A Roll of the Die - 1. Inception
Copyright© 2026 by Michael Loucks
Chapter 72: Day 94
October 24, 2024, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Matthias suffered the same disorientation, dizziness, and nausea as he had during his previous transit, but this time, he was in Matthew's bed in his dorm room at Harvard. When the dizziness and nauseated feeling passed, Matthias took stock, allowing memories of the six days that had passed since his first time in the OP to coalesce. As that happened, it confirmed Matthias' hypothesis that traveling forked the multiverse.
This Matthew had no memories of a note from Matthias, nor of odd spending on his Apple credit card. This Matthew had been with Lily, and her offer had been prescient, as this Matthew lasted only twenty seconds in her mouth. After that, he had acquitted himself well. With that confirmation, Matthias decided he could stay without harming 'original' Matthew in any way.
Matthias checked 'alternate' Matthew's iPhone and saw he'd set the controls correctly, as it was 0515 on a Thursday morning. That confirmed for Matthias that he had determined the formula to properly select the time and date of his transit. That was key because on Thursdays, Matthew had no classes, and in the afternoon, he had fencing practice. Because Jerry had a lab on Thursday morning, Matthias had plenty of time to make his purchases.
Matthias didn't want to get up too early and disturb Felix, and the campus stores didn't open until 10:00am. Matthias had decided to get three additional books, but the library didn't open until 7:00am, so he wasn't in a rush. The books he wanted were on the history of electricity, traditional metalworking, and steam engines — specifically the Whitbread Engine — which he believed he could build using materials that existed or could be created in Nystria.
Matthias grew restless, and ten minutes later decided to get out of bed. If Felix woke, Matthew/Matthias would simply say he had woken and couldn't fall back asleep. Matthias dressed quietly, grabbed the remote and bag of coins that had materialized on the bed, tossed them into Matthew's backpack, grabbed Matthew's iPhone, and left the room.
Matthias checked Matthew's messages, and the last one was from Lily the previous evening. He checked the calendar, and it showed a date on Friday night, but nothing besides fencing practice before class on Friday morning. That had been a concern, but it had worked out. Matthias ran through Matthew's memories and discovered no verbal plans to do anything with Jerry or any of his other friends. That meant he was free to do what he needed without any concern that they would interfere.
Matthew/Matthias walked the campus until 6:30am, when the cafeteria opened on weekdays. He was one of the few there, which didn't surprise him in the least. He used Matthew's meal card to get a hot breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, orange juice, and coffee. Coffee was something Matthias missed, but Kevin only drank tea, so his fantasy world had coffee as a luxury, generally not found in Nystria.
As he ate, Matthias thought of another book — on basic refrigeration and cooling before the advent of electricity and chlorofluorocarbons, including swamp coolers and using ammonia as a refrigerant. He laughed to himself when he remembered Doc Brown making ice in the third Back to the Future movie.
Matthias considered whether he was pushing too fast, but decided that if he was not going to come back, he should obtain those texts and use them judiciously, perhaps over several decades. He would teach his children and grandchildren as much as he knew, and they could use the texts after he was no longer with them. As he thought further, he decided to buy two additional items — a stethoscope and a basic microscope, both of which would be helpful for Lisette. He added several large bottles of aspirin and several glass oral thermometers to his list as well.
Matthew/Matthias finished his breakfast and walked to the library, where he sat on a bench to wait for them to unlock the doors at 7:00am. While he sat there, he used Matthew's iPhone to search the card catalogue and found the books he wanted to acquire. When the doors were unlocked, he got up and went into the building.
As he walked towards the shelf for the first book, he saw the library aide, Rose, and wondered if she'd behave the same way. He retrieved all but the book on metalworking and went to her for assistance. She helped him find the book, and when she checked out the books for him, she repeated her question from the other branch of the timeline word for word.
"Mind if I ask?"
"Mostly research on the medieval period," Matthias said. "I'm a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and I'm here on a fencing scholarship."
"Cool," she said. "What year?"
"Freshman."
"I'm a Sophomore. Doing anything later?"
"I don't have any plans."
"Want to hang out?" she asked, hopefully.
"Sure," Matthew/Matthias agreed.
"Rose," she said. "Do you go by Matt or Matthew?"
"Matt, usually."
"Does 5:30pm work?"
"It does."
"Meet at the Chinese place two blocks north?"
Matthew knew where that was, so Matthew/Matthias didn't have to ask.
"See you there at 5:30pm," he said.
Matthew/Matthias took the books and left the library, but it was too early to make his other purchases on campus. He returned to the dorm so he could drop off the books, and when he entered the room, Felix stirred but didn't fully wake up. Matthew/Matthias put the books on his desk, then left the room.
Despite the early hour, Matthew walked to CVS and bought a Dr Pepper along with an assortment of candy bars for Lilia. He'd get her some quality chocolate later in the day, but wanted her to experience several things from the OP he liked and missed. He drank his Dr Pepper as he walked to kill time, and at 9:30am, he entered the outdoor store.
He chose the same large backpack as he had on his previous transit, and after turning and seeing a display, realized he was a complete idiot. He picked up three high-end compasses and a pair of analog thermometers, reproving himself for not thinking of those on the previous transit or before he'd walked into the store this time. A GPS locator would be awesome, but without a way to charge batteries, and more importantly, without the GPS satellites, it would be useless. He picked up two more of the same Swiss Army knives/multitools and three more First Aid kits. The final thing he picked up was a camping toolkit, which included a hatchet which could double as a hammer; a folding spade; a camp saw with spare blades; a knife; and a twenty-five-foot nylon rope.
After he paid with Matthew's Apple Card, Matthew/Matthias returned to the dorm, happy that Felix was out of the room at his morning lab. Matthias put everything into the large backpack, with the books at the bottom. He put the pack in the back of the small closet, then left the dorm to head to a department store and the campus stores where he bought all of the items on his list, happy the Apple Card had a high credit limit, and 'original' Matthew had not spent much in the previous week after he'd paid his balance.
He returned to the dorm and packed everything into the backpack, which was now completely full. He left the room, but it was too early to meet Jerry for lunch, so he walked around the campus. Just as he was about to head to the cafeteria, something that should have been obvious dawned on him. Shaking his head, he walked to CVS and bought a box of Trojans. He might not need them, but he didn't want to miss out if the opportunity presented itself with Rose.
That was going to potentially cause problems for 'alternate' Matthew, but Matthias was only concerned about 'original' Matthew. No matter what, he was going to mess up the alternate timeline, so any 'extra' changes were minuscule compared to simply arriving. He did wonder how 'first alternate' Matthew had handled the revelation, but short of years of experimentation, he wasn't likely to find out, and the cost involved would be prohibitive.
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