Ghost Worlds

Chapter 1

Man it was awesome seeing you all over the holidays.  I just wish you could have stayed longer.  I don't know where the hell the time goes, Jarrod said to Beth over the video chat.

Oh god, tell me about it!  Seems like that's about all we talked about on the way home.  Anyway, it's you guys' turn to come here next.  I really want to take you guys over to introduce you to Thayelle, so you can get to know her and her people.

Yeah, I'd like that.  It'll be nice to be around some people in that dimension who aren't trying to kill us for a change, Jarrod said with a wry grin.

Sorry if I seemed a little clingy before we left.  I really thought this whole separation thing would get easier after a while, but obviously it hasn't, Beth said with a heavy sigh.

No, it hasn't.  Derek and I had a long talk about you guys and his parents the night after you left.  Let's just say that we weren't takin' it all that well.  We don't cry a lot, but...you know.  I'm just glad the girls still have their families here.

Yeah, at least that's one positive in this whole thing, Beth said.  I was kinda thinking that maybe at some point down the road we might end up recruiting more people and stuff, and then we'd be able to come back home again.  I mean, that's thinking ahead in the long term, but we'll see how things go.

Either that, or we could just recruit a new team for over here so we could join you guys over there, Jarrod suggested.

Yeah, either way.  I mean, this whole experience has been good for us...especially for me, but this distance thing just sucks.

Man, I'll say it's been good for you.  I think everyone just about crapped themselves when you came struttin' on in here looking the way you did.  I mean, it's one thing to see it on a video chat, but seeing it in person it was something else entirely.

Awww, you're really sweet Jarrod, she said with a bright smile.  You know, it's been good for the kids too.  I'm sure you noticed how much more confidence they all have now.  Everything they've been through with the fangtails, and then that operation in the Faranox dimension on top of it really went a long way to making some positive changes in the way they see themselves.

We all noticed it actually.  It felt like they were talking to us as equals for a change, instead of like a bunch of kids who were standing in the presence of their heroes.  I mean, it was always pretty flattering that they felt that way about us, but I'm really glad to see that change in 'em.  I guess they were right when they said they just needed to get out from under our shadow for a while, so they could have some accomplishments of their own.  Martin and Dylan seemed pretty happy too.  It was so great to see 'em that way after all they've been through.

Yeah, it sure is.  Dylan's pretty ridiculous sometimes, Beth said with an amused look.  He's running around all the time trying to do little romantic things for Erin, and she's just eating it up like a schoolgirl in heat.  As for Martin and Heather, I still can't believe how fast things happened with them, but it sure turned out to be the real deal.  I'm so glad we have both her and Erin with us.  It's nice having more girls around here to pal around with.  After we got back, Sheryl and I we're pretty depressed, so Erin and Heather arranged for us all to have a girl's night out at that club Heather used to work at.  We all got hit on repeatedly, and damned if Jenny and Laurie were loving every second of it.

Just Jenny and Laurie? Jarrod asked, smiling at her knowingly.

"Well, I guess if I'm being honest, then I'd have to say that we all enjoyed it.  I mean, who wouldn't, right?"

I sure as hell would, Jarrod said.

Man, you should have seen it.  Sheryl had this one guy buying her drinks all night, and she was full on flirting with him.  I guess all those years of being a housewife kinda made her forget that she was actually a desirable woman.  We didn't see her or John for most of the next day, so I guess he got the end benefit of it, Beth said with a grin.

Oh, I wanted to ask you.  Have your spacesuits arrived yet?  Jan arranged for 'em a long time ago, but since they have to be custom made, they've been taking a while to get here.

No, not yet.  We haven't heard anything about 'em either.  I guess they'll just get here when they get here.  There's no hurry on exploring those dead worlds though, is there? Beth asked.

No, not really.  It's not like they're goin' anywhere, but still, I'd really like to know what happened.  There's somethin' about that whole thing that's just been bothering the hell out of me.  I mean, it's way beyond coincidence that we'd find three different worlds with their moons destroyed like that.

Yeah, that is rather troubling, Beth said.  We've been pretty curious about what we'll find on 'em when we go there.  Hopefully we'll be able find at least a little something, even if it's just an old skeleton or whatever.  It'd kinda suck to go through all the hassle of exploring around out there, only to wind up coming home with nothing to show for it.

"Yeah, that would be extremely disappointing, but not entirely unexpected, Jarrod said.  I'm still not sure it isn't all just some sort of a bizarre coincidence.  I mean, back when the planets were forming and stuff, things were pretty chaotic.  Who's to say that the moons weren't hit by something that broke 'em up and took out the Earth before it had a chance to develop?  I guess in all the infinite dimensions out there, the likelihood of running into dimensions where that's happened is probably higher than we'd expect.  That said, these worlds are too damn similar for my liking.  I really think something happened there that wasn't natural."

Yeah, I agree.  The fact that they all seemed to have happened in the exact same way is highly suspicious.  I mean, we all saw the pictures the blue fins took from inside the portal.  They're practically identical on all three of those dimensions.

Four, Derek said as he walked up behind Jarrod.

Four? Jarrod asked.

Yeah.  I just got off the phone with Stache.  He and Gramps popped over to the cabin to let us know that when they were checking out another new dimension yesterday, they found another dead world, and it was exactly the same as the others.  They brought a laptop with 'em and tethered it to the phone so they could send the report and the photos over.  I just took a look at 'em, and sure enough, it's exactly the same, Derek said.

All right, now that's just way too much of a coincidence to be just a coincidence.  I think our original theory was right, and someone did that on purpose, Beth said.

Yeah, it's starting to look that way, Derek agreed.

All right, send me over the report as soon as you can, and we'll take a look at it too.  Are you guys gonna get some spacesuits for the blue fins as well, so they can explore their area around those worlds too? Beth asked.  Jarrod and Derek both looked dumb struck for a moment.

Well...shit.  I never even thought about that, Derek said a few moments later.

Me either.  I guess we should probably get Jan to look into that, Jarrod said.  "Unfortunately, Freddie and Diana are still over with Charles and Richard at their house, so we don't have anyone here to get the measurements from.  I guess we'll have to head out to the island so we can get some measurements from the folks out there.  Probably just need a few of 'em, since they're all pretty much the same size.  Well, aside from Edward that is.  Dunno how he ended up a little bigger than everyone else, but he'll need his suit to be custom made.  The others should all be fine in generic male and female suits.  Before we do anything though, we need to ask 'em if it's something they even want to do.  I mean, walking around in a spacesuit on a planet with no atmosphere is risky at best, so whether they go or not is something they're gonna have to decide for themselves."

All right, let me know what they say after you talk to 'em.  How have they been doing otherwise?  Have they discovered anything else interesting that we haven't gotten the reports about yet? Beth asked.

I'm not sure what reports you've seen since Patty's usually the one that sends 'em over to you guys.  Did you get the report about the cat world yet? Jarrod asked.  That one just came in yesterday.

No, not yet.  What's the cat world?  Is it full of single, middle-aged women who've just given up? Beth asked with a silly grin.

"So you have seen the report then," Derek said as he smiled back at her.

Seriously though, what is it? she asked.

Apparently it's a whole world full of evolved cat people, Jarrod said.  Like, where we evolved from apes, they evolved from large cats.  Gramps was on the team that went there, and from what he says, they're every bit as advanced as us, if not more so.  Unfortunately, that makes it more dangerous for 'em to actually get out of the portal to do a bit of exploring, so they had to stay out of phase the whole time.  They tried to look for someone they might be able to communicate with, but you can imagine what a difficult prospect that is.  It'd take a lot of observation to actually find someone they'd feel comfortable enough exposing themselves to, and even then there's no guarantee they'd be able to do that with any degree of safety.

Yeah, I never really thought of that, Beth said.  We've run into so many races that were behind us technologically, that exposing ourselves to 'em wasn't really all that big of a deal.  I think the only ones we've come across so far who were at a similar or more advanced level than we are were the demon people that Jan and Larry found, and the ach'len.  Now we got another one to add to the list.  Oh, by the way.  Next time you talk to Freddie, ask him if the ach'len ever went back to visit their home dimension.  I was just thinking about that the other day, but no one ever mentions 'em much, so I was just wondering if they ever headed over to check things out or not.

All right, but I'm not sure if the ach'len are even around all that much.  We've talked to Freddie now and then, and he hasn't mentioned 'em at all.  They might just be kinda keeping to themselves, simply because they're not comfortable with being around outsiders.  Wouldn't surprise me at all if that was the case, especially knowing how they are, Jarrod said.

Yeah well, I wish they'd get over it already, 'cause I'd still like to meet 'em someday.  They give Erin the creeps, but Jan says they're nice enough, so who knows?  Maybe they just need to open themselves up a little, like Charles and Richard did.

Yeah, that'd be nice, but don't be surprised if it doesn't happen, Derek said flatly.

Well, we can hope, can't we? Beth said, smiling at them both encouragingly.  Anyway, I guess I should let you guys go for now.  Got any plans for the rest of the day?

Not really.  We've just sorta been playing it by ear, Jarrod said.  We haven't really been doing much lately, since we're so focused on getting out there to explore those ghost worlds, but we can't really do anything on that front until the spacesuits get here, so we've just been doing all the day to day stuff while we wait.

What kind of stuff? she asked.

You know, stuff like workin' out, fartin' around out in the shop, cleaning the house, etcetera.  Billy and Barbara went to hang out with the leprechaun people a couple of days ago.  Turns out they've been making the amulets for so long now, that there isn't anyone around anymore who remembers anything about who ordered 'em to make 'em in the first place.  They were always just told that if they stopped making 'em, it'd be the end of their people.  Stupid part is, they don't even know what the amulets do or why they're making 'em.  Looks like the creators just gave 'em instructions on how to mine and cut the crystals, and how to use 'em to make the amulets, and then they just left 'em to it.

So basically what you're saying is, we don't know any more now than we did before, Beth said.

Nope, but they did set up a trade deal with 'em, so we're trading 'em stuff for the amulets now.  Not that we need 'em, but it was a good way to build up a relationship with 'em.  Mostly we're just giving 'em tools and utensils and stuff to make their lives easier.  We're having Jan get us a box of grenades for 'em too, Jarrod said.

Grenades?  What do they need grenades for? she asked with a curious look.

Remember that big ass snake that Billy saved that one little guy from? Derek said.  Well, we figured they'd really love us if we gave 'em a way to defend themselves when they get attacked by those things, so we're giving 'em some grenades to use.  We figured bullets wouldn't travel all that well there because of the gravity, but the grenades should do ok since all they have to do is toss 'em somewhere in the near vicinity of the snake for it to be effective.  It's hard to say how the gravity would affect the shrapnel and what not, but in any case, it'll work better than what they've been doing.

What have they been doing?

Getting eaten, Derek said with a wry grin.

Just make sure they know to toss 'em when the snake is actually clear of the village.  Don't think they'll like us too much if they start caving in people's homes with those things, Beth said with an amused look.

No, probably not, Jarrod said with a breathy laugh.

Aside from that, are you sure they can even use 'em properly with those small hands and arms of theirs?  I mean, can they hold the lever after they pull the pin, and then throw it far enough so they're clear of the blast? she asked.  Derek and Jarrod looked at each other for a moment, but didn't say anything.