Kevin and Theo's Multiverse Misadventure | mariteaux

PAGE SIX

A bare bulb and pull string provided the only light in the broom closet. The space was not only cramped, cluttered with boxes of papers and facsimiles of official-looking documents to the point of only Kyra fitting in, it was dreadfully short; Kevin had to bend down to see into the doorway. Scraps of paper and snuck Polaroids, blurry and badly lit, were connected all along the walls and across corkboard by taut string.

I've been theorizing about other dimensions for years now, Kyra continued, her words more to herself than her guests. Looking for evidence, hearing stories, collecting the research. I have proof now. I have your explanation.

Do you now? Theo put his hand on his hip and glared. And what do you plan to do with that?

Share it with the world... she mumbled under her breath.

You would not.

The cat turned to face the doorway, sudden and intense. I saw inside that portal! That didn't look like anything I've ever seen before. People need to know about this. The newspapers. The magazines. The newsgroups.

...The what? Kevin asked meekly.

Kyra looked down for a moment, pondering something. Where's my camera— she asked herself as she stormed out of the broom closet for the other side of the house.

Theo grabbed Kevin's arm and yanked on it. She cannot get photos of that portal! If poorly-defined sapients successfully manage to open rifts into the Multiverse on demand, they'll get eaten by its atmosphere! Or worse—collapse their worlds...

She seemed pretty set on it, Theo, what do we do?

Run, don't walk, to the portal, Theo instructed carefully, pointing in Kevin's face. You might be able to shut the portal if you force the ends of the rift together on the opposite side.

Push the hole together with my hands?

Yes, exactly. Now, quickly!

Quickly was not something Theo did terribly well in his advanced age. Kevin's long legs took him to the portal in twenty seconds, but Theo, hand fixed on the throat of his purple cape and scuttling hunched over, took a moment longer. He gazed into the world hole, seeing the large drop to the island below with a sudden dizzy anxiety in his stomach. Still, there was no time to wait, so feet first into the portal he went, and floating gently to semi-solid ground he did.

Kevin's job was tougher. He stepped through the portal and immediately noticed his fur changing color, the shoe disappearing off his foot and his leg changing back into its usual length and doglike shape. Using the reduced limb as best as he could, he dug into the bubble's outer shell, pulling each subsequent limb through the portal and experiencing the same shift for each one.

The world bubble's exterior was stretchy and malleable, enough that it could be manipulated with little force. Once he was safely on the other side, Kevin pushed and pulled on each side of the rift, attempting to massage and cover the hole out of existence. Once he could no longer see the desert or the house, he let go of the bubble and descended to the island alongside Theo, who watched with suspicion the mangled spot where the hole once was torn. Nothing stirred from it.

Good riddance, Theo grumbled.