Chapter 11: Mathematics and the Multiverse
"We didn't want to attract the Simurgh's attention by entering orbit," added Taylor, "although she was never close to being in orbit over the city, for some reason."
Saurial, Raptaur and Metis all exchanged meaningful glances with each other.
"What?" asked Taylor.
Saurial shook her head. "We'll tell you later. Finish your story."
"Not much more to tell, really," said Xander. "We came in under cover of darkness, then Pete and Harry scouted out an empty warehouse to hide the ship. We jumped the ship here. The next morning, we tapped into the wireless Internet here, and Harry and Taylor went off to check out her home, and came back with some strays." He was grinning at the last part.
"Well," said Saurial, "with that segue, let me perform the introductions. I'm Saurial, this is my sister Raptaur, and this is my cousin, Metis." As she introduced the two other lizards, they each nodded politely. "We're part of a group known as the Family. We're registered as an affiliated hero group with the Protectorate, this country's government-sponsored superhero organization, but we also have our own company, BBFO, closely affiliated with the the Brockton Bay Dockworker's Union. Danny Hebert here is the hiring manager and general boss of the DWU." The man in question grumbled a bit under his breath at being called 'boss,' mostly out of habit. "He's also the local version of Taylor's dad."
"These three," Saurial said, pointing at the plain-clothed capes," are Linda, Randall and Kevin, engineers who work for the DWU who have some expertise in tinker tech...which is technology far in advance of most current-state technology. We've also called in Dragon, an actual tinker whose specialty is turning tinker tech into things that anybody can build and maintain. She should be here shortly."
"You said you might have some ideas on how to help us find our home realities?" asked Miles. "No offence to present company, but I have a wife and family that I left behind when I got pulled into this trip, and I know the others have their own reasons to get home."
"We can," answered Raptaur. "My first suggestion is that you let Metis here examine each of you. She and her sister Ianthe are healers, and it seems like you've all been without a real doctor for some time."
"You're a medical doctor?" asked Daniel.
The black-scaled lizard replied, "I'm a healer. My sister Ianthe is closer to what you would think of as a regular medical practitioner, as she's one of the Family bio-sculptors. I'm more of a researcher. I can heal quite a few things, however."
Throughout these discussions, Harry Dresden was watching quietly, wondering where this was all going. He noticed that Saurial had not revealed that she was the local version of Taylor. He was wiling to stay quiet for the moment, keeping in mind what he'd been told about secret identities, but he was going to want an explanation. Given the whole secret identity shtick around here, he wouldn't be surprised if the three, "DWU engineers," weren't just experts in tinker tech. Despite his reservations, he would be more than happy to keep secrets if it got everyone home again.
Metis went and examined each of them. She explained first that it may look and feel a little odd, but Jimmy was willing to volunteer. There was some initial disquiet as the tendrils from Metis's hand burrowed into Jimmy's skin, but after she was done he had nothing but good things to say about how the bruises, cuts and abrasions on his body were completely gone. She then went to each of the others in turn.
"I want to call in my sister to look at Miles, Harry, Ellen and Xander," she told them. "I've healed the minor injuries that Daniel, Jimmy and Peter had from your adventures."
"Is there something wrong?" asked Ripley in a worried tone.
"No, nothing to be immediately worried about, but you've all got more serious injuries and health issues that should be looked at by a professional," she answered. "I would prefer to let her look at you. I'm fully confident she can fix any and all of the issues I noticed." Metis smiled...which strangely didn't seem to make Ellen look any less worried.
"While we wait for that," interjected Linda, who had been getting more and more impatient, "can we get a tour of this ship?"
"Why don't you and Kevin go with Miles and get the tour, while Saurial goes with Daniel and Ellen to get a look at the wormhole drive. She's one of the best of us at multidimensional mathematics," answered Raptaur.
"I wouldn't mind talking to Harry and Xander about the supernatural," chimed in Metis.
Randall added a quick, "Me too." He kind of wanted to follow Vectura and Leet on the ship tour, but he was curious to see if his power worked with magical skills. That potentially opened up all kinds of options.
"I will give Ianthe a call, then, and after that, Danny and I can talk to Taylor, Peter and Jimmy about the differences in superpowers between their worlds and ours," said Raptaur.
When nobody had any disagreement, the two groups merged and split into smaller teams, with the majority heading off into other areas of the ship.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Amy had just gotten into the DWU office and had hung up her coat when her cell phone started to ring with Raptaur's ring tone. Each of the different personas had different ring tones to maintain the illusion of the different Family members.
"Raptaur, what can I do for you," she said as she answered the phone.
'Amy, are you at the DWU offices yet?'
"Yes, I just got in from a quick visit to Brockton Bay General. There was an accident with a road crew with some serious injuries and they asked for my help," she explained.
'Could you track down Ianthe? She had some tasks to do around the compound this morning. We met some new friends that could use her services.'
"Not a problem. It will just take a few minutes. Who are these new friends?" she asked.
'It would be better to explain it to Ianthe when she gets here. Don't worry, we'll tell you as well.'
With that, Raptaur gave her the address of a nearby warehouse. Eager to discover what new oddity had landed in the lap of the Family, she quickly went to get Ianthe ready to go.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"We did manage to isolate the parts of the master algorithm responsible for spatial coordinates and separate them from the dimensional targeting," explained Daniel. "We were able to use the micro-wormholes as a way of seeing what was shifting with small changes."
"Are you seeing the overlap in the fourth and fifth dimensional vector magnitudes?" commented Varga silently, who was shifting his attention between conversations. 'Yes, that's really clever. It accomplishes three things simultaneously that would have required a lot more effort otherwise,' answered Taylor.
"I can see how that's working," said Saurial. "Part of your overall problem is that the temporal and reality aspects of the algorithm shift in-synch with each other. The sections controlling your position in three dimensions are isolated through a clever bit of programming that automatically compensates for other changes."
Ellen Ripley started at Saurial and said, "You can tell that from looking through this in only five minutes?"
Saurial grinned and answered, "It's a lot easier if you can visualize how the various dimensions relate to each other so that you can see the cascading impact changes have on the whole. I'll have to give you guys a tour of the BBFO offices at some point."
"What's so special about your offices?" asked Daniel, puzzled.
"They're bigger on the inside," said Saurial. Without pausing, she continued, "Now, part of this is kind of a mess. The temporal equation pieces seem like they've been deliberately oversimplified in some places, and there's a whole section that seems missing."
Daniel paused to think for a moment, then said, "Well, the Ancients seem to have a fairly big prohibition on time travel in general. It's possible they handicapped some of the capabilities of the drive."
Saurial turned and began writing mathematics on a glass board behind her. Ellen and Daniel both jumped a bit when they looked back, as the board hadn't been there when they walked into the room. Daniel raised an eyebrow at Ellen, who shook her head and shrugged. Saurial ignored them while filling half the glass with a complex equation.
The lizard girl said, "Ellen, do you recognize this?"
Ripley stared at it for a long moment, then said, "That...looks like the time compression formula for hyperspace?"
"Yes!" said Saurial with a smile. "This is actually a portion of the master algorithm for the wormhole drive, except these three variables here, here, and here," she said, circling the elements in question, "are treated as constants, and they've left out this part," she said, circling a small divisor toward the end, "entirely! The net result is that it prohibits large-scale adjustments in time beyond the normal deviation between universes, but it actually makes small errors slightly more likely. Hence, the fifteen minute jump you mentioned when you were tweaking these factors."
Daniel had a strong feeling that she was correct, although he never would have been able to identify the discrepancies before she pointed them out. "So, that's what's causing the variance from the targeted quantum signature?"
"That, in combination with a couple of other things. Here let me show you..." Saurial began.
The three of them continued to discuss the mathematics behind the wormhole drive until somebody came to retrieve them two hours later.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Miles was watching the two engineers from the DWU slightly warily. He had been explaining the fusion of Ancient, Starfleet, and original ship tech on the bridge, especially with regard to the control and sensor systems. The woman, Linda, had asked some very intelligent and pertinent questions, which he appreciated, but she examined everything with an intensity that almost bordered on trance-like. Kevin, on the other hand, was shifting his weight constantly, moving from foot to foot and constantly reaching out to touch different control interfaces with a slightly manic grin on his face. He also added comments from time to time, some of which were absolutely brilliant. Others, he wasn't sure what they meant. They were clearly references to something outside of Miles's experience.
"OK, I'm just going to come out and say it," said Kevin, clearly coming to a decision.
"Kevin!" said Linda slightly sharply.
"You KNOW it's gonna come out," he answered, to which she grudgingly nodded.
"WHAT is going to come out?" asked Miles.
"You know how your universe is a TV show in Harry's and Daniel's realities? Well, it is here, too, and I'm a HUGE fan!" said the obviously over-excited engineer.
Kevin pulled a device out of a pouch at his waist and said, "Here, look what I built based on your show!"
O'Brien looked unsure how to react, but he took the device Kevin handed to him and opened it. "It looks like a standard issue TR-590. Where did you get this?"
Kevin grinned. "I made it. I made it based on the ones in the show! Here, let me show you..."
He proceeded to walk through the substantial capabilities of the device. At one point, Miles said, "Wait a minute, that's not standard. Did you adjust the subspace interference scan output to a logarithmic scale?" At Kevin's grin and nod, O'Brien slightly reluctantly admitted, "That's...actually quite a lot better as a default setting. It makes getting a quick overview a lot easier before deconstructing the wave-forms."
Kevin looked like he was about to go into another aspect of the device, but Linda interrupted. "Do you think we could take a look at the engine nacelles?" she asked.
O'Brien agreed, and the three of them started for the hatch to the dorsal surface of the Ship of Fools to get a top-down view. He and Kevin continued to discuss aspects of the tricorder, and Miles found himself growing more and more impressed with the young man as they continued to talk.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Xander, Harry, Randall and Metis had removed themselves to the dining area.
Before they could broach the subject of the supernatural, Harry asked Metis, "There were some things you didn't make clear about Saurial back there." He looked at her pointedly.
Xander looked between Metis and Harry and asked, "Good things, bad things, or 'run away really fast' things?"
"He is referring to the fact that Saurial is this universe's version of Taylor, among other things," replied Metis.
Xander got a very strange look and said sarcastically, "Of course, they look so much alike...I was wondering if they were related."
"She's a changeling," explained Harry.
"What, you mean she's one of those aliens that Miles was telling us about? The shapeshifters that started the war they just had?" asked Xander.
Metis stepped in to clarify things. "She can change form, but not like the Founders that led the Dominion. It's more similar to a magical transformation. The reason we didn't say anything is because while we have reasons to trust everyone on board, we don't generally share everything about ourselves. Part of it is the superhero culture where we hide identities, and part of it is that even some of our close associates don't know everything. Randall here knows Saurial and Taylor are the same person, but Linda doesn't."
"And why is that?" asked Xander, the suspicion clear in his voice.
"Mostly because we helped get her out of a very bad situation, and we're giving her time to adjust to her changed circumstances. It certainly wouldn't be a problem if she found out, and I'm certain we will tell her ourselves eventually, after we feel she's settled more," explained Metis. "There is some weirdness to our lives that she doesn't need to deal with right now. If you feel it's a real issue, then I would ask that you let us be the ones to share our secrets."
"How bad of a situation are we talking about?" questioned Harry.
Metis thought back to the plot summaries for the Dresden books that she had scanned before coming here. "In some ways its a situation similar to the one Molly was in before you took responsibility for her."
For the first time, Harry looked truly shocked. He said, "I'm not sure how you know about that, but if that's the case then I can understand why you're easing her into things."
"How did you know that?" asked Randall.
"There's an Earth Aleph novel series about Harry Dresden, the wizard PI from Chicago. I looked it up before coming here," said the lizard. "It hasn't really become popular yet on this world, so I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it."
"Let me guess," added Xander, "there's a TV show about my world here, too?"
"Oh, yeah," said Randall. "That one I knew about. That thing when you stopped the bomb in the basement of the high school by yourself was awesome, man."
"Um, thanks," replied Xander, slightly embarrassed.
"Does this mean that you know all about us? About everyone on this ship?" asked Harry in a concerned voice.
Metis shook her head. "We know highlights, with some personal details. It's true that all of you are featured in works of fiction in this universe. So, I don't know what you had for breakfast this morning, but I know you were living with your brother, Thomas, and that he's a vampire."
"Your brother's a vampire?" asked Xander. "You never said anything."
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "It never came up."
"Look guys," said Randall, "we all know a bit about each of you, but we don't really know you. It's like we've read a biography that somebody wrote about you. We don't even know if everything from the fictional sources map to your real lives. I guarantee you that you don't have to worry about it. The DWU accepts folks from all walks of life, and they respect each others' privacy and leave the past in the past."
"I have secrets that aren't really mine to share," said Harry, slightly worried, "and now it sounds like you might know some of them already."
"Ditto on that," contributed Xander.
Randall looked at Metis. "I know that Xander Harris on the TV show was a stand-up guy and a loyal friend. What's your impression of Harry?"
"I would say we can trust him," answered Metis simply.
"All right," said Randall. He trusted Metis's judgement as much as he trusted anybody's. "Randall is my real name, but I'm also a cape. My power lets me pick up any skill and learn it to an expert level insanely fast. My cape name is Über."
"The unwritten rules between capes in our world would expect you not to share that information in most circumstances," explained Metis. "Capes try to avoid killing, don't try to find secret identities or reveal them to others if discovered, and don't attack each other or their families in their civilian identities."
"What happens when somebody breaks the rules?" asked Xander.
"Heroes and villains tend to both go after them," answered Randall. "The unwritten rules keep collateral damage down and prevent all-out-war between capes. Violators tend to end up in prison or in the Birdcage, and the worst offenders get kill orders signed."
"I think we can agree to keep your secrets," said Harry. "Apart from the fact that you folks are our best ticket home, you haven't done anything but be helpful so far." Xander simply nodded his agreement with this.
"With that settled," said Metis, "we would like to discuss the supernatural world...or 'worlds' in the plural may be more accurate."
That led to a lengthy discussion about the differences and common points between what Xander knew about his world (the breadth and depth of which seemed to surprise him a little) and Dresden's knowledge as an actual practitioner. That led to an interesting discovery related to Über's power.
"When you say you can master skills quickly, what kind of skills do you mean?" asked Harry.
Randall replied, "Pretty much anything...engineering, dance, martial arts, drawing, cooking, chemistry, foreign languages...hell, I learned basket weaving at one point because the girl in the YouTube video was cute."
That led to Harry tutoring Randall in some of the basics, including how to form a Circle, and how to feel magic. It was a little shocking how quickly he seemed to be absorbing the basics covered by Elementary Magic. When his student conjured a small flame in his hand with a quiet, 'Flareon!', Dresden started to get concerned, and the conversation soon turned to the Laws of Magic and the role of the Wardens of the White Council.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Danny listened to Raptaur, Taylor, Peter and Jimmy talk about powers in different worlds. Raptaur had explained about trigger events and the effects they seemed to have on capes. He was simultaneously relieved that something very different seemed to have happened to his Taylor, and worried about what had happened to the alternate Taylor. He knew that prior to Taylor meeting Varga, he had been shamefully negligent in his duties as a father, and he also knew that back then they would never have been able to afford any kind of therapy or other help for Taylor. He would make sure she didn't leave without getting some kind of help.
Peter's description of superpowers in his universe seemed barely more benign. Mutation was the most common cause, either natural or due to external factors such as gamma radiation or mutagenic chemicals. In Peter's case, he had been bitten by a spider that had been experimented on with a combination of radiation and genetic engineering. Natural mutants faced discrimination from non-powered humans. Capes that gained their powers from other sources could usually avoid that, though there seemed to be a lot of distrust toward anybody with powers. Pete also described inventors that used advanced technology to create powered armor, cybernetics, or more exotic items like suits that let you change your size. They sounded like tinkers, but their work was apparently closer to normal science and engineering than a tinker's work would be. There were a smaller number of beings that were aliens of some kind or another. Apparently, the gods of both the Norse and Greek pantheons existed and interacted with mankind. Magic also existed. Peter told them about a man named Stephen Strange, who bore the slightly ominous title of Sorcerer Supreme.
Jimmy, while not powered himself, was actually quite knowledgeable about the supers in his world. Mutation seemed to be much less common. In fact, most of the heroes and villains in his world were either literal aliens (including an actual Martian!) or normal humans using training and technology, in some cases alien technology. Magical and supernatural origins also seemed slightly more common. There were some odd and unique cases. The hero called the Flash tapped into something called the Speed Force, which was apparently some type of universal energy field in Jimmy's universe. He sounded like the Protectorate hero Velocity, but with the unlikely ability to move faster than light. Then there was Plastic Man, a man whose body could stretch and flex like rubber...a condition somehow caused by exposure to a vat of chemicals.
"We have somebody like that in my world," added Peter. "He's named Mr. Fantastic, and on top of his power, he's a brilliant scientist and inventor. Maybe they're alternates of the same person? Does that sound like your hero?"
Jimmy thought briefly about Plastic Man's perpetual quest to irritate anybody in authority, or who he perceived to lack a sense of humor. He simply answered, "No, I don't think so," and changed the subject.
The thing that stood out to Danny was that in Peter's and Jimmy's worlds, there were a wide variety of sources for superpowers. All of the powers capes got in Danny Hebert's universe seemed to happen in exactly the same way -- a traumatic event. That suggested a single point of origin, although it didn't explain what that single point of origin might be. Danny also noticed that Raptaur didn't seem overly surprised by the implications. Their work with Amy and Lisa on powers seemed to dovetail nicely with these additional revelations.
"With all of the powerful beings available in your worlds, it seems strange that nobody has come to retreive either of you," said Raptaur.
"We talked about that," said Jimmy. "The consensus was that either we were quite far from our respective realities, or somebody or something is actively blocking a search. It's also possible people are looking in the wrong place. The teleportation method I was using when I got lost should have dropped me on Apokolips."
"That doesn't sound like a very nice place, just based on the name," hazarded Danny.
"It's really, really not," agreed Jimmy. "Being tossed onto a pile of ruins through a plate glass window was quite probably a better experience than I would have had at my intended destination."
"One interesting difference between your worlds and this one...and Taylor's, by extension...is that your capes seem to be less prone to fighting than ours," said Raptaur.
Peter and Jimmy exchanged a surprised glance with each other. Both started to speak, and then Jimmy gestured for Peter to go ahead. Peter said, "I find that hard to believe. I mean, fights between metahumans happen all the time. The government formed the Avengers to deal with powerful threats, and it sounds like the Justice League on Jimmy's world is in some ways the same. I've had more than one fight that started over trivial issues, and I've even gotten into accidental fights with other heroes."
Raptaur cocked his head (Danny couldn't help but think of Raptaur as a male while Varga was driving, so to speak) and explained. "I don't mean to imply things are peaceful on your worlds, but there are certain characteristics we've observed in capes in this world. For one, capes seem drawn to conflict. There are few long-term independent heroes such as yourself, Peter, on our world, largely because capes band together for mutual protection and support. The life expectancy of an independent is low -- they either get forcibly recruited or killed. The Protectorate is not above using law breaking as a lever to force capes to join, and criminal gangs of course have even more sources of leverage. Add in the fact that capes seem to need to use their powers. You would think that a tinker, for example, could easily stay under the radar of the gangs and the government. Unfortunately for them, their powers force them create things. The government watches legitimate channels for acquiring parts like electronics, chemicals, and industrial alloys, while the gangs tend to watch the junkyards, pawn shops, and less legitimate sources. Because a tinker is a force multiplier, they find it almost impossible to stay independent. The lucky ones join the Guild or Toybox. The unlucky ones are forced, sometimes at gunpoint, to provide tech for the gangs."
"How can a power force you to build something?" asked Jimmy, as the concept seemed counterinuitive.
Danny knew the answer to this one. "The longer you go without building things, the stronger the compulsion becomes to do so. If you can't build, you may find yourself compulsively creating blueprints sketching inventions, another tell that recruiters watch for. When tinkers get bad, they go into a type of fugue that is similar to being on autopilot. They will continue to create things without really being consciously aware of doing it."
"You make it sounds like powers have a mind of their own, here," said Peter.
"There is evidence to suggest that they do," replied Raptaur. "It is one of the reasons why the advent of super powers has had such a dramatic impact on society. Governments find it hard to keep up with the chaos. Many people have theorized that the Endbringers are somehow related to powers as well, as they appeared after the first capes. The most popular theories are that either they're capes that grew monstrous, or they're manifestations of someone's power, but nobody knows for sure."
"Most metahumans seem to have some kind of weakness in my experience," said Jimmy. "Even Superman has a fairly well-known weakness to kryptonite, radioactive fragments from his home-world."
"Nothing power-related has had a lasting impact. At best, they have been driven away by mass opposition. That's only changed very recently. Since the Family has arrived in Brockton Bay, the Endbringers seem to be making themselves scarce. The last attack appears to have been aborted as it began. The Simurgh turned tail and fled back to orbit when we opened a wormhole to the attack site to send Kaiju through," explained Raptaur.
"It's one of many positive benefits having the Family here has brought," added Danny, "alongside a significant drop in violent crime and violence in general."
"Kaiju?" asked Peter. "Is she another member of the family?"
"Yes, she is our big sister."
Peter looked at the very large lizard, and asked, "Exactly how big is Kaiju?"
"Standing up," said Danny with a small smile, "she's about eighty feet."
"Well," said Jimmy with a rueful smile, "At least she's aptly named."
"Indeed", replied Raptaur with a grin. Danny wondered how Jimmy would feel about Varga's full size. He thought even he would feel intimidated by that, based on Taylor's description, and he had gotten used to Kaiju and Umihebi.
Raptaur again cocked his head. "I believe we are about to receive more company."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The GPS signal told Dragon she was almost to the right address. Metis had called her and asked if she could come meet some extra-dimensional travelers and look at their spaceship. While the family were definitely prone to pranks, Metis had seemed earnest, and Dragon couldn't figure out why they would call her out just for a prank. Such an event would also fit in with another Family trait, which is that they were prone to attract the strange and unusual like flies on flypaper. Regardless, Dragon felt she owed the Family more than one favor, so she would have made the effort to come out even if it was a prank.
As she slowed down over the docks, she could see a familiar purple lizard running up to the outside of the target warehouse. She vectored in to land close to her path, and settled down just as Ianthe was coming up to the warehouse entrance.
"Greetings, Ianthe," said Dragon with a wave. "I take it your sister called you in to see our visitors?"
"She actually told me very little, other than that some of them had some significant medical issues," answered the lizard with a toothy grin. "I believe she was being coy."
"Did she mention the spaceship?" asked Dragon.
Ianthe, for once, actually seemed to pause in surprise. Dragon was quietly pleased at having managed to accomplish that much.
"No, she failed to mention that detail," said Ianthe, her face taking on a look of mild annoyance mixed with slight amusement. "This should be interesting..."
Dragon gestured for Ianthe to take the lead as the two of them entered the warehouse, both wondering how far down the rabbit hole they would end up before the end of the day.
