Patchwork Universe

Dr James Kirby · Good Joined: 02 Jul 2004 Posts: 214 Location: Empire City

Kirby grinned.

"I think I'd better stand, unless you have some very sturdy chairs."

Miss Mercury · Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:25 pm Post subject:

"Tell me a little about yourself and your background, Dr Kirby. Are you a proper doctor, or merely a physician? What is your job? Where do you live? What brings you travelling through our countryside?"

Dr James Kirby · Good Joined: 02 Jul 2004 Posts: 214 Location: Empire City

"Yes, I'm a proper doctor" smiled Kirby "Phd in physics, Princeton. I work for the government with a group of superpowered individuals, to defend the US against a wide range of threats."

Kirby didn't really like the term "superhero" and certainly didn't think of himself as one.

"My home is in Empire City. I'm here mainly because of the current situation we find ourselves in. Tell me, before I start, have you attempted to travel since the mists appeared?"

Miss Mercury · Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 10:29 pm Post subject:

Part of the way through his comments, Miss Mercury sat up, interested. "Super-powered? Special gifts, you mean? What you might call 'enhanced' people?

"Princeton I know, of course. I've done one or two lectures there, in fact. Empire City I've not heard of, though. Which state is it in?

She thought for a moment about Dr Kirby's final question, slightly disturbed.

"What mists?"

Dr James Kirby · Good Joined: 02 Jul 2004 Posts: 214 Location: Empire City

Kirby looked somewhat puzzled also.

"It's in Empire State" he said simply. He could hardly credit that someone hadn't heard of Empire City - and thus perhaps this world didn't have an Empire.
"Perhaps you know it as something different..."

"Regarding the mists. What I'm about to tell you will no doubt sound rather fanciful. However, it is readily demonstrable, and scepticism probably isn't useful in this situation. If I might be allowed to explain the situation as I see it, you can then investigate yourself."

"To begin. A day or so ago, an area of central Empire, about ten square miles of it, was bounded by four perfectly straight walls of what appeared to be mist. Some of these walls were impassable, but others could easily be walked through by myself. A similar arrangement has appeared around your school."

"On passing through the mists, I found myself to be not in the docks area of Empire City, but in what appeared to be English countryside, and from the fashions and technology, it appeared to be some time in the nineteenth century, Further exploration has revealed that there is an arrangement of these domains taken from different eras, and I suspect, different parallel worlds. For instance, that you have not heard of Empire City suggests to me that you and I do not hail from the same world."

Kirby gave this momentous announcement the dramatic pause it deservered, but continued before questions could begin.

"I have encountered several inhabitants of these other domains, and it appears that this state of affairs is deliberate. There are individuals calling themselves gods, who have used some power or technology to collect a group of domains and arrange them in a sort of chessboard arrangement. I have yet to encounter any of these 'gods' to ascertain why. You've clearly encountered some inhabitants of other domains. Doomshadow, I suspect is one, the girl called Rose is another."

Miss Mercury · Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 9:15 am Post subject:

Miss Mercury glanced over at Miss Latimer, who gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head. No tampering. Mental integrity was sound.

She thought about the last few days. The slightly strange group of visitors at the beginning of the Open Day - the museum owner, the academic from Cambridge, the highly-suspicious zookeeper; the "performers" Jack, Rose and Doomshadow. The blue wizard, and now the charming Dr Kirby. Busy as she was, and used to unusual people as she was, she could see now that most of these visitors must count as outliers on the graph of normality distribution...

She and Miss Latimer stood up together, opened the french windows, and walked out into the rose garden, and through a gate in the wall beyond. They looked West past the village. Miss Mercury considered the sky. At this distance, the sky at the horizon was often diffusely cloudy, so that was little different, but looking further up, it was clear that the clouds were more uniform and unbroken than they should be, and yes, looked like a wall of mist.

"Can you see it, Meredith?" she asked Miss Latimer.

"I'm not sure."

Miss Mercury put a hand on Miss Latimer's shoulder. "Try again."

Miss Latimer's eyes widened. "Yes, I see. It's hard to notice that it's not just a lightly-cloudy day, but yes. He's right."

They returned to the study.

"So, Dr Kirby. I'm surprised I didn't noticed before, but sometimes when I'm busy, I just expect things to be as they should, and generally they live up to that. In this case, though, it has made my observation lazy. But the villagers have not mentioned it at all. Some can see the walls and others can't? Are we trapped? Some people can move through them and others can't? What are the rules? How did all the parents get here for the Open Day if the other side of the wall is not a continuation of our countryside?

"And other worlds? Parallel universe? Excuse me, I have no reason to doubt you, other than the sensational nature of what you say. But I am accustomed to dealing on a daily basis with things that other people consider inconceivable, so I must keep an open mind here. Let us approach this with a sensible methodology.

"First, your city, and Empire State. In New York City, there is a building called the Empire State Building, but there is no state of that name in the America I know. Here, I have an atlas, and a map of North America. Can you show me where Empire City is?"

She opened the atlas, and laid it flat on the desk.

"Do you know, I think I might want some wine. Can I tempt you, Dr Kirby? Meredith?"

Dr James Kirby · Good Joined: 02 Jul 2004 Posts: 214 Location: Empire City

"Oh yes, wine would be lovely. Just a small one though."
He patted his armour.
"Shouldn't drive one of these under the influence."

"Hmmm. Your atlas has Empire State down as New York State. And yes, here, Empire City is New York."

He walked over to the bookshelf where lay a copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
"May I?"

He withdrew the volume containing "New York", found the entry, and read.

"Interesting. The names are all different, but essentially, Empire and New York are one in the same. Yes, here, the main island is Manhattan, both cities were once known as New Amsterdam... development seems to diverge sometime at the point of renaming, but is mostly quite parallel..."

Kirby laughed.

"No Kirby Building though. Fame is fleeting."

He shut the volume.

"Very interesting point about the fact that not everyone is affected by it. I don't know the exact reasoning behind it. To my knowledge, only two inhabitants of Empire can see the mists, myself and a man known as Von Damme, another nemesis of mine... But yes, certainly, life appears to be going on as normal for the vast majority of Empire's citizens. It would seem that a select few per domain are constrained in this way, and everyone else is free to go about their business. Certainl, nothing appeared in the papers."

"I must add, more as a point of scientific accuracy than anything else, that these walls are not mist in the conventional sense. They are not composed of water. Something is scattering light as a mist might, but it is not water vapour."

Miss Mercury · Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 1:10 pm Post subject:

A maid had delivered a bottle of chilled white wine, and three glasses. Miss Mercury opened the bottle, poured the wine, and passed drinks to Dr Kirby and Miss Latimer.

Taking her own drink, she sat down at her desk, and thought.

"Sections of different worlds with mist walls between them. I think, perhaps, I should see whether I can move through the walls. Just to find out. Do you know any of the worlds adjacent to this one? Are they dangerous? Or might we be safe to visit briefly?

"Part of me thinks that my responsiblity lies here; I should stay here during term-time. As far as I can see, my students and their families, and the villagers, are continuing life as normal, and there is no need to distress them. On the other hand, there could be so much to learn, so many new skills, and maybe even some students or staff to recruit.

"What do you think? Should we go to a mist wall and try it? I think perhaps that if we are able to traverse the wall, and if the other worlds are not too hazardous, we should choose a travelling party and prepare for an expedition, Meredith!"

Miss Latimer nodded in agreement, and both women looked at Dr Kirby for his opinion.

Dr James Kirby · Good Joined: 02 Jul 2004 Posts: 214 Location: Empire City

"Broadly speaking, I would say that many of these areas are safe, with a few exceptions. Firstly, Doomshadow, or at least a Doomshadow is at large in this arrangement. This brings me to the conclusion that whoever is chosing the specimens for this place isn't necessarily choosing entirely pleasant subjects. Hence, there might be any number of dangerous characters at large. Secondly, not every domain is land - there seems to be a section of ocean south of Empire City, for instance. Hence, crossing any unknown border is something of a risk, regarding hostile environments."

"Directly north of here is a patch of rural countryside, with a pub in the centre, much as your school is here..."

Kirby trailed off.

"Hold on..."

He went to the bookshelf, and got out the volume of the encyclopedia he had been looking at earlier. He flipped to the New York section, and examined the map.

"Yes... The Kirby Building is directly in the centre of the Empire City domain. The pub was at the centre of the rural domain, and was owned by someone who was evidently out of the domain. I believe this school is pretty much in the centre of the domain here, if not exactly..."

"Perhaps that answers the question of who can see and cross these borders, and who cannot. Perhaps what is being sampled is people, not places, and the domain that is taken centres on their home."

Dr James Kirby · Good Joined: 02 Jul 2004 Posts: 214 Location: Empire City

"I'd agree that this is a pretty unusual event; I don't think I've heard of a comparable one, though I have been involved in two other events where alleged Gods have interfered with my world. From what I've seen, I would guess that these domains come from a wide range of worlds. I don't think that any two I've been through hail from the same location. As to how long it's been going on, the inhabitants of the rural patch gave me the impression that they've been there long enough to have resigned themselves to the situation."

"I'll quite happily accompany you if you've a mind to explore. Adjacent to this domain, I know there's the rural domain I mentioned to the north, and to the east is apparently an ivory city, which I am told is associated with these gods in some way. South and west of here, I don't have any information on."

[OOC: this post should have appeared after the next Miss Mercury edit, as it was in response to it, but the time stamps were being awkward again]

Miss Mercury · Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 4:00 pm Post subject:

"But why? Why the school? Or why me, if it is indeed me? And how long has this been happening? Is this a permanent situation or merely transient? Have there always been worlds taken like this? I'm well read on unusual phenomena, because often what the mainstream would dismiss as overactive imagination or deception, I can perceive to be something rather different. I'm sure I would have read something if this had happened.

"My thoughts now are that I am going to write to at least eight different groups, describing this situation, explaining what I can, giving them as much information as possible. I'm going to telephone a couple of experts in London tonight if I can. Surely, if this had happened before, I would have been aware of it? Although" she paused and sighed "what are the chances that it has happened to my exact world, if some of the mist-worlds are other versions of the Earth, and others may not even be Earth."

She drained her glass, put it down smartly, and stood up.

"Meredith, you and I are going out to play. Dr Kirby, can you help us? Will you come with us, or do you have other plans? I don't intend that we should be gone long, but I would like to check who can get through the wall before we embark on a fuller expedition."

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2004 4:05 pm Post subject:

Meanwhile, the Mole had continued to dig. A brief exploration revealed stone walls surrounding him in almost every direction. Clearly Big Daddy had been busy...

He could hear the sound of someone calling. The voice echoed eerily down the tunnel, bouncing off the walls of fused soil. "Lillaccc... Lliilaa... La-la-la-lac..." The word sounded almost familar, but he could not remember why. It didn't matter. Clearly Big Daddy was still chasing him. or perhaps, even worse, the Schoolmaster had come...

Putting on a burst of speed, the Mole dug straight down. A few Mole heights beneath the surface and... there was just good clean earth. No more imprisoning impenetrable stone.

Gulping down soil as fast as he could, the Mole headed for home.

OOC: Lord Doomshadow now moves to The Museum: Something Wicked That Way Went. Should anyone wish to pursue, I'm assuming that the soil he digs out is compacted and desposited against the sides of the tunnel, so that he leaves a navigable - if somewhat cramped - path behind him.

Miss Mercury · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 6:05 pm Post subject:

Dr Kirby excused himself while the two teachers made their final preparations.

Miss Latimer disappeared to the staff room to inform the other senior staff of the situation. They did not expect to be gone long, but it would not do to set off without informing the others of their journey.

Miss Mercury wrote some notes and some instructions to Mrs Clarysage, and to the remainder of the staff. In particular, to be aware that if stranger-than-usual visitors came past, directing them to the East would probably be the best approach.

Buttoning up a warm tailored coat, and putting together a satchel of basic equipment - note pad and pens, camera, purse, water, mints, folding umbrella, Swiss army knife, mobile HMP devices, cough pastilles, a small packet of tissues, a hair brush, etc, Miss Mercury walked towards her study door, ready to leave.

She paused, and after a second's though, went back and add a handful of school prospectuses and a hip flask to her bag.

Then she swept to the entrance, met Miss Latimer on the steps, and walked towards Dr Kirby's jeep.

They passsed Mr Stoneleight on the way, and all agreed that he could go off-duty, that the creature was out of range.

When they reached the Jeep, Dr Kirby emerged from around the back of the Jeep, fastening the front of a military-looking uniform.

"Good lord" said Miss Mercury, "what an improvement!"

Dr Kirby smiled and blushed slightly. "It's going to be a bit of a squeeze, I'm afraid. It's really only meant for two people."

"We'll be fine. Don't you worry."

And indeed, with Dr Kirby in the driver's seat, and the two ladies in the passenger seat, there did see to be more room than he might have expected. Miss Mercury was sitting somewhat close to the hand brake and gear stick. And however careful he was, Dr Kirby's hand did keep brushing her thigh as he changed gear. Miss Mercury giggled. Dr Kirby stared fixedly at the country road ahead.

They drove through Little Bottomley, and drove out further to the East until they had reached the mist wall. Dr Kirby pulled over into a layby, applied the handbrake ("well, REALLY, Dr Kirby") and stopped the Jeep.

They climbed out of the vehicle and looked at the wall, from this position looking so huge and unnatural.

Dr James Kirby · Good Joined: 02 Jul 2004 Posts: 214 Location: Empire City

"It's quite impressive close up, isn't it?" said Dr Kirby. He peered through the mists. The shapes of tall buildings could be seen, indistinctly.

"Well, it looks like a city" he declared "so we're probably in the right place."

"I think it might be a good idea if I go through first. I'm not entirely certain that all of these discontinuities work in a reciprocal fashion. There's certainly no logical reason why they'd have to. If I get stuck on the other side, then I'm no further away from home than I am now. If you get stuck there, then you're stranded."

Kirby got into the Rover.

"Just a quick survey, then I'll be back."

The Kirby rover drove off into the mist, and disappeared. Some minutes later, it returned.

"Seems pretty safe, and I'm back, as you see."

Jack Frost · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:38 pm Post subject:

Lilac had gone. Whatever the Mercury Sorceress had done to the poor fellow clearly wasn't so easily undone. Rose, too, appeared to have been lost. And now Ivor had been kidnapped.

Jack couldn't face this alone. The power of this realm was clearly overwhelming. So he did the one thing he could confidently do well.

He fled.

[OOC: Jack moves to Chimera: Drifting Snowflake]