Moore Deep Stories

Chapter 1: The Void

The pack of beagles started to howl from the peak of an upcoming hill.

"Let's hope they actually found something this time," Bobby muttered to himself as he trudged up the hill. He had been searching all day, and his Beagles weren't being much of a help. The only thing they had found were some wormholes that lead back to Earth, which was far from what he was looking for. The dogs continued to howl as he reached the top of the hill.

"All right, all right, what's got you all so riled up?" He said, as he finally stepped foot at the top. At first glance nothing stood out to him, just a couple of trees and some bushes. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it. The small plant was a deep, dark green, and two small leaves sprouted out of the shin-high stalk. Of course, he was not interested in what was on the the surface, but what was underneath; because the very roots of this plant held the source of Bobby's very existence: Deep Thoughts. He pulled the plant from the ground and examined the roots.

"If I could be a bird, I think I'd be a penguin, because then I could walk around on two feet with a lot of other guys like me," He read aloud. Bobby turned to the lead dog in the pack,

"Good girl, Daisy!" he praised as he patted the beagle on the head. It was a true relief that they had found a fresh patch of deep thoughts as the harvest back at the house was a giant failure. The plant simply could not grow in contained spaces for too long, which is why they naturally grow in the vast, empty spaces of the void. However, this crop failure seemed a bit odd since he had followed all the procedures to properly grow the Deep Thoughts, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. Bobby checked his watch and saw that it was nearing lunch time on Earth. He had to tell his counterpart the good news, and that was the most opportune time to send an email. He harvested the small deep thought patch at a brisk pace, but not too fast as to damage the roots. The plan is to bring them back to the house and not lose the spot he found them at. Since if there is one patch, a few others should be close by.

"Okay, now that we've got that taken care of, let's head back home," Bobby said as he stood up. He scanned the area looking for a specific wormhole. It was the fastest way to his house in the void, any other way would be too slow. If he didn't make it back in time, it would be a few hours before he could do anything, since the two of them had to agree on the next course of action. That's what Bobby and his Earthly counterpart had discussed; they could live separate lives, but they have to agree on basic necessities like deep thoughts. It wouldn't be for too much longer anyway since Earth Bobby was retiring soon.

"Aha! There it is," he exclaimed out loud when his eyes finally fell on it. At this rate he might actually make it before his time window closed. Bobby then rounded up the beagles and started to make his way over. As he walked he started to make various sounds that were somewhere between a whistle and a hum to fill the empty space. It wasn't that he didn't like the silence, he just didn't have time to get lost in his thoughts. Being alone (with the exception of the beagles at his side) made doing so very easy. Bobby approached the wormhole and counted his dogs. If he left one behind, it'd be tough to find it again, so he tried to keep track of them, even in a rush. He made sure all of them were through before he stepped in himself. And just like that he was back at his house in the void. It was at a fairly nice spot, he had a great view of the surrounding nothingness and enough room for his beagles. Plus, there was a good wormhole route to Earth close by. Bobby picked up the pace and speed walked to his house, but he couldn't be bothered to run (even though he was trying to go quickly). He whizzed through the door and to his desk with the computer. Surprisingly the void had extraordinary internet connection, so it made communication easy. He prepared what he was going to write in his head as the computer booted up. The message would have to be short and sweet since his counterpart wouldn't have time to read a lengthy e-mail. It was nearing the due date of a large essay he had assigned for his English class, and Bobby new he'd be preoccupied.

"Humph, well what now?" He questioned to himself after he sent the message. Bobby figured it would at least be 20 minutes or so before he heard back, but it was better than having to wait a couple hours. His counterpart only answered the emails that came from the void during lunch or after school; he feared that a student might see one if he answered during class. Now that all pressing matters were attended to, Bobby decided that it would be a more opportune time to let his mind wander. His thoughts drifted until he came to rather unsettling one. He remembered that a while back he decided to separate his being to make a third Bobby, so he could have another person around. After the two had spent some time together, he realized that even though they were the same person, their personalities were quite different. So, seeing that they weren't getting along as well as he hoped, Bobby tried to absorb him back into his being. The third Bobby refused and escaped through a wormhole with some of the week's harvest. The whole situation was inconvenient at most, because if the other one ran out of energy, his energy would just come back to the original Bobby. So, he decided that there was no need to tell his counterpart about the situation. It was odd though since it had been over a month at this point, but there was no return of energy. At that very second, he was shocked out of his thought process, because Earth Bobby e-mailed him back.