Journal Of Webster Zirkman 3

CHAPTER THREE

The message from Herbert made Aber determined to follow through on our plans to go through The Rip today. We check all the equipment and load it onto the truck. I have been preparing for this moment, but the adrenaline is more than I expected. I am about to step into another universe, or dimension, or reality. My mind is spinning with anticipation. But there is one question I have been dying to ask Aber.

“A cat?”

Aber looks puzzled at first, and is looking around for a cat. Then he laughs. “There is a Hemingway cat there. His name is Webby.” Aber's countenance suddenly becomes serious. “I actually think it may be the other version of your Marvin.”

“Why do you think that?”

Aber thinks excessively hard before answering. “The cat Webby is owned by the transport operator I told you about”

He pauses again. “His name is Marvin.”

Marvin. My father's name. The other Marvin has a cat. A Hemingway cat. Named Webby. The name my Father called me. The name Aber calls me.

“And this is information you never thought to tell me?”

I am not sure if I am angry, stunned, confused, or all of those. We are about to cross into another universe. One where my father may still be alive. I can't say I never thought of that possibility, but based on the newly revealed facts, Aber had to know it was a probability.

Aber avoids my eyes as they watch his intently. “I'm sorry.”

He says he really didn't put it all together right away. And when he did, he wasn't sure how to approach the subject. He finally looks me in the eye and says he wanted to be certain we could go through before he told me. He didn't want to give me false hope that my father could be there.”

I try to process that. I can understand his hesitation, protecting me, I suppose. But now, this is a lot to grasp. Not only am I about to traverse the boundary to another time and place, but I may see my father when we get there. It may be a while until I know how to respond any further to what Aber just told me. I grab my backpack, last thing to load. “We ready to go?”

Aber nods yes, and heads to the driver's seat. We start out toward The Rip in silence.

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Right before we cross the coordinates, we stop to check all the equipment and make notes of all the reading. We have multiple devices set up on the dashboard so we can watch them as we pass through. We have learned that a combination of magnetic readings, air and soil temperature, molecular density, and electric surges can pinpoint the edge of The Rip.

We also know that when we send a drone through, it is no longer visible to us. It just sort of fades away after a certain point. Getting almost translucent before disappearing completely. It is like the edge is thick and takes a few moments to traverse. But being set to return to our coordinates after a loss of communications, the drone comes back through unharmed. Except for one. We set it to return to the coordinates that we estimated to be the coordinates of the city. Not sure what we thought that would accomplish, since we have no way of knowing if it made it. We have approached this whole anomaly very scientifically, but sometimes we are still two twelve year old kids inside and want to just see what happens.

The dashboard devices start to beep, indicating the changes are starting to happen. The levels on the devices peak. Then they start to return to normal readings. We are there. We are in another universe. My heart races. The excitement of this adventure has diffused some of my anger with Aber, and this amazing experience reminds me of that strong connection to him that time and our shared work on this project have only strengthened.

As we drive on, we notice the sun reflect of a few shiny objects scattered in the sand ahead of us. Aber says he doesn't remember seeing anything like that before. We stop to investigate. Shards of metal? Most are just worn fragments with no way of knowing what they once were, but Aber pulls at one piece that comes out of the sand as a more defined item. It looks like a cylinder. We look at each other, both recognizing what it is. There are very few metal parts in the drones we sent through. The cylinder around the camera lens is one of those parts. Aber was holding half of one of those cylinders.

That drone never made it to the city. We had sent it into a storm. There were no signs of the rest of the drone. It must have been torn down to dust by the storm. Only the heaviest pieces buried themselves into the sand enough to protect themselves. And even those would be buried or deconstructed by another storm or two. It's not like the drones were made to survive a bad storm in our universe, but I think it reminded both of us we needed to take these storm seriously, and get to the city as fast as we could. We get back in the truck and start moving again. Aber checks the atmospheric pressure and humidity. He points out that we don't know if weather readings mean the same thing here, but that we should keep an eye on any changes as we continue on.

As we are approaching the 6km mark from the station, Aber nudges me with his elbow. “There it is.” I follow his gaze to the horizon in front of us. At first, it's just some shapes poking up though a mirage like haze. As we move closer, I begin to clearly see it's a city in the distance.

Aber and I have discussed all the technical issues of this project. How to take measurements. How to record data for future reduction. How to prepare for and avoid storms. But we haven't really talked about the human part of the equations. Though Herbert is probably hoping we will eventually arrive, there is no way he can be expecting us on any particular. We don't know for certain if he stayed at the station or went home with the other Marvin. We don't know who will great us, if they will be receptive to travellers from another universe. We don't know how the other universe has accepted Herbert. Sure, the other Marvin is onboard, but what about people not at the station? The science in this other universe is more advanced, but what about society.

We haven't even discussed the possibility of us leaving the city for another planet like Herbert had mentioned. It seems like an unspoken agreement between us that we continue not to speak about anything but the science. But on this long, unusually quiet ride, I am formulating lots of questions to ask Aber about the other Marvin. And even more for the other Marvin.

Aber makes some comment about returning to yesterday after years, and how good it will be to see Herbert. I just realize I may need to dole out my questions gradually after we arrive. Herbert may be looking forward to the day Aber arrives, but the other Marvin, well, he is not expecting me. As much of a shock as it was to hear from Aber that he existed, the other Marvin is going to suddenly see his dead son face to face.

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