Jigsaw World (32 page)

“
True, but he can cast a spell
that changes the quantum state.” Said the Seer. “He will link the
quantum states of all of us, entangle them so that we
all
remember all of the histories, no matter where we are when they are
changed or added.”

“
Isn’t that dangerous?” Markus
asked. “If one of us is killed, could the death be propagated to
the rest of us?”

“
No, he will cast it carefully.
You might feel a twinge if one of you died, but it would not link
the biological, just the consensus histories. It might enhance any
telepathic link you establish between you, but that would be about
it.”

“
I will cast it so that it is
extremely limited, but it cause you to remember all versions of the
histories.” The Sorcerer said. “I will also limit it to our task,
so that you do not keep remembering the old histories in the future
as each of you changes your local world and its
histories.”

“
Keep in mind that you will all
start having double memories after each expedition, so after a
couple times it could be a little confusing.” The Seer added. “But
the information from each history will be available to you, and
after the task is completed, the other histories will start to fade
in your memories, so that even though you will be able to remember
them if you want to, they will not trouble and confuse
you.”

A bit more of such repartee took place, at the
end of which the agreement was reached to cast the spell. There was
no time like the present, and the Sorcerer assured everyone that
the primary work of the spell would be done while they slept. After
that, he muttered certain strange sounds and turned into a shadow,
and the other shadows of the room muttered in answer. The lights
flickered in the room, and each of those present had the odd
sensation of remembering
two different
things that they did during the
day at the same time, but only for a couple of actions they took
that day.

This sensation lasted only a few moments, and
then they all experienced the normal sensations of being people
that were long overdue for getting some sleep. One by one they
drifted out of the parlor to find their beds for the night. In the
couple’s cases, maybe it was two by two.

******

Another day had come around again. Tom cracked
his eyelids just a smidgen, to be greeted with the welcome sight of
bare Karla flesh inches away. It was perfect skin, not porcelain or
alabaster, but with the hint of pink that comes from the Celtic
blood, the same blood that was passed on to the Magyars, the wild
tribes of the Steppes, and the Sumers before them. And to the
Akkadians, who passed it to the Hebrews. It comes with the red
hair, and it comes with a compulsion to touch it. Tom surrendered
to the compulsion.

Tom noted with some delight that he and Karla
had absolutely no obligations to fulfill for the day. They could
loll about in bed until this time tomorrow if they wanted. They
would certainly spend much of the day at the courtyard table
drinking and eating the substances of their choice, and smoking to
support their local big Tobacco Company.

They probably wouldn’t be getting a lot more
sleep. All of this exploring of Karla’s skin had made him downright
frisky, and she was responding in kind. He had the stray thought
that breakfast would taste good about now, but the current
activities were increasing in priority along with the blood
pressures of the participants. Breakfast would have to wait for yet
a few more minutes.

Markus woke to the sensation of being tangled
in the underbrush of some lush jungle. He reached up and parted the
vines in front of his face, which resolved themselves into the
tight curls of Vera’s hair, which smelled faintly of some unknown
flower. He reflected that he felt lucky to have this rather complex
woman to practice living with. He could have done much worse, such
as the womanless existence this body had when it only contained
Mike.

He started to untangle himself from the
various Vera bits, and during the process, she woke up and snuggled
up even closer. That was bordering on agony by this point, since
with the loosening of the trapping of his left arm beneath her
body, an agony of aching sensation returned to the arm with the
blood flow. He forced his arm the rest of the way out from under
her, no longer worried about disturbing her sleep. She opened her
eyes, and after a couple of minutes, they got up out of the bed,
and found something to wear.

Vera looked over at the alarm clock and saw
that it was now just a few minutes until 11 AM. She felt a little
peckish, and she knew that Markus wouldn’t refuse to chow down on
something. She had never known Markus to skip an opportunity to
eat. With minimal energy, they made ready to find
breakfast.

Tom and Karla almost ran into Vera and Markus
at the kitchen door. Tyr of all people was busy at work cooking a
breakfast of sirloin steaks, scrambled eggs and some sort of
biscuit that seemed like a cross between buttermilk and sourdough
types. Whatever it was, as soon as anyone took a bite of the food,
good luck on getting them to say anything for a good long
while.

Tom investigated carefully the providence of
the coffee, which was very thick, but did not seem at first glance
to be Tyr-thick. It turned out that the coffee had been made by the
Sorcerer, so Tom guessed that it should not be immediately fatal to
drink it. The last time Tyr had made coffee, Tom had poured the
remnants of the pot on an anthill in the flower bed in the
courtyard, and both the ants and the flowers had promptly
expired.

In short order, they had all eaten their fill
of the highly nutritious breakfast, and so they carried their
second cups of coffee out to the courtyard table to relax. It was
now about 11:40, so they had another couple of hours to kill before
the Vera group would be departing for the Place.

“
I have some stray memories of
yesterday.” Karla said. “I remember my Seed activity. I also
remember being somewhere in Tucson while the place is going through
an earthquake.”

“
Well, I remember being in the
parlor reading a copy of Cosmopolitan, and also being in an
abandoned car, hiding from some of the possessed.” Vera said. “I am
glad that I am living here instead of that other world.”

Even the Asgardians had some variations in
world histories that they remembered. You would expect that if
anyone were to be immune to the effects of changing timelines, it
would be them. Tom found it remarkable yet reassuring that they
were vulnerable to such manipulations, just like the rest of the
humans.

A shadow approached one of the empty seats,
and resolved itself into the Sorcerer. That trick was getting kind
of old, but if the watcher was drunk enough, it still was
entertaining. “Are you ready to read the Book, Vera?” He asked her.
“Everything should fall into line for you at the tree. Do you feel
ready?”

Vera looked at him like he was feeble-minded.
“I was thinking about getting my nails done, instead. Could you do
it instead of me, Sorcy?” She delivered the sort of smile that
would probably be heartwarming to snakes or other reptiles. Despite
the trapping efforts that she put into this, the Sorcerer noted his
regret that the task was hers to complete.

Cernunnos and his Herald swung by the table to
ask after Vera’s readiness as well. It was entertaining to Tom that
the Herald was trotting around behind Cernunnos like a lap dog.
Even before Cernunnos had appeared, Tom had had a mental image of
him similar to that of the lap dog he was currently
imitating.

Cernunnos, the Herald and the Sorcerer drifted
back into the house after having checked on Vera’s status. Tom
looked at Vera. “You know that they won’t leave you alone until you
finish your part of the task?” He asked.

“
I know. I just wish the old hands
would take care of it themselves.” She replied. “When your AC
breaks down, you don’t take a crash course in air conditioner
repair, you just call the repairman.”

“
I have been doing it wrong.” Tom
quipped. “I have just been killing the Landlord, and moving
somewhere else.”

“
That’s a valid choice as well.”
She said. “If you want to take these guys out, I’m willing to
travel.”

“
I would, but it would get messy.
I rather like the Asgardians, and even the Sorcerer, but don’t tell
him. Cernunnos would seem like a waste, without a wall of my own to
hang those horns on.”

The conversation descended even further into
silliness, and when the subs that they ordered finally got there,
it lapsed for a time as our heroes stuffed their faces with bread
covered lumps of pseudo meats, lettuce and tomatoes. Time wore on
until at last it was 1:35, and time for Vera and company to go
perform their tasks in the presence of the Tree.

Tom and Karla walked her into the parlor,
where Markus had gone earlier to make things ready for the task. He
met them there, and Cernunnos, the Sage, the Herald, the Sorcerer
and Charlie were also there, ready to go. The Sorcerer would serve
as the path blazer, in the absence of the Seer, who was now part of
the party that Karla and Tom belonged to.

In the next ten minutes, Vera and Markus’s
party formed up, and the Sorcerer did a shadow version of the
Seer’s blazing staff head to open up the way. That is, he muttered
some words to the shadows, and they drew together and took on form,
and they muttered back and when the time was right, the doors swung
open and the way was open.

Tom and Karla watched as the other party
stepped into the light of the wormhole mouth and disappeared. When
they had entirely entered the mouth of the gateway, the doors
slowly swung back shut. They both felt just a bit like they was
shirking some undefined duty, but they went back to the courtyard
table and sat down with some doughnuts and coffee
anyway.

Vera and Markus were close to the Tree, which
was strobing in and out of phase. Vera was carrying the wooden cask
which contained the Book of Eternity. She could just see the light
from the Book flashing through the crack of the lid of the cask.
Charlie would act as her second in the task, while Markus, the
Sage, the Sorcerer and the Herald would be the defensive line.
Cernunnos would officiate at the task, of course.

The Tree seemed somehow healthier than it did
the last time she was here, so the planting of the Seed must have
had a significant effect on the Place of Beginnings. Vera sensed
that the four artifacts would actually have the desired effect on
the worldline, if they got the worldline to refine itself in the
proper way.

“
Vera will read from the Book of
Eternity while the defense holds off the resistance in whatever
form it will take.” Cernunnos instructed. “Vera, do you have the
Book?”

Vera nodded and brought the Cask to the front
to indicate that it was inside. Everyone but Charlie, Cernunnos and
Vera formed an outward looking semicircle to defend Vera. Charlie
put his back to hers in the now familiar guard position, and
Cernunnos stood in front and slightly to the side of
Vera.

“
Take out the Book and
concentrate.” Cernunnos said. “You should find that the book
becomes understandable, and will instruct you in what you need to
ask to happen.”

Vera opened the lid of the cask, and carefully
grasped the nearly transparent Book of Eternity. As she touched it,
the level of illumination surged to new higher levels. She looked
at the Book, and the symbols started to flow across the screen. The
occasional symbol seemed familiar to Vera, and she noticed that
each one that was familiar would bring other more familiar symbols
right after it. The unfamiliar symbols would flow off of the screen
and not reappear.

The current symbols were a mixture of
characters that seemed like Nordic runes and Greek alphabetic
characters. As she watched, the first recognizable word in English
appeared: the word ‘The’. Shortly after that, the text in the book
was entirely in English.

The device that was called the Book of
Eternity gave a readout of the current consistency of the physical
laws, quantum equations of state and the event tree that was
determining the state of this worldline. Even though Vera did not
consider herself to be technically savvy enough to make sense of
such an amalgam of information, the tablet was interactive enough
to present the information in precisely the correct way to be
comprehensible to her.

The Book suggested a tweak to the equation of
state which would create a feedback loop that would in turn modify
the expectations of the majority of people, which would modify the
consensus reality, which in turn would modify the rules by which
this worldline was operating. There was also an event that occurred
some sixteen years before the ‘present’ time of 1939, which was the
murder of a woman named Naomi Selvin by a drifter, which
contributed to the shift of attitudes that culminated in the
current disintegration of reality.

As these bits of data and information began to
be understood by her, a huge swarm of insects that might have been
some strange breed of grasshoppers or locusts swept into the
vicinity and began to fly into the faces of the defenders. At the
same time, an almost overwhelming feeling of depression and sorrow
was suddenly felt by all of the party, as though it came from
outside.