"Welcome, Mister Richmond," the councillor said after a moment. "I hadn't thought to meet someone from your world so soon."
I looked at Irene in confusion.
"Councillor Greaves knows of your world," she said.
"Oh, yes," Greaves said, nodding thoughtfully. "A number of us here know of your world. It was a most exciting discovery." He coughed and stepped further into the room. "But let's not stand here talking. Come and sit down. I'll have Charlotte make us some tea. Would you like some tea, Mister Richmond?"
I nodded. "That would be nice, yes."
"Good." He gestured to the center of the room. "Please. Sit down." He turned towards the front hall. "Charlotte, fix us some tea, will you?"
The maid appeared in the doorway. "Yes, Councillor. Right away." She disappeared again.
He toddled over to the sofa and sat down. "Now, I imagine you have a lot of questions, Mister Richmond. As it happens, I have some of my own, but we'll start with you, since you suddenly find yourself in a strange place with not much frame of reference."
This seemed all a little too civilized. I had lost my bearings a long way back, and I didn't see much hope of regaining them anytime soon. I'd been cruising along, allowing events to unfold and really trying not to think about them too much. There was precious little that had happened to me over the last few days that made any real sense, and suddenly being presented with an opportunity to have some questions answered was almost too much to take in.
"I don't mean to be rude," I said. "But I've having a hell of time convincing myself that any of this is real."
Irene winced. "That's fairly strong language, Mister Richmond. I think it would be wise to keep a civil tongue in your head."
I looked at her. Her brow was creased, and her lips were tight.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I swear a lot back home, and it's become kind of a habit."
Greaves was nodding. "Yes, Mister Richmond. I understand. Unfortunately, we have a fairly conservative society here, and it's probably a good idea not to draw too much attention to yourself."
I suddenly felt like I was in the Star Trek episode where everyone acted like Mormons until the noonday bell chimed and everyone ran into the street and started wailing on each other.
"Okay." I replied. "I'll watch my language. And Irene has already told me that there are some concepts I shouldn't discuss either."
Greaves nodded. "Yes. We mustn't discuss anything too advanced."
I shook my head and narrowed my eyes. "Yeah. About that. There's something I don't understand. If your society doesn't know about these concepts, how can they be taboo? How can you forbid something you don't even know about yet?"
Greaves smiled and sat back in his seat. "Ah. Well, it's not that these concepts are unknown to us. They're simply forbidden."
Forbidden. That single word sent a chill down my spine. It called to mind every small-minded individual or group I had ever heard about. Religious fundamentalists. Totalitarian states. Even huge corporations.
"That doesn't give me a very good first impression of your culture, Councillor," I said.
"I suppose not," he replied. "However, I think you will find, as you get to know us, that we are a fairly peaceful and agreeable people. We have our rules, of course, but within that structure, we're pretty easy to get along with."
"I hope you're claiming that you have a Utopia here."
Greaves chuckled. "Good Heavens, no. We're not perfect. We have our problems. But I think you'll find perhaps there is less to worry about here than in your own world."
I sat forward in my chair. "Okay, that brings up another question. How do you know so much about my world?"
Greaves nodded his head. "We don't know a lot about your world, truth be told. In fact, we only just discovered it a few months ago. We've been quietly observing what we can, but it hasn't been easy."
For some reason, I found myself becoming agitated. "You're not making any sense," I said. "I don't understand any of this. This whole 'alternate worlds' thing… It's impossible. It's the stuff of science fiction. We can't detect other worlds or universes back home, so how can you possibly do it here? We're way more advanced that you people are."
Greaves shook his head. "That's a relative term, Mister Richmond. You may be more advanced than we are in some ways, but I can guarantee you that we are more advanced than you in other ways."
I put my head in my hands. "I've only met two of you so far, so I'm really hoping that not everyone here speaks in such cryptic statements."
Greaves laughed. "I'm simply trying not to overload you with information. You've been through quite a lot, I understand. And I'd like you to come to understanding at a pace you can handle."
"Thanks a lot," I said. "But you don't need to coddle me. I'm a big boy. I can handle it."
Greaves nodded again and looked at Irene. "What do you think, Irene? Is he ready for this?"
Irene scrutinized me for a moment. "I think he's quite strong, Councillor. He has a stubbornness about him that I've rarely encountered before."
Greaves raised his eyebrows. "So you believe his stubbornness is a strength, do you?"
Irene nodded slightly. "In this case, Councillor, yes. I do. I do not believe he will rest until he knows what he needs to know."
Greaves smiled. "And what do you think he needs to know?" He appeared to be enjoying this interchange.
Irene looked at me again for a moment before returning her attention to the councillor. "He needs to know that this is real. That he is not imagining it. He needs to know that he is sane."
"Ahhhh…" Greaves put his head back and looked at the ceiling for a moment. "Well, Mister Richmond, I'm not sure that I can give you the evidence you need to prove that you are not dreaming. However, I can give you my assurances that, as far as I am aware, this place in which you find yourself is quite real. It's certainly real to me. And I believe Irene would tell you the same thing."
Irene nodded.
I snorted. "Yes, that's very nice. But I'm sure that the inhabitants of a dream or hallucination would tell me the same thing." I shifted in my chair and looked him in the eye. "I don't know if I can trust my mind. I recently attempted to kill myself with a large amount of medication, and I think I might have caused myself some brain damage. I'm not discounting the possibility that I'm actually dead, and that this is all some elaborate creation of my own recently-departed consciousness."
At that moment, Charlotte re-entered the room with a tea tray. She stepped into the middle of the room, placed the tray on the coffee table, and took a step back.
"Will there be anything else, Councillor?" she asked.
"Not for the moment, Charlotte," he replied. "Thank you."
She curtsied and stepped out of the room.
Greaves leaned forward and began distributing teacups to the edges of the table. "Do you take milk?" he asked.
I nodded. "Yes. Thanks."
A moment later I had a steaming cup of tea in my hands. The china pattern was unusual but attractive. The cup and saucer bore tiny pastoral scenes, all done in a rust color on a bone background.
I took a sip. "This is nice," I said. "It tastes a bit like Earl Grey."
Greaves pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows. "Not familiar with that one," he said. "This is Grimsby tea. It's imported from England."
"From England?" I asked, startled. "I thought you'd only just—"
Greaves grinned at me as I caught myself. I'd forgotten for a moment that we were sitting in a house in an alternate version of Halifax. Of course there would be an alternate England.
"I imagine there are a lot of the same place names here," I said.
"Indeed, there probably are," Greaves replied. "Care to try a few?"
His good cheer was infectious. He seemed to be honestly enjoying my visit. I glanced at Irene, who had the same serene smile she always seemed to wear. These were happy people, I thought. I felt my muscles relax a bit just thinking about it.
"Okay," I said. "Canada, obviously, if we're in Halifax."
Greaves nodded. "Oh, yes."
"France?"
"Yes."
"Germany?"
"Uh huh."
"East and West Germany, or unified?"
"Oh, fascinating," Greaves said. "Did they reunify in your world?"
"Yes," I said. "The Berlin Wall came down in 1989, and Germany reunified shortly after that."
"Mmmmm…." Greaves nodded thoughtfully. "Continue."
I thought for a moment. If they still had a divided Germany, they probably also had…
"Czecholslovakia?"
Greaves nodded. "Yes."
"Hungary?"
"Yes again."
"No such thing as Slovenia or Bosnia-Herzegovina?"
He frowned and shook his head. "No. I'm not familiar with those names."
"What about Russia?"
"Well, as I understand it, Russia is just one small province—"
"…of the U.S.S.R.?"
He blinked at me. "Of the what?"
"The U.S.S.R. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics."
Greaves shook his head. "No. I don't know that phrase. Here, Russia is a province of the Eternal Grand Empire. Or whatever that is in Russian."
"The Eternal Grand Empire?"
"Yes. I don't claim to know how it's all organized, but it's the largest country in the world—if you can even call it a country. It dominates everything."
"And what about the United States?"
"Yes, they're there. Right to the south of us. A bit tarnished, since the southern states seceded, but still alive and kicking."
I took a sip of my tea. The U.S. split in two. The Eternal Grand Empire. This was going to take some getting used to.
"I think the history books here will make for some interesting reading."
"Well, I have an extensive library. You're welcome to have a look at anything you'd like."
"Thank you. I might just do that."
I sat back in my chair and took another sip. My brain was tired, my body exhausted, and I couldn't understand why I was so calm. It was interesting to observe myself. I often did this. I had a sufficient level of self-awareness that I could sometimes detach a bit of myself and step back to watch the rest. And right now, the rest of me was sitting quietly, asking and answering questions and taking in all the information. The detached, observing part was quite impressed with this and wondered how long it would last.
I imagined that at some point I have a meltdown and become suddenly unable to accept anything that was happening to him. But for the moment, it hadn't come to that. I knew that I'd best enjoy the calm before the storm and take in as much information as I could.
"I have another question," I said.
"Of course," Greaves replied. "Please…"
"I saw Irene five times in my world. The first three of those were in the hospital. That's a busy place. Lots of people around. So why is it that no one else saw her? Why am I the only one? I mean, she was right there, in my room."
Greaves and Irene exchanged a look.
"Well," Greaves said after a moment, "That's the big one, isn't it? I figured you'd get to it eventually. It's actually a tad complicated." He looked over at his companion. "Irene, would you like to take this one?"
Irene gave me a nervous smile. "Well," she said. "I suppose on the most basic level, you could say that I wasn't really there at all."
I slumped in my chair. "Right. So I was hallucinating after all."
Irene leaned forward. "No. That's the strange part. You saw me when I didn't wish to be seen."
I put a hand to my forehead. "This just keeps getting weirder and harder to understand. What do you mean, you didn't wish to be seen?"
Irene extended a hand towards me, as if to calm me down, even though she couldn't reach me. "Let me backtrack a bit," she said.
"That would be good," I said. "I can deal with backtracking."
"You might recall that you didn't actually hear me when I was in your hospital room. You only saw me."
I nodded. "The first three times, actually. In my room in the Emergency Department, just outside that room, and then in my room in the Short Stay Unit."
"I don't know those terms, but I remember the occasions."
I frowned. "I thought it was weird that you never said anything. I didn't hear you speak until I saw you on my�"
Irene put a hand up. "Please. No mention of such things."
I let my head hang forward. "This is going to be difficult," I said. "Those things are all part of my everyday life."
"I understand. But please try." She sat back in her chair. "At any rate, I did not expect to be observed by anyone. I was not… how shall I put it? I was not fully present in your world those first three times."
I gaped at her. "Not fully present?"
She shook her head. "I was traveling…" She sighed. "This is quite difficult to explain."
Councillor Greaves sat forward. "Irene is what we call an adept. She has the ability to cross planes of existence with her mind."
"Cross… planes of existence… with her mind?"
The two of them nodded simultaneously.
"Yes," Greaves said. "It is a rare talent, and one we use sparingly."
I shook my head and put my arms on my knees. "So this is like… what? Astral projection?"
Irene pursed her lips. "I'm not familiar with that term."
"Yeah, yeah. Same tune, different lyrics. You're not familiar with half the things I say. How are we supposed to communicate without a common frame of reference?"
Greaves sighed. "We have more in common than you think, Mister Richmond. After all, are we not speaking the same language? Do we not live in the same city, use many of the same implements and machines? I'm sure you would have much more trouble if you traveled to a foreign country in your world."
I raised my head and looked at him. "You're talking about surface things," I said. "I'm talking about deeper stuff than that. I'm beginning to realize that we have very different ways of living, and some very fundamental differences in mindset and philosophy. I'm finding that difficult to cope with right now."
"Yes, yes. Of course." Greaves batted the air with his hand. "You're quite right. I do apologize for putting so much on you so quickly. But you did say you could handle it. You remember?"
I snorted. "Yeah. I remember. I think I might've spoken too quickly."
Irene leaned forward. "Do you wish to take a break from this conversation?"
I looked over at her. Her green eyes were practically brimming with concern. She'd been nothing but kind to me since I'd arrived in her world, and I was most appreciative of that. I don't know what I would have done if I'd suddenly found myself here without any guide.
Her gaze gave me an extra shot of strength.
"No, it's okay," I said. "I think just another cup of tea is all I need."
"Done," Greaves said as he leaned forward to take my cup and saucer from me and refill it.
"There's something else I don't understand," I said. "Well, there's a bunch of things I don't understand, but one stands out at the moment."
"Please," Greaves said. "Let's hear it."
I shifted in my seat and crossed my legs. "Why are you being so hospitable? I'm a stranger from another world. Why aren't you suspicious of me? Why are you serving me tea and explaining all this to me?"
Greaves smiled. "I do this because of Irene," he said.
I turned my head to look at Irene again. She was smiling, as usual.
"The councillor trusts my instincts," she said, "a fact for which I am truly grateful. He could see as soon as he looked at us that I felt safe with you. And I do. I do not feel that you are a danger to us. I feel, rather, that you might be able to help us."
I sat upright at that. "Help you? How on earth could I possibly help you?"
Irene leaned towards me. "There is something different about you. You could see me when all those around you could not. There may be others on your world who can see as you do, but I did not encounter them."
"But how did you end up in my room? Of all the places on the whole planet you could have visited, how did you end up with me? The chances against that are astronomical."
"I think not," Irene said. "You see, I believe there is something about you that drew me to you. I didn't realize it at first, but when you looked at me and spoke to me, I knew there was a reason I had arrived in that room. I still don't know what that reason is, but I'm sure we'll find out in time. That's part of the reason I wanted to bring you here."
"Part of the reason?" I asked.
"Well, yes. You know the other part. You were in danger. I wanted to see you to safety."
I looked at the floor for a moment and nodded. There was too much happening here. Too much new and unfamiliar. And that was just in this world. I still had no clue about what was happening back in my own. I didn't know who the men in the suits were or why they wanted to talk to me and run tests on me. There was so much still unknown.
I bent forward again and started to laugh. Irene glanced at Greaves, who returned the glance.
"Is this a good sign or a bad sign?" Greaves asked her.
"I don't know," she replied. "It's most odd."
I sat up again and looked back and forth between them. "You know what the irony of all this is?" I asked. "A few days ago I attempted to kill myself. I really wanted an end to my troubles, to the way I felt. I'm pretty certain that if I hadn't made that attempt, none of this would be happening now. And because I did try it, now I'm beset by a whole other world of troubles that I never even imagined existed."
I slowly shook my head. "That is, if any of this is really real. I'm still not one hundred percent convinced of that."
I sat back in the chair and picked up my tea again. I took a sip. It was so much like Early Grey that, if I closed my eyes, I almost felt like I was back in my living room with my Battlestar Galactica mug, watching something delightfully distracting on the Space Channel.
I wished like hell it were so.
"Mister Richmond," Greaves said. "I feel very bad indeed for what you've been through."
"Listen," I said. "If we're going to spending all this time together, then you're going to have to start calling me Jack." I looked at Irene. "That goes for you too."
They both nodded.
"Fine," Greaves said. "Jack. I can see from looking at you, and I can hear from listening to you, that you are a troubled man. And I would not wish to add more troubles to those you already bear. But I hope that you will understand why we need to learn more about your world."
"Well, I was kind of hoping you'd explain that to me. That was one of the many questions I still had rattling around in my head. Never mind why you were visiting. How did you even know my world existed to begin with?"
"That is perhaps the crux of the matter." He looked to Irene again. "My dear, would you continue?"
Irene nodded. "As the councillor mentioned, I am what is known as an adept. I discovered this when I was a teenager. And as my skill with this kind of travelling grew, I began to realize that I could travel to places beyond my world. It was confusing at first, because I was seeing all sorts of things that were unfamiliar to me, and I couldn't understand how they could exist. As I began to share what I saw with my family, it became clear that I was tapping into something that few people ever do. That's how I came to be here in Halifax."
Greaves nodded emphatically. "Halifax has one of the finest adept training facilities in the world," he said. "It was established here many decades ago. You see, our planet has an energy field, and that energy ebbs and flows much like the tides themselves. But there are currents as well, and Nova Scotia sits on a spot where two of these currents meet. It is a very powerful place, and those with the ability to travel have always come here seeking to tap into the energy of that confluence."
Irene picked up the narrative again. "My time here has been an incredible adventure. My senses have developed, and I have travelled places and seen things that few will ever know."
I was waiting for more. "So, I get that you're extremely sensitive," I said.
"Yes. So sensitive, in fact, that I became able to pick up on disturbances in the Earth's energy field."
I closed my eyes and tried to keep a straight face. "A disturbance in The Force," I murmured.
Irene looked at Greaves, her eyes glistening. "I've never heard it described in such terms," she said.
"Very poetic, Mister Rich�I mean Jack," he said with a chuckle.
I put my teacup down on the coffee table. "So you sensed something that had to do with my world?" I asked.
Irene nodded. "Yes. I sensed something was wrong. The energy around me would occasionally vibrate in ways I'd never felt before. So I tried to figure out where it was coming from."
"And…?"
Irene leaned towards me. "Jack, there are people on your world who are trying to breach the barrier between worlds."
I squinted, confused. "Okay. I guess I can believe that. But so what? I mean, you people do it."
"No, you don't understand." Irene's jaw was tight now as she spoke. "They are using unnatural means."
"Unnatural means…?"
Greaves cleared his throat. "Jack. These people are building… implements. They are not using their minds. They are using tools."
I was beginning to understand. They couldn't say exactly what they meant because of their cultural taboos. But it sounded to me like whoever they were talking about on my world was using some kind of advanced technology to travel between worlds.
"So, they're doing things and building things that you can't talk about here," I said.
Greaves let out a breath and sat back. "Yes," he replied. "Yes, precisely."
"And this kind of… travel… It's not a good idea?"
Irene hissed. "It is an abomination."
I half-closed my eyes and dipped my head forward slightly. "So, am I to understand that this sort of travel… this non-mental sort of travel, is harmful in some way? Dangerous, maybe?"
"Most assuredly," Greaves said solemnly. "It disrupts the energy field."
Great, I thought. How typical of the humans on my world to tear the hell out of something in an attempt to make use of it. God knew what they'd do if they ever managed to actually cross the barrier.
I shuddered.
"My people," I said to them, "are well known for abusing resources. I had no idea that anything like this was happening."
"I doubt many on your world are aware of this," Greaves said.
"So these people who had me locked up over there. They're part of the organization that's doing this research?"
"I can only assume so," Irene said. "They must have detected my entry into your world. When I spoke with you the first time, behind your place of residence."
I nodded. "Yes. There was a man there that night, measuring something. He was standing in the same spot where you and I were talking. I tried to find out what he was doing, but he had a weapon."
