Chapter 40

I was nervous. I felt like I needed to go say goodbye to Dad before I left. I was up, freshly showered, and fully dressed for a warm spring day in London. Warm is, of course, subjective. I had a jacket as it promised to only be mid 60’s.

Adam had the itinerary taken care of. I just had to learn to navigate the multiverse. The first step was to create the transport, a pocket universe that would self maintain a livable environment. It had a size limit, as the larger it was, the harder it was to move it.

Once formed, and Adam was satisfied that it would survive the rigors of extra dimensional travel, I entered it. My other pocket universes would travel with me, but I couldn’t access them while inside another.

My luggage was hand carry, just as predicted. I had food and water in a backpack just in case. Adam didn’t make clear what just in case was, but I had it.

Inside, the space was roughly oval, with a central source of light and normal gravity and fresh air, all about the size of my bedroom. “Ok Sam, everything looks good, now concentrate on stretching the pocket universe from it’s anchor point in your bedroom.”

I focused, with the Orb uncovered so I could better feel the layers of the universe, I reached out to where I had entered the space.

I could feel the connecting string, and with the swipe of a finger I tugged on it. I concentrated on letting it stretch, feeding it energy so it would grow. With a slight shiver the bubble released from my universe, and floated away like a balloon on a string.

‘Excellent work! While not strictly necessary, leaving a cord makes returning to the correct universe much easier.’

“I’m getting a terrible ‘Lost In Space’ feeling here,” I said aloud.

‘Don’t worry, everything is going extremely well. Give me a few moments to identify the universe we want.’

I waited, and took a sip of water, I looked at my bright brass colored hand, and contemplated a warm spring day in London, with a Beef Wellington Masterclass at the Heddon Kitchen.

‘Whatever you are doing it’s helping immensely, keep doing it.’

“I’m just focusing on the destination.”

‘Good, focus on that, and that we want to arrive several hours before class begins. We want Tuesday, April 17th, 2018, 6 am GMT.’

I kept focusing on the London kitchen, and the date, and the time. ‘Ok, reach out into the circle I’m projecting on the wall. The universe we want is there. I’ll tell you when you are connected to the correct one.’

My hand plunged through the wall of the pocket universe, stopping at the line between flesh and brass. ‘To your left, a tiny bit,’ Adam directed.

It felt like I was stroking corduroy, the ridges passing under my fingertips. ‘Ok pause, now up, a little, too far, back down two.’

I could feel the edges of the universes surrounding us. ‘Yes, that’s it, now without moving, concentrate on the date and time you want.’

“Tuesday, April 17th, 2018. 6 am GMT,” I repeated.

I focused harder, and could feel the single strand under my finger slide sideways. It came to a stop. ‘Ok, this is pretty close, so go ahead and link here. Imagine a thread extending from your finger, and attaching to the point you are touching.’

I visualized the thread, reaching out, and piercing the edge I was in contact with. ‘Well done Sam! Now slowly bring your hand back inside, until the thread merges with the pocket wall.’

I pulled back, feeling the pocket move forward till it touched the corduroy ridge, just as my hand slipped free.

‘Astronomically, that is a bullseye. Excellent work.’

I had a good idea what that meant, “Just how far away from London are we?”

‘Only a couple light years. Don’t worry, we can reach London from here. Temporary gates have no distance limit.’

I sighed. “I’m getting pretty drained.”

‘Time to eat and drink then. Once you are feeling better, we will make the trip to Earth. I need to find a safe bathroom to use.’

I didn’t question it, I just ate my sandwiches, and drank a full bottle of water. When I needed to pee, I refilled that same bottle. ‘Ok Adam, I’m ready for the next event,’ I told him, switching to subvocal as we would soon be with others.

‘We are successfully anchored in the universe and at the time we were aiming for. You can’t gate from a closed pocket universe, but you can open the door, then gate.’

‘Ok, but won’t the pocket start to degrade?’ I asked.

‘That’s where you need to make a decision. It’ll be safe to leave it open for your return for a couple days, or you can create your door just outside, and close the pocket behind you.’

‘If I close the door, will it stick with me?’

‘Yes, it remains your pocket universe. It just means leaping into open space.’

“How open space?” I asked aloud, and very concerned.

‘We are just on the other side of Alpha Centauri from Earth, call it eight light-years. Nothing out here but empty space and us.’

‘So I open the door, create the gate, and jump thru, closing the door behind me?’

‘While in shield mode, completely protected from any and all danger.’

I could tell there was something he wasn’t telling me. ‘What aren’t you saying?’

‘The first jump will need to be somewhere isolated, like the Sahara, or Canada.’

‘Because?’

‘The suction of the vacuum of space is going to be loud, and you’ll need to grab onto something to keep from getting blown back out.’