CHAPTER 36 – MY WORLD'S ON FIRE
The Maverick and the Tevro Sidewinder tailed the five red ships into a portal, leaving behind the chaotic mess of the Nightmare Realm.
Ford was immersed into a world of sunshine, mountains, and pine trees. His relief was immediate, like waking up from a bad dream. In the distance, a familiar small town was nestled in green, surrounded by protective cliffs. Ford's eyes swept the landscape, taking in the waterfall roaring down the cliff face into a nearby lake. Seeing this place brought him back in time; he could still feel his old self, the ambitious researcher he left behind years ago. Now that he was there, something inside him felt at ease, as though he'd been tugged here by his gut and hadn't known it. He was an anomaly returning home-back to Gravity Falls.
The five red ships lowered onto a landing pad beside a facility marked out in the middle of the trees. Ford landed the Maverick beside the others with the Tevro Sidewinder following soon after.
Ford was soon out of his ship, watching as a stream of people came from the fleet, all of them exiting down ramps and heading for the facility. Some wore white lab coats, while others were dressed in military gear.
So many... but what is this place?
The boxy facility sat on the crest of a hill with large satellite dishes resting on top. An old shack was nestled in the U-shape of the building, as though the facility had grown around it. With a start, Ford recognized his old cabin. Other than a few new satellite dishes, it looked just as he'd left it.
I'm home.
Stanley left the Tevro Sidewinder and came to Ford's side, folding his arms as he looked at the facility. "What is that? Nerd HQ?"
A familiar southern accent piped up behind them. "Fellas, you're looking at the Institute of Oddology."
Ford turned to face Fiddleford with an automatic smile. While Ford knew that this Fiddleford wasn't the same one he knew, this version was nearly indistinguishable. He had the same glasses and lab coat, as well as the same blond hair and prominent nose.
"Fiddleford! How are you? It's been so long." Ford clapped him on the back, knocking a few of the papers loose.
Fiddleford sighed, but he couldn't help a grin. "It's good to meet y'all. Welcome to Dimension 48'\."
"So, the Institute of Oddology..." Ford said the name with reverence. He loved everything the name implied. "All of those people, they're here to study this place?"
"And more." Fiddleford gave a small smile. "We monitor strange happenings all over the world. I have the great fortune of working with a parallel version of you. With my help, your parallel self has been able to create this prestigious university."
Ford widened his eyes, his heartbeat increasing in tempo. Oddology was a respected branch of science? It was everything he ever wanted. He could easily picture himself there, working alongside Fiddleford and other bright minds to learn more about weirdness.
Something hot stabbed his chest. If his parallel self was present, and he had managed this success, then his fight with Stanley had taken a different turn. Rather than roaming from dimension to dimension, he was present to build an empire of knowledge with like-minded people. His previous happiness took on a sickening aftertaste. He wasn't sure how he felt about this turn of events. Where was Stanley in this dimension?
"So, this is the dimension where Stanley and I get along?" Ford asked hopefully. Stanley perked up, suddenly interested in the conversation.
Fiddleford pursed his lips. "Not exactly. All I know is that your parallel self gave Stanley one of the journals to hide, and he hasn't been seen since."
Ford stiffened. "You don't know where he is?"
Fiddleford shrugged. "I assume he's doing well. Wherever he took the first journal, it hasn't been found. He's never tried to contact us."
Stanley spoke up. "And your Ford is fine with that? He could be dead and you wouldn't know!"
Ford shot Stanley a warning look. Lines formed beside Stanley's mouth. There was a flash of rebellion in his eyes, but he settled down, keeping a frown on his face and folding his arms.
Fiddleford adjusted his glasses with one hand. "I, um, can show you around. I can explain more inside."
"Stanley..." Ford said as they walked side by side.
"What?"
"If you had listened to me, where would you have gone?"
"Hell if I know. On a beach somewhere, probably, trying to forget that you exist. At least I hope so." Stanley bit his lip.
I'll have a talk with this dimension's Ford. Success or not, not knowing where Stanley was seemed wrong to him. This was a different Ford, one that hadn't seen what he had seen. Ford could see himself acting the same way before his travels, but after what he'd experienced, leaving Stanley behind seemed callous no matter what mistakes he had made. His old self didn't understand something crucial about people-they could be both selfish and selfless, cruel and kind. People make mistakes. Ford had made many mistakes, some of them catastrophic. What mattered more was how he tried to make them right. But this Ford likely didn't see his actions as mistakes, only risks that gave a great reward.
As Ford approached the institute, he was awed by the size of the building. How long had it taken to build this place? He felt a rush inside him at the thought of his work gaining worldwide respect; his lifelong passion was now a legitimate field of science, of which he was the expert. But what cost had it come at? Ford glanced at Stanley. His brother had his hands shoved into his jacket pockets, his eyes shifting as he checked the area for threats. As Ford had expected, his brother was far from impressed by the scientific achievement.
Fiddleford led the way, coming up to the front door of Ford's old cabin. He turned to face Ford and Stanley and opened the door, gesturing for them to go inside.
As Ford came up the steps, he felt the past years grow vivid in his mind. He remembered his past excitement coming home to this place, his newest discoveries captured, his insights ready to be written. The wooden boards creaked under his feet as he entered.
The cabin was cleaner than the one Ford had left. It was still lived in with its comfy couch and piles of books, but the collection of odd scientific marvels he had scattered throughout the house were organized. Amulets, strange insects, and other small oddities were in a display case on the wall. There was a tank filled with water creatures, one of them being an axolotl with two heads. It stared at him as he examined the tank.
Fiddleford came into the room and entered the elevator, which was now out in the open. Ford and Stanley entered as well and watched as the elevator descended, bringing them to the new lowest level.
Fiddleford led the way out of the elevator, passing into a hallway with tiled floors. On the walls sat glass cases of awards and bits of scientific information, such as graphs on weirdness surges and gnome counts.
"Tell Dr. Pines that there's been another parallel visit," Fiddleford said to a guard passing in the hallway. "His parallel self and a version of Stanley is here."
The guard nodded and continued on. Fiddleford opened one of the doors and gestured for them to go inside.
Stanley stepped inside first. "Nice place you've got here." He pulled a chair from the table in the center of the room and sat on it backwards, folding his arms on the back rest.
"Thanks." Fiddleford sat opposite to Stanley. "This is one of our observation decks. If anything very weird happens anywhere on the planet, this is where we find out about it. Then we send researchers out to the field to learn more about it."
Ford took a seat beside Stanley and looked around. The room had walls lined with monitors. Each monitor held a different image; some had rising and falling graphs and charts, while others had video feeds of places all over the world. One image had captured a gnome eating a pie, his white beard stained with cherry filling. The table in front of them had a map of the world. White lights would sometimes appear, pulsing.
"This place is amazing," Ford said.
"Yes, it really is. You have yourself to thank for it," Fiddleford said.
"Where is he?"
"He'll be keeping his distance. He wouldn't want to touch you accidentally. He refused to talk to the other parallel self that wandered through here not too long ago."
"Why would touching me be a problem?"
Fiddleford sighed. "We discovered that when duplicates of people across dimensions touch, things get... messy. The universe has to reconcile the paradox. We had one of our team members do this by accident a while back, and we had to escape from the dimension before it collapsed."
Ford and Stanley stared at Fiddleford with wide eyes.
"So you're saying..." Stanley began, "that this could've happened to us at any time? I could've given parallel me a high-five and everything would've been ruined. You guys need to start spreading the word before dimensions collapse."
"Good to know," Ford said, somber. He couldn't imagine the terror of losing an entire dimension to something so small.
Fiddleford made a tent with his hands. "I'm glad I ran into you two. Maybe you can help us... we need all the help we can get. We've been keeping a close watch on everything, and we've noticed some... severe disturbances in the multiverse."
"Severe disturbances? Such as?" Stanley said.
"It's time. It's gone haywire."
Fiddleford pressed a button on the table. A holographic image of snaking roots popped up in the center. It was a mess, not unlike a bowl of spaghetti. Ford looked closer and noticed that each line was labeled with a number. These lines kept dividing, growing on a grid, some snaking out into the edges of the blob, continually expanding. Fiddleford typed something into the interface, zooming into one section of the grid in particular.
"This," Fiddleford continued, "is our section of the multiverse. Each line represents a dimension. We're here, in dimension 48'\."
Ford noticed 47'\ right next to the square that Fiddleford highlighted. There was home, sitting in the middle of a chaotic mess. Ford didn't know it was possible to feel smaller; now he felt infinitesimal among the worlds, galaxies, and universes. It was beyond his comprehension.
Stanley leaned forward, scanning the grid with interest, one eyebrow raised.
"Stanley's decisions are actually what created many of these branches. I'm assuming that in your dimension, Stanley went through the portal with you somehow?"
"He grabbed my foot," Ford said.
"That's very odd. No Stanley I'm aware of as ever followed you into the portal. There are a few where Stanley went alone, or where Stanley stayed behind and tried to get you back, but never both. One push and what came after meant the difference between all of these realities."
"Me? I did this?" Stanley looked at the grid again, his eyes flicking between the lines, as though trying to comprehend their significance. "I had no idea I was that important."
Fiddleford nodded. "Recently, I helped a Stanford from this dimension." Dimension 46'\ lit up with a golden glow, nestled beside its brothers. "He needed help with his own quantum destabilizer. He too made it his mission to destroy Bill Cipher. The thing is, he'd been traveling between dimensions for thirty years, alone."
"What?" Ford searched Fiddleford for any sign that he was joking. Ford exchanged a glance with Stanley, who looked just as confused. Looking back at Fiddleford, he noticed how there were lines around his eyes that were deeper than he remembered, and his hair had generous amounts of gray mixed with the blond. "Thirty years? How is that possible? Stanley and I couldn't have been gone for longer than five years or so."
Fiddleford's face darkened. He tapped a button, pulling up an image of the Nightmare Realm rift on all of the monitors in the room. The glow of the Nightmare Realm was ominous as they looked at the scar on the shifting backdrop. "The Stanford I helped did manage to finish his quantum destabilizer. But when he went to face Bill Cipher, his Stanley activated his old portal, drawing him back into his dimension before he could finish the job. This created a rift in his dimension, and Bill Cipher exploited it. He gained physical form."
Ford shivered. "No, that can't be... what happened? Where is Bill now?"
"The folks from that dimension managed to beat him, somehow. But the troubles weren't over. This rift leads to Dimension 46'\B. It's a new dimension that popped up around the same time that the original 46'\ sustained a rift."
"How did this happen?" Ford asked.
Fiddleford shook his head. "I'm not sure. I'm guessing it has something to do with your parallel self. The rift in 46'\ closed, but then this one opened up. I believe it's a version of events where Bill had his way. That version of possible events had to be played out. And now we're dealing with a version where things went wrong, and a time disease has been spreading. I imagine that's why we're talking now, at this point in time."
Stanley pinched the bridge of his nose. "Wait, hang on, what does this rift have to do with time being screwed up?"
"We have reports that Bill Cipher has made serious distortions to time in the multiverse. If he's gained physical form in an alternate dimension, you can bet that he'd be breaking whatever laws he could get his hands on, including time."
With every word Fiddleford said, Ford's spirits sank lower and lower. I'm too late. That's not fair! I didn't have thirty years. What am I supposed to do now?
"Now that the future is in the past, or maybe vice versa, the intergalactic governments are gearing up for war," Fiddleford said,"but it's disorganized. We've allied with the U.I.R. and a few others, but I'm worried that it won't be enough. Bill's forces have already spread beyond the original infected dimension."
"So what do we do? There's gotta be something," Stanley said.
"Stanford," Fiddleford leaned forward, his eyes intent, "where is your quantum destabilizer? Does it have a power source?"
"Yes, it does. But it's not finished. The gun can't handle the amount of energy I'm feeding it."
"I can help you. That gun may be the only hope we have of defeating this alternate Bill Cipher. We're putting together a team of people to infiltrate the dimension gone wrong. We're hoping that if we're stealthy, we can eliminate Bill Cipher before he can spread his terror."
"And you want me to join your team?"
"We need you on this team. That way we don't have to make another weapon. Bill could be on our doorstep any day now."
"I'm coming along too," Stanley said. "You're not leaving me behind."
"That's right," Ford said. "He's an asset. I think it would be a mistake to leave him."
Stanley smiled. Ford returned it.
"Well, all right." Fiddleford rubbed his chin. "I'll inform this dimension's Stanford. I expect that we'll be leaving as soon as we can manage."
"Understood," Ford said.
"Yeah, sure." Stanley scratched his armpit.
"You can both have a room at the institute. We'll speak again soon." Fiddleford got up to leave and went to the door. He paused in the doorway, then looked back at Ford.
"Stanford?"
"Yes?"
"I don't know how your version of me is doing, but if you ever get back home, can you make sure he's all right?" A shadow came over his face. "Without anyone to intervene, I fear that the parallel versions of me are handling things poorly."
What does handling things poorly look like? "Of course." Ford hadn't thought of his own version of Fiddleford in some time. Now that he was reminded, he felt a weight in his chest at the thought of something terrible happening to him. He hadn't been well the last time they'd spoken. His anxieties had been amplified ever since the accident with the portal. Another person hurt because of me.
"I'll fix this," Ford whispered under his breath. "I promise."
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The sun was an orange haze behind the UFO bridge, burning the trees into silhouettes. The sunset highlighted the pensive ridges of Stanley's face.
"Is something bothering you?" Ford asked as they walked back to their respective ships.
"Yeah. It's this place." Stanley gestured to the institute. "I can't help but think that if I'd just taken the journal and hid it like you asked, we wouldn't be stuck in this mess."
Ford placed a hand on Stanley's shoulder. "That might be true, but this dimension's Ford has no idea if his brother is dead or alive. I know things could be better, but... I'm glad you're here." Stanley turned to Ford, his eyebrows raised. Ford smiled. "Besides, things could've been worse. I could've been floating adrift in the multiverse for thirty years, completely alone. We'll figure this out, together."
Stanley smiled. It was an innocent smile, like the kind he used to wear back when they were younger and life was simpler.
He opened his mouth to say something when the sound of gigantic paper tearing interrupted him. A slit of light appeared in the sky right over Gravity Falls.
"That's not good," Stanley said.
"It's Bill." Ford took a step back, his face pale.
Fiddleford burst through the door of the cabin, his eyes wild and his hair a mess.
"There's been a change of plans!" he shouted. "We're leaving! Now!"
"What about everyone else?" Ford pointed to the rest of Gravity Falls.
"The Republic is coming with a rescue team, and we're sending a message to flee. We can't do much more for them." Fiddleford glanced at the tear, the worry lines on his forehead growing deeper. "From the reports I've heard, Bill's been sending his underlings to capture dimensions for him. It's in our best interest to escape now, while we have the chance. We're probably the only hope the multiverse has."
A wave of flying creatures spilled from the rift. They formed a cloud, hovering above Gravity Falls.
As Ford and Stanley went to their respective ships, people flooded the landing pad, surging up from the facility. Ford was glad not to be part of the chaos, and instead looked down on the growing crowd from the cockpit of the Maverick.
"Hey Ford," Stanley's voice crackled on the ship's receiver, "I think some of those flying things are headed our way."
The disorganized crowd ran around below, completely vulnerable to attack.
"Wait here," Stanley said. "I'll stall for time."
"Stanley! Wait!"
The Tevro Sidewinder went to the air, its guns adjusting for a fight.
On his radar, Ford saw the attackers that Stanley was talking about. Several of the creatures had broken off from the pack and were headed straight for them. As they drew closer, Ford could see them without the aid of his radar. The creatures were simplistic, with only a large eyeball for a body and bat wings to carry them. Eyebats.
The Tevro Sidewinder took off with reckless speed and engaged with them, shooting individuals down with red plasma.
The eyeball monsters disbanded, coming to attack Stanley from different directions. The ship managed to fell many of the attackers, but the ones that they missed latched on to the black hull and tore at it. The ship cork-screwed beautifully, but couldn't shake them off. There were no ally ships in sight.
I can't just sit here and watch his ship fall from the sky!
Ford moved the Maverick to the air and took off, joining Stanley. He shot at the eyeball monsters latched onto Stanley's ship with precision, then moved so that he covered the Tevro Sidewinder's blind spot. As they eyeball monsters swooped in to attack, Ford and Stanley took them down one by one with their ships back to back. As they fell to the ground, Stanley whooped over the receiver.
The radar caught Ford's eye-something large was approaching them.
"Stanley, watch out," Ford said. "We haven't won yet. Check your radar. There's a new threat."
"Yikes. This one's huge. Do you see that thing? I can't even figure out where it starts and where it ends."
A creature unlike any other went to meet them with startling speed. The creature was red, with multiple mouths and eyes all over its body. With its four pairs of wings, it flew at them with its many arms outstretched.
Ford didn't waste any time. He fired a bolt of plasma at the creature, but it dodged the blast with an easy loop in the air. Stanley tried to hit the creature as well, but none of his shots landed.
"Eugh, that's not right," Stanley said.
The creature came straight for the Maverick. Ford tried to fly away, but it latched onto the back of the ship, prying at it with its claws.
The ship whined. Ford gave the ship a burst of speed and rolled, hoping to knock the creature off, but it stayed, slashing at the Maverick's outer shell.
Two bolts of plasma flew past Ford. He grimaced and slammed the communication button. "Don't shoot at me, Stanley. You'll hit me!"
"I'm a great shot," Stanley said. "I've been trained for this sort of thing. Well, not this situation specifically, but you get the idea. Just trust me. Even my AI trusts me to make the shot."
With pressure building in his jaw, he closed his eyes, waiting for plasma to burn through his hull. There was a shudder and a screech. Ford opened his eyes and checked the radar. The creature was no longer clinging to the ship. Ford blinked.
"Uh, thanks," he said.
"Don't mention it," Stanley replied. "What's everyone else doing? Are they ready to go?"
At the landing pad, ships were lifting off. There was a portal that all of them were escaping through in the air.
Above the city, a different portal opened. Silver ships flooded the sky from it and descended to the town.
"I think our time is up," Ford said. "The U.I.R. is here. Let's get out of here before it's too late."
"No need to tell me twice."
Together, the Maverick and the Tevro Sidewinder zipped toward the red ships. The red creature followed close behind. Ford and Stanley were the last to enter the portal. Dimension 48'\ closed behind them, cutting off the creature in its screeching pursuit.
The area outside the Maverick's window was dark. A warning alarm went off, signaling that a collision was imminent. Ford put on forward thrusters in an attempt to slow the ship down and glanced at the radar. He watched as the Maverick slowed, coming within a few feet a wall. Stanley wasn't so lucky; while the Tevro Sidewinder managed to stop, it only did so after bumping into the wall. Sparks flew.
"Yikes," Stanley said. "That was close. I'm gonna let Amy take the wheel next time."
Ford turned on the front lights and looked around, finding the ground far below them. The walls were dark and shiny; they curved and swooped, creating a massive cavern. The institute ships were parked below on a ledge.
Ford descended to meet them. He landed beside the institute ships with Stanley. A small group of scientists and institute guards were ruffled by the gust of air. Ford left the Maverick, approaching the group with the quantum destabilizer hung on his back.
Stanley and his crew had already left the Tevro Sidewinder; they formed their own crowd. The alien pirates kept away from the humans, wary.
Although Fiddleford was surrounded by people, each one asking for his attention, he stopped them all when Ford approached.
"I thought you two weren't gonna make it." Fiddleford gave a nervous smile. The group watched Ford.
"I thought the same," Ford said. He looked up at the spacious, twisting cavern with an open mouth. "Where are we?"
"Oh, this place is a marvel. This used to be an active volcano. We found this planet a while back during an expedition. Rebecca Kumar, one of our students, named this planet Mazukaizu."
"That was me," a nervous girl blurted. She stepped back, curling a finger around a black lock of hair.
Fiddleford smiled warmly at her and nodded. "At first when we found the volcano, we thought the rocks on the surface were obsidian, but on closer inspection, we found that this is a huge deposit of wurtzite boron nitride."
Ford folded his arms and looked at the cavern with new appreciation. "Wurzite boron nitride, huh? A gigantic cavern with walls harder than diamonds... That's incredible."
"I thought so too." Fiddleford put his hands on his hips and grinned. "We've been planning on using this place for a while now, but for some reason, we never got around to building more than a portal."
His eyes slid to the gun on Ford's back. Without prompting, Ford pulled it from his shoulder. Fiddleford took the gun from Ford, holding it up to the light coming from one of the ships.
Fiddleford poked the gun's glowing center. "Fascinating. What is this?"
"It's called the Unixacron. It's a perpetual energy source that I found on a planet called Cazaconia." Repeating the planet's name brought back a flash of pain to Ford's chest. Luckily, it had been dulled with time, but it ached all the same.
"A perpetual energy source?" Fiddleford tapped his foot, suddenly excited. "That's incredible. You know, if the multiverse somehow survives this conflict with Cipher, would it be all right if I studied this? You can imagine how useful this could be to future civilizations."
"Of course," Ford said, smiling at Fiddleford's excitement. "As long as you share your research."
"This is an interesting problem you have, but it's not unfixable," Fiddleford said. "Give me an hour. I'll see what I can do."
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