"Well. This is a fine mess you've gotten us into, Mister Mallory," the Professor grumped.

I frowned at the Timer, still not showing any sign of battery life. "I didn't expect it to be this hazardous. On my last test, the worst thing I found was my mom suddenly pregnant with our next door neighbor's baby."

My girlfriend ran her fingers over the symbols on the glass. "You think this room might really be magically enchanted?"

"Sorry, Wade. I don't believe in fairy tales." I sat on a couch, taking apart the Timer and checking the components. Everything seemed to be connected correctly, nothing shorted out or broken.

Wade pulled up a corner of a rug, revealing a complicated sigil someone had painted on the floor. "Yeah, well I believe enough to be getting a little nervous right now. This stuff looks exactly like those spirit traps I've seen in books."

I snickered as I put the Timer back together. "Are you implying that we're dead now?"

"Quinn, I don't understand a lot about these parallel universes and dimensional things. Who's to say your machine didn't just kill us, and we popped into another life, or an afterlife as some kind?..And, and this is like our purgatory?"

"Wade, c'mon! Get a hold of yourself! This isn't Beetlejuice. I admit this place is...weird, but when's the last time you heard of a ghost needing to eat or use a toilet?" I pointed to the little bathroom.

The Professor paced the floor. "Precisely. If we were ghosts, I'd assume we could walk right through these walls, but they are very—" He banged his fist on the glass.

"I've heard that sigils can imprison spirits."

"Poppycock! That man we just spoke to is as flesh and blood as I am." He lowered his voice. "In fact, I believe if opportunity presents itself, we can potentially overpower him an effect an escape."

I set the Timer aside and rubbed my eyes. "Guess we'll just have to watch our guards and see if they slip up sometime."

I stared at the TV showing an animated snail (caracol) impossibly gliding across a frozen lake on an ice skate. A turtle spoke to it in Spanish, then he and Oso caught snowflakes on their tongues. "Mmmm, sabrosa!"

I rolled my eyes and searched for the remote.

...No remote to be had. Our prison contained no electronic devices besides the TV, and I'd need a stepladder to get up there.

Wade sat in an armchair, looking up. "Is that a cartoon?"

"Yeah," I groaned. "I guess things have come a long way since Tron. It would be nice if I could change the channel."

"You're the scientific genius. Any thoughts on how we can get out of here?"

I shook my head. "I never believed in magic and sorcery, but this place seems to have some kind of electromagnetic field that's interfering with the Timer. Hard to say for certain, since the only other technology in this room is that TV, but that's my guess. The television probably still works because it's hardwired in from the outside somehow. If I could get up on something, and had the right tools, I might be able to connect it to the Timer and get us out of here, if, in fact, that's what we're dealing with."

I pulled a chair away from a dining room table, climbing up to get a better look at the back of the TV.

"You're going to get electrocuted," said Wade.

I shrugged. "I thought about that. I don't even know if I got the right tools."

I dug in my pocket. I had a multi tool, basically just a screwdriver thing that I could switch from Phillips to flathead, or one average shaped bolt. "I think I can potentially dismantle it, but I'd need more height, and some way to temporarily cut the power. Temporarily being the operative word. It'd be easier if we had a plug inside the cell. I got a knife, but it's going to give me a jolt, and I'd have to figure out how to jury rig the wires afterwards..."

I sat back down, frowning as I watched the animated turtle complain that stringing up Christmas lights was "Muy imposible."

Arturo crossed his arms behind his back and puffed out his chest. "On the bright side, Mister Mallory, despite the unfavorable outcome of the first test, we do have proof of Einstein's Rosen-Bridge and parallel universes, your equations have been proven correct, and your device has served its intended purpose."

I sighed. "Thanks, Professor. If only we could actually get out of here and tell someone about it."

"Indeed. The value of any scientific experiment is in the ability to repeat the procedure, arrive at similar results...and be in a place where one can communicate the results to one's colleagues. At the moment, I fear we only will get this to happen if another person from our world discovers your equations, builds their own device, and continues the experiments in our absence." He marched to a bookcase, perusing the literature. "Dickens, Hawking, Plato, Aristotle, at least we will not be lacking in the department of reading material."

Arturo pulled out a leatherbound tome. "The individual who furnished this cell appears to be highly literate and highly educated."

"I am a medical doctor."

For a moment, I couldn't tell who had spoken. The figure had been sitting so still between a pair of Japanese pagoda lanterns that I mistook him for another museum piece. Plus he wore a cape.

The figure stood up, turning to face us. Gaunt, angular face, well trimmed hair and goatee, dressed in a blue robe, a gold medallion hanging from his neck. He waved. "Stephen Strange."

The Professor opened his mouth to speak, but Mr. Strange spoke first. "And you're Professor Maximilian Arturo. Yes. I am also familiar with your associates, Wade Welles and boy genius Quinn Mallory. By the way, please don't dismantle the TV. I can only assure you that electromagnetic frequencies are not the reason why your device stopped working."

I glanced at his robes and scoffed. "You expect us to believe in magic runes and sorcery, Mr. Wizard?"

"No," Strange groaned. "In fact, I'd find it entertaining to watch your escape attempts. But as much as I'd enjoy the look of utter disappointment on your face, I'd prefer not to perform emergency medical treatment."

Arturo shelved the book, but carelessly tossed the next one to the floor. "I suppose this explains the presence of all this new age occult rubbish I keep finding."

Strange ignored the comment. "Also, no, you are definitely not dead, but I wouldn't recommend attacking Mr. Wong. In addition to being an accomplished sorcerer, he has extensive martial arts training."

I smacked my head. "So you've been eavesdropping on us this whole time."

"Meditating. But it seems I should have chosen someplace less noisy."

Wade rushed up to the glass. "If you know so much about us, you'd realize that we're not a threat, and you can let us out of here."

Strange snorted. "Over the course of my life, I've learned to never underestimate anyone."

"Fine! How long do you intend to keep us prisoner?"

Strange spread his hands. "You're the ones who trespassed into a dimension not your own. I'd prefer to describe you as guests. In fact, once we establish some common ground, I might be persuaded to allow you to leave the cell and explore the compound."

I blew a raspberry. "Let me guess: Doctor Frankenstein just violated the fundamental laws of the universe, but you'll let him free if he promises to never again meddle in forces he doesn't understand."

The comment didn't phase him. At all. "Actually, Victor, your twin from a parallel universe just beat you to the punch. I was hoping you, as his carbon copy, could help me track him down, and repair all the mistakes he's made."

Wong marched up to our cell, pushing a tray full of food through a slot in the door.

We all stared. Fancy food, not your typical prison food. Korean barbecue, an elaborate fried rice dish with meat dumplings in it, miso soup, fruit, kimchi prepared like cole slaw, some kind of mochi dessert, and sake.

"Like I said, guests."

Believing it to be drugged, we didn't touch the food.

"What kind of mistakes are we talking about?"

My captor turned his palm upward, muttered, and somehow a row of tiny planets appeared above his hand, twisting like a spiral staircase coil of DNA. "So far we've counted a hundred and ten anomalies on fifty different worlds." One by one, the planets turned red.

Wade clapped at the impressive display of illusion. "Neat! What else can you do?"

He didn't answer, he just winked at her.

Despite the cute show, Strange's words depressed me. I leaned on a bookcase with a heavy heart.

"Yeah. Soul crushing, knowing you've been upstaged by your parallel universe double. You're not the incredible pioneer you thought you were, blazing a trail across the multiverse..."

Wade sat cross legged next to the tray, stuffing kimchi slaw into her mouth with a pair of chopsticks. "Mmm!"

I furrowed my brow in concern.

"Relax, it's not drugged. If I wanted to kill you, you would have been dead by now." Strange sighed through his nostrils. "Are you aware that you just sucked a random motorist into your dimensional vortex?"

The idea seemed so ridiculous that I had to fight down a grin. I pressed my nose up against the barrier. "Run that by me again?"

Strange didn't share my mirth. "Your experiment with multiversal transportation just caused a man and his Cadillac a severe inconvenience."

I slapped my forehead. "Oh my God! I'm a murderer!"

The man rolled his eyes. "No no no! He's in the next room, along with his car. I thought you were a genius."

"What are these dumplings made of?" Wade called.

"We know you're vegetarian, so the one in the blue dish is tofu. The other ones are beef and chicken."

I grabbed a bowl, seating myself next to Stranger as I ate. "All right, what's this common ground we're supposed to establish?"

"Here's some food for thought: For more than a hundred years, people considered Christopher Columbus a hero, and even erected statues in his honor, but history labeled him a villain for all the oppression he did to indigenous people, and they started taking statues down. Your double is that kind of person."

I gave him a blank stare. "Who's Columbus?"

Strange rubbed his face in frustration. "Refresh my memory: How did white Anglo Saxon people such as yourself get to your...continent?"

"It's credited to Amerigo Vespucci. Every March 9th, they use it as an excuse to sell refrigerators. Of course, Leif Erikson landed there first."

"Regardless, I don't imagine he was a saint. He likely also oppressed indigenous people."

The comment left me scratching my head.

"At any rate, my point is, your double has been acting out of a skewed sense of moral superiority—"

I could still follow where this was going. "You mean he got involved."

"Exactly. To be fair, he and his companions aren't monsters. In certain circumstances, they have changed things for the better, but they're also careless, and it's causing ripples through the time streams of multiple worlds." He brought up the `tiny planets' illusion again, but this time a glowing black-purple thing danced between the blue-green orbs, dissolving large chunks into ash whenever it made contact with one.

I swallowed hard. "Some kind of butterfly effect?"

"I'm afraid it's much worse. You won't understand how worse until you see it up close and personal."

"Man, why don't you just let me go? You clearly got me confused with someone else! I'm just a musician!" Wong had brought a pudgy African American guy with wavy hair into the room. Snazzy purple tuxedo. Definitely dressed like he'd been planning on going somewhere else. "The worst thing I ever did was drive my car in front of the wrong house! I don't know what you want from me! What time is it, anyway? I don't have time to play around with aliens and a talking duck, I'm supposed to sing at a ball game!"

Strange turned to face him. "Mr. Brown, I'm afraid there's been some complications, due to your...new friends in this cell."

The visitor scoffed. "Ain't any friends of mine!...You saying these the ass-heads that pulled me through that giant whirlpool?"

"Yes, these are the ass-heads."

My jaw dropped in shock. "He's the random motorist?"

"Why?" the wizard smirked. "Recognize him?"

I furrowed my brow. "No..." Then I stared at the doorway he had entered through. "Did he say there was a talking duck?"

Strange crossed his arms. "His name's Howard. Also from a parallel universe. Not terribly important. You'll probably spend so much time together that you'll get sick of each other's company."

"A talking duck."

In waddled the aforementioned bird. An ordinary white mallard, like you would see at a lake, but clad in a little sport coat, shirt and tie, with a cigar clamped in its beak.

It took a few puffs, and a feathery wing reached up to shake ash from the cigar. Its tail wiggled. "Who are these jokers?"

Strange gestured to me. "Howard, meet your new teammates."

The duck rubbed his head like he had a migraine. "We're so screwed."

All of a sudden, the entire building around us shook. Suits of armor toppled noisily onto the floor. Pagoda lamps broke apart, a Buddha became decapitated, crumbling to bits. Neko statues pawed the air like mad. The books on the shelves outside our cell came dive bombing out to receive permanent creases and a cracked spines.

Chunks of the walls and floor fell away, revealing parts of a swirling vortex identical to the one we just traveled through.

The duck wailed "Waaah!" Rembrandt flinched, grabbing hold of a pillar.

Inside our cell, though...no change. The books remained shelved, the food unspilled.

Strange raised his arms, muttering something as he waved his hands, wiggling his fingers.

Glowing orange symbols appeared in the air, and the shaking abruptly stopped. It didn't fix the damage, though.

"What in the hell was that?" Rembrandt cried as his trembling legs regained their footing.

"Timequake." Strange magically repaired a hole in the floor just seconds before Rembrandt stepped into it. "They've been increasing in frequency as of late, and I suspect it corresponds to how long your twins have been out there wreaking havoc."

He opened our cell. "I think it's time I take you on the grand tour."