UA7: Brothers in Spirit

Chapter 4 - The Realms of Supernature

"Hold on. I'm not getting what you're saying. Why is it that we can't just go back to the other dimension?" Dylan asked curiously.

"The splinter dimension that formed doesn't have the necessary travel mechanics built into it. I, personally, don't know too much about that. I've just been assured that it's something that's rather technical and will be dealt with in due time, once more things have settled into place. To send you back as things are would set a whole other series of events into motion... very bad things."

"If there's no travel stuff built in, then how did you get here?" Obie asked suspiciously.

"I was in the vicinity of cabin seven when the lights went out. Anyone present could have been pulled into the limbo layer of this dimension during its formation." Alistair quietly explained.

"But now that this 'splinter' has been completed, it's not possible for any of us to leave this place?" Arlo guessed as he looked out the window and noticed the umbrella covered tables outside the patio doors.

"It's not complete. Far from it. The way I understand it, this whole thing has something to do with anti-time and effect preceding cause, but again, I can't tell you too much about that. All I know is that a few more things have to be resolved before we can really do much of anything. Besides, there are the other versions of yourselves to consider. It would be difficult to settle you in a place where you already exist."

"Didn't you say that there are other dimensions? What about one of them?" Donny asked reasonably.

"There are two that we're focused on that are presumed to be stable and enduring. We wouldn't want to send you to a place that's about to disappear or be absorbed. The problem is that your group was assembled for a specific purpose and when the time came to fulfill that purpose, the universes appear to have had ideas of their own about what was supposed to happen next." Alistair said tiredly.

"So there's no place for us in either universe?" Teddy asked quietly.

"Not so far." Alistair admitted, then hurriedly amended, "We're working on it."

"Where's Johnny?" Jason K asked suddenly as he looked around.

"I don't know. He was with us before the lights came on." Dylan said as he, too, looked for his ghostly young friend.

"Who's Johnny?" Donny asked cautiously.

"We ran into his ghost while we were walking around in the dark. He's a friend of Dylan's from back in Chicago. I guess he followed Dylan's voice here or something." Jason K easily explained.

"Don't worry. He's still here with us." Arlo said calmly.

"He is?" Dylan asked cautiously.

"Yes. Johnny is standing beside you, just like he was before the lights came on. I can still see the spirit world that we were in before. This new reality was draped over top of it. I just have to light it up a little to see what's underneath." Arlo explained as he maintained his gaze on the spot beside Dylan.

"But the rest of us can't see him because the lights are on so we're seeing with our eyes instead of our spirits... or something like that. I don't know how it all works." Dylan reluctantly admitted.

"Does that mean that I can hear using my spiritual senses in place of my physical ones?" Ryvan asked cautiously.

"I honestly don't know, but since there are spirit mediums who claim to be able to hear spirits speak when no one else can, there's no reason that I can think of why it couldn't be so." Arlo said consideringly, then looked to Alistair for confirmation.

After a moment to consider, Alistair finally said, "Sure. I guess so. To be honest, I've never really thought about it."

"What about your 'friends'? Don't they know?" Kole pressed.

"They might." Alistair admitted, then added, "Of course, what they know and what they choose to tell me isn't always the same thing."

"Arlo, can you see if Ginger and Mary Ann are still with us?" Jinx asked timidly.

"Who's that? More ghosts?" Arlo asked curiously.

"Demons. They kinda watch out for me... or torture me... I'm not too sure which... Actually, kinda both." Jinx quietly admitted.

"To my eye, their appearance was that of diseased mad dogs rolled in filth, but of course I only caught a fleeting glimpse at them and it was quite dark." Randolph explained.

"No. I don't see any diseased dogs around here, but even my brightest spiritual light doesn't let me see all that far." Arlo admitted.

"Alistair, do you know if the bad stuff that I dreamed about before is going to happen now or not?" Teddy asked anxiously.

"Not." Alistair said confidently, then explained, "The future you envisioned is no longer possible. Your being here has negated that projected outcome."

"So does that mean that a better future took its place?" Ronny asked hesitantly, obviously not believing it to be so.

"Certainly different, but not necessarily better. Right this minute... let's just wait for things to settle down a little bit more. Recent events have sort of muddied the waters." Alistair said weakly.

"What's wrong? Is it something that we need to be worried about?" Dylan asked seriously.

After a long moment of consideration, Alistair finally said, "I foresee major upheaval ahead, no matter how things go. There are possibilities that might play out a certain way that would affect you here. But nothing is for certain until it happens."

"What about my brothers? Is any of this going to hurt them?" Obie asked seriously.

"My clairvoyance doesn't always let me pick and choose what visions I see, it's a little bit more broad than that. It does let me choose which visions I pass on, but that's another thing entirely. I can't see what happens to your brothers in any of the possible futures, but if it helps you to know, I don't see anything about them at all. That's probably a good thing. Most likely it means that they're fighting the good fight along with the other camp people. Nothing extraordinary has happened to them to draw my attention." Alistair said in his most encouraging voice.

"So this bad stuff that's coming, is there anything we should be doing to prepare for it?" Donny asked cautiously.

"Not really, no. Any meaningful action we could take would be just as likely to hurt us as help us at this stage of things." Alistair fought to explain.

"If we're not able to do anything, what is the point of our being here?" Ronny asked with a significant knowing glance at Alistair.

"Did someone say there was a point? I'm not saying there's not, but if there is, no one's told me about it." Alistair said as he looked around the group, noticing all their interested expressions.

After a moment to consider his next words, Alistair finally explained, "When we became aware of the imminent dimensional instability, our first instinct was to preserve a cross section of pivotal people across established groups in any upcoming endeavors. We dipped into the prime materia plenum just enough to gather those important people into a location without too much spiritual residue, where a parallel sub-plane could be established, shielded and otherwise protected from catastrophic changes. We weren't trying to seed a new dimensional incarnation with you or anything like that. Our thinking was that if something unfortunate were to happen during the proto-dimensional mitosis, we would have everything we needed to spawn a replacement on the fly."

"So we're, like... Clones or something?" Paul asked uncertainly.

"Not exactly. A clone is a copy. You're other instances of the same beings. In your case, you're the Paul who exists in the splinter dimension. Another instance of Paul exists in the prime dimension, others in other dimensions... That's the difference between you, which dimension you belong to. I'm sure that you exist in countless other dimensions, but there are just a few that we're interested in at the moment. If we had not interfered, then this dimensional fragment most likely would not have developed the capacity to support life and it would have been allowed to fall away naturally."

"So our memories are all fake?" Obie asked in bewilderment.

"No. They're as real as anyone's memories in any dimension. What happened to you this morning happened to 'you' this morning. What you are, here and now, is the Obie that belongs to this universe. The yous in the other dimensions are living their own lives, oblivious to your existence." Alistair tried to explain.

A moment of silence fell over the group, which was finally broken by Teddy quietly asking, "Are you my dad?"

"Whoa. Where did you come up with that?" Dylan asked as he gently hugged Teddy to his side.

"He looks a lot like what my dad looked like... at least, I think so. It's been a long time since I seen him so I'm not sure. But he's still got the same hair and eyes as me so it could be true." Teddy desperately reasoned.

"No. I'm not your dad, but you're right that I'm not too distantly related to you." Alistair said gently.

"Why didn't you say something about that before?" Donny asked suspiciously.

"Listen. The reason that some of you were assembled here is because Teddy got the warning that I sent him and worked to bring you together. Other people made other arrangements that I wasn't involved in, but as to my part in all of this, I showed Teddy the things that we were afraid could happen and what he might be able to do to prevent them." Alistair carefully explained.

"I don't like how you're saying stuff without really saying it." Jason K said warily.

"Try to understand that there's such a thing as 'too much' information. I'm trying not to say things, even if they're true, that won't help you with your situation." Alistair said frankly.

"So let me get this straight." Kole said in prelude, "You told Teddy what you thought he needed to be told to bring us here, and now that we're here, you're not sure if we need to be here or if there's even a place in this or any other dimension for us. Is that about right?"

"As things stand right this minute, yes." Alistair reluctantly agreed.

"And now you're telling us that you're related to Teddy but you won't tell us how because... what? It's not important? We have too much to deal with already? Because it'll distract us from more important things? We already have more questions than we have answers here. You telling us will give us one less unknown to worry about. And besides all that, it sounds to me like your judgment isn't all that great to begin with. Tell us and let us decide what's important to us and what we need to worry about." Kole said firmly.

"I'm not really supposed to say..." Alistair began to say when he was interrupted.

"Let me guess. Okay? Tell me how right I am. You're, like, a thirty-something year old instance of Teddy, aren't you?" Ryvan asked cautiously.

"I'm twenty-seven." Alistair absently corrected as his mind raced.

"Really?" Paul hesitantly asked.

"Is that what I'm going to look like when I'm twenty-seven?" Teddy asked anxiously.

"No. We'll be sure that you have plenty of moisturizer and sunscreen before that happens." Ronny assured him.

"Hey! I'm standing right here." Alistair said in offense.

Jinx, Arlo, Randolph, and Ryvan suddenly turned in unison, reacting to a sound that not everyone could hear.

A long moment later, Jinx quietly explained, "That was Mary Ann."

"I guess that answers that." Ronny said uneasily.

"This place is nice, but are we really here, or are we living in limbo with some kind of a 'playhouse' built overtop of it to make us feel like we're in the real world?" Dylan asked cautiously.

"Um, the second one, mostly." Alistair admitted, then conspiratorially added, "Actually, I think that sums it up fairly well. Not that other dimensions are really all that different, but most of the inhabitants of them have never looked behind the curtain to realize what their so-called reality is propped up on... I'm sure they would be horrified."

"I can still see into the world of limbo. It's just like it was when we left it, fireplace and all." Arlo quietly verified.

"Speaking of which, that was unexpected. We were counting on you to discover your inner spiritual light, especially with Arlo being included in your group. But we never considered that you might actually find a way to start a fire." Alistair said with a grin.

"What about the camp and the Clan? If you're not sure about what's going to be done with us, do they even need our help anymore?" Kole asked anxiously, obviously afraid of the answer.

"Honestly, I don't know. Of the futures that I can currently see, there isn't much that you can do that your counterparts can't take care of more easily for themselves. If something should happen to one of your counterparts, I suppose that we could swap you with them to take over and complete their mission, but that's about the only way I can see you being of use in their current situation." Alistair said regretfully.

"So, we're spare parts?" Obie asked weakly.

"No! Not at all." Alistair hurried to assure him, then explained, "I'm just saying that even though we don't have a plan for you at this exact moment that there still might be ways that you can make a valuable and unique contribution."

"If we can't go back to the camp because we're already there, can't we go to a space station or a colony somewhere?" Jason K asked reasonably.

"If you did that, you'd still exist twice in the same universe. While a few people have been able to make that work, it's not a preferred outcome. It has the potential to raise questions that we'd rather not have asked." Alistair carefully informed him.

"If I'm understanding this right, you and your friends could decide to ditch this entire splinter dimension and let us die with it. There's nothing stopping you from doing that except for wanting to give us a fighting chance." Dylan said seriously.

After a long moment, Donny finally asked, "Is that true?"

"From what I know of it, yeah. Pretty much." Alistair reluctantly confirmed.

"If this is just them being nice to us, is there anything we can do to help them out? Maybe improve our chances of survival?" Ronny asked anxiously.

"I overheard you talking about developing your spiritual abilities. I have a feeling that my associates might be interested to find out just how much you can accomplish with that. I can't guarantee you that it will help your situation, but I'm reasonably certain that it won't hurt it." Alistair said frankly.

"If you're twenty-seven, does that mean that you time traveled or that there's another universe where all of us are older?" Arlo asked curiously.

"I'm from, what you might call, a failed universe. Think of it as more of a mock-up than a universe in itself. I happened to be outside the time stream when my universe failed, so I've been doing odd jobs since then. Besides all that, time moves differently in nonsynchronous dimensions." Alistair said wearily.

"If your universe failed, do you have a place to go that you can call home when everything finally gets sorted out?" Dylan asked sympathetically.

"Not exactly. I'm hoping that while I'm doing odd jobs and helping people in all the different dimensions, that maybe I'll meet someone special and decide to settle down there." Alistair said with a pained smile.

"Since your dimension is gone, it doesn't really matter that much which one you choose, does it?" Donny asked gently.

"Not really. If there's anything that I've learned, it's that while every person is unique, one universe is pretty much like another." Alistair confirmed.

"So, the people you work for, are they like 'gods'?"

"Someone from the bronze age might think so, but you'd probably be most comfortable thinking of them as being more advanced or evolved than ourselves. Of course the people they work for... there's only so many ways that you can rationalize beings of seemingly infinite capabilities and power." Alistair finished quietly.

"Have you ever seen them? What are they like?" Jinx asked curiously.

"Actually, I'm not sure that they can be seen..." Alistair responded honestly, then a worried expression crossed his face, causing the others to go silent in anticipation of his next words.

Worried looks flew around the group, all of them sensing an increase in tension.

"Things are turning badly." Alistair said distantly.

"What's wrong?" Dylan asked anxiously.

Alistair blinked and seemed unsteady as he appeared to lose track of where he was and what he was doing for just a moment.

"What's going on, Alistair?" Donny pressed.

"The worst of the worst case scenarios just became much more likely." Alistair said gravely.

"Do you need for us to get back to the camp so we can do something to stop it?" Arlo asked reasonably.

"Without embedded venules, there's no way you could go back without triggering a response from just about every power, potentiality, and higher being within six dimensional manifestations." Alistair said frankly, then speculatively added, "And all of them would almost certainly see your arrival as being some kind of an invasion or attack."

"So what do we do?" Obie anxiously asked.

"It's too early to be sure but it's looking more and more likely that it might become necessary to 'dislodge' this splinter from the stable universes in order to protect it. If you agree to that arrangement, you will be able to continue training, getting stronger, and preparing for when your special gifts can be used to help people."

"And if we don't agree?"

"Then you can go back to the moment before the lights went out. As far as you'll ever know, the next minute naturally followed the last. This entire experience will be erased not only from your memory, but also from your very existence."

"I thought you said there wasn't such a thing as time travel." Jason K said suspiciously.

"There is such a thing, I was just making the point that many times when people assume that they're time traveling, they're actually crossing into a slightly different parallel dimension that's either out of temporal alignment or is altered in some small way by a particular event or decision being different from the prime materia. Those are commonly known as 'alternates'. True time travel carries the very real risk of creating a temporal paradox so it's avoided as much as possible." Alistair struggled to explain.

"If we decide to stay with the splinter, are we going to get to go back and see our families and friends and stuff?" Paul reluctantly asked, afraid of the answer.

"By all indications, it seems that one or more new 'god tier' beings are beginning to emerge in the prime materia, rising up and gathering power and allies to stand against each other. In a battle like that we wouldn't stand a chance of survival."

"So, what can we do?" Dylan asked with concern.

"Once we've separated from the stable timelines, the splinter will no longer be synchronized with them. Events in this universe could move drastically differently in relation to the prime universe. There's really no way of knowing how much differently at this point." Alistair cautiously explained.

"What does that mean about us visiting our families?" Paul slowly asked as he thought about the people who were closest to him.

"It means that while it may be possible to visit your family at some point later on, when you do, they may not be exactly how you expect them to be." Alistair carefully explained.

"So are you saying that by the time we get to see them they might all be old?" Teddy asked cautiously.

"That's possible." Alistair admitted.

"Or maybe in fifty or so years we might go back and find them just the way we left them?" Jason K quietly suggested.

"While I'm inclined to say that that is possible too, please keep in mind that I'm not an expert on these things. I don't know enough about temporal mechanics to make an educated guess of which way things will end up going. That being said, it just seems reasonable to me that either outcome could be equally possible." Alistair reluctantly admitted.

"So, if we decide to go, it's pretty much a one-way trip." Arlo quietly explained to the silent group.

"Don't get too hung up on that. Life is a one-way trip. You may be able to revisit where you've been, but you can never really go back." Kole grimly stated.

"Did you get that one from Dr. Dan?" Ryvan asked curiously.

"Chief Tecumseh." Kole corrected.

Ryvan nodded his acceptance of the answer.

"But didn't you say that we can go back and forget that any of this ever happened? If time travel isn't really a thing, how does that work?" Obie asked curiously.

"Does it really matter how it works?" Arlo asked simply.

"No. I guess it's not important." Obie relented.

"Are you saying that we can't go back?" Donny asked cautiously.

"The people that we are right now never existed, as far as the people back home are concerned. If I'm understanding this right, no matter what we decide, it won't make any difference to them." Ronny said slowly as he fought to process the new information.

"I hadn't thought of it in those terms, but yes, leaving the question of time travel aside, that is the nature of the decision you're facing." Alistair confirmed, then quietly added, "Sometimes the universe dishes up a healthy portion of just what you deserve. But other times... you get what you get. It may not be fair, but that doesn't change that you have to deal with what's been served up to you."

"Is that how you decided to cope with things after your universe failed?" Obie asked curiously.

"It was a little different for me. Thanks to my clairvoyance I had some idea of what might possibly be ahead of me, but yeah. I suppose that I still had to make a choice." Alistair explained, then with an ironic chuckle he admitted, "It's easy to think of yourself as being strong and making reasonable decisions at a time like that but trust me, when you're in the moment, it's impossible to sort out what makes sense and what really matters."

"If you cut the splinter loose from the stable dimensions, where's it going to go?" Jason K cautiously asked.

"Well, I personally, won't be the one cutting it loose, I'm not quite that powerful. But to answer your question, the splinter will probably get secreted away someplace safe until the turmoil can settle down..." Alistair trailed off as a distracted expression fell across his face.

The others watched silently, not wanting to chance jarring Alistair out of his trance.

Finally, Alistair looked around the group before quietly saying, "I've just been told that you need to make your decision before the choice is taken from you."

"If we go, will you be going with us?" Teddy asked cautiously.

"No. Big things are coming and I have a job to do." Alistair said with a note of regret under his words.

"Will there be any way for us to call you if we need help?" Obie asked hopefully.

"No. But there's every likelihood that I'll cross paths with you again, sooner rather than later... After all, I am your 'quest giver'." Alistair finished with as much cheer as he could muster.

"So, our choices right now are to try or to give up, right?" Jason K cautiously asked.

"Yeah. Go forward or go back. That's pretty much it." Alistair regretfully admitted.

"Can you tell us anything about what our lives will be like in the splinter?" Ronny asked in an uncharacteristically timid voice.

"Your lives will be what you make of them. You'll have opportunities to do great things or commit horrendous atrocities. It will be up to you to exercise restraint and behave in a civilized manner. If you allow your worst impulses to rule you, then you may exterminate yourselves before you can use this opportunity to contribute something of value to the universe." Alistair warned.

"How do we do that? What do we do?" Paul quickly asked.

"Better yourselves. Seek excellence. Forgive inadequacies in others and in yourselves. In short, be decent people." Alistair said with concern evident in his expression.

"What will we do about food and stuff like that?" Dylan cautiously asked.

"The pantry is stocked, but when you need other supplies, you can go into town and buy them. The people there are what you might think of as non-playable characters in a video game. You can interact with them, but they only have the capability of responding with the awareness embedded in them at the time of their creation." Alistair hurried to explain.

"So they're not real people?" Donny asked to confirm his understanding.

"No. They're mockups based on real people, but they don't learn or grow. In a hundred years they'll be exactly the same as they are today."

"What's the point of that?" Dylan cautiously asked.

"I don't know. I didn't come up with it." Alistair admitted, then speculatively added, "Maybe it'll make you feel less alone here."

"Or more." Dylan countered.

"It's the best we could do in a pinch." Alistair said frankly, then hurriedly announced, "Anyone who's not staying with the splinter needs to stand in front of the fireplace. I need to go while I still can. Take care of each other."

"Can't we go with you?" Obie asked hopefully.

"Not possible. You're attached to this universe, so you need to stay at least until we get the travel mechanics sorted out. Sorry." Alistair said regretfully.

"Do we have to decide right now?" Paul asked in panic.

"Yeah. What happens next is up to you. Good luck guys." Alistair said before stepping up to the fireplace and vanishing.

"It looks to me like someone's gone to an awful lot of trouble to give us this chance. I'm staying." Donny said decisively as he took a step away from the fireplace, toward the doorway to the library.

"Yeah. Me too." Ronny quietly confirmed, then explained, "I'd rather live an uncertain future as my new self than try to go back to who I was."

"You guys need me. I'm staying." Arlo said simply.

"But don't the camp guys need you too?" Obie asked cautiously.

"The way I understand it, they've already got me, at least a version of me. Remember, nothing we decide here affects them at all." Arlo carefully explained.

"Anybody who's not staying needs to go now." Dylan reminded them as he took a step back, away from the fireplace.

"Do you guys want me to stay here? I mean, if I leave, the demons will probably follow me. Things might be a lot easier for you if me and my bad luck aren't here." Jinx said anxiously, obviously afraid of the response.

"We want you to stay, Jinx." Donny said firmly, then clarified, "You and your demons. We'll face what happens next together."

"Yeah. You're not alone in this." Ronny assured him.

Various others around the group nodded their agreement to the sentiment.

"What about Johnny? Does he know what's going on? Is he going to get to choose where he ends up?" Jason K asked with concern.

"Dylan, Johnny's still right beside you. Do you want to ask him?" Arlo quietly asked.

"Can he hear what I'm saying?" Dylan asked cautiously.

After a moment of listening, Arlo quietly answered, "He says that sometimes he can hear you, but not always. Anyway, right now I'm casting my light on you both so he should be able to hear whatever you say to him and I can tell you his answer if you can't hear it for yourself."

"I don't know what it's going to be like in this new place but I'm going to be staying here. If you want to, you can stay too." Dylan said to the space where he imagined that Johnny was standing.

After a moment, Arlo quietly said, "If you'll promise not to send him away, he'd like to stay here with you."

"Before I agree to anything, do you think that he can give me some privacy when I ask him to? There's going to be some times when I'd like to know that he's not watching me." Dylan asked hopefully.

"Yes. He said that he can do that." Arlo confirmed.

"Then I promise not to send him away." Dylan said in the tone of a vow.

"So we're all staying?" Teddy asked as he looked around.

The others also looked and one by one, they noticed the internal battle that Obie was fighting.

When Obie noticed, he reluctantly explained, "I just got Amos back. I should be with my brothers."

"It's okay Obie. You can go if you want to. It's your family. We all understand that." Paul assured him.

"What are you going to do?" Obie asked in a conflicted tone.

"I'm staying here. These guys need someone like a shaman to tell them the lore, you know, things about quest givers and stuff like that." Paul said with a contented smile at his revealed purpose.

"A part of me wants to stay here with you and help you with that, but another part wants to be with my brothers." Obie said desperately.

"If you stop and think about it, another part of you is with your brothers... literally." Jason K reminded him as he moved a little farther away from the fireplace to stand with Dylan.

"Yeah. So I guess it's okay if this part of me goes off on his own for a while and has an adventure without them." Obie said in realization.

"Teddy, Is your future vision giving you any clues about what you should do next?" Dylan asked curiously.

"Even if it was, that's stuff that Alistair was sending to me. I need to make up my own mind." Teddy said confidently.

"That's right. I'm glad you realized that." Kole said seriously.

"What are you going to do?" Dylan asked hesitantly.

"If you and Jason K are going to stay here, then there's no reason for me to go back." Teddy said honestly.

"Remember, we're here and there, both. Go where you're going to be happy." Dylan said firmly.

"From what I saw of that future, I think we're all probably better off here." Teddy said anxiously.

"What can you see about this future?" Jason K asked curiously.

"Nothing yet." Teddy said honestly, then added, "But that's okay. I think I'll sleep better not knowing everything that could possibly go wrong."

"What about you, Randolph? Do you want to go back?" Arlo cautiously asked.

"To being a ghost? No. Thank you." Randolph immediately answered.

"As long as you're really sure." Arlo said seriously.

"Do you not want me to stay?" Randolph asked cautiously.

"I'd love for you to stay. But even more important than that, I want you to be happy. I don't want you to ever regret your decision." Arlo said reasonably.

Before Randolph could respond to that, the fireplace, as well as the large mirror that hung above it, were suddenly gone, evaporated into nothing.

After a long silent moment, Randolph finally said, "I've barely existed for an unfathomable number of years, constantly burdened by a sense of regret for things I never did, opportunities I never dared seize. Starting with this decision, in this new world, with this new life I've been given, I will endeavor not to repeat my previous mistakes. In the fullness of time, I may come to regret things that I have done, but no longer will I be encumbered with the burden of regret for the things that I did not have the courage to do."

To Be Continued...

Editor's Notes: Another substantially successful chapter finished, and I didn't change one comma. Thank you very much, MM for another important addition to this thrilling adventure.

Darryl The Radio Rancher