll have everything sorted out."
Boba Fett leveled his gun at Valter's face. "Well then you better get snapping."
Valter pushed the barrel of the blaster away from his face with his finger. "I'm the only one who knows how to work the portal here, space soldier. If you shoot me, you are never getting home."
The charming man in a suit was taking photographs of the inside of the laboratory. Or doing something with weird looking pen device.
"Sir, no photography in the lab!" Valter waved to get his attention, nearly tripping over Edgar Allan Poe, who was on the floor in the fetal position.
"Oh for the love of..." Before Valter could complete the expletive, a smartly dressed man with a pipe and detectives hat was shaking his hand.
"How do you do, good sir? My name is Sherlock Holmes. Might I ask you a few questions?"
"Yes, yes! We can all... get to that in a minute! Uh..." Valter's gaze snapped towards his assistant, Umber.
He called her name across the laboratory, and she dutifully trotted up to him.
"Yes, sir?"
"Could you please, uh... Take care of the ideas for a moment. I need to have a private talk with a most troublesome guest."
Umber swallowed nervously, glancing around the lab at the variety of strange and imposing figures. Before she could voice any kind of protest, Valter had disappeared into the side room, locking the door behind him.
The side room was a green-lit operations area, much smaller than the main lab, but with a much higher concentrations of scientific equipment. Leaning against one of the specimen freezers was Jack. Umber had quickly managed to bind his broken arm in some spare gauze that had been lying around the room. It was fashioned into an effective yet uncomfortable sling that chafed his shoulder.
Valter's words were ice cold, but were delivered with a slow and deliberate venom. "You've done it now, Jack."
"Oh have I?" he asked, folding his good arm across his chest. He pretended to lean against the specimen freezer, like he wasn't being forcibly bound to it. Umber had stuffed part of his shirt within the freezer and then locked it shut, to keep him from rummaging around the room's equipment.
Valter stalked towards him, with an expression that transcended fury, until the two were forehead-to-forehead.
"I am not one for idle threats, Jack, so I will make this as bereft as dramatics as I can manage. What you have just done, if left unchecked, will destroy the entire world. You and you alone will be responsible for the deaths of millions. Those who are left alive will curse your name with the same vile hatred held for the genocidal maniacs of history. If you do not rectify your mistake, I will personally ensure that you suffer a worse fate than the cumulative sum of all your victims."
Jack gulped. "You're uh... Kinda creeping me out here, Doc."
Valter gripped his lapels once more and hoisted him off of his feet. "You still don't know what you've done, do you?! You've shattered the IdeaSpace! You've unleashed..."
Valter's last few words left his mouth like a deflating balloon. His gaze softened for a moment and he returned Jack to the ground. "You don't know what the IdeaSpace is, do you?"
Jack shook his head emphatically. Valter let out a deep, exasperated sigh. When he spoke, his voice carried a more pensive tone.
"The IdeaSpace is a project I've been working on... my whole life. When I was eight, my parents noticed I was... different. They had me tested, and the people working at the institute said that I was smart enough to qualify for genius status. That's usually a good thing, but..."
Valter's scrunched his face and held his hands together. "Uh, anyways... The idea of what a genius was had always seemed absurd to me. How we, as people, define what a genius is. It's someone who's smart, sure, but everyone is smart in their own ways... Here, maybe this will help."
Valter ran to the other side of the room and threw open the doors to an older looking specimen freezer. Unlike the others, it was made of wood, not metal, and seemed to contain old trinkets and board games.
"Here. Take this for example." he said, quickly returning with a 500 piece puzzle of a flamingo. "Imagine this is your average person. Imagine that each of these pieces is the way the human brain can be organized. And everyone has a different brain, a different way of looking at things... But only one solution is considered "correct". Well... I didn't much like that. Within every person lies a genius, the pieces are just... not arranged properly!"
Jack nodded for him to continue, feigning comprehension.
"So what if... What if there was a way to organize people's brains? We wouldn't just have three or four geniuses in the world... We could have millions. All I had to do was take each person's brain and arrange it like this jigsaw puzzle! Of course, not every person should or even could have the same solution. If everyone was a flamingo, all we would have is one kind of genius a million times over. So... that got me thinking, maybe the approach was wrong. Maybe instead we just needed to organize everyone's ideas like puzzle pieces. With some kind of supercomputer millions of times more advanced than the human brain, we could host something like a server with every single idea humanity has ever come up with, bouncing off one another. We'd solve every single human crisis within a matter of decades! Food shortages, sustainability, the radioactive surface! We'd... We'd..."
Valter stared into his hands and grew silent. His vision shook and his face lost its enthusiasm.
"That sounds like a great project, Doc." Jack smiled.
"It was. But before I could complete it, something terrible happened..."
"What?"
Valter lifted Jack in the air once more. "YOU BROKE IT!"
Jack twisted himself awkwardly in the scientists grasp. "I didn't break anything except that stupid crystal ball of yours!"
"That. Was. The project. I couldn't physically create a computer as demanding as the technology needed, so I just used some quick and dirty quantum physics to tunnel through the universe, harnessing the power of space to fuel the machine's processing power. When you shattered the stabilizer, the tunnel prolapsed upon itself, causing a wormhole to form in MY PRIVATE LAB!"
"Well... Is the wormhole going to kill the people then?"
"A wormhole is neither good nor evil, Jack. It is a doorway. Here, let me try to explain this more on your level of intelligence. Let's start with some questions: What was the point of the project I was developing?"
Jack shook his head to jog his short term memory. He really had not been expecting a pop quiz. "Um... To uh, bridge... people's minds? Like all ideas in one place?"
"Very good." Valter said slowly, nodding. Jack was beginning to feel insulted, but Valter pressed on. "And what did breaking the... "crystal ball" do exactly?"
"Created a wormhole?"
Valter nodded once more. "Now, let's think very carefully about this one. What happens when you open the doorway between every possible idea humanity has ever thought of, and the real world?"
The lightbulb came on in his head. Jack blinked.
"Oh my god."
"Yeah? You see it now?!" Valter shouted, shaking Jack's shoulders. "You've unleashed all of fiction upon the world! Every villain! Every supernatural force! Every monster, entity, disease... Every single malicious creation that has ever been thought of is now real, and it's going to kill everyone if we don't stop it."
"But wait... You just told me it wasn't the apocalypse! Like, just a few minutes ago."
Valter's face twisted in annoyance. "It's… not an imminent apocalypse, mind you. It appears, at a first glance, that only a small percentage of fiction has made it into the real world so far. But let me ask you, Jack: If the only thing separating you from a hungry tiger was an open door, would you consider yourself safe?"
"Oh, I think I get it now." Jack slowly nodded. "We've opened the door to hell basically, but that's not... like, immediately bad, since only a few people have come through so far. But we don't want anything ELSE coming through that door... So why not just close it?"
"The answer is not that simple."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Oh, of course it's not that simple! Who could have possibly seen that answer coming?"
Valter's breathing became heavier. "Every idea that takes up space in this world has IdeaSpace energy within it. The portal cannot close until all the energy is on one side. Just the same, if anyone from the real world goes into the IdeaSpace, we wouldn't be able to close the portal until they were brought back here."
"Alright... But I mean, come on Valter. If the only ideas that had escaped the IdeaSpace were all just in your main lab room, wouldn't it be easy enough to shoo them all back into the portal and then close it?"
Valter was starting to panic a little, not through any fault of Jack this time, but merely thinking and talking aloud about it was making him increasingly more anxious.
"In theory, that would work, but it's a little more complicated than that. The IdeaSpace is structured like a metaverse; a plane of existence containing multiple multiverses. Each idea has a multiverse that it needs to stay aligned to, much like how magnetic domains work. We can't have different ideas in different alignments, different people in areas they don't belong... It could destabilize the IdeaSpace! And if our world is still connected to theirs with the portal open, we'll be sucked into their gravity well."
Jack nodded considerably for a few moments while Valter caught his breath. "I understood some of those words."
Valter looked upwards at the ceiling and genuinely considered praying for strength. "If an idea doesn't go back to its proper home, the IdeaSpace collapses. If the IdeaSpace collapses, the open portal in the very next room from us will turn into a black hole with the gravitational force of a trillion collapsing universes. Real world: GONE. There does not exist a measurement of time small enough to describe how quickly we would be destroyed in that scenario."
Jack took a deep breath. "I mean... You do realize this is probably more your fault than mine right? All I did was break a crystal ball thingy. I didn't create trillions of universes or whatever that could destroy everyone with a black hole if a tiny glass ball breaks."
Valter's eyebrows raised. "No, Jack, this IS your fault. Do you know why?"
"Why?"
The doctor pounded his fist on the metal specimen freezer. "BECAUSE I DON'T BREAK THINGS LIKE AN IDIOT! Do you know WHY I only let two other people into my PERSONAL laboratory? Because people like YOU are STUPID! You BREAK things! Every time! Every single god-damn time! I would say Umber was better than that, because she at least knows how to be CAREFUL, but she let you in here! You! The idiot who breaks things! Hey Jack, you're so good at finding things right? Why don't you find a way to go back in time and unbreak my god-damn stabilizer, and then find your way straight into Hell!"
Valter turned away from Jack, panting heavily. He paced in front of the man for a few moments, cross-armed, taking calming breaths, until his pacing grew less intense and hurried. He uncomfortably adjusted his tie.
"Jack, I uh... I want to apologise for exploding on you like that. I don't feel it was warranted. You deserve to be scolded for your idiocy but what I just did was rather personal."
Jack nodded, slowly and contemptuously. "You can say it's my fault all you want, but what you're doing is just not safe."
Valter's eyes flashed, and Jack wondered when his mouth would stop getting him into trouble.
"It doesn't matter if it's not safe! It works, because I'm careful, Jack! I work how it's most efficient for me, how it's most comfortable, so I can get the best results, and do the best work for the world! I shouldn't have to distract myself by baby-proofing every invention in MY OWN personal lab, where you can count the number of invitees on half of a hand!" Valter put his hands on his knees and squatted down to Jack's eye-level. "I wear gloves when I handle plutonium, Jack! But I bet you're the type of person to grab it bare-fisted then blame the plutonium for being too dangerous when you get cancer and die!"
"Doesn't matter how much of your life you've spent walking on eggshells, Doc. You only need to make a mistake once."
Umber knocked on the door, and Valter paused for a moment, before realizing the door was locked. He scurried over to open it.
"The uh, the ideas are getting a little restless, Doctor Valter. I'm not sure if they're just content with what I have to say. They keep asking to speak to the person in charge."
Valter swallowed with dread and bit his lip. "Right then. I will handle them for now. You can watch Jack. I've explained to him partly what the IdeaSpace is, so I'll need you to go over his... options for the future."
Umber nodded, and the two exchanged places. She closed the door behind herself while Valter tended to the ideas. She was still carrying her briefcase with her.
"So, uh... You screwed up. Pretty badly I should say." Umber didn't make eye contact with him.
"So I've been told." Jack sighed, trying to adjust himself into a more comfortable position against the specimen freezer. Despite being called a freezer, it wasn't cold to lean against.
Umber stepped closer to him. "It is absolute chaos out there. So many different ideas... people I should say, and they're all mushing together in a way that none of them have ever experienced before. Things are even getting a little testy between some of them, but, uh, enough about that."
She pulled up a stool and sat in front of Jack, resting her briefcase between her legs.
"What's in that briefcase?" Jack asked.
"Oh, this? Well, uh... You know, just stuff. My cards to get into Doctor Valter's personal lab, uh... some devices..."
"If you're just carrying cards around, couldn't you just fit them in your pocket?"
"W-Well, it's not something I like to be without." she said, fidgeting in her seat. "It just gives me security, you know? Always being prepared for whatever happens."
Jack shrugged. "I can understand that. What, did you put that chip you needed in there or something?"
"Uh..." Umber looked up, and laughed sheepishly. "See, with the IdeaSpace as it is now... Doctor Valter, uh... REALLY doesn't have much of a use for that chip anymore."
"So that chip was for the IdeaSpace project?"
Umber nodded. "He was hopping to create a more efficient tunneling system with the help of a few external components, one of which required the Rayon chip." Umber grit her teeth and grimaced. "And I'm prreeeetttyyy sure that the machine it was going to be installed in was destroyed in the chaos of, um... the incident. That's probably the least of Valter's worries right now, though."
Jack rubbed the side of his head. "Right, right. All the fictional people who, uh... Wait... If the IdeaSpace is just full of fictional people and ideas, why are there real people out there?"
"Oh, you mean like Nikolai Tesla, Stanley Kubrick, Abraham Lincoln..."
Jack blinked slowly. "I didn't see any of those people. But, yes, that's rather what I meant."
Umber tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Well, you are correct: The IdeaSpace only contains fiction; every thought to ever have been thought by another person, whether they're alive, dead, or... Well, you know, I'm sure Doctor Valter explained it to you. But sometimes people come up with ideas that involve real historical characters. So they're still fictional incarnations, but they're also still historical figures. I mean, if someone created a version of, I don't know, George Washington who happened to like pickles, then there would exist a George Washington in the IdeaSpace who likes pickles! Even if he hated them in real life, I don't know." she frowned for a moment. "Were pickles even invented when he was alive?"
"Er, so you're telling me more than one of the same person could exist in the IdeaSpace?"
Umber nodded. "Every original idea. Geez, that reminds me, have you ever read a story called One Man World? It's about a guy named Dave, and he lives in Holocene Earth, except that everyone on the planet is a clone of him... like, all twelve billion people. So there's at least twelve billion copies of Dave in the IdeaSpace... You know, barring any alternate universe ideas or headcanons about the story..." Umber looked up and rubbed her hands. "I might actually have a few, so, uh... we can probably double that number... or triple it..."
"That is a lot of Daves... How long has Valter been working on this?"
"He says it's been about 40 years, but I think it's more like 30. He keeps imagining he's spent his entire life working on the IdeaSpace, but he didn't really start until after a bit of a family crisis he had when he was eight."
Jack frowned. "He's had time to work on this while doing everything else he's famous for? I guess you weren't kidding when you said he doesn't sleep."
"I never said that... I told you he slept every week or so. But Doctor Valter never stops inventing, creating, devising, reforming, innovating... he's just such a smart guy. I love working for him!"
Jack looked off to the side. "That much is apparent." Umber, however, had already wound herself up.
"Like, there's this one project he's working on right now... It doesn't have an official name just yet, but it's something Italian because the main beneficiary has Italian heritage. Something something scienforza. I can't remember it all, BUT, it's really cool because what he's been doing with it so far! Just testing with geckos, it makes them really strong. I mean..." She pursed her lips and twiddled her thumbs for a minute. "It does make them feral and extremely violent, but he'll work out the kinks eventually. You know, it's still in testing and all that."
Her face suddenly turned red, and she crossed her arms. "Then again, I'm not sure if I should be telling you this... seeing as what you did with the Doctor's last project."
"Yes, I get it, I broke the thing and now that "genius" doctor of yours thinks everyone is going to die. Can we stop beating the dead horse already?"
Umber didn't respond, but she wore a cross expression on her face. Jack looked away when he found himself feeling guilty.
A few minutes of silence and deep thought had passed between the two of them, before Jack spoke up once more.
"So what's going to happen now? You're going to put all the ideas back into the, uh, IdeaSpace right?"
Umber nodded slowly, not speaking and not uncrossing her arms.
"That'd take a little while. I just hope everything turns out alright. We've been through enough in this world."
Umber's stare reflected a difficult past. "That's how it always goes. I'm sure we can... find a way to recover from this. Hopefully without too much damage."
Jack lowered his gaze and nodded slowly. "How old did you say you were, Umber?"
Umber gulped, and looked around nervously. "I, uh, didn't."
"My bad. How old are you then? I mean, I said on the elevator down you looked young, but... You have two master degrees right? From the university, of all places. Most people even as old as the doctor don't get that much done in their life."
Umber fidgeted for a few more seconds. "Well, I'm, uh... I'm 24."
Jack squinted. "Same age as me..." he muttered.
"Oh, is that right? You uh..." Umber caught the rest of her sentence in her mouth, and tried to think of a way to rephrase it. "I can tell you've done a lot of hard work."
Jack placed his hand on his chin. "Well, I suppose we're both guilty of that. I didn't go to the university, or any of the smaller schools around here. I just started working on my own after high school. Though I've never been called Jack the Finder before. Is that something Valter came up with on the spot?"
"I barely even notice it anymore." she said. "His mind works in a really interesting but hard-to-follow manner. It's water off a duck's back for me, most of the time."
"24 then..." Jack continued to run the number through his head. "You must've gone right into the university after high school. They accepted you as a fresh graduate?"
Umber nodded, and her eyes widened. "I didn't think they would let me in... There's a lot of scary competition there. Some of those applicants are already famous in their fields. The fact that a nobody like me got in, well... I was happy. A lot of others were not."
"Scary indeed... Especially that Valter. I mean, I deal with a lot of creeps and thugs who try to act tough and intimidate people, but... There's something just downright chilling about that man."
Umber twirled her hair around her finger. "Oh, Doctor Valter isn't so bad, once you... get used to him."
Jack's eyebrow flashed up. "What about him then? Surely you must know a little about his past. I mean, besides the things he's famous for."
"W-Well..." Umber tucked her head down and grasped her hands. "He doesn't much talk about his personal life. All I really care to admit is he was one of the top students of the university. He set a record actually... He received his doctorate with a QAN of 49."
Jack's eyes rolled back into his head. "Oh, come off it. That's just a downright lie and you know it."
Umber frowned. "Why would I lie about that?"
"No, not you. Valter's lying about it. People don't get Quality Assurance Numbers that high. I mean, for crying out loud, that one scientist from Aurora finished with a QAN 35 and he made headlines."
"Doctor Valter didn't want his QAN published. He said it was, uh... a "worthless measurement" of someone's abilities. You know, like IQ tests before they were abolished."
"How horrifying." Jack looked to his right. He doubted he'd even be accepted to the University, let alone qualify for a QAN. At best he'd just flat out fail everything or get maybe a QAN 1.
"I mean, it's different for people doing bachelor, master and doctorates..." Umber tapped her fingers together nervously.
Jack's eyes slowly drifted over to her. "Say, that reminds me... What was your QAN?"
"Me?! Uh, well..."
Valter swung open the door and pointed towards Umber. "Alright, I'm going to need your help for this."
His gaze passed through Jack, and his body shuddered. "Yes, you too Jack."
"What... What's going on?" Jack's brow wrinkled in confusion while Umber unlocked the freezer and freed his shirt.
"I've gotten them complacent for now, but I have to start cataloguing them so we can send them back to their respective alignments."
Jack gave an expectant stare to Umber. "What is he saying?"
"He needs help sorting everyone." she said, taking Jack's hand and walking him out of the room. She had a surprisingly firm grip.
In the main room, the ideas were in a less chaotic mood than Jack had last saw them. Most of them were conversing in groups of two or three, while a few outliers kept to themselves and away from everyone else. There was at least forty of them present.
"Here, take these... Pardon the exposed wiring and everything." Valter said, shoving what looked like a gun into Jack and Umber's hands. "I've had to cannibalize a few of my machines to make these. Scan people, give them the slip that comes out." He pointed to the two of them and lowered his head. "DON'T let them lose it."
Jack didn't bother asking how it worked. Umber made a mental note to ask him later. The two of them set to work, approaching each idea and scanning them for whatever reason it served. The printouts were a strange series of numbers and letters that didn't make sense to Jack, but he did so as dutifully as he could with his one good hand.
Jack scanned two more ideas and handed them their printouts. He didn't clue into who they were until they had taken the slips from him. "Hey, you! You're Nietzsche, aren't you?"
The man with the thick moustache nodded. Across from him stood Edgar Allan Poe.
Jack looked over his shoulder. Umber was busy talking to Valter, so neither of them were in any danger of interrupting him. He holstered the scanning device into his pocket. "Hey, nice seeing the two of you together. I'm sort of a fan of both your works."
"Well, it's good to meet yet another intellectual here." Nietzsche bowed his head, gesturing to Poe. "I've been having a rather refreshing talk with this gentleman here."
Poe nodded. His voice was less surly and more breathy. "I appreciate the banter we've exchanged. Someone with whom I can truly delve into the deepest aspects of life, death and mysticisms above and beyond what we know, and receive competent countenance and a complete, capital conversation."
"You know, I never thought about it before, but I suppose you two would get along, wouldn't you?" Jack laughed.
Nietzsche conceded this point. "Well, I would say the greatest difference in perspective lies in our measured enthusiasm. Whereas I am very adamant that one must take charge of their own life, my friend Edgar here has a more apathetic approach."
Poe extended his arms unapologetically. "I do not feel the need to become this, er, Ubermensch. I am content with living an easy and happy life. We all eventually return to the endless ethereal void of the midnight, so let us not sweat the between details."
Jack had to catch himself before he got involved. These were still ideas: Fictional characters. They weren't the actual historical figures they resembled, they were merely embodiments of someone's imagination.
"S-So tell me about yourselves." Jack asked in a stilted voice.
Poe began first. "Well, I live in the small town of Breckenridge, Colorado with 15 year old Emily Brown. She own her own Hot Topic store, and goes to concerts every night featuring MCR and Gerrard Way. The whole town is invited to them, except for that stupid poser Becky Turliton. Nobody likes her."
Jack forced a grisly smile. This Edgar Allan Poe had apparently been pulled from some teenage girl's awful self-insert fanfiction.
"And what about you, Nietzsche?"
Nietzsche took a deep breath. "I was a professor at Basel for a period of time, until my health began to decline about two years ago. I was forced to retire, and I now tour Europe and work as an independent philosopher and author."
"Hmm... Interesting." Jack nodded, noting how normal that was. Perhaps he was from a fictional story set in the real world.
"Though, I do say... That gentleman in the suit and tie looks quite familiar." Nietzsche pointed across the room. Jack spotted the man in question instantly as the Tenth Doctor.
"Oh, he's from an episode of Doctor Who..." Jack muttered to himself.
"Pardon?"
Jack turned around quickly. "Nothing. I, uh... Be sure to hang onto those pieces of paper, alright you two?"
Nietzsche and Poe nodded, and Jack slipped away from the duo. He looked around to see who else he needed to scan, and saw Valter waving for him.
"Yeah, doc?" Jack asked as he lumbered over to the computer set-up Valter had stationed himself behind.
"Have you scanned everyone in the room?" he asked, without looking up from one of the monitors.
Jack looked out towards the crowd of ideas. "Uh... I think so?"
"Umber's counted 41 ideas within this room, and we now have 41 scans on record. Just double checking with you." Valter was typing incredibly fast on the keyboard, at a rate almost too fast for Jack to keep up with.
"R-Right... So now what?"
"Now we begin the process of returning the ideas to their respective alignments! And, er... That one in the corner." the doctor pointed to Boba Fett. "Has, well not kindly mind you, but I believe it's in everyone's best interest that he is resituated first."
"Yeah, I've noticed he's one of the few people in here with a gun." Jack muttered.
"I was originally going to organize it alphabetically according to alignment, but I feel it makes more sense if we do it by nature of the ideas' tendency to cause trouble. Therefore, if we leave villains or troublemakers out longer than necessary, it will cause so much more undue chaos to befell Desultorus."
"That makes sense. So, if we're dealing with Boba Fett first, does that mean our first stop in the IdeaSpace is Star Wars?"
Valter nodded quickly, emphatically hammering the last few keys on the keyboard. "Correct! Alignment 1167X45BA."
Umber shot Valter a wary stare. Jack coughed. "No one is going to remember that." he said.
Valter's rolled his eyes and stared at Jack. "And what would you suggest?"
He shrugged. "Well, it's the first world we're visiting. Why not just call it World 1?"
"That is an incredibly stupid suggestion, Jack, but it's entirely like you to suggest something like that. We're calling it by the alignment name and that's final."
"Fine, whatever." Jack shrugged. "Who's all dealing with this then?"
"Ah... That's where you come in."
"What, you mean my work here isn't done? I thought I just had to scan these guys for you?"
"Well, Jack... You're rather good at finding things, correct? So you'd be able to find out where in their world these ideas fit in, right?"
Jack was silent for a moment. "You don't mean..."
"Tell me, Jack the Finder... How would you like to work for me on a more permanent basis?"
Jack crossed his arms and looked down. There was a pregnant pause in the conversation before Jack spoke up again. "You're asking me to go in there, aren't you?"
Valter nodded.
Jack begrudgingly considered this. "Well... There's no way I can do it alone. Especially not with my arm in a sling."
"I can't exactly send you with anyone..." The doctor began. "To be frank, it's crucial that this IdeaSpace project stays between the three of us. I'm not sure if I'm willing to risk my assistant going in there as well."
Umber rubbed her hands over each other. "Uh, actually, Doctor Valter... I wouldn't mind going in there. You know, just to see what it's like."
Valter turned towards her. "But what if something happens to you in there?"
Umber didn't have an answer for that. "He can't do it on his own. And if he fails, we'd just have to clean up after him ourselves, but we'll be down a person. It's just... it's an all-or-nothing situation."
Valter grimaced. He rested his hands on the computer desk and hung his head.
"You're right." he said after a long, pensive break. "Okay. You two shall escort Boba Fett to his alignment."
Umber bit her lip and nodded. She didn't look excited, or even happy, but she it was something she had to do.
"I'll do my best. I don't exactly plan on dying in there." Jack straightened his back and nodded to Valter.
Valter stared at him. He had that look in his eye again. "Jack... If Umber doesn't come back with you..."
Jack realized he'd fair better not returning at all than returning without Umber. And if he didn't return, there would be no one left to close the IdeaSpace.
The future of Desultorus and the entire world rested upon their safe returns.
Jack felt too paralyzed to respond to Valter, but he nodded to show he understood.
"I'm priming the tunnel then. When you enter the portal, it will take you Alignment 1167X45BA. Be safe, both of you."
Jack gulped. "Y-Yeah." Umber gave a tiny wave goodbye, and the two gestured to Boba Fett.
"We're heading out?" the bounty hunter asked. Jack and Umber exchanged stares, then nodded at him.
Boba Fett's head swivelled to stare at each of them for a quiet moment. "Just the two of you?"
The duo nodded once more. Boba Fett drew his blaster.
"No way. Him too." he pointed his gun at Valter. The doctor flinched and backed away from the computer, while Boba Fett stalked towards him.
"What are you doing? I have to stay here and operate the portal from this end! Not to mention, if I'm gone, who will keep an eye on the other ideas?!"
"Not my problem." Boba monotoned, pushing Valter away from the computer station and leading him towards the portal with his blaster.
"You're making a big mistake! Stop it! You can't-!"
His protests were cut short when Boba Fett shoved him through the portal. He jumped in after the doctor, leaving Umber and Jack in a state of petrified shock.
"D-Doctor!" Umber shouted, taking a step towards the portal. She would've run right into it if someone hadn't stopped her. A hand fell upon her shoulder, and she turned around to see who it was.
"Hello there." the Tenth Doctor said with a smile. "I couldn't help but notice... THAT." he pointed towards the portal.
"Uh... Y-Yeah..." Umber stared up at him, blinking.
"So tell me, I did overhear quite a lot so far. I'm no stranger to peculiar circumstances like these, but... Well, it seems you and your friend are in a little bit of trouble."
Umber groaned loudly and covered her face. "You don't know the half of it. With all this IdeaSpace stuff just happening so fast, it's stressing me out to no end. And now Doctor Valter's been shoved through the portal and we can't just get him back now to help us! It's... It's a nightmare!"
The Tenth Doctor raised his eyebrow. "Well, I have some experience with portals. Space stuff, you know, all of that. Perhaps I could be of assistance."
"Oh, if you could, you'd be a lifesaver!" Umber gasped, leading him by the hand over to the control station Valter had set up. Jack couldn't make out all she was saying, but she seemed to be explaining the IdeaSpace, how it worked, why he was here and what everyone else was doing here.
"Right then, that all seems straightforward enough." he nodded. "I'll do my best here. You go save the world."
Umber nodded so quickly Jack was worried the bun in her hair would come undone. "Do you have a name?"
"The Doctor." The Tenth Doctor nodded, smiling towards her.
"R-Right. Okay, Doctor... I'll uh, just go through the portal now. I have to- I mean- Doctor Valter is really important and we have to go get him back so you know- Bye!" she rambled frantically as she ran from the Tenth Doctor's side all the way to the portal. She jumped through, and with that, it was only Jack and the ideas.
Jack looked around. Valter and Umber were gone. The ideas were talking amongst themselves, the Tenth Doctor was busy observing the controls, and no one was paying him any attention. The elevator was right around the corner.
Maybe Valter had been lying about that end of the world business. Maybe he was just exaggerating to guilt Jack into helping him out. He could leave this room of fictional characters come to life and go back to what he knew was normal. Back to working as a freelancer, living just above the poverty line, alone in a dusty apartment, but master of his own destiny. He did hate being told what to do, and Valter's imposing authority over him left a bad taste in his mouth.
He could leave. But he didn't. Because throughout his entire life, no matter what had happened, Jack had always been a sucker for adventure.
Jack ran as fast as he could straight into the portal.