Soul Searching

<infobox>

 <title source="title1">
   <default>Soul Searching</default>
 </title>
 <image source="image1">

</image> <label>Posted On</label> <label>Author</label> <label>Music Theme</label> <group collapse="open"> <header>Order</header> <label>Previous Suggested Manuscript</label> <label>Previous Suggested Story</label> <label>Next Suggested Story</label> <label>Next Suggested Manuscript</label> <label>Chronologically Previous Manuscript</label> <label>Chronologically Previous Story</label> <label>Chronologically Next Story</label> <label>Chronologically Next Manuscript</label> </group> <group collapse="open"> <header>Series</header> <label>Series</label> <label>Previous</label> <label>Next</label> </group> <group collapse="open"> <header>About the Manuscript</header> <label>Type of Story</label> <label>Canon Status</label> </group> <group collapse="open"> <header>About the Story</header> <label>Date</label> <label>Location(s)</label> <label>Characters</label> </group> </infobox> by talmid.

1

When ten thousand citizens across the Crux System were surveyed to describe, in a single word, how they felt about the Nexus Force’s return to the transdimensional frontier, the majority responded with terror or other derivatives of fear, for with renewed transdimensional operatives came renewed confrontation with the Maelstrom Dimensions.

Their incursions were pointed, their targets specific, their motions precise. The first casualties were the so-called sojourners, travelers from other dimensions stranded locally nearly three years ago when their ability to traverse Unverse was lost. The next targets were the local counterparts of both the original targets and any other persons of interest to the Maelstrom Dimensions.

At first, the victims shared an obvious trait, that being the criticality of their roles in decisively resisting the Maelstrom Dimensions during the last war. Such specificity made the First Darkitect’s direct motives clear. He would not tolerate these characters stopping him again. From this, his indirect motives were deducible as well. He would be invading again, hence society’s terror.

Necessarily, the Nexus Force responded. Those of the aforementioned targeted groups who so far survived the attacks or were not yet attacked were relocated to defensible positions, as much as they could be called defended, in that they were under constant manned guard. Those who could assist in improving defenses were tasked as such, and with the nature of the situation, it so happened those two groups overlapped.

…

Torture.

That singular word reflected Tiberius Talmid’s general sentiment about working for the Nexus Force. Locking him up was bad enough, be it in a correctional facility for society’s protection or in the Nimbus Station Sentinel Command Base for his own protection, it didn’t matter. Both took him away from the work he was supposed to be doing, which certainly wasn’t brainstorming transdimensional defenses, in his own opinion.

What had happened to his nephew rested heavily on Tiberius’s mind. Not the part about Aiden’s death at the hands of the Song Stealer, tragic as was, but the part about his return to life, truly fascinating in its means. The tests of the young man resoundingly confirmed what he’d suspected occurred, given the symptoms observed. A merging of Creative Sparks!

The more Tiberius considered it, the more it made sense to him that it could be the key to solving the problem of Project WCWJST.

Tiberius pressed the buzzer on his work desk to page his handlers. It wasn’t them he wanted to speak to, of course, but his nephew. Aiden needed to hear his breakthrough. He pressed the buzzer again. “Pick up, bastards,” the man muttered.

“They won’t,” the intruder laughed behind him. “Any last words?”

Tiberius bristled at the sudden, recognizable chill in the room, that of Maelstrom. “Thank you for letting me know,” he managed, before shutting his eyes and sighing, as he knew it was too late for him. Then he cursed himself, for not thinking to make his words a hint for Aiden, unless-

The man did not finish the thought.

2

Under an overcast sky on a dreary world, alongside an unswept and weather-beaten road, stood a man called Sky. Also known as Agent Sky, despite looking rather shabby himself, he stood pondering a most peculiar of coincidences, one of proximity in this case. Different perspectives may see nothing or everything, little or a lot between the numbers 55 and 56, such as fractions or decimals. Agent Sky’s chosen profession was not mathematics, however; his title rather suggested more secret agency things. But surely anyone else could also see the mighty improbability that two very separate organizational entities just so happened to base themselves in two very neighboring locations.

Clicking his tongue, Agent Sky aimed into the alleyway to the entrance of number 56 Unemployed Road. Consumed by his passing thoughts, he was almost hit by a passing car, not that it deterred him. Funny, that was the only car he’d seen all day. Inside the alley he passed dumpsters, crates, boarded up windows, and rusted-shut doors of long-abandoned institutions until he reached the one labelled Laundromat, a misnomer for its current institution which also began with an L. Another coincidence? Likely.

He raised his hand to a rusty doorbell, and after seeing its snipped wires meandered instead to give the door a good old fashioned knock. His knock could be heard resounding into a hollow space on the other side. He knocked again with purpose. Occupants, if any, were sure to have heard him. There were occupants, he was sure, as he trusted his source of this address.

In short time, a lock clicked and a door cracked open, the one behind him. Nice deflection, thought Agent Sky as he turned to face a young brunette standing in that doorway, noting the combination of her Sentinel Knight armor and a blue-painted Wormholer aimed in his general direction. Despite the weapon, she wasn’t in a combat stance and wore no other combat gear, making her appear less threatening to him. When she didn’t immediately speak, he figured he should break the silence.

“Who are you?” they both said at the same time.

“Sorry,” they both apologized.

“I’m Agent Sky!” he exclaimed. After an extra second’s silence, when she seemed sure to not respond, he continued, “I’m here to talk to Sir Talmid.”

The girl cocked her head. “Aiden?”

“I can think of no other here at this time,” Agent Sky answered.

“Did you say your name was Sky?” the girl asked.

“Agent Sky,” Agent Sky sighed.

“Oh,” a look like recognition crossed her face. “I know your name. You can come in.” She stepped back to give him room to enter, but he didn’t immediately.

“I hope I give you no intentions to use that,” he pointed with his eyes to the Wormholer. She traced his aim to the chain gun in her hands before dropping the barrel quickly. Despite its blue paint job, it was still a Paradox weapon, which carried implications to him.

“Oh, of course not! Sorry,” she said again, shaking her head and letting the weapon tap the floor. “I’m just scatterbrained, that’s all. We all are. A lot has happened, so much has gone on. Transdimensional travel, the looming threat of dimensional war, Rogues...” She looked back to him. “You were part of it.”

Agent Sky regarded her evenly. “You weren’t.”

“Not on the surface,” she said with a shrug and extended her hand, which he took and shook firmly. “I’m Bridget. I’m still kinda new to Leek Works, but you must be too, since you didn’t just come in through the secret entrance.” She stepped back and waved for him to follow.

“There’s a secret entrance?” Agent Sky repeated, closing the wooden door behind him. She led him through the building’s unlit main section, past booths and a counter, as it was formerly a diner, and into the backroom, where inside one of the disabled coolers a hatch in the metal floor yawned open to reveal a laddered tunnel.

“Exits and entrances, there’s actually a few of them,” Bridget told him.

Agent Sky stared into the dark opening. “Are you sure it’s wise to tell me all about your base’s securities?”

“It hardly matters anymore,” Bridget said, beginning down the ladder. “Really, you’re lucky you showed up just now, instead of yesterday.”

“Why’s that?” Agent Sky called after the girl.

Her brunette head popped back up into the room. “Been under a rock lately?” she asked ironically. “Nimbus Station has been evacuated for weeks. We’re here to bring everyone back.”

3

“If this works, we can finally go back home,” grunted the blond haired fellow.

“And get back to business,” grunted his dark-haired friend.

“I’m with blondie on this one,” their red-haired compatriot squeaked. “Where’s a Figdroid when you need one?”

“Stop!” Luke exclaimed. “Now, lower!”

“Wait, no, a little farther,” Aiden protested.

“Letting go!” Mara announced.

“No, I said further, no, Mara, no!”

The three jumped backward as the hefty device they’d been carrying slammed into the floor with an anticlimactic thud. Its base was cuboid shaped, of a metallic cast material, and atop it was a smooth prism of glass-like construction, with an opacity much closer to frosted glass than window glass. There was no apparent damage from the short fall, yet.

“Well,” Luke smirked, “that wasn’t too bad.”

“The thing better still work,” Aiden scowled, scrambling for a large power cord coming out of the wall and dragging it toward the device. “You’re kidding me! The socket’s wrong.”

Mara wiped her forehead. “There’s an adapter eerk.”

“Eerk?” Luke repeated.

“I, I, R, C.” Mara spelled out.

“If you’re just gonna stand around you could at least stand guard,” Aiden huffed.

“We’re not just gonna stand around,” Luke said while Mara said, “We’re not just gonna stand guard. We’re checking the truck, homie.”

 “And leaving me here?” Aiden squawked.

“You could come with us,” Luke suggested.

“And leave this here,” Aiden said, “this very important and experimental piece of Nexus Force tech that is potentially the means to our continued free existence?”

Mara nodded devilishly while Luke shook his head. “In that case, guard it,” the man said, turning on his heel to follow the lady as she danced up the stairs. “We’ll be right back.”

With a sigh, Aiden unholstered a gun and centered himself in Leek Works’s basement. He’d already been the target of one assassination attempt, so being alone still irked, but at the same time that was already a month ago and they hadn’t come for him since. The hits per capita had been single for the others as well. Some had been offed, some hadn’t, some were unaccounted for.

That included presumed targets, who were known persons of import – in both meanings of the word – but had gone missing, for various durations of time. The man called the Janitor, the one from the so-called Janitor Dimension, came to mind, although he’d been missing since the end of the last war. Also coming to mind was the young lady called Kate, who an outpost on Jirdia reported missing just within the last month.

An interesting thing about them, aside from their importance to First Darky, was what happened when attempts to transdimensionally maneuver to them were attempted. What actually happened was nothing. Nothing happened. The same thing happened with a few other persons as well. Charles Bradfordson, of the Future Dimension, for instance. Rowana Talmid, of the Future Dimension, as well.

 At least for the latter, Aiden knew she didn’t want to be found, and figured some sort of localized transdimensional block had been instated to impede such measures. He had some experience with that at Macabross. For the others, there wasn’t enough information to conclude if they personally desired their inaccessibility, or others desired it for them… or against them.

At least it proved that transdimensional blocks were possible, which was the key to restoring security to the universe and ending the Maelstrom Dimension’s personalized attacks once and for all.

“We’re back,” Mara sang. “And you have a visitor.”

After the red-haired woman, who tossed the socket adapter Aiden’s way, came Bridget and a scruffy looking guy, probably leaving Luke to guard the primary level.

“Stop being negligent, Mara,” Aiden chastised while plugging the adapter into the device’s port and then plugging the other end of the adapter into the power cable, which in turn, on the other side of the wall, was plugged into the output port of an Imaginite converter harnessing the power of several tons of blue Imaginite.

“Voila,” he said as the device began to hum, and did a double take when he recognized Agent Sky. “How’d he get here?!”

“I let him in,” Bridget said.

“I meant how’d he get passed the checkpoints,” Aiden clarified.

Bridget shook her head. “Apparently there’s no more checkpoints.”

“Been under a rock too, eh?” Agent Sky said. “Although personally I was wondering that myself, as well. I still recall what the Nexus Force tried doing to me the last time I showed up here. But that didn’t stop me from trying again.”

“The madman!” Mara crowed.

“He’s here for you,” Bridget relayed to Aiden as Agent Sky stepped forward.

“I bring a message,” the man began, “from your daughter.”

4

Before Aiden thought to ask, “Which one?” Agent Sky continued with the message itself.

“‘Return.’” relayed Agent Sky. “That’s the message.”

Now Aiden had more questions. “Return where?” he asked.

Agent Sky shrugged. “I’d presume she’d presumed you’d already know that. Of course I’d have asked for clarity, but she was gone in less than five seconds… if she was even there to begin with. I just kind of felt her presence, heard her voice, then poof. Quite spooky.”

“Well,” Aiden gave the predicament some thought, “that’s not really a problem, now that I think about it. There’s only two places it could mean, depending on who gave you the message. The problem is, we just turned this thing here on.”

He gestured to the device humming along beside him, casting its multicolored glow across the lighter surfaces of the room.

“If it’s working,” Aiden explained, “we can’t transdimensionally maneuver from anywhere in the Nimbus System or around it by a lightyear or so. No one can.”

“Oh, so you’re saying she’s in another dimension,” Agent Sky realized. “That explains the spooky factor.”

“And you were on Elistra when this happened?” Aiden deduced, to which the agent nodded.

“Lost,” Mara said.

“Grace,” Aiden muttered. “So, return means we’re going back to Elistra.”

“Rocketing back to Elistra,” Mara specified while grabbing Agent Sky’s shoulders. “And you’re coming with us.”

“Hold it,” Bridget jumped in front of the doorway. “What about the meeting tonight?”

Aiden paused. “Juiliet’s already going.”

“But she’s not the leader of Leek Works,” Bridget pointed out.

“I’ll eat my hat if she is,” Mara remarked.

“The point is,” Bridget continued to Aiden, “someone like you has the potential to drastically affect the outcome of this meeting, for the better. And some people will only get onboard if they’re also listening to you,” Bridget sidelonged Mara, “this one at least.”

Mara tossed her head. “Puhlease. I’m only here because it’s interesting.”

Aiden scratched his head. “I get what you’re saying. But we can’t leave Grace on read either.”

Mara snickered. “Ghosting the ghost.”

“I can go back with Agent Sky,” Bridget said.

“I was just thinking that,” Aiden agreed. “You know, see if you can grab Tiberius, too.”

The girl nodded, Mara released her prey, and Agent Sky gave a little bow, before he and Bridget departed.

“Meeting tonight?” Mara echoed.

“Nexus Tower, in two hours,” Aiden filled in. “It’s a big one. Faction Leaders from our dimension, Faction Leaders from the Janitor dimension, and representatives from the Nexus Republic. No one told ya?”

“Nah,” Mara replied. “It don’t matter anyways, I ain’t going.”

“Of course not,” Aiden sighed. “But I’m going.”

“Sucks to be you.” Mara waved. “See you on the telly.” Then she left too.

Aiden nodded to an empty room.

5

Aiden knew one thing as he stepped onto the Nexus Tower landing platform. He wasn’t looking forward to this.

“Clear out, fellas!” Shard pressed ahead, splitting the throng of news crews and bystanders so his companions to pass unscathed. “You don’t want to make us late to saving the multiverse!”

“This historic meeting doesn’t start for another fifteen minutes,” pointed out one reporter.

“I said move it!” Shard shoved him.

“The public should never have been invited,” Juiliet muttered.

“It’s for optics,” Aiden said. “The Force wants them to see we have a solution. No one likes being locked down.”

“We’re working on a solution,” Juiliet corrected. “This is just the beginning. And on the other matter, there should never have been a public in this warzone to begin with.”

“I like your zingers,” Aiden said, “and nothing against keeping your teeth sharp, but I don’t think this meeting is the place for those politics. Them bureaucrats get really virtue-signally when offended.”

“Oh, I know,” Juiliet agreed. “That’s why you’re doing the talking tonight.”

“Don’t remind me.”

Thanks to Shard’s lead, they made it off the landing platform relatively intact and through the checkpoint into one of Nexus Tower’s quadrants. Traveling up two more floors brought them to the antechamber of the night’s historic meeting. Sentries scanned and cleared them for traces of Maelstrom before opening the doors to the massive conference hall.

It was an arena reserved for only the grandest of public occasions, and as such it was set up like a stadium, with rings of elevated seating overlooking the room’s center, and capacity-wise they were nearly completely occupied too. The hall was also built right up against the central support beams of the Tower, with full height ballistic window panes installed in the interior wall so those present could personally view the energy beam of the Nexus itself, swirling and spiraling up and out of the tower.

Aiden, Shard, and Juiliet barely registered it, though, as their guards escorted them to their positions in the room’s centerstage, an elevated platform with the rest of the meeting’s participants. There were the Faction Leaders, of course: Duke Exeter, Albert Overbuild, Hael Storm, and Vanda Darkflame, in the center seats of the long horseshoe table in the room’s center.

To their right were more Faction Leaders: Duke Exeter, Albert Overbuild, Hael Storm, and Vanda Darkflame, from the version of reality known as the Janitor Dimension. To the untrained eye, they looked exactly the same as their local counterparts. There was only two years, give or take a few days, between the two sets of them, with the Janitor Faction Leaders being the younger set.

Opposite them were three representatives from the Future Dimension, the most imposing of which was Lord Brocktree, a mountain of a man even without his famous armor. If anything, twenty years had grown him bigger and stronger than the version of Brocktree they remembered, who was still MIA as of six years ago. Alongside him was his recognizable right hand man, Suave Able Cat, and to his left, a bespectacled blond fellow.

“Our man Sandy Studs,” Shard identified.

Although transdimensional blockers had been installed and activated throughout the Nimbus System only that afternoon, they’d been disabled in Nexus Tower for a scheduled window of time to allow the entrance of extradimensional parties.

“Looks like we have more visitors after all,” Juiliet said, even after the three of them had taken their seats between the local and Janitor Faction Leaders.

As they watched, sentries escorted another pair to one of the table’s ends, a blond woman and a dark haired man, dressed in vaguely Sentinel armor with components of other kits mashed between. Their suits were freshly shined, and their hair recently cut, suggesting this was not their usual level of upkeep.

Juiliet sucked in her breath. “The registrar says they’re from… the Blaona Dimension.”

Shard made a face, “What kind of idiot came up with that name?”

“Hold on,” Juiliet kept reading. “That’s one of the Maelstrom Dimensions.”

Aiden shifted in his seat. His suit was itchy, especially around the legs. “There’s non infected people there?”

Juiliet narrowed her eyes. “More like there used to be. But there’s a lot we don’t know.”

“Well, well, well,” Shard said.

They followed his gaze to another delegation entering the hall at the opposite side, except this time it was a delegation of one, a woman in a Sentinel peacoat, her red hair styled back in a bun so her adult face was clear to inspect the world, and be inspected, as the Leek Works crew transfixedly did.

“Like seeing a ghost,” Shard marveled.

“Is that… Kate?” Aiden guessed, as the woman looked like her, but not exactly. Older, maybe, by about twenty years.

“If she’d lived,” Shard said. “She’s got to be from another dimension.”

“No need to spell it out, Captain Obvious,” Juiliet commented.

“Got a name on it, Juiliet?” Aiden asked of that dimension.

“Does Helterskelter ring a bell?” Juiliet informed, before muttering, “Who the heck is coming up with these names?”

The hall lights began to dim, casting shadows upon the occupants lit otherwise solely by the glow of the Nexus, and a cued hologram of Nexus Naomi projecting into the room’s center.

“Let the history books remember,” her voice began, “at the 20^th hour, of the fifteenth day, in the sixth month of the 3031^st year after Figoranos, local-time of course, an historic assemblage occurred: The First Transdimensional Conference of Nexus Forces.”

The lights returned to the hall’s center to illuminate the five parties: the local Faction Leaders and Leek Works, the Janitor Faction Leaders, the Nexus Republic, the Maelstrom Dimension survivors, and Future Kate.

“Let the saving of the multiverse begin,” Naomi announced.

6

Duke Exeter of their own dimension spoke first. “I am pleased to announce that we have equipped every world in our Nimbus System with transdimensional blockade devices, in full operation at this very moment. The intrusive attacks that we have endured this past month will not occur in this dimension again.”

Nexus Naomi signaled to the audience, who began clapping.

The Sentinel Leader continued. “We owe our gratitude to our very own team of transdimensional operatives.” He opened a hand toward Aiden, Juiliet, and Shard. Aiden slunk into his seat, Juiliet gave a curt smile, and there was Shard just waving giddily into the applause.

Leek Works had produced the prototype transdimensional blockers, but not from their own designs. Part of it came from Aiden’s head, now that he had Future Intrepid’s memories. The rest came from long nights scouring the old Future Leek Works files given to them by Rowana so long ago. Despite prototype versions of the devices failing, they kept pushing, and with the Faction Leaders themselves demanding results, the entire economy of the Nexus Force was at their bequest.

Eventually it paid off.

The Nimbus System was secure, and soon the rest of the Crux System, and the rest of the core worlds.

For now.

A new sort of device was in the works; instead of a general blocker, a diverter, so inbound traffic could be sent and screened through secure areas. Rowana’s files revealed that Future Leek Works had done it, and it was only a matter of reengineering it for themselves.

Or, Aiden glanced at the Future Dimensional trio, ideally they could just get it from them. He tried reading their expressions, which were neutral, purposefully so. Even with the spotlight on Leek Works, Brocktree was avoiding staring at them. The man was different than his local counterpart, an honorable and valorous man. This Brocktree was petty and vindictive.

Well, conversation would occur eventually. As Duke Exeter gave speaking rights to the other Duke Exeter, announcing the Janitor Dimension’s planned receipt of the transdimensional blocker tech, Aiden shrugged to face the rest of the delegations. The Maelstrom Dimension pair still looked out of place, and Future Kate was staring straight at him, until he made eye contact and she looked away.

“I am proud to relay the Republic’s willingness to unite against our collective enemy,” Brocktree was speaking now. “To the Maelstrom, we are all the same, one target to be vanquished. So we face them as one today and until our victory. As one, we will prevail.”

It was a moving monologue, if Naomi’s orchestra was any indication.

“An era of cooperation is upon us,” Brocktree continued on. “More accurately, it has befallen us. I’d like to say it’s out of courtesy, but admittedly our track record betrays that. It’s out of criticality. Recent points of divergence are the clearest indication: We are not all the same, we each have our own talents, and we need each other to survive.”

Naomi’s crowd took it in stride while Aiden just rolled his eyes. The spotlight then fell on the blond woman and her companion, who both looked surprised for the moment, as if they weren’t quite sure what to say, or why they were there.

“Uh, hi!” the man grinned. “We’re just happy to be here! We’re from the Nexus Force, or, uh, she is, still, at least. I retired.”

“We are the survivors,” the woman picked up, “of the first Nexus Force to fall to the Maelstrom, thanks to the forces that have become known to you as the Maelstrom Dimension. We are here to help make sure that what happened to our dimension, happens to no other again.”

She looked at the floor as the audience proceeded to applaud, while the local Duke Exeter looked up and down between the registrar in his hands and the two survivors. “You reportedly came from, uh, I’m not going to read this out loud, it sounds ridiculous…”

“D-NS-1M?” Brocktree offered, but Duke waved him off.

“Oh yes, here’s some English: ‘The Maelstrom Dimension.’ If it truly is entirely infected, how did you make it out?” the Sentinel Faction Leader asked.

“Oh,” the man responded, “we didn’t just come from there.”

“We were sent here six years ago,” the woman said, and like Duke Exeter she checked something on her notes before reading, “to this dimension, apparently called ‘Flumberfluff.’”

“These names again,” Juiliet murmured beside Aiden.

“We call it D-NS-3.” Brocktree translated.

“And who sent you?” asked Duke.

The woman seemed like she wanted to respond, but wasn’t exactly sure how, when the man just replied, “Well, you did, sir. I mean, your counterpart from our dimension, of course. Sorry if we seem awkward, it was just awhile ago, is al!”

“You’re not awkward,” the woman hissed.

“Let me share the punches,” the man sighed.

Duke folded his arms. “Okay. I’m sure he had a good reason for choosing you.”

“I take it he doesn’t recognize us,” the man continued to the woman. “Or more specifically, you.”

“On that note,” barked Hael, waving his own copy of the registrar, “who even are ye? It doesn’t say here.”

The man squinted across the table at Hael. “It doesn’t? Oh, it would appear it doesn’t,” he observed while his companion doublechecked their own copy with a scowl.

“The Janitor said he’d take care of all that!” she said. “He’s probably laughing at us now.”

Across the table, Shard stopped snickering at the callout. “Say what?” he mouthed, while Aiden and Juiliet thought the same thing. The other Janitor.

“Anyway!” the man clapped his hands. “Sorry for the late introductions, but better late than never. I’m Aaron Wilder and this is my girlfriend Plue Abernathy. As she said earlier, we’re here to save the world, supposedly, allegedly? As for how we’re supposed to do that, I just want to put it out there right now, I have no idea what we’re going to do!”

7

Aiden was caught by surprise when his own cough was repeated across the entire hall, because Shard had activated their microphone.

“I want to make this very clear,” the Janitor was saying, “I never promised these people anything! Actually, I’ve never seen them in my life!”

Aaron and Plue gaped at him. “Well, the same goes to you!” Aaron responded. “I have no idea who you are!”

Shard puffed his chest. “I am the Janitor.”

Everyone looked confused.

“He’s the other Janitor,” Juiliet cut in. “You obviously had contact with a different Janitor.” Then she turned off their mic.

Shard gave her a bewildered glare. “Did you just call me the other-”

“Forgive my incredulity, which I’m sure is shared among many of us,” Albert Overbuild’s voice of reason came in, “but is there some significance to be understood about this particular occupation of Janitors?”

Future Suave responded. “It’s a person. We have had limited contact with a certain transdimensional traveler calling himself the Janitor. Quite a peculiar fellow.”

Shard wrestled the microphone from Juiliet. “Again, it is critically imperative you understood that wasn’t me!”

“Shard, stop!” Juiliet grabbed it back with a glare that read, What is wrong with you? Then she grabbed Shard’s shoulders and with surprising strength hoisted him out of his seat.

“If you’ll excuse us,” she mouthed to Aiden, before leading her companion out of the arena.

“Since we’re allies now,” inquired Vanda, “could we be told what this Janitor wanted with you?”

Brocktree and Suave whispered something, before the former nodded and the latter replied, “All he told us was that we should come here.”

“That’s what he told Aaron and me, too,” Plue spoke up.

“Signed us up and everything,” Aaron added. “Okay, maybe not everything, considering he didn’t put our names in, but you get the picture.”

Future Kate spoke for the first time. “He came to my Nexus Force as well.”

Also for the first time, the Faction Leaders from the Janitor Dimension turned on their speaking light. “So let us get this straight,” asked the Janitor Duke Exeter, “this whole meeting of dimensions has been orchestrated by this so-called Janitor?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” local Vanda countered. “It’s our Nexus Force who sent out the invites.”

“We were going to come anyway, Janitor or not,” Brocktree assured.

“So what does he want?” Janitor Duke asked again. “Aside from us all being here, which is obvious, but then what? What does this do for him?”

“We probably have to ask him ourselves,” Plue suggested. “Or we’re just going to get lost speculating.”

“That’s unless any of you guys know about him?” Aaron challenged. “Anyone?”

“He’s from the Janitor Dimension,” Aiden posited.

Everyone’s eyes boggled. “A whole dimension of Janitors?” Janitor Duke gaped.

Aiden realized all those eyes had turned to him, and he hurried on, “No, that’s what we called the dimension he’s from. Yours, actually, sirs and madam,” he addressed the Janitor Faction Leaders.

“Just dandy,” Janitor Hael groaned, “he’s one of ours.”

“The Republic’s wanted his apprehension for years,” Brocktree’s voice cut in. “Admittedly, he’s managed to evade us, despite popping in and out of the known multiverse several times.”

“You’ve been tracking him,” Local Duke paraphrased.

“Only in the known multiverse,” Brocktree repeated. “There’s a lot out there we haven’t reached yet… it’s not a question of if, by the way, but when, and that’s only a matter of our politics.”

“I ask only because you brought it up, but perhaps there is an ulterior relevance to your politics that we should be informed of?” local Overbuild suggested.

Brocktree smiled thinly. “Perhaps. But don’t worry, I will keep it my concern.”

Aiden sighed and positioned his mic. “If I may disagree with you Lord, anything that concerns any of us, concerns all of us. And if I may posit,” he leaned forward, “the politics of the Nexus Republic are definitely of our concern.”

“What would you know of our politics?” asked Suave, until Brocktree whispered something in his ear. “Oh.”

The exchange did not go unnoticed, what with the spotlights and everything. “Perhaps you have something ulterior to share as well, Mr. Intrepid?” asked Overbuild.

Aiden shrugged. “I just know some things, is all. I spent a lot of time there two and a half years ago.”

“He was in contact with his counterpart from our dimension, during the war.” Brocktree stated. “They collaborated to end it.” He waved to both sets of Faction Leaders. “And we believe they are collaborating still, now.”

Aiden harrumphed. “For the record, that’s ridiculous, the guy got totally obliterated at the end of the war.” He noticed some questioning stares and paraphrased for them. “He’s dead.”

That seemed to pacify them, while Brocktree’s eyes had only narrowed.

“There are definitely ulterior things occurring here,” remarked the Janitor Overbuild.

“I concur, my colleague,” quipped his counterpart.

Nexus Naomi reappeared centerstage then. “The conference has reached the half hour mark, and the participants are now invited to adjourn for our first break session. Those who are exiting the arena, please move in an orderly fashion towards the clearly marked exits…”

8

Aiden made to do as such, turning from the centerstage and descending the platform, hoping to catch up with Juiliet and Shard. He was admittedly not that orderly in rushing to the exit, but he was itching to find out what was up with the Janitor. As vain a fellow as he was, he’d never seen him this disturbed, although that wasn’t considering Future Intrepid’s memory banks…

Aiden prevented himself from going there. It was an overwhelming endeavor, when he wasn’t fueled by adrenaline, which he didn’t want to be at the moment.

A gloved hand gripped his arm.

“What I said earlier is true,” Lord Brocktree said in a low voice, but not softly, to quite the contrary. “Any matters between us have been suspended, potentially permanently.”

Aiden shrugged out of his grip. “By the Council’s bidding? I’m honored.”

“What would you know of the Council?” Brocktree reared. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter. The decision was made at my discretion. I’m not as beholden to the Council as you think. Given what we’re up against, I’ve been willing to put things that would stand in our way behind us. I suggest you practice the same.”

He slunk back and Aiden angled away, resuming his escape. It was a nice proposal, actually. He didn’t see anything bad about accepting it, except that it was difficult to let things go, even things that were gone forever.

Some people had assembled in the break room and lobby outside the hall for refreshments, but Aiden didn’t see Juiliet and Shard among them, which was concerning. Pulling out his comm to try reaching them that way, he found a message from Bridget waiting for him instead.

I’m so sorry, followed by an attached report from the Sentinel Command Base on Nimbus Station, where Tiberius had been detained.

It was a report of much template and little substance, as most were, but as he read it, found the critical words, and understood them…

The environment around him began to blur. Isolated snippets of conversation faded into a low, droning hubbub. His left hand went to his jaw, the other to his heart, but through a sudden numbness he barely felt any of his finer details.

“Are you alright?” a familiar voice snapped him out of his trance.

“What?” Aiden looked up, confused to see Kate standing over him, but she looked different. Of course she did, since this woman was Future Kate, from wherever she’d shown up from, Juiliet had said Hickenlooper Dimension or something like that? Apparently he’d slunk to the ground, as the Sentinel woman had extended her hand to him. He graciously accepted her help in pulling himself up.

“Thank you, I’m alright,” he managed. No, he wasn’t. The words of Bridget’s message smashed against his forehead, trying to be unread, unbelieved. They couldn’t have… Not Tiberius… Not when they were so close…

“How are you?” Aiden asked.

“Excited,” the woman responded with a beam that jogged somethings in Aiden’s memory, both his and his counterpart’s. He courteously stretched his face into a little smile of his own as Future Kate went on.

“Collaboration across dimensions is something we always talked about where I’m from,” she said, “but to see it for real, after so long...” She looked down with a bashful smile. “I’m sorry, it’s rude of me to go on like you know what I’m talking about.”

Aiden pocketed his comm, the damned bearer of bad news. “Maybe I know more than you think.”

“That would be convenient,” Future Kate considered. “What do you think you know about my dimension?”

“Judging solely by appearances, I know it’s one of the advanced ones, like Brocktree’s, relative to this one…” Aiden trailed, noticing Future Kate’s tepid expression.

“Your perception’s correct,” she confirmed, “but it’s rude to judge anything off a woman’s appearance.”

Aiden shrugged. “Okay. It’s not like I’ve got more to go by. But as you said, I’m correct.”

Future Kate looked him over a moment. “How advanced do you think my dimension is?”

Aiden chuckled awkwardly. “I thought that’d be rude to judge.” Inwardly, he echoed the Overbuilds’ sentiments of ulteriority at the possibly flirty look on her face.

“Not when I’m asking,” she assured. “Give it your best guess.”

“Alright, I’m guessing we’re something where you’re from,” Aiden switched gears. “But we’re not here. It’s one of those points of divergence.”

“The point in which the histories of two or more dimensions diverge,” Future Kate elucidated.

“Apocrypha of Unverse,” Aiden identified. “Author unknown.”

Future Kate raised an eyebrow. “Another point of divergence. In my dimension, the author is known. Guess who it is? Trust me, this is relevant.”

Aiden chuckled again. “You got me there. You?”

“Rowana,” she said.

“Rowana who?” Aiden responded quickly. Too quickly, since Future Kate looked at him funny.

“My daughter,” she said seriously. “But I think you already knew that.”

“Maybe I did,” Aiden replied.

“Then maybe you know she’s your daughter, too,” she told him.

Aiden made a face. “Well yes, but also no, and now it’s your turn to guess which side I’m leaning to.”

“As fun as this is, I’m gonna cut to the chase.” Future Kate said flatly. “My daughter’s missing.”

“Oh.” Aiden remarked. “Yours too?”

She was frowning. “Are you always this dismissive? You’re like, nothing like the Aiden I knew.”

Aiden responded automatically. “Another point of divergence,” he suggested.

“You’re lying,” she challenged. “I know you care about her.”

“What, did you talk to Brocktree or something? Whatever you’re heard about me,” Aiden dismissed, “it’s wrong.”

“No, I said I know,” Future Kate repeated.

“You know,” Aiden echoed with a quizzical stare, when she suddenly hunkered close to him.

“I’m giving you another chance, because I have no other choice,” Future Kate said hushedly. Did her voice crack there? “Ever since she disappeared, I’ve had this sense, like nothing I’ve felt before, that I need you to help me find her.”

“Okay…” Aiden straggled. “And this, sense, has been going on for how long?”

“Two weeks,” she whispered. “Since she’s been missing for two weeks. Do you have any idea how relentless the time has been?”

“Past two and a half years, it doesn’t hurt so much,” Aiden said.

She ignored the remark. “My Nexus Force has a transdimensional division too, and this whole time, it’s been looking for you, too,” she said with desperation in her voice. “And we finally found you here. Alive.”

Aiden turned to her, concerned by the relevance of that descriptor. “Why is that word important?”

He realized she was staring at him like he was a ghost, which he already knew in a way he was, and Tiberius knew- had known. But that couldn’t be all of it. Nor was it enough to shake him, until she said her next sentence.

“You’re the only Aiden Talmid left in the multiverse. Everyone else is dead.”

9

“How is that possible?” Aiden asked blankly, while considering the meaning of her statement. Absent any reason not to believe her, that meant Janitor Aiden was dead… Future Intrepid was already, for all intents and purposes, dead… he hadn’t yet met any other counterparts, but now he never would, if they were all dead…

“Come with me,” Future Kate beckoned. “You look like you could use some air. I know I could.”

Aiden agreed.

Future Kate and he exited to a balcony, the wastelands of Crux Prime spread before them. If they went to the edge and adjusted their field of view downward, the construction of Nexus City would be in sight. Instead they kept their heads high, taking in the night sky, filled with stars and world chunks and faraway galaxies, and the Maelstrom Vortex, spiraling away as it always did.

“It’s a big multiverse,” Future Kate said, “not just the four or five dimensions represented here. Since the inception of our transdimensional division, at least thirty other unique dimensions have been observed, just by us.”

“Sounds about right by our observations,” Aiden thought of the Unverse maps in Future Leek Works, both the one hastily drawn by the Janitor, and the one projected by Rowana, so long ago.

“After Rowana disappeared,” Future Kate said wistfully, “we sent a team to each one, even the Maelstrom ones…”

“And not only didn’t you find her,” Aiden finished, “you didn’t find me neither.”

“You never existed to begin with in a lot of them,” Future Kate stated, “and in the ones were you had, which we’ve counted seven so far, you don’t anymore. Always just killed, always just within past few weeks. Except for the one you call Future Intrepid, who died in the war. And except for mine, who died longer ago. And except for you, of course.” She allowed a small smile.

“Maelstrom assassins have been around,” Aiden affirmed. “One did try to off me, for what it’s worth. How about Rowana?”

“She only existed in three dimensions so far,” Future Kate continued. “One of the Maelstrom Dimensions, my dimension, and the one you call the Future Dimension.”

“The Maelstrom one’s dead,” Aiden shivered. “Been so for a long time.”

“Your doing,” Future Kate said curtly.

Aiden grimaced. It was gonna be her or him, leaving that mine. “I never reported that. How’d you know?”

Future Kate frowned. “We just know.”

Aiden shrugged. “Alright then, keep your future dimensiony secrets.”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Future Kate cocked her head. “But no matter. Do you think it means she’s dead, Aiden?”

“Maybe she doesn’t want to be found,” Aiden suggested.

“I can understand a lot of things, but that I can’t,” Future Kate objected. “We’ve always been so close for so long…”

“Lucky you,” Aiden said, turning back to the balcony doors as a chime began sounding from the way they came. “I’ll say, I think we’ve got a meeting to return to.”

“Do we really?” Future Kate suggested.

Aiden looked back. “What do you mean?”

“I mean we should get out of this place,” Future Kate clarified.

Aiden shook his head. “I’m still not getting it.”

“There’s a lot I want to show you, more than I can relay in words,” the woman continued urgently, “so we can actually work together. All this time I’ve been thinking, and now I think I know why I need you to come with me.”

“Hold on,” Aiden protested, raising a hand, “It’s not just this godforsaken meeting I’ve got going on, but my uncle just died, and my other daughter wants me for something, and-”

Then she grabbed his arm, and before Aiden could get free, the world around them disappeared.