Shell Shocked (The Cosmic Carapace, #1) (12 page)

“The tortoises?!" Becky asked somewhat testily. Spencer thought she seemed to be slightly annoyed that she was lagging behind in this conversation. He grinned.

“Ah of course, the tortoises," pretending he knew how they fitted in to all this. To be honest, he hadn’t the faintest idea. He had guessed though that Spangler’s apparent multi-personality had been a result of travelling back and forth between worlds somehow. It had got him thinking about Becky’s apparent abilities too... He thought about the tortoises in their pen, many of them numbered in clear white on one side of their shells. They must have been there too. Somehow they had been here when it had all first happened. Spangler, his partner, the tortoises and the old house of Ingress itself had all been thrown through multiple universes. Maybe all of them taking on traits of other versions of themselves. Spencer mentally ground to a halt. What would it have meant to all the other versions of them? Didn’t people stop existing when people crossed over? What would happen if you crossed over into all of them at once?

Spencer felt like his heart had stopped, but actually he could hear it hammering in his chest as though trying to break out. He was aware that Becky was saying something, but it sounded muffled and distant. Becky was an orphan like him, so were the twins and Colin. They could travel between as they didn’t have any versions of them in the other universes. What was it Becky had said? ‘You’re unique’.

“Us!" The word barked out of Spencer before he knew it was coming. Whatever Becky had been saying, she had stopped with a jump. Spangler had spun his head back to Spencer and his eyes were wide now. In fear.

“Spencer? What’s wrong?" Becky asked, but as she did, the door burst open. Esme was out of breath, her eyes were bulging.

“Quick! you’ve got to come and hear this!" She immediately turned and bolted out of the door.

Becky followed her, but paused in the doorway when she realised that neither Spencer or Spangler had followed her.

“Come on!" she shouted, tugging at Spencer’s arm. It seemed to break the spell of their gaze and Spencer reluctantly turned to follow her.

His mind was a blur. He was trying to think rationally, but a large part of him was screaming at him to forget it, it couldn’t be, just ignore it. He knew he couldn’t. For the first time in his life he was suddenly sure of where he had come from. They moved quickly on down the corridor and Spencer heard Spangler following them, but at a distance. He’d seen it in his eyes the moment he had said ‘us’, Spangler had realised that Spencer knew.

As they reached the bottom of the wide staircase, a loud tinny voice was reverberating from the now open doors Esme had just hurtled through in front of them. It was a woman's voice, the strangled noise told Spencer it was coming from a speaker before he’d even reached the doors and turned through them to see the twins huddled round a large, circular brass grill, set into a dark wooden square which sat, squat and ugly on the tangled worktop.

“What is it?” Becky asked breathlessly.

“The Queen," answered Eva.

The Queen?
thought Spencer. It cut through his mind’s fury, the confusing whirl of thoughts from his conversation with Spangler. The Queen. Something so normal and every day that he could have been home again. He’d never been particularly interested in the royal family. He was aware that they pottered about the world and did things, like a newly retired couple that suddenly didn’t know what to do with themselves, and he knew some people were interested in that. To him they were just a family that lived in a big house in his town. He listened to the voice. This was definitely not the same Queen they’d had at home.

“And so..." the shrill voice rang out, “the Magister Militum will be responsible for all governance of this land in its totality..." and yet, as Spencer listened, there was something familiar about the voice.

“...He will form his own government..."

It definitely wasn’t like The Queen though, so it couldn’t be that. He moved closer to the grill.

“...responsible for the laws of the land.."

His mind flashed on a small birthmark he had seen that morning on the back of a dead hand.

“...I have complete faith in him to lead our nation into a new era..."

It couldn’t be... Spencer’s mind felt like a jelly in a blender again.

“...To forge a new vision of the future for us all..."

“Who is that?!" cried Spencer, spinning wildly around at the others who were all listening intently to the voice.

Esme said, "It’s the Queen, shh."

“But... she..." stammered Spencer. “What does she look like?!"

“Here," Esme said, throwing him a newspaper that was laying in a  pile of others on the far side of the workbench. “Now shut up!"

Spencer grabbed the paper and turned it the right way up. There on the front page was a large black and white photograph of Lisa Stroud staring back up at him. In the photo she was wearing an ornate gown, her hair was tied back tightly in an unfamiliar manner, but it was definitely her. Except, he knew it wasn’t. He knew this must be the version of Lisa that lived here, in this universe, in Alexandria. The image of a crown shaped birthmark on the back of a dead hand flashed before him again. So, had that been her as well? From the third universe? Placeholder? Spencer realised the radio had been turned down, he looked up as Eva spoke.

“Well you were looking for a big event, it doesn’t get much bigger than that, but I can’t see how it’s linked?"

“Wait. What’s the big event?" asked Spencer.

“Weren’t you listening?" Becky snapped back. Spencer looked at her blankly causing her to sigh and roll her eyes. “Here, the Queen controls everything. Ok, she has advisors and things, but she calls the shots. She’s a power hungry maniac from what I can tell. Anyway, she’s suddenly decided to hand over all power to some bloke who’s going to be ‘Magister’ or something. It’s pretty strange, I haven’t heard anything about this until now. Has anyone else?"

There were numerous shakes of the head from the semi circle of people.

“It seems a pretty big change of style for her, I mean..." Becky was interrupted by Spencer.

“Does she have a birthmark on her hand in the shape of a crown?"

“Yes!" answered Becky, scowling at the interruption. “It’s part of the whole ‘being royal’ thing. A crown shaped birthmark means you are of royal blood and... wait, how would you know that?!"

“Because there was a birth shaped crown on the hand of that body we saw in Placeholder, and I know why the Queen has had a sudden change of heart." He turned to Spangler who had been stood away from the group, partially obscured by the shadow of a large pillar which stood behind the workbench.

“And you know too don’t you? You know exactly what’s going on, why, and who’s behind it. It’s time you were straight with us, with all of us, right now." Spencer realised he was shouting. The others were looking between him and Spangler with an odd mixture of shock and excitement on their faces. It looked like puritans watching tennis for the first time and wondering why these people were wearing tight clothes and sweating and grunting a lot.

~~~~

J
ust thirty minutes previously, Lisa Stroud was standing in a cupboard. She wasn't overly happy about the situation, but was assured that it was only temporary. She went through what she was supposed to do next again in her head. She was to wait until she heard trumpets, then she was to count up to twenty and exit the cupboard and walk through the double doors to the main room of the apartment, where she would walk out onto the balcony it led to, and be greeted by a crowd of ten thousand who would cheer her and worship her as a queen. Overall, she thought the plan was a strange one, but she was very keen on the ending. Very keen indeed. If there was one unjust blow she felt she had been dealt in life, it was that nobody seemed to appreciate her as she knew they should. She knew she was very beautiful in the same way as she knew the sky is blue. She knew she was very intelligent in the same way she knew that if she let go of an apple it would fall to the ground. Most of all, she knew that Spencer should love her to the point of obsession, but for some reason he just didn't want to admit it, either to her or himself.

This was going to make a difference though. He couldn't ignore her or deny his feelings once she was Queen. She would have him summoned and he would come bearing gifts and asking for forgiveness for his previous stupidity. She would accept his apology and let him back in her life, but only after an acceptable period of punishment of course. He would have to court her again. She smiled in the dark. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the piercing sound of four trumpets ringing out not far from her.

She opened the cupboard door and peered out. There was nobody around. She walked out and around the huge suite, feeling the plush material of the chaise lounge which stood against the wall. Suddenly she became aware the trumpets were still playing and she dashed for the balcony.

She stepped from the gloom of the room into the bright sunshine which at this time of the afternoon was facing directly at her, illuminating every glimmering portion of her elaborate dress and initially blinding her. A roar went up in front of her that made her inhale sharply, she rocked back from the sheer force of it. Roughly ten thousand men, women and children were in front of her, all of them cheering. She could feel the warmth from them heating her from within. She could feel it deep in her bones. This was what she was made for.

Sadly this is an illusion shared by almost every member of a royal family, and strangely, also by most people who appear on reality TV shows. The warmth of crowds at events is usually fuelled by alcoholic drinks, the excitement of the next alcoholic drink, the possibility of an alcoholic drink after that one, and generally by people having a great time. In both cases it's fleeting. In the end you are either forgotten, regarded in disdain (it has to be said, this usually occurs sooner for former reality TV contestants than royalty), or decapitated by the same drunken crowd who were cheering you not long ago (this last one mostly concerns royalty... mostly).

~~~~

S
pangler stepped forward from the shadow. His face was pale, his moustache seemed to droop at the ends.

“I’m afraid..." He spoke in a quiet, faltering voice. “... I might have misrepresented what is happening here. The incidence of people and things passing through universes is not due to a weakening of the fabric of time and space between universes, it is more ripples. Ripples caused by things crossing between universes. Caused by the use of the Vibrobbler."

“Wait," said Becky. “We use the Vibrobbler! You mean we’re causing the problems you pay us to solve?!"

“Some, yes," answered Spangler. “But I had no choice! Not once I realised my partner had a version of the Vibrobbler too! I don’t know how it happened, but somehow when the... split occurred, when we ran the device for the first time, it threw him into one world and me into another. We were both lost. You don’t know the time it took to get back, the worlds I went to, the things I've seen." He looked down at the floor, his expression had darkened, his eyes glistened. “I thought he was lost forever, I thought he was dead. I was alone, even after I had finally made it back. Then I heard stories, I heard of a man who was starting to gain a reputation in Placeholder, I heard of a man who had strange and terrifying ways, and I knew it was him. That’s when I decided to find you." He looked up at their puzzled faces until he reached Spencer who just looked furious. His eyes held there a moment before he looked down once again.

“So he could get to other worlds? Could he get to Two or whatever the hell you call it?" Spencer had spoken quietly, but it had the menace of a low dog growl.

“If he tried on his own, it could take an eternity to find, but if he had a living thing that knew the way...“

“Like a tortoise," Spencer stated. “What was your partner's name?"

“Lord Garsh," replied Spangler softly.

“Lord Garsh?!" said Becky wide eyed. “This new Magister person?!"

“Of course!" shouted Spencer, making Spangler flinch. “This is your world isn’t it? Your's and Garsh’s? This is the one he’d want to control. That’s what this is all about. Garsh took Colin as a distraction, stole the tortoises he’d need and so we wouldn’t be able to travel safely, then he got Lisa and replaced the Queen with her!"

“Er... who the hell is Lisa?" asked Becky. She was looking decidedly annoyed. Spencer could tell she wasn’t the kind of person who liked being behind the curve in figuring things out.

“My ex-girlfriend," he said with a grimace.

“What the hell has your ex-girlfriend got to do with it?!"

“She had a birth mark on the back of her hand in the shape of a crown, and she looked exactly like the woman in this picture." He held up the newspaper to them.

“But.." Becky began. “Oh..." She finished, as realisation dawned. “Garsh brought her here to replace the Queen?"

“Yes," said Spencer. “No one would doubt her authority by the sounds of it, she’s Queen after all, but somehow he’s got her to do whatever he wants."

Somehow?
he thought. He knew exactly how. He knew that Lisa was exactly the kind of person who would be deeply attracted to the little things in life, like fame, money, power etc. He thought of what a world ruled by Lisa would be like and shuddered. He either needed to sort this out or get out of here fast. Then he realised that getting out of here might be tricky now the tortoises had all gone.

The doors swung open with a bang, which echoed around the large room. Norbert emerged through them at a panting canter. He pulled his hat from his head and used it to wipe sweat from his forehead. Much to everyone’s disgust, he then proceeded to wring it out on the floor in front of him. He was gulping like a very strange looking fish, and they waited for him to regain some air in his lungs so that he could speak.

“Leggy’s...." he spluttered "got badge!.. Gave me this!" Esme handed him a glass of water as Eva took the piece of paper from his hand and read it aloud.