Road Less Traveled (8 page)

“Did you have to throw away the door's access panel while you were at it?” Jo demanded. She nodded to Carter. “Yeah, when he got in there to manipulate the lab's systems he tossed the panel. It's gone. We think the janitors saw it as trash and swept it up. And I talked to them—they'd already put the day's load into the incinerators, so if it was in there it's nothing but ash now.”

Carter sighed. That figured. The panel might have had the thief's fingerprints on it, in which case they'd know exactly who they were looking for rather than wandering all over town chasing clouds. Well, there was nothing they could do about it now. “We were all a little busy at the time,” he reminded his deputy. “And none of us knew we were going to have to chase this down later.”

“Even so,” Jo grumbled. “A little more care then and we'd be in better shape now.” Carter knew most of her anger was actually at herself for not catching the thief in the lab, but he still felt a pang of sympathy at the hurt that flashed across Fargo's face.

“A little more speed then and you'd have caught him in the first place,” Fargo muttered in response, then shrank back as Jo turned on him, fists clenched. “Hey!”

“Enough!” Carter reprimanded them both. He felt like he was dealing with two squabbling children. “Do I have to separate the two of you?”

“Yes!” Jo replied immediately.

He just shook his head.

“Keep looking,” he instructed instead. “And try to get along, okay? The sooner we find this thief and retrieve the egg, the sooner Fargo can go back to GD and we can get back to whatever other problems have cropped up in the meantime.”

“What're you going to do?” Jo called out as Carter headed for his Jeep.

“Me?” he answered, pulling open the door. “I'm going to get something to eat.”

She was still glaring at him as he drove away.

Carter waited, but Dr. Russell didn't respond. She had her back to him, though, head down on her crossed arms on the desk, so perhaps she hadn't heard him. He stepped all the way into her lab and tried again.

“Dr. Russell?”

“Hm?” This time she turned slightly, and favored him with a wan smile. It was pale echo of the warm look she'd given him this morning. “Oh, hello, Sheriff.”

“Hey, are you okay?” He walked across to the desk and leaned against it, not too close to invade her space but close enough to talk easily. From there he could see that she'd probably continued crying for some time after he'd left, even with Allison's attempts to suggest positive sides to the experiment's failure. What little makeup she'd been wearing had long since run and then dried, leaving faint streaks of mascara down her cheeks. She was still just as striking, however.

“I don't know,” she admitted quietly. “I've been working on this project for the past two years. I thought we'd worked out all the variables, answered any possible problems, closed off any risk of course deviation. But still—” She waved her hand at the screen. It still showed the same image of downtown Eureka.

“Didn't you say something this morning about the inputs being misaligned?” he asked her softly. But she shook her head.

“It was a possibility, but we checked them again, and then again. They're exactly as they should be.” She straightened up and tossed her hair back—it was a bit tousled now, though the look suited her. “Basically I just need to face the fact that I screwed up somewhere.”

“I'm really sorry.” He didn't know what else to say.

“Not your fault.” She gave him another weak smile. “Nobody's, really. Just my own.” She looked like she might start crying again.

“Do you want me to leave you alone?” Carter asked. He'd noticed that the techs weren't around—he'd been heading down to check on the GD security logs and had decided to swing past her lab, and the door had been open.

“I'm sorry, I'm afraid I'm not very good company right now,” Dr. Russell answered.

“No problem.” He hopped down off the desk. “If you do need anything, though, just let me know. Okay?” She nodded, but he wasn't sure she'd really registered what he'd said. That was all right.

He backed up, but paused at the top of the steps to look at the monitor again. The image really was very cool, despite it not being what she'd wanted. He could watch all of downtown from there, see everybody—there went Taggart, in fact, and two of the Bakers, and he recognized David Boyd. And he could make out the edge of his office from this vantage point, and if he looked down along the street, he could see—

Huh.

That was odd.

He blinked and looked again.

Nope.

Carter frowned and studied the picture. Was he wrong about the angle, or the distance? No, he was sure of it—he covered that same ground at least twice a day, and often more like three or four times. And yet—

It wasn't there.

He had no idea what that meant.

But he had a feeling it was something big.

He considered pointing it out to Dr. Russell, but wasn't sure she was in any shape to hear him.

Instead, he went looking for the one person he knew was always willing to listen to what he had to say.

 

“Carter, this had better be important,” Allison said as
she let him drag her toward Dr. Russell's lab. “I've got a conference call with some of our researchers in Iceland in half an hour. They're researching magma coolant systems, which we could use to prevent volcanoes from erupting even as we use their heat to power whole continents.”

“I have no idea if it's important,” he admitted, leading her into the lab. The door was still wide open. “That's why I need you to tell me.” He stepped inside and moved off to one side, then gestured at the monitor. “What do you see?”

“Downtown Eureka, same as before.” Allison kept her voice down so as not to disturb Dr. Russell. The blond researcher was still slumped over the main console.

“Yes, but look more carefully.” Carter waited. Allison stared at the screen, but finally she shrugged. “Okay, it took me a while, too,” he admitted. “But look. That's the crosswalk, right? With the sign that's always going out and Henry's always having to fix it? But why is there a speed limit sign next to it? We don't have one there—it's a block farther down.” Allison frowned. “And what about the statue of Archimedes?” he tried again. “Look at the base. Remember we were having that problem with pigeons, after that one experimental bird got loose and started breeding? And Henry and Taggart whipped up a little sonic doohickey to keep them from using the statue as their own private birdbath? Where is it?”

Allison nodded. “I don't see it.”

“Right. Now, are you ready for the big one?” Carter rubbed his hands together. “Look at the buildings. There's my office, right? And next to it is the hardware store. And next to that is the dry cleaner's. And next to that, just at the edge of the picture, is—”

“Café Diem,” Allison answered at once. “I know the town's layout, Carter. But what—” She stopped midsentence, and stared. Then she walked a few paces, so she could see that edge of the screen more clearly, and stared some more.

“Oh. My. God.” The words were barely a whisper.

“I know,” he agreed. “But what does it mean?”

“What does it mean? Carter, it means—Dr. Russell!” The researcher bolted upright at Allison's shout, and was out of her chair in an instant. If this had been the army, she would have saluted.

“Yes, Director!”

Allison smiled and lowered her volume. “Doctor, look at the screen. Look carefully.” They all turned to watch, just as Jo crossed into view. His deputy looked the same as ever, though Carter noticed she was completely dry. He wasn't sure how she'd managed that—his clothes were still damp, and his hair was still wet as well. But Jo looked none the worse for this morning's deluge as she crossed the street—and headed into a small coffee shop.

A coffee shop that Carter was absolutely sure didn't actually exist.

“Oh. Oh, my.” Russell gaped at the screen, then turned to Allison. Her eyes were shining again, but this time it wasn't from tears. “It worked!” she all but shouted. “It worked!”

“It certainly did!” Allison agreed. The two of them were practically jumping up and down, and both were grinning like idiots. “And do you know what this means?”

“Um, I don't,” Carter offered, raising a hand. “What's going on, exactly?”

“Dr. Russell's demonstration wasn't a failure at all,” Allison explained happily. “It just worked even better than we'd ever expected. We really are looking at another dimension here!”

“But it looks just like this one,” Carter argued.

“I know!” Allison gave Dr. Russell a big hug. “Dr. Russell has just proven the existence of parallel dimensions!” she announced happily.

“Parallel what? Is that like parallel parking, only bigger?”

Both women laughed, then Dr. Russell sobered up. “I need to get my technicians back in here at once,” she stated. “We've got to start analyzing all of this, and recording it!”

“Absolutely! Let me know once you've got a preliminary report put together,” Allison told her. She turned and guided Carter back toward the door. “We'll give you room to work.”

“Thank you,” Dr. Russell called after them. “And, Sheriff? Thank
you
!”

He nodded and waved as Allison led him away.

“Okay, what's the big deal?” he asked once they were back in the hall. “What's this about parallel dimensions?”

“There's an old theory in quantum physics,” Allison explained, “that every time a decision could go one of two ways, it does both. It goes one way here, but then there's another reality where it goes the other way. It's called divergent realities. As a result, for every decision or choice there is, theoretically, a universe where the other choice was made and those consequences played out.”

Carter processed that. “So there's a universe where I turned left instead of right when I pulled out of my driveway this morning?”

“Exactly. And in that universe, turning left might have meant you got hit by a truck, or got to the office late and missed an important call, or noticed a potential problem before it could get worse.” Allison shrugged. “Each of those paths would have led to other decisions, other choices, and each would have then split off into its own reality as well.”

He nodded. “And what we're seeing is a world where, somehow, one of those decisions meant Vincent never opened Café Diem.”

“Right. And who knows what other little changes exist between that world and our own?” She grinned. “Like I said, it's an old theory, but it's only been a theory because there's never been a way to prove it. Until now. This is an amazing accomplishment!”

“Oh. Well, that's cool.” Carter only vaguely understood what she was talking about, but that was okay. The important thing was, he'd been right to show her what he'd noticed. And now both she and Dr. Russell were thrilled. That had to be a good thing.

They got back to the lobby, and Allison checked her watch. “I've got that call in two minutes.” She smiled at him. “I'll see you later.”

“Okay, sure.” He smiled back, as always. He'd never been able to resist her smile. “Later.” And he headed out again. His socks were still damp, so he decided his first priority was to go home and get a dry uniform. Then he'd check in with Jo and see where they were about the Thunderbird egg. It had already been a busy day, and it wasn't over yet.

 

Zane was calculating vectors for the new project he
had going with Arnold Gunter, something that built off Gunter's work on the MRS, but a bit less dramatic and thus hopefully more immediately usable. He had his computer pad in his hands but was doing most of the math in his head, as usual. That and the earphones that were blasting Scandinavian death metal were probably why he almost didn't see Allison heading toward him down the hall.

“Whoa!” He sidestepped just in time to keep from barreling into her, or her into him. “Everything okay, boss?” She looked a little dazed, which wasn't like her at all. Allison Blake was the original calm, cool, and collected.

“Hm?” She stared at him, but he wasn't sure her eyes were really focusing on him. He pulled off the headphones.

“Are you okay?” He liked Allison—of all the people he'd worked for, she was the only one who gave him enough freedom to be truly creative while still providing enough clear discipline to keep him from getting out of hand. That was impressive. He even considered her a friend, which he never would have believed in the old days. Must be JoJo's influence, mellowing him.

Right.

“I'm fine,” Allison answered, but she frowned at him. “Thanks.” Then she turned and continued the way she'd been heading.

Zane watched her go for a second, puzzled. She wasn't acting like herself. Should he go after her and find out what was going on? After a tick he shook his head. Friend or not, Allison was still his boss, and still the director of all of GD. She had to manage every project in this place, most of them heavily classified, and she wouldn't appreciate Zane poking his nose into somewhere he didn't belong. He'd asked if she was okay; she'd said she was. Nothing more he could do.

Pulling his earphones on again, he turned the music back up and was soon lost in vector calculations once more. Humming along to the music, he continued toward his lab, making occasional notes on the pad as he went. And keeping an eye out for any other possible collisions.