Okay, bear with me because it’s actually been a few years since I wrote a regular column. So I’m probably rusty.
That and I’ve since been flung into an entirely different reality. That’s gotta affect something or other.
Anyway, Lady Sera has been kind enough to offer me a little space to write about my experiences in the multiverse. Sadly, with the mindspike network down for several weeks, I haven’t done nearly as much exploring as I would like. Instead, I’ve spent most of my time stuck in the Kansas City, Missouri of 2022 and I’m sure I don’t have to tell any of you how much of a picnic that isn’t. I’m still unraveling just how different my universe is from this one, but I can damn sure tell you we wouldn’t be letting a godsforsaken virus run rampant. But, if I get up on my soapbox, I’ll never get off.
The promise of the multiverse is tantalizing. I have not yet mastered or even really apprenticed in how to operate this mindspike thing, but I’ve already seen things I could not have imagined possible. Hell, I’ve seen aliens! I met Leonardo DaVinci! (Don’t meet your heroes.) I rode a dinosaur in what I found out later was a petting zoo and was sternly lectured by a young man who was clearly needed the entertainment. I saw a version of the Golden Gate Bridge that was painted blue.
But I still want to be able to get back to my universe and find out why I was ejected from it.
I was asking around The Fulcrum, which is a version of Earth that’s basically become a hub for multiversal travelers, and a couple folks said they had run into another guy who’d been asking about Missouri City, Kansas. And that’s what led me to getting stranded back in The Safe Zone when the mindspike network went down. And then apparently someone was going to blow up the moon? I still have no idea what was behind all that nonsense. All Destiny, my reluctant bodyguard, would tell me when she came back was that “the moon remains intact” and then she blinked out as soon as the mindspike network came back online. Let me tell you: if you need someone to keep a secret, she’s the one to see.
I got out of there right after she did. I need to go back, but 2022 Safe Zone is one of the most depressing places I’ve been. I need a palate cleanser, so I’m currently staying in a version of Astoria, Oregon occupied by humanoid ravens. They treat their multiversal tourists very well. Decent coffee too, even if it still isn’t as good as Pinejay’s. I’ll build up some positive energy here and then head back to Kansas City to see if I can track that guy down. Hopefully he’s from my universe and knows how to get back.
