Read Online The Broken Universe by Paul Melko - Free Book Online

whole world to ourselves,” Henry-7651 said. “We need to start a vacation club. ‘Visit the Lost World!’”
    “It’s certainly better than the nuclear winter world,” John said.
    “The what?”
    “I passed through a world—while I was arguing with Professor Wilson—that was frozen over due to nuclear winter,” John explained. “7539, 7540, something like that. Due to a limited nuclear exchange which had kicked up a lot of dust into the atmosphere. It was only October, but there was already a meter of snow on the ground. Everyone was hoarding food and the army was rationing.”
    “Wow.”
    John nodded.
    “Was that Professor Wilson from the physics department at U Toledo?” Grace-7651 asked.
    “Uh, yeah. We had a little bit of a run-in,” John said. “I tried to convince him that parallel universes were possible. He didn’t believe me, so I transferred out right in front of his eyes.”
    “No!”
    “Yeah, it was a pretty stupid thing to do,” John said.
    “Because now he knows travel between universes is possible,” Grace-7651 said. “He won’t stop until he figures it out.”
    “You think?” John said. “He’ll use Occam’s razor to convince himself it was all a fake.”
    “Maybe,” Grace-7651 said. “He might, or he might spend the next decades trying to break open the secrets.”
    “Let him,” John said.
    After Henry-7651 had taken a few more pictures of the mastodons, John said, “It’s getting late. We should get everyone back to their home universes. We’ve been gone from 7650 for twenty-four hours. Who knows what’s gone wrong while we were away.”
    “Hopefully not much,” Grace-7650 said.
    They walked back to the transfer zone and used John’s portable device to reach Universe 7651.
    “So here’s a couple thousand dollars,” Grace-7650 said to Grace-7651.
    “Whoa, that’s a lotta cash!” Henry-7651 said.
    “It used to be a lotta gold,” John joked. “Now it’s just a little bit of cash.”
    “Rent an apartment in Findlay, and a car,” Grace-7651 said. “Tomorrow John will deliver the encyclopedia from 7650. You can buy the same set from the university bookstore.”
    “Right,” Grace-7651 said. “And we need to incorporate the company here. Scour the two encyclopedias for discrepancies. And search the electronics catalogs for the parts you listed.”
    “Exactly.”
    “Two apartments or one?” Henry-7651 asked. When the other four turned to look at him, he began to blush.
    “One, silly,” Grace-7651 said. “With two bedrooms. To save money.”
    “Oh.”
    John saw Henry-7650 and Grace-7650 share a look. He wasn’t sure what the status was between the Grace and Henry of 7651. They knew each other, and Grace had kissed Henry. But were they dating? It almost seemed as if his Grace and Henry were setting this Grace and Henry up on a blind date.
    “Then we’ll have you over a couple times in the evening to show how the machines are built,” Grace-7650 said.
    Grace-7651 smiled. “These pinball machines, or these transfer machines?”
    John started to say something, but Grace-7650 said, “Both!” Again John felt he had unleashed forces beyond his control. Grace clearly wanted something more than one or two gates between worlds. Didn’t he want that too?
    Grace-7650 kissed her counterpart and Henry-7651. Henry-7650 awkwardly shook hands with Henry-7651 and Grace-7651. Then the three left the doppelgangers for their home universe, using the transfer gate.
    “They seem like nice enough people,” Grace-7650 said.
    John merely raised an eyebrow.
    *   *   *
    Viv’s new crew of builders increased their skills quickly, and the pinball factory had no problems meeting the quota for Casey’s new order. John was no longer surprised when she appeared at the office at the end of the day with a handful of order sheets. She had a knack for sales, more so than he ever had. John and Henry were engineers.
    The date of the board meeting arrived quickly, and though