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Stories from the Verse
Multiverser: The Thirteenth Story
Chapter 8: Takano 159
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Beam 198
Tommy felt a bit out of her depth. She was still in high school, and her knowledge of computers and electronics was mostly because her father was an electronics engineer and had always encouraged her to take things apart and figure out how they worked. That’s really what got her into being a verser--she disassembled a toy that contained scriff, and it took her to another universe. Ultimately she didn’t really know a lot about all of this. On the other hand, that was half a century in the future. She was in the late nineteen fifties, computers were still experimental and not in general production, integrated circuits were something BBS anticipated because she and the other versers had explained them, and no one else really knew much more than she did despite having engineering degrees from universities. So she held her own and kept up with the team.
She had gotten her paycheck Thursday afternoon, but of course the bank was closed by the time she got out of work, so she would join the Friday rush to get to the bank and get lunch before she had to be back to work. Not certain how much money she was going to need now that she was on her own she cashed the entire check; there was money in her account, and she wasn’t really saving up for anything, although it occurred to her that a bicycle might be a good purchase. She had ridden Derek’s a few times, but now that she considered it that bike had to be from at least three or four decades from now.
As she arrived at Luigi’s Pizza she saw Billy waving for her attention. She considered ignoring him--he was nice, and obviously liked her, but between her being both a verser and a superheroine any relationship would be really complicated. But then, she didn’t have a lot of friends, and friends were worth having. She headed that direction. As she got closer, he called to her.
“I got us a pizza to share--cheaper that way--and ordered you a soda.”
Risky, she thought. She might have gone to the deli, although really, there was no place to sit at the deli, so she usually came here when she didn’t go home. Still, the only reason she wasn’t at home was that cashing her check cut into her time, so eating out was quicker.
“Thank you,” she said, as she slid into the booth across from him. He pushed the drink toward her, and served her a slice of the cheese pizza on a paper plate.
“I didn’t get to say,” he said, “that I’m sorry for your loss. Your uncle was pretty smart.”
She had of course explained that the four of them had gone to Yellowstone City trying to investigate what Doctor Cutter was doing up there, and that when they discovered that Cutter was actually the supervillain Doctor Mordenslice he killed Brian and Derek and Vashti before several superheroes stopped him and he died when his spaceship crashed. She was lucky, she had said, to get out of there alive. She wasn’t certain whether Brian, who was something of a stickler for telling the truth, would have approved of that, but she wasn’t going to tell people that she was Truth, and she didn’t want to give them too many clues.
On the other hand, she still had to explain to the pastor, or to someone at the church, what happened to her Uncle Brian and their houseguests Derek and Vashti Brown. That was on the board for this weekend. Of course, this weekend she also had Sunday lunch with Robbie, and Saturday trying to stop an armored car robbery. It was going to be a busy weekend.
“Thanks,” she said, somewhat softly and a bit delayed. It really was a significant loss, even though she probably would see them all again in another world. That made sense. “They’re in another world now. I’ll see them again one day.”
Billy nodded. Of course he would think he understood, but that was often the way telling the truth as a verser worked. “I admire your faith,” he said. She smiled.
Suddenly interrupting a sip from her soda, she said, “Oh! What do I owe you for the pizza?”
“Nonsense. My treat.”
“That’s silly. You know I just got a raise; I’m sure I make more than you do.”
He looked a bit embarrassed.
“Never mind. Forget I said that. Look, I’ll put down the tip.”
He smiled somewhat meekly. She pulled a couple dollars from her cash and put them on the table. Then she grabbed a second slice of the pizza. “We’re not going to finish this before we get back to work. Do you want to grab it to go?”
“Oh--you can have it, if you want.”
She certainly wouldn’t mind having pizza for supper. On the other hand, she already felt a bit guilty that she hadn’t chipped in for it. She promised herself she’d find a way to make it up to him, and asked Luigi for a box through a mouth filled with a bite of the pie. This she wolfed down, and gobbled the rest of the slice and gulped down the drink.
“We’d better get back,” she said. “Our bosses aren’t really happy when people are late, and recent staff changes have everyone figuring things out.” He joined her, and they walked back to work together in silence. This actually could be nice, she thought. Nothing could come of it, of course, but at her age no one would expect anything to come of it, so she was covered for a while, anyway.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with ten other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #538: New Adventures. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
