He looked back, but couldn’t see Will. As he started to return to the office, Will called out “Keep going Billy. I can’t get away from this guy. I tripped and before I could get up, he pulled a weapon on me and there’s no way I can get out of here.”
“I’ll see if there’s anything I can do” he replied. Knowing he had few, if any, options, Billy edged back towards his hiding place, aware that it would only buy him a few minutes of safety. He looked around him for some kind of weapon but getting to anything he could see would have meant him being clearly visible to those in the hangar, so he crept along the outside wall, keeping as low as possible and hoping he wouldn’t be spotted.
As he moved along the wall, he was keeping a close eye on someone nearby, with their backs to him at the moment, hoping they wouldn’t turn around and spot him, when he lost his footing and fell over. As he put his hands out to stop his helmet hitting the ground, he must have bumped the small box he had picked up earlier. He had put it in one of the small pockets that were attached to the outside of his suit and were used to carry spares and tools when he was working in airless environments. As he picked himself up, his heart was beating faster than he had thought possible, hoping his fall hadn’t been noticed. As he looked up, he looked straight into the midriff of someone.
“Oh, hell!” he muttered, slowly standing up, raising his hands into a surrender pose.
Once he had stood up, he realised that, rather than looking at one of the black-suited strangers, he was looking at someone in a police suit.
“What ARE you doing?” asked the cop.
“Sorry, I tripped.”
“What were you doing down there anyway, and what’s with the hands?”
“This is going to get complicated. Can we go somewhere we can talk without having to use a radio? I suggest we go into one of the ships, since they have breathable air in them. By the way, I’m Billy Hunt” responded Billy, holding out his right hand to the officer.
“Yeah, OK. I’m Lieutenant Sarah Hirst. Before we do, though, we’ve looked through our database and those things aren’t in it” she said, nodding at the two ships.
“I suggest you put someone in to guard them from intruders and send someone into there and remove as many of the weapons that you can” replied Billy, pointing towards the back of the hangar.
“What for? This place is deserted except for us.”
“You’ve presumably seen the photos. By the time I’ve explained what else we’ve seen, you’ll understand why.”
“OK, I’ll play along, for now. Sergeant, can you have a look through there, taking Norgrove with you, and let me know what there is back there?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
After he had picked himself up, Will looked at the man who had followed him into the room. Apart from the vicious-looking weapon pointing directly at him, the man didn’t look like the kind to mess with, so Will slowly raised his hands to show submission.
The man’s lips were moving but, as they were both wearing space suits in the vacuum, he had no idea what was being said.
Eventually, the man, realising that Will wasn’t able to hear him, gestured him towards the rear space using the weapon.
Will carefully edged past the man, so that he was now in front, and entered the large space. Two more individuals approached them, both with raised weapons. One fell in behind Will, alongside his fellow, with one leading the small group. As they walked along, Will looked around. Now that he had more time, he realised that the space looked much the same as the hangar that held the two space ships but was swarming with people, all dressed in black military-looking space suits. As far as he could tell, looking at the one leading them, and the ones he had seen close up, a range of insignia was visible, which he assumed showed their rank. High on the left shoulder, they all wore a small version of the logo he and Billy had seen on the space ships.
After Billy and Lieutenant Hirst and her remaining crew member had entered the ship, Billy directed them to the bridge.
“OK, now you can see what this thing looks like inside. Over there is what looks like a weapons control room. There are stations for six, which suggests that this thing means serious business” said Billy, pointing at the door marked “ARMILOJ KONTROLO.”
Before Sarah could reply, Billy went on “If you think this is bad, you need to know that this place seems to be some kind of hub between two parallel universes. Whilst that may seem far fetched, Will and I have been onto the other side. This device lets you switch between them just by pressing the button on top.”
“Why should that make any sense and who’s Will?”
Will realised that his original idea of introducing Will as his cousin just wasn’t going to work, now that Will was trapped in the alternate universe.
“You’ve seen this ship. It’s not Navy and the signs are all in a language that isn’t used in this system. As the Sergeant will soon discover, there’s what looks like a large stockpile of weapons in the rear hangar area. Will is from yet another alternate reality and is my doppelganger, apart from a few minor details such as hair and beard. I have a photo here, taken in our comm room on ‘Roid 2”
Bill showed her the picture on his data communicator.
Sarah looked carefully at the picture and compared the eyes, nose and mouth between Billy and Will, in line with her training. “You do look remarkably similar apart, as you say, from the hair and beard. How did he get here?”
“We have no idea. In his reality, they have a communications centre in the same place we do. Whilst it’s designed slightly differently, they’re essentially the same. I had a callout saying the lights had come on and the sensors showed someone was present. When I got there, he was on the floor. He wasn’t wearing a suit, there wasn’t one in the place, nor was there a ship on the ‘Roid that he could have arrived in. He said that he had been knocked unconscious. He was still out when I got there. As we discussed things, we realised that he wasn’t from this reality. Whilst we came here looking for where they were transmitting the news feeds, we haven’t seen anything that looks like a communications centre where I’m assuming the data will be processed.”
“OK. Is there any way you can show me the other reality?”
“It could be dangerous. As far as Will and I could tell, the layout and what-not are near enough identical between realities. What that implies is that, if we can find a nice quiet corner somewhere where we can hide ourselves, we can have a quick look and, hopefully, get back here without being spotted. I suggest that we find a pile of containers or shelves to lurk behind. We might even find a storeroom in the ship we could use. You won’t need to see a lot to get the picture. What I suggest after that, assuming you agree, is to get to know the layout of this base. If Will has been taken prisoner, they will have him in a cell or something. No idea where they would be, though, as we’ve only seen a small part of the base.”
“OK. Seems reasonable. Let’s have a look around the ship. If what you say is true, then their version of the ship will probably be busy.”
With that, they left the bridge and were starting to look for somewhere they might hide, when Sarah’s radio burst into life “Lieutenant, take a look at this. There’s enough weaponry and ordnance for someone to attack Columbus and do some serious damage to the station!” It was Sergeant McDowell reporting on his investigation into the rear hangar. His comm unit sent an image from his suit camera to Sarah.
“I see what you mean, Sergeant. You can get back here now” replied Sarah. “Billy, you weren’t kidding when you suggested we take a look.”