"Next Steps" - Part Four

Part Four

The three fractures hung silently above the rooftop.

None of them moved.

They simply...waited.

Zeeva never lowered her sonic screwdriver.

Its sapphire light continued to hum softly as she watched the tears in reality, searching for any sign that another Fracture Echo might emerge.

Behind her, Finn still stared at the glowing pages of The Impossible Diary. “...It drew me.”

“No,” Zeeva corrected gently without turning around. “It wrote you.”

Finn looked down again.

The illustration was still there.

An older version of himself stood beside Zeeva before an ocean of impossible worlds.

“I’ve never been there.”

“I know.”

“Then how—”

“The Diary doesn’t always tell stories that have happened.”

Finn frowned. “...It tells stories that will happen?”

Zeeva smiled faintly. “Sometimes.”

Bunsen Honeydew hurried across the rooftop carrying his dimensional scanner. “I’ve finished recalibrating!”

Beaker bounced eagerly beside him. “Mee!”

The scanner projected a lattice of glowing blue lines across the fractures.

Numbers raced across the display.

Then...everything froze.

Bunsen blinked. “...Well.”

“What?” Zeeva asked.

He slowly turned the screen toward her. “There are no energy readings.”

Finn looked confused. “What does that mean?”

Bunsen adjusted his glasses. “It means those fractures…”

“...aren’t open,” Zeeva began to realize. “They’re looking.” Zeeva felt herself becoming unsettled. “Observation windows…”

Bunsen nodded. “Precisely!”

Beaker whimpered.

Finn swallowed. “...Somebody’s watching us?”

Zeeva finally lowered the sonic screwdriver. “I don’t think they’re watching us.” She looked directly at Finn. “I think they’re watching you.”

Finn instinctively hugged the Diary closer. “...Why?”

“I wish I knew, sweetheart.” Zeeva offered a comforting hand to the boy’s shoulder.

A sudden mechanical chime echoed from the sleek white sphere resting on the rooftop.

Bunsen’s non-visible eyes widened. “Oh! The ship has finally synchronized with local time!”

The side of the craft smoothly opened.

Warm golden light spilled onto the rooftop.

Finn stared. “...That’s the spaceship? The…TARDIS?”

Zeeva laughed. “It does look a little small from out here.” She offered him her hand. “Come on.”

Finn climbed aboard.

Then stopped.

His mouth fell open.

The interior stretched impossibly far.

A soaring circular chamber extended in every direction, lined with glowing crystalline columns, suspended walkways, and elegantly curved white walls that pulsed softly with blue light.

It wasn’t merely larger.

It felt...alive.

Finn slowly turned in a circle. “...No way.”

He turned back toward the open doorway.

The outside rooftop was still visible.

“...No way!”

Bunsen smiled proudly. “Dimensional engineering!”

Beaker nodded enthusiastically. “Mee!”

Finn looked at Zeeva. “...It’s bigger on the inside.”

She grinned. “I’ve always loved hearing someone say that for the first time.”

As Finn wandered through the ship in amazement, Zeeva and Bunsen quietly stepped aside.

Her smile disappeared. “You’ve identified the source?”

Bunsen nodded. “I think so.”

He projected a holographic star map. Except...it wasn’t a star map.

It was a map of realities.

Thousands of glowing spheres floated in darkness.

Some burned brightly.

Others flickered.

Several had gone completely dark.

Bunsen pointed toward one cluster. “This is our home.”

The label beneath it read: EARTH-828-M.

Nearby...another sphere glowed brighter than almost every other reality surrounding it.

EARTH-616

Finn wandered closer, still too fascinated by the ship to realize they were discussing something important. “Is that where you’re from?”

Bunsen smiled. “No.” He pointed at Earth-828-M. “This is where Beaker and I live.” He then pointed toward Earth-616. “That’s the universe currently producing the strongest multiversal disturbances.”

Finn tilted his head. “What happened there?”

Bunsen hesitated. “We don’t actually know. We only know that ever since the Baxter Foundation began experimenting with interdimensional travel…” He glanced toward Zeeva. “...the entire multiverse has become... louder.”

Zeeva folded her arms. “And now something is taking advantage of that noise.”

Bunsen nodded solemnly.

Finn stared at the map. “So...our Earth isn’t broken?”

Zeeva looked at him. “No, it may actually be one of the healthiest universes I’ve ever visited.”

Finn smiled. “Really?”

“Which is exactly why I’m worried,” Zeeva added.

His smile faded.

“If Earth-M is this stable…” She looked toward the fractures still hovering outside. “...why are they trying so desperately to get in?”

Before anyone could answer, a distinctive, sonorous ringing sound resembling that of a large church bell sounded throughout the room. Finn read about it in the Diary—it was called a ‘cloister bell.’ From the book, he knew that it’d only sounded in the most serious of emergencies. “What’s happening?” he asked over the noise.

Zeeva’s attention turned to a monitor hanging over the central console that displayed the following words:

Warning.

Unauthorized dimensional signature detected.

Identity unknown.

Origin...

Unable to determine.

The holographic multiverse map began rapidly highlighting realities.

One after another.

Dozens. Hundreds. Thousands.

Until every universe disappeared...except one.

Not Earth-M.

Not Earth-828-M.

Not Earth-616.

Just a single designation.

UNKNOWN

Then the monitor changed messages: IT HAS FOUND THE BOY.

The room fell completely silent.

Even Zeeva had no immediate answer.

She tightened her grip on the sonic screwdriver.

           “...Everyone…” Her voice remained calm. But, for the first time since Finn had met her, he heard genuine concern. “...Stay close.”