Sheldon Swifties LIX: "The X-Advisors…"
Summary: Like my Immortal Beloved bits in my Buffyverse stories, these are fragments and short bits, some longer…Just to fiddle with ideas, possibly forming longer tales later.
Disclaimer: All is Chuck's…
[Note-delayed for a while on this one due to life and other stories but will try to continue on…RG]
Part XXXI…
Penny shaking…The world literally in jello beneath her feet…
"It's only transitory…It will pass." Dr. Francis' voice reached her. She tried to look, vaguely seeing forms. Then suddenly…
Wham!
"Ohhh." She groaned, picking herself up. In a field, a muddy one near a dirt track. A train whistle off in the distance.
She looked to see Xavier Francis, or at least, his twin, rising carefully from the field, about six feet from her.
"Where are we?"
"The more important question is, when." Francis noted. "Yes." He looked about. "Susan's deceived me. It's wrong…This isn't…"
"You…" she glared, charging at him, knocking him to the ground. "You did this! You! And that bitch!"
She found a brick on the ground and raised it… Fury in her face.
"Tell me…" she insisted.
"Yes." He nodded. "Penny, everyone you knew is dead."
She slammed the brick down on him, he trying to block…Groaning. She lifted again.
"Tell me where we are, when…And I'll make it quick!" she cried. "Cause I can bash your face, chest, every part of you all day long!"
"If you kill me…There's no chance to restore what's gone. Stein should have come with you. The coward."
"He couldn't, he didn't have enough power, he said."
Francis, bleeding heavily, but amused… "He thought you'd be more persuasive?" smile.
"He can't kill his own daughter. I guess." Cold glare, shrug at end. "Tell me quick, how? How can you restore things?"
"Time's not written yet, that gives us…You…A chance." He looked up at her. "The chance I should have had, in 1955."
"She cheated you." Penny eyed him as he tried to feel the gash her brick had left. She remaining on top of him, brick poised at the ready.
"Probably. She may have had no alternative after you appeared in the lab."
"Me…" pause. "The other me, the real me…"
"Original, for that universe…Yes, she died too." Francis nodded. "As did I and Susan and everyone in that world."
"And she cheated you…" stare, harsh laugh. "Almost makes me wanna let you live…"
"Only for a few months or a year or two if I get lucky and synthesize some drugs that don't exist." He smiled faintly. "But I wasn't lying, Penny. You can still restore what your alternate lost."
"So that's it. You were dying." She eyed him, still holding brick over his skull. "You were dying so it was ok to kill everyone to get what you wanted…Revenge on your old friend."
"In part…" he shrugged. "But mostly to save the woman I loved from at least a terrible waste."
"He was trying…" she began.
"I know what Francis Stein was 'trying' to do." Dr. Francis, coldly. "And I know who Susan is."
"He didn't betray you! She wasn't…"
"He killed Margaret. Do you think I care that he donated her some sperm? He killed her."
"And you killed everyone else…Or helped her to do it."
"It was necessary…Ohhh!" as the brick smashed his hand.
"Broken, I hope?" she eyed him.
"Yes, quite…" he nodded, hand on ground.
"I'm giving you five minutes. Tell me how I can restore my world and where and when we are."
"The first is complicated, the rest easy. We're at the University of Texas, Austin, and it's about the day Susan and Sheldon met, though I'd guess she allowed a few days to prepare." He noted calmly.
"How do I go home?"
"My dear." He sighed. "You're not a physicist but you already know you can't go home. This reality is your home, now."
"You said…" she murmured, calmly cold.
"I said you could restore your world. But you can't go back to it. You're a part of this world now. As am I. For however long you live…And I am sorry that you may live a very long time…This is your world. It's the nature of the beast, quantum teleportation through Time and Space."
She stared…Trembling.
"How? How do I restore my world? For that Penny?"
He sighed, then smiled. "I think you can guess…"
"Kill that bitch and never let her do…What she did…" she nods. "But you and she destroyed our world…My copy's world, I guess."
"You're getting the basics…" he smiled. "But the multiverse is fluid, dear. We can't change our personal destiny now, but we can see to it your world comes to be, one of an infinite series…But not guaranteed."
"I don't…See…"
"Think of it this way…" Francis, in the persuasive voice of a lecturer well accustomed to talking down to endless classes of undergraduates, yet still eager to impart his knowledge. "The multiple universes are infinite but what we did, just now, increased the probability that our universe will not be one of them. However, the multiverse doesn't like that, it prefers all possibilities remain open. And we are in a position before the chain of events is set. Ergo, we can see that that world is restored, though neither of us, especially me, will probably live to see it so or at least can resume our old lives. But you will be born, you will live to meet Leonard and your friends, all that happened will…And if we prevent what happened in our present…That world will go on."
She blinked.
"Ok, fine." She shrugged. "I've no way to prove you're lying except by going into town…Austin?"
"Austin." Nod. "And see if it is Austin and it is the right year, as I've said."
She sighed. "Ok, get up." She rose, allowing him to rise.
"Arggh…!" he cried as she struck him in the leg.
Groaning again as she hit again. He fell.
"Is it broken?" she asked. He looked up, nodding.
"Good, then you can't run." Nod. "Come on, I'll help you." She helped him to his feet, he, groaning again.
"Where's she at?" she looked about.
"She probably arranged to arrive at a different point, though not too far from the focal point. You actually threw us both off, jumping in as you did, though."
"I'm to blame?" Cool eyeing.
"Of course not. But if all had gone as I had planned, Susan would not have ended up here, but in my chosen time and place. And I would have ended her and restored your universe immediately."
"You were gonna betray her, too?"
"Yes." Calm smile. "I'd expected our alliance was on shaky ground, though she was careful to leave no sign of it. She might still have gotten the better of me, but I think I'd've had a good chance with the precautions I'd taken. You forced us both to rush things."
"Both of you, bat shit crazy."
"I suppose it must appear so." he smiled.
"I never wanted anyone to die, doctor. But now I'm glad to know you will, and believe me, she will. It erks me that you two have made me into someone who wants that." She eyed him.
"Yes, as Stein did me." He nodded.
"I can't go back. I'll never marry Leonard or be Amy's friend or Sheldon's or Howard's or Bernadette's. Or be with my dad or my family…I'm going to die here, alone." She eyed him, not questioning it, staring at him. He regarding her.
"Come on, before I think of what you've done to me and kill you right here." She told him. "And don't ever mention what Dr. Stein did to you or I'll break your jaw. He tried to help your wife, he screwed it a bit, and you outdid Hitler as a killer in recompense."
Francis, considering speaking, held back.
"Come on, lets go see Austin." She noted. "Thank God it's not 1955, we probably can pass."
Broken hand, broken leg…I still won't trust you as far as I can toss you, Doctor, she thought. But I have an ace in the hole. Someone who might be able to tell me how much of what you've said is true.
Always did wanna meet young Sheldon…He looks so cute in his photos.
"Lets go, Grampa. We need to get some help for you." She hissed. "And if you try to slip away or deny I'm your granddaughter, I'll see not only you dead but the man you are now."
…
Tap…
Tap…
Knock…
"Mr. Cooper?" the voice of a twenty-some years younger Francis Stein, kindly inquiring tone.
Hard knock…
Repeated and intensifying…
"Cooper." Stern tone. "I'm fully aware you're in there, open up immediately or I will call the Campus Police and report a potential suicide."
Mutterings from within the small apartment in the just-off-campus older but pleasant home…
"Yes? Dr. Stein." Twelve-year old Sheldon staring out at the man standing sternly in his doorway.
"About time, Cooper." Grim tone. "Well?"
"Well, Doctor? Since you are intruding on my personal space." The short figure staring up, arms crossed, dressed in plaid shirt with bow tie.
"You've been unheard from for several days, Mr. Cooper. Missed class and did not respond to phone calls. As your advisor, I felt it my duty to check on you."
"Admirable. Thank you, sir." Starts to close door, stopped by sudden insertion of foot, and kicking open of door.
"Dr. Stein?!"
"Sheldon." Grim tone. "I did not leave my office in the middle of the day and numerous desperate students seeking to withdraw from my classes or receive divine guidance on their theses or career plans to have a 12 year old slam a door in my face."
"Sorry, I thought you'd accomplished your task and were ready to leave."
"Efficient but rude. And not fully thought through, Cooper. You could be cited for this behavior, even expelled…Or at least be ordered to the infirmary as a potential risk to yourself."
"That's ridiculous. Clearly I'm in perfect health. If however I was outside social convention for the University and rude per se, I apologize. Are we done?"
"No. We most certainly are not." Stein frowned. "Why have you missed class and stayed here, if you have stayed here these past days?"
"By my reckoning…Which I am sure is correct…According to my university schedule, I've only missed one class of each of the four courses involved. Which is to say I now have fallen from a perfect attendance to about 97.5% for each. Which puts me well above the class median as well as mean for attendance." Sheldon noted. "Therefore, I see no reason for concern."
"A student of your level has a reason for missing three school days." Stein, firmly. "And I have it on good authority from the house manager that you haven't left this apartment for at least five days."
"Given I don't attend social events or participate in sports or other extracurricular activities…"
"Enough!" Stein frowned. "I want an answer, son. What's the trouble?"
"I simply need several days to work on a problem…I've kept up with the classwork via the books and transcriptions of lecture notes I purchased."
"I see…" Stein eyed him. "No trouble at home?"
"Certainly not…"
Sigh…
"Cooper. I realize I am not Emmet Brown, but I am and will be your advisor while you're completing your doctorate…"
"And I appreciate that, Doctor. I believe I've made all my required appointments for thesis discussion and course approval."
"You have…And refreshingly quick meetings they were." Stein, dryly.
"I believe I summarized all topics concisely. At the time, you said you were impressed by my quick grasp of all such. I did express my appreciation for your comments on my thesis being new and creative."
"You did. Sheldon, what is the problem you've been working on?"
"It's not in my regular field…" young Sheldon paused.
"By any chance does it concern…Biology?" Stein eyed him.
Sheldon, blinking… "How did you know?"
"I was twelve going on thirteen once and a genius physicist and mathematician." Stein noted.
"It's naught to do with the sordid, doctor."
"Impressive. Your vocabulary is always so. Rather an escape from your background, eh? I don't imagine 'naught' creeps up frequently in East Texas."
"I don't see anything wrong with using a wide vocabulary."
"Nothing at all. But it can put some people off, suggesting you consider yourself superior."
Sheldon eying Stein…
"Yes, so we are…On some levels, Cooper. But in the matter of the whole soul? I would say we fail, both of us…Perhaps me doing a bit better these days, thanks to experience and friends…In many aspects."
"I see. I'll consider that when I've resolved my problem. Thank you, Dr. Stein."
"If that is meant as a dismissal or a rather rude invitation to leave, I have no intention of going. May I have a look around the place?"
"That hardly seems right…Do you have a search warrant?"
"Would you like to spend the night at the infirmary and then be subjected to the university psychiatrist, a man not even worthy of that pseudo-scientific label?"
Sheldon, sour look… "Very well, please come in and have a seat."
"Thank you. Most gracious."
"The social convention is to offer a beverage." Sheldon noted. "Being British, I assume you'd like tea?"
"At times, yes…That'll do today. Thanks." Stein, taking seat on the sofa in the middle of the room, Sheldon entering the kitchenette.
"Very nice place. Mine at Princeton was more of a dog kennel. Though that was the only single person room situation available and like you, I felt an acute need for personal space." As Sheldon set a filled tea kettle on stove.
"Indeed." He had returned, moving to a chair whose position he carefully adjusted…One likes to have one's seat properly ventilated and aligned with the rest of the room, he noted, a nod from Stein, as he took seat. "Then you ought to understand why I might need a few days peace to focus on a problem."
"I do, to an extent." Stein nodded.
"Since we are making this a social event, may I complement you on your new paper in "Theoretical Physics"? It's excellent, I just finished reading it Friday."
"High praise and I mean that, thank you, Cooper." Nod.
"Your sidekick, the experimental physicist, seems a useful helpmate to you. I've speculated that I might someday wish to hook up with one to do a few mundane experiments for me."
"Xavier is brilliant in his own way…Though between us, I do think the hands on stuff could be done by undergraduates or the janitorial staff, as I've often told him." Smile. "But he likes to 'build the theory into reality…' or so he says."
"Practically an engineer, if you ask me…" Sheldon shrugged. "But he does seem to have some grasp of theory."
"I've given up trying to persuade him that he's wasting his life…" shrug.
"Now, son…If it's not, as you say 'the sordid side' of Biology…Given that for us, all of it is, really."
Mutual smile…
"Excepting perhaps…Biophysics…There is some hope there." Stein noted. "Maggie Fowler-Horowitz being quite the genius Queen there."
"Isn't she largely a Physiological Psychologist?" Sheldon frowned. "Not to be rude…"
"Yes, but she's expanded her work into a quantum view of the neural network, fascinating, really."
"I'll have to acquaint myself with it. Thank you, doctor. Let me get the tea." Sheldon rose.
"So…Not girls." Stein, jumping to the heart of the matter. "Yet a biological problem, interesting…?"
"Oh?" Sheldon, returning from kitchenette, bearing tray on which sat tea kettle, cups, sugar bowl, creamer. Stein rising to help him carry it to a small table by the couch.
"Yes. When I was your age, my parents had died…And I became a secret devotee of the Boris Karloff 'Frankenstein' films…Especially 'Bride of Frankenstein'. I liked the play on my name of course but also I was rather taken with the notion that one might be able to restore the dead to the living world."
"By sewing cadavers together and frying them with lightening?" Sheldon stared, pausing in mid-sip of tea.
"Oh, I took all that as nonsense…It was Praetorius' cloned brain that fascinated me. He actually got it right, that old madman. And so I studied cloning for a bit. I hoped to find a way, a scientific way, to bring my parents back. Particularly my mother." Stein eyed Sheldon. "After all, human cloning wasn't illegal, if it was considered impossible then. But I realized, even if I succeeded, the clones would not be, in fact, my parents. Even if a way could have been found to restore the lost memories from their cadaver brains."
Sheldon, blinking…
I had considered offering cookies, but "cadaver brains" pretty much killed that notion.
"I see…But…"
"Your father died last year. Dr. Brown passed away a month ago." Stein eyed him. "Have you been considering a way to bring them back?"
"Not by cloning or 'cadaver brain memory extraction'." Sheldon noted. "Or by any means known, it's not possible."
"Some might say otherwise…The religious…"
"Idiots. Well, perhaps not 'idiots', merely poorly educated and ignorant." Sheldon, firmly. "My mother's one of them but she's not so foolish as to think Daddy…My father…Is going to appear before her one day, though she has some hope of seeing him in Heaven. I don't like to dismiss her ignorant notions so long as they comfort her."
"I heard you say 'by any means known'?" Stein eyed him, slight smile. "It is true that in an infinite multiverse, all things are potentially possible, you know."
"Potentially. Not really."
"And you've been spending time proving that…" Stein nodded. Sheldon following his glance to his chalkboard.
"I appreciate that you've included my equations on quantum teleportation…" Stein smiled.
"It's a possible way to cross the multiverses as you speculate but…"
"A way to find people you loved, alive somewhere else. I've considered that myself, Sheldon." Sipping at his tea.
"An interesting theoretical problem on multiverse theory, nothing more. I'm considering the ramifications on string structure."
"I see. Does that mean you'll be returning to class?"
"I never intended to miss more than one each. As I said, I needed time to consider my problem." Calm stare.
"Yes. And did you reach a conclusion? Apart from the 'not really'?"
"The idea could be applied, one day…In wormhole theory…But the power requirements are utterly unrealistic. As your paper suggests." Sheldon, shrugging.
"But it would be interesting to try…If one could?" smile.
"I doubt one would find anything new in the multiverses one could cross to in one lifetime, let alone a single jump." Sheldon shook head.
"I'm sorry…But you should consider continuing to work the problem. Perhaps one day someone like Xavier Francis would take an interest on the applied side."
"I have a thesis to concentrate on. And a Nobel to win in time." Sheldon noted. "No time to waste more time on the impractical…" slight sigh at Stein's smile.
"Yes, I suppose the world considers all we do, impractical." Shrug.
"They pretend to, fearing that not understanding it diminishes them somehow. Which is foolish. Like great Art, great Physics isn't needed to be the province of all to create, just to appreciate its beauty is enough."
"I suppose." Sip of tea.
"Sheldon, I want you to come to dinner on Friday. My daughter is in town so there'll be someone about your age there."
"At your home? I don't think…"
"At my home. Why not? We could discuss this problem of yours in more detail and it will look better on any report I'm asked to make on your last few days. Yes, I will be asked. The university is very interested in you but also very concerned lest the public feel a young boy is being exploited or abused. They'll want a report. So it's in your own best interests academically and politically…In the University sense…to come and show there's nothing for them to be concerned about."
Frown by Sheldon…Sigh. "If it will avoid any more concerns on anyone's part…"
"It will. Good." Stein set down cup. "This has been a most pleasant and interesting visit, Mr. Cooper. I'll see you in my class tomorrow."
"Yes, Dr. Stein."
"And at my house, on Friday, at seven."
Pause, sigh… "Very well, thank you."
"Sheldon, again…" Stein paused at the door. "I'm not Emmet Brown. But I may understand you better than you think right now. I hope to know you better. I think I know you pretty well already, in some ways. Good afternoon."
"Doctor." Nod.
…
"There you are…" Amy breathed, peering carefully through the window in front of her, keeping just off to the side…Adult Amy, in the clothes she'd worn in Kripke's office.
"So I am…I wasn't sure if this was the day Dr. Stein first came to see me…" Adult Sheldon noted.
"Nice. Any chance we can try and find a way home now?" Kripke fumed a bit. "I was not supposed to be included in this wittle excuwrsion, Cooper."
…