Chapter 31: Too Much Theta
As usual when you were hiding in an underground bunker and wanted to know what was going on in the world, you turned to the BBC. Here was the news at the top of the hour:
"The confrontation between Emperor Norton II and the renegade faction known as 'The Company' enters its second straight day, with the Emperor's army of automatons in that rocket prevented from taking off by a constant missile barrage. Updates on the standoff will be reported when they occur.
"In related news, the alleged ringleader of the 'Rescue Ranger Rebellion', Carolyn Maughlarde, has challenged Empress Francine to a debate on the legality of the very law for which she is being held. The debate will be held tomorrow at..." There was more, but Laurel tuned it out.
She was busy with the Dimensional Controller, the device that set the destination for both the Dimensional Viewer and the Dimensional Switcher. Nimnul had created personalized tracking devices for hunting down the Rescue Rangers' counterparts based on the Viewer. The particular device used to hunt down Monterey Jack's counterpart was never returned to the Emperor, and a reverse-engineered circuit diagram had appeared on the Wired a few days later. Laurel had a printout of this diagram and had heavily annotated it before she had come anywhere near the bunker. With its help, an electrical meter and colored tape, she was able to decipher operation of the Dimensional Controller in record time. Once this was complete, she started replacing the knobs of the device, in an order that made more sense to her than the one used by Nimnul. She then got out some resistors and made some modifications: the Theta control did not go far enough in the positive direction for her tastes, and the Omega control was too wonky and needed a finer grain.
"Hey Laurel, guess who I look like?"
Laurel looked up to see Lou, his hand on the spark generator. What little hair he had was sticking up in all directions.
"If only you had the brains to go with the Emperor Albert look..." replied Laurel with a grin.
Lou chuckled and removed his hand to pick up a small cage with a guinea pig in it. "I decided to pick up Buzz while I was getting dinner. Of course, just because I named him 'Buzz' doesn't mean that he's the real Buzz's counterpart. I mean, what are the odds?"
"Of course that's Buzz. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. It's how I maintain my sanity at night."
Laurel put the control back together. Like the original Dimensional Viewer, the control was made up of ten rotary dials. Instead of handlebars, there was a metallic panel. There were catches on the side of the panel to allow a small lab cage to be slid into place.
She reached over and flipped a switch that connected the Controller to the Viewer. She zeroed all the controls, and then placed her hand on the panel. She was disappointed to see only a dark mess of lines. She reached over with her free hand to make an adjustment, watching how the display changed in response.
"Well, the viewer seems to work, in a fashion," she told herself. "The question is: what's wrong?" A second subject wouldn't hurt. "Lou, you try placing your hand on that panel."
Lou placed his hand where he was told and the screen showed a shot of the back of his head, about a foot back.
"Interesting," she said. "It appears to be working for you but not for me, almost as if the scale...hold on, I got it." With a few adjustments, she was able to see herself properly. She then used her notes to set the controls to the Rescue Rangers universe. She replaced her hand on the plate, to see Lahwhinie standing on a beach at night, her hands on her hips. Far out at sea, Shaka-Baka was trying to surf in near-total darkness. Laurel nodded in satisfaction.
Lou glanced back and forth between the display and Laurel. "Well, one of the great questions has finally been answered, or near enough. I've seen lots of fanart of human Gadgets, and nobody drew anything like you."
Laurel shrugged and removed her hand from the panel. "You want a try?"
"No-no-no-no. Human's good enough for me. Try Sparky instead."
Laurel picked up a nearby cage with Sparky in it and slit it over the pad. The scene on the Viewer changed to show the cartoon Sparky talking to Buzz. She switched cages with Lou, and got the other end of the same conversation.
"See, what did I tell you?" Laurel handed the two cages to Lou and picked up one of the sandwiches he had brought from the store. "Why don't you play with them for a bit? I've got a few things to work out here."
"Oh, sure thing."
When Laurel was sure Lou was no longer in sight of the Viewer, she reset the controls, then turned the Theta control to its new maximum setting and lightly brushed her finger across the plate. For that instant, her face was bathed in a deep red glow the color of blood.
It took a few moments before her heart resumed beating. "Too much Theta," she gasped.
