The Edge Page 6

  Bob told him that it was pointless for him to try to figure it out now, and someday he would understand it, he just had to be patient.

  “So just shut up about it, it will be okay?”

  “Bingo.”

  Sally and William found ways to pass the time, of course, and several of them did not involve sex. Winter was approaching, so they tended to stay inside more than they had been. They were here for a month, and Sally wanted to know more about William’s world, she had been reading more, but still didn’t have the background to understand a lot of it. It suddenly occurred to William that he had never shown her any movies or television, they had a lot of catching up to do. For a while, they tuned into the local broadcasts. There were boring shows about health, boring shows about preserving nature, boring news (there had been a major earthquake in Jungle City, which looked a lot like Central Mexico, but The Guides had given a warning the previous year, the city had been peaceably evacuated and there had been no casualties), boring shows about being a good citizen and serving the state and The Guides, boring self-fulfillment shows for retirees (apparently, people lived a lot longer here, as some of the featured retirees had spent over eighty years on their projects), a boring game show in which the winner was the contestant who could give the most comforting hugs to a panel of judges, slightly boring documentaries about life in the mining colonies on other planets and the moon, and an almost interesting documentary on “The Project”, which was a huge construction project orbiting the Earth, It’s purpose was never mentioned, but it seemed to be the focus of this entire civilization and had been under construction for a long time, using material from the mining colonies and it was nearing completion.

  They switched to old movies from William’s timeline, which Sally enjoyed as long as there were frequent pauses so that William could explain some aspect of his culture.

  Bob was able to route hypernet communications from any of his nodes to any other, so William was able to stay in touch with his home timeline (this is also how they had been able to visit cyberspace). William received a communication from his parents inviting the two of them to dinner in cyberspace.

  “I’d like to get to know your parents a little better, let’s go.”

  “We should have a good meal first.”

  “But, aren’t we going for dinner?

  “Remember Annie’s cookie? Dinner will be just like that, not much flavor, and not at all filling. We’ll be there for my family, not the food. It will also be a good test of how far you’ve come.”

  “You mean the time traveling thing? Because we haven’t come that far in distance, we’re still in what you call Oregon, which I think is also where my village is.”

  “No, I mean what you’ve learned in the last few months, do you think you could convince my parents that you’re not a cavewoman.?

  “I don’t feel like a cavewoman anymore, I don’t think I look like a cavewoman, I mean, look at this jumpsuit, would a cavewoman wear this, I don’t think so, it's not even beaver. Could a cavewomen discuss physics or play Beethoven? None that I’ve ever met. You don’t still think of me that way, do you?”

  “Only in bed, where you can get pretty wild.”

  She smiled, “I can’t help it, and you like it.”

  “True, very true, I should also warn you that my mother will almost certainly ask if or when we’re getting married.”

  “And what should we tell her?”

  “What do you want to tell her, did you have marriage in your village?”

  “Not really, sometimes a couple would declare their love in front of the village, but there was no ceremony or anything like I’ve read about in your books, or seen in your movies.”

  “And what do you think?”

  “I think that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, no, I’m certain I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I think I have a good understanding of what ‘marriage’ is.”

  “Well, I think we should make it official.” He got down on one knee, took her hand and said, “Sally, I mean, Tralalililea Mundopote Exni-Slodge, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

  “William… I don’t even know your full name, William, what is your last name?”

  “Terwilliger.”

  “William Terwilliger, I will. When can we?”

  “That’s a good question, it may be a while before we get back to my world, my whole family is in cyberspace, you don’t really have marriage in your world, we’ll have to look for an opportunity.”

  19.

  William had been giving Sally instructions in table manners, but she still wasn’t quite ready for a society dinner. She tended to eat with her hands more than was generally acceptable, and to experiment with mixing, so he was relieved to find out that dinner was a picnic in Annie’s meadow. It was just the five of them, and a beautiful young woman dressed in a toga that they introduced as Venus. Sally remembered them talking about her, although she hadn’t fully understood at the time, she surprised everyone except Venus by saying, “Ave, Magistra.”

  “Ave, Sally, do you speak much Latin?”

  “Only, a little, I just started studying.”

  William whispered to her, “Where did you learn Latin?”

  “In your library,” she whispered back, “with Bob’s help, while you were busy, would a cavewoman speak Latin?”

  Aurora sat next to Sally, “Sally, you have the most interesting accent, where are you from?”

  “Oh, I’m from Cave Junction.”

  “But your accent..?”

  “Well my father…”

  Venus interrupted, “Wait, let me guess, I like to guess accents, I guessed correctly that Donald was raised in California, and his parents were from Washington State and Nebraska, and that Aurora’s parents, like my own, were from England, mine from Cornwall, and hers from London. I'm guessing that one of your parents, probably your mother, is from Bali, and your father is from Latvia.”

  Sally wasn’t sure what to say, she wasn’t used to lying, but they’d agreed to keep her origin from his parents for now, but William saved her, “Wow, that’s amazing, that’s exactly right, isn’t it, Sally?”

  “Oh, yes, Bali and Latvia,” shaking her head in kind of a confused yes and no motion.

  Donald said, “Latvia, honey do you remember when we visited Riga before William was born? We studied Latvian for that trip, Sally do you speak Latvian in addition to Latin?”

  “Not a word.”

  “Oh.” he said disappointedly.

  Annie wanted ‘Billy’ to give her a piggyback ride, and they left Sally alone with Donald and Aurora, who said, “So, where did the two of you meet?”

  “Uh, in the forest, I was out hiking, and came across his camp.”

  “And what do you do.”

  “Do?”

  “Yes, what do you do for a living?”

  “Well, before I began traveling with William, I used to do some hiking and hunting, I liked to pick berries, and I made my own clothes.”

  “But, what did you do for money?”

  “What’s money?” In all of her lessons in Science and mathematics, and her reading, she hadn’t learned much about economics.

  Donald laughed, “That’s right, what is money? Don’t you see, Honey, she’s playing with us, she doesn’t care about money, Sally is a well to do, independent outdoors woman.”

  “That’s right, that’s what I am, an outdoors woman. I’ve spent most of my life outdoors.” She thought, “Not at all like a cavewoman.”

  William and Annie came back laughing and sat down on a blanket. Aurora produced a basket from nowhere that was filled with food, and passed it around, there was a lot of food that Sally could sort of smell, and fried chicken that she could almost taste.

  “I’m sure this tastes good.” Sally couldn’t resist saying.

  Aurora looked startled, “I’m sorry, I tend to forget that the taste isn’t very strong if you’re not hardwired, I’ll see if the computer can
turn up the intensity on your portions, it still won’t fill you up, so you can eat as much as you like.”

  All of a sudden, the flavor became almost overwhelming, almost too much, and Sally loved it, “Much better, Thank you.”

  Eventually, Aurora asked the inevitable question, “Are you two very serious?”

  “Well, William’s pretty serious most of the time, but I think I’m fairly quick with a joke.”

  William spoke up, “I’ve asked Sally to marry me, and she said yes.”

  “That’s wonderful, dear, have you set a date?”

  Sally said, “We don’t think it’s going to be possible until after we finish this trip.”

  “You mean this visit?”

  “No, the trip William and I are taking to the edge of the Macroverse.”

  “What on Earth are you talking about?”

  William said, “I guess I hadn’t told you, you’ve been so busy, We’re hoping to find out what’s at the edge of the Macroverse, Bob thinks the strangest worlds would exist near the edge.”

  “Dear, you know we don’t really understand this whole ‘Macroverse’ thing you discovered, it just makes the world more confusing, it was one of the reasons we moved into cyberspace, where things are simpler.”

  “Not to mention the orgies.” added Donald.

  Aurora continued, “Anyway, it’s wonderful that you two are going to get married, I hope you’ll consider having the wedding here, so we can come, it’s rather difficult to leave here, you know.”

  Venus added, “If you have it here, I can officiate, as a goddess, I’m licensed by the State of North Cyberspace to perform weddings.”

  “Well, we’re not in the planning stages yet,” William said, “so it’s a little early to tell, we really need to wait till we get back.”

  “And when will that be?”

  “A couple of years, maybe longer, we just started a few months ago, and it’s a long trip.”

  “You have lot of time to plan, then.”

  “Probably, yes.”

  The rest of the visit was pleasant, but ordinary, with only a few moments when Sally was confused or uncomfortable.

  Sally noticed that William was growing increasingly distracted, and after they returned to the real world and had taken off the headsets, she asked him what was wrong.

  “We're making our next jump tomorrow morning, and I'm concerned about this 'dew' thing.”

  “Sam and, Janet, whoever they are, said to stay above fifteen hundred meters to avoid it.”

  “But what is it?”

  “Did you ask Bob?”

  “Not yet, Bob, what is this 'dew' in the world to which we're jumping.”

  “We believe the 'dew' carries some sort of carnivorous plant spores, or it is some kind of carnivorous plant.”

  “Yes, Bob, we already knew that much from Fergus, can't you give us more details.”

  “No, I can't, William, I'm sorry.”

  “Is this another instruction from the future to keep me from knowing something?”

  “No, I believe that we can't know any more than that which Alexander has already told us.”

  “How can that be, I thought you could see all possible futures?”

  “I can see many possible futures, and in most futures in which we make an attempt to learn more about the 'dew', I am destroyed.”

  “By what?”

  “I'm not sure, my awareness just stops in those futures.”

  “You said 'in most', so there are some timelines in which we learn more about the 'dew', right?”

  “In many, but, by percentage, the numbers are very small, and those worlds are extremely varied.”

  “Can you give us an example of one, even though we are unlikely to visit that one?”

  “In one, the 'Dew' is really the 'Do', which is short for 'Do-be-do-be-do'”

  “'Do-be-do-be-do'?”

  “Yes, the world is overrun by clones of Frank Sinatra, which have a collective intelligence.”

  “That sounds scarier than carnivorous plants. Is there any other path, one that will take us around that timeline?”

  “Yes, but it would add almost four years to our trip.”

  “But we can safely pass through that world if we just stay at a high altitude, right?” asked Sally.

  “Mostly.” replied Bob.

  “Just mostly?” asked Sally.

  “Yes, in some timelines, things go wrong, in one, we're struck by lightning, and in another, William spills coffee on the control console, and shorts out the navigation systems.”

  “But we can avoid those, right?”

  “I can't avoid them; I exist in all of them. You can choose your path; I travel to every one.”

  “You can help us choose the best path, can't you?”, asked Sally.

  “I can, and I do.”

  20.

  William was visibly nervous as they prepared for the jump, and wondered if he should abandon his quest. Sally remained quite calm, she apparently had faith in Bob's ability to deliver them safely through this world, he told himself that if she could be calm, then he could be too. They took off and flew to an altitude of two thousand meters, well above the requisite fifteen hundred meters. Two Forest patrol aircars accompanied them as they departed. They both stayed in the cab of the Winnie for the jump, Sally had adjusted to the side effects of jumping, she said the ringing in her ears was a little annoying, but she rather enjoyed the feeling of Deja-vu They found themselves flying over what seemed to be an endless cloud cover.

  “We'll need to find someplace to land, Bob, are we still in Oregon?”

  “Yes, our latitude and longitude have not changed significantly.”

  “Let's head for Mt. Hood, I stayed at Timberline Lodge there a few times, it's well over fifteen hundred meters, and I'm somewhat familiar with the area, this time of year, there could be some major storms, but as long as long as we stay in or close to the Winnie, we'll be alright, is that right, Bob.”

  “Yes, you should be.”

  “Just should be? What do you mean?”

  “You have many possible futures from this point, not all have pleasant endings.”

  “Can you outline some of them?”

  “There are so many, that it would take me over a century just to tell you about them. I'll just give you advice at appropriate times, and it will be up to you to choose. I also advise you not to do what you are planning to do right now.”

  “What, I was just going to get a cup of coffee... oh, right, I'll have one later in the kitchen.”

  “Good decision. We'll be at Mt. Hood in about thirty-five minutes.”

  The cloud cover continued all the way there. As they approached, William was surprised to see that there was only snow at the very top of the mountain, only in the highest fifty meters or so. This must be a much warmer world, he thought. As they approached, he saw a road coming up out of the cloud cover and to a large building. He had just assumed that this was going to be an uninhabited world, Bob hadn't mentioned it, and he hadn't thought to ask.

  Sally saw it too, “There are people here, that's got to be good.”

  “I hope so,” replied William

  21.

  Maggie went to the kitchen to make her lunch, it was pb&j time again, Desmond had eaten his a little early and had gone to his room to play. She remembered the cheeseburgers that her mom would occasionally bring home when she was little. The burgers were much better than the rice mush they had to eat most of the time before they escaped.

  Her dad had made some bread out of the last of their flour and had frozen it before he left, they only had a few loaves left, they also only had a couple jars of jelly, so she used it sparingly, they had five jars of peanut butter, so after the bread and jelly were gone, it would be peanut butter only for a while. She didn't know what they were going to eat after it was gone.

  She wondered if her dad was ever coming back, he'd been gone a long time. She only allowed herself one sandwich a day, she gave D
esmond a little more than she ate, but he was always hungry. So was she, but she understood the situation, he was too young to understand. Too bad Uncle Larry had gone crazy, and went down the mountain, he could go shoot a rabbit or a bird or something like he used to. She'd tried shooting one of his guns, but it just knocked her down and made her shoulder ache, and she wasn't able to hit anything.

  She slowly ate her sandwich as she started back to her room, she found that if she took her time, it felt more filling. She glanced out the window, something she almost never did anymore. She had stared out for hours at a time after her dad left, but after so many months it was easier just to go to her room and look at the old fashion magazines she'd found in one of the rooms. She stopped suddenly and looked out again, there was something out there. Like a big car, bigger than the old broken ones in the parking lot.

  She put down her sandwich and ran up to Desmond's room, she turned off the light, and grabbed him and pulled him into the closet. She held him close. She was all he had, and she thought she might be dying. “Be quiet, be very quiet, there are strangers here... shit! I left my light on, stay here, don't make a sound.” She ran to her room and turned off the light, and slid down against the wall behind her bed. It was too late; they had seen her light.

  22.

  The Winnebago landed in front of the lodge. There were a few cars in the parking lot, but they were all late twentieth to early twenty-first century, not one was under a hundred years old, and none of them looked as though they had been moved in years, the place looked abandoned. William asked Bob if it was safe to go outside.

  “It's safe in ninety-eight percent of diverging timelines.”

  “What about the other two percent?” asked Sally.

  “You really don't want to know.”