In the Dark
Chapter Eight
Part I – The Story so Far – The People Out There
In the command center of the Teleinvisichronomicon, Alpha and Beta simultaneously hunched over the command console, tentacles adjusting a dial here, pressing a button there as needed, while they watched the action taking place on the huge screen in front of them. It was split screen. One side showed what was happening on the planet Earth, which they were observing, and the other screen showed what was happening on the other planet Earth, which they were also observing.
There was a buzzing noise. Beta's tentacle reached into his carryall and pulled out his mobile communicationotron, which he peered at with a couple of his eyes.
It's not me.
Alpha glanced at Beta with a couple of his eyes, then extracted his own communicationotron with a tentacle and held it to his ear.
Speak, he commanded.
Beta strained one of his ear stalks to hear, but all he could hear was squawking. What he could see, however, was that Alpha had grown very pale and most of his tentacles were waving agitatedly. He placed one of them over the communicationotron and hissed at Beta:
We are so ishkabibbled. (English translated – screwed.)
What's the matter, Beta hissed back.
It's a student from the local university!!!! They've tapped into the feed of the Teleinvischronomicon and have been watching it!
They can't do that!
They can't, but they are. But they've come in late, and they want to know what's going on!
Even I don't know what's going on, Beta muttered.
It only matters that the Great One doesn't know what's going on, Alpha muttered back.
Beta waved a tentacle. Well, bring them up to date, then. If you can.
Of course I can, Beta. I have been paying attention.
Beta shrugged his gargantuan shoulders and moved his head in a way that he had picked up from a late night of Teleinvisichronomicon watching, as his lips moved silently.
But Alpha had one tentacle over his eyes as he attempted to explain things to the University students.
We are running two time/space streams, he said. In one, on Earth A, let us call it, the humans get their entertainment from small versions of the Teleinvisichronomicon called a television. Our test subjects are two actors in a TV program called NCIS…yes, yes, we are running two subjects simultaneously….yes, yes, that means we are running four subjects altogether…yes, the Teleinvisichronomicon is new and improved…. do you want me to explain this to you or not? Fine, so where was I? Oh, yes. So, from Earth A, we have taken the actors Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly, and transported them into the Teleinvisichronomicon which projects the events of Earth B, in which this NCIS television show is actually their real life. Now, Cote de Pablo does not know that Michael Weatherly is with her in this alternate reality. And Michael Weatherly does not know that Cote de Pablo is with him. They each think the other is the real counterpart of this program.
Alpha took a deep breath. Now, on Earth A, Ziva David and Tony DiNozzo have been transported into the bodies of their actor counterparts, De Pablo and Weatherly. David, however, believes that Tony DiNozzo has not been transported, and that she is actually dealing with the actor, Michael Weatherly. Tony DiNozzo, on the other tentacle, does believe that Ziva is Ziva.
Beta heard more squawking from the communicationotron. Alpha put another tentacle over his eyes and rocked his head from side to side. Yes, I know it would be more amusing if DiNozzo thought that Ziva David was this actress Cote de Pablo, but that's just not the way it worked out. We aren't doing this for gagoskusos (English translation, Kicks and giggles) you know. This is a serious study!
More squawking.
Right, well, now you know what's going on. But don't tell anyone else, and don't feed this transmission to anyone else, either! This is just between us, right? Right. Very good.
Alpha pressed a button on the communicationotron and then returned it to its proper place. Then he looked back up at the two screens.
College students, he said disparagingly.
I thought we were doing it for gagoskusos, commented Beta.
All of Alpha's eyestalks swiveled to glare at Beta. I wonder about you sometimes, Beta. We are doing it for gagoskusos, yes, but we don't tell college students that! That's just between you and me!
All right, all right.
All right then. So okay, what did I miss?
And their eyestalks swiveled back to the Teleinvisichronomicon.