Aaron's monologue was interrupted by the arrival of our food. His order was a high-caloric burger and fries, while I settled for a soup and salad. His eating habits never changed – it was a wonder he wasn't corpulent.
"So, it worked?" I was now intrigued at his story. The discovery of a lifetime – a parallel dimension populated by cat-people. I could believe Aaron could pull this off, but it was still a tall tale to me. Until he produces proof, I have to remain skeptical.
"Yes," he replied, suddenly stuffing his face with food. "At the time, I thought that was going to be the extent of it. A parallel world, but I only got a sliver of a glance. It was a number of days before the feedback signal returned, and I soon started to understand why Dr. Sardath had to close his end of the Gateway."
I stopped him. "Dr. Sardath? You got to learn... his... name?"
"Yes," Dr. Strange smugly replies. "Like I said, I came to understand why Dr. Sardath closed his end of the Gateway. Like I said, it was a two-step process, and he had *independently* figured out his end of the process. Once I could detect the feedback signal, I could reopen the Gateway on my end.
"Once I did, I found his whole lab was cleaned and sanitized. He was wearing what I guess was his world's version of a HazMat suit. He realized that there was the chance of contamination from the bacteria and viruses on my end, completely foreign to his species and immune system. That wind from the pressure differential of our worlds could have spelled doom for all life on his world. He was wise to take precautions, but it was a real scare those couple of days that he had to decontaminate his lab and pray he wasn't going to die from breathing our air, or me from his."
I interrupted his train of thought again. "How did you ever establish communication?"
He nods, swallowing the bolus of food that filled his large mouth with a swig of soda. "Yes – we first had to establish a few commonly understood gestures. Then, we began to exchange things – books, audio devices, videos – things that best explained our languages and basic knowledge to each other. Of course, we observed the highest level of cleanliness on each of our ends. I got some teaching tools that I suspect would be given to an infant on his world. I was never gifted with the skill of language, but I rose to the challenge and I acquired a level of mastery I'd rate to that of a sixth grader by equivalency in about six weeks."
"How can you be sure that you were successful with the cleaning process? Could you have brought a disease over?" I was starting to contemplate the napkin Aaron just handed me.
Aaron just laughed. "If we had made a mistake, the world would already have been overrun by a foreign virus months ago. Don't forget – Dr. Sardath and I are scientists of the highest caliber. We took nothing for chance, and our attention to detail was flawless. Don't you worry." Aaron stared at my eyes, then to the napkin he just handed me, and then back to my eyes as if to tell me that I was silly to worry. I said nothing and motion him to continue.
"So, back to the story. It turned out that Dr. Sardath was, like me, a rogue scientist. He had a similar situation, leaving his position at a center of higher learning to take on a quest to discover what the scientists in his world were observing as a kind of Dark Matter for them. The matter of *our* universe. His situation was a bit more precarious, though, since he was a more high-profile scientist who had to leave over what many in his world thought was a controversial topic. The people of their world – Rann – were more superstitious. In their early history, there were legends of giant beings – Thanagarians – who hunted down their species in an ancient blood feud, and it is believed that a Jesus-figure in their religion had sealed them back into their home realm of Thanagar and saved the entire world. Part of their major religion is the belief that alternate dimensions could lead to some hell that would release monsters that would destroy their world. So, Dr. Sardath was basically a heretic for publicly supporting the research, much less conducting it in secret.
"After we finally learned enough of each others languages that we could carry on a basic conversation, we decided it was time to let our families in on the discovery. That was... interesting..."
Mrs. Strange breaks the initial silence with a gasp and a quick scream.
She quickly catches herself and stares in disbelief at everyone. Before her, through a magic portal on the wall, a family of three people with anime-sized cat eyes are politely staring back at her. The tallest was a bald male, followed by a smiling and lovely-dressed female. To their side stands a young female with dyed blue hair braided into something like dreadlocks in the popular fashion of her world. She cups her hands and gestures in the formal greeting of the people of Rann.
"Don't scare them, dear," Dr. Strange calmly chides his wife. Mrs. Strange is conflicted with an instinct to clobber her husband for his latest surprise upon the family, and a trained response to welcome her exotic new neighbors. She chooses the latter, saving the former for a later time.
"Everyone, this is Dr. Sargath, his wife, and his daughter Alanna. They are welcoming us into their home." Dr. Aaron Strange motions for his wife and son to approach the humming ring by the wall. Adam slowly approaches, curious, while Adam's mother is suddenly awash in horror at the prospect of entering the strange hole her husband just made into her basement wall.
"Oh, don't worry. The process is painless and quite safe. We've already tested it once or twice already." Dr. Strange's wife shoots an incredulous look at him, then watches as he steps into the ring and into the darkened room beyond like he was stepping through a bulkhead into a submarine.
After some coaxing, the three humans soon find themselves in a makeshift parlor covered in white sheets and sanitized surfaces, the ceiling just clearing above their heads by a few centimeters, and the smell of disinfectants light in the fresh crisp air. Mrs. Strange is suddenly reminded of her time in the hospital, giving birth to her son as her husband was stuck in traffic. She still grumbles at that memory, wishing he had left the research lab when she first started to have contractions and had begged him to meet her at the hospital, instead of insisting he complete one or two things first. She pushes the memory from her mind, in an effort to focus on being a gracious and receptive guest in this alien home.
The three humans are sitting on a couch, oddly small, and are looking at an opposing couch with the three Rannian aliens sitting in it and staring back at them. The husband, Dr. Sargath, speaks a broken and slurred English to Mrs. Strange. "My wife asks if you are – approve the room. She is very happy to you accept – welcome in."
Mrs. Strange takes a moment to correct the poor grammar in her head, then nods. "Yes. Please tell your wife I am very happy to be here. She has a... lovely home, and a lovely dress too." Mrs. Strange motions to Mrs. Sargath's ornate robe. After a moment of translation, Mrs. Sargath is noticeably pleased. Mrs. Strange soon smiles as well, slowly making herself comfortable in her new surroundings.
"Dad?" Adam asks. "Why does everything seem smaller here then when we viewed it from your lab? And, why do I feel like I'm falling?"
"That's because the physics here is different," Dr. Strange replies. "The difference in perspective is because Dr. Sargath's annulus is smaller in diameter than ours, making an optical illusion that appears to magnify everything from our perspective, and minify everything in our lab from their perspective. The gravity – that I cannot explain. It's less than the gravity of Mars here for some reason, so be on your guard not to jump too suddenly."
Mrs. Strange notices the cups and dishes on the small coffee table between the two couches. They are empty. She motions to them, curious. "Um, are we going to be served some tea or something?" she asks.
Dr. Strange answers her question. "It's their tradition, yes, but we are forgoing that for now. We are not sure yet if their food and water are safe for us, and we have yet to be fully immunized to their world. This is basically a germ-free bubble we are sitting in. We are supposed to bring a sweet or confection, but we are skipping that as well in the interest of safety. You understand."
Dr. Sargath nods, understanding the conversation, and interjects. "No offense to give. You – very honor guests. We put as – gesture."
After a few more polite exchanges, Dr. Strange and Dr. Sargath begin to host a conversation between the two families. Minutes blur into an hour, then two. After a time, there is a motion for the three human guests to go back to their home on Earth. Adam has hula practice in the morning, and Alanna has school to attend. Dr. Strange and Dr. Sargath congratulate each other for a successful first visit, and bid each other a good evening.
