William G

The beeping sound in every room in the Many Worlds Labs was blown out by a sharp gust of searingly cold wind. My brother James and I had our feet 30 centimetres deep in cold wet snow. A mist shot out of my mouth every breath I took, everything was eerily silent, other than the cold wind blowing soggy paper through the air.

“What's that?”James said, his voice cut through the silence. I had only been with him a few weeks and, until then, I hadn’t really had a family, even though I was still living with my mum.

“I was always thinking maybe in some other reality, I lived with you the entire time; maybe in some other reality, mum and dad hadn’t divorced’ now I want to test my theory,” I sighed.

“Can you just tell me what it is?”

“Ok-Ok!” I said and dropped my bag to the ground with a depressing thud. I pulled out, what to any non scientist or nerd would think, is an UZI and pulled it out.

“I present to you my portal gun that doesn't work…yet,” I said pronouncing the T in yet with an almost click sound. James frowned.

“Also it's highly illegal and if anything were to go wrong it would cut the power to the entire city,” I continued. Clouds spread over the city. A ship flew over the skyscrapers surrounding me.

I was used to the giant shadows which loomed over the city because of the planet hovering in the atmosphere, but when it was coupled with a huge “BWAAAAAAAAAAAAA” sound, it was utterly terrifying.

“Hello, everybody,” a huge space ship was hovering over Maped Tower, the tallest building in the northern hemisphere. “If you don’t hand over your control over this country, I will destroy the world!” The sound of a helicopter's blades was growing louder and louder. A helicopter appeared behind a bank or a building and hovered near the colossal engine of Maped’s ship.

“No,” said a regal voice. The president, I assumed.

“And can you even do that?” she added. The president seemed doubtful, but I didn’t. I had read about Maped on a classified file I hacked into, a C.I.A. research project or something. I knew that he had the 12-1 laxy crystal, the strongest known power source in the universe, a small pointed crystal with a smaller diamond shape engraved into it. I noticed something; there was a small hole a tiny bit bigger than the crystal, and could probably fit the crystal in it, giving it supreme amounts of power.

The argument between Maped and the president raged on like a bull facing a line of red capes and a green lines came towards the center of the ship.

“James,” I said, “grab onto my leg!” He thought about it. A smile slid across his face. He did and I took a rusted, heavy grappling hook out of my bag, shooting it halfway up the building. A green beam of plasma shot out of the ship, pierced through the helicopters fuselage, into the roofs of some skyscrapers and landed a few blocks away. James and I were pulled upwards, a little too slowly to escape an explosion.

I clung onto the wall of Maped Tower and stared at the huge fiery mushroom cloud blasting debris into the sky. The dust cut through building after building. A shiver ran up my spine. The concrete of the wall parted away as my hook slipped out of the buildings wall.

“Are we falling to our death?” James asked. I nodded. I aimed higher to the bottom of the ship were as a entrance opened up near it. James and I were dragged through the sky as earth’s gravity struggled to pull me down. Pain burst up my arms and legs. I crawled, still upside down, across the ship's underside. I finally arrived at the entrance, where a wave of goons were standing, gunning down people trying to escape.

I grappled around a nameless goon’s body and jolted him to the side, creating a domino effect. I ran up a ramp and came to door with a green glow pressed onto the window. I opened the door. The green glow grew brighter and turned into a white mist, but I carried on walking. I was nearly in the middle of the room when my foot caught on it and I fell forward. I reached upwards and felt a smooth surface. I turned it and something came out. I looked at my hand. A smile swept across my face.

I was standing on the ramp where I entered, staring down at the crumbling buildings. Clouds of dust ran between the buildings. Screams echoed in my ear. I pulled the back part of the portal gun and aimed down to Maped tower; a portion of reality warped. Sparks formed in a circle, with colorful lights in between, the circle expanded and smoothe purple waves and bubbles formed around the sparks. James peered inside and looked at me in confusion. I motioned something to him.

James jumped. I jumped too. James hit the portal and disappeared for a few seconds before reappearing, silhouetted above the light in the portal. I felt like a ten tonne weight. When I hit the portal the weight washed away from my body. Colourful cubes appeared beside me. They shattered into smaller cubes. A sinkhole appeared on the seemingly endless horizon and colour poured through it like sand. The blur inside began to form a detailed picture. Glowing hexagons dotted the floor. It was so loud that no one would notice a planet on a collision course, let alone a small person falling out of a relatively small portal. If I didn’t find some way for me and James to survive, we would die, which wouldn't be good. I grappled James. He flew up close to me. I searched around for something, and there it was, exactly what I needed, a swimming pool. I dropped James and shot out a cord. He grabbed onto the cord. The hook pressed into the wall near the pool and we were pulled the other way. Pain burst up my arm. I came forward and water sprayed in all directions.

I sat near a fire, trying to dry off. The ch ch ch sound of a helicopter was somewhere nearby. A truck drove towards me. The window rolled down and a maped goon peered out, gun trained on me. I reached to my pocket where my portal gun was lying. I aimed the portal gun near the back of the truck.

“Sir, please drop the weapon - I will shoot.” My fingers curled over the trigger and started to push down.

“Sir I’ll give you ten seconds.” I pulled the back part of the gun again.

“10-9-8...” I pushed the trigger more

“...7-6-5-4...”

I breathed heavily.

“...3-2—” Light burst out of the gun and the portal began to form. The truck swayed before the back began to sink into the portal.

The truck’s door opened and the goon jumped out before it grew completely submerged into the abyss. He pointed his gun at me. I grappled it and threw it away.

He tried to punch me. I ducked. He tried again. I moved out of the way. He stood ready for another try. I shot a portal under his feet and he fell in. The ch ch ch sound grew louder.

“Hide!” I yelled.

“Why?”

“You'll be safer,” I said, “I never wanted to leave you but I need to.” The helicopter blasted a row of bullets, kicking up the dirt. I shot a portal in front of me and James and bullets flew through.

“So you're leaving me?”

“Loads of people dump other people for the good of other people.” The dirt and grass blew in waves.

“Like who?”

“How about that guy who survives a plane crash and gets attacked by the creepy dude?”

“I dunno, I haven't read that so—” I cut him off.

“Hide!” I jumped into the portal.

Sand blew in my face. I knew who I was looking for and I knew I was close. I came to the door of a shop. A sign was nailed over the door: Ben Shakers Map of the Dimensions. I walked in. I screamed. He screamed. I was looking at me and he was looking at him.

“I need the coordinates to a dimension were earth is completely covered in forest and a train line runs through the entire Milky Way.”

“Anything else?”

“Yeah, make sure it's a dimension that no other me’s cross into.”

“Okay, just one sec…” He started typing on his computer “he we go, that's good.”

He tapped ENTER on the keyboard and printed something. He handed me a piece of paper with some writing on it: 101-113-597. I put some money on the desk and left the shop. I looked at the window. Three holes were shattered in the glass. I looked back. Four black cars were heading towards me. I ducked and three bullets shot exactly into the holes. The cars drove towards me. I grappled onto one of the bonnets and spun into the driver’s seats. I kicked a goon and grabbed his gun. I shot the wheel of another car. The car spun out of control and hit my car. The cars slammed into a bus shelter, smashed through it and into a newsagency. I checked the guns ammo. Three shots left. Bullets bounced across the walls of the agency. I shot the bonnet of one of the remaining cars and the front exploded. 1 car left. A goon threw a grenade into the shop. It landed next to me.

I ran out just before the agency collapsed into a pile of rubble. I grappled to a shop on the other side of the road and while being pulled back tried to get a shot on the driver. I pulled the trigger and the goon fell onto the seat. The car drove mindlessly towards me. The passenger frantically tried to turn the car. It hit in between a supermarket and a small bakery and spun crazily into the collapsing wall. A goon jumped out. He was holding a strange weapon. It wasn't a gun but it was a similar shape. He tapped a button on it. A light moved toward the front of the weapon and a strange noise rattled the market. He pushed the button again. A plasma beam shot out from the weapon and cut through the supermarket. It started to collapse.

I dropped down from the shop and ran. The beam cut the ground past me. I ran into alley and hid behind a wall. The light ran across the wall opposite to me and pierced straight through. I frantically tried input the coordinates into the gun. The building next to me began to collapse. I pulled the guns trigger, and ran towards the portal. I climbed in just before the building crushed everything in its path.

The tracks rattled under the weight of the train. I came to a bridge, peering outside the freight carriage I was in. Maped would have caught up with me by now and on this bridge I would be like a sitting duck in an empty pond during a world war. I looked to my right a missile was speeding towards me. The bridge collapsed, train still speeding. All the carriages fell into the water. I started sinking. I tried to swim out of the carriage. I floated to the top of the water. Dozens of helicopters flew over me. I shot my grappling hook up. It lodged into the tail of the helicopter. I retracted the hook. The helicopter's tail spun off and crashed into another helicopter. They exploded and engulfed two other helicopters in flame. The original helicopter fell out of the sky and hit the water. I shot another hook. It went straight through the door of the helicopter. I retracted inwards and smashed into the fuselage of the helicopter. The grappling hook dragged me to the side and into the inside of the fuselage. I grabbed onto a hook and shot a portal behind me. I knew where this portal went and I knew how dangerous it was, I would die no matter what I did, I let go.

My eyes flickered open. I was lying on the side of the stream, water pounding on my legs. I looked at the crumbled ruins of the train track. Everything was silent other than the low lapping of the water. I stood up, water soaking my body. I had a plan. I left the shattered crystal at the shore.

I moved carefully through the thorns and mossy, toppled, oak trees. There was no clear path to where I was going on than the growing fog and the feeling of moving down the crater cut into the dead plants. My foot caught on a rock. I sunk deep into the dirt. The fog grew stronger, I was now neck deep in dirt. My arm caught on the root of a plant. I breathed heavily. A sound burst in my ear. Wind blew the dirt around me. The root snapped. I slid.

I pushed up, I was trapped under something, it wouldn't budge, I crawled further and pushed up. My hands came out somewhere. I strained to get my head out of the dirt. I looked around and saw the room with the green glow. My plan had worked… so far.

Bullets shot around me, I ran. I went through the hallway, Lord Maped ran in front of me.

“I’ll kill you,” I shouted. He pulled his arms from his cape. His hands were glowing, clenched fists.

“Give me the gun, Ben,” he said pulling his fist apart, the glow settled and I made out the shape of a crystal.

“What’s that for?” I asked.

“You know why I chased you all this time? Because I knew you were my biggest threat. I thought I could kill you by killing earth but no, obviously not, and you know what I want.” He kicked me, my portal gun falling out of my hand.

“You can have this,” he said, “it’s fake!”

He shot out a portal and started walking towards it. I shot a grapple hook and swung it around a corner. Maped ran to me and tried to get myself away from the cockpit. Goons ran in and tried to get a shot on me. I ducked as bullets sped around my ear.

“Listen,” Maped said to me, “you've lost,”.

“I don't think so!” I ran towards the cockpit jumped on the controls and grappled the wall. With one hand holding onto the hook I pulled the wheel down and the ship went into a nose dive, Everything slid down. Maped came to my feet stood up and tried to loosen my grip on the hook, I struggled to keep hold. A piece of debris knocked me and Maped into the window. We struggled on. He pulled my portal gun out from his cloak and shot a portal. I kicked him and grabbed the portal gun I frantically searched for the coordinates I needed. The windows shattered and everyone on the ship fell. The ground was coming fast. I aimed my portal gun where I needed it to.

I sat in a taxi writing a letter. It feels weird to take the place of a version of you, but I was getting used to it. Everyone thinks that you are their you. They assumed that the other you didn't die under the weight of a starship. I put those final words on the paper and reread it.

Dear Mum and Dad,

I have made one of the biggest decisions in my life, to quit my research for a year. I will come to live with you in three weeks. Sorry I did not text you, my phone got wet and short circuited.

Yours sincerely,

your loving son,

Ben Shaker

Three weeks later.

I walked down the street of my parents house and came to there door. I looked in the window. My parents were talking with each other. This was the first time I had seen this in my life. A tear welled up in my eye.