However, because it was a planned takeoff, versus Mother’s Snatch and Grab Special, the pressure didn’t last too long. As soon as I could tell we were in space, I triggered the restraint release and got back to my business. And I had a lot of business to get back to. Of which the contents of the Super-Secret Envelope were a part, but not all, that I had to take care of.
Sat down cross-legged in the middle of the mirrors again and stared at myself. Only, not really. Per how the Jamie in Bizarro World had taught me, if you focused just right, you could see the multiverse out of the corners of your eyes.
Took me a little bit, since I was kind of out of practice, but finally, as Mother did a general “we’re in space but not going to warp” announcement, I saw them.
The multiverse spread out and the worlds started to flash past. Since my time in Bizarro World I’d gotten good at using this system and now knew how to make the Universe Wheel spin faster or slower, and even how to make it stop and hone in on a specific world.
The key was to never turn your head. You turned to look, you lost them all. Find them via peripheral vision, remain unfocused straight ahead, and then you’d “see” the world you were doing a deep dive on in front of you. It stayed as long as you didn’t focus straight ahead, which was a learned skill, but one that I’d managed to master quickly.
My first stop was always Bizarro World. Sometimes I saw Jamie at the mirrors, but, these days, usually not, and today was no exception. Which made me happy. Searched for her and Other Me in this universe. Found them with Chuckie, Charlie, Max, and a little brother whose name I didn’t know. They were at their home in Australia celebrating something, with pretty much all the good people I’d met while I was there. Jamie had Stripes draped around her shoulders and I noted that there were a lot of Poofs in evidence, too. It was a nice scene, and meant I could stop worrying about that universe for a while.
Started flipping through the universes again. Most of them were a lot like mine and Bizarro World—pretty normal, all things considered. There were a few that were really out there where Jamie and I didn’t exist—like the Dinosaur World that indicated the Z’porrah had won that round on Earth, and what I called Genocide World, where Hitler and his kind had all been victorious throughout the ages, which was the most depressing world out of the entire multiverse.
There were some that looked really cool where we did exist, though, including one that had a lot of blimps and such and seemed far more technologically advanced than ours, one where technology didn’t seem apparent at all and was almost like all the descriptions of fairyland, one where the railroads were still king and cars didn’t exist but horses remained in high use that I thought of as Westworld, only hopefully without all the animatronics and killings, and one that was incredibly futuristic, as if we’d gotten jetpacks and flying cars way back when they were promised to us the first time.
The Universe Wheel spun quickly, but felt there were more universes now than there had been in the past. Per how universes supposedly split off, that made sense. But even so, because of the mirrors, could see them all in a second or two and comprehend what I needed to.
Normally centered my search on Jamie, because in every world she was in, so was I. But I needed to look at everything, so I pulled back and, as the Wheel spun again, looked at the solar system, then the solar neighborhood, then the galaxy.
And spotted something. There was a dark mass in the majority of them. And it boded.
Focused in on it in random universes and the mass was always the same—it resembled a hazy wolf or dragon head, some kind of predatory thing. Not all that large, but large enough—it was hard to get a fix on its actual size because I was seeing it floating in space. This one was floating outside of Earth’s atmosphere.
Flipped through the Wheel again, now only looking for the black mass. Found it almost everywhere—though, interestingly enough, it was absent from the Dinosaur and Genocide Worlds—but it was never in the same place. It always gave me a bad feeling, though, whenever I looked at it. Though, admittedly, not as bad as the feelings looking at Genocide World gave me. That place looked like the worst place imaginable to be hanging out. Sincerely hoped I’d never end up going there.
Tried to drill down on it but couldn’t manage it. Whether I didn’t have the skill, the black mass didn’t want me to see it, or some other reason, just couldn’t do it. Wondered if I should try harder to see what this was and gave it a shot. Still nada. And I was likely running out of time, so had to focus on the things that mattered right now.
So, gave up on the black mass and did one more run through the Wheel to see if I could spot any world—well, really, any Jamie and/or Whatever Version of Moi world—that might be desperately in need of my services. And to get the feeling of dread that seeing that black mass gave me just once more for fun.
Noted that the world with all the blimps and such really seemed like a steampunk world, which was cool, and also noted that there seemed to be a giant space war of some kind going on, but didn’t get any signs that I was needed.
Fairyland seemed cool, and my family was doing something that looked like a ceremony to the Earth or similar, but, again, didn’t seem to need me.
Westworld looked interesting, and there was a lot of action of various kinds, but my family lived on a huge ranch with a lot of security, so while it might still be the Old West there or whatever, we looked safe.
The futuristic world seemed utopian, and I really wondered if that was the goal for us on this trip—to see how utopian societies worked and emulate them. But my gut, and life experience, said that utopia only worked until the first nasty dude with a gun showed up to take over. Either way, nothing other than serenity seemed to be going on there.
The downside to the mirrors was that you couldn’t see what was going on in your own world too often, so I couldn’t tell if the black mass was here, too.
Took a few moments to enjoy the various worlds where my family life was clearly idyllic. I was married to Chuckie or Reader in the majority of these worlds, but not all.
Noted who Chuckie was married to in the worlds where it wasn’t me and was happy to see it was the same person every time. Clearly it was a small world for some of us. Though not for Reader, who had an array of different partners if he wasn’t married to me. Being the most gorgeous human around had its benefits.
There was one world I spotted where I was apparently married to Buchanan. Decided to never mention that to Jeff or Adriana. Still had a few where I was married to guys I didn’t know. The ones where I was married to gals I still didn’t know seemed just as happy as those where I was married to guys. I was apparently a great spouse regardless of who lucked into marrying me.
Self-congratulation time over, had to try to do the other necessary thing. Find Naomi.
“Are you there?” I asked softly, as I let the Wheel spin on and didn’t focus on any world specifically. “I need to talk to someone who understands.”