Outland (World-Lines Book 1) (6 page)

June 19              Bill

Bill looked around the lab. “You know, it was a better secret lair when it was a rat’s nest of equipment and cables.”

Richard glared at Bill but otherwise didn’t react.

Crap
, Bill thought.
Losing my touch.

Richard looked directly at Matt and waved a hand at the equipment. “We’ve made some more improvements. We’ve also improved the tuning stabilization, thanks to your software mods. Once we get a strong match, the device should home in on it and lock on. I won’t have to feel like I’m wrestling a greased snake.”

Bill smiled. Matt just looked impatient.

The day was hot, even for summer in Nebraska, and all the windows were open as far as they would go. It helped a little that this side of the building had been in shade for a while, but everyone was still wilting. Kevin fanned himself with a
Sky and Telescope
magazine.

Richard looked at the group. “Right. Okay. Let’s do this then.”

They went through the same sequence as last time. Kevin placed the coin-flipping device inside the cage. He placed the video cameras in the usual spots. This time they moved the monitor farther from the portal assembly. No one wanted to be too close to the device in case the ‘bang’ happened again.

“My heart won’t take another one,” Bill commented, trying for his best B-movie overacting.

Preparations completed, Kevin activated the flipper, called out, “Ten seconds,” and walked back to join the others at the monitor.

Richard worked the tablet, tuning the portal. “Here we go,” he said and hit OK.

There was a loud roar and a jet of yellowish gas spewed out of the gate, blistering a spot in the far wall. The room heated up to an intolerable level, as if someone had opened a door to a blast furnace. The table with the control hardware spun 180 degrees, while the table with the test apparatus rocked back on two legs and almost went over. A bright spark shot from an electrical short. The equipment shut down, and the gate closed, cutting off the stream.

As the gas spread through the room, everyone stampeded out the door, coughing and gagging. Once out in the hallway and breathing clear air, they turned and looked at each other, shock written clearly on their faces.

For perhaps half a minute, no one spoke. As one, they stared at the lab door, each waiting for someone else to make the first move.

Finally regaining his composure, Bill cautiously opened the door to the lab. The odor and the heat were dissipating out the windows, and the room was becoming tolerable. After a brief hesitation, he walked in.

Matt followed him in and went over to examine the blistered spot on the wall. It was still warm. The paint was discolored and bubbled, and the drywall had crumbled up in patches.

“Well, that was fun. We must do that again sometime.” Bill smirked, but his wide-eyed stare belied his attempt at flippancy. He glared at Matt. “What was it exactly
you were wishing for? Happy now?”

Matt shrugged and managed to look both smug and embarrassed at the same time.

Bill spent a few minutes examining the equipment, and soon found the smoldering cables that had ended the fireworks.

“That was… what?” Richard asked, playing with the tablet menus. “Did anyone get a good look?”

“No, but that’s why we have cameras,” Kevin said, returning with the three cameras in hand. One of them looked much worse for wear.

Kevin connected the dented and abused camera to the monitor and pressed PLAY. The video showed the snow-globe losing focus for a moment, then a chaotic series of frames, ending with a blurry image of the floor and some table legs.

“I think we’ll have to retire that particular camera,” Richard observed. “The optics look pretty much done for.”

Kevin connected one of the other cameras. This time, the image showed a faint plume of yellowish gas fountaining from the gate. The effect lasted less than two seconds before it was cut off. They restarted the video and played it one frame at a time.

When they had the plume in full view, Bill commented, “Damned if it doesn’t actually
look like the jet that comes out when a stargate starts up. I almost regret decorating the gate now. Almost.” He grinned at Matt, who rolled his eyes in reply.

They looked at the video from the third camera, but other than being from a different angle, it didn’t provide any additional information. The only difference worth noting was six frames of Richard in mid-jump, looking very alarmed. Bill took the remote from Kevin and played the frames through several times, grinning.

“Okay, funny boy, enough,” Richard said, after the third replay.

Richard stared into space for a few seconds. “Well, we’re going to have to try that again, but maybe with a little more preparation. Bill, can you come up with anything that could maintain a sealed atmosphere around the gate?”

Bill thought for a few seconds. “There are a couple of things in the engineering department that could be adapted, I think. Depends on how much pressure we need to hold.”

“Probably not a huge amount. The jet didn’t come out like a pressure washer spray.”

“Hmm, OK, let me think about it for a few minutes.” Bill sat down and stared into space.

Matt examined the equipment and the room, looking for any other damage. Kevin sat down and went into math mode. After about ten minutes, they all came together in the lab to compare notes.

“I had a quick look at the logs,” Richard said. “The lock-in worked, it just didn’t lock in to what we were trying for.”

“What I think that means,” Kevin added, “is that there is an alternate reality that is more ‘real’ than our flipped coin. The experiment tuned in on that instead.”

“So what was it? Venus? Did we invent a teleporter to hell?” Bill asked.

“I don’t think Venus fits the bill,” Kevin replied. “First, the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Venus is like 90 atmospheres, and second, it’s hot enough to melt lead. Pretty sure we’d be dead, and the building would be demolished.”

“But,” he continued, “I went back and looked at the first camera in single-frame, right when the event started. Have a look.” He motioned back to the monitor. They all moved to get a close view. Frozen on the monitor, distorted by the beginnings of the gas plume, they could see a small number of dark distorted objects.

“That’s not the flipper,” Matt said. “Any idea what those are?”

“No,” Bill answered. “But they’re not from around here.”

Richard cleared his throat to get attention. “Yeah. Okay, look, we’re going to revamp this setup inside a pressure vessel of some kind. Bill thinks he has something that might work—” He glanced at Bill. “—if we can borrow it and get it back with nobody noticing. Couple more days, and we’re trying again. You might want to bring some body armor next time. And spare underwear.”

June 20              Matt

Erin threw her hoodie to the floor and flopped down on Matt’s couch. “That was… interesting,” she exclaimed. “I suppose I should be more upset that the trip was cut short, but to be honest, I’m happy to get out of there with all my body parts!”

“Well, I’m glad you’re back, parts and all.” Matt replied. “We’ll do inventory later,” he added, earning a laugh. Matt privately admitted that he was relieved to have her back. Her email had been very detailed, and Matt couldn’t shake the feeling that Erin had been in more danger than she let on.

He sat and put his arms around her, and Erin snuggled in.

A moment later, she sat up straight, wrinkling her nose. “Y’know, I guess the stuff got into my skin or something. It’s like I can still smell the sulfur dioxide.”

Erin smelled her arm, frowned, and looked around. “No, that’s not me. And it’s not my imagination either.” She got up, wandered around for a few seconds, then picked up one of Matt’s tee-shirts that had been draped over a chair. “Matt, why does your shirt smell like a fumarole?”

“Who’s got the what now?”

“Your tee-shirt smells of sulfur dioxide. Have you been seeing another volcanologist behind my back?” She poked him playfully with her index finger.

“Oh, uh, that’s from an experiment that we did last night.”

“You mean your bro-ject? A physics experiment about randomness is making you smell like a volcano?”

“Uh…” Matt realized with a start that he had just stepped into dangerous territory. Richard had been pretty clear about confidentiality, and Richard didn’t seem to have a sense of humor where that was concerned.
Or anywhere else, come to think of it.

Matt made a valiant attempt to derail the inquiry, but all he did was to make Erin more suspicious. In the end, she extracted the truth by the simple— and effective— expedient of threatening to walk out and leave him to entertain himself.

“So your project ejected a plume of gas? And that’s what I smell?”

Matt shrugged an acknowledgment, looking down at his feet. “This is all supposed to be confidential. Spilling the beans to my girlfriend is going to get my
bro
license revoked.” He gave her a weak smile. “Not to mention that Bill will point out some movie where this happens and someone ends up getting killed.”

“Well, I’m coming to your next meeting. I need to talk to them about this,” Erin stated with finality. “I’m not sure you guys have thought this through.”

Matt sighed.
Not good
.

June 21              Erin

Erin entered Dempsey’s Pub as Matt held the door for her. She waited while he did a quick once-over to find his group. The pub was less than half full, and the buzz of background conversation was muted. It was around dinnertime, so the aroma of caramelized onions, cooked beef, and vinegar dominated the room. Matt’s stomach rumbled, and Erin smiled.
Wouldn’t mind a burger myself.

He touched her elbow lightly, and she followed him in the indicated direction. Three men were sitting at the table. She recognized Bill, and had little problem guessing which of the other two was Richard and which was Kevin.

As they approached the table, they were met with glares ranging from surprised to murderous. Matt said, “I suppose you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here.”

That got a chuckle from Bill, but Richard looked even angrier. He transferred his glare to Erin.

She glared back at him, daring him to give her any lip.

After several seconds of standoff, Richard looked at Matt and said between clenched teeth, “There’d better be a damned good explanation for this. I thought I was pretty clear before.”

“Look Richard, Erin smelled the fumes from the event the other day on my clothing, and I think she may have a better viewpoint on this than we do.” He spread his hands. “She’s a geology major, for crying out loud. She identified the chemical in the gas plume just from the odor, and it scares me a little bit that she thought I’d been hanging around a volcano.”

Matt held a chair for Erin as she sat down, and did quick introductions. He took a seat beside Erin, then continued. “I know you wanted this project kept quiet, but I’m pretty sure we’re out of our depth at the moment. What if the next time we open the gate, the results are even worse?”

All eyes were on Richard as he stared at Matt. After a few seconds, he sighed and nodded. “Okay, point taken.”

Richard took out his phone, poked at it, then handed it to Erin. “Here’s the video record from the event.”

She pressed PLAY and watched the scene unfold. Richard, Bill, and Kevin provided running commentary.

“Holy crap!” she exclaimed, when it got to the exciting part.

When the video had finished, she sat in thought for a few seconds, then handed the phone back to Richard. “I’m guessing that wasn’t what you expected. Matt told me that on the previous try, you were working with coin flips.”

Richard looked down at his hands, and Erin could see that he was trying not to break into a grin.
So he has a sense of humor. Why does he act like he’s determined to be a jerk?

Richard looked up, deadpan. “Yeah, we figure it was your boyfriend’s software mods that did it. He added a feedback process with learning capability. Apparently it found something more interesting than our flipper to zero in on.”

Erin looked at Matt, who smiled and gave her a ‘
Who? Me?’
shrug.

She swept her gaze around the group. “Look, the heat and that particular gas point to a small number of possibilities. Either you’ve connected with a volcano or something like it, or you’ve connected with Venus or something like it.”

Erin gestured at Kevin in momentary confusion. “Um, Kevin right? Kevin was correct that it probably
isn’t Venus—at least not at ground level—or you’d all be a whole lot of dead. Thousand-degree temps would have done more than just blister the wall. But you’ve connected to something that isn’t from around here, and once you accept that, the sky is the limit. Almost literally!”

Richard leaned forward on his elbows. “So what would you suggest?”

“Matt told me that you’re going to try again soon, this time with the gate enclosed in something airtight. That seems like a good plan. Will you have some kind of dead-man switch rigged to the container in case it doesn’t hold?”

“Uh, I will now,” Richard replied, looking surprised.

Erin saw Bill grin for a moment, just outside Richard’s field of view, and had to struggle to avoid doing the same. She made a pretense of rubbing her lips to hide it while nodding slowly. “Okay. I’d like to be there for it. You’ll have all kinds of cameras going, right?”

“Yes,” Richard gave a dismissive snort. “None of us wants to be too close after last time.”

“Seems reasonable.” Erin smiled. “Can you fill me in on what this is about? I know that it has something to do with Schroeder’s cat and random events, but that’s about it.”

Kevin jumped in. “First, it’s Schrödinger’s cat, not Schroeder. Schrödinger was a scientist; Schroeder plays piano.” Kevin smiled at his own witticism.

Erin raised one eyebrow and waited for him to continue.

“Er, right. Anyway,” Kevin continued. “According to my models, the old idea that you get a new universe for each chance event is incorrect. When you flip a coin or something, the models say that only
those things affected by the coin flip get duplicated, and the duplicate realities share the single universe at large.”

“I asked once before if this was like the TV show
Sliders,
” Bill said. “Kevin’s head almost exploded.”

“Yeah, first, that’s where we get our science these days—from TV. Second, that show assumed you get a new world for every little decision. In reality, it takes a significant event to create a different world-line that will persist.”

Erin shrugged, willing to take his word for it. She looked around the table, a little amused at this group of men who had possibly just made history and were treating it like a technical problem.