Walking the Multiverse
by GlennKoerner
A Visitor
Janet Stockton dived over the broken down wall, painfully clipping part of it with the shoulder of her environmental suit. The black material was flexible and impact resistant, but impact still hurt her shoulder. Bricks and loose mortar broke away, creating a small avalanche of debris. Janet ignored both the pain in her shoulder and the deplorable conditions of the outlying city, drawing her disruptor and aiming across the upper edge of the wall and back the way she had come. She couldn't allow insignificant things to distract her focus.
Her breathing was labored, and her pulse was practically out of control. Her gun hand trembled slightly, so she wrapped both hands around the disruptor's grip to keep the aim steady. Janet waited, but there was no sign of her pursuer.
She knew it was foolish to think she'd lost it. Runners were relentless trackers. They followed at a swift pace they could maintain for hours, and more importantly, they anticipated ambushes. Janet spun around in time to see the runner emerge silently from behind a burned out shell of a bus in an attempt to attack her from behind.
Lean to the point of being almost skeletal, runners' muscles resembled twisted vines wrapped tightly in a thin and flexible leather skin. The left arm was long and hung down nearly to the ground while the right was a collection of five tentacles branching out from the shoulder. The legs were angled backwards at the knees for faster sprinting capabilities. The leathery skin extended up from the torso to cover the lowered head of the vaguely humanoid creature as if the skull had melted and become partially absorbed into the main part of the body. The florescent green of its eyes hovered near the collarbones.
Janet fired her disruptor repeatedly, sending pulses of electrical energy toward the monster. She had always been terrified at the speed of runners and the others of its kind. The creature ducked, missing the first two shots cleanly, but the third shot hit, sending an electrical pulse through the body and temporarily disrupting muscular function.
On her way past, Janet shot the runner three more times to be sure it would stay down for the longest amount of time possible. Disruptors only had a limited effectiveness, and it wouldn't be long until the thing recovered and started hunting her again. Hurrying away from the creature, Janet hoped she would have enough time to reach the Citadel before it caught up with her.
Janet's boots kicked up clouds of dust from the barren and desolate streets as she jogged toward home. She kept her speed at a reduced level to avoid running into anything lying in wait. Eyes alert for signs of movement, she skidded to a halt when he heard something to her right. Holding the disruptor out in front, Janet closed in on the sound.
In a crater that had once been a basketball court, only one of the goals was still standing on the edge of the circular depression, an electrical disturbance was growing. Blue-white energy swirled in a tight sphere near the center of the crater. Suddenly, the energy expanded into a circular formation. Although it had the solid appearance of illuminated glass, the energy flowed and swirled like smoke as if it wasn't bound by the any of the laws of physical reality.
Janet stared hard because the area within the vertically standing circle wasn't the crater behind it but a completely different landscape. Trees swayed slowly in a gentle breeze, their movements in tandem with the knee high grass of lush green. Flowers of a multitude of colors and shapes were interspersed among the green foliage. Janet couldn't see the sky through the swirling circle from her position as her line of sight was angled downward from the rim of the crater, but the available light spilling out of the other realm showed it was daytime, another contradiction with Janet's current location as the stars were sparkling in the cloudless sky above.
Clad in a long cloak of dusty violet, a humanoid figure stepped through the circle and into the crater. The face was hidden in shadow by a wide hood. Despite the cloak concealing everything from the neck down, Janet did get a glimpse of the person underneath when the figure moved. Raising the left arm and turning it sideways, outside the confines of the cloak, as if checking the time on a wristwatch, the visitor pushed back the sleeve to reach the control pad strapped to the left forearm. Using the right hand, the visitor typed a few commands before silently waiting. The energy circle reduced down to a fist sized knot before dispersing in a diminutive burst of glittering sparkles.
Janet didn't know who the stranger might be, but she couldn't leave without offering a warning.
"Hello," Janet called down into the crater.
"Greetings," a feminine voice pleasantly answered in return. "My name is Alicia. Who are you?"
"Janet," she replied. "You shouldn't stay out here long. The infected are in the area."
"Infected?" Alicia asked, moving to the edge of the crater and starting to climb. "Do you mean like zombies?"
"What are zombies?" Janet questioned.
"Walking corpses who try to feed on the living," Alicia answered. "I tangled with them awhile back. They're called infected, the undead, walkers, biters, and so on."
"Never heard of them here," Janet stated. "The infected I deal with are people transformed by a genetics project gone wrong. Once it gets into their system, the pathogen changes them very quickly, in only a matter of minutes. In addition to heightened senses, speed, and strength, the monsters are extremely aggressive toward anyone who isn't one of their kind. They've also proven extremely resilient to all forms of weaponry; basically, we can't kill them."
Janet knelt down and grabbed Alicia by the hand, helping to haul her up the last few feet and out of the crater. She showed Alicia her gun.
"This is a disruptor," Janet explained. "It can immobilize one for a few minutes, but not more than ten. I shot one a short time ago; we need to get moving before it revives."
"I think it may be too late," Alicia countered while nodding to something behind Janet.
Janet whirled around and found the runner racing toward them at full speed.
"You say they're infected?" Alicia questioned. Without waiting for an answer, she threw back her cloak to keep it out of her way. Drawing a gun from the outside of her right leg, she fired a single round at the runner. The creature didn't have time to dodge the powerful shot and kicked over backwards.
"Great shot," Janet praised. "But, it's not dead."
"I'd be surprised if it was," Alicia replied. She held up the gun where Janet could see it clearly.
The forward part of the weapon possessed two barrels mounted one on top of the other. The housing around the barrels extended backwards in a straight line to give the gun a rectangular shape. A small opening had been created around the grip and trigger, but the rest appeared solid. Taking a hold of the top of the gun, Alicia pushed it forward, opening the outer casing and the top half of the upper barrel.
Alicia took a cylindrical object from her belt. Measuring no wider than her index finger, it fit perfectly into the open gun barrel. Pulling back on the gun's housing, Alicia closed the weapon after she finished reloading it.
"What's the thing you put in there?" Janet inquired.
"It's a little something I picked up on my travels," Alicia told her. Taking another from her belt, she handed it over to Janet. "They're called Ecrivain's Specials. I was told they cure anything, and so far, it seems to be true."
Janet looked toward where the runner had fallen, but the monster wasn't there anymore. In the place where the creature had been, a man was laying on his side, the small cylinder from Alicia's gun stuck to his chest.
Alicia pushed the hood away from the reflective facemask of her helmet before removing her cloak altogether. Kneeling beside the man, she draped the cloak over him. She also pulled the cylinder away from his chest, revealing three needles of different lengths protruding from the end. A button on the rear of the cylinder retracted the needles, and she placed the empty injector back on her belt. She also holstered her gun as it wouldn't be required for the time being.
"This is impossible," Janet breathed in shock. "It's been years since the infection started, and we've never come close to a cure."
"I don't have an unlimited supply of the Ecrivain's Specials." Alicia mentioned. Her faceless helmet moved one way and the other as she looked around. "If there are any more of these things nearby, we should get moving."
"I'll take you to the Citadel," Janet informed her. "It's where I was headed before you arrived."
"Good," Alicia agreed. "Let's get our friend here and be on our way."
Janet hesitated.
"Is something wrong?" Alicia asked when she pushed the man into a sitting position and realized Janet wasn't helping.
"He was infected," Janet reminded. "If even a trace lingers in his system, we'd be risking contaminating the Citadel."
"Trust me, he's cured," Alicia promised. "I've seen this stuff work before. It not only cures infections but heals as well. This guy is probably in better condition now than either one of us."
"Then why is he still unconscious?" Janet queried.
"You saw what he was," Alicia answered. "How much of a demand is a transformation like that going to put on a person's system? Regenerating bone, skin, and muscle to such a degree would cause a tremendous energy drain. Basically, he's cured and healthy but exhausted. Once he sleeps for a time, he'll be fine. Now, give me a hand. This guy's heavy."
Janet paused a moment before relenting. Reaching down under the man's right arm, she pulled him up into a standing position while Alicia supported him on the opposing side.
"Which way?" Alicia asked.
"Over there," Janet said with a nod in the proper direction.
Janet and Alicia carried the unconscious man to the entrance of an old drainage tunnel. Before the infected had taken over the city, the tunnel had been used as an exit for water accumulating in the streets.
"Do these tunnels ever flood?" Alicia asked.
"Not since we sealed up some of the drainage grates and diverted the water," Janet responded.
"Don't the infected come after you in here?" Alicia questioned.
"Of course," Janet confirmed. "But, we have slots cut in the walls where we can fire disruptors through and immobilize them. Once they're down, we come outside and secure them. They may be incredibly strong, but their power isn't unlimited. If the chains are heavy enough and thick enough, they'll hold the beasts."
"Hold them where?" Alicia inquired. "You didn't even want to bring this one back and risk the Citadel, so where do you have the fully infected locked up?"
"We have them in a different tunnel system," Janet told her. "We have a single connecting passage between here and there and more gun ports to disable them again."
"Your defenses are formidable," Alicia admired.
"The greatest vulnerability lies with the possibility of an infection breaking out inside the Citadel," Janet cautioned. "When the first cities fell, defenders crowded together in easily defendable locations, but when a survivor who carried the infection was taken in for safety, the contagion spread, splitting the focus of the defenders and allowing the strongholds to be overrun. That threat endures to this day."
"Don't worry," Alicia assured her. "Ecrivain's Specials work every time."
"Halt!" came the shouted order through an opening in the wall to their left. Panels slid back on the opposing wall, and gun barrels extended out through the openings.
"Hold your fire," Janet countered. "I'm back from a recon mission, and I have two friends."
"Remove your helmet, stranger," a gruff voice commanded.
Alicia slowly reached a hand back and flipped the latch behind her left ear. Repeating the procedure on the right side, she unlocked the back panel of her helmet. The rear plate was now held only by a hinge along its upper edge, allowing her to remove the snug helmet without trouble. Alicia pulled off the helmet, and Janet took an immediate step back, forcing Alicia to hold the man entirely by herself.
"What is it? Alicia asked through gritted teeth.
"It's impossible," Janet said in a disbelieving whisper. "It just can't be."
"What?" Alicia demanded. Like her patience, her muscles were also being strained.
Janet pulled off the helmet of her environmental suit, and the two women stared at each other in stunned amazement. They both had the same face.
Choices
"I never expected this," Alicia stated calmly. Unwilling to support the full weight of the unconscious man, she lowered him to the ground. "But, I think I understand it."
"I wish you'd clarify it to me," Janet responded.
"I've been traveling to different worlds," Alicia explained. "At least, that's what I thought I'd been doing. Apparently, I haven't been traveling to different worlds but to alternate versions of the same one. The reason we look the same is because we are the same. You're the me I could've been had I grown up in your world and had your experiences, and I'm what you could've been if you'd gotten your start in life in my world."
"Which one of us is the real one?" Janet asked.
"Both," Alicia replied. "Consider it like a fork in the road. Your reality went one way, and mine went the other. Somewhere out there in the multiverse, it turned around and went the back the way it had come. Current theory about the multiverse suggests there is a reality for every different variation of choice and outcome. Everything that could happen does happen in a different reality. This is one of the weird times where the two have come into contact."
"I'm not sure I buy this," Janet said slowly.
"You don't have to," Alicia accepted. "For the time being, consider me a long lost twin and leave it at that. Right now, let's get inside and get this fellow checked out. Maybe I can help with your infected problem while I'm here."
"Going somewhere?" Janet asked.
"Yes," Alicia confirmed. "I need to eventually get back to my reality and find out why my equipment switched realities instead of locations. Slight technical error, I would say."
"Until we're certain of who you are and what you're doing here, you will be under guard and your every movement and action will be monitored," Janet warned.
"As long as you don't try and take the gate device I'll need to get home, we shouldn't have a problem," Alicia accepted.
"Keep your weapon holstered and your hands in the open," Janet said, aiming her disruptor at Alicia. "Don't take this personal. After all, you could be my evil twin."
"If you don't want me aiming weapons at you, why don't you give me the same consideration?" Alicia asked. "I don't know if you might be the evil one."
Janet considered the suggestion and lowered her disruptor, but she didn't return the weapon to her holster.
"Thanks," Alicia said. "Why don't you ask your people to give us a hand with our companion? I'm certain they'll want to run some medical tests on him and on the Ecrivain's Specials."
"Agreed," Janet responded. Without taking her eyes off Alicia, she gave orders to the people behind the defensive walls. "Get two security teams out here, one to escort our unconscious friend to medical quarantine, and the other for my twin. Notify the leadership of the situation and schedule a meeting."
Footsteps echoed through the open gun ports in the walls as someone on the opposing side hurried away to carry out the instructions.
A section of concrete wall pulled back, grinding loudly against the cement floor. A squad of twelve men hurried out, half attending to the sleeping man and the rest surrounding Alicia. The group guarding Alicia had their guns out, but they didn't point them at her.
The soldiers were attired in drab gray material. The uniforms were mismatched, worn, and covered in dirt and grime. Time spent fighting the infected had taken its toll on those who'd survived. The expressions on the faces of the men and women showed the strain they were under living in an infected world, constantly on guard for threats. Stress and mental fatigue were common hazards among all those who had contact with the surface world and the infected patrolling it.
"Shall we go?" Alicia asked politely.
"After you," Janet replied in kind with a gesture to the open door.
Alicia followed after the soldiers as they carried away the man, and her escorting guards fell in step behind her.
Janet trailed the group, not knowing what to think. The idea of life on other planets had always been a possibility, but evidence of different versions of the same world had taken her completely by surprise. She didn't know what her life was worth if every choice she'd ever made was simply the course this particular world had taken. Somewhere out there, her other selves had chosen something else. The question weighing on her mind most was if anything had value with so many copies of the world and its people.
The hidden door guarding the entrance to the Citadel slid closed behind the group. As Janet looked over the fortifications of her home, she wondered what her duplicate would think of it. The section of the drainage system where countless pipes from underneath the city converged over a massive cistern provided an expansive area sufficient in dimension to construct the Citadel. Most of the pipes had been diverted or plugged to prevent flooding problems and to deny access points to the infected trying to bypass the defenses.
A dome of reinforced concrete protected the upper levels of the Citadel should there be a breach in the perimeter. Situated in the center of the area, the dome nearly reached to the walls on all sides and the ceiling above. Weapon ports created slits across its hardened surface, but only a few doors of solid metal allowed entrance into the Citadel to present as few week points as possible should intruders try and get inside.
Out of sight, the Citadel extended downward, filling the deep shaft of the cistern underneath where the dome was centered. If the surrounding ground were removed, Janet knew the structure would resemble a giant mushroom made of concrete.
"Very impressive," Alicia praised.
"You travel between worlds, what's this to you?" Janet shot back, hostility giving her words an edge.
"You mentioned how the infected spread across your world," Alicia reminded. "In the midst of the chaos and confusion such a situation would undoubtedly create, this massive fortification is planned, built, and filled with survivors. Such an undertaking would be a challenge in the best of conditions, but your people accomplished it while the outside world fell apart. As I said, very impressive."
Alicia unexpectedly stopped walking, causing her escorting guards to almost run into her.
"And while we're on the subject," Alicia told Janet firmly. "Just because I travel the worlds doesn't mean those who don't are any less, either in importance or advancement. I've been to several worlds and found no life whatsoever, so those who can endure are a step ahead of things as far as I'm concerned."
"What difference does it make?" Janet challenged, as the confusion over her place in the multiverse found a target in Alicia. "We survived, but there's another version out there where we didn't and probably another where the infection never even arose."
"And, you're wondering how any reality can have significance if there are a multitude more of them," Alicia guessed.
"Yes," Janet confirmed.
"Does your life gain or lose significance based on the life of someone else?" Alicia questioned.
"No," Janet denied. "But, this is different. We're not talking about the life of someone else. We're talking about a different version of me."
"As you said, a different version," Alicia pointed out. "I may be the you who grew up in my world, but that shouldn't affect you any as you have your life, your choices, and your world. This place and its people still need you. No matter what else is happening on the other worlds, you have a chance to make a difference here, to do some good here. What difference does it make if there is only one of you, or fifteen trillion? Here and now, you have the ability to be the best you that you can be. If someone else lives the same way or a different way, what difference does it make? Be you, not them."
"How are you accepting this so easily?" Janet asked.
"When I started traveling between worlds, I discovered a multitude of people and civilizations I'd never even imagined could've existed," Alicia answered. "It made me realize I was just a small part of a wider canvas. Who I am wasn't diminished by the knowledge that they are out there. If anything, my role has been expanded by the knowledge of them. I want to cause some ripples that will spread across the tapestry of existence. If I do some good here and there, help a few people who will do the same because they were inspired by my actions, who knows how far the ripple will reach and how much will ultimately be improved by what I started? Who knows how far the ripples of your deeds will go?"
Janet remained silent as she considered the words of her double. She nodded her head toward the Citadel, and the procession started moving again. Deciding to change the subject, Janet asked about something else.
"What's your world like?" Janet inquired.
Alicia waited to answer until they were inside the Citadel. The escorting soldiers opened the heavy door in front of them with a loud squeak of dry metal hinges. Once they were all inside, the rear guard closed the door with a floor shaking boom.
"My world is a technological marvel," Alicia informed her. "Floating cities of porcelain and glass shine and gleam among the clouds. Teleportation gates make anywhere in the world reachable by simply stepping through a doorway."
"It sounds like a paradise," Janet said. Her tone was somber because she thought about how beautiful and perfect Alicia's world was when her own was falling apart because of the infected.
"Every world has problems," Alicia reminded. "Ours came in the form of a plague. Unlike your infected, ours simply died. When the resources of our world proved insufficient, we built equipment to travel to other worlds. I was one of the scouts chosen to find help on another planet."
"Is that when you found those Ecrivain's Specials?" Janet asked.
"Yes," Alicia confirmed. "We stopped the plague, but we'd lost over half of our population."
"What did you do?" Janet prompted.
"Our leaders decided to not wait around for the next problem, but to start looking for solutions immediately," Alicia stated. "Our scouts were dispatched to search other worlds for civilizations willing to help. Ecrivain's Specials were made in one world and saved another, and they'll probably save yours too. Imagine the possibilities if all the civilizations in existence worked together for a greater purpose. One planet and one people might not be able to overcome a problem, but what can stand against the combined efforts of all people from every world?"
"You're putting together quite an alliance," Janet marveled.
"Once your world is clear from the infected, we want you and yours to join us," Alicia announced.
"Sounds interesting," Janet admitted while not agreeing to anything. Offering the alliance of her entire world wasn't something she was prepared to do unilaterally. "We'll have to see how things go."
***
Janet pounded a fist on the metal door of the room assigned to Alicia during her stay at the Citadel. A guard flanked the door on either side, and both men looked confused over the possible reasons Janet would have for waking up their guest in the middle of the night.
"What?" Alicia asked when she pulled the door open. "Do you sleep in your world?"
"Why didn't you tell us about what's in Ecrivain's Specials?" Janet demanded, pushing the door open further and entering the room.
"Won't you come in?" Alicia said sarcastically.
"Shut the door," Janet ordered.
Alicia seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation and shut the door, locking it securely. "What's wrong?"
"Ecrivain's Specials contain caffeine," Janet stated flatly.
"So?" Alicia prompted.
"Caffeine is illegal and only available on the black market!" Janet hissed, afraid the guards outside might overhear. "The government seizes any they find and arrest anyone they catch with the stuff."
"Truth be told, it was also illegal where I picked it up," Alicia admitted. "I didn't think it would be illegal everywhere. I guess some things carry over between universes. I wonder how many of the reasons behind it are similar as well."
"This is no time for philosophical discussion," Janet countered. "We have a cure-all, but we can't use it because it's illegal."
"It's only illegal because you're government says it is," Alicia reminded.
"They are in charge," Janet said as if it should've been obvious.
"They're only in charge for the moment," Alicia said softly, letting the conclusion hang in the air unsaid.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Janet questioned.
"If the law is preventing you from saving people, the law needs to be changed," Alicia declared firmly. "And if the government is preventing you from saving the lives of the people they are supposed to be protecting, then it's time to replace them too."
"You're talking about overthrowing the government," Janet whispered, fearful someone might hear the treasonous discussion.
"If you want to save the world," Alicia told her, "you may have to start an uprising against those who stand in the way of progress. So tell me, are you going to step aside while your government allows the infection to continue dominating your planet, or are you going to start a revolution and fix things?"