Microstory 2480: Archidome

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I recently read a review on the prospectus for another dome. They were talking about how a lot of culture has faded from vonearthan society because of how standardized everything has become. And I must say that I agree. I understand why it happened. The basic design of the arcologies on Earth are perfect for what they’re intended to be. Each unit is a small and efficient living space, and they’re connected in such a way that allows modularization for shifting needs. You can open a door to grant a neighbor’s access to your units, or close them when you’re a teenager who needs to exert more independence. Everyone has a window, yet the structure is sound, because the spokes distribute the weight evenly, and over a sufficiently wide area. They’re nice, but they’re best for people who don’t care about what their homes look like, probably because they spend most of their time in simulations, or at least on the network. What your dwelling looked like, and how it was arranged, used to be profoundly important. I cannot stress to you enough how crucial it was for people to get to decide what their homes were like. That is what made it a home in the first place. There were multiple channels on linear television with dozens of programs about people finding, building, remodeling, or selling homes. And that’s before you include all the innumerable web content. It was a subculture of our society, and it went away due to a number of factors, which I’ve already touched upon. But the biggest moves happened in tandem with the shift to a post-scarcity economy. The government couldn’t put effort into building something to your specifications, or with any sort of flair or whimsy. Even before megastructures, they came up with a few models, and everyone got the same thing, because it was the most fair. Castlebourne gives us the opportunity to go back to the creativity of yesterday, in many respects, and in this respect, Archidome is the place for original architecture. It was empty at first—I really wish I had been here to see that. If you come here, you’re supposed to design your own building. It doesn’t have to be a single-family home. It can be an apartment complex, or a museum, or even a cathedral. The only restriction, really, is that you have to hold the rights to the intellectual property. I’ve heard a number of stories about visitors hoping to recreate some structure from their favorite movie, and that’s just not what this is for. Again, you get to decide what you build, and what it’s used for. It may never be used for its intended purpose, or anything at all. It’s up to you to promote it, and try to get visitors. I’m sure, over time, as the population of this planet in general increases, the chances that someone comes to see what you’ve created will go up. Until then, you might just have to be satisfied with the completion of the project itself. I’m proud of my columbarium, even though people don’t really die anymore. I’m proud of it because its mine, and it’s real. What will you create?

Microstory 2463: Overdome

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You can live here. It’s called Overdome, because everything here is oversized. Not only that, but most of them are habitable. I’m talking gigantic shoes, gigantic bookcases, gigantic whisky bottles. I’m not gonna list every little thing (or every big thing, rather) that serves as some sort of abode. What I’ll tell you is that most of the dome is empty. It’s up to you to request what you want if nothing that you envision already exists. You can be as involved in the process as you would like, or totally stay out of it. One woman I met in The Crystal Ball was only staying there temporarily while she designed her dream home to her exact specifications. It’s a 3D integrated circuit layout, obviously with multiple layers, known as a logic cube. You probably take them for granted, but every classical computer uses them to process and store data, and they’ve been doing it pretty ubiquitously since the mid-21st century. She loves them, and she wants her home to reflect that. I suppose I ought to go back a little and explain The Crystal Ball. It’s a giant crystal ball. That’s it. Lol, obviously it’s more complicated than that. Some of the objects here are just for show. They’re more like art pieces. But this one is a real building. It’s one of the biggest here, which is an important note to remember. These objects are not scaled relative to each other. The bookcase is actually smaller than the Crystal Ball, even though it’s the opposite for their real-world counterparts. The Crystal Ball is located in the very center of the dome, and serves as a central hub. You can book a room on a temporary basis, like the logic cube designer, or for a very temporary stay, like a hotel. Or you could just stay there permanently, if it strikes your fancy. It looks just like it should, except you can see people walking around in it. Don’t worry, if you are in a private room, you can adjust the opacity at will. I saw one guy as I was walking down the corridor who had the opacity at 99% for the outside, but it was fully transparent on the interior, so we could all see him change his clothes. Whatever, man. I would recommend coming to Overdome for a look, but it will be up to you if you want to stay. And then it will be up to you to decide if you want something new all to yourself. The possibilities are virtually endless. I noticed one option on the application form that was just a question mark. Apparently, you can select a mystery home. Someone will choose a design for you, and not tell you what it is for the entire time you’re waiting. They won’t even tell you where exactly your lot is located. You sign a contract that promises to stay there for at least a year, and they have all these stipulations about vacation periods, and whathaveyou. I don’t know if they choose embarrassing things, like maybe an ancient tampon, or what, but it could be kind of fun if you’re bored, or just like to live in the anticipation. Me? I can’t wait for my oversized alarm clock to be done.

Microstory 2454: Elizabeth Victoria

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If you’re looking for something anachronistic and weird, you’ve come to the right place. The Elizabethan Era ran from 1558 to 1603, during Queen Elizabeth’s reign. The Victorian Era started in 1837 and ended in 1901. They are both iconic periods in Great Britain’s history, but vastly different as they were separated by more than 200 years. The technology here is hard to get a grasp of. Not only are we dealing with stuff that they were using nearly a millennium ago, but they’re juxtaposed by each other. When you walk into a building, you never know if it’s going to be lit by gas lamps, or incandescent bulbs. It could be both! Which, I mean, it’s not like they destroyed all the gas lamps when they invented electricity, did they, innit? People walk around in all sorts of different clothes. They all looked alien to me, but I could tell that some of them were really old, and some were really, really old. The architecture is a mix, of course, with wooden cottages and natural stone buildings right next to giant even-stoned factories. Again, I’m sure a lot of the old stuff still existed in the new era, but the way they have it organized so randomly, it seems very forced and intentional. I’m not sure if I was supposed to learn something here, but it was fun to spend an afternoon getting a look around. I don’t think I would want to spend a lot of time there, though. I don’t much care either way, but I went with a historian friend, and they didn’t like it. They would prefer a historical dome to be accurate. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like they were shocked and appalled. The design was very clear in the prospectus, and you know they read that whole damn thing, because I waited for them to finish it while we were sitting in the vactrain station. They told us that it was intentionally incongruent, and in that goal, they delivered. That’s all you can ask sometimes, innit? (Hey, am I using that word right? I don’t even know.)

PS: Please read my friend’s review. They actually know all the historical and cultural stuff that kind of flew over my head anyway.

Microstory 2405: Ancient Thebes

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Sorry for my poor writing. It’s just not a skill that I ever picked up. I’m more into history. I’m really interested in history. I don’t have that much interest in going to one of the adventure domes, or whatever. I feel no want to run from zombies, or even relax by the ocean. I like to see what real places looked like at different times in history. Today is all about Ancient Thebes, Egypt. I could go on and on about this place, because it was amazing, but I’m sure it would be boring for you. Words just can’t describe how it feels to feel like you’re really there. As I was saying, I’m just not good at writing. That might have been too repetitive. The great thing about a planet like this is that you can make these places. It all looks so real and authentic. Ancient Thebes is gone. It was all modernized by the time people started taking photographs of the area, and now it’s been entirely removed in order to make room for the wilderness. I’m not saying that I don’t like plants and animals, but at one point, there was a plan to make wildlife refuges on rotating cylinders in orbit. What happened to that plan? I think that they were worried about us using it as an excuse to blanket the whole surface of Earth in a giant city. I wouldn’t have wanted that either, I think we just should have preserved historical architecture. I mean come on, there’s a middle ground, you know? I’m getting off track, but you really should be more cultured, and visit Ancient Thebes. They can’t build this sort of thing on Earth because of the whole animal thing, and it’s their territory, or whatever, but it works here. It really works. It’s like you’re really there. Just, if you come to this planet, don’t spend all your time having fun. Try to learn something. You can get a robot guide here who will tell you everything about Thebes and Ancient Egypt. You might find you like it more than you thought. Oh, and don’t ask if there are any attacking mummies. Those movies weren’t real. Okay? Had this guy on my tour kept asking about that shit. It’s like, shut the hell up.

Microstory 2402: Castledome

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I had the rare opportunity to visit Castledome. For those of you not in the know, this was the first dome ever built on the surface of this planet. They’re not even sure if the original colonist was intending to build more domes at the time, or if he just needed a breathable place to live. This is where the leadership and other sentient staff members of the whole planet live and work. Obviously, there’s a castle, but that’s not all. They’ve built up a whole village in the surrounding areas, giving it the real feel of a medieval settlement. Everything on the outside looks really archaic and simplistic. I’m not sure if the old-timey machines are functional, like the water mill, or the wagons that I see strewn about, but I’m sure they are. I didn’t spend a whole lot of time outside, or inside, for that matter. I was only granted a one night stay in one of the towers as a sort of treat. To be fair, this planet is still in its early stages. They’re still testing a lot of these hotspots, so I’m sure more people will have the chance to do what I did. It was interesting to be in all that stone architecture. I’m fairly young, so I just don’t have any experience with that sort of thing. But don’t fret, it wasn’t all rustic. They still have computers and a network connection. The bed might have looked old, but the mattress was still really comfortable, and came with all the adjustable settings and smart sensors. I was hoping to get a chance to meet the planet’s owner, but he was just too busy. I can imagine that running this place is not easy, even though he has a full staff of dedicated personnel. This may change in the future, but there aren’t any activities or adventures in this particular dome. It’s just for living and exploring, and again, it’s not available to everyone since that’s where all the people work. Check it out if you can, but don’t get your hopes up.

Microstory 2097: I Even Did Poorly in English

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What have I done with my life? Well, a lot of things. I have a ton of interests, but I’ve never really wanted to be an expert in anything, save for writing. But first, here’s a list of things that I’ve done that I didn’t like, or at least don’t anymore. I was a gymnast from childhood, up until my senior year of high school. I didn’t like to compete, and eventually only kept going because that’s what I was used to doing. I regret not being more self-aware, and realizing how it was a really good excuse to work out. Maybe then I would have continued to do something to keep my fitness up after graduating. I played baseball for a few years too, but I absolutely hate sports, and I quit as soon as my parents let me. I took golf lessons later, and ran a mile outside of a school program. Apparently, my parents were trying to find my skills and passion, and I was not smart enough to tell them that these things weren’t it. I would go on to run a 5K as an adult, but that was to lose weight, and I never wanted to do it again. I was on the dive and swim team all through high school, which my parents considered a natural extension of my experience as a gymnast, but I hated that too. After my first practice, I got in the car, and asked to let me quit right away, because the coach was making all divers swim to fill out the team. By the time my high school career was over, I preferred to swim, but I was literally the only diver on the team by then, and I guess I had to finish what I started anyway. I’m not a musician either. I played the piano for several years, and quit when my teacher died. My excuse at the time was that I didn’t want to think about trying to find a new teacher, but I think I can admit now that I always hated it as much as anything, and I was never good at it. I severely regret the amount of money my parents spent on a piano that’s no longer used, however much that was.

I was terrible in school, and that was annoying, because I wasn’t cool either, so everyone assumed that I was a nerd, but I wasn’t anything. I even did poorly in English, and related subjects. The way I see it, I’m more of a storyteller than a wordsmith. Words are just my medium, because I also have an ugly voice, but I think I would prefer to produce movies on the creative side than literally write the screenplays. After I graduated from college, in pursuit of my writing career, I started to do a lot more research, and branch out into subjects that I never thought I would try. I like architecture. Before I ended up here, I would use software to design spaceships, and other structures, from my stories, even though I never planned to release these illustrations publicly. I found it to be a soothing task, even when it was frustrating. I like to watch educational videos online for futuristic and technological subjects, and also some more grounded topics. Power generation, conversion, and storage; engineering; anatomy, physiology, medicine, psychology, and neurology; especially evolutionary biology; and even economics are some of my other random interests. I’m particularly invested in ethics, because I see bad ethics all the time, and also logic, because neurotypicals are so wrong so much of the time. I like to study these subjects, and pretend that I can retain the information presented to me, but honestly, I don’t remember hardly any of it, so they’re mostly good for killing time. Of course, I’ve done lots of other things, but these are the basics. Join me tomorrow, where I’ll discuss where I’ve lived, and where I’ve been.

Microstory 2095: Not Thick Enough

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My parents were pretty tired when they flew into town. There was this whole issue at the airport. I didn’t know this before, but they just built a new airport for Kansas City, and it’s not my favorite. I preferred the older concept, with the circles. People hated that, but my thing is, it can be a great thing, if you do it right. They designed those specific ones poorly, I’ll admit, but the idea is perfectly sound. These are rings, which allow your driver to pull up pretty much right to your gate. There are multiple security entrances, which means that you only have to contend with the people who are getting on your flight, or one of a handful of others. If they staggered the flight schedule right, though, and assigned the gates wisely, they could actually make it so that the only people who are in line for security at any one time are on the same flight. The other flights in your sector have already left, or don’t need to get through yet. Anyway, the issue was that the original ones were not thick enough, which left less room for bathrooms, and almost no room for restaurants, and other shops. Everything was on the outside of security, which I didn’t have a problem with. Since getting through security was so much faster than at other airports, it was fine. You didn’t have to get there three years early, because you’re already just right there! Ugh, I could go on and on about airport layouts, including the fact that you can squeeze more planes in the same area, because the curve is constantly dropping away from the fleet, but let’s get back to the story. I spent a lot of time in the new one, waiting for my parents to land. They’re still figuring out how to coordinate all this foot and car traffic, it was a mess to know where you can pick up your family, and when, then there was a glitch, so everyone was waiting at the wrong baggage conveyor belt. I think it will be fine, they just need time to work out all the kinks. I was going to take them back to my landlord’s house to meet her, and share a meal or two, but they just wanted to get to the hotel, order room service, and then go to sleep. They’ve both been retired for years, so they’ve grown used to their days not being so busy. I decided to spend the night with them. Fortunately, the hotel made its own mistake, and assigned them a double room, so there was a bed there for me. I don’t post on my blog on the weekends, so I’ll catch you all up on Monday. That’s when they’ll be flying back out, so I’m sure we’ll run into more trouble.

Microstory 2014: Utah

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Promontory University is a college in Utah that’s near Salt Lake City, to the north. The city is named that because it’s next to the Great Salt Lake, which is a really big body of water that has salt in it, like an ocean. It actually has more salt in it than the oceans. I don’t understand how it works, but Mrs. McKinney told me that she’s going to teach us the water cycle in a couple of months, so we’ll probably all learn more about it. Anyway, after the big trip in Europe, my papa decided to go to Promontory University. My grandma said that it was only about 2 and a half hours away from where they lived. So he was able to be out of the house, and learn how to be an adult, but he could also drive back home, and then back to his dorm in only one day if he really needed to. I don’t think he ever had to do that, though. He loved being at school. It’s where he learned the skills that he used when he got a job. That would not happen for a long time, though. After he graduated, he joined the military, but we’ll talk more about that in a few slides when I talk about Rhode Island. At Promontory University, he studied Architectural Engineering. That’s what people use to draw out buildings before other people build them. But he didn’t do much with buildings. His work had more to do with vehicles. That will come up again later too.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: April 13, 2404

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Leona was done with her meeting, and ready to rejoin her husband and the Waltons. The other members of the Shortlist—and the audience—were going back to wherever they were using Pribadium’s special portal, which would reportedly adjust their arrival in such a way to prevent any sort of detrimental exchanging of information. The process of delivering them took so long that Leona had to stay one more night while everyone else went through. Plus, there was an issue with this method with her. As an incentive to get her to participate in the meeting, Team Keshida graciously donated one of their several ships to her and her team. The Phoenix was a magnificent vessel, and the one reason why she wasn’t really all that upset about having to wait her turn. She wanted to familiarize herself with it first before she went off to find her people. What she didn’t know was how she was going to do that. The Phoenix would probably just stay here while she stepped through the portal, which was presumably going to send her to the future first. It certainly wouldn’t fit through along with her.

“Yes, it will,” Ishida claimed. Everyone else was gone by now. All that remained now were her, Kestral, and the residents of their host system of Altair, which weren’t going anywhere.

“How is that possible?” Leona asked.

“How was Ramses able to carry a copy of the AOC in his pocket?”

“He wasn’t carrying the ship itself. It’s more that he was pulling a copy of it from another dimension. It’s very complicated stuff, I’m not sure I understand it myself.”

“You don’t have to. We were inspired by him. And Hank Pym. And Doctor Who. You’ll understand enough when I show you how to use the Coffer.”

“That sounds ominous.”

Ishida teleported them to the Phoenix, inside the hangar bay of the Jameela Jamil, specifically to a section that Leona hadn’t seen yet. As far as starships went, it wasn’t the absolute largest ever built, but there was so much to see on the bridge, and in engineering. “The is the coffer sector. It is in the very center of the ship, and the most important chamber in the whole thing. It’s the heart, the soul, the body itself. Destroy this, and destroy everything. Protect it, and you can’t lose.”

“You mentioned this. It can resurrect the ship if it’s destroyed?”

“It does more than that.” Ishida reached up towards a camera, and flicked her wrist away from it. A heavy vault door swung open in the same direction. “The vault is impenetrable to all forms of teleportation, even your own. In an emergency, you can jump to just outside the door, but then you’ll have to open it. The security system is completely closed. The AI that runs the rest of the vessel will have absolutely no control over any of this. The antechamber we’re in right now even runs on a separate life support system.” Ishida forced the door open enough for them to slip through.

There wasn’t much to it. The ceilings were coffered, which was probably more of a design joke. There weren’t any controls, or chairs, or anything. The only interesting object in here was a pedestal sitting in the center. A hologram of the Phoenix hovered above it, slowly turning counter clockwise. It wasn’t directly above the pedestal, though. Between them lay what looked like a simple beige mat with black edges. It was creased to six sections. Ishida approached it. “This is the Coffer. And this...” she began, holding up her tablet, showing a security feed from the hangar bay. “...is the Phoenix from the outside.” She reached out and lifted one of the sections of the mat until it was standing upright on its own. The hologram flicked so that the bow was facing one direction. The stern, meanwhile, disappeared completely. As it did so, the actual stern as seen on the feed disappeared as well. When Ishida lifted the opposite section of the mat, the bow disappeared too. The same thing happened to the starboard side, and finally the port side. Now all that remained was the little room they were standing in.

Leona looked outside the vault door to see that they were floating in midair. “Trippy. Transdimensional gravity?”

“Yes,” Ishida answered, “but as soon as I close this, we’re gonna fall. So if you do that, either be in the middle of space in a vacuum suit, or be able to teleport to safety.”

Leona nodded and admired the coffer. “Do it.”

“No,” Ishida said. “You do it.”

Leona smiled. She took Ishida’s hand in her own, then used the other hand to lift the lid, and slap it shut, grabbing the handle at the last second before the floor disappeared from under them. Ishida jumped them safely to the floor below. Leona shook her fancy new briefcase. “Ship in a box. Clever girl.”

“One more thing.” Ishida looked nervous to say more.

“Oh, no.”

“I’ve brought up the AI, but it doesn’t have an AI at the moment. The position has been filled, but the candidate has not yet begun.”

“Who’s the AI?” Leona questioned. “And why are you afraid to tell me?”

“Follow me.” She started to walk towards a maintenance station. “I have an idea of what happened to you while you were in the Third Rail. I don’t have the details, but I know that you butt heads with Danica, and everyone else in that version of the Constant. We have been in contact with them in recent days, though, and the Concierge would like to start a new chapter, which means that the old one must be closed. She asked me to take someone off her hands. She acted like it was more of a burden than a gift.”

Leona realized who she was talking about. “Constance.”

Ishida removed what looked like a kettlebell from a toolbox. “Yes. She asked me to make sure that Constance!Three was kept...constantly active. Apparently this particular program can become evil when left dormant?”

“Yes,” Leona agreed, “I’ve seen it.”

“Are you okay with this? It may be a little awkward, but I feel like you’re the best qualified to handle the responsibility.”

Leona accepted the kettlebell drive. She shook it and the Coffer at the same time, as if testing their weight. “You’re right. We’re the only ones who can do it. We can’t run the ship on our own.”

“I can take you to the Pribadium portal.”

“I think I’ll walk; get a few steps in for my health. Thank you for this, Ishida. Thank Kestral for me too.”

Ishida nodded. “Bye, Leona. We’ll see each other again.”

Leona walked clear across the habitat until she reached the portal. She was wrong; they weren’t the only three time travelers left here. Thor was still manning his station. He lifted his watch to his lips. “The Eagle is about to fly.”

Leona stopped in front of him to give him a peck on the cheek. “I’ll show you an eagle.” She turned to face the portal, and released a hologram of a gigantic eagle on her head and shoulders, flapping its wings. She couldn’t make it cry, but it looked awesome. What Thor probably couldn’t tell was that it was Eagly. She stepped through the portal with her bird, and a smile that no one could see, and left this world.

When she stepped out, she found herself in the huge ballroom of a hotel. Angela was the first to notice her, but it didn’t register right away. She looked up from her tablet, then had to blink and take herself aback. “She’s here. Leona’s here!”

Marie sat up from the couch that was facing the other direction. Mateo appeared from around a corner. “Oh, good!” He exclaimed. He ran over and tried to give her a hug, but the two heavy objects that she was carrying made that difficult. He took them from her one by one, and carefully laid them on the floor, not knowing what they were. Then he was able to get that hug, as were Marie and Angela.

“Tell us everything,” Marie asked.

“I will, but where are we, and is it secure?”

“We’re on the tallest mountain of a planet called Violkomin. Hogarth built it. Or rather, her staff did. Apparently I wasn’t the first person to be resurrected from the afterlife simulation. A number of world-builders were brought back in order to use their skills to design and construct entire planets in base reality. But this is not Salmonverse; it’s a separate universe that’s attached to ours, and the facility we’re in serves as a dividing line between the two halves of it, the other being what we’ve been calling—”

“The Sixth Key, yeah. Makes sense.”

“Does it, though?” Angela questioned.

“We have a present for you,” Marie said excitedly. “It’s in the bathroom, I think.”

“Is it Ramses?” Leona asked.

“No, but he is alive,” Mateo confirmed.

“I saw him too.”

Just then, none other than Olimpia Sangster rounded the same corner that Mateo had. “Lee-Lee!” She ran forward, but didn’t get far before she decided to teleport to cover the rest of the distance. She practically knocked Leona over when she tackled her. They held onto each other for a long time before letting go.

Leona smiled and wiped a tear from her cheek. The team was almost whole again. They were still missing one team member, and since all five of them saw him alive and well, there should be nothing keeping him from returning to any particular moment. Perhaps some force was keeping him away on purpose as a tool to maintain simpatico.

“Aww,” Mateo said. He regarded her sadly for a moment. “What are those?”

Leona reached down. “This is a whole spaceship called the Phoenix. It has true faster-than-light capabilities, and a whole lot more. This is Constance!Three. We need her to run the ship.”

“Okay.” Mateo spoke with his hands. “How do we get the ship out of the box?”

“Simple.” She handed it to him. “Teleport it as far as you can in one jump, and open it.” She gestured towards the girls. “Once life support kicks on, the rest of us will jump inside. I mean, we could all open it together, but I’ll die in space in this body.”

“I’ll help with that when I get back.” It was Ramses, walking towards the group. He snagged the kettlebell drive that was currently housing Constance!Three out of Leona’s hand. “I’ll come back with her too.”

“Ram, what are you doing, and why can’t you tell us?” Leona asked.

“Careful,” he said in an English accent with a smirk. “Spoilers.” He made a fist like Thanos, but instead of a gauntlet, he squeezed his metal beads, and disappeared.

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The Advancement of Mateo Matic: April 12, 2403

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Moray McIver was one of the first students accepted into an experimental time school that existed inside of a time bubble, which accelerated the age of everyone within by several years for every year outside. While this was happening, legislation was passed to ban such use of these new time powers that people were suddenly experiencing. Most countries created entirely new branches of law enforcement in order to regulate the salmon and choosing ones of the Third Rail Earth, but the only one that really mattered was the Temporal Police Force in the United States. It wasn’t a particularly original name, and its mandate was different than what one may find in stories, but the majority of people with abilities lived in and around Arvazna. The U.S. and Arvaznian governments worked closely together to allow passage back and forth between the border since the Superscraper was nowhere near self-reliant. To make this work, the TPF had to enjoy the same freedom of movement in a jurisdictional sense.

Right now, Moray was leading Mateo, Angela, and Marie up to the ship that was going to take them to the planet of Violkomin, which was a corruption of the German word for welcome. The group was not invisible, per se, but they could not be seen as they wandered through the crowd. They were passing through a special spatial dimension that Moray created for them. Or rather he opened it, because it was always there, just beyond the reach of normal man. As far as parallel dimensions went, it could be considered the closest one to normal space. Slipping into it was trivially easy if you knew that it was there, and where specifically it was. Slipping out of it was also easy to do accidentally, which is why they had to stay with Moray at all times. Only he could see the exact pathway that they needed to take in order to stay within bounds.

“They’re working on technology to detect things like this,” Adult!Moray explained to them as they were snaking their way forward. “They’re...struggling with it.”

Mateo laughed. “Yeah, what you’re talking about is a disturbance detector, and only a few temporal objects can do it, like the Compass of Disturbance, and the HG Goggles. Whoever is looking into it is probably severely underestimating how difficult it is. If it were easy, we would have tons of them already.”

“Good,” Moray replied. “It’s an invasion of privacy. Most citizens are against.”

“Can people hear us?” Angela asked. “Because we can hear them. Sort of.”

“Under standard circumstances,” Moray began, “yes. Sound freely passes through the dimensional barrier, almost completely unencumbered, in both directions. However, I’m actively shunting the soundwaves elsewhere. If someone were underwater in the middle of a particular spot in the ocean, they might be able to hear us. The downside is the sound from the people around us is muffled. Maybe nothing to be done about that. It’s a tradeoff. A friend of mine is working on a workaround for me, though. She’s a temporal inventor, and she’s trying to design what’s basically a fancy hearing aid so I can spy on people from inside.”

“Oh,” Mateo said. “Her name wouldn’t happen to be Holly Blue, would it?” Perhaps they never really knew her origins.

“No,” Moray answered laughing. “Why? Who is that?”

“She’s the only inventor we know whose time power is inventing, instead of just being smart enough to do it.”

“Ah, I see. No, her name is Iona.”

“Is there something between you and this little inventor?” Marie asked, smiling. “It looks like you’re blushing.”

“No, I turned out to be gay,” Moray clarified. “I may or may not be blushing about her brother, Thurstan, who may or may not be a little too old for me.” That’s why I’ve been trying to get back into that time bubble.”

“Don’t do that,” Mateo suggested. “Just let time pass as it’s meant to. I’ve been in a few bubbles myself. No matter whether it’s slower or faster, you always come out feeling like you’ve missed something important.”

“That’s true. We’re here,” Moray said. The instruction on the door said to pull it, but he pushed, and moved it out of the way. Physical obstructions in the main dimension did have some kind of effect on the pocket dimension, but not always in the way they should, which was why they weren’t constantly bumping into people who couldn’t see that they were on the sidewalk with them. This was why Moray spent so much time in the bubble school, so he could learn to see a brand new geometry that a normal person couldn’t even fathom. Evidently, there was more he could do with this besides sneaking around. They snuck up to the launchpad.

They climbed the stairs to get all the way to the top, because Moray said that elevators were complicated. They decided to watch the launch in secret from the bridge. The crew was well-organized, but a little unpolished in their duties. It was understandable as all of this technology came as a giant leap in advancement, rather than a natural progression. These people had to learn their jobs in a short time frame. A few of them might have been part of their own time school bubble, but if these rumors were true, it was a different bubble than the one that Moray studied in.

Even with the issues, they launched the ship successfully, and kept everyone safe during the trip to Violkomin. From this region of space, traveling the long way around, using this vessel’s engine, was threatening to take a matter of years. Fortunately, the less violent majority of the Parallel decided to place supernexa near each version of Earth for shortcuts. These were not as large as the meganexa that they were still keeping to themselves, but more than enough for this diplomatic ship. What they could really use was the regular Nexus in Antarctica, but internal Third Rail sociopolitics prevented any one country from even stepping foot on Antarctican snow until the Global Council could renegotiate the treaties that dictated its usage.

For now, the supernexus was the only option for interplanetary travel for Third Railers and Fourth Quadrant dwellers, but it was not convenient. The Parallel didn’t place it near Earth. It was orbiting inside of the Oort Cloud, about 10,000 astronomical units away. At maximum speed, it would have taken them two hours to arrive. Out of fear, they didn’t push the ship that hard, so it took six hours. But once they were there, they were pretty much at Violkomin, because the supernexus of egress was built by the literal architects of the planet, who felt no need to make this whole thing a game.

“We’re close enough, we can take it from here,” Mateo said, now that they were well within teleporter range.

Captain Stefan Holland perked up. “Who was that?”

“Oh, shit,” Moray whispered. It was weird to hear him curse, but he was an adult now. He waved his arms around. “I forgot to hold the sonic dampener.”

A random crewmember reached over, and pressed a big mauve button near the exit. The door dropped down, the lights also turned mauve, and everyone got into defensive positions.

“Who is here?” Captain Holland asked again.

Moray held his finger against his lips to keep everyone quiet.

“No,” Mateo said. “Get me out of here.”

“It should be fine now. Just be extra quiet,” Moray continued to whisper.

“I need an exit,” Mateo maintained.

Moray sighed, and reached over to pull back the invisible curtain that separated the pocket dimension from everything else. Mateo ducked through it, and held up his hands. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt anyone.”

“A stowaway,” the Captain noted. “Put him in hock.”

“No, you can’t do that,” Mateo told them. “We have to get to Violkomin, so that’s what we’re going to do.”

“We? Where are the others?”

Moray dropped the barrier, and revealed the other three.

I was going to tell them I meant the royal we.”

“We can talk about toilet kings another day, Moray reasoned, unwittingly confused. “We stick together.”

“Take them all to hock,” Holland decided.

“Wait,” Mateo stopped the guards from approaching. “Do you feel that?”

“Feel what?” Captain Holland.

“Not you.”

“Yes,” Angela agreed. “It’s her.”

“I feel her too,” Marie said.

“She’s not on the planet.”

“No, but she’s close.”

“Whatever you’re talking about, you can continue talking about it from the other side of a cell. No more delays. No more resisting.” The Captain had had enough.

“I do too,” Moray claimed.

“You what? You feel Olimpia?”

“I feel...a disturbance in the force. She’s not out here. She’s in another dimension. Not my dimension, but similar.”

“Can you get her out?” Mateo asked.

“Not from here. But we can work together. One of you teleport me to her, and I’ll free her. But I’ll need a vacuum suit.”

“Yes. Sir, where are your vacuum suits?”

“We are not accommodating you,” Captain Holland argued.

“Right. I’ll find them myself.” Mateo took Moray by the hand, and started jumping around the ship until he found the airlock. Every time someone came up to stop them from getting what they needed, he would transport them to the other side of the vessel. Angela and Marie showed up soon to do the same. They kept working until Moray was protected and ready. They focused on the location of the empathic bond they shared with Olimpia, and made another jump, this time to the middle of space. She was floating there in a translucent cocoon of folded space, eyes closed, and trapped in the pocket dimension.

Moray reached for her, and pulled her all the way through to empty space. She woke up and tried to breathe, but found herself unable to. Fortunately, the few seconds she spent out in the black was nowhere enough to kill her. Mateo grabbed her in relief, and jumped the both of them down to the planet. Angela and Marie followed closely with Moray.

Once Mateo was sure that Olimpia wasn’t hurt, and wouldn’t need any medical attention, he hugged her again, and then started kissing her all over her face. “Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah!”

Angela and Marie did the same. “Oh my God,” Olimpia exclaimed. How long has it been for you?”

“Over a year,” Angela answered.

“Four years for me,” Marie spoke for herself.

“Aww.” Olimpia gave her an extra hug. “It’s only been a couple days for me,” she explained when it was over. And they were awful. I think I was unconscious for the few days after that, though.”

“We had no idea where you were” Mateo began, “until we heard of the Sixth Key, but even then, it was a long time before we had an opportunity to come here. We’re so lucky to have found you when we did.”

“Score one for Ramses and his empathy upgrade,” Marie mused.

“Yeah, where’s he? Where’s Leona?”

“He has a mission, she has a meeting. They’ll find their way back to us later. We’ll explain everything, but first, what about you? How have you been?”

They heard someone approaching from around the corner. They hadn’t paid much attention to where they were. It was just kind of a big open room; maybe a hotel ballroom. It was Lowell Benton who appeared from the hallway. “Oh. Are you part of the diplomatic team?”

“Lowell?” Angela asked, shocked to see him here. “Are you in charge of this whole place? All by yourself?”

Well...Hogarth is supposed to be back from her little meeting, but she’s not returned yet, and I don’t know why. Ellie’s there too. I’ve been holding down the fort, but you know...I’m not great at diplomacy. I really shouldn’t be the only one here, but funny enough, the other meeting people didn’t want a serial killer crashing their party.”

“What?” Moray asked.

“He’s reformed.”

“I’m powerless,” Lowell said. “I died and was resurrected without my ability to witness past evil deeds. You have no idea how good that feels. You take your ignorance for granted. And who is this, by the way?”

“A new friend.” Mateo pointed accordingly. “Lowell Benton, this is Olimpia Sangster, and this is Moray McIver. Moray, Olimpia, this is Lowell.”

“I see. And why are there two Angelas now?”

“I’m Marie. It’s a long story.”

“I see again. I do not have time for it. I have to figure out what I’m gonna do about these diplomatic officials coming from the Third Rail.”

“I’m afraid we can’t help. We’re back on our pattern, so we’ll disappear tonight.”

“Plus, the bridge crew doesn’t like us,” Moray pointed out.

“Can you get us to the Nexus?” Mateo asked.

“I can’t do that.” He turned his face to stare ominously over at the wall. “It’s on the other side,” he said in an eerily quiet voice. “It’s on the other side,” he said even quieter.

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The Advancement of Mateo Matic: April 11, 2402

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With Danica gone, the only logical place to seek help from someone in the time traveler underground was at the Salmon Civic Center in Kansas City. The place was deserted when they teleported there yesterday. It didn’t look like anything had gone wrong, more like everyone who worked there just happened to call out sick on the same day. They tried to go to the Great Pyramid of Giza too, but there was no one there either, though that wasn’t surprising, because as important as it was, it wasn’t known for its hubbub. No one could think of any other options for a while until Marie remembered something. “Let’s just reach out to the Delegator.”

“Ah, that guy’s never helpful,” Mateo whined.

“We have to connect to somebody,” Angela contended. “He may not be able to help, but he may know where everyone else is. This is just meant to be a start.”

Mateo sighed as he was stepping over to the industrial synthesizer, which they requested in their unit. “Hey Thistle, build me two sets of Jenga playing blocks please.”

Once the machine was done, they arranged the blocks in the formation of Stonehenge, then Mateo laid the final stone, and uttered the magic words. Nothing happened. Well, not nothing, exactly. They could feel a tug on their skin. The Stonehenge dimension was trying to reach them, but was unable to, for some reason.

“Ugh, I guess we’ll just play a game,” Marie suggested, shaking her head.

“No, there’s one other option at least,” Mateo said. “I didn’t offer it before, not because it would be a worse option, but because it may take some time for me to remember the code. Stonehenge isn’t the easiest thing to build a replica of, but there are tons of photos for reference. This one can only come from memory.”

It took so long for Mateo to remember the special knock that it was early morning the next year. Baudin Murdoch opened the door. “Mister Matic. How long has it been?”

“Hard to tell. Are you the only one left?” Mateo asked.

“Yeah, everyone else is at the meeting.”

“The Edge meeting?” Angela questioned. “I thought that was just for The Shortlist.”

Baudin shook his head. “No, it’s for anyone who didn’t want to end up with a duplicate in another universe.”

“That doesn’t describe you?” Marie asked.

Baudin shrugged. “Not many can do what I do. The way I see it, this new universe is better off with access to my power without the OG salmonverse being S-O-L at the same time. Anyway, come on in, come on in. Let’s have a seat in the lobby.”

They stepped into his office building. The girls had never been here before, so they looked around. “Do we have duplicates?”

Baudin shrugged again. “I don’t know. I suppose so, though.”

“We were led to believe that we were not allowed to attend the meeting.”

“Maybe that’s really where they all are,” Baudin began. “The way I understand it, the entire planet they’re on was protected from that whole thing. I didn’t read the fine print, because I made my decision quite quick.”

Mateo nodded, but needed to readjust the topic of conversation “We need help. Our friend is missing. She’s somewhere in the Sixth Key, but we don’t know where to start, and we don’t have a ship, or know anyone who might be able to get us one. We don’t know where all the other Earths are either, in relation to this one.”

“Did you speak with Stargazer?” Baudin asked.

“We went to the Pyramid, but he wasn’t there. And I only know that because no one was there. We’ve never actually met. Paige told me about him.”

“He’s mapping the new universe,” Baudin said. “I figured he’d stay there, but maybe he needed access to other telescopes, which are all basically doing the same thing. With all the time travelers gone, there’s no one left to help them understand what’s happening. Perhaps that’s why you weren’t invited to the meeting; so that you can do that.” He studied their faces, which were making it clear that they were uninterested in the responsibility. “All right. In that case, I’ll reach out to him for you.” He went behind the reception desk, and started digging through the cabinets and drawers. Finally, he found the remote control, which he used to bring down a screen behind them. They moved so they could get a better look while Baudin turned the projector on too. Using a tablet, he searched for what he was looking for, and then he picked up a microphone.

“Are you going to sing?”

“I’m going to sing,” Baudin answered. “No judgments please. I don’t have to sing well. I just have to sing passionately.” He prepared himself mentally for a moment, and then he switched on the music. “There once was a season of infinite light // When the distance from heaven was not far behind // I was close to You // I was close to You!” He continued the karaoke song, which was evidently called Constellations by Ellie Holcomb. He sang the whole thing, and he did so with the passion he promised, and he actually had a pretty nice voice. “Never alone // Never alone!” When he sang the final line, “out here in the dark” a real darkness consumed them all.

Seconds letter, pinpricks of glory began to appear above them. They formed the shape of a human heart, and once this shape was complete, they fell together from the ceiling, into a three dimensional human silhouette. From this, a man appeared. It must have been Stargazer. “I miss that feeling,” he said as the last of the light dripped from his skin, and faded on the floor like liquid sparks. It seemed to be a pleasant experience. “No one ever calls me anymore. Thank you for the opportunity.”

“Hello, Stargazer. My name is—”

“Mateo Matic. I’ve met a version of you.”

“I see. We were hoping that you could help us. It would seem that the main sequence planets do not possess many time travelers, but if you’re one of them, perhaps you can find a friend of ours? Her name is Olimpia Sangster.”

Stargazer nodded slowly. “Is she a friend?”

“Of course,” Mateo insisted.

Stargazer looked over at Baudin, who nodded. “If he says so, it is so.”

“I have heard the echoes,” Stargazer said as he was staring up at the ceiling. He waved his arm above his face, and transformed it back to the night sky, but this time with more than just the one constellation. “My name is Olimpia Sangster, and I have a normal voice,” he recited. “A fool who refuses to follow their superior only proves why they are the fool, and why their superior is the leader,” he added. “Olimpia Sangster, circa 2371.”

“Those are quotes from her. Where did you hear those?” Angela was nervous.

“She says other things,” Stargazer replied cryptically, “but those are the only times she mentions herself by name.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, she does say O-L-I at one point. I assume she was having to spell it for someone. I don’t know why she stopped in the middle.”

“Explain. Where are you hearing these lines?”

Stargazer looked up with his eyes, and pointed with his whole hand. “The stars. The stars are echoing her words. You can’t hear them?”

“No. We can’t...hear stars. Why are they talking about her?”

Stargazer was confused. “Because she made them. She made half the universe. Someone else made the other half.”

“What the hell do you mean, she made the universe?”

“Just what it literally sounds like.”

“Have you...seen her?” Marie asked him.

Stargazer shook his head. “She only speaks. She speaks from everywhere.”

Ramses suddenly appeared out of nowhere, holding Mateo’s once-rosary again. “Oh, hey. You’re here too? I just left you at your apartment, like, a second ago.”

“That was yesterday,” Mateo told him. “What are you doing? Where is Olimpia?”

“I need him.” Ramses gestured towards Baudin. “It starts and ends with the Superscraper.”

“Hm.” Bauden had never heard the term, but he was intrigued. “Tell me more.” He reached out to Ramses.

“Wait. Where. Is. Olimpia?” Mateo repeated urgently.

“Go to Violkomin.”

“What? Tell us what that is!” Angela pleaded, but it was too late. They were both gone. “Have you heard of this Volkomen place?” she asked Stargazer, mostly because he was the only one left with any answers.

“It’s the edge of the barrier between the two halves of the universe. The stars speak of it as well, but I can’t find it. I will one day”

“Grrr,” Mateo growls. “Then we need to go to the Superscraper. Hopefully we can catch Ramses a third time. Would you be able to take us to the Third Rail Earth?”

“That I can do.” Stargazer raised his arms, bathing them in light. When it receded, they were in the lobby of Leona’s Superscraper in the Nation of Arvazna.

A woman stepped out from behind the reception desk, which Mateo now realized looked a lot like the one in Baudin’s office. This whole building screamed Murdoch architecture, now that he thought about it. Baudin did build it. That made perfect sense. “Hello,” she said politely. “Welcome to Arvazna. Do you need to go through intake?”

“We’re pros,” Mateo replied. “We were looking for our friend, Olimpia. Or Ramses. Have you heard of them?”

“I’m sorry, I’ve not. Are they two of the New Arvaznians?”

“No, I...Alyssa!” Mateo could see her across the way. “Alyssa, there you are!”

“Mateo, you’re back!” She teleported the twenty-five meters to them. “Sorry I had to cut out a couple years ago. As you can see, I had a lot of other work to attend to.”

“You run this place?” Angela asked.

“Mhmm, I do. Someone’s got to help these people with their new powers, patterns, and afflictions.”

“Have you seen Ramses around here?” Marie asked, not caring about that.

“No. Why would he be here? He’s dead, isn’t he?”

“No.”

“Well, sorry.”

“Well, he built this building. I mean, he commissioned the man who built it, Baudin Murdoch.”

“Oh. Well that explains why the auditorium is called Murdoch Hall. I assume he went back in time to do it in secret?”

“Yes.”

“You work here? This place is yours?” Angela asked again, just in a slightly, but not any more helpful, way.

“Yes, I told you that, Ange. Are you okay?”

“You were supposed to be one of us. They know you from the past...the future...whatever. You can’t work here.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Angela. I can’t. This is my responsibility. Even if you stayed to help, I wouldn’t leave. These people need me. The normies are coming after us. We have to protect ourselves.”

“But...fate,” Angela pressed.

“It’s okay,” Mateo assured her. “It’s not meant to be.”

“No, she’s part of the team,” Angela argued. “We need her. We need all the power we can get. We need to find Olimpia, and no one else is left. They all abandoned the main sequence for the other main sequence.”

“I guess we changed things,” Mateo said sadly. “For Alyssa. For all of us.” Everything they knew about the timeline was up in the air. Maybe she was meant to join them on their future adventures, and maybe things will worsen because she chose another path, but they were not in the business of coercion, or even guilt-tripping. “It happens. Marie was never meant to exist, but she does, and I wouldn’t go back to put a stop to it. We’ll just have to find her another way.”

Angela scowled, and crossed her arms.

“Have you heard of...what was that again?” Marie asked Stargazer.

“Violkomin,” he helped.

“Yes, that. Have you heard of that world?” Marie went on.

“Yeah,” Alyssa replied. “The Global Council is sending one of Aldona’s diplomatic ships to meet with them.”

“We need to get on that ship,” Mateo decided.

“I can show you where it will be launching from next year,” Alyssa said, “but I can’t get you a seat. I’m sure they’re all full-up. This is a big deal. They’re trying to stop the Reality Wars. Of course, they don’t know specifically about them, but in these couple of years, there has already been a lot of tension. Everyone’s worried, and they’re hoping that the other half of the universe will help.”

“That’s okay,” Mateo said. “We’ll just teleport into a broom closet, or something.”

“Sounds cramped. Allow me to help you make it bigger. Take Moray with you.”

“Your brother? Does he have a power too?”

“Yes, as does Carlin, but it’s Moray you’ll need. Come on out,” she insisted to the aether. “Come out!” She rolled her eyes, and reached behind an invisible wall right next to her. She pulled Moray into view. At least it looked like him. He also looked about twice the age he did when they last saw him.

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