Within the Apple 16C

*****

Armsmaster stared for a long moment, the silence in the room settling around them before he finally opted to speak.

“What do you mean by that, it being harder to get out than in?” He demanded finally.

Magus grimaced, “To answer that you need to have a wider view of the universe than most people have, though you lot here at least know that other dimensions exist, so that helps.”

“If you’re not from Bet, as this seems to be indicating,” Piggot said, frowning, “where are you from? Aleph?”

“Farther out, much farther out,” Magus responded. “Think of the multiverse like a tree, an infinitely massive tree, with an infinite number of infinitely large branches… I could keep going, but that will do for our purposes here. Bet is a single leaf at the very tip of one of those branches, Aleph is the next leaf over. With me?”

Director Piggot nodded slowly along with Armsmaster and Legend, it wasn’t a difficult concept to hold in your head.

“In this example, I’m from a different leaf on a very different branch,” Xander said. “There are, as I said, infinite branches, and they’re all infinitely large. Moving leaf to leaf is actually pretty common, and stupidly easy once you learn how, some people manage to do it accidentally… moving branch to branch, though, that gets a lot harder, energy levels are much harder to deal with, causing all kinds of variables that can be… unhealthy.”

“Unhealthy how?” Armsmaster leaned in curiously.

“English doesn’t have the words to describe it, exactly,” Magus responded, “I just call it explosive decompression of the soul.”

Armsmaster couldn’t quite suppress the flinch he felt run through his body at that wording.

“That sounds… unpleasant,” Legend said mildly.

Magus laughed, “And generally not survivable. As a rule, moving branch to branch requires a methodical approach, similar to how divers surface slowly to allow their bodies to adjust… there are exceptions, but they’re not really understood well because of how rare the exceptions are, and I’m speaking as one of the exceptions.”

He sighed, shaking his head, “Honestly I still don’t know if I’m the original me, or if I died and somehow came back.”

“That… sounds concerning.”

Magus just shrugged, “Honestly at this point I’ve internalized it, and it’s not that important for our current situation anyway.”

“What is our current situation,” Director Piggot leaned in again, apparently trying to get he conversation back on track.

“Ever hear the song Hotel California?” Magus asked with a grin, confusing Armsmaster but apparently he was the only one in the room.

Legend just slumped, while Director Piggot stiffened and sat up straight in what his HUD told him was blatant alarm.

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Afraid not,” Magus shook his head, “I dropped in, intending just to use this world as a rest stop before heading on home… but I found out pretty quickly that I can’t get out. No one can.”

“We’ve had people move to Earth Bet,” Piggot frowned.

“Yeah, one leaf over? Not hard, I could pop over there easily enough,” Magus said. “The leaf isn’t blocked, the branch is.”

“How many universes on the branch,” Legend asked.

“Infinite,” Magus shrugged. “It’s a small infinity, but it’s still infinite. Math is weird that way.”

Piggot shook her head, “You’re saying that someone blocked off… an infinite number of parallel worlds… to do what? Who even has that kind of power?”

“More of a what than a who, as for why?” Magus shrugged, “Don’t know yet. Haven’t seen anything like it before, if I’m being honest. Definitely dealing with a non-human intelligence, though, something without the limitations of three dimensional creatures. Layman’s terms? Lot of people would call it a Cthuloid Intelligence, based on what I saw with the Simurgh. It’s definitely multi-dimensional, it has to be to build that bitch, and that means that it doesn’t have much in common with those of us who live on a single leaf. We have more in common with ants, that an intelligence like this would have with us.”

“Well if that isn’t comforting,” Piggot said sarcastically.

“Horrors from beyond aren’t meant to provide comfort,” Magus chuckled.

“You said you called people for help,” Legend interjected, looking thoughtful. “Do you really think they can? Help, I mean?”

“Reed is… what you would call a Tinker of the highest order,” Magus said. “If he sets his mind to a problem… he solves it. This is a guy who actually made a device to transport people to the afterlife and back in order to recover a lost friend. He’ll team with up with Stephen, who is more in my area of expertise but on the same level as Reed, Sorcerer Supreme and all that. They’ll start by probing the barrier from the other side, and let me know what they find. There’s another group who will start doing the same from a slightly different direction… They arguably aren’t quite to the same level of brilliance, but they have a lot more resources.”

Magus sighed, visibly grimacing, “And then there’s my girlfriend.”

The three representatives of the PRT and Protectorate exchanged confused looks.

“Do I want to know why you seem less apprehensive about two groups of genius tinkers than you do your girlfriend?” Emily asked, sounding like she didn’t want the answer.

“Wednesday comes from a clan of people who…” Magus shrugged, “They’ve been in contact with multiple Outer Horrors, and actually maintain good relations with many to this day. That’s incredibly useful considering your situation, but it also means that she may choose to show up here in person. If that happens… well, you’ll see.”

“Why am I feeling nervous suddenly?” Legend asked as he closed his eyes.

“Because any people who can converse with outer horrors aren’t exactly… normal,” Magus told him. “Her Clan are widely considered to be… the most terrifying people on my world, and that’s when they’re being nice and polite.”

He paused, considering that, “Actually, the nice and polite bit is part of what makes them scary. Serial killers are easier to understand, and that makes them less frightening overall. That said, they’re also experts in dealing with outer horrors and the like, so…”

He just shrugged.

“If she shows up, I’ll try and keep her from doing more than scaring the piss out of people,” Magus promised, “but all bets are off if she encounters some of your more… colorful types.”

“Such as?” Piggot demanded, eyes narrowing.

“Well, she’d probably take offense at the Slaughterhouse Nine just on general principles,” Magus said. “Not that they kill people, but that they’re so gauche about it. Heartbreaker, as another example?”

He shivered, “I might pop up there and just kill the fucker before she can get to him, honestly. He’d deserve everything she did to him, but the rest of you don’t need those nightmares.”

“It is strongly discouraged for anyone to go after Heartbreaker,” Legend said through gritted teeth. “We don’t need more capes under his control.”

“I can block mind control,” Magus said casually. “And anyone trying to control Wednesday’s mind would make the Darwin Awards create a whole new category just for them.”

“Officially I have to strongly advise against it despite that,” Legend said firmly, before he shrugged, “unofficially, those are not targets I would shed tears over.”

“Yeah well, on the other side of the equation,” Magus sighed, “I really don’t want to see what happens if Wednesday meets that Hero you have, what’s her name? Mouse something?”

“Mouse Protector?” Armsmaster stiffened, “Why?”

“Personality clash,” Magus said, “from what I’ve read, Mouse Protector runs the Joke Hero template. Her irreverence and general positive outlook on life could easily set Wednesday off and initiate a prank war on scales none of us here want to contemplate.”

*****