Chapter 5: Backfire

I woke up in a field. Not the containment kind, the open, grassy kind. It's always a field that dimensional travelers get dumped into, isn't it? Just once, I'd like to see someone land in a rice paddy or Times Square, just for variety's sake. Anyway, I tried to stand up, but soon decided that standing could wait. There was a solid wall of pain at about my height. After laying down and whimpering quietly in a very non-manly way, I decided to review my memories. You know, get everything straight, make sure I hadn't lost any. I mentally scanned through what I knew of the Avatars, Planar Metaphysics, the Key of Solomon Agency, Merlin, Morgan, Freyja, Asgard, the Entropic Crisis, and that damned jingle from Pizza Patio. I then took stock of myself, and felt as if I was mostly intact, but I was fairly sure that I had misplaced my spleen somewhere along the way. After all of this, which didn't actually take more than a few moments, I decided to try out my voice.

"Ahhhhhhh!" I screamed in pain. Noting that my voice worked properly, I dropped my usual inhibitions and let loose a string of obscenities that would have gotten me arrested in several Southern states. I closed my eyes briefly, and when I reopened them, I saw Deirdre staring down at me.

"Good morning, Sunshine!" she said with faux cheeriness.

"Gyahh.." I said, half-startled.

"Still hurting from that teleport?" she asked.

"No, it feels all better." I said. "Except for the parts that are attached to me. Have you seen my spleen anywhere?"

"It's over there, by your pride and your dignity." she said. I groaned. She bent over and beeped my nose. "Now come on, we oughta find the others!" she said, running off.

"But, pain..." I began to protest, but soon realized that I had sat up during the very same protest."Nose beep!" I said declaratively, remembering Deirdre's healing powers. Feeling better, I got up and dashed off after Deirdre. However, I'm soon flat on my face again with a shout of "waagh!". This was not my day. The object on the ground that had snagged my foot said "Ow! What the hell!", and I saw that it was Aislin. I quickly apologised and rolled off of her, finishing with an 'ow' on behalf of my knees.

"So." I said gamely. "How's things?"

"I think I misplaced my spleen." she said.

"I know how you feel." I said, nodding. "Have you seen Deirdre?"

"Not since we landed." Aislin said.

"She must be looking to beep David's nose." I postulated.

Aislin regarded me oddly, and I explained. "In order to heal him."

"Huh."

A bit of time passes silently, and finally, Aislin says "Does that cloud look like a rabbit to you?"

"A bit." I said. "And that one resembles a dragon."

"That looks like a zeppelin." she said.

"What? No, see there's the wings..." I began, but soon noticed the distinctive form of a large balloon with a gondola and propellors.

"Oh, now I see it." I said lamely. "Yep, definitely a zeppelin."

"Time travel?" Aislin suggested.

"Maybe." I said. "But unless the pocket dimension of Asgard was a grassy plain with zeppelins in a past life, I think 'alternate dimension' is more likely."

"That doesn't rule out time travel." Aislin pointed out.

"I never said it did." I said. "I wonder how we could find out?"

"We could ask the natives." Aislin suggested.

"Sure." I said sarcastically. "How do you do, sir. We're the Avatars of the Metaphysical planes of the Multiverse, can you tell us which dimension this is?"

Aislin scowls at me, and I feel chagrined. "Sorry." I said. "Bad interdimensional teleportation makes me cranky."

"Evidently." she said. "We do need information, though. How do you suggest we come by it?"

I was about to admit that I really had no idea, when my watch said "Well, you could try asking me."

"Did your watch just talk?" Aislin asked.

"Uh-huh." I said dumbly.

"Has it done this before?" she asked.

"Uh-uh." I said, just as dumbly.

"Remember back on Asgard? Right before Freyja teleported you out, she produced a wrist mounted database." said my watch.

"Yes, I recall that." I said.

"During the teleport, its systems were fused with your wrist chronometer, resulting in little old me." It continued.

"But how would a database and a regular timepiece fuse into something with a personality?" Aislin asked.

"Who's to say I have a personality?" my watch asked.

"I do." responded Aislin. "If you were just a talking computer, you'd have just said 'insufficient data' or something."

"Clever." it said. "Very clever."

"You know, for a database, it's awfully reluctant to give out information." I said. "Aislin?"

"Hmm?"

"Didn't you mention once that your uncle was a watchmaker?" I asked, winking. "Not Niel, the other one."

"Yeah." she responded, playing along. "He taught me a lot about picking apart small timepieces."

"I hear they're easy to break." I said, pretending to ignore my watch. "Even winding them too much can cause them to stop ticking forever."

"Yeah, they make such sounds when damaged." she said, suppressing a chuckle. "Almost like they're screaming."

"Gaah! Ok, ok!" exclaimed my watch. "I was just kidding! I'll explain everything! Just keep the tweezers away!"

"From the top, then?" I asked, with one arm folded skeptically, and another holding the watch on front of my face.

"Sure, sure." it said, in what I would have sworn was a pacifying tone of voice. "Your watch, the Timex. You've worn it for years, right?"

"Yeah, like, the last seven." I said. "Every hour of the day, sans showers."

"And you never thought that such an item would absorb things of yourself?" it asked.

"Come again?" I asked dumbly.

"A wristwatch is a highly personal item." it continued. "It gathers a sort of psychic residue, an echo of your aura. It's what we in the business refer to as a 'talisman'. During the teleport, that residual psychic energy blended together with the database watch, and formed a sort of artificial intelligence, with a personality based on your own, as well as experiences you had while wearing the watch."

"So you're like, Wil Jr.?" Aislin asked, clearly amused.

"In a sense." it said.

"That certainly explains your stubbornness." she said.

"And my in-depth knowledge of all things sci-fi." it agreed.

"Ok, ok. very funny." I said, regaining some conversational control. "But we won't call you 'Wil Jr.'. That's too creepy."

"It's funny, though." Aislin said.

"C'mon, Dad!" it said.

"Don't call me that." I said. "Anyway, you're roughly circular, and have the personality of a trickster. I should know, after all. How's the name 'Puck' strike you?"

"Like a disgruntled baseball team." it said.

"Aww, it inherited your ability to metaphor." Aislin said playfully. "How cute."

"Enough!" I said irritably.

Aislin and Puck giggled slightly. My face darkened slightly, but soon returned to normal.

"Ok, Puck." I said. "If you're a database, tell us where we are."

"We are on Earth." he said. "It is the equivalent of the year 2009 A.D. of your Earth, though these people use a different system."

"Great, a parallel Earth." I said. "With zeppelins. So where are we, London?"

"Indiana, actually. Well, the equivalent. In this world, it's District 23 of the nation of Shiva."

"District 23?" I said dryly. "That's imaginative."

"The Shivans find it practical." Puck assured me. "And they have other ways of being imaginative."

"Torture." Aislin said worriedly.

"Goodness gracious, no." Puck said. "You've seen way too many movies. Besides, it's been illegal for years. Shivan society is actually quite civilized, with a decent political system, high science, and some cracking good art."

"Any idea why we were sent here?" I asked.

"Yes." Puck said.

"So help me, I will buy a set of electrified tweezers if you keep doing that." I said irritably.

"You're here because this is the dimension is the home of the Physical Avatars. With the Physical Avatars, you're supposed to be able to stave off entropy." Puck explained. "Remember why that teleport went so badly? It was because Asgard was destroyed right at the tail end of it. You're lucky to be in one piece."

"Mm." I said. "So, that business with the end of the world?"

"Yup." he said. "Your job."

"Spiffy." I said. "I wonder where the others got to? Aislin needs a nose beep."

"We've been here for a while." said David's voice from nearby. "We just didn't want to interrupt."

"How thoughtful of you." I said flatly.

Deirdre administered a nose beep, and we got to our feet.

"Ok, to-do list." I said. "Puck, take this down, please."

"Recording." he said.

"First up, we get our bearings." I began. "We need to know where we are and how to get around. Puck showed me maps, so I can use my teleporting ability now."

"I can also tap into area wi-fi networks." Puck volunteered.

"What, here?" I asked, my groove interrupted briefly.

"Well, no. We're in a field."

"Right." I said. "Anyway, secondly we need to find the Physical Avatars. Puck, you can help us out with that, yes?"

"Partially." he said. "But records of individuals in the database are somewhat uncommon, as well as notoriously incomplete. I don't know their locations, but I will know them if we see them."

"Good." I said. "Thirdly, we need to figure out how to reverse entropy. We'll need the other four for that. Fifthly and finally, we figure out how to get everyone home. Failing that, we find get one of those airships and live in that."

"You should do that anyway." Puck said. "The airship-getting part, that is. Cars as you know them never became a big thing in this universe. There are only small, unpaved dirt roads leading to and fro, no highways or anything. Most everyone uses airships."

"So, you're saying that instead of roadways, they have skyways, and fly everywhere?" I asked.

"Yes." responded Puck simply.

"I love this dimension." I said, grinning like an idiot.

"What do Shivans use for money?" asked Aislin.

"Small scraps of fabric, originally based on shiny bits of metal, but now with no inherent worth." Puck said. "Oh, wait, that's America."

"Can the editorials, please." Aislin said. "Though that was nicely done."

"Thank you." Puck said. "Shivans use a form of electronic currency. They used to use coins, but with the advent of the Difference Engine in 1789, they figured it'd be easier to just carry pads instead of wallets or coin pouches. Nowadays, they use Trade Padds, utilizing wi-fi and a centralized system."

"Wait, 'difference engine'? 1789? This is a steampunk world, isn't it?" David asked.

"Well, sort of." Puck said. "Much of the technology is similar to that of your world; it just developed differently along different principles."

"So how do we get some of these 'credits' or whatever they're called?" I asked.

"That is what they're called." Puck said. "As for the 'how', just get me close."

"This worries me." I said, but 'ported to Outer Newport anyway, which would be called 'Wauwatosa' in my world.

"There's a bank." Puck said. "Interfacing..."

He kind of whirred, and hummed quietly to himself.

"Ok, done." he said after a brief interval.

"So, who did we rob?" I asked.

"Nobody." he said. "Remember how that one terrorist in 'Ghost in the Shell' funded his ops? It's similar. One just needs processing power beyond that of the human mind."

"Just don't go 'Skynet' on us." I said.

"I promise nothing." he said, well, puckishly.

I made an indelicate sound in response, and said "So, where do we get airships?"

"Here." he said, displaying a map with a blinking red dot. I 'ported us to the location, which wass on the outskirts of town. There was a building which resembles a warehouse on the site, as well as a large glowing sign reading 'Baron Von Zeppelin's', and a large inflatable Prussian noble.

"You have got to be kidding me." I said.

"I guess it's true what they say." noted Aislin. "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Shaking my head, I start towards the front door. The others follow suit, and we soon reach the interior. One salesman is there, done up like a Prussian king, complete with monocle.

"Is there no pride?" I mutter to myself, before plastering a smile on my face and walking up to him.

"Hi!" I said with hyperbolic cheer. "I'd like to buy an airship!"

"Certainly, my good man!" said the 'Baron'. "What kind are you looking for?"

I started to answer with something dumb like "the flying kind", but Puck beeped in a fair imitation of an alarm, and I excused myself briefly. Puck quickly outlined some specifications, and I turned back to the Baron.

"I'd like a six-person vacationing model with hydrojets and a slush engine." I parroted. Puck made a small sound which resembled applause, and I flicked his screen.

"That's a very expensive model." said the Baron. "I'll need your credit code, to do a check. It's only procedure, we trust our customers!"

Puck beeped again, and displayed the words 'about as far as he could throw you' before changing to a fourteen-digit numeric string. I read off the string to the Baron, who entered it into a nearby terminal. It seemed similar in form factor to an old Apple II, with monitor and keyboard in one unit, but was sleeker. I still got the sense that it was not a shining example of the bleeding edge of information technology, though. The Baron's information came through, and he appeared very surprised. I half expected his monocle to pop out.

"I'll, uh, I'll get that right out." he stammered excitedly, and disappeared into a back room.

"Saw a lot of zeros, did he?" I asked dryly.

"Yep." said Puck. "All salesmen are the same. Show enough zeroes and they just about plotz themselves on order to help."

The Baron returned at this point, and led us outside. A hatch in the ground opened, and a small panel on a pedestal rose up to about chest-height. The Baron keyed in a code, and a larger hatch opened. A reasonably-sized craft appeared on a lift, evidently from some manner of underground warehouse. It looked like a cross between the Avalon from Code Geass and the Highwind from Final Fantasy. The Baron ran a hose over to it, and affixed it to a port on the outside.

"Hydrogen slush feed." Puck explained. "For the engine."

"Slush engine, right." I said, nodding. I had been wondering about that.

The fuel tank began to fill, and the Baron hurried over.

"I've readied the credits for transfer on your authorization." he said. "You'll also need to enter a name."

"A name?" I asked dumbly.

"Unless you want to launch your ship with a stock name." he said doubtfully.

"Of course not." I said. "I'll need to confer with my associates briefly."

He nods deferentially, and I turn to the others.

"I have an idea for a name." I said.

"We're not calling it the Nebuchadnezzar." Aislin declared flatly.

"Of course not. We don't need a constant reminder of just how far down the rabbit hole we are." I said. "My idea is better, anyway. It's fitting, and it's a homage."

I told them my idea, and outlined my reasoning. The others agreed readily. About an hour later, the airship Freyja took off from Baron Von Zeppelin's yard, with the Metaphysical Avatars at the helm. Puck began playing "The Highwind Takes to the Skies", and we all laugh. Our adventures on Earth-2 were just beginning, and our mood was yet cheerful. After all, it's easy to be optimistic when the future appears bright.

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"Does anyone know how to fly this thing?" I asked, annoyed and alarmed.

"Autopilot is automatically engaged within city limits." Puck said. "It's a lot safer and more efficient than a bunch of meatbags flying around."

"I suppose it is." I said, still not thrilled that Puck had begun using that term. "I'd hate to turn my new ship into the Hindenburg."

"What about outside of city limits?" asked David.

"Autopilot is commonly engaged for flights between cities. People just don't pilot much anymore."

"How uncommonly pragmatic." I observed.
-
Meanwhile, elsewhere...

"So this is a slush engine?" said Aislin. "It looks so... disco."

The slush engine was glowing, and continuously shifting colors. It seemed more like something one would see at a rave than an airship engine.

"Yeah." Deirdre agreed. "Let's check out the kitchen. I'm starving."

"You know how they say that if two people spend enough time together, they begin to pick up each other's quirks?" Aislin asked.

"Yeah." Deirdre said. "So?"

"Nothing, never mind." Aislin said, chuckling inwardly.

"Well, I have noticed that Wil does the whole 'making a point by dropping the topic' thing." Deirdre said. "He even says 'Nothing, never mind' when he does it."

"What's your point?" Aislin asked, her voice ice.

"Nothing beyond that." Deirdre said, and headed for the stairs.

"Wiseass." Aislin said to nobody in particular, and followed Deirdre downward.

-

"Mmm, pudding."

Aislin and Deirdre were seated at a table in one of the forward observation lounges, eating pudding.

"So, we're just leaving Newport, and heading to Chicago, right?" Deirdre asked.

"Assuming that it's called Chicago." Aislin said. "After all, 'Milwaukee' is called 'Newport' here."

"I kinda wonder what the world map looks like for this planet." Deirdre said.

"Me too." said Aislin. "Huh. I have an idea about that. Let's go find Wil."
-
Deirdre waves her hand in front of Wil's face, which stays in its 'demented grin' position.

"He's been like that ever since we found this room." David explained. "It is an awesome room, and it seems to have overloaded his brain or something."

"Well, he just bought his own airship, and discovered that it has a room that's a cross between a 'Glass Room' and a computer lounge, with the windows as screens." Aislin said. "I'm surprised he didn't faint again."

"Point." David said. "But I can't get him to respond, either."

"Stand back." Aislin said. "I'm going to try science."

Everyone stands back, and Aislin stands next to Wil, points at the far wall, and exclaims "Is that a demonic duck of some sort?"

"What? Where?" I said.

"Obscure Internet humor." she said. "Works every time."

"I wasn't that out of it..." I protested lamely.

"Whatever." she said. "Can you ask Puck a question?"

"Yup." I said, raising my wrist. "Talk to the watch."

"Right..." she said. "Anyway. Puck? You there?"

"No, you's on second." he says.

"Dammit, Puck." she said.

"Please specify deity and target." he said.

"Wait, really?" she asked surprisedly.

"No." Puck responded. "What do you want?"

Briefly annoyed, she continued. "Can you display a globe map of this planet?"

"Geographical, geopolitical, or topographical display?" he asked.

"Geopolitical, if you would."

A slowly rotating globe appears on the window in front of us, and national borders appear, soon followed by labels.

"This is the nation of Shiva. There are also the nations of Europa, Alexandria, Romeria, Austere, and the Indies." Puck began to narrate. "No wars are currently going on, but minor skirmishes happen every so often. However, the current geopolitical landscape is peaceful."

"World peace." I said. "Cool."

"It's only slightly more peaceful than your own world, Wil." Puck said. "But really, that's not saying much."

"I suppose it isn't." I said.

The following morning, I woke up at about 8:30. The Freyja had arrived at Chicago the previous afternoon, and we had put it into the equivalent of a 'parking orbit', cruising along the streets without a specific destination. There were docking facilities, of course, but it was still Chicago. Actual parking was improbable. I roused myself, and traveled up to the command deck, and check out the skyline from the bridge. After a short time, a sound known to both sailors and Trekkies alike echoed across the bridge. Never having heard it in person, however, I was momentarily startled. I may have uttered some atypical oaths, as our friendly neighborhood A.I. responded "I'd prefer you pronounce my name as 'Puck', and as for the 'what the', it's an incoming call."

"Call, or hail?" I asked.

"Fungible." he said. "Shall I pipe it through?"

"Sure." I said. "But if this is a telemarketer, I'm confiscating your RAM."

"Hello?" said the voice of a youngish woman. "Is this the airship Freyja?"

"Yes, it is." I said guardedly. "Who's calling?"

"I'm secretary to the CEO of Donatello Industries. Please hold while I connect you."

"Um, okay..." I said, and was bathed in hold muzak. Moments later, a male voice that held no more years than mine said "Hello. I am Niccolo Donatello, CEO of Donatello Industries. You are William Mikhail Zurn, Avatar of Order, and native of Earth-1."

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"I know because I must." he said. "You see, I am the Avatar of Fire, known as the Magus of Eternal Flame."

"Ah." I said. "We've been looking for you."

"Of course you were." Niccolo said. "But we have been looking for you for far longer. The primary mission of Donatello Industries is to locate and contact the Metaphysical Avatars, as well as help facilitate the next step. Please meet with me and my associates in three day's time at our headquarters in Potomac."

"We'll see you there." I said, and ended the call. "Puck?"

"He is the Avatar." said Puck.

"What, you could tell from his voice?" I asked skeptically.

"Well, that and the information I found on the Internet." Puck said.

"Ah."

                                    ---------------------------------------------------------

Immediately afterward, at Donatello Industries Headquarters...

"Well, it seems that the Metaphysical Avatars will be here soon." Niccolo observes smugly. "With their help, we'll soon have our colleagues here. All of them."

He pours a bit of brandy from a crystal bottle on a shelf into a goblet, and flashes an evil grin towards three force cages on a far wall. One contained a sullen-looking man, the second a furious Alexandrian woman. The third stood empty, and almost looked foreboding.

In an accent straight out of St. Petersburg, the Alexandrian shouted "You'll never get your filthy hands on Elia!"

With a dismissive chuckle, Donatello followed up by saying "The Metaphysicals have no reason to suspect me, and Elia is but one woman. The simple truth is that you can't stop me."

With a cocky shrug, he left the room.

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Six hours later, on the Freyja bridge:

"How did he know?"

I turned to look at Aislin, who had spoken fron the pilot's seat.

"What?" I asked.

"How did that Donatello fellow know we were here, and who we are? I mean, there was that whole 'I know because I must' thing, but that's almost the exact opposite of an answer."

"I'm not sure." I answered. "Puck was pretty sure that he was the Avatar of Fire. But this does seem a bit convenient, and it definitely doesn't quite add up. It's not like we have any other leads to the Physicals, though. We'll just have to play this by ear."

"And keep our guard up." she points out.

"Aislin, I never let mine down." I said seriously.

"Probably wise." she concurred.

Two hours later, above Pittsburgh:

"Whoa, what the frak!?" I shouted, alarmed. "Full stop! Very, very soon! Like, two minutes ago!"

"You had me at 'full stop', Wil." said Puck, who was interfacing with the navigation systems. "Now what's the emergency?"

"There's a giant wall in front of us!" I said. "Can't you see it?"

"No, I can't. Which is odd..." he said, puzzled. "What about you all?"

We had dropped into a habit of taking shifts on the bridge while in flight to other cities. It seemed only proper to have someone at the pilot's seat, after all. By some quirk of fate, this little incident took place as we were switching shifts, so we were all present when it happened.

"I see a big frickin' wall." David said.

"Me too." Deirdre said.

"Ayyep." Aislin concurred.

"Interesting. While I don't see a wall, I am reading a great deal of Elemental energy directly ahead." said Puck.

"Which element?" I asked.

"Water."

As he said that, the 'wall' shifted form into the face of a woman no older than 20 Earth years. Her eyes were blue, as was her hair. The floating face then spoke.

"Hello. I am Elia Terranova. I am the Avatar of Water. I sent this illusion spell to locate you and deliver a warning. Niccolo Donatello is an evil man. He has captured my friends, the other Avatars, and seeks to capture me as well. He will try to conceal this from you, and enlist your help in recapturing me. Go see him if you must, but please believe me when I say that if you enter Donatello Industries, you will leave only on his terms. I can say no more until we meet in person. I realize you have exactly as much reason to trust my word as you do his, but I have no other recourse. If you believe me, come to Liberty Park in Potomac. I will know if you arrive, so don't worry about the 'when'. Forgive the melodrama, but you truly are my only hope."

And with that statement, Elia Terranova's illusory head shimmered out of existence.

"Well, there's a hell of a choice." David observed. "Do we rescue the Princess, or risk getting Bowser'd?"

"I'd say both." I said.

People gave me strange looks, so I elaborated a bit.

"I can teleport myself and one other person to Liberty Park, provided Puck provides coordinates. The other two can stay on the ship in case things go south with Elia, and also to keep up appearances in case Niccolo goes Bowser on us."

"I'll go with Wil." Aislin volunteered.

"Thank you, I'll need your help." I said. "Puck? Coordinates?"

"Here you go!" he said cheerily, putting the required info onscreen.

"Right." I said, grasping Aislin's hand for the teleport. "Here goes nothing!"

"Watch your caboose, Dix." David quipped referentially.

"And come back safely." Deirdre added.

And so, with a smile and a nod, I 'ported out to Liberty Park.

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Two seconds or so later, in Downtown Potomac:

"Why's it so dark?" Aislin asked.

"I think we landed in another cupboard or something." I said, and groped around blindly until I found a door catch. I opened the door, and we stepped out into the bright Potomac sun.

"Yeah, 'or something'." Aislin said sourly, pointing.

I turned, and noticed that we had just stepped out of a public outdoor restroom.

"Great." I said, equally sourly. "I wonder where that Elia person is."

"She said she'd know if we came." Aislin reminded me. "I say we wait."

And wait we did. Ten minutes or so later, a hooded figure walked into the park. I gave Aislin a subtle nudge with my elbow, and we keep an eye on them. The hooded figure checked a device on their wrist, and walked over to where we were seated. I tensed up a bit, and sensed that Aislin had done the same. Then the hooded person spoke.

"I'm Elia Terranova." she said, lowering her hood. "I'm glad you came."

"It was no problem." I said, relaxing slightly. "Is the hair because of the Avatar thing?"

"No, it's because of dye." she said. "But where are the others? And how did you get here so quickly?"

"The others are still on our ship." Aislin said. "Wil teleported us here so we could check out your story before we do anything... rash."

"Teleportation? That's cool." Elia said, impressed.

"Yeah, it is a bit." I said. "Anyway, we should get on with why we're here."

"Yes, quite." Elia said. "Walk with me.  It'll make it hard for anyone to listen in."

"Cloak and dagger much?" I asked.

"I'd rather not see any daggers, personally." Aislin said. "Let's roll with it."

"Whatever." I said.

We start walking around the park, in no particular direction.

"Ok, I'll tell you what I know." Elia said. "Let's see, where to begin..."

"At the beginning." Aislin suggested.

"If there is such a thing." I added.

"Right, of course." Elia said. "I suppose the beginning of the story would be the founding of Donatello Industries, four years ago. It was just us four back then, Niccolo, Peter, Darya, and myself. We had more enthusiasm than sense back then, but Niccolo had some very clever ideas for gadgetry. We figured we could make money by selling them, so we started up a company. The name 'Donatello Industries' was actually chosen to be ironic. We mainly operated out of Peter's garage for the first year or so, so adding the 'Industries' bit was pure silliness. But people really liked the gadgets we built, and over a period of months, we actually became a company worthy of the name. We moved our head offices to the spot that they're at currently about six months ago. It was also about that time that we received an odd visitor. He introduced himself as Mordred, and he told us that we were the 'Avatars of the Physical'. It sounds mad, but we had been noticing oddities, and he made a lot of sense. He explained planar metaphysics to us, and told us about our elements. Niccolo's title is the Magus of Eternal Flame, Peter was called Knight of the Earthen Realm, Darya was named the Kirin of Ephemeral Air, and I the Maiden of Infinite Ice. I found that I could manipulate water, form ice beams, and other ice forms. My real talent was in illusions, however. I believe you saw some of my work already. Niccolo could control fire to a very fine degree, and could produce flame in spheres as well as streams.  Darya found that she was quite adept at influencing the weather, and lensing air into shield forms. Peter could do things with soil that could best be described as miraculous. He once showed me a seed that he planted, and made it grow into a fully adult plant in minutes! It was a truly remarkable time for all of us. Mordred began giving us lessons, but after a few days, began meeting only with Niccolo. I should have seen something at that point, but I suppose I was too excited at my new found abilities. I should have said something."

She started to become upset, but we were just getting to the important part. We paused near a fountain, and I put my hand on her shoulder. She seemed to calm down a bit, and continued her story.

"It was after Niccolo began getting 'private lessons' from Mordred that he began to change. He started talking about how our power made us better than other people. How we should rule over them as gods. How we not only had the ability, but the responsibility to take action. He always was somewhat displeased with our society, so I guess we figured he was just letting off steam. Three days ago, that theory was shot rather completely to Hell. He attacked us, saying that if we didn't actively help him ascend to Godhood and rule over the world, we would only be in his way. We were in his office at the time, he had called us there. Peter tried to calm him down, but Niccolo hit him with a fireblast. Darya tackled him, and shouted for me to run. I took his laptop and jumped out the window, forming a crude ice ramp on the way down. God, I hope they're okay..."

She started sobbing, and I suspected that the events of that day and those since were only now making a full impact. We sat on a bench near a duck pond, and said nothing for a short while. After a bit, Aislin broke the silence.

"What about the computer?" she asked. "Did it have any useful information?"

"I couldn't see." Elia responded. "I don't know his password."

"Sounds like a job for William Mikhail Zurn, Ubergeek Extraordinaire!" I said with exaggerated pomp, to try to ease the mood slightly.

Elia produced the computer, which looked like a tablet PC, but a great deal sleeker. I turned it on, and it asked for a password. I thought for a moment, and was struck by a thought. I tried a password that had come to me, and got access.

"What was the password?" Elia asked.

"Entropy." I said.

"Well, that's not ominous." Aislin said dryly.

I took a few minutes to figure out the file system, and poked through its contents. After about an hour or so, we finished reading. Elia had gone over to feed the ducks. I suppose she didn't want to invade his privacy or something. Anyway, she turned and walked back over when I vocalized my reaction.

"Oh, not good."

"What is it?" Elia asked.

"Mostly, it's propaganda from a group called the 'Entropists'." I summed up. "But there's also some rather specific instructions on how to make a device, that when powered by the Avatars will simply destroy the Multiverse."

"Simply?" Aislin asked.

"Well, yes, actually." I explained. "It creates a sort of 'feedback' in the Planes. See, according to this information, the Planar Essences continually flow into a vast 'mechanism' called the Planar Forge. That's the thing that 'distills the essences of the planes'. This device would severely restrict the flow of Essence, eventually cutting it off. And without the flow of Essence, the Multiverse just kind of dries up."

"Ok, that's bad." Aislin said.

"Yeah." I said. "We should do something about it."

"But what can we do?" Elia asked. 

"I'm not sure." I said. "But we shouldn't do anything rash. That would just make things worse, which, albeit, is kind of hard to imagine."

Suddenly, Puck started beeping urgently, and a largeish number of armed men surrounded us, and two helicopters hovered overhead. A third started booming commands from a megaphone.

"Surrender immediately, or you will be killed!" it said.

We raised our hands in the universal gesture of surrender. As we were led into one of the helicopters, Aislin muttered to me.

"You just had to go and taunt Murphy, didn't you?"