The Fabric Of Reality (6 page)

“I wasn’t patronizing you, I was only saying thanks. I’m not sure I believe one’s soul can escape, but the nerves in that spot on my back are particularly sensitive, and when I get a fright, that’s where I feel it first.”

Alesia stepped back. “I never got your name.”

“I apologize. After spend so much time alone, it seems I’ve forgotten my manners. I’m Gil.”

“Alesia. It’s nice to meet you, Gil—from another Reality. Is it possible that I’m still asleep and dreaming? I was quite tired after ascending the guard tower steps earlier. When I came back down, I sat in this corridor and fell asleep. Or I could have dozed off and fallen from the steps. I could be plummeting to my death even as we speak. Perhaps I have already hit bottom and I’m having this delusion while I die. A parting gift from my mind.”

Gil laughed out loud and drew her hand to his chest. “While all of that is plausible, none of it is true.”

Alesia cocked her head to one side and grinned. She let her gaze slide down his body and back up. Breaks in fog gave her tiny glances at his true form, but only enough to be maddening. “You look like a dream. Perhaps that’s why you’re all foggy and difficult to see. No matter. You’re quite nice as dreams go.”

Gil nodded. “Yes, you look like a dream as well.” He paused for a moment, just gazing at her. “I know technology wasn’t allowed in your village, but is it possible that someone there is using some form of electronic communications?”

She shrugged. “Not as far as I am aware. Why do you ask?”

Gil scratched his chin and stared thoughtfully off into thin air for a moment. “Well, I’ve been having these strange—strange signals from some sort of Locater Beacon in your Reality. I’m unable to identify the source.”

Alesia stared at his face, hoping for a break in the fog so she could see his expression clearly. “Strange, strange signals, not just plain, strange signals? You were going to say something else, weren’t you?”

Gil shrugged, obviously uncomfortable with her question. “I suppose I didn’t think my sentence through before I began to speak.”

Alesia nodded, wondering what was really on Gil’s mind. “I think you have something to tell me, but you’re hesitant for some reason.”

He shook his head, casting his gaze toward the floor. “It’s nothing really. Not the kind of thing one tells a complete stranger.”

Alesia hooked a finger under his chin and tipped it up. “Well, Gil from another Reality, we’ll just have make a concerted effort to become more thoroughly acquainted so you’ll feel comfortable sharing your secret with me. I actually have a secret of my own that I might divulge, if we were—close.”

Gil grinned at her. “Yes, let’s do just that. I’d love nothing better than to get to know you. So, you haven’t noticed a Transuniversal Locater Beacon lying around your village anywhere?”

“I’ve read all the technical information available in our library, but I don’t recall anything of the sort.”

“Never mind, it’s not important. I’m probably just picking up random energy fluctuations.”

Alesia squeezed his hand and sighed. The thick layer between them made their physical contact only mildly satisfying, like holding hands while wearing mittens. “I know you can’t fix it where I can see you better, but can you do anything so I can feel you like you’re actually real?”

“Just as I can’t make it where you can pass through, I also can’t lessen the density of what separates us. Honestly, I didn’t even know it had a physical property that would allow us to feel it until I met you.”

Alesia huffed loudly. Too many strange things had happened. She couldn’t believe she was standing there, talking to a man from a different Reality for no reason. This had to be the key to her salvation. She only needed to unlock the secret of what was keeping them apart and together they could save each other. “You keep using absolutes. You said we couldn’t touch, but we are, so how can you be completely certain of anything?”

“You’re correct, of course. This junction point is behaving in a manner inconsistent with every previous observation, so my absolutes are only guesses. I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

“What caused you to be detained while your friends escaped?”

“A well-placed shot by our enemy. Most everyone had gone through, but the Barrier that protects this fortress was in imminent danger of collapse. We only needed a few more moments, so I went to make the necessary repairs. Unfortunately, the damage was fairly extensive. I had to manually shore up the Barrier while they escaped. By the time I finished the repairs, the Doorway had closed.”

Alesia clasped both his hands and held them tightly. “You’re a hero. You sacrificed yourself so the others could escape.”

“Nonsense. I was the only one left with the technical skills to make the repairs. I did what had to be done, that’s all.”

“I’ve suddenly realized that I’m quite famished. Would you sit with me here in the corridor and have a meal?”

Gil gave her a sly grin. “Are you asking me for a dinner date?”

“What is that?”

“Dinner?”

“I know what dinner is. What is a date?”

Gil gazed thoughtfully at her for a moment. “Oh, well—it’s an excuse for two people to spend time together.”

“Yes, in that case I’m asking for a date.”

“I’ll leave my Locater so the Window will remain visible and meet you back here in a few moments. Oh, in the interest of not propagating inaccurate absolutes, would you prefer that I call it ‘the junction point previously classified as a Window which could now be almost anything’?” Gil grinned broadly at her.

Alesia rolled her eyes but returned his grin. “Don’t be daft.”

He shrugged and backed away. “Sorry, that was a poor attempt at humor.”

“If you want to eat, bring your dinner. I’ll get mine.”

***

Gill strolled quickly down the corridor toward the kitchen, whistling the tune of some ancient song about bluebirds and sunshine. The name was floating around in his head somewhere, but he couldn’t find it. A high-pitched screech overpowered the noise-canceling system and ended with an electrical sizzle. The loud warble of a fire alarm sounded as the faint smell of smoke wafted into the kitchen. Gil poked his head into the corridor. Ghostly gray wisps curled in the air as they spilled from the control room door.
You people are getting on my last nerve.
He rushed back into the kitchen and flipped open a cupboard. It was stacked from top to bottom with field rations. He grabbed a pack and bottle of water from the refrigerator and hurried back to meet Alesia.

When he rounded the corner, Gil stopped dead in his tracks. The fog in the Window had thinned to the point of near transparency. Alesia’s long brown hair flowed down past her shoulders, framing her flawless face. Her big, dark eyes perfectly contrasted her smooth, pale skin. Bright red pigment adorned her full, pouty lips, lips that Gil suddenly desired to kiss almost more than he desired to continue living. The thin gray dress she wore clung tightly to her supple curves and was cut low enough to show a fair amount of cleavage. Everything about her appearance indicated that she was a sophisticated modern woman.

“Good, you’re still here. I have a minor crisis to deal with, but I’ll be back as soon as possible. I’m sorry for ruining our first date.” He took one step toward her, and the air between them shimmered with foggy white mist. “Damn.”

Alesia groaned loudly. “It cleared away a moment after you left. Was that noise I heard an attack?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, I have a small fire in the control room.”

Alesia’s eyes widened. “Why are you here talking? Go put it out! I’ll wait for your return.”

He started away, then turned back. “No jumping to your death while I’m gone. Promise?”

“I promise, now go!” She flipped her hands at him as if shooing a fly.

Gil hurried to the control room. Black smoke was pouring out of one electrical grid circuit box and collecting in a thick layer at the ceiling. One of the two supercomputers had gone dark. Fortunately, not the one controlling the Barrier Sphere. He yanked a fire extinguisher from the wall and emptied it into the panel of flaming plastic.

The Barrier control display was lit up with flashing red blocks indicating that several Emitters had failed as a result of the last big hit. As much as he wanted to go eat with Alesia, if he didn’t fix the problem immediately, he’d be dead before they finished their meal. Gil rushed to the Barrier Emitter Housing Facility. A blast of heat nearly put him on the ground when he opened the door. The cooling fans had stopped operating. Apparently, they were wired into the damaged part of the grid. The backup generator had kicked on, but obviously there was a problem inline keeping the power from going where it was needed.

Okay, think. Main power is out, backup is on, why aren’t the fans working? The fire melted the wiring insulation. It must have caused a short circuit.
Gil flipped open the cover of the breaker panel. The main breaker had kicked off. He ran to the tool box and grabbed a large pair of cable cutters, then severed the main power lines coming into the box.
Please work. I have someone very special waiting for me, and I don’t have time to keep screwing around!
He snapped the main breaker into the on position, and the cooling fans came to life. It took him five minutes to sprint to the banks of failed components. In the time he had spent repairing the cooling system, several more Emitters had failed. The stress from constant bombardment was destroying the entire system, a few components at a time. He jerked the useless parts out and inserted fresh ones as quickly as possible.

***

Gil appeared in front of Alesia, huffing loudly, bent over with his hands on his knees. “I’m back,” he panted.

Alesia gazed curiously at him. “Is everything all right? You’re out of breath.”

He tapped the center of his chest with his fist. “Nothing like a brisk jog to get the old heart pumping.”

“Gil, I have a feeling you have more important things to do than sit with me.”

“Nonsense—” he paused, still puffing hard—”our date is the most important thing in the world, at the moment.” Gil sat on the floor facing her. He tore open a flexible package and dumped the steaming contents onto a plate.

“It’s all right, Gil, I know your situation is deteriorating. Go tend your machines and don’t worry about me.”

He spread out the food on his plate with a fork. “Alesia, there is nothing I can do to any of my equipment that will significantly benefit either of us. Have you not eaten yet? You didn’t have to wait on me.”

She grinned and shrugged. “I assumed it was customary to eat together on a dinner date.”

“It is but—do you not have a drink? It’s difficult for me to see through the fog.”

“I didn’t plan that far ahead.”

Gil raked his fingers down the foggy barrier between them. “Do you care to try an experiment?”

“Okay.”

He twisted the top from his bottle of water and handed it to her. “I don’t expect this to work, but try to take a drink.”

Alesia put the bottle to her lips and turned it up. Water flowed from the bottle, down a ribbon of fog, and onto the floor in Gil’s Reality. She handed it back to him.

Gil took the water and frowned. “Well, it was worth a shot. I had been considering that it may be porous. I suppose my initial speculation about EM radiation only translating and not actually passing through is correct. Sound waves are most likely transferred in a similar way, and of course anything containing mass is blocked.”

“It’s all right. There’s a stream in the forest if my thirst gets too unbearable.” Alesia untied the towel containing her food and spread it on the floor.

Gil glanced down as she arranged her meal. “Oh, God, is that a fresh tomato and carrots?”

“Yes. What are you eating?”

“Five-year-old field rations. Roast beef with gravy and potatoes, at least that’s what the package says. It tastes like rubber and mush coated with goo.”

Alesia giggled in spite of herself. “Well, if we can ever figure out how to get you into my Reality, I’ll cook you a proper meal with all fresh ingredients.”

He held his face in his hands for a moment as if trying to regain his composure. “I can’t even tell you how much I’d like that. Is there no way for you to get out of marrying that man from your village, short of suicide?”

Alesia shook her head.

“What sort of society forces a woman to marry a man she doesn’t love?” Gil stabbed a slice of roast beef with his fork and shoved it into his mouth.

“Baron Volga purchased my debt. If I return home, I’ll have to marry him. The only way he will release me is if I bear him a son.”

Gil tensed visibly as his expression soured. “You owe money, and he wants to make you pay with blood?”

The outrage in his voice came through louder than his words. Clearly such things weren’t normal in his society. “It’s perfectly legal. I owed the orphanage where I was raised for my childhood care. When I came of age, my mistress demanded payment in full, as she does from all the girls she raises. I had no way to get the money, so she sold my debt to the baron.” Gil stopped eating and gazed at her. Even through the mist, she could see the hurt in his eyes. “I’m a criminal, Gil. Running away from the baron is the same as stealing from him. I stole the oil lamp and a rope from two very good people. I needed those things to help me escape. I feel terribly guilty, but I couldn’t see an alternative that I could live with.” She picked up a carrot and took a big bite.

“Alesia, that’s the most unjust system I’ve ever heard of. Children should not have to pay for their own upbringing. Your people sound like barbarians. You must have had a horrible existence. I’m glad you ran away, even if you had become a thief to do so.”

“I was never mistreated as a child. The mistress was strict, but all the orphans were clothed and well fed. We were never concerned that we wouldn’t have a place to sleep or a roof over our heads.”

“I lived in a Utopian society until I turned seventeen and the Brotherhood decided to destroy it for everyone. But, I don’t want to think about that now. My past is irrelevant, and my future is grim. All I have is the present, and I couldn’t be happier that you’re here to share it with me.”