Damien

If anyone had been watching the monitor that Tuesday evening, they wouldn’t have believed their eyes.  But a busy, understaffed police station doesn't have time to watch prisoners all the time. Besides, they were all locked up in cells; where were they going to go?  

Damien Flock relied on this fact to make good his escape. He should never have been caught in the first place, but his luck had finally run out. Although it wasn’t all down to bad luck.  For the first time in his life, he had trusted in someone else. Work alone and stay free, his father always told him. Instead of sticking to his father’s wise advice, he had involved a security guard, who had inevitably screwed up and set off an alarm. The result was the inside of a police cell for the world’s only dimension hopping jewel thief.  What was a guy to do? 

Escape, obviously.  Damien stood in the middle of the police cell and closed his eyes. Fortunately, no one had taken his fingerprints or photograph yet.  He had given a false name to the custardy sergeant and as he was on a job, he didn't have any ID on him when he was apprehended. He was relatively safe. He was aware that he was currently on camera and probably being recorded, but no one would believe what was about to happen. It’s likely the recording would suddenly be mislaid. He took a deep breath in and gathered his thoughts. Gently reaching out with his mind he felt around for the familiar feel of a tear, a rip in the fabric of space- time. When he felt it, he reached his hand forward and prised open the gap. Then with a swift movement and a twist he slipped through and was gone.

For an instant he felt his body was on fire, a now familiar feeling, and then he was standing in the lounge of his flat, a smell of smoke permeated the air.  The first time he had attempted a hop had been somewhat embarrassing.  He had ended up on a street in Manhattan, stark naked.  Fortunately, it being New York, people who saw him thought it was a publicity stunt and ignored him.  He’d had to scramble down an alley way and hop back home immediately.  

He wasn’t exactly sure how the hops worked.  His grandfather’s notes had been vague on the physics.  He had learned, that whilst he could hop through himself, he wasn’t able to take anything with him. With a bit of practice and endless experiments, he discovered he could extend his will to cover a thin layer of fireproof fabric.  His ‘Hopping Suit’ was a version of a racing drivers fireproof suit, adapted, and made from much thinner fabric.  He’d had it made for him in black to help stay hidden in the shadows, and because black is slimming, right?

All of this meant that if he wanted to steal something, he could hop into its location, but he had to leave in a conventional manner.  Of course, this added to the thrill of the escapade, which is after all why he did it.  His latest quest had taken him to a museum and the Star of Baghdad.  One of the largest emeralds he had ever seen, and something he very much wanted in his collection.  But for now, it had eluded him.  The biggest problem was that the replica gemstone he had planned on replacing it with, had been left at the museum too.  No matter, he would think of something sooner or later, for now he needed coffee and a sleep.

Damien awoke early the next morning to the sound of the coffee machine in his kitchen gurgling and chugging away and the smell of bacon frying.  At first, he couldn’t remember where he was, but as the remains of sleep slipped away, he remembered, and his heart skipped a beat.  Damien lived alone and as far as he knew no one had a key to his flat except Mrs Hawkins from downstairs.  She had never woken him up with breakfast before.  He slipped out of bed and made his way silently across the room to the door.  As he pulled it open and peered out, he listened.  Nothing but the coffee machine and a faint sizzling from the bacon.  Padding carefully down the hall ready to fight or hop out he peered into the kitchen.  His flat consisted of a large living area with a kitchen in the corner, the hallway he had just walked down and two bedrooms.  One of which had been converted into a computer room full of tech and gadgets and gaming consoles.  Usually all was quiet when he awoke and his view out of the window across the city made him feel on top of the world.  Today though, there was someone else in his kitchen, and they seemed to be making breakfast.

‘You’re up then, I see.’ The intruder said.  ‘How do you prefer your eggs, fried or scrambled?’

‘Scrambled, umm, I mean, what? Who are you?  Why are you making me breakfast?’  Damien spluttered, his head still full of sleep, maybe he was dreaming.  ‘And how did you get in?’

‘Same way you did probably.  Opened a portal and hopped through.’  The intruder said grinning.  Damien’s heart almost stopped.  All the fogginess gone from his head now, he started to panic.  The intruder just stood there smiling.  Now his vision was clearer he could see the intruder was a woman, about his age, and roughly his height.  Her long brown hair cascaded around her elven face. Piercing blue eyes stared at him.  She looked amused at his panic-stricken face.  He quickly recovered his composure.

‘You want to explain that?’ he said.  ‘And who are you?’

‘Ha! Damien Flock lost for words, who would have thought it.’ The woman laughed.  ‘Sit down, I’ll bring breakfast, all will be revealed.’ She said mischievously.

Damien could see he wasn’t going to get a straight answer, so he sat at the counter and waited for coffee.  In Damien’s world nothing seemed right before his first coffee.  He watched as she finished making bacon and eggs, poured out a cup of steaming coffee and sat down opposite him.

‘Well?’ he said.

‘First off, my name’s Dani, nice to meet you, finally.’

‘Damien,’ Damien said, ‘but you already knew that.’

‘Ha, I did, I know a lot about you Mr Flock.  Been watching you for a long time. Oh, before I forget, I think this is yours.’  She took a bundle from her pocket and slid it across the counter towards him.  As it fell open the morning sunlight glinted off the object throwing an array of green tinged light across the room.

‘The Star of Baghdad?’ He said, bemused.

‘Yes, well no, it’s a fake.  Someone tried to steal the real one last night and replace it with this.  I can’t imagine who would do that.’

Damien felt himself flush as he picked up the fake emerald.

‘Can’t leave things like that laying around.  You never know who might find them and what they might deduce.’  Dani looked disapproving.

‘Work alone, stay safe.  Lesson learned.’  Damien replied.

‘Did your dad tell you that?’  Dani looked at him grinning.

‘Yes, how did you know?’  

‘He told me too.’  A hint of something passed across Dani’s face, was that sadness, Damien thought.

‘I think you need to start at the beginning, and don’t leave anything out.’  Damien said as he munched on the last piece of bacon. ‘Who are you? What are you doing here? And how do you know my name?  And my dad for that matter.’

‘OK, well my name is Daniella Flock, I’m here because I wanted to meet you, and I know your name because I’ve been following your career for some time.  As for knowing your dad, that’s a bit more complicated.’

‘Wait, you have been following me?  What are you, some kind of time cop?’ Damien felt his heart rate increase.  Were there people watching him?

‘Quite the opposite, little brother.’  Dani replied.  ‘I’m more or less the same as you.  Only better looking.’  She winked.

‘Brother? What?’ Damien was sure he was still dreaming, the urge to pinch himself grew stronger, although he wasn’t sure if that actually worked.

‘OK well not really, we are exactly the same age and you’re not my brother, technically.  Although.  It’s complicated.’

‘Look, either I’ve woken up in the middle of a cheap novel or you aren’t making any sense.  Are you drunk?’  Damien was starting to feel annoyed.  Yesterday had been a disaster and today was just weird.  Maybe he should go back to bed and start the day again.

Dani let out a long sigh.  ‘It’s difficult to explain, but I’ll try.  How much do you know about dimension hopping?’

‘I know how to do it.  I get to the “Inbetween” then pop up anywhere on Earth I like.’

‘Anywhere on your Earth.  Have you considered that this might not be the only dimension, the only Earth?’  

The little wheels in Damien’s head began turning faster, understanding was coming but it was slow.  It was way too early in the morning for this sort of conversation.

‘Grandad’s notes were a bit hazy, but I’ve had some theories of my own.  I’ve not been able to test them yet.’

‘Yes, they were a little crude weren’t they.’ Dani laughed ‘But he was really only hypothesizing.  It wasn’t until Dad got involved that things changed.  Here’s the basics.  There are multiple universes, dimensions if you like, billions of them.  All the same as yours but different.  In every one there is a version of yourself.  Everyone has an equivalent in every single universe.  All born on the same day, although not all die at the same time.  Everyone’s life follows slightly different paths and ends a bit different.  Imagine when you make a decision, there are two ways your life could go.  Well somewhere there’s a universe where your life took the other path.  Make sense?’

‘No, well maybe.  Parallel universe theory?  I’ve heard that before.’  Damien was starting to piece together an idea.

‘Exactly.  Anyway, the Inbetween is a place out of all that.  I’m not really sure where it is, but it is where all the other dimensions are.  So’ when you hop out of here, and into the Inbetween, you could choose any dimension and hop in there.  Think of it like being in a lift, but instead of just choosing which floor, you could also choose which building.’  Dani took a sip of coffee and screwed up her nose.  ‘Ugh where do you buy this rubbish?  I can see we need to get you educated.’

Damien stared at his guest and started to put two and two together.  The brown hair, the elven features, piercing blue eyes.  When he looked in the mirror that’s what he saw.  Sort of. 

‘So, are you saying you are me, from a different universe?’

‘Bingo, give the man a cookie.  See, I knew you weren’t as stupid as you looked.’  She grinned at him.  ‘Of course I got the good looks, you got the, well, I don’t know what you got.  It certainly isn’t great taste in coffee!’  She chuckled.  ‘But back to the plot.  Do you know exactly what happened to your dad?’

‘He was killed in a climbing accident in Wales.  Well, he was climbing solo and he never returned.  His body was never found.’  Damien looked wistful as he remembered the letter from the climbing club his dad had been with all those years ago.

‘Did you ever go there and try to find his body?’  Dani asked

‘No, I, umm, I couldn’t. It didn’t feel right.  I’m not sure I wanted to see that.’

‘Well, that’s exactly how my dad left, and I went to look.  There’s nothing there, no body.  He just vanished.  I have spent the last few months hopping around the multiverse talking to other versions of us.  Apparently, Martin Flock winked out of existence on the 3rd September at around lunchtime.  Everywhere.’

‘OK but is it that unusual?  If we are all the same, couldn’t there be someone who lives exactly the same life and ends it the same?’  Damien asked.

‘It would be extremely rare.  I’ve checked.  No one seems to die at the same age anywhere.  I’ve only visited a few hundred universes, but so far that hasn’t happened to anyone.  And besides.  Where’s his body?  There is no sign, anywhere.’

‘It’s odd, I’ll grant you, but is it impossible?’ Damien was a little skeptical, he still wasn’t altogether sure this wasn’t a dream.

‘It’s not impossible, theoretically, but there’s another thing.  In every universe I’ve been to, he is always Martin.  Never Martina, or Mary, or Mark.  The versions of myself all seem to be a bit different.  I’ve met two Damien’s and one other Daniella, but lots of others.  I’ve even met a Dork Flock, but that was an odd universe.  But dad is always Martin.  I know it doesn’t prove much, but is curious, don’t you think?’

‘I suppose.’  Damien yawned.  ‘So now you are running around the multiverse, chasing a dead man?  Don’t you have anything else to do?  A job or something?’

‘Oh Damien, I said we were all different, but not that different.  Who needs a job when you can hop into somewhere and steal what you want?  I’m an insurance company’s worst nightmare.’ she grinned.  ‘At first I thought i needed an answer, now i just think I’m enjoying the chase.  Maybe I’ll get an answer, maybe I wont.  But at least I’m not stuck in a dead end job awaiting a quick death.’

‘So why are you here?  You said you had been following me?’

‘I’ve been here about a month.  I was going to say hi straight away but then i watched you on a job a few weeks ago.  I liked your style.  Apart from the leaving things behind bit.  I thought I’d ask you to join me for a while.  I could use another perspective.’

Damien stared at her as she finished her coffee reflecting on the last few hours.  One minute he was in jail, the next he’s having breakfast with himself from another universe.  The day had certainly taken an odd turn.