Chapter 6: A Trip to a More Distant Node

For his next trip Jason decided to make a translation much further away from his home node, one which would take more than an hour. This trip would require more caution and more attention to what was going on as Jason was pretty sure the place he would end up at the end of the translation would be a significantly different universe from his own. Perhaps even so different that it would not be possible for Jason to leave the transfer pod. Because of this he was especially careful in his preparations.

Jason also sent an automated exploration pod on an initial trip and he examined the recorded video very carefully. Since he would be traveling so far Jason needed to get some idea of what the nodes he would be traversing would be like as well as the destination node. There was the distinct possibility that some nodes were divergent enough from his home node to be dangerous and that was a possibility Jason needed to guard against. For example it was possible he could encounter a node where a nuclear war had occurred, or large scale natural disaster. This was the reason why his transfer pod was designed to be air tight with thick metal walls.

Jason took two days to prepare for the next trip. Every item of his equipment was checked several times and the program which ran on the pod control computer was updated. Jason had worked out a system for a code to designate each node he passed through based upon the field direction and distance from his own. The control program was now able to navigate to a node simply from entering the node designation of the destination at the control panel. The destination node Jason was visiting this time was node +1128 in his numbering system.

The automated exploration pod had shown little change from node to node until node +872 was reached where a sudden change occurred. In a whole range of almost 30 nodes, each seemed to have been devastated by some sort of disaster; which Jason would later learn had been nuclear wars. This node provided the first evidence that Jason's caution was not misplaced. Fortunately node +1128 which Jason had selected for his destination seemed to have escaped the fate of those neighboring nodes. But it definitely would not be good to become stranded in a node like one of the devastated ones so careful preparation was in order.

With everything ready Jason got up early the next morning and loaded the transfer pod on the truck and drove to the clearing he used for the starting point for all his node explorations. He unloaded the pod, parked and locked the truck in the same concealed place and returned to the pod. The he returned to the pod, making a final inspection of the exterior to see if there was anything missing or which had become damaged during the trip to the clearing. Satisfied that all was well with the outside of the pod Jason went to the exit and crawled inside, securing the door firmly behind him.

Once inside the pod Jason spent a few more minutes making another check of the interior with especial attention to the supplies and spare parts he would be taking with him. The main and backup batteries were fully charged and the air and water tanks were full. The trip he was taking today would take nearly an hour so he would need to use the internal air system during the trip otherwise the air inside the pod would become un-breathable. Jason went to the control panel and sat down, spending a few more minutes checking all the instruments and controls were operating properly. Finally satisfied everything was working properly Jason activated the drive circuit.

With the drive activated there wasn't much for Jason to do until he reached his destination; even the view of the outside would have little visible change for many minutes and Jack had already become tired of the regular unchanging flickering view. So he activated his portable video player and watched a movie for most of the transit time to his destination probability node. Since the drive was computer controlled there really wasn't anything for Jason to do during the transit period.

During the time Jason was in transit the view from outside the pod changed slowly but steadily. The trees, bushes, and other plants visible on the screen did a slow dance as the different probabilities for their growth patterns revealed themselves. Occasionally a tree or bush would suddenly disappear and be replaced by a different one in a slightly different location. This process continued for the entire time the transfer pod was translating to Jason's destination. Before the translation ended every bush, tree, and plant visible on the screen had disappeared and had been replaced by a different one several times.

Eventually the pod reached the programmed node and the drive shut itself off automatically and a tone sounded to let Jason know the translation was complete. Jason shut off the video player and looked up at the video screen. While the view outside the pod was similar to what had been displayed in his home node Jason immediately noticed significant differences in the view. While the plants visible outside were the same general type as had been shown before the individual plants were completely different. This made it obvious to Jason that this node was diverged significantly from his own.

Jason got up from his chair and started making preparations to go outside the pod. He made a quick check of his radiation meter which showed a background radiation level the same as he had measured in his home node. Jason pulled his backpack from its storage compartment and then he opened the locked weapons locker. Considering the scale of divergence of this node Jason felt safer armed when he went outside to explore. He pulled a 9 mm automatic pistol with holster belt from the locker and cinched it around his waist. Then he went to the airlock door and stepped outside the transfer pod.

Outside he found the pod still stood in a clearing but the shape and size of the clearing was obviously different from the one from which Jason had departed. As expected he quickly found the truck he had used to travel to the clearing was missing and indeed the clearing looked as if no one had visited it for a long time, if ever. Jason walked toward where the road was in his node, here the path was overgrown and it was difficult even to walk, there was no sign of the short dirt road which led out to the highway in his node.

At first it seemed the highway did not exist here but walking a few hundred feet further Jason finally encountered the roadway. It had been built in a slightly different location in this node and was made from concrete instead of asphalt as in Jason's own node. But despite the slightly divergent location this highway followed the same direction as the equivalent road did at home. Perhaps here there would also be a town in the same distance and direction down this highway.