Before we start, I'd just like to address something real quick. This is a very special chapter. I don't want to spoil why just yet, but for now let's say we have a visitor in this one. In fact, here he is now.
Chapter 5: The Scientific Method Car
'It's the same.' I thought to myself.
I was standing on the bridge between two cars of a massive train, just looking out into the endless wasteland. It was nothing but dried soil for miles with a darkened sky and orange sunlight in the distance. Something that intrigued me was that it was the exact same as the one I've traveled from. You would think they would at least be a tad different, but no, It was just like the other. It really was quite fascinating.
Even if the wasteland was the same, not every aspect of this train was. Some of the cars for example were positioned differently, missing, or even replaced with one's I was unfamiliar with. The cars that were the same, it seemed that so were the contents. Relatively speaking that is. I turned towards the back of the train, and looked at the red door ahead of me.
'I have my mission, there's no time for faffing around.'
I walked forward as I pulled out a little device from my black cloak, and turned it on. A line of numbers appeared on it's screen as I approached the car.
'If these coordinates are correct, then this should be the car I'm looking for.' I thought as I went for the handle, 'Hopefully this version isn't as bloody useless as the other.'
I gotta say, learning not only of a completely separate plane of existence that mirrors our own, but also learning that I can freely go into it for whatever reason, had left me stunned. I didn't let that get to me though. Stunned or not, I wouldn't get anything done if I stopped and wondered about it. I had loads of questions but I pressed on.
Hazel and I were now walking to the next car together as we talked. Unfortunately halfway across the bridge, the questions popped up in my head again and I kinda zoned out from our conversation to follow them.
'What was that world? Why can I go in there? Why could Mom? Why was she chrome? Is Mom human? If not, then what exactly?'
The more I thought about these things, the deeper my mind went. I looked down at my hands as the most existential thought yet came up.
'Then… What am I?'
"Meg?" Hazel said bringing me back to reality.
"Huh?"
"I said, are you alright? You looked kinda out of it."
"Yeah sorry, I've just been thinking is all."
"What about?"
"Well…"
I wasn't sure If I should've shared or not. On one hand it would be a distraction from Emily, but on the other… I felt like I was on the verge of an existential crisis here. I needed answers. I was silent for a moment before I responded.
"Hazel," I began, "What can you tell me about the mirror world?"
Hazel looked at me with an inquisitive look.
"Is that what's been on your mind?"
I only nodded.
"Well," Hazel said as she brought a hand to her chin, "To be honest, there's not loads to tell. Basically it's a world opposite of our own that's filled with beings made to reflect us. It's the world we see our reflections in."
"Beings?" I asked, "Wait, are you saying our reflections are alive?"
"That's normally the case, yeah, but I'm not sure it's the same with yours. If there was another person opposite from you, she'd be blocking you from going through, unless you had special equipment. At least that's what I suppose."
Could that be it? Was my reflection just different or something? Even if it sounded correct, I felt like there was a lot more to it. I then had a strange thought.
"What if a reflection ends up on our side?" I asked, "What happens then?"
Hazel was about to answer, but then had to think about it herself.
"I'm not sure actually. My mentor told me that if a reflection were to branch away from their prime, mirror enforcement would either put them back or… well, something worse, but she didn't really mention what would happen if they managed to leave."
"Nothing?"
"On second thought, I take that back, I remember her telling me about a reflection who made it to earth with a passenger, but I don't remember much of the details. From what I do remember though, she said that reflection became her own person and ended up living with the passenger she left with."
'A reflection with a passenger?' I thought to myself, 'I wonder…'
"Why do you ask?" said Hazel.
"Oh, I was just wondering. I mean a mirror world? That's really interesting right?"
I wished I knew what Hazel was thinking. I think she wished the same because I don't think she bought what I was selling. Hazel looked at me with a sympathetic expression with a hint of disapproval. I think she knew it was bothering me more than I was letting on.
"Anyway, let's move onto the next car shall we?"
It took a moment, but Hazel let it go for the time being.
"Yeah, alright let's go."
I'm happy Hazel isn't like Mom, she would've hounded me for hours trying to get me to tell her what's wrong. I mean, I knew we'd come back to this later, but I was happy I didn't have to talk about it. Honestly with the current theory I had in my head, I felt like I was insane. Then again, something that crazy would make perfect sense on this train wouldn't it?
Pressing on, I walked to the red door in front of us and grabbed the golden handle. The moment I saw the inside, I was incredibly underwhelmed. It was a blank white room with a wooden floor, a spinning ceiling fan, and a reception desk.
"Get ready for another boring car," I said already done with this, "What do you think the puzzle will be? Answering calls? Filing papers?"
"Give it a chance Meg," Hazel said, "You should know by now, not everything is how it looks on this train."
"Right right. Okay, let's go see what this ones about."
As we approached the front desk, we saw a little green man sitting behind it. This man had straight black hair, pointed ears, and was wearing a white lab coat.
"Hello there!" he announced, "Are you here to admire the wonders of our scientific age?"
Hazel and I turned to give each other a look then turned back to the man.
"I guess so." I answered.
"Then you are in the right place friends, one moment please." The man then crouched behind the desk for a moment before shooting back up with an intercom, "Attention, we have two more guests about to enter, Please clear platform 1 in section 1-A. Thank you."
The man looked to us again.
"If you would, please step forward."
I looked down, and saw what looked like yellow caution tape outlining a rectangle in front of the desk. Hazel walked up, but I was a little more hesitant. Soon enough though we both were standing in the rectangle.
"So what's supposed to happen now?" I asked.
"One moment miss, we'll be on our way in just a moment. Please keep your arms and legs inside the rectangle as we begin our departure."
"Departure?" Hazel asked.
Just then, a translucent energy started to emit from the lines on the floor and soon the goblin man, Hazel, and I were inside a glass like box of energy. Promptly after, the rectangled area began to separate from the room revealing a black space behind it. Confused, I took a step closer and when we were completely separated from the room and saw what was past it, I immediately took back what I said earlier. This whole car was an empty black space with thousands of stars shining in the distance.
"Whoa…" I said amazed.
"Meg," Hazel said nudging me, "Look down there."
I looked, and saw that we were approaching a white space station shaped like a strand of DNA with various large rooms on the left and right strand with a big hall in the center connected to each room. I almost didn't notice but it looked like there was something dark swirling just beneath the station.
"Um… Scuse me, but what is that swirling below?" I asked the green man.
"Ah, that there is a wormhole miss. Make sure not to fall in, you don't want to end up somewhere else."
"Where does it go?" asked Hazel.
"Beats me, we just use it to throw away our garbage."
"Seriously?"
"Yep, it's super convenient. Just throw it over the side. Plus we don't have to pay anyone for it. It's great."
I just rolled my eyes as we continued down. When we got a bit closer to the front, I noticed a little thing of land floating far on the other end. It was hard to tell but it looked like it had the exit on it.
The rectangle floated us into an opening in the first room and landed on a marked area on the ground.
"And we have arrived," The green man announced, "Now before you go, I must express that this place is like a museum, so interacting with displays is strictly prohibited. Okay?"
Me and Hazel nodded.
"Good good," the man said as he pressed a button causing the translucent energy to disappear, "Please enjoy yourselves here in the Scientific Method Car!"
As we stepped off of the platform, the energy from earlier appeared around it again, and swiftly flew back up to the reception area. Hazel and I were now in a large room modeled after a museum lobby, with some sitting areas, banners, and statues themed after sciency things.
"Man, I can already tell Emily would love this one." I said.
Just ahead of us was a line on the floor splitting off into three separate paths. Two of them led to either side of the strand but the middle one was a straight line leading right to the exit. I could see it clearly on a floating rocky platform in the distance.
"Finally, a car where we don't need to look for the door." I was really tired of having to search every inch of the cars at this point, "Let's go."
"Hang on a second," Hazel said putting a hand on my shoulder, "Let's not leave just yet."
"But the exit's right there."
"I know, but we've been going straight to the exit for a few days now. Maybe we should take a break, look around some."
"Yeah but…" I stared at the exit unsure.
"C'mon, thirty minutes, an hour tops."
To be honest, I did kinda want to look around, but I still wasn't sure.
"And hey, if there's a gift shop here maybe you could get a souvenir for Emily. You did say she'd love this place."
It took a moment, but I finally agreed.
"Hmm, I guess just one hour wouldn't hurt."
"That's the spirit." Emily said happily, "So which way do you wanna go?"
On the walls in between the three entrances, there were two large signs labeling each room on both strands. Starting from the left there were rooms devoted to things such as Geography, Astronomy, Biology, etc. There were so many, I kinda thought a few were just made up. Like for example, the heck is Garbology?
Anyway I ultimately decided to go on the left strand, It looked like it had more interesting stuff on it, plus I did notice that there was a gift shop at the end of this one, but I kept that to myself.
A couple minutes go by and we've gone through a few rooms already, we mostly glanced at the exhibits but a few caught our eyes. There was a display with a cube falling endlessly through two connected portals on the ceiling and the ground, one shrinking an elephant with some kind of ray gun, and even one with a cool black alien symbiote thing. Honestly this place was pretty cool.
In the hall on the way to the next room, Hazel and I were passed by another passenger holding a briefcase. It was a man with short black greying hair and a thick mustache and eyebrows. He had a slim build and wore a black cloak. Hazel and I looked back at him as he walked off before he looked down a hall to the side that led to the other strand. It was brief, but he had a sinister looking smile before he changed direction.
"Huh, that guy wasn't shifty or anything, right Hazel?" Hazel didn't respond, I looked at her and she was staring at where that old guy went with a serious look on her face, "Hazel?"
"Hey Meg, I'll catch up with you in a second okay?"
"Why, what's up?"
"Not sure, I've just got a feeling, but I'll be right back."
"Uh… Okay."
With that, Hazel walked off in the direction of the passenger. I simply shrugged it off as I continued to the door to the next exhibit. As I looked at the sign above the door, I read the word, "Garbology."
"Oh neat, I guess I'll get to see what this is about."
Unfortunately my enthusiasm was immediately gone as soon as I entered through the self opening sliding door. Inside were piles upon piles of garbage making up the floor and were stacked super high in the corners and the center. It was like a dump in here, yet there were more of those goblin men in lab coats examining the garbage as if it were completely normal. The worst part, this place had the worst smell of all time inside. It was so bad that I immediately started gagging as soon as I walked in.
I don't know why, but for some reason I was incredibly suspicious of this passenger. The black cloak was already a bad sign but that look on his face told me he was up to no good. I had to make sure.
I tailed the man past a few exhibits until he stopped to speak with one of the denizens. I leaned on a wall trying to look as casual as possible and tried to eavesdrop on their conversation. Unfortunately this room was based on steampunk, so it was filled with loud turning gears and whistling steam making it hard to hear.
The man glanced over in my direction then went back to talking, but suddenly he looked again. This time he was looking directly at me with a curious look. It was almost like he recognized me somehow, but that couldn't be, as far as I know I've never met this man in my life. The man's eyes then went wide, and a devious smile crept back on his face.
The man quickly finished his conversation and walked out of the room. I gave it a moment then I followed behind him again. However when I entered the hall after him, he was gone.
'Where… where the heck did he go?' I thought.
"Ugh! That was gross!" I said coming out of the garbage room. "I thought these guys throw away their garbage, not put it on display! Who in the world studies garbage anyway?"
I spent a minute in that hall breathing the fresh air, trying to filter out the bad smell from my nose but unfortunately I couldn't get it all the way. There would be just a little remnant that would hang around for a little longer. Eventually I gave up and began walking to the next room.
"This one better be the study of air fresheners or something."
There were not in fact air fresheners on the other side of that door, but it was pretty interesting nonetheless. The room was filled with a bunch of black marble pedestals with displays on them and a few weird machines, most of which I assumed were time related judging from all the clock themed decorations scattered about.
A lot of the pedestals had stuff like cool looking tech, graphs with readings or even little experiments on them, but one stood out to me. Mainly because of how out of place it seemed. The pedestal I approached was just two little white cubes sitting next to each other. I glanced at it wondering what was so special about them. I picked up the leftmost cube and just looked at it between my finger and thumb.
I walked a little around looking for some information on it and I saw some text mounted to the pedestal.
'WARNING: This display is an ongoing experiment, the cube on the right is the future version of the one on the left. Whatever you do, DO NOT TOUCH THE LEFT CUBE, It would alter the predicted path of the future cube and could bring about the complete and utter collapse of the space time continuum. I repeat, DO NOT TOUCH THE LEFT CUBE!'
I stared at that sign for what felt like a long time in an uncomfortable silence. Finally when I looked at the cube in my hand, I slowly placed it back where it was on the pedestal.
"Maybe… the space time continuum won't notice." I said walking away, now trying to repress that scarring memory.
With that stressful moment out of the way I looked around at some of the bigger machines, but after reading that warning, I decided to steer clear of any with seats, handles, and or buttons assuming they mess with time in some way. I mean time travel sounds awesome, but I was left a bit paranoid from those cubes.
Eventually I ended up in the far back of the room looking at a strange machine. There were no buttons, levers, or anything like that. Just two shiny panels facing parallel to each other with a square platform between them with a pair of footprints on it. I wasn't sure what it would do, but I was pretty curious. I walked into place and stood on the marked area.
After a moment or two, nothing was really happening. I kinda just stood there with a hand on my chin waiting for something to happen. I was about to give up and walk away, but then I heard something to my right.
"Whoa…" a voice spoke.
I turned, and was surprised to see myself looking directly at me. The panel now showed a copy of the machine I was standing in through it, as well as a copy of me. It was like looking through a mirror except this version of me wasn't copying my exact movements. I was about to say something but then I had a thought. I turned to my left and saw another me, and she was looking forward with a hand on her chin just like I was.
"Whoa…" I said, causing the me in the left panel to look over at... well, me me.
After a moment of looking at each other, the other me turned around and noticed something in the panel past her.
"Whoa…" she said exactly how I, and the right version of me just did.
With those three whoas, I immediately figured out what this machine does. When you step inside, the right panel shows a few seconds into the future while the left one shows a few seconds into the past.
"That's so cool!" The three of us said seconds apart from each other.
I spent a few minutes just goofing off with the machine by trying to have conversations with myself, or singing a tune trying to make it sound like a small corus. The conversations were easy enough, I simply said to my right, "I'm doing great, thanks for asking," then saying, "Hi I'm Meg, How are you doing?" to my left. The corus was a bit harder, I held a note for a few seconds having my past and future versions singing along with me, but It wasn't ever consistent and sounded off most of the time. Some parts sounded pretty good though.
I was thinking of what else I could do, when I got an idea. I looked right and saw my future self already doing what I was thinking. She was standing in front of her right panel with her hand up against it. I walked over to my panel and placed my right hand on it, the same as her. Then the future me turned around and walked over to me. When she was right in front of me she placed her right hand over where mine was. I didn't notice it, but future me had a little bit of static on her face.
After a moment there, I turned around and saw my past self pressing her hand against my left panel. I walked over and put my hand right over hers. I didn't know why it was so satisfying but it was. Unfortunately that wouldn't last.
Just as my past self was about to turn I noticed my hand start to flicker, and so did my past self's. Our numbers were glitching.
"Oh c-" I was about to say before I got cut off.
"Oh crap!" my past self said before I could.
That immediately threw me off. I looked up at my past self confused.
"How did you… I hadn't said that yet."
"Wait what?" Past me looked up as well. "What do you…"
Both of us were now wide eyed as we realized what was happening. Unlike before, we were actually talking to one another. We weren't synced up anymore. Did that mean she's not my past self anymore?
Unfortunately I didn't have time to think on it because I noticed something behind her. She saw the concern in my eyes and turned around before becoming concerned herself. Past me's left mirror was now completely white, It didn't have any figure in it or anything, it was just pure white.
Then it started to spread. Cracks of white began to come off of the panel into her reality. The cracks grew as the whiteness started to cover everything and started getting ever closer to my past self. She stared at it in fear with her back against my panel.
Whatever was happening, It wasn't good. I frantically tried to think of a way to help until I remembered something. When the machine is off, the panels are kinda reflective, does that mean…? Without a second thought, I punched my arm forward toward the panel and just as I hoped, my hand phazed through. My past self looked at my hand confused as it grabbed onto her shoulder before I quickly pulled her out. As the white spread to the entirety of the panel, a bright light came from it and was glowing brighter and brighter. Eventually the light faded and the panel was just pure white. Everything was okay again, only now there was a second me now getting to her feet across from me.
We stood there for a moment just looking at each other, until I realized I should probably say something.
"So, uh…" we said at the same time.
"Heh sorry, you first." we said.
"Stop copying me." We both laughed at how silly this was getting, then when we were done I got an idea.
We both looked over at the white panel, I'm the one who pulled her out of there, so I guess I'll speak first. My past self and I locked eyes, I assumed she had the same idea so we both nodded for clarification.
"Okay," I said. "I think we're unsynced again."
"Looks like it." past me said.
"So… now what?"
We stood there for a moment, until past me thought of something to say.
"First game ever beaten?"
I was confused for half a second but then I smiled.
"On three." I said. Past me nodded.
"One, two, three. Portal." We both said.
"Favorite anime?" I asked.
"My Hero Academia."
"Favorite catchphrase from a video game character?" she asked.
"Got it memorized?"
"Hell yeah!" We both said as we high fived. I don't know if it's possible to become best friends with yourself but I think we just did. Then again that title was already reserved for someone else, but still.
Before we could continue, my second self and I heard the door to this room open. A moment later Hazel had stepped through and walked over to us.
"Sorry about that Meg, I needed to check on someth…" Hazel stopped as soon as she noticed there were two of us.
"So… uh," I started, "Funny story, I was standing in that machine over there that could show a few seconds into the past and future, my number glitched out again, and I sorta ended up… pulling my past self out from the machine."
There was a brief moment of awkward silence of Hazel and the two of us staring at each other before Hazel put a hand over her face, and let out a long sigh.
"Why is it that every time you're on your own, something ends up happening?"
"Hey don't blame us." my counterpart said, holding her hand up, "Blame my- er… Our numbers."
Hazel looked surprised when she saw past me's palm.
"Wait a second," Hazel said walking up and grabbing our right hands, "You both have your numbers?"
"Yeah…" I said, "Should we not?"
"I- I don't know, I thought one of you was a denizen made from the train, but if you both have your numbers then… well... I don't know what that means." Hazel stared deep in thought before she looked up at us again, "I think we should leave now."
"Yeah, you're probably right. We don't wanna mess with anything else."
"Right," past me said, "Let's go."
Before we could continue to the next room, Hazel blocked our path.
"Whoa whoa, hang on a sec!" she said, "You can't both go out there."
"What do you mean?"
"These denizens gave us only one rule, don't touch the exhibits, which the two of you have clearly ignored. If they see two of you, they will definitely be peeved. Remember the koalas?"
"How could we not," I said with a shiver.
We thought for a moment before past me got an idea.
"I got it!" she said looking over at the past future machine, "With the machine busted, the future panel only acts as a reflective surface. One of us can follow unseen in the mirror world."
"Oh that's genius!"
"Yes, that's a very good idea." Hazel said, "Just one thing though… which of you is which again? I literally cannot tell."
"Oh right," past me said, "Hang on."
My past self then took her purple hair tie out from her hair and then pocketed it, letting her hair fall to just past her shoulders. Next she took off her hoodie and tied it around her waist, fully showing off the plain purple tee she was wearing.
"There." She said, "You can call me Meg 2 for now."
Later, Hazel and I had left the time room with Meg 2 following in the mirror world, and were making our way to the exit. Every time we passed a mirror or shiny surface, I made sure to check if my past self was still there. Luckily she always was, but to be honest I was a bit worried one of the scientist denizens would notice her on the other side. Thankfully though they never did. We passed a bunch more rooms without so much of a glance, and a few of the scientists asked why we were just skipping exhibits, but after saying we had to leave, none of the denizens tried to make us stay.
This was going very smoothly, thankfully there wasn't a drunk passenger here to mess everything up like in the koala car. Nope, this one was sober.
The next room we were in was about biology, specifically human biology. The displays and decorations had things showing the human organs, DNA, and stuff like that. We would've skipped this one too, but we saw that passenger from earlier again. He was standing near the back of the room looking at a display with what looked like a mix of a large syringe and a gun. The man tossed a few glances to the left and right before picking up the device, and putting it in his black cloak. This caught us off guard but it also angered the heck out of one of us.
"Wait, did he just-"
"Hey!" Hazel yelled, "The hell do you think you're doing!?"
The man turned around to see Hazel marching up to him.
"Ah hello again, what can I do for-"
"Save it." she interrupted, "I know what you just did, and you can't just take stuff from the cars!"
"I assure you madam, I don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about."
"Don't lie to me, I saw you! You better put that back or I will-"
"Excuse me," someone interrupted. It was one of the little green denizens, only this one was wearing a black lab coat. "I am the curator of this museum, is there a problem here?"
"Oh there is absolutely a problem here." Hazel said as she pointed at the passenger, "I caught this guy stealing from one of your displays."
"Such an allegation," said the passenger, "Why I was simply admiring this display when one of your own took it for maintenance."
"Bullshit! I saw you take-"
"Now now," the curator cut in, "I'm sure we can sort this out. Sir," he said to the passenger, "Would you mind letting us perform a quick scan of your person?"
"Hmm, I suppose I have no choice but to-"
Just then another denizen ran into the room looking worried.
"Mr. Curator, Mr. Curator!" he spoke as he ran up to him.
"What is it? What's wrong?" The curator said.
"Sir, the past present and future machine, it's been tampered with!"
"What!?"
After hearing that, I was starting to sweat. I knew it was the machine Meg 2 and I were in, but there's no way they could know it was us, right? As this conversation was going on, the passenger noticed something, then went into his briefcase.
"What do you mean tampered with?" The curator continued, "What happened?"
"We have no idea, the past panel is unstable and completely white, while the future panel just doesn't work at all anymore."
"Unstable? I understand the right panel, but the only way the left can destabilize is to unsync the timelines in them, how could that even happen?"
"I'll tell you how." The passenger said. As they were talking the passenger had walked over to a large window and spoke to everyone with his back to it. He was now wearing a white glove. "It's quite obvious that I am not the one…"
Suddenly the passenger reeled his gloved arm back and punched into the reflective surface, surprisingly right into the mirror world. After a moment, the passenger pulled his arm back along with Meg 2. He had ripped her right out of the mirror world.
"...Who has been tampering with your work." he finished with a dark smile.
"Let go of me you son of a-" the other me yelled.
"What the- What is the meaning of this?" the curator demanded.
"Don't you see good sir? That machine was in the time room correct? That means this one is a time duplicate of that girl." The passenger said gesturing to past me in his hand and then to present me.
"I said let go!" Meg 2 said, getting out of the passenger's grip, "Don't listen to him, we're… twin sisters. This guy is lying."
Before anything else, the curator pulled out a remote looking device from his coat, and used it to scan Meg 2 and I. After reading something on it he spoke in a concerned tone.
"He's correct, they're the same person. One is just older by a few seconds." A few of the other scientists started to huddle around the conversation as the curator looked between us with a now focused look in his eyes, "We need to get rid of one of them."
"What!?" Hazel, and both versions of me exclaimed.
A smug expression grew on the passenger's face, and promptly left the room seeing his work done.
"If two alternate instances of the same person exist in the same timeline together, that could risk the destruction of the entire space time continuum."
"Now hang on," Hazel said standing between us and the scientists, "They're passengers, there's no need for something so extreme."
"Yeah! Plus how do you even know that's how it works?" Meg 2 argued.
"Exactly, I mean I even touched that cube experiment, and we're all still here." I said.
"You what!?" the curator exclaimed. Now every scientist in the room looked very angry.
"Seriously!?" My other self said as she punched me in the arm.
"It is true, you have been tampering with our exhibits!" The curator then grabbed a little laser gun from his lab coat, "We are not gonna let you get away with this."
"Time to run!" Hazel said, grabbing both me and Meg 2 by the arms and running out of the room.
"Get them!" the curator's voice called out followed by a few lab coat wearing denizens rushing toward us.
"Ghoms, party koalas, and now goblin scientists! Why are we always running from stuff!?" I shouted.
"Well maybe you shouldn't tell them we messed with their cube thing!" past Meg yelled as she punched me again.
"Both of you cut it out! We need to focus." said Hazel.
"Right, sorry, but what are we supposed to do now?"
"Don't worry, I've got an idea."
As we approached the next sliding door, Hazel looked up to a little camera sitting just above it. These doors don't have any buttons, handles, or anything, so I assumed they opened from the movements seen in the cameras. Hazel figured that too, because right as the door opened for us she jumped up and punched the camera, totally breaking it. For half a second it looked like her fist was a bit green. Hazel ran in just as the door closed behind her. The sounds of banging could be heard from the other side.
"That'll hold them for a while." she said.
The room we were in was based on astrology, there was a line of windows on the far left, a few telescopes, and a bunch of charts with constellations, planets, and a few galaxies. Luckily there was no one in this room.
"Come on, let's get out of here." Hazel said, running to the other door.
We were about to follow but as soon as Hazel went through, the door suddenly closed, and wouldn't open. Past me and I tried waving our arms in front of the camera but nothing happened.
"Hazel, wait! The door won't open!"
"What?" she said before banging on the door a couple times. As soon as she hit the door, a blue force field briefly appeared over it. "Damnit, they must've put this door into a lockdown mode or something. I don't think I can get it open."
Just then me and Meg 2 heard something charging up behind us. When we looked we saw the metal door we came from begin to glow red in the center.
"Go on without us!" I said, "We'll find another way!"
"Are you sure?"
"Don't worry," the other me assured, "We'll be fine."
"...Alright, I'll see you at the exit."
With that, I looked around the room trying to find some kind of way out until my other self took hold of my arm, and sped toward the windows.
"C'mon, this way." she said.
Since it was black space outside, our reflections could be easily seen in the windows. Just as the door was about to open, Meg 2 and I retreated into the mirror world.
Soon when the door was starting to glow white and become more malleable, it was suddenly kicked in by a goblin man wearing metal boots, who was carrying a large metal device connected to a generator in the hall with a couple more goblins behind him.
"Hold them a while, huh Hazel?" said the other me, "Yeah, a while my as-" before she could finish, I quickly placed my hand over her mouth knowing they'd be able to hear us through the windows.
"Hold it right…" the curator spoke before seeing no one, "Where'd they go? The camera detected at least two still in here, so where are they?"
"Sir, they might've gone through the door at the last minute."
"Right, power up the laser drill again."
As the other denizens went to the generator, the curator walked up to the other door and held the device to it. After a second of drilling, the curator saw the blue forcefield and turned off the drill with an annoyed look.
"Who put this door in lockdown mode? I didn't authorize that!"
That confused me, because I thought it was these guys who locked the door. If it wasn't them, then who? The curator checked his pocket.
"Damnit, someone took my credentials! Alright, we'll double back and cut them off." The curator said as he began to speak into a watch he was wearing, "Attention all staff, we have a code 000, keep an eye out for two girls with reddish brown hair and blue numbers. If you see them destroy on sight, I repeat destroy on sight."
With that the goblin scientists left the way they came.
"Well that's just great." I said.
"Meg, over here," My other self said gaining my attention. I looked over and saw her standing by the windows. One of them was open, "C'mon there's a ledge on the other side, we can move forward this way."
Later my counterpart and I were walking along a narrow ledge on the outside of the space station. Even though it was space, it seemed like we could breathe out there. We passed many rooms trying not to lose our footing. It wasn't narrow enough that we were up against the wall, but the ledge still wasn't that wide.
Eventually we ran into a problem, when we were near a point where the two strands would cross, the ledge we were on would end.
"Now what?" I asked the other me, "We're out of ledge."
"Hold on, we'll find something."
Unfortunately no matter how hard we looked, there was no way forward. The ledge on the other strand ahead of us was way too far to jump, and all the windows near us were closed and couldn't be opened from the outside. We were next to a room that was pitch black inside, so I stared at my reflection in the window.
"Damnit, we are so close." I said, "There has to be a way."
The more I looked, the less I could think of. There's nothing in my bag that could help, and we don't have climbing stuff like Hazel. But just as I was about to sigh, I noticed something weird.
"What the… Deer?"
In the window's reflection I could see the deer from Lincoln's car on the next ledge. He was eating leaves from a tree branch coming out of an open window.
"Wait, did you just call me…" past me started before she laughed, "Wow, didn't know I was such a narcissist."
"Not you. Look, through the reflection."
When she took a closer look, she was just as confused as I was.
"How in the… What's he doing here?"
"I have no idea, but there he is."
I honestly couldn't believe it, Lincoln's car was probably miles away by now. Did he follow us somehow? I don't remember being shadowed by a deer. Then again he can turn invisible, so maybe he did. That still doesn't explain why of all places to eat, he chose to eat on a ledge in front of…
Just then I noticed something in the room behind him. Aside from a bunch of plants and diagrams, there was a tall mirror hanging on the wall. I wasn't sure if I was imagining it or not, but it looked like the mirror was glowing white.
"Meg," I said, "Is that mirror behind the deer glowing to you?"
Meg 2 looked but she didn't see it.
"What mirror? I don't see a mirror."
"You really can't see it?" I asked as I held my hand closer to the window, pointing toward it, "It's right there."
As I tapped the glass with my finger, something weird happened. The surface of the window rippled, like a stone being dropped into a calm body of water, then suddenly the white glow from the mirror expanded to the whole window,
"What's happening!?" the other me asked.
"I don't-" before I could finish, my past self and I were pulled into the window.
It didn't last long, but for a moment it felt like my entire body was being molded as I was propelled forward at incredible speeds. Then suddenly, Meg 2 and I flew out of the mirror in the room with the plants. We sat on the floor feeling woozy as we held our heads.
"What just happened?" other me asked, "What the heck did you do?"
"I have no idea," I said looking up at the mirror, "I guess I turned the mirror here and that window into a portal somehow."
"We can do that?"
"Apparently. We'll have to ask Hazel about it later." I stood up, then helped my counterpart up to her feet, "I knew something was off when I saw this mirror, but seriously how did you not see it? Were you that distracted by-"
Suddenly I remembered what was still sitting right out the window. I quickly sped up and leaned out the open window.
"Al-" I began to say until I saw the now empty ledge, "Where did… he's gone."
"Go on without us!" One of the Megs said on the other side of the door, "We'll find another way!"
"Are you sure?" I responded.
"Don't worry," said the other Meg, "We'll be fine."
I hesitated for a moment, but I responded with a nod.
"...Alright, I'll see you at the exit."
With that I turned around and continued down the hall. I didn't want to leave them, but I had no other choice. Besides, I knew they'd be alright. Meg on her own would never give up when it came to finding Emily, and now there were two of her.
I honestly can't believe how ruthless the denizens so far are being. The ghoms I get, but those koalas and now these scientists, they were ready to kill her. Amelia told me not all denizens are made to help, but this is still extreme. I mean this train is made to help people… right?
The next room I was in was one in the center of all three strands, connecting to each of them. It was a large white paneled room with marked areas lined with caution lines and the yellow and black round symbol for crash testing painted here and there. Besides me, there was only one person in the room. I stopped in my tracks the moment I saw who it was.
"Hello, Hazel." The cloaked passenger said, holding onto a remote. He smiled deviously as he pressed a button, causing all the doors to this room to close. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?
I looked at the remote he was holding.
"You're the one who locked the door on them? Why?"
"So we could speak in private, of course, unless you want your companions to hear of your true origins. That you are one of the great Amelia Hughes' failed experiments."
That got me a bit uneasy, what did this guy know? And how much?
"Who are you? How do you know me?"
"Oh, how rude of me, my name is James. We've never met in person, but I have seen records of you before. Truth be told, I did not intend to bump into you here of all places. In fact the odds were extraordinarily low. But I was quite surprised when I recognized you," James then put a hand to his chin, "It seems that this one must be a decade ahead, perhaps two."
What's that supposed to mean? What's a decade ahead?
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh nevermind that, Tell me, how is your Amelia doing? It's been ages since we've last spoke."
My Amelia? What was with this guy?
"I wouldn't know, we split up a few years ago."
"Huh, that's certainly a let down. Oh well, I suppose it's for the best."
"Cut the small talk already!"
James' expression darkened for a moment before a smile returned.
"I suppose you're right, I do have other places to be. Good day." he said as he turned around.
"Not so fast! I'm not letting you leave with the tech you stole."
A light chuckle left his mouth before he pulled out the device from his cloak.
"Oh? And how do you plan to stop me?"
I stared daggers at him for a moment as I focused on my arms and legs, making them bulk slightly and grow some scales under my clothes. I was about to take a step forward, but the moment I moved my foot, a metal arm shot out from under his cloak and cracked the panel I was about to step on.
"What the!" I exclaimed.
"Why so shocked?" James asked as he put the device into his briefcase, "You didn't think this was the only thing I nicked did you?"
James then took off his cloak. Underneath he was wearing a black uniform similar to the ones that used to be given to passengers, along with boots with metal parts attached to them. On his back was a metal pack with five metal arms coming out of it. James used three to lift himself into the air as he pointed the other two at me.
"Your move, Denizen."
Even though the deer had pretty much disappeared on us, Meg 2 and I pressed on and continued to the exit in the mirror world. We had made it to the main hall leading straight to the exit and eventually we made it to the end, and saw a metal bridge leading to a floating rocky platform with the exit on it. We left the mirror world through another window and stood there waiting for Hazel.
"Man, where is she?" my past self asked, "I thought she was ahead of us."
"I guess something got in her way." I was now worried, "What if those scientists got her?"
"Well she's not here. C'mon let's get going."
My other self started to walk to the exit, but I grabbed her arm, stopping her.
"What about Hazel?" I asked.
"She'll be alright, it's us they're after, not her."
"We are not just leaving her, Meg!"
"C'mon, Hazel's a badass, those goblins won't be able to touch her. Besides we have to get to Emily, remember?"
"Of course I remember, but we're not gonna abandon Haz-"
"I don't want to, but Hazel isn't the one who needs us!" Meg 2 screamed, "She's not the one who suffered under Bill's roof, she's not the one who was always talked down to on a regular basis, and she is not the one who is counting on her only friend to help her!"
Tears started to swell in her eyes, and as she spoke, the second me's number began to shift. I put my hands on her shoulders, making her look at me.
"Megan, I know better than anyone where you're coming from, I care about Emily just as much as you do, but we can't leave Hazel in there. She has been a good friend to us the moment we met, and you know leaving her is wrong." She looked away after that last part, but I turned her face back as I continued, "Emily will be okay, even in her darkest moments she never gave up. Not on herself, not on her tech, and not on you. She's stronger than you think, you need to believe that."
It was silent for a minute of me looking at her while she looked to her feet, until she lifted her arm up and dried her eyes.
"...Okay." she finally said.
I smiled at her, I was happy I could change her mind, but I was also a little concerned. Could I have really left Hazel like my other self tried to do. The thought was in the back of my mind but I didn't think I, or even another version of me would actually go through with it. I'm just glad I'm the version that knew better. I grabbed her hands in my own.
"Hey, we will find her, alright?"
After a moment she looked at me with a smile of her own.
"Right." she said with a nod.
With that settled we were ready to go, but before we put our hands down, we noticed that not only had our numbers lowered, but they were also different from each other. Mine was now at 189, while hers was at 201. More proof that we aren't strictly the same exact person anymore. She's a Meg with feelings and thoughts all her own.
We stared at our blue numbers for a moment before I turned to the hall behind us.
"C'mon, let's find Hazel."
Some time had gone by with James and I facing off in the big testing room. For most of it, he was trying to get me with the mechanical arms as I jumped out of the way. My denizen abilities were making it easier on me, making me able to jump faster and further than usual.
In this time, I've managed to sever two of his metal arms by slashing at them while dodging. James was now back on the ground and he only had three robot arms left. I could tell he was getting annoyed. The impatient look on his face said it all.
"What's the matter? Can't keep up with a denizen?" I asked.
James only leered at me as I continued to dodge his attacks. If I wanted to guarantee my victory here, I needed to get him mad. James was clearly a logical man, so I needed to make him angry enough to stop listening to his head.
"Y'know, I'm not even using my full abilities right now," I continued, egging him on, "That's kinda sad don't you think?"
"Shut your cake hole, you cocky little…" James yelled before he calmed himself, "Is that so? Tell me, why is that?"
"Oh, maybe I just think you can't handle it."
"Doubtful," James said calmly, "I'd say it has more to do with how the train would react."
My eyes got a bit wider as he said that.
"Ha! Judging from your reaction, I'd say I've hit the nail on the head. Unless I'm mistaken, the train has been weeding out Miss Hughes' work. Every car she has ever created has been tossed to the wind."
At this point, James and I had both stopped and were now staring at each other.
"You don't know what you're talking about." I replied.
"You think so? Well I suppose you must be right, after all how could you be standing here then? Unless of course… something is preventing the train from sensing you."
I looked away from him as he spoke.
"Perhaps a small device that hides your signature, something that could be mounted into say, a watch, a pack, or even… a belt?"
With that I quickly grabbed my belt's buckle. I hate to say it, but he was correct.
"Maybe that's why you cannot use your full abilities here, because that belt cannot hide you when you use them. It risks your safety aboard the train, and will eject whatever car you're in. But chin up, it's not your fault. The train simply understands what you are. Denizens are made to test passengers. They're meant to help. However you are the by-product of a woman who won't see what's right in front of her and move on already. You're not meant to help anyone, you are an abomination."
I looked down at the ground as I stayed silent. Seeing his opportunity, James lifted a mechanical arm up.
"But do not despair, in just a moment, you won't have to worry about that anymore. And for that matter, you won't have to worry about anything anymore."
With an evil smile, James threw the robotic arm toward me. He figured that would be the end, but right before it hit me I dodged out of the way, causing the arm to embed itself into the floor. I quickly grabbed it under my arm.
"What!?" James exclaimed.
I began to smile myself as I looked back at James, who had fallen for my little act, hook line and sinker.
"Now who's being cocky?" I asked as I used my free hand to slice at the metal arm, leaving James with only two.
"Oh! You arrogant wretch of a woman!" He screamed with his cool completely gone.
Just then I heard something coming from the door leading to the main hall.
"Hazel, are you in there!? It's us, can you hear us in there?" one of the Meg's spoke.
James heard her too, because he turned to me again with an angry look as he used his remaining robot arms to lift himself to an opening in the ceiling.
"Hmph, I've wasted enough time here," A calm smile returned to his face, "I must be going Hazel, pip pip."
"Not so fast, we're not done!" I yelled jumping after him.
Unfortunately he saw that coming. One of the robot arms let go and was used to strike me directly in the chest. Luckily I had my shell protect me at the last minute, but if I hadn't, that would've been so much worse.
"Oh don't worry, I'm sure I'll meet you again. But of course, you most likely won't meet me. Good day."
With that, James was gone, and I was left holding a hand to my still hurt chest.
"Why does there have to be crazy passengers on this train too?" I said with a sigh.
I looked down and noticed something where James was once standing, it was the remote he used to close the doors. I walked up to grab it, and used it to open the door I heard Meg's voice from.
From the other side, I reunited with the two Megs.
"Hazel, there you are." the first Meg said happily.
"What kept you?" asked Meg 2.
"It was that passenger from earlier, I'll tell you on the way."
"Where the hell are they!?" I yelled at one of the other scientists in the security room.
"The camera's in the testing hall caught them," he said, "They're making their way to the exit door as we speak."
"No!" one of the other denizens spoke, "They're going to get away!"
"No they won't!" I barked at him, "I haven't been curator for a hundred years just to let two punks get away with tampering with the progress of science!"
I walked away from the control panel we were standing at, and made my way to a large metal chest with a scanner on the top. I placed my hand on it and waited a moment for it. The scanner then lit up green and opened up revealing a versatile of weapons.
"But sir," the first scientist began, "Aren't we only after one of them?"
"After what they did, no. This..." I said as I picked up a large silver barreled weapon with glowing blue parts, and heaved it onto my shoulder, "This is now personal."
Later the two Megs and I had run down the main hall toward the exit, and thanks to the remote I got from James, I was able to close all the doors connecting to the hall, leaving us with virtually no obstacles. On the way there I told the Megs I confronted James and deciding not to give too many details, I told them he escaped while leaving his remote behind.
Eventually we arrived at a metal bridge leading to the exit.
"Finally," Meg 2 said, "Let's go."
We began to cross the bridge feeling relieved that car was behind us. Unfortunately, from one of the rooms on the right DNA strand, there was a denizen lining up a shot. Halfway across the bridge, I began to hear a sound. Almost like, someone was charging a-
I quickly turned around to both Megs.
"Get down!" I yelled.
But I was too late. From an open window, a blast of force had hit both Megs making them both fall off. I quickly reached down and grabbed Meg 1's hand, as Meg 2 held on to her foot, but she was slipping.
"Don't worry, I got you!" I said.
Meg 1 looked down at Meg 2 and held her free arm down.
"Meg, quick grab on!"
"I- I can't, I can't hold on!"
"Yes you can, just reach for me!"
However it didn't matter if she could've. Because a second blast had hit Meg 2, ripping her off Meg 1's leg, and sending her down into the spinning wormhole. Time froze in that moment. Meg 2 looking up at us in shock as she fell, with Meg 1 and I staring down at the vortex that swallowed her counterpart. I would've said something, however I began to hear the charging again, so I pulled Meg up, put her on my shoulder, and ran for the exit.
"No wait!" We can't leave her!" Meg cried out.
As much as I wanted to help her, I knew it was too late. Wherever that wormhole went, it's out of our reach. Before the third blast could hit us, I opened the door and dashed through with Meg. We were now on the metal ground outside the car, and as the car door closed, Meg was running back.
"We have to go back!" she said.
I quickly got up and grabbed her arm.
"Meg stop, there's nothing we can do."
"Yes there is! We can help her somehow."
"What do you plan to do? Tie a rope to a ledge? Meg, she fell into a wormhole, we can't reach her anymore. I mean do you want to get sucked up too? Who'll help Emily then?"
Meg stopped the moment I said that. I hated that I had to use that card, but I knew that was the only thing that would make her stop. After that, she just looked down at the ground.
"Meg, look I'm sorry, but she's gone, and there's nothing we can do." I heard her begin to sniffle, so I tried to comfort her, "But hey, she's going to be alright."
This made Meg turn around with a confused look.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"It was a wormhole, Meg. Wormholes lead to other places in space and time, that receptionist goblin even said so. That means that your other self isn't dead, she's just somewhere else."
"Really?" Meg said hopeful.
"I guarantee it."
Meg thought for a moment, before she nodded in contentment.
"Well, wherever she ended up, I hope it's somewhere nice."
Meanwhile, in a place very far away, yet not far at all, a young girl began to moan to herself as she heard thunder above her. She had long dark chocolate brown hair, a purple shirt, a grey jacket around her waist, dark blue jeans, black and white sneakers, and, most curiously, a glowing blue number on her right hand. She slowly opened her eyes to see dark clouds above her head, as best as she could make out, anyway. When the picture in her eyes became clear, they were regular clouds blocking out the sun. The weather must've been overcast. However, when the girl looked at the surroundings around her, she realized this weather was fitting.
There were buildings all around her that were reminiscent of skyscrapers and such, like those in New York, not that she'd been there. But each and every one of them appeared to have been shattered and destroyed with what looked like an overgrowth of flowers, trees, and vines. Meg was utterly speechless from seeing this.
"What the…? What happened to this place? And more importantly, where is this place?"
With the fear of the unknown flooding through her mind, she backed away, only to slip and tumble into a stack of black bags behind her. When she came back up, Meg held her nose, not willing to smell the unpleasant stench that came from it. While it did succeed in blocking out some of the smell, unfortunately, she was still being marauded by the rotten stink as she quickly made a break away from the bags.
"Yuck! And I thought that the garbology section smelled awful. Someone should seriously tell those goblins not to dump stuff in random holes in space."
Once she was far enough away from the smell, the girl looked up at the sky, wondering if this was the place where the wormhole took those garbage bags all along. But the most important questions flooding through her mind at the moment we're this: did her counterpart and Hazel make it out alive? And whether or not they did, how would she be able to find Emily now? She didn't know how far or close that wormhole took her to her friend. But with no answer to either question, all she could do was sigh before she spoke to herself and looked at her blue number, which read "201".
"Okay, so apparently, the wormhole leads to some kind of post-apocalyptic City. But how do I get back?"
It was a difficult question, indeed. She apparently fell from the sky and onto the garbage bags, so at least that part was covered. But what she really wanted to know was how she could get back. Hoping to find the answer, Meg looked at the sky above her before looking to a skyscraper adjacent to the bags she was dropped onto. This gave her an idea, though it was more a hopeful theory than an idea.
"Hold on. If that wormhole popped open and dropped me and the garbage here… maybe I can wait for it to open up and try to go back from there. Or if it doesn't, maybe I can look for it from above or something. Can't be that hard, right?"
Little did she know that as she made her plan, there was someone in the shadows watching her. He had deathly pale skin, a black hooded jacket that went over his head, black jeans, and red sneakers. And to top off his demeanor, he had countless scratches all over his face as he smirked in the most devilish look that was possible. Meg turned around, wondering if she heard something before that figure went away deeper in one of the buildings far away. She didn't see him, but the atmosphere still gave her chills to the bone.
"I really need to get out of this place…"
Later, Meg had walked all the way to the top of the building, which was exceedingly exhausting for her due to the amount of stairs. The elevators were shut down, which was no surprise in a desolate place like this.
"Why do… these things… have to be… so tall?"
While catching her breath, Meg walked herself closer to the edge and leaned a little over it to see that the wormhole hadn't opened up yet, assuming that was even possible. All the same, though, it was impressive to see the whole car from a view literally as high as the clouds. At least, it would be if it weren't for how dark it all looked. If anything, it gave her all the more reason to leave this forsaken place. Meg made a small groan before speaking to herself.
"It better not open somewhere on the ground, or I'll be pissed that I walked up this stupid building for nothing."
Suddenly, as if heeding her call, a vortex appeared within the clouds in front of her. And even better, it was close enough for her to jump into it.
"Oh, thank goodness!"
Not wanting to wait another moment, Meg backed up enough to give herself a running start as she gazed at the vortex swirling by the building.
"Here goes… everything."
Meg then proceeded to run on the rooftop before she noticed it spitting out a garbage bag. And just at the last moment it did so, the vortex began to shrink.
"No, no, no…"
Not willing to miss it, Meg ran faster before she made a leap, holding her hand out towards it. However, as she reached her hand towards the vortex, it only faded away before she passed through it and began falling to the ground.
With the chance having slipped through her fingers, all she could do was look down at the garbage bags she was speedily approaching and closed her eyes as she braced for impact. The instant her body landed on the bags, trash instantly shot up into the air. Everything from rotten apple cores to banana peels shot up into the sky.
A moment afterwards, Meg groaned again, but this time in disgust and disappointment. On one hand, she found her wormhole. But on the other, it's impossible to get to it without it vanishing on her since it only sticks around long enough to drop off garbage, which she was grateful for in the instance of preventing her from becoming street pizza. She removed a banana peel from her hair as she grunted.
"Great. How am I supposed to get back now?"
Just then, she heard someone call to her from far away. It sounded like a teenage girl with a gentle voice.
"Uh, are you okay?"
This puzzled Meg. There wasn't anyone alive here that she was aware of when she tried to get back into the wormhole. She looked to where the voice came from, only to see a young girl with shoulder-length dark red hair in a black shirt with a red hoodie, dark blue jeans, and black boots. And beside her was a chrome-like feminine being just about her size with grey jeans that stopped above her ankles, a black shirt with ripped off sleeves, along with a heart-shaped hole below the torn collar, and brown work boots. She also appeared to have drilled piercings into both of her ears and shaved off all her hair and a small part of her right eyebrow.
"That looked like a pretty nasty fall."
Meg looked at the two of them, though it was more likely she was looking at the Chrome being beside the girl. Somehow, she wondered if it was her mother when she was going through a bizarre phase, if she had such a thing. But when Meg was lost in thought again, the Chrome girl piped up.
"Hey! She asked if you're okay!"
Meg shook her head from hearing her voice. It definitely sounded like her, but that wasn't in the tone she was familiar with, even from her scolding Meg for bad behavior. There was no mistaking it though, this girl was her mother. She supposed that the wormhole sent her back in time or something. Although, she had no clue who the other girl with her mother was. Could she be one of the friends she made on the train?
"Oh! Uh, yeah. I was trying to get back somewhere, but… it didn't work out."
The girl noticed a sad look on her face before she bore that same look and sat beside her before holding her arm around her shoulder.
"Well, maybe we can help. My name's Emma. And my girlfriend down there is M.T. What's yours?"
Girlfriend? That was a strange thing to say about her mother. Last she checked, her mother had a boyfriend on the train, Meg's father, not a girlfriend. Otherwise, she wouldn't be around. She looked at M.T. stunned by this new information. M.T. saw that look and became miffed again as she spoke to her.
"Well?"
Meg was once again shaken out of her stupor before she answered.
"Uh, it's Meg. Nice to meet you, I guess."
Meg held her hand out to shake Emma's but when she did, Emma immediately took notice of her blue number and became baffled. Her reaction wasn't exactly news to her. Her number was different from the other passengers' of course. So of course Emma would be surprised.
"Wait a minute. How is your number blue?"
M.T. seemed to be surprised by that development as well as Emma was. In fact, she seemed to be in disbelief.
"What? There's no way her number is—"
When M.T. took a look, however, she was immediately flummoxed as she changed her tone and sentence the instant she saw her blue number.
"What the heck? How did that happen? I thought numbers only came in green."
Meg had an awkward smile on her face. She didn't know how to explain it to her mother, especially when she's younger than she is. But seeing as she was the same mother who raised her, she knew she had to tell her sooner or later.
"Well, I hope you like long stories."
Author's Notes
The multiverse is a pretty crazy thing, isn't it?
Now some of you are probably wondering, "Who in the heck is that James guy?" or "Where did the second Meg end up?" Now I cannot answer that first question exactly, but I can tell you where he originates when I answer the second. For those who didn't know, that last part with the second Meg was written by none other than OmegusXIII, the same writer who has made Infinity Train: Bryce's Story, and currently making Infinity Train Book 2: Emma's Story. If you'd like to see what's in store for the other Meg, you might want to keep an eye on his work. Because you just might see the other side of this crossover.