Chapter 25

‘How did the Orb feel?’ Adam asked, interrupting my browsing of Instagram. I was taking screenshots of interesting dishes.

‘Extremely satisfied, almost smug, but not ecstatic like earlier.’ I replied, practicing my subvocalization.

‘Good. Washer will be finished in a minute. Have you decided what you want to tell your Dad about the secret passages?’

‘I showed the back staircase to both Aunt Joan and Dad, so I’ll show the new basement room to Dad eventually, it is dangerous until the stuff in the garage is moved. Is there a switch there, or is it supposed to be one way?’

‘It’s designed to be an emergency exit, not an entrance. It’s disguised, with no release switches on the outside. The trigger is on the tunnel wall, just above the second stair. It’s on a timer too, and will shut fast when it does.’

‘Good to know, we have enough room in the attic for all that stuff, or the basement. I could use the temporary gate to shift everything quickly.’

‘I’m assuming that you recognized the persistent gate limitations?’ Adam quizzed.

‘Besides the five mile limit, they seem to only work in straight lines.’

‘The only exception to that, and it’s not really an exception, is creating a space gate inside a pocket universe to another pocket universe. There is technically no distance between pocket universes, but that only applies to static naturally formed pockets.’

‘It would be useful to have a natural pocket around here, I could connect it to the one in the mine, and have a real emergency back door.’

‘You would have to open it yourself every time you needed to use it, so it wouldn’t benefit your Dad.’

‘I couldn’t just leave it open?’

‘Besides being unsafe, natural pockets start to dissipate if left open for too long.’

‘Define too long,’ I requested.

‘Anything from a day to a year, the bigger it is, the sooner it will start to dissipate.’

‘Describe the process, that sounds interesting.’

‘Ultimately it shrinks to nothing, then disappears. During the process it also loses any unique universe qualities, like stopped time, or no gravity, as it becomes more like the universe it’s attached to.”

‘I can change the universal qualities of the pocket in the mine, right?’

‘Yes, you can change its nature, and even move it, but you can’t change its size, or the way it will dissipate if left open.’

‘Cool, where do they come from?’

‘The one in the mine was created when an asteroid struck the Earth. Given the size of the gold find there, that was from the same asteroid.’

‘So asteroid impacts, what about explosions?’

‘Definitely, there are many in New Mexico, where atomic tests were conducted.’

‘What about Bremen and Hamburg?’ I asked.

‘Airburst, so a difficult approach.’

I made a peace sign with my right hand and drew a circle, Adam understood the gesture, and responded, ‘Very reachable, but difficult. There are no visual cues I can provide for a spot in an empty sky.’

‘I get it, but just like there is an infinite number of universes, there’s nothing impossible for me anymore.’

‘I think you are likely correct. I wonder if Hiram’s age is what limited him.’

I went back to my Instagram shopping. #BestFood has 2 million pictures.

‘Sam, the washer just finished.’

I stood, and peace signed my way to the laundry room. I put the dry clothes in the basket, moved the wet clothes to the dryer, and peace signed my way back to my room. I dropped the basket of clothes on the floor, and walked next door to Dad’s room. I grabbed his hamper, and peace signed a gate on the floor to the laundry room. I dumped his clothes thru, then released the gate, and created a gate for me, leaving his empty hamper behind.

I started to feel icky about picking up his dirty clothes, then I remembered I was wearing the gloves. I separated out the whites, and stuffed them into the washer, added soap, and bleach, and shut the door. Adam turned the internet connected washer and dryer on, and I gated back to my room.

I suddenly had an idea, and did a web search for Mr Meeseeks. I pulled up a YouTube clip of the episode, and waited until the box was sitting on the table. I made a screenshot.

‘You are sure that stuff never goes missing when I do an Orb snatch and grab?’

‘I’m sure, but after examining the Rick and Morty series, I can see why you wouldn’t want him mad at you. You should be safe regardless, as the show depicts him having several, and this universe is locked from any outside entrance.’

‘If you really are sure?’

‘Worse comes to worse, you met him in neutral territory and return it.’

‘Not feeling lots of assurance there,’ I chuckled, and pulled the box from the screenshot.

I set it on the laptop desk, and hit the latch for the secret room. I hit the button.

“I’m Mr Meeseeks, look at me!”

I created a portal between where we were keeping the paint supplies.

“Mr Meeseeks, using the portal, get the painting supplies needed to paint the room at the top of those stairs, and carry them carefully to that room.”

“Yes siree!” the blue humanoid said, then walked thru the portal. A few moments later he came back carrying cans of paint. I watched as he carefully carried up everything needed, including drop cloths and a ladder at the end.