The view of the mountain was spectacular: the wooden picnic tables outside the wooden cabin restaurant were set up on a large balcony with white floors and a white boundary fence running its length, and looked down over a thick green forest of pine trees, with gentle white frost gathering at their tops and bases. Massive snow-covered mountains rose up in the far distance above them, and sometimes, the sight of a small brown fox could be seen carefully exploring around the trunks of the trees. The chirps of birds could be heard nearby.
A wind blew, chilling the four: Mrs. Mallory was wearing a green winter jacket and pants with a hood covering her hair, and matching green boots. Mallory sat across from her in blue, but the hood covering his head was lined with brown fur, and his boots were black. Next to him, with her furry hood completely covering all but her eyes, and an all pink winter jacket with white sneakers, Diana looked like a gigantic piece of candy that had escaped the box. And finally, Quinn sat next to his mom in an all yellow getup, with face out peeking out of his furry hood, along with black shoes. His face was covered in white bandages, allowing only a look at his eyes, but the colors were mismatched: his right eye was lined by fair skin significantly brighter than the left, like snow and vanilla.
A hot dog and french fries sat in front of Mallory, still smoking hot from the restaurant. He reached down to take another steaming bite of the ketchup, mustard, and relish-laden dog, causing more steam to rise from the side. Mrs. Mallory took alternating bites of her strawberry oatmeal, as well as her fruit bowl filled with slices of apple, bananas, guavas, mangoes, grapes, and strawberries, while Quinn snaked a few fruits here and there. He himself was working on his turkey club sandwiches and chocolate ice cream, and only lost one of the former to a quick hand from Mallory.
Diana sat in front of her chicken salad, where the meat had started to cool next to the cold lettuce and the frigid atmosphere, but hadn't yet started. Looking to Mallory, her muffled voice spoke out from the tight hood, completely unintelligible. Mrs. Mallory pointed to her hood with a gentle smile, so Diana reluctantly opened it a bit more, but immediately shivered. "How are you feeling, Mallory?" she repeated.
Mallory looked satisfied as he took another bite. "Like I just graduated high school, opened my backpack, and dumped all the books out," he started, then looked to Quinn with a wry smile. "No offense," he continued, to which Quinn offered a hidden smile back. "None taken, bro," he answered. Along with his natural skin color emerging around his left eye, he was looking significantly smaller and less puffy than when he was just separated from Mallory; Anna was right.
With a nod, Diana turned to their other new companion. "How about you, Mrs. Mall..." she started, then cut herself off, looking at Mallory in embarrassment. He put his arms on the table and lay his head upon them in mock defeat. Mrs. Mallory tittered in response with a wide smile.
As Mallory raised his head to return to his hot dog, Quinn spoke up. "What do you think we should do about this, bro?" he said. "Or Mallory?" he added in a more inquisitive tone. Mallory shrugged his shoulders. "It's ok, I'm used to it," he answered, then smiled haughtily. "But if you wanted me to carry on the family name, all you had to do was ask, man," he added. Quinn and his mom laughed in return, and Diana put her hands over her covered mouth in slight shock, then tightened her hood.
He continued on, taking point. "Let's just get this out of the way, ok?" he said, then took turns pointing to everyone. "Mallory, Diana, Quinn, and..." he finished, pointing to Mrs. Mallory, "...Big Sis." She smiled and shook her head in disbelief. "Oh come now, Mallory," she protested, but he only raised his hands in mock surrender. "I'm not going any further than Auntie. How's that?" he suggested, holding a hand out. She took it and shook. "Agreed," she replied with another smile, then they all returned to their food.
A moment of silence passed with the slight wind blowing and a few birds chirping. There was a rustling from within the cabin restaurant as someone passed by the sliding glass door to clean up an out of sight table. Eventually, Diana untightened her hood, then spoke up. "I'm glad we got to that beach house on the last world," she offered.
Quinn nodded. "Yeah, being passed out all day was great," he started, then shook his head with a wince, "but it was too bad about all that... flaking," he finished.
Auntie put a gentle hand on his yellow coat sleeve. "I vacuumed as much as I could," she offered, then smiled. "You're really looking much better now, Quinn." He nodded, returned a hidden smile, then put another hand atop hers before looking between the other two. "Thanks everyone," he said softly. "I haven't been able to say much because of how wiped I was, but I wouldn't be here without any of you."
Diana nodded. "I'm responsible for what happened," she said. "It's the least I could do. And with Dr. Geiger gone, and Mallory safe, I think we're one step closer to fixing this mess." Auntie looked to her, hand still on Quinn's arm. "And that man's really gone?" she asked in slight worry.
Without pause, Mallory jumped in. "He was shot down by some people he trapped in that hell universe he created," he remembered. "Right before we got our home coordinates." Quinn took the timer from his pocket, then turned it over in his hands, before Diana spoke again. "He did so much harm to you and Mallory," Diana added with guilt in her voice. "But he did try to make it right in the end. Any of us can go home at any time."
Quinn nodded, looked to Mallory and Diana, then held the timer out to them. "If you want to go home, I understand," he said. The other two looked to one another as he continued. "You said I made this thing, right? When I was in control of Mallory?" he asked in confirmation. Diana nodded. "Then I'll be able to figure it out eventually. If mom goes somewhere safe with you three, I can go on ahead, quick and quiet. You three can..."
Mallory put the last bite of his hot dog in his mouth, then gently reached a hand across the table to push the timer back to Quinn. "Remmy and Maggie are our friends too," he said, mouth full of dog, "so forget it." Diana nodded once in strong confirmation, then smiled. Auntie reached her hands across to take Diana and Mallory's, then nodded with a smile as well. Quinn returned the gesture. "Thank you," he said simply, then took another look at the device.
After a few seconds of silent thinking, he looked up. "So we can go back to Mom's earth," he started, but his mom shook her head. "Not with the Kromaggs still there," she answered, to which Quinn nodded in agreement. "We can go back to the Seer's world you guys told me about," he continued.
Mallory raised his eyebrows. "Anytime we need backrubs," he added. Quinn and Diana looked to him in complete seriousness. "Agreed," they said in unison. Auntie chuckled.
"Or we can take you two back to your world, and see if we can use the equipment there," Quinn continued. Mallory looked to Diana. "You think the gun boys have calmed down by now?" he asked. Diana shrugged. "Probably," she offered, "but Dr. Geiger said he couldn't separate you from Mallory before he died, and the equipment back home is a year older than the energy gun he used on that hell world."
Quinn took a silent, cleansing breath, frowning. It came out louder than he expected in the cold air, causing the others to quiet and watch him. He shook his head. "Everything's still a mess," he said quietly. His mom put her hand back on his arm. "Wade's still a captive of the Kromaggs, if she wasn't killed destroying that modified Manta you two talked about. Colin is..." he continued, then looked up to Diana.
"Unstuck," she reminded him. "Endlessly sliding from world to world. It's been over a year since it started."
Quinn felt a lump in his throat, knowing he finally had to ask. "Is he alive?" he asked simply. Diana sucked her lips in and looked down at her salad. "I don't know," she admitted, then looked up. "But we have to believe so. Dr. Geiger was fine in the force field chamber, but it's entirely possible that being unstuck is a kind of stasis. He told me soon after I joined up with Remmy and Maggie that he saw many other versions of me, and when we saw him later in the hell world, he was still alive. He just looked a bit older. That suggests that Colin is likely still alive." She stopped, then spoke again. "I just don't know how to find him, yet," she said softly.
Taking a breath, Quinn nodded and continued. "What was the name of the device they used on my homeworld?" he asked. Mallory shared a look with Diana. "Vorble?" he asked, but she shook her head. "Variable? Venton?" she continued, but those didn't sound right either. "Vor..." Mallory started, then snapped his fingers. "Voraton," he finally got out, and Diana nodded in agreement before quickly shaking her head. "Complete ecological disaster," she remembered, looking to Quinn. "That's what Sergeant Larson said. If we head back to your homeworld, it's for information, not for that thing."
Quinn put his fingers to his chin in thought. "Which is fine, because Remmy and Maggie are on Earth with the anti-Kromagg virus, right?" he asked. Mallory nodded. "We can't know what happened," Quinn continued. "If we could just set the timer for a few minutes, sneak in, poke around a bit, then slide away immediately, we could be sure," he offered, then shook his head. "But we can't. Getting to Remmy needs to be our highest priority, but I'm not risking any of your lives until we can be sure about our chances there. And who knows what kind of effect the anti-Kromagg virus will have on me until my body's back to normal."
He nodded. "Give it a few days, then we'll return to the Seer's world, get inoculated, then return to mom's Earth," he suggested. Mallory knit his eyebrows together in thought. "So why don't we just slide back and forth between that beach world we were just on, then the Seer's world?" he suggested. "Since we're going to be heading back to Auntie's Earth in the end anyway, we might as well wait somewhere we know is safe."
"That's a great idea!" Auntie exclaimed to Mallory's smirking delight, but Quinn and Diana exchanged a questioning look. "Maybe," she offered in doubt. Quinn made a face. "What?" Mallory asked.
Quinn looked to him. "That is a good idea," he started, "but we don't know the effect of constantly sliding back and forth between the same place." He looked to Diana. "Review?" he asked, to which she nodded, then looked upwards from her pinched hood in thought.
"We were only returned to that garden after Wade sent us out of the modified Manta facility," she remembered. "But we weren't there very long either way. Then there was the Seer's world: we were only there for a few hours, but when the barrier kept us there, the timer read days more on the second countdown." Mallory smiled, satisfied. "See?" he asked, but Quinn shook his head. "Kromagg technology and a barrier... there's too many variables," he answered.
Diana made a face. "When I went back for Auntie," she remembered, "I only had a few hours to get her... but I only had a few hours on Root's world both times, anyway."
Quinn made a soft, discouraged groan, took a breath, put his hand to his mouth, then finally looked up, searching his memory. "Can't count Maggie's world because they set the time manually," he started. "Can't count Malcolm's new world, because they set the time for the first trip, so there's no randomization to compare it to. Can't count my and Maggie's bubble universe, because the timer just reset to the same number."
He stopped, nodding his head. "So the only real data we have is when Remmy, Colin, and I had to go back to get Maggie when her double stowed away on the slide," he remembered. "And the timer only gave us long enough to break through a door, swap them, then immediately leave.
"I dunno, guys," he spoke to everyone present. "This timer is just something I cobbled together in an emergency from spare parts, we can't control the time we spend anywhere, we need Diana's PDL to even input coordinates between the two, and the only real data we have is that returning to worlds might give us a random window, or it might get unmanageably smaller every time."
The others looked between one another before Diana spoke. "So we might end up getting a window of mere seconds after sliding back and forth too much..." she started, "which means it'll be impossible to have enough time to get the anti-Kromagg virus in our systems," Mallory finished. Quinn held up the timer. "Or burn out the system before even that happens," he added.
"Can we just go back to the Seer's world and make another timer?" Auntie asked. Quinn nodded, more in thought. "I think so, but I don't remember everything I did when I made this one," he answered, shaking the timer in his hand. He looked to Diana. "How long did you say it took to make this timer?" he asked. She looked him squarely in the eyes. "Days," she said simply.
Quinn exhaled in thought once more. "So if we do try to make another one, I would have to stay on the Seer's world for maybe a week or longer to figure out what I was doing," he started, "then someone would have to continuously slide back and forth between there and another world, not knowing how that would affect the timer's parts, or the window of opportunity." He finally looked to everyone again. "I say we just keep going forward. There's too many variables, we know this one works, and we won't need to slide too much before I'm back to normal. Besides, we might find something on the next world to help us find the others. Wade, Colin..."
He stopped, thinking silently. After a few seconds, he spoke. "The Professor..." he whispered quietly. The others exchanged glances, but said nothing.
The timer beeped, indicating it was almost time to go. The others finished their meals quickly, Mallory placed money on the table, and Quinn stood, with the others following. "But for now, there's only one way to go," he announced, pointing the timer towards an empty spot on the balcony and opening the swirling vortex and its rainbow-striped tunnel. Stowing the timer, he looked to the others with a hidden smile. "Randomly forward."
The vortex closed above, leaving the four standing in the middle of a wide prairie. The grass was short and somewhat sparse, not green enough to suggest lushness and life, but not dark or brown enough to merit calling the area a wasteland. The land spread for miles in every direction, and trees with light leaves were here and there all around them. There were mountains in the distance, the highest of which were barely covered in the lightest of snow. There were no towns in sight. The sun was angled in the sky, making it roughly late afternoon.
It wasn't hot, but the winter clothes they were wearing were starting to weigh the four down. Removing and carrying them, they were soon down to their undergarments. Mallory wore all black from his black T-shirt to his black pants and black boots, while Diana still had her white sneakers, but also had on tan slacks, and a white long-sleeved shirt with buttons. Quinn wore a white tanktop under a long-sleeved grey shirt with a collar, blue jeans, and black shoes, and his face was still wrapped in bandages. His mom had on black slippers, a black skirt with black leggings, and a button-up long-sleeved grey shirt.
"So I guess we're still using the whispering gallery stabilizer?" Quinn asked aloud. "Or was the Seer's place somewhere out in Nevada, and we'll be coming in here from now on?" Diana shook her head. "No, it was in California. And sorry, I didn't want to open it up and check until you were around," she started, but he shook his head with a hidden smile. "Why not?" he asked. "You kept Mallory, Remmy, and Maggie safe all those months, helped get us out of that simulation. I think you're doing just fine." Diana smiled despite herself.
Mallory pointed in the direction of the sun. "If we're out east, we probably need to head that way to civilization," he surmised, then looked back to Quinn. "How much time do we have?" Looking down at the readout, Quinn spoke. "About 2 days," he answered, then looked up. "Long enough to go without food, but we'll be in trouble if we can't find some water." His mom walked next to him. "Maybe we should bring some gallon bottles next time," she suggested, to which he nodded. "We don't normally end up this far away from Cali, but I think you're right," he admitted.
They began walking west along the prairie, with Mallory and Diana in the front. Mallory said something quietly to her, waving his hands in front of him, to which she covered her mouth, suppressing a laugh. Quinn and his mom looked on happily for a few minutes, before she turned to him. "So your brother..." she started. Quinn looked up happily, memories flooding his mind. "Michael and Elizabeth said they had one more, but they didn't say anything else," she continued.
"I wish they left us together, ma," Quinn answered, putting an arm around her shoulder to squeeze, then released. "If he had been raised on your world, who knows how things could have went. Me and Colin could have gotten everything in order before we slid the first time, we'd all still be together..."
He stopped, shook his head, then offered a hidden smile. "But then, we wouldn't have cured that plague, stopped that crooked mob election, taken down that black magician, stopped Governor Schick... and we wouldn't have met Maggie, Mallory, or Diana," he said.
His mom smiled at him. "And who is this young woman?" he asked. Quinn coughed nervously in return. "We, uh..." he started, reaching an arm behind himself to rub the back of his neck. His mom elbowed him in the ribs. "It's been a year, but I like to think we're still on," he finally offered, then turned to her. "Colin was the biggest sweetheart you can imagine, ma," he continued, changing the subject. "He was born on that low tech world, but you should have seen it: a hang glider, a house full of gadgets. He was every bit my brother."
Kissing her on the forehead, he continued. "Just like you're every bit my mom," he said with a hidden smile. She returned it, then threw her arms around his neck in a tight squeeze.
The temperature was pleasant, and their carried clothes were light enough to bring without too much effort. As the sun dipped down even more, Diana started to feel the slight drop in temperature, and felt chilly enough to don her coat once more, though she left the hood down. There wasn't enough time for the others to consider doing the same before they saw the cloud ahead and to their left.
"Looks like people coming," Mallory said with his hand above his eyes. He turned to the others. "Should we flag them down?" Diana shrugged, and Auntie looked to Quinn, who nodded. "If we don't, we're going to be without water, and sleeping outside in plains without a tent, with who knows what kinds of animals around," he answered. "Let's take the chance."
Turning and running towards the large approaching group, the four waved their hands, shouting. The cloud of dirt rose up behind them, as well as black smoke belching out of at least one of the vehicles in the group, and after a few minutes, the caravan seemed to turn towards them. There were several covered wagons in the group being pulled by oxen, then a few men on horseback who rode from the sides and came out in front, and oddly enough, what appeared to be two clumsy, clunky vehicles emitting the thick and black smoke: one was a smaller black car with a massive pair of heavy back wheels that seemed to be made of some kind of metal, some smaller middle and front wheels, a huge covered driver's cockpit in front with steam stacks on either side blasting smoke behind it, and atop it all, a large windowed car. The other black vehicle was much larger: four huge and heavy wheels on either side, a small cabin in front with a driver and passenger, and a cloth covered trailer made of wood. A somewhat thin but quite tall steam stack rose out of the engine block at its front, splitting the cabin's view into two parts.
The horsemen approached, both wearing light brown cotton shirts and pants, brown boots, and black leather coats that bounced with their approach. The one on the left had a bow slung with an arrow, pointing towards the ground, while the other held a long spear in his right hand, also pointed down. Two more horsemen approached with hands on sheathed swords. The four all had their hands slightly up in surrender, and the horsemen watched them warily, stopping only to cast quick glances behind them.
In seconds, a man stepped out of the smaller smokey vehicle. He was a giant: over six and a half feet tall, tan-skinned, and with massive arm muscles, he practically stomped his way forward in the same clothes as the horsemen. His hair was long and blonde, and framed a face square and strong. Big brown eyes looked out from above a long and tall nose. He wasn't armed with any visible weapons, but from the looks of his wild eyes and huge body, it looked like he didn't need any.
Once he was near, the man looked between the four, as if sizing them up. When he at last reached Auntie, his eyes lingered for a few seconds longer, then he nodded. "You lost?" he called out in a voice thundering and deep. Quinn nodded. "We were scouting the area when our horses ran off," he answered, then waved his hand to the others. "We're the only ones."
With another nod, the man looked to the horsemen, then raised his massive hand to the four. Without a word, they stowed their weapons, then walked forward to pat them down. It wasn't long before they found the timer and Diana's PDL, then handed them to their leader. He looked at them with disgust. "This some kind of workshop crap?" he asked. Diana shook her head. "No, we just found them, and thought we might trade for something later," she offered. The man shook his head slightly, still keeping the same face.
"Hey, Jonas!" he called out. A smaller, but still well-built, younger man stepped out from the vehicle and approached, wearing the same clothes as the others. His face was similarly square, but ended at a gentler chin. He was tan-skinned with black hair, and had brown eyes and a more button nose. The small differences in look couldn't hide that the two were related.
The larger man held the timer and PDL to him. "What are these?" he asked. Jonas shook his head. "I dunno," he admitted. "Some kind of glass?"
"Are they dangerous?" the older man asked. The younger shook his head again. "I really don't know," he answered, then held up the timer. "This one's counting down for some reason, but whatever it does, it probably does it from the inside." The older man shrugged. "All right, you can take 'em to one of the wagons, open 'em up, find out what they do," he ordered. Jonas looked happier than he should have, but before he could turn away, the older man spoke again. "In one of the BACK wagons," he added. Jonas turned, nodded, then ran off.
The large man turned back to the four with a smile. "Sorry," he practically barked out. "My name's Emit, and we're heading east into better hunting fields. You want to tag along, we'll expect you to work. If not, I'll get Jonas to hand back your gizmos, and you can be on your way."
Mallory raised his hand, and Emit nodded at him. "So no chance we can get you guys to drop us off at the nearest town?" he asked.
"Town?" Emit thundered back, confused. "You want to head back to a workshop or something? There's nothing behind us but grass and dirt. We're heading east, so either come or don't." Auntie and Mallory looked to Quinn and Diana, who were engaged in a quick flurry of words.
"Can we head out east?" Diana asked, to which Quinn nodded slightly. "It's either that or the wilderness," he answered. "It doesn't seem like there's any civilization nearby. We have some time, and daylight's fading, so let's see how things go with the caravan." He then turned to Emit. "Let's roll!" he exclaimed, and Emit offered a small smile in return. He finger whistled, then made a circular motion with his right index finger, and soon, everyone was jumping in wagons, atop horses, and in vehicle-carried cars. Emit pointed to the car atop the big-wheeled smaller vehicle. "Guests take the sleeper car," he ordered, then jumped in the driver's seat below. In moments, they were off again.
The car was rough and bouncy, but manageable. Quinn threw a look out the back at the wagon where Jonas and the timer were. "Since the Seer was in California, Mallory and I showed up in northern California before Root's world, and now we're probably somewhere east of there," she started, "so I think it's safe to say we have a wider sliding radius." Quinn nodded in response. "So whatever stabilizer is in the timer is going to send us all around the west coast," he surmised.
"Do we need to be in the sliding radius to go to the next world?" Diana asked. "We had to team up with a bunch of pirates to get back to ours once, just in case." Quinn pointed to her, with his eyes showing his hidden smile. "Smart thinking," he started, and on her returned smile, thought back, fingers on his chin. "There was one time that Wade, Remmy, the Professor, and I were in an America founded by the Spanish, and they deported us to Canada," he remembered. "By the time I caught up with the other three, we were far north of the window. But that was just one time."
"So we should keep to the usual until we know better," Diana followed up. Mallory looked between the three, voice low. "If you need me to boost us a car to head west, I can probably figure it out in a few minutes," he offered. On Auntie's balking face, he put his hands out in surrender. "Last resort, last resort," he insisted with a charming smile, then looked the others. "What did Remmy say about the rules of sliding? Improvise, right?"
Diana raised her eyebrows and tilted her head slightly. "He also said not to trust anybody," she added. Mallory shook his head. "Hey come on, it's cool," he followed up. "If things don't work out, I just put on the old Mallory charm, and we'll be on the beach in no time." Quinn shook his head with a hidden smile, looking at his mom. "He gets it from me," he said. The girls laughed.
Moments later, there was a commotion behind them. Looking out from the upper car, the wagon that Jonas was riding in seemed to be gaining in speed, drawing next to them. He held the reins of the four horses pulling the vehicle, eyes wide in surprise and shaking the lines in a panic, which seemed to only agitate the horses further. Without a word, Quinn stood inside the car then opened the side door, holding himself steady with a hand on the door frame as he climbed down the side.
"Quinn!" his mom called out in fear. Jonas' covered wagon slowly drew right up next to them, and pushing off the side of the vehicle, Quinn leaped onto the passenger seat next to him, holding the backrest for dear life. When he found his balance, he turned, sat, then took the reins from the other man. He pulled both, bringing the horses to a slower trot, then pulled one, forcing their heads to the side and bringing the wagon to a final stop. The caravan halted and people came out to see what was wrong.
(Thanks, bro), Quinn thought, images of Colin passing before his mind.
Jonas breathed out heavily, turning to Quinn. "Thanks," he said, then taking in the odd side of the other man's mask, narrowed his eyes in confusion. "What's with the bandages?" he asked. Quinn shrugged. "Sunburn easily," he answered, clapped him on the shoulder, then climbed up the steam truck to get back in the sleeper car.
Two hours later, the caravan had made camp and set up a huge central fire. Hunting parties moved out silently in several directions, and came back one by one with a large deer run through the neck with an arrow, a netted and trapped antelope beaten down with clubs, and other assorted meals for the night. Quinn and Mallory spent their time hauling boxes off of the large steam truck and opening them to set up the camp's tents, folded tables, chairs, and eating utensils.
The effort loosened one of the bandages running over Quinn's face. Noticing the problem, Mallory set his box down, then reached out to unwrap, retie, and retighten it, then clapped Quinn on the shoulder twice before kneeling down to pick the box up once more. His sleek muscles bulged with the effort.
"Nice to see this is so easy for you, bro," Quinn spoke out, his breath short and ragged. Mallory held the box on one knee with a single hand, then flexed his right arm. "After fighting 'Maggs on a hyperspace asteroid?" he started confidently. "I thought it might be a good idea to bulk up. Just in time to hijack a robotic scoop, go toe to toe with caffeine gangsters, joust down some oily bikers, and throw in with a bunch of pirates."
Quinn laughed. "I had the same idea early on," he remembered, then looked to his covered biceps, still slightly bloated and without tone. "I wonder how it'll be when I'm back to normal."
Raising his eyebrows slightly, Mallory shrugged. "We'll go lift together," he suggested, then smiled wickedly. "Or maybe you'll emerge a beautiful butterfly."
Quinn made a face in response. "I swear, if I sprout wings, I'm going straight through the Seer-Earth path," he promised. "Make it easier to bomb the 'Maggs from above."
Mallory held his hand out. "Then I'll take the ground war," he promised back. Quinn let his box down to his knee and gripped him in an arm wrestling clasp, squeezing tight with a hidden smile.
On the other side of the fire, Diana and Auntie watched the two as they cut the skin and fat off fresh meat, then used drops of water from a nearby barrel to wash some gathered fruits and nuts. Diana made a face, trying to get used to the work without cutting herself.
"How are you doing, honey?" Auntie asked from a piece of meat. Diana chuckled sardonically. "Sometimes you hack the virtual paradise of an insane AI with a custom program from a hidden underground bunker using a handheld computer hooked into some older desktops," she started, "and sometimes you cut meat and wash fruits for room and board." She looked to Auntie with a surrendered smile and shrug of her shoulders. "Sliding," she said simply.
Auntie looked over at the boys. "Should we go help them instead?" she asked, watching as Quinn let his box slowly down to the ground and slumped over it, exhausted. Mallory came behind him, clapping him on the shoulder in support.
"I'm, uh, ok right here," Diana answered, looked away, then went back to washing fruits. Auntie nodded with a slight chuckle, and they continued their work.
The meal was massive and delicious, not quite up to the snow cabin's offerings, but a wild type of earthy taste that came from freshly hunted game. The girls, sitting with the other women of the caravan around the fire, cooked theirs a little too long for the liking of the others around the fire, but the nearby Quinn and Mallory, doing as the Romans did, tried to go for more raw bites to please their hosts. Quinn tried to keep his hand covering his face between bites when he could, but the dark seemed to be enough camouflage for the time being.
After they were finished and full, the four leaned back around the campfire to relax. In a few minutes, Jonas approached the boys. "Thanks for the help earlier," he said to Quinn. The two raised hands to shake, and switching places with two other men sitting at the male/female boundary of the campfire, the five sat together. "Are those new horses that haven't been broken in yet?" Diana asked, but Jonas just shook his head. "No," he answered, "I'm just not very good with them." He didn't elaborate further.
"So you got lost out here?" he asked. Mallory nodded. "Yeah, we came too far in, should have brought more supplies," he answered. Jonas nodded in understanding. "And your horses ran off...?" he continued, to which Quinn spoke up. "When we were checking the abandoned wagon," he repeated.
Jonas turned to him. "What was inside?" he asked. Quinn made an amused snorting noise from under his bandages. "Debris," he answered. Jonas laughed. "Glad we got you when we did," he added.
"So where are we now, Colorado? Wyoming?" Diana asked. Jonas looked at her in confusion, to which Auntie spoke up. "Oh, just our local language, dear," she expertly added. "This is an excellent caravan you have here, though." Jonas nodded. "Thanks," he said in a voice tinged with something like dejection.
He looked between the four. "Do any of you drive?" he asked. Mallory immediately raised his hand. "I rode with a group since I was a kid," he boasted, "practically born with a steering wheel in my hands." Jonas blinked, then indicated with his head towards a far part of the camp. "My dad asked if you could take over for one of our drivers," he continued, then gestured to Quinn. "I think he was hoping you could do it, but if your friend here has the skill, I can tell him to expect you."
Mallory nodded. "Sure," he started, then made a face. "But aren't you worried about strangers driving your stuff around?"
Jonas shrugged. "Well, you guys did get me out of that horse jam," he started, "and we'll be all around you with spears and bows and stuff, so I think we'll be ok." Without another word, he stood, leaving the four to look at one another awkwardly.
"But how could it be infinite universes?" Quinn asked. "Not billions or trillions, but infinite. If that was the case, given enough probabilities, we could expect every part of every Earth to be constantly visited by sliders and objects from other dimensions. If it were really infinite, there would be infinite possibilities that would all have to be concurrently true all at once."
Diana held up a finger with a smile. "Ah, but what if there were some kind of physical law or material in place to prevent connections between all universes?" she asked. Quinn nodded in understanding. "I see what you're saying," he answered. "So we'd be in some kind of local multiversal group, and we'd be multiversally cut off from an infinite number of universes by these barriers."
"Right!" Diana answered. "There might even be some universes where the laws of physics are different, allowing it to act as a sort of bridge between our local cluster and another, which would normally be cut off by these laws or materials. But then that would mean..."
Quinn snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "That that universe would either be a chaotic mess of portals opening every microsecond, dumping materials and people out at any point in space," he added, "or would itself be in a local multiversal group, in which case, it would simply act as a waypoint between a larger number of clusters around it, and not so chaotic."
"Assuming that there's only one type of material or difference in physical laws that would account for the lack of entry into different Earths," Diana continued. "The multiverse could be set up in such a way that each cluster and its laws would serve as some kind of barrier to another, where only a handful of Earths would have the requisite conditions to act as a chokepoint between clusters to bottleneck travel between them."
Mallory briefly threw a glance behind him, then glancing quickly at the road in front of him to make sure they were safe, he turned to Auntie, who was looking at him. "Wow," he mouthed, stone-faced, then turned back to the road. Auntie giggled, then turned back to watch her son.
The four were in the steam truck, and the drive continued westward for hours, slowly enough to keep up with the horses and oxen. Mallory was at the wheel, Auntie was to his right in the passenger seat, and Quinn and Diana were in the covered trailer bed, surrounded by boxes of supplies. The sound of the engine was partially muffled by the cloth cover, but the smoke came out harmlessly from either side to blow harmlessly behind them.
Quinn threw another glance back at the wagon behind them, where Jonas was sitting in the passenger seat, turning the timer up, down, and around with a strange look on his face. A woman sat next to him, holding the reins. She was a fair-skinned and brown haired woman with blue eyes, a tall nose, full lips, and a very oval face. The two noticed Quinn looking, so they both waved. He and Diana waved back.
"I really hope he's not messing with them too much," he muttered through his bandages. Diana nodded. "And I think we can kiss the idea of heading back west goodbye," she added. "We should be leaving tomorrow afternoon, so if we can't get it back from him tonight, we'll either have to go the soft route or the sneaky route." Quinn raised his eyebrows quickly. "Mom or Mallory," he quietly surmised.
In the cabin, Auntie turned back to Mallory with a smile. He threw a look her way, then smiled back. "What's up, Auntie?" he asked. She put a hand on his shoulder. "I just wanted to thank you for what you did for Quinn," she said, but Mallory just waved her off with a hand. "Nah, Dr. Geiger did the experiment without me knowing. I didn't have a choice. Don't worry about it," he answered.
She shook her head. "Diana told me about what you did in that hell world," she continued. "You chose to get in that chair and let them try to separate you two. You didn't have to, but you did." Mallory raised his eyebrows and sucked his lips in. "Oh," he said simply, then turned a sheepish smile to her. "She told you about that, huh?" Auntie shook her head with a wide smile, then stood to throw her arms around his shoulders and hug him. Mallory did his best to keep the truck straight.
The other two stood up and walked to the cabin. After Quinn ushered his mom back into her seat, they looked out on the flat plains. "Look how open it is," he said, pointing all across the field ahead filled with light grass and dirt. Mallory nodded. "So a world of nomads?" he guessed. Quinn shrugged. "Or maybe it's just America," he offered.
"What do you think caused it?" Auntie asked. Diana spoke up next. "Maybe Arabic nomads spread their living style around? Or the Mongols started here instead of eastern Asia?" she guessed. "Or maybe they conquered the world and didn't bother to settle afterwards..."
"Could've been the Yuan Dynasty," Mallory spoke up next. "They could have been more proactive in spreading a nomadic culture through the Silk Road instead of settling down for a hundred years." His words faded away. The cabin was filled with the sound of the engine in front. Nobody said a word.
Mallory quickly looked around at the other three, who were all staring at him. "What?" he protested, returning his eyes to the road. "I read a lot while I was in the wheelchair, so sue me." When the other were done laughing, he smiled. "Maybe it's just a world that knows how to adventure," he added, slapping the steering wheel. Auntie spoke up, a voice tinged with both worry and amusement. "I hope you're not planning to stay here," she spoke out.
With a quick smile, he looked over at her. "Nah," he said confidently, looking among them. "You guys are too much fun."
At the end of the next feast, Jonas sat between the girls and guys, his back to the campfire. The four looked at him without a word as he produced the timer and PDL, held them up for a few seconds, then placed them in the hands of Quinn. Without a word, he took the two, then handed the PDL to Diana.
"Didn't open it, couldn't figure out the other," he said simply, then sat, knees up and arms around them, looking between them. "Now level with me," he said, pointing a finger between the four. "You're too small a group to be a scouting party, especially taking two scrawny women with you. No offense." The girls shrugged and shook their heads as he continued. "You don't leave horses unsecured to search wagons, one of you hasn't taken off his bandages for days, this one," he said, pointing to Diana, "doesn't know the first thing about skinning or preparing meat, and every one of you was unarmed.
"So what's the deal?" he asked. Quinn took a breath, then without hesitation, told him the truth.
Jonas made a face when he was done. "California?" he asked. "Where's that?" Quinn pointed to where he thought west was. "Really far away," he answered. "We lived back on the west coast for years, for the most part. You saw the ocean, right?" Jonas nodded, and Quinn continued. "We come from over there. We barely know anything about this place."
"Your whole community lives there?" Jonas asked in surprise. Quinn nodded. "Yeah," he answered. "Some people like us go out and explore, but the rest of us just stay put and grow what we need." Jonas balked, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He looked around secretively, seeing nobody listening in. Turning back to the others, he spoke quietly. "Do you think I can join you?" he asked.
Auntie spoke next. "You don't want to be with your people?" she asked, to which he shook his head. "It's not that," he answered. "I like my family, the caravan. I just get tired of being on the road all the time." Quinn, Mallory, and Diana shared a knowing look. "I can understand," Quinn said.
Sensing an opportunity, Mallory spoke next. "You're not asking us to sneak out of here with one of the vehicles or some horses, are you?" he asked in a voice a little too hopeful. Jonas sighed and shook his head, deflating Mallory's hope. "No, of course not," he conceded, looking out west. "I just wanted to settle down with my girl."
"Where is she?" Auntie asked with a smile, putting a supportive hand on his. He smiled, keeping his eyes on the horizon. "In our workshop," he answered. "Her name is Ruby. We used to run a little place when the game was still good, but when it got harder, my dad packed us up and sent us east." His face slowly fell, as his situation dawned back on him.
"Workshop?" Diana asked. Jonas looked at her strangely. "Yeah," he answered. "Where do you think we grew the corn and prepared the coal for the vehicles? We made parts to fuel and repair the cars, not that the others care. They just think it's weak work." He shook his head. "And when they're sure we've found another good hunting spot, they'll go back to get all the materials they can carry, then me and Ruby will have to start from scratch, rebuild everything, get more materials, and watch everyone ride horses around up until we get the shop working. Then they move again, and it all just starts over."
A woman's voice called out. "Jonas, come see the horses with me," she said. It was the brown haired woman from the wagon. "All right ma," he called back, then stood and sighed in exasperation. Without another word, he left.
Mallory turned to the others. "What do you think?" he asked. "Do we have time to convince him to head west?" On everyone's silence, he shook his head. "Yeah, me neither," he said. "I don't really want to boost the car right now either." Diana nodded in response. "Yeah, they seem like good people," she added.
"So we risk sliding from here?" Quinn asked, waving the timer at them. It read 18 hours remaining. His mom smiled at him. "Have faith, Quinn," she said reassuringly. He nodded, and with the camp settling in for the night, the four returned to their tent, then settled in to sleep.
"Where's my son?" a powerful voice spoke. The four awoke to see Emit kneeling inside their tent, right in front of the exit. He didn't look angry, but he certainly didn't look happy. Quinn raised his head off of his jacket pillow. "I don't know," he answered, adrenaline quickly rousing him from his sleep. "We talked last night, then we all went to bed."
"Young man," Emit spoke in strong but careful admonishment, pointing a finger at all of them before returning to Quinn. "We took you out of the middle of nowhere, fed and sheltered you. The least you can do is give me something."
Without hesitation, Auntie nodded, and told him everything she knew of the previous night's conversation. Nodding silently, Emit stood and turned to leave the tent without a word, but she stopped him with one. "Wait!" she said. He turned back to look her in the eyes, and slowly, his face began to soften. "I feel like we're responsible for what happened between you two," she continued, her voice quivering slightly in concern. "Can we go with you, and try to make this right?"
Emit looked among them, then back to Auntie. With nothing more than a nod, he turned and left the tent. Quinn reached over to hug her. "That was perfect, ma!" he whispered. She nodded in response, but still had a serious look on her face. "We still need to make this right," she answered, and in no time, the three rose, gathered their things, then left the tent to find Emit in the driver's seat of the steam truck, and the brown haired woman, Jonas' mother, in the passenger seat.
"Jenny," she introduced herself with a smile, turning back from the passenger seat to watch the other four climb into the back. She turned to Emit. "Honey, he's still young," she said. Another man from the caravan turned a crank in the front of the car, and with a sputter and explosion, they were moving. "I'll fix this," Emit said simply, then after reaching out the window to take the crank from the man, they were soon off and driving towards the sun to the west, far faster than the caravan had ever traveled over the previous two days.
Hours later, the six arrived at a large shack atop a small hill, which was covered in short trees and shrubs, and the brown wood building poked out from within the green. The first floor was almost completely covered with the plantlife, but the second floor, surrounded by multiple glass windows, looked into a large single room filled with metal tools on the walls and tables. A horse was tied to a nearby post and was drinking from a water trough near the front door.
The truck came to a stop outside the front door, covered by the leaves of the trees, and before the sound of the engine could fade, two figures came out side by side. Jonas was still wearing the clothes of the caravan, but the fair-skinned and redheaded young woman next to him was wearing a pair of baggy brown leather pants, a white cloth halter top covered with black marks that exposed her midriff, and a green cloth wrapped around her forehead and long hair. She had a smaller face, crystal blue eyes, and a small and short nose. Jonas stepped in front of her, motioning for her to stop, then watched his parents get out of the truck.
"Jonas," Emit's voice thundered out, level and strong. "What are you doing?" Jonas shook his head in defiance, but his hands seemed to be shaking more. "I don't want to wander anymore, dad," he answered in a wavering voice.
Emit knit his eyebrows together, looking at him sternly. "Why?" he demanded.
"You saw what happened with the wagon, I'm no good with horses!" Jonas protested. Emit's eyes went from the horse tied to the post, then back to Jonas. Catching the look, his son's mouth opened, then closed, then he looked strongly back at his father. "I needed to get back here," he stated. On his father's silence, Jonas continued. "I just wanted to settle down with Ruby," he explained in a raised voice. "Me and her at the workshop, making things for the tribe. I don't care if the others think I'm soft anymore."
Ruby stayed completely silent behind him while Emit shook his head. "You didn't say anything," he said, his voice softer, but still strong. Jonas looked at his father with confusion as he took a few steps forward. "Son, you're old enough to make your own decisions," he continued, shaking his head.
Drawing close enough to his son, Emit reached a hand out to squeeze his son's bicep. "In good shape, riding horses," he continued, pointing a thumb back at the beast. "You're bad at it, but you're still trying, right?" Jonas exhaled in slight amusement, then nodded. "Uh, yeah, dad," he answered. His father nodded back. "Good," he said.
He turned to the young woman behind his son. "How you doing, Ruby?" he asked, reaching his hand out. She smiled, reached her hand out to take his, then squeezed gently. "Great, pop," she spoke in a voice higher-pitched but strong. Emit released his grip, turned, then backed up between the two, grabbing both by the waist and hauling them back to the others, one in each arm.
"So you'll be practicing your riding, and keeping up your strength," he spoke, looking down at Jonas. "Yes, dad," he answered with a sheepish smile. He nodded, then turned to Ruby. "And you two will keep working on the parts and fuel we need?" he asked. "Yes, pop," she answered with another smile.
Making a face, he swung his arm forward, raising the young woman higher and sizing her up. "Still working out, huh?" he asked. She giggled. "Yes, pop!" she answered even more enthusiastically.
"All right," he answered, then set the two down in front of his wife, who hugged them both. The four watched as he climbed into the driver's seat of the steam truck.
"Where are you going?" Jenny asked. Emit leaned his head out and looked to Jonas and Ruby. "I'm bringing the truck in," he thundered. "I need to gas up after all that driving."
The sun was getting on in the sky when the truck was finally fueled. Jonas and Ruby were standing at the driver's side of the cabin.
"We meet up every month or two, you understand?" Emit said strongly from next to his wife, pointing between them. "Both of you." When Jonas made a face, Emit slapped him lightly across his chest with the back of his massive hand. "Both ways, son," he assured him, to which Jonas seemed to relax.
Ruby knelt down to turn the crank in front of the vehicle until the familiar sputter and explosion, and handing it over to Emit in the cabin, the two were soon off. They waved arms out of the cabin, and in moments, were nearly out of sight.
Jonas exhaled strongly as Ruby walked behind him, throwing her arms around his shoulders. "That went better than I expected," he said, putting his hands atop hers. "Told you," she teased.
Quinn held up the timer to show the ten seconds left on the display. Jonas turned to them. "So, you guys want to stay here, work with us for a while?" he asked. Mallory shrugged. "Sorry, we gotta head out," he said.
Jonas nodded. "California?" he asked.
With a hidden smile and raising the timer, Quinn pushed the button, and engaged the vortex. Ruby's arms slipped from off of Jonas' shoulders, and their mouths nearly dropped to the floor. "Eventually," Quinn said with a hidden smile, then leaped first through the vortex. Mallory and Diana waved goodbye, then entered after.
Standing before the vortex, Auntie turned to smile at them. "You're good kids," she said simply. "And don't forget about your horse!"
Turning, she leaped into the vortex. Seconds later, it closed, leaving the other two behind in stunned silence.