Anthony DeCosmo - Parallels

"Sad," Trevor corrected. "I see a city that is barely alive."

"Barely alive is better than dead. I mean, I’ll take it, you know?"

"Tell us, my dear, what events conspired to lead to these dismal circumstances?"

"How far back do you want me to go?"

"Let me start," Trevor said. "Alien invasion, monsters, end of civilization. The Trevor Stone of this world becomes the leader and you win some fights, build up an army, save a lot of people, and start conquering territory. How am I doing?"

"That about sums it up. Until the really big battle."

"I’ll guess. The battle of five armies."

"Actually, there were seven armies."

Johnny laughed. "That would explain much."

"I mean, the big battle sort of put a damper on things but, still, we were in good shape. Lots of cities. Factories. In some spots it was almost like a regular life, you know?"

He led, "Then..?"

Her head bowed and Trevor could have sworn he saw tears in her eyes.

"Then you were killed. I mean, then our Trevor died in battle."

She gathered her thoughts. "Trevor was a great warrior. He won battles that we never thought we’d win. He was the glue holding us together. He kept the army officers in line and loyal; he kept the civilian leaders in their place. I mean, he made sure we worked toward the same goal, you know?"

Reverend Johnny assured, "I know."

"So what happened after…after I died?"

She sighed. "At first, chaos. Without Trevor at the top, the chain of command broke apart. Some officers tried to take over and some…some people actually killed each other. It was, like, almost a civil war. It went on for a while until we lost cities and armies because we were too busy fighting with ourselves. That’s when people negotiated. In the end, a group of administrators took over. We call them The Committee."

Trevor posed the next question, "How long has it been like this?"

"Like this? You-I mean, our Trevor-died two years ago. We’ve been losing ground even since. Things are bad. This is it. This is the last city. Do you understand? Twenty thousand people are all we have left. We’re desperate."

Trevor saw the mark of that desperation in her eyes. His heart sank. How could it not? Maybe she was not the Nina he knew, but she looked like her; sounded like her.

Nonetheless, he said, "I’m sorry, but I’m your prisoner, remember? You dragged me here. I have my own world to worry about. I don’t belong here."

"Your world is fine," she shot as that desperation turned to defensiveness. "Your armies are on the march. What were you doing? Were you leading them in the battlefield?"

Trevor remembered the maps and push pins and casualty reports. Maybe he had already been a prisoner and just did not know it.

"We are about to be wiped off the Earth. Does that matter? Do you want to see me die?"

"What I want is to go home. To be with my people," his words sounded hollow.

"You can make a difference here, Trevor."

Reverend Johnny asked, "Miss, you said your version of Trevor Stone died two years ago. Certainly your people know this; there is a statue in your courtyard. Therefore, they can not be fooled into believing he is still alive. Or am I mistaken?"

"Yes, everyone knows our Emperor is dead. Part of the problem is that our people saw him as more than a man; more than a leader. He was touched by greatness, we all knew this. When he was alive," her eyes grew vacant as she remembered. "When he was alive we knew we couldn’t be defeated. But when he died…"

Trevor finished for her, "When he died, it proved that you weren't invincible."

"But this is not your Trevor who stands before you," the Reverend pointed out.

"No," Trevor agreed. "I’m not. But her people could see…could see another Trevor from another universe; another world. To them it might be a sort of resurrection."

Johnny shifted uneasily at the reference to 'resurrection.'

"Yes, that’s right," Nina encouraged. "If only to see you. To have you walk among our troops. Then, maybe my people would be encouraged again."

"Or maybe we should leave right now and return home," Johnny proposed. "As you have said, Miss, the death of your Trevor was the beginning of your destruction. His disappearance from our world could be the commencement of our own annihilation."

Nina turned away and looked out the window. She did not answer Johnny but Trevor spoke for her. That angry tone returned to his voice, directed at the woman who had spirited him away from his world.

"We can’t go back, Reverend. At least not the way we came, isn’t that right, Nina? You somehow tricked someone-or I should say, some thing — out of its transport ship or whatever. I got a feeling you know whatever trick you used won’t work twice."

"I’ll find a way to get you home," she insisted without facing him. "I just need time."

"I look out that window," Trevor tapped the glass, "and I see a people who are running out of time."

Nina clasped her hands and struggled with words; struggled to hold back anger, frustration, and fear. "The attacks are coming every few days. We beat them back but each time we lose people; each time our supplies drain further. I…we…don’t know what to do. So I tried this. Tell me you wouldn’t have done the same, to save your people."

She made a point with which he could not argue. Besides, now that he was here, could he walk away? Was there a connection between humanity’s fate on his world and elsewhere?

"You moved across universes. What made you think to do that and how did you do it?"

She sighed as if such a discussion only wasted time.

"Trevor-our Trevor-I think he knew about the whole multi-dimension stuff. He knew a lot of things he never shared with me. He was secretive about some things, you know?"

Reverend Johnny answered, "We know."

"So anyway, after he died and things started to fall apart we got a tip about the Nyx and their nest. About what it was capable of doing. That got us thinking; if there’s another Earth with another Trevor who’s doing better, then maybe he could help us." She wringed her hands, cast her eyes down. "I wanted our leader back. I wanted…I wanted Trevor back."

Trevor heard more than mere loyalty for a leader in her words.

Johnny, however, kept the conversation on track. "So you managed to get a hold of this Nyx’s equipment? Can we not do that again?"

"No. We always knew it was a one-shot deal. But, hey, we’ll find another way home."

"Wait a second," Trevor interrupted. "How many, um. Wait, how to phrase this? How many different ‘worlds’ are there?"

Reverend Johnny tried to answer, "I have heard suggestions of an infinite number of parallel universes from theorists back in the days before the invasion. One would imagine-"

"Eight."

"Eight?" The men echoed in unison.

"Eight different universes; eight different Earths at war."

"What made you decide on, well, me from my world?"

"Look, this wasn’t a cruise. Time was not on our side, you know? I mean, I got kind of lucky. It just so happened you were doing pretty good. Your people weren’t going to miss you much. With all the success you had, well, I’m hoping The Committee won’t kill me over this."

Surprised, Trevor asked, "What do you mean?"

She curled her lip and admitted, "Well, The Committee wasn’t really a big fan of this mission. They’re all about conserving resources. For them, we’re on the defensive now and we’re going to stay that way. We lost some people doing this, spent a lot of valuable fuel and ammunition, and I really can’t show them any results, you know?"

"You do have me," he stated the obvious.

"Yes, but you’re not sounding too cooperative. I told The Committee…" she stopped and bit her lip again.