Journal Of Aber Crombie 5

CHAPTER FIVE

I didn't have to prompt Herbert to ask where exactly it was we were supposed to be going. Marvin looks very confused by the question. Herbert explains that we had been waiting for our transport for days now, and the names of our intended destinations. Marvin, initially not at all phased by two strangers entering his secret laboratory on a deserted planet, now looks at us as if we were unidentifiable creatures who crawled out of the shadows. After a moment, he asks what planets we came from. I am from Valko, and Hebert is from Tiozeven. Our answers do not seem to make him any more comfortable.

Marvin asks the interplanetary date that we arrived on the planet. He notes that was 24 local days ago. Herbert confirms that, and says we had been keeping track of the number of days ourselves. Marvin asks Herbert to describe his home planet. Herbert says he doesn't know what Marvin's references were, but that his home is much like our next stop, Earth. It has salt water oceans and continents with fresh water rivers. Then Herbert asks Marvin some questions. And why is he here, apparently all alone, on a baron planet? Why was he expecting us when we came in? And where was it he thought we were going?

Marvin suggests we all sit down, and motions to the table in the middle of the room. He asks if we would like some water. We both decline, and Herbert says we would just like to know more about where we are, and if Marvin knows anything about why the ship did not show up at our station.

We all sit, and Marvin takes a deep breath before he starts to explain why he is here. He says he runs this way station. The city was built around a mining industry, but was abandoned once the mineral was depleted because the storms on the planet make it hard to maintain a profitable civilization. The company he works for runs way stations. The planet is in a great location, and the land was cheap. So they set up a station here.

The devices in this room are transport devices. People are transported to the main room above, and then he sends then on to the next stop. He works here for 3 weeks, then another operator will relieve him and send him and Webby back to his planet, Wytch, spelled with a Y, where they will stay for three weeks, and then return to relieve the other operator. He says he was expecting travellers earlier today, but they didn't show. He assumed we were the ones he had expected.

Herbert and I look around the room. We have never seen or even heard of this type of transport technology. Herbert comments that had he known this was an option he would have quit using transport ships years ago. Marvin swallows before he replies. He explains that no transport ship have been here for years. I point out that we arrived on one 23 days ago. He says he is certain we did. But he is not certain from where, because all the planets we mentioned were destroyed ten years ago by what he calls the WR104 Event, a gamma ray burst that burnt up seven nearby planets.

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Herbert tells Marvin there was a gamma ray burst ten years ago, but there were only several planets destroyed. He lists the planets. I remember the event when I was a kid, but I don't remember the names of the planets. Marvin had never heard of the two that Herbert listed. They begin to compare their known histories. There are many parallels. There are similar events that happened, but some on planets with different names. Then everything diverges even more at the point of the gamma burst. After going through major events to present day, including Marvin's explanation of the development of the technology in his transport station by a scientist on Wytch, the two of them nod at each other, and just sit silently. Herbert looks at me and asks if I understand what is going on. I really don't. Marvin says that either he and Webby, or Herbert and I, have somehow crossed into a different universe. Herbert says he would like some of that water now.

Marvin returns to the table with the water, and we begin to discuss the ramifications of crossing universes. When I say we, I mean mostly Herbert and Marvin. I mainly keep repeating questions that are all some version of what are we going to do. They decide that Herbert and I have to go back to the station before sunset. Herbert says we will return the next day, if the city is still here in our universe. Then we will to try to figure out whose universe we are in, and how to get everyone back to the right one.

Herbert and I have not been saying anything as we walk back to the tractor. We start it up, and head back down the paved streets towards the cracked dirt of the desert. Herbert tells me to check my compass. I look. It is still not working. We continue our ride in silence.

We are about a kilometer from the city. Herbert tells me to check my compass again. I start to understand why he is asking. If my compass is not working, then there are no communications satellite, which means we are in Marvin's Universe. No reading. I point out that if we are in Marvin's universe, that would explain why no transport ship has shown up, and why no one had contacted us. Is our station still there? Are we driving out into the middle of the desert to a point that we can't return to the city before the night starts to get cold? Herbert says he is not sure, but he thinks we will be okay. We ride silently for another kilometer.

Herbert tells me to check the compass again. Still not working. No. Wait. There is a reading. We compare it to his. Herbert stops the tractor and looks back toward the city. I look too. Nothing on the horizon. I tell Herbert we are too far away to see it. Herbert smiles. He agrees that we are indeed much too far away.

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I didn't realize the amount of tension that had been in my body on the way back, until I saw our station appear over the horizon. We reach the building and I can see our note on the door. Even more weight falls off my shoulders. When Herbert turns off the tractor, we hear an high pitched beeping. We both know immediately the sound of an incoming communication on the kiosk. We rush in. The message says all communication has been restored. Then some explanation of how local solar activity had caused disruption to communications satellites, and that's why no ships were able to navigate to the planet. Most importantly it said the transport to Earth would be here in two days. Earth. Our Universe.

We make a good meal to celebrate. At least as good as you can make in a transport station. Herbert starts talking about going back to the city tomorrow. I ask him how he even knows it is going to be there. He tells me that my compass was the proof. He is fascinated by the advanced technology in that universe. He imagines all the things we could learn from Marvin. I have never seen Herbert so excited. But I am not risking leaving before the transport arrives. That was a great adventure, but for me, it is over. I've had a good meal, now I need a good night's sleep.

After breakfast, Herbert starts packing up the tractor. He asks me one last time if I want to go with him. I decline. We exchange contact information, and he promises to send me messages from the kiosk as long as the universes are connected and he can still make trips between the two. I tell him how glad I was to be stuck at a transport station with him. He laughs and says he couldn't have chosen a better companion for the situation if he had picked one out himself. I watch Herbert ride off toward the city. He does not return before sunset, or the next day before the transport arrives. I leave for Earth, thinking of warm beaches and a yellow sun. But I will miss Herbert.

I find my assigned compartment. Semi-private. There is a woman and man already there when I enter. And a cat. It watches me as I sit down. I ask the woman if that is a Hemingway cat. I don't think she understood what I meant, and says the cat belongs to the man. He smiles and said yes. I tell him I had met another Hemmingway cat just recently. He agrees that is a strange coincident. The man says his name is Webster, and the cat's name is Marvin. It was named after his dad who died when their planet Wycca was destroyed by the gamma ray burst 10 years ago. Webster says he was on Earth for a school trip when the burst occurred, and that is his home now. He asks if I have ever been there before. I tell him no, at least not in this universe.

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