We all stood glumly staring out across a lake on an alien world.

Okay, not one hundred percent alien. A parallel earth...where civilization, for some reason, had either never began, or had passed so far behind that we had no signs of civilization, just lush greenery.

The deathly stillness seemed unnatural after the chaotic world we'd left. No sounds of traffic, no airplanes, no buildings or electricity. No sign of civilization for miles, just quiet wind blowing gently through the tall grass. Heard some insects buzzing here and there, but at the moment, not even any birds.

Perfect air. No smells of pollution, auto exhaust, just grass, moisture from the lake, maybe a little algae or something, but not much of it.

So much had happened. We had to pause and collect ourselves.

A whole planet had just been obliterated by pulsars. Billions of people, just gone. You couldn't help but feel survivor's guilt. Plus, we'd lost our best friend.

My pixie-like redhead girlfriend sighed and wiped tears from her eyes. "I still can't believe he's gone."

Professor Maximillion Arturo, my mentor, the man who taught me everything...just gone. I cried a little myself.

Our enemy, Angus Rickman, had killed him and other innocent people by draining their brain and spinal fluid, in attempts to cure a fungal infection in his brain.

I glanced at Wade, cast a sideways look at my more athletic and chestier new flame, Maggie.

My stomach flip-flopped. Wade needed someone to comfort her, and she'd always been like a sister to me, but what would Maggie think? Things were getting serious between us. "I know what you mean...I wish we could have somehow taken him along with us and gotten him medical treatment. But Rickman did something to him. Once we find the guy again, we'll make him pay."

Wade sobbed. "I don't want revenge, I just want him back!"

Maggie gave me a look that said, Do it, I dare you.'

That's when our well dressed, russet skinned buddy Rembrandt stepped in.

I cringed as he put an arm around her...I felt like such an asshole.

"Wade, there's one thing I learned from all this crazy world hopping: There's always more than one of us. Why, I bet on the next world—"

"I don't want a slide double of our professor, I want the real thing!" She sobbed uncontrollably into his silk shirt.

Remmy pulled her into a hug, patting her back. "There, there."

I sighed, rubbing my face as I looked at the opposite shore. I had tears streaking down my face.

"I'm sorry," Maggie blurted. "I didn't get to know him that long, but he seemed like a really nice guy."

I shook my head. "He taught me everything I know. I wouldn't be here today without his help."

Maggie sighed through her nostrils. "You...think...my husband might have a double somewhere too?"

"Anything's possible."

"If we don't stop Rickman, this won't be the end of it. More people will die."

"I know."

She cast me and my friends an impatient look, but I didn't say a word. Arturo was like family to us. You can't lose someone like that and just move on like nothing happened.

All of us knew there'd be more deaths if we didn't stop Rickman, but only Maggie, being an army girl, found it impractical to stop and grieve. With a frustrated sigh, she dug the tracking device out of her pocket: Shaped like a television remote, displays flashing Rickman's general location and amount of time before possible departure to a parallel earth.

She frowned at the readout. "Guys, I know you miss the guy a lot, but we really need to find Rickman."

With tears in her eyes, Wade glared at her. "And what would you know about it? You barely met him?"

"All the reason to put a bullet in Rickman and end this."

Wade wiped her eyes, casting me a scolding look. "I want to make this perfectly clear, Maggie: The Professor I knew never sought revenge. He always saw the best in people and did what he had to, to save lives."

"By that same token, putting a stop to Rickman will save the most lives."

Wade shook her head, wiping more tears from her eyes.

Rembrandt patted her on the back. "I hate to say it, but she's right. Plus Rickman's got our only ticket home..."

Overwhelmed with emotion, Wade couldn't even speak. The look on her face, though, reflected reluctant agreement.

"How much time before Rickman can slide again?" I mostly asked this to be diplomatic.

"Twenty minutes." Maggie aligned herself to the compass and pointed. "He's that way."

"Wait," Wade stammered. "Why do you think he's going to leave? We've got him one hundred and fifty victims."

"As you may or may have noticed from the place we've left, he's insatiable."

"Yeah, but he'd be wasting all those people we picked for him. I mean, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't complain if he didn't drain them of all their brain fluids, but what was the point of all that work? He made me carefully select them to make sure they fit his specifications. He could always come back...Maybe when they've had children. Who knows what he's thinking? His brain is diseased!"

I nodded. "Plus, if he makes it to Earth Prime, he'll have a smorgasdborg."

A weary look settled over Wade's features. "It makes me sick that I was even a part of this. There were tons of more deserving people out there, and I had to leave them all behind to die. All so he can get his precious brain fluid."

We marched across a grassy meadow.

Rembrandt stared as a foot high dinosaur scampered past him. "Man, you sure this is the same place we transported all those people to? I mean, it kinda looks like the same place, but, you know, as The Professor once said, You never cross the same stream twice.'"

I chuckled a little. "Remmy, that's actually a quote from Heraclitus, talking about how what's mundane can seem different every time you approach it."

He scoffed. "Yeah? Well if we're always jumping from world to world all the time, how the hell can we tell the difference between a world we've been to before, and a world that looks identical but is actually a small fraction different from the one we've been to before?"

A warm balmy breeze wafted through the air, gently ruffling my clothes. Hard to worry about anything in this idyllic place. I wrinkled my brow. "What are you trying to say?"

"What if we find one hundred and fifty people here, but they're only doubles of the one hundred fifty people we sent over?"

I sighed. We'd discussed the subject many times over beers. "The tracker's programmed to follow Rickman to the exact same world he's in."

"What if we're only following a double of Rickman?"

"Okay, so what if these aren't the same people, and we're chasing the wrong guy? There's still people in danger...and we're partly responsible...Something bugging you, Rembrandt?"

He blew a raspberry. "Nobody said anything anything about any damn dinosaurs on this world."

Hearing a squawk, I glanced up. It appeared to be a bird. A goose, perhaps? Couldn't tell without binoculars. "Remmy, we didn't have time for an exhaustive survey. We only picked the world least likely to kill us out of all the available choices."

"You saying a T-Rex wouldn't kill us?"

"We didn't find a T-Rex on our last trip. We did, however, find a world where everything was giant, and we were in danger of being eaten by cats."

He just shook his head.

As previously mentioned, we'd moved a huge population of survivors from the previous world to our current one, along with their Jeeps, weaponry and supplies. Their tent city had been built on a hillside, with Jarhead types standing sentry at the outskirts. Just for show, I think. nothing dangerous in any direction, as far as the eye could see, unless you counted the teeny dinosaurs... which... apparently, a few people had already decided to skin and barbecue over fires.

The guards recognized us and let us pass. I glanced at Rembrandt. "Still think we're not in the same place?"

"Man, I dunno, Q-Ball. They might be expecting our Doubles."

Wade frowned at a Jeep. "You know, I'm positive we could have saved more people if we hadn't been sending so much crap through the wormhole. Just think if we'd sent actual human beings instead of those army Jeeps, or all those weapon crates!"

I sighed. "Wade, that's for self defense. Think about all those times we almost got killed by communists, or oppressive governments! And let's not discount the people we actually did save!"

She gave a reluctant nod. "I know. But what makes us different than any other government we were trying to fight?"

I had no reply to that.

I knew something had gone wrong when we came across more people on stretchers than we'd sent over.

Maggie scowled when she noticed the victims. "Rickman, that bastard! He's drained all of these people too!"

Tears rolled down Wade's cheeks. "I carefully selected all these people! I had to choose who lived and who died...for this? Just to, I dunno...screen people for their brain chemistry? So he can feed? I'm going to be sick!"

Again, Remmy ended up being the one to console her. It made me a little uncomfortable to see them extra close like that, but, you know, Maggie. "Hey, nobody knew how this was going to play out. It's not your fault."

Roughly one hundred people, lying semi-comatose. I knelt by an Puerto Rican guy in camo fatigues, examining his red, dragon shaped pendant.

Maggie scoffed. "That's Rozalta the dragon god."

"What's that?"

"Oh right. Different dimension...It's a large religion from Malaysia. A little hard to explain. A guy had mystical visions and prophecies, they don't eat anything that lives in the water, they have dances during their ceremonies."

Something like electric current jolted me through the artifact...And I saw a vision.

To the left of me stood a machine, containing Wade's severed head, floating, closed lidded, in a tank of nutrients...And my own tombstone.

To the right...a gateway, through which lay thousands of Rickman's brain drained victims, with Maggie at the top of the pile.

I jumped back from the victim.

Maggie scoffed. "See a vision?"

Stunned speechless in horror, I didn't smile at all. "S-something like that."

"It's probably nothing. I hear they use hallucinogens in their rituals. Maybe that necklace had some on it."

"...Maybe."

A plump African American kid put a hand on my back. Malcolm Eastman, Remmy's friend. His parents...also victims of Rickman's. "You saw it too?"

I furrowed my brow. "What are you talking about?"

He pulled a sketch out of his baggy sports jacket, unfolding it so I could see. The image of Wade's severed head again. "I drew this after I saw it. You're going after that bad man, aren't you?"

I knelt down to his level. "We kinda have to. Wherever he's going, a lot of people are going to die."

"There's a better way, you just don't see it yet." He glanced at Maggie. "You're only doing this because of her."

I sighed. "Look, kid. We've both lost people important to us, and we need to stop this guy before he kills again. If you got a better idea, I'd love to hear it."

He turned the paper over, showing me a picture of an unsmiling blonde man with cold blue eyes...Well, as far as I could tell with gray pencil. "Don't trust this man. He'll tell you anything. You're better off being trapped where you are."

I pointed to the jar of spaghetti sauce he'd drawn in the bottom corner. A brand I'd never heard of. "What's that about?"

"I dunno, but I think it's important. You'll find it in an old fashioned toilet tank. Maybe it's a message or something."

"Thank you. I'll...uh...be careful."

I got up, rejoining the others.

"What was that about?" Wade asked.

I shrugged. "Just telling me my fortune. Maggie, what's the Timer say now?"

She checked the screen. "Looks like Rickman went east...and dropped off the world. Time to slide, guys."

We ran a few yards, paused while Maggie pushed the button.

A swirling portal opened in the air. Others would have balked at the event horizon of a black hole, but we'd been doing this so long that it didn't phase us. Maggie was new to it, but she kept a brave face, due to her military training. We jumped.

A strange swirling tunnel of multicolored light, devoid of scent, filled with deafening tornado-like rushing wind noises.

I let out a startled shout as violent, otherworldly forces threw me off in a random direction.

I landed on the roof of a house. The cheap roofing tile and thin sheetrock collapsed under my weight.

A woman, who had been washing her baby in a little tub directly beneath me, screamed and moved her baby out of the way as the plaster came raining down.

I landed on yellow plastic, splashing water all over a washing machine and drier. With a groan, I shoved off onto the floor, staggering to my feet.

With the wet baby still clutched in her arms, the woman yelled about calling the police, and beat me with an iron until I ran out the front door.

...After fumbling with the lock for a whole two minutes.

Outside, in the woman's weed choked, and mostly dead front yard, I looked around for my friends, but found nobody familiar.

Suburban neighborhood. The cars and houses...all looked like something from the 1970's.

The woman popped out the door and hollered at me, throwing her iron at me.

I quickly ran across the street, shouting, "Rembrandt! Wade! Maggie! Where are you?"

No one answered, except the lady with her baby, still screaming about the cops.

I rushed to the corner of the block to get away from her...

And witnessed The Professor getting shot.

Didn't get a good look at his attackers. They wore dark clothing and jumped into a black van, speeding away the moment I approached the victim.

Same looking guy. Untidy hair, beard, dressed in a plaid suit...It looked like he'd been dieting and exercising, though.

The man clutched a bloody wound, collapsing against the door of a green Cadillac.

I rushed to his side, momentarily forgetting that he wasn't the same friend who had been drained of his spinal fluids and left to die on an exploding parallel earth. "Professor! Are you all right? Let me get you to a hospital!"

He scowled at me. "Who the Devil are you?"

I gave him a sheepish grin. "My name's Quinn. I'm a big fan of your work."

The Professor coughed. "Then you're one of the few who actually hate the Kansas City Royals."

I stared. "What?"

He sighed, rolling his eyes. "Dear fellow, don't like to me about reading my editorials, either get me to the hospital or kindly put me out of my misery!"

"Right!" I stammered. "You know where I can find a phone or a car or something?"

The Professor dug keys out of his pocket. "I'm bleeding on it. The hospital is on Main Street."

I had a hard time getting in and driving the thing. For starters, you pushed in on the door handle to open it, the steering wheel was on the right side of the car, and I had to crank the engine by hand to get it started. The Professor kept calling me a "Blithering idiot" and a "Buffoon."

The interior smelled like marijuana and coffee. He had newspapers full of sports statistics tossed all over the seats. One paper, mixed in with the others, told of the economic fallout from a war between China and Taiwan in the open sea.

The moment I had the engine started, the radio deejay put on a Beatles album I'd never heard of: Billy's Left Foot. Never heard the songs, despite being a long time fan of their music.

The Professor kept insulting me, especially when I took to the road and discovered blue and pink traffic lights.

"I don't know if you'll believe this, but I'm from a parallel universe, and in that world, you're..." Don't say dead, I thought. "A brilliant scientist."

He only scoffed.

The Professor, barely holding on to life, had to tell me the directions to the hospital. Although he didn't believe my story, he did accept the fact I was From out of town.'

A lot of NO LITTERING' signs everywhere, with notices about heavy fines and proper use of recycling receptacles. No trash cans or trash bags sighted anywhere. The dumpsters all had markings for recycling or composting.

I caught glimpses of billboards for Wrigley's black licorice chewing gum, and churches that offered a full Seder meal every Sunday.

We passed an abandoned warehouse spraypainted with the dragon god logo.

I only saw Tharwa Petroleum gas stations. It seemed they'd secured a monopoly over the country. The YMCA had a sign offering rooms for the night.

At the local electronics store: Big displays of Atari products that looked suspiciously like Nintendo, and Betamax DVD players.

The Professor appeared to be in terrible shape, deathly pale, blood everywhere, but I didn't have the luxury of stopping. "Stay with me, Professor, I'm going as fast as I can."

"I'm not a bloody professor, you boob!" it came out as a feeble gasp.

As we passed a fancy office complex, the black van came speeding through the intersection, slamming into the (left side) passenger door.

I don't know what happened after this, it was all just a lot of blood, broken car parts and glass...And our vehicle flipped upside down.

As consciousness faded, I noticed a man in a black suit peering through the shattered window.

Blonde hair, eyes like chips of blue ice.

Exactly like the picture Malcolm had sketched for me.