So Many Paths

© Copyright 2001-2009 Michael J. Ahlers. All Rights Reserved.

Chapter 4: Too Much Info

Caption: Earth Positive F041. Somewhere in the woods, approximately a mile north of the town of Winthrusky, U.S.S.R. Sunday 27 April 1980. 11:21pm GST. [8:21pm local]

<A boy, about fourteen years old, pushes his way thru some bushes into a small clearing. He has bright orange hair, green eyes, and freckles. He's wearing a bright blue V-necked shirt, black pants and leather gloves, and a bright green vest that matches his eyes. He looks around the clearing, shining his flashlight back and forth, and then frowns. He closes his eyes and slowly turns back and forth. He opens his eyes and takes several steps into the clearing. There is the sound of someone else coming through the underbrush. He turns around and shines his flashlight at the bushes just as a girl about his age emerges from them. She raises an arm to shield her eyes.>

Girl: Hey! Watch where you're shining that thing!

Boy: Sorry, Elena. <He lowers the flashlight.>

<Elena has sandy-blond hair held back from her face in two long braids. She's wearing a forest-green blouse with lots of pockets and faded blue jeans. She has on a purse with a woven strap and is carrying a combination radio/8-track player made of clear plastic with neon tubing giving off a soft pink glow.>

Elena: Thommi, ... I was wondering ...

Thommi: What?

Elena, playing with one of her braids: Well ... I was wondering if I could come with you?

Thommi: I don't know if I'm actually going anywhere.

Elena: I know.

Thommi: And I'm not even sure where I'd be going.

Elena: I know.

Thommi: And I don't know if I'll ever be back.

Elena: I know. You explained all this to Sergei yesterday, but I still want to go. <Thommi opens his mouth to say something.> Let me finish. <She takes a couple of breaths and her eyes get moist with tears.>

Thommi: Are you OK?

<Elena shakes her head no.>

Elena, sniffling, rushes through her story: Two years ago my Dad died during the Montana Province Rebellion. And now my Mom has cancer. She's not even trying to fight it. She's going to send me to live with my Aunt Helga in Moscow. I've never even been to the Motherland. And Aunt Helga told me she's just going to put me in the orphanage as soon as my Mom dies. <She's crying now.> I don't want my Mom to die! And I don't wanna live in an orphanage! I don't want any of this! <She drops the radio and falls to her knees.> I just want it all to go away. I- I just wanna go away. <Thommi sits down next to her as she sobs.>

<A ball of light springs into being just a few feet away from them. The clearing is lit as brightly as if it were noon.>

Thommi: Come on Elena. You can come with- I want you to come with me. <He stands up and offers his hand.>

Elena: You do. <She's smiling but still sobbing as he helps her up.>

Thommi: I didn't want the guys to know, but I am kinda freaked out by the idea of doing this.

Elena: You are?

Thommi: Yeah.

<Elena looks around the clearing.>

Elena: Where is it?

Thommi: Oh, yeah. <He pulls off his gloves and stuffs them in his pants pocket. He takes her hand.>

Elena: Oh wow! It really is bright.

Thommi: We better hurry. I'm not sure how long it will stay there.

<Still holding hands they run over and jump into the light. Just as they disappear into it, two other teens emerge from the other side.>

Caption: Earth Positive F041. Somewhere in the woods, approximately a mile north of the town of Winthrusky, U.S.S.R. Sunday 27 April 1980. 11:26pm GST. [8:26pm local]

<Tatiana and Mekul emerge from the glowing circle of light and tumble to the ground. Even as they roll to a stop the circle vanishes plunging them into darkness.>

Mekul: Tatiana? You there?

Tatiana: Yes. I'd forgotten how much I hate snow.

<Their eyes start to adjust to the darkness. They smile at each other, and then look around the clearing. Their eyes are drawn toward a patch of glowing pink snow.>

Mekul: What's that?

Tatiana: Let's go see.

<They walk over to it and clear the snow away. It is Elena's neon-lined radio/8-track player.>

Tatiana: Cool. <She looks around.> But what's it doing out here in the woods.

Mekul, pointing: There's more footprints in the snow than just ours. <Tatiana picks up the radio and they follow the tracks forward.> They disappear here.

Tatiana: And our begin right over there. Someone left ...

Mekul: Just as we were arriving. Damn. What the hell is going on here?

Tatiana: I don't know. But we better try to find some place to get inside. I'm cold and I'm dressed for this sort of weather. You must be freezing.

Mekul: Well, yeah, I am getting pretty cold. We could follow the tracks the other way. See where they came from.

Tatiana: OK.

<They start backtracking the footprints.>

Tatiana: Oh shoot. <She points ahead. The footprints branch, coming from two different directions.>

Mekul: Well, we could- <He stops and tilts his head to the side.>

Tatiana, hearing something also, whispers: What do we do?

Mekul, whispering: In this snow there's not much we can do. We'll leave tracks no matter what we do.

<Tatiana takes his hand. They see several flashlights coming towards them from the direction of one of the trails of footprints. It's a group of teens, about the same age as they are. They all stand there staring at each other.>

Mekul: Uh, hi?

Alek: Who are you?

Nadia: And what are you doing with Elena's radio?

Tatiana: We found it in the snow. There wasn't anyone around.

Mekul: We were just following the tracks. It's awful cold out here. We just wanted to get inside.

Alek: You didn't see anyone else?

Mekul: No, just the tracks.

<Alek and Sergei exchange a glance.>

Sergei: Do you think ...?

Alek: Yeah. <To Tatiana and Mekul:> Did you see where the tracks led to?

<Now Mekul and Tatiana exchange a glance and then shrug.>

Tatiana: They didn't lead anywhere. They just stopped near where we found the radio.

Piotr: Did you see a big circle of light?

Sergei: Piotr!

<Tatiana and Mekul exchange another look. A silent conversation, punctuated by shrugs, passes between them. Finally Mekul turns to the other kids.>

Mekul: We didn't just see it, we came through it. We saw the tracks. We think ... Elena?

Nadia: Yes.

Mekul: Elena and whoever the other footprints belong to-

Piotr interrupts: Thommi.

Mekul continues: Elena and Thommi, went into the circle of light just as we were coming out of it.

Sergei: Damnit! He wouldn't take me with him but he takes Elena!

Varenka: Elena's cuter.

<Everyone except Sergei laughs. Sergei gives Varenka a dirty look.>

Alek: You two could both see the circle of light?

Tatiana: Yes. Wait. Why are you asking that?

Alek: Well, because we could only see it if we were touching Thommi. So if you could see it, you must be like Thommi. You must be ...

Nadia finishes the thought: Dead.

Mekul: I- well, we- uh-

Nadia: Thommi got hit by a truck.

<Tatiana and Mekul exchange one more look. Tatiana shrugs.>

Tatiana: I'm Tatiana. I got shot.

Mekul: I was in the hospital. I was having an asthma attack. My name's Mekul.

Alek: I'm Alek. <He indicates the other kids.> This is Sergei. His twin sister Nadia. Piotr. Varenka. And Dominika.

Dominka: You can call me Mika.

Mekul: Well, we obviously need to talk about whet's going on, but could we do it somewhere warmer.

<A couple of the kids laugh.>

Alek: Sure. <He turns.> Sergei, do you think your mom would let them stay at your house?

Sergei: She let Thommi stay and never really asked many questions.

Nadia: Yeah, our mom's pretty cool.

<The kids start walking.>

Mekul: Where are we anyways?

Varenka: Winthrusky. It's about two hours northeast of nowhere. <The others, save Mekul and Tatiana, laugh at what is obviously an old joke.>

Caption: Heaven, Lost Souls Task Force HQ. Monday 28 April 1980. 7:22am GST.

<Modiel is the only one in the room. He is looking at the map of the alternate Earths that runs along the entire length of the room's longest wall. At one end is Earth Zero, the orignal Earth. Following an ovoid path, the Earth Positives run along the upper arc, the Earth Negatives along the lower. Both meet back up again at Earth &, also called Earth Amp. Off in one corner is Earth ~1, the only Earth not on the Net whose existence is confirmed. In the opposite corner is Earth Prime, a thoretical Earth where the Time Traveller is believed to have ended up. Saphrael comes rushing in.>

Saphrael: Oh thank HIM there's someone here!

Modiel, turning away from the map, startled: Hello. <He sees the expression on her face.> What's the matter?

Saphrael: You've read my notes on the probable number of Lost Souls.

Modiel: Of course.

Saphrael: I just solved one of the problems.

Modiel: Well good. <He looks at the expression on Saphrael's face.> OK. Not good. Why not good?

Saphrael: There's the discrepancy between my initial estimated maximum of 108 and my current of 92. I couldn't figure out how I'd been able to reduce the estimate once but not ever since. So I've been going back over all the code I wrote. In my initial simulation, I was just trying to figure out how many Souls were unaccounted for. In my more recent simulations, I've always assumed that we were trying to figure out how many Lost Souls we were looking for.

Modiel: I'm not sure I'm seeing the difference.

Saphrael: The difference is that I was assuming that all the unaccounted for Souls became Lost Souls that we have a chance to retrieve. But that's not the case. Some of the Souls truely were lost, destroyed.

Modiel: By all HIS names.

Saphrael: And we have to find them fast. As long as they ARE Lost Souls, there's a chance that their Souls will be destroyed when they die the next time. We don't have much time. Some of these children inevitably died from inherited diseases.

Modiel: Which would have been "cured" when they died.

Saphrael: But which will recur now that they've bounced back to Earth.

Daelotial, standing, until now unseen, in the doorway that Saphrael left standing open: So am I the only one who feels like taking HIS name in vain right now?

Caption: Earth Positive F041. Winthrusky, U.S.S.R., School #2. Monday 28 April 1980. 6:32pm GST. [3:32pm local]

<Mekul, Tatiana, and the six kids they met the previous night are coming out of the side entrance of the school building.>

Mekul: You know, going back to school after just a few days away ...

Mika: Yes?

Mekul: Makes me miss those guards that were chasing Tatiana and I.

<They laugh.>

Alek: So are you ready to go over to Sergei's and talk about what the hell's going on?

Mekul: I just want to go to sleep. I'm still exhausted.

Tatiana: Me too. But I guess we need to talk.

Mekul: Yep.

Caption: The Solenski residence. A short time later.

<Miss Solenski sets a tray of milk and cookies on the table that the kids are sitting around and turns to go.>

Nadia and Sergei: Thanks, Mom.

The other kids: Yes, thank you, Miss Solenski.

<Alek watches until she leaves the room and then opens a notebook labeled "History of the People's Movement.">

Alek: OK, I've been going over what we talked about last night, and here's what I've got. On April 17, you <he points to Mekul>, and you <he points to Tatiana>, and Thommi all died, more or less at the same time. Two days later, Thommi fell through a circle of light and showed up here and you two found yourselves in a place called Chicago. Several times since then, Thommi has said he saw or felt circles of light nearby. Last night, he and Elena went thru one of them, just as you two were coming thru it from Chicago.

Mekul: That's about it.

Alek: Now from what you two have said, the worlds you remeber aren't the same. And the Chicago you were in doesn't seem to be the Chicago from either of your worlds.

Tatiana: Well, it could have been the Chicago from the America I learned about in school. <She frowns.> But I don't think so.

Alek: Let's assume it's not. That gives us three worlds. <He turns his notebook to a page with several circles drwn on it. He points to one of them.> Mekul, this is you world. <He writes Mekul in one of the circles.> And Tatiana, this is yours. <He writes her name in another circle.> You both went to this world. <He draws arrows from the first two circles to a third and writes Chicago in it.> Thommi, <He writes his name in a vacant circle.> came from this world, which probably wasn't one of these other three, and came here. <He draws and arrow to a fifth circle and writes his own name there.>

Nadia: But where did Thommi and Elena go?

<Alek draw another arrow and then a new circle with a question mark in it.>

Sergei: He could have gone to one of the other worlds, maybe even back to his own.

Mekul: This is giving me a headache.

Alek: I'm betting he went somewhere new.

Tatiana: Why?

Alek, pulling a paperback book out of his backpack: Haven't you ever read any of "The Many Worlds of Comrade Gavril?"

Tatiana: Never heard of him.

Alek: Yeah, I guess that makes sense.

Mekul, looking at the book, number 27 in the series: What's it about?

Mika, rolling her eyes: Don't get him started.

Alek, ignoring her: Comrade Gavril buildt a machine that allows him to travel to other versions of Earth. The only problem is, his machine gets sabotaged by a Pacifica spy and he gets lost. So he spends his time solving these other worlds' problems thru the wonders of communism and then moving on, hoping to find his way home. After what's happened with you guys and Thommi the past couple of weeks, I almost wonder if Misha Andropov is really writing fiction when he writes these books.

Mekul: This can't be happening to everyone when they die. I mean, we'd have heard about it. Noone's ever said ANYTHING to me about dead people showing up from another world. <He grabs a cookie and bites into it angrily. With his mouth full, he continues.> Why us?

Alek: Well, that one you got me on.

Varenka: My grandma says that when you die, you go through a tunnel of light to the Afterlife. Maybe you guys just took a wrong turn in the tunnel. Thommi kept saying he felt like he HAD to go back into the light. Maybe if you just keep going ...

Mekul: I don't know. I felt the light coming before I could see it.

Tatiana: Me too. But I didn't felt drawn to it. It was just the only way we could get away from the guards who were chasing us.

Mekul: I don't feel like I have to go into the light either. In fact I'd like to just stay here and rest, at least for a while. The past two weeks have really been too much. <He rests his head on the table.>

Tatiana: Ditto. <She lays her head down too.>

Varenka: I think you should stay. Thommi came here. And now you two. Maybe, if there are others like you, they'll show up here eventually too.

Mekul: That would be nice. <He shuts his eyes and is asleep instantly. Tatiana is right behind him.>

Piotr: Well, I guess that's the end of that discussion. Pass me the cookies.

Back to Index -- Chapter 5: Heavenly Discourse