26

Answers

Time: Just then

Place: Hub meeting room

"Afraid of what?" Susan was concerned, looking over the page to see that maybe her skills had gone away or something. They seemed to be all there.

"Oh, it's nothing bad!" Silverstreak hasted to assure her. "It's just... Inari. She really didn't tell you anything, as usual. 'Let them work it out for themselves, Silverstreak, it's more fun.' My shiny metal butt it's more fun. There's a couple of skills here that you really need as a dimensional traveler, and she just expected you to figure them out on the fly while dodging whatever the world was throwing at you." He shook his head, laying the paper down. "We can fix that in a moment. I was telling you about myself, and my kin. Like I said, I'm Inari's counterpart, but for technology rather than magic. We both do similar things, and that's to send people to various worlds to take care of problems there. We can't go ourselves, for various reasons, but beings like you have no trouble passing between worlds. It's like we watch the tree, you keep the branches free of parasites."

"Tree?"

"Ah, yes, it's best to think of the different realities as branches of a tree. Here, I'll demonstrate." He waved a hand, and a hologram of a tree sprang from the table. "The trunk is where the realities started. There was one reality, and the tree was small. But as time went on the tree grew, and branches appeared. This is why most places have humanoid type lifeforms and somewhat similar conventions. They all came from the trunk. Now as each reality grew, more branches and then leaves appeared. We're concerned with the main branches, or how close to the original way the dimension is supposed to run. See, if Darkvoid, or The Darkness in your case, gets the original branch it gets all the sub branches too. So it doesn't bother with individual leaves, out at the fringes of possibility. It's why, when you travel, you see worlds that are so radically different. If you stepped only a little ways away you would end up with only minor differences. You see?"

"Sure. If you're attacking a castle you start at the bottom, and pound the heck out of one wall. Not at the top and arrange your forces to attack the whole thing. Once one wall goes down, the castle is finished."

"Exactly. So, have you been to many worlds?"

"Just the one. I was actually supposed to be tracking down my father, but literally ran into someone going from Inari's place to where my father first went. That's how I ended up where I did."

"I see. Wait, that was your first dimensional hop? Has it been going okay?"

"Hardly. I got stuck there because they didn't have all the planets, and I couldn't get out my magic book so I had to rely on just spells I had memorized or could research myself. Now this huge dragon thing is on a rampage and burning everything in sight. It's not going well. We were trying to get some weapons from another world to fight it."

"Yeah, that's a standard solution. Just a second." Silverstreak turned to the side and drew a line through the air diagonally, which seemed to light up like a computer display. On the other side was a woman sitting down at some kind of terminal, and Susan could see many other beings behind her, all busy with stuff. Talking, comparing what they saw on their screens, getting water, it was like an interdimensional office building.

"What can I do for you, boss?"

"Check up on the situation in 3874734 for me, would you? And what's going on with 7543485?"

The woman shook her head. "Getting worse. Darkvoid clones keep popping up, and they're getting closer to the key to destroying the whole place. The one clone is resisting, but I don't think he can hold out much longer."

"Keep me posted. I think I may have found someone who can help." He pointed a thumb at Susan.

"Oh, that would be wonderful!" gushed the woman. "I'll put it on my priority list. And you wanted 3874734, right? I'll have that for you in a few minutes."

"Thanks." The window closed, and he turned back to Susan.

"Sorry about that, it doesn't stop around here, I'm afraid. Where were we? Oh, right, you came here because you used a different type of magic to leave 3874734 in order to get weapons to fight this creature, right? I guess I better go over some of the rules, before you get caught in a really bad situation."

"Rules?"

He nodded. "I didn't make them, but they exist. It pays to keep them in mind, and it relates to the skills I talked about earlier. This is actually going to be much easier for me than most, as you're a Paragon. I can just put the skills on your character sheet and not have to spend time explaining how to do them, and tediously teaching you the slow way. You just make the checks, you don't have to understand the theory."

"True. But you should give me some explanation, right?"

"Oh, of course! Now the first skill is something we call Adaptive. Basically, it lets you pick up the fringes of something unique to the worlds you visit. For instance, if you went to a world where everyone piloted some kind of mech, you could jump in one and start piloting it. Something like that is trained only, see, so you couldn't use Augment Skill."

"You still know about my kind of magic?"

"Sure. Just because I don't specialize in it, that doesn't mean I'm ignorant of it. Now, the great thing with Adaptive is that you can swap it out. You have a 5 rating in the skill, but you don't have to throw that skill away in the next world and pick up another. It may use a different stat, but the skill roll remains constant. Secondly, it will let you bypass the need for certain backgrounds. Like using a different type of magic, if everyone on that world has that type of magic, you can use it too. The basics, anyway, like I said."

"That would have been nice to know beforehand," she remarked darkly.

"Inari, am I right? Now the next skill is Dimensional Attunement. With this skill you can... wait, you have Magic Sense. It's that, for Dimensional stuff. You can use it to sense out other travelers like yourself, or tell if an object doesn't belong in a certain dimension."

"That would be great for telling who was being influenced by Darkvoid."

"That's right. Now, about objects- be careful. Any object exclusive to a world will stay there when you leave. Even if you put it in your pocket dimension, it'll stay behind and you won't find it when you ask for it."

"That's no fair!"

He shrugged. "Perhaps, but it's the way things are. It's a way to keep contamination to a minimum, I think. Technology will generally come along, because most worlds will eventually come up with most devices. And any that are too advanced won't be figured out because the people won't have the background information to construct duplicates. Maybe not power sources, so keep an eye on that. Super efficient power sources may come from material only found on one world, so you might find a gun but not the battery!

"Like back in the world you were just in there's a rock called Windstone, if I'm reading this report right. Makes an island float I guess?"

"Yeah, I visited that place!"

"Okay. That wouldn't come along because that stuff is native to one place. But if you brought a wand or one of their pistols it would be fine. You see where I'm going with this? You can pretty easily tell what will and what won't, because anything that won't you probably haven't seen before." Susan nodded, frowning. "Don't worry, there's a way around the restriction, for things you really, really want to bring along. The sub-space pocket. Items you put into that can be pulled out everywhere. Plus it's not magic, it's an act of will, so it'll work without casting any spells! I don't know exactly where it came from, but when people, long ago, started moving across dimensions and sometimes found they could summon up things they fell in love with on certain worlds, I looked into it. The technique was refined, and it's been in use ever since."

"What's the catch? There must be one, if it's breaking the 'rules' like that."

"The catch is, the size of the pocket directly relates to your skill. It rises pretty fast, but you won't be putting a car in with a one rating. You can fit... a book, at most, to start. I guess whoever set it up figures if you put the time or XP or practice into making the space bigger, you can probably be trusted with whatever you put in it.

"So that's three things to put XP into. Now, if you can think of two trained only skills I can make it a skill group and get you them for free. Otherwise, with your permission, I'll take 3 XP and put them on your sheet so you have access to them."

"Are there magical skills I don't know about? The people where I just was didn't know about Magic Sense but I could teach them about it, and they picked it up."

"Let's see..." He picked up the sheet again and scanned it over. "No, not really anything you don't already have." He looked her over, or at least the red in his visor seemed to shift a little bit. "Apart from your companion, you're traveling alone?"

"I wasn't. The person traveling with me, Luna, got knocked into when Hiraga hit us. She went spinning off somewhere."

"You did say something about a friend. I think you better tell me your story before we go any further."

"Sure." Susan proceeded to tell him about her father, and how he had left and left her the book. (She got it out of her Pocket Dimension with a sigh, and Silverstreak looked it over as he listened. While she was thinking about it she also got a few other things out, mostly spell formula she thought she might like, and set them aside to take) She told him about how Tom had been taken over by Darkvoid and how he had taken her magic as well. She talked about fighting him inside Harry and deciding to go after her father. First to make sure he was all right and if not, take up his quest to save his world. She finished by talking about what she had gone through with Louise and the others, and finally coming here.

"That's quite the task you've set for yourself!" Silverstreak seemed impressed. "I think I've heard of your father, actually. There are so few dimensional travelers around, I hear about them all sooner or later. Yes, quite the challenge." He picked up her character sheet again. "Fifteen XP. It would be enough..."

"For what?"

Silverstreak considered his words carefully a moment. "I could give you a new background. If I'm thinking of the right person, your father effectively had it, given he carried a staff which gave those that touched it certain abilities. This would be a little different, but still pretty effective for you. It comes with about seven skills, most of which you probably wouldn't need. But two you would really like, and that would make up the skill group. I'll give you a rating of 0 in the others, just to say you've gotten the "training" in them, if you want to pick them up later. How does all that sound?"

"Like a once in a lifetime deal."

He laughed. "It pretty much is. And if you don't mind me keeping this book for a little while, while you finish up taking out that Dragon you were talking about, I can get you some new magic, as well. I've got some good spell casters around here, they can put some spells you're missing into the book, and I can augment it with some sensors. That way it could analyze things from other worlds and come up with equivalents in your magical 'language' so to speak."

"I would need to at least get the Dimension Gate spell and my father's notes so I can make it back to the place I was. Other than that, you're welcome to it."

"I can make you a copy, it's no big deal."

"And you're really willing to do all this for me?"

"Ah, yes, remember what I was saying before about you being a possible solution to a problem somewhere?"

"Yes?"

"In return, I want you to give up your quest, temporarily," he hastened to add, "to find Luna, and help these other people out. I think one of your spells in particular is going to solve their biggest problem quite nicely. I hope it doesn't go that far, but if it does, I would like an agent on the scene and you have the spells for it. The one I'm thinking of is not even that high a grade! While you do that I'll work out some possible vectors your friend took, and get you the data so you can check those worlds where there's a high probability you'll find her."

"That would be such a big help. Wait, can Sparkle get the background too? She has XP to spend, and if it'll help me it'll help her."

"Sure, if she's willing to spend it on this. Trust me, it's well worth it, for your particular situation."

"I have been saving it for when we left that world. I suppose now is a good a time as any," Sparkle remarked.

"Deal then. Let me see your character sheet, too."

Sparkle jumped up on the table and her sheet appeared, and Silverstreak materialized a pen out of somewhere and started marking them up. "There you go!" he said brightly, handing them back.

Susan eagerly looked at the BACKGROUNDS section, and it seemed she was now a Spirit Mage. It also seemed she knew about Spirit Energy now, and how to tap into sources of power like Ley Lines. She was down to 3XP, but told herself it was worth it.

"You can check them all over mentally later," he told them. "And I'll add some notes about the skills I've put down in your book. Time passes quickly here in relation to most places, but it still passes. Let's make sure we've gone over everything and get you on your way. The situation in 7543485 can't wait too long."

"And I always pay my debts. Thank you, for everything."

He shrugged. "You paid for it. I just made it possible for you to access. It seemed only fair, given your situation. It doesn't make up for losing your friend, but hopefully it makes it a little easier to find her."

"I hope so."

"Great. Now, let's get you some equipment so you can get back here!" He stood up and the door opened, leading into the space she saw earlier.

Does this guy not like to walk, or just show off? Making a map of this place would probably prove to be impossible, if this guy can just rearrange the corridors at a whim.

Everyone looked up at Susan walked in with Silverstreak, and given her Overconfidence she looked them all right in the eye. They greeted her warmly, and went back to work.

"How much time do we have in 7543485?" he asked the woman he had spoken to earlier.

"Hours, at best. She's about to leave her party and go off on her own. She'll get slaughtered for sure!"

Silverstreak shook his head. "And that would be a waste. She's the last of her kind on that planet, and there's a lot the people there could learn from her. Okay, come on over here."

He led Susan over to a shelf where there were sitting some watch looking devices. He picked up a smaller model, and handed it to her.

"Put it on, then make a code so if someone steals it, they can't use it." Susan did as she was asked, snapping it around her wrist. It lit up, and a five digit number appeared. "Turn the crown to move the numbers." She did, then Silverstreak had her draw a shape over the numbers, which activated the display. "Normally it'll show you local time, but the real power is in the press. Click the crown in." She did, and the clock was replaced with a bunch of tiny icons, all circles, that probably meant various things. "See the one that looks like a Japanese archway? Scale it up with the crown, that's the way. That's the one you'll use to get back here. It'll make a portal big enough to step through, and the watch will also serve as your pass around the hub. When you get a moment, have a look around! After you do what I want you to do, that is." Part of his visor went dark, meaning he must be winking.

"I know."

"Just teasing. Now, click the button under the crown." She did, and Silverstreak's picture popped up. "If you want to talk to me without coming back, like if you have a question or something, feel free. You might get one of these fine people depending on how busy I am, but they can answer your questions too. I would ask you don't do it around others, I like to keep my existence a secret, for the most part. Those that already travel between worlds is fine, but if bunches of people start trying to get in here... well, it just adds to my workload."

"I can see where that would be an issue. They would be wanting you to solve all their problems."

"You got that right. You can play around with the other functionality later, but really it's pretty mundane. You've probably used similar devices, just bigger. The nice thing about this is, it's technology. So even if you run into a world with little to no magic, it'll still work and get you back here."

"That would have come in handy- I keep saying that."

"Don't get them started. They all have some story about her. Now, unless you have some other questions, let's get you back to fighting that Ancient Dragon!"

"I haven't had time to think of any more! Now I know how Tiffania felt, being whisked away by me into a war with a dragon! Oh, I do have one. Where is best to go in order to get the explosives we need to take out the Ancient Dragon?"

"Let's take a look." Silverstreak went over to an unused console and started tapping things in. "You'll land in Japan, there's the Yokota air base, bet you could get a pretty advanced plane there. You're sure your friend can fly it?"

Susan nodded. "It's a weapon."

"So it is. Very well, is this picture good enough?" He showed her a view with a snowy mountain rising in the background, then there were some lower hills, then the base itself.

"It should be."

"Great. If you think of more, I'm only a press away. Come on, your friend will be worried about you, though only a few minutes should have passed." He brought her into a room with an archway and some equipment attached to it, and started punching things in. "Good luck. And thanks. Every agent I have blocking Darkvoid is another branch of the tree that stays safe. Drive him out of that world for good."

"Is it for good? What prevents him from coming back?"

"That's... technical. Believe me, we do something to branches he leaves so he can't go there again. It works."

"Okay. I'm ready."

"Step through then, it's all set, you'll appear where you were going to, and it's been about eight minutes."

"Thanks. I'll be back!"

"I know."

Susan stepped through the archway of light, and looked around for Hiraga. Several people reacted to her suddenly appearing there by edging away and walking quickly, or just rubbing their eyes because they didn't believe them.

"Now if I was Hiraga, where would I be?" Susan asked herself.

"Right over there?" said Sparkle, pointing with a paw. He was leaning against a wall somewhat out of sight, trying to hide the sword he was still carrying.

"Who has the best perception checks? You do, that's who! Come on."

"Susan, you're here! I was getting worried," he exclaimed as she walked up. "I hoped if I hung around here you might eventually show up. You're the only way I have to get back, after all."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Little unscheduled detour on my part."

"What happened?"

Susan grinned. "Something good, for a change. Come on, let's find a place I can open a Teleportal from and we can get this show on the road. I know where we have to go to get the good stuff, so let's get to it!"