The young black man casually walks in the door to the Oval Office and shuts it with discretion. He walks over to the windows behind the President's desk and peeks through the shades. He breathes hard and gives the President a concerned look.
"I know that look Peterson, what's the problem?" asks the President.
"Sir I would have to strongly advise against this. I mean this incident just proves that this city is no longer safe. With the tensions rising between us and the Maples, I just don't know." says Peterson.
President Chavez just smirks as he finishes squaring away his briefcase "I think your more worried about taking a bullet than I am. But I keep forgetting that it is your job to take a bullet for me. But needless to say this event has me more than little curious. Hundreds of people saying they saw me downtown earlier today in the middle of a shoot out and supposed video evidence of the cops hauling a younger looking version of me off to the police station has my interest more than a little piqued. I gotta find out who the cops are holding down there."
Peterson sighs hard "Ok, but you'll be flanked by double the amount of agents, that place is bound to be crawling with reporters and God knows who else. Your putting yourself in a high risk situation here Mr. President, we just can't take a chance."
"Take a chance of what Agent Peterson?" asks another voice coming from the front door of the office.
Standing just inside the door is Gabrielle Chavez, wife to the President and First Lady to the country. Gabrielle was a vision of loveliness that had many a man spellbound. Despite her being a woman in her late forties, her appearance gave no hint of her true age. Her golden tan skin, long raven black hair, almond shaped cat's eyes, and full lips sent men into fits of desire. She stood at about five foot eight in height, slim figure and had long curvaceous legs. Needless to say she was bursting with feminine wiles and was every bit the description of an exotic beauty.
Peterson let out a nervous chuckle "Mrs. Chavez, didn't see you there."
Gabrielle walks into the room and shuts the door, she than strides over to the older Jason and crosses her arms "What's going on?"
Jason looks at Gabrielle and swallows hard. He knows his wife is a very strong willed woman and could be quite the fiery type as was the reputation of most Hispanic women, he puts his tongue into his cheek and smiles "Nothing you need to concern yourself with my dear. I'm just going to check something out down at the police station, nothing to worry about."
"Are you crazy, Jason did you see what just happened. There was a shootout downtown with someone the news is saying looks like you. Why in the world would you go down there?' says Gabrielle.
Jason gets up from his desk and begins to walk towards the door "Look I don't have time to explain myself to you Gabby! I'm doing what I have to do, okay."
"Well than I'm coming with you." she says she begins to walk over to him.
"Out of the question, your staying here!" Jason says.
"Dammit, Jay look at me, I'm your wife and I'm scared for you. In case you haven't figured it out I love you, I wanna be with you now! It's like we hardly ever talk or see each other anymore!" she yells.
"Look this has nothing to do with us, I don't wanna get into this right now. I gotta go, Peterson." says Jason as he turns to head out the door.
Gabrielle grabs his arm and looks into his eyes, than leans in and kisses him gently on the lips "Be careful mi amor."
Jason's heart flutters for a moment as he had almost forgotten the sweet taste of his wife's lips, the smell of her perfume and her kind and loving eyes. One part of him just wanted to take her in his arms, but the other part…the hardened and stoic soldier, would not let his feelings get in the way of his duty. He reluctantly breaks his gaze and turns to walk out the door "Let's go Peterson."
A moment later, both Peterson and the President are out of the office leaving Gabrielle alone. She breathes hard through her nose and walks over to the front desk. Picking up one of the many photographs on the counter she looks at a snapshot of her and Jason when they were younger, sharing an innocent kiss at a picnic. Angrily she places the picture facing downwards down on the counter top, a single tear dripping from her eye…
Sergeant Douglass sits backwards in a wooden chair with his arms folded across the back. He slightly rocks back and forth in a state of deep thought. He has just been told a story that is nothing short of fantastic by the two detainees he has been interviewing. Several moments pass by without anyone uttering so much as a word. Finally the Sergeant lets out an exasperated smirk and looks back up to the Professor.
"You do realize the situation you've put yourselves in." says Douglass.
"Sir believe me I know the difficulty in accepting the explanation we've just presented to you." says Maria.
"But we assure you it is the truth." says the Professor.
"Parallel dimensions, it's uh…different to say the least. If that's the story your gonna be presenting to the judge, there's one of two things that'll happen to you. One is you'll be laughed right out of court, the other is you'll be committed." says Douglass.
Maria just shakes her head in annoyance as she looks at Arturo "I knew this was a waste of time, we should've known he wouldn't believe us."
"Now I didn't say that. Look I like to think of myself as pretty open minded guy. But even for somebody with an open mind, something like that is going way beyond open acceptance, it's lunacy. So I suppose your telling me that the other guy, the one you came with, the one who looks like the President…he's some kind of other worldly alien as well?" asks Douglass.
Arturo slams his open palm on the table "Sir if you at all listened to the story we just told you, you'd know we are…"
Maria blatantly cuts him off " Calm down Professor, let me handle this. Sergeant you can clearly see we are as much Earth people as you are. Try to think of it like this, we come from the very same planet you do, we are simply from another dimension. Here let me try to explain…"
The doctor reaches into her pocket and pulls out a Rubik's cube "I usually have one of these on me, still can't figure the damn thing out, but I'm an Astro-Physicist, go figure."
Both Douglass and Arturo give her impatient stares and she immediately gets to the point "Anyway, looking at this Rubik's cube from the front you can only see the front face. Yet when you turn it over, suddenly it becomes clear that there are many sides that can only be perceived through certain angles. That's the way parallel universes essentially work, the world you see and perceive around you, this world, is only the front face of the Rubik's cube. Existing in parallel are many more dimensions to the cube, therefore the entirety of the cube is the what is referred to as the Mutli-Verse. You see Sergeant, myself, the Professor and my cousin are simply from another side of the cube."
Arturo begins to clap lightly "Very well put Miss Chavez."
Douglass raises an eyebrow "Ok, let's say for the sake of argument that all this true, that you come from some other universe. I remember you saying something about exact twins living in these other dimensions or whatever you call them. Tell me why that fellow in the next room, your cousin, is so much younger than the President who is supposed to be his duplicate in this universe."
Arturo grins slightly "Well I can see you were paying some attention Sergeant. In Theoretical Physics there is as concept known as Relativistic Time Dilation first put forward by a man named Herbert Van Meir. He postulated that there were some universes within the Multi-Verse that contained Earth's, which spun on their axis at different speeds and rates of time. Apparently this Earth proves this theory. Obviously your Earth is spinning on it's axis at about the double the rate that ours does, which would explain the different ages of the Colonel's and Miss Chavez's doubles."
Douglass merely shakes his head in clear indication that what the Professor has just said has gone over his head "I think I got the Rubik's cube analogy a little bit better. I'll be back, I need some coffee." says the Sergeant as he hurriedly leaves the room.
Arturo looks at Maria and nods "I think he got the whole jist, aye?"
Meanwhile just outside the door Douglass is rubbing his temples as another policeman walks up to him "So you getting anywhere with those two Sergeant?"
"My head is spinning from everything I just heard. Can I ask you something, have you ever heard of parallel universes?" asks Douglass.
A polished and sleek all black Sedan pulls into the parking spots just to the side of the San Francisco Police Department. Inside are two men dressed in plain street clothes and wearing dark sunglasses. The driver cuts the engine and breathes hard.
President Chavez takes off his sunglasses and looks to Peterson in the driver's seat. He is dressed in black loose fitting jeans, a knit top and a black jean jacket "Peterson, relax…everything's gonna be fine."
Peterson who is dressed in similar plain clothes looks back to the President "You know how many violations we're breaking now. I mean just being here is under proper protocol. Sir I don't know why you wouldn't agree to other agents being present."
"To many people around will just give off suspicion . I'm trying to stay low key here, not be recognized. That wasn't likely to happen with a bunch of secret service hovering around me. Now stay cool and calm, hey I brought you didn't I?" says the President.
The two men exit the vehicle and casually walk through the front door of the police station, with the President in the lead. The pair walk right up to the front desk and Jason motions for Peterson to stay behind him. He leans over the counter and looks down at the officer sitting there.
"Can I help you sir?" asks the officer.
"Yea uh, you guys brought in somebody not to long ago. Tall guy about six two, black hair, tan skin. He was involved in a shootout downtown, I was wondering if I could talk to him." asks the President.
"I'm sorry sir, but anyone whose mandated to police custody…"
The young officer is abruptly cut off by one of the policemen that was interrogating the younger Jason "Hold on Corporal, I'll handle this. Might I ask you just what business you have the suspect mister?"
The President just smiles "Well I kind of have this fascination with people who look exactly like me." he says as he removes his sunglasses to reveal his bright hazel eyes.
Peterson walks up beside the President and flashes his Secret Service badge "For your own security I suggest you not ask anymore questions officer and just do what the man asks."
The young corporal comically stands up and salutes, spilling his coffee in the process "It's you, it's really you."
The interrogation officer just stands with his mouth agape "Mr. President, sir forgive me, I didn't realize it was you."
"That's ok officer, but how about that man, can I see him or not." says President Chavez.
"Certainly Sir, right this way." says the officer as he leads the President and Peterson to the room where Jason is being held. "Mr. President I don't know if you would wanna go in there sir, it might be a shock to your system."
Jason just narrows his eyes a bit "On the contrary, I would very much enjoy meeting myself."