Violette looked at me, but I didn’t
speak, so she carried on, ‘I see that you want her to understand
your perspective; perhaps you are angry because she doesn’t. Your
mind is unwilling to separate these two people from each other.
Which is why you think as one as being imaginary, and the other
real. But she only sees a man who fascinates her, for reasons that
hitherto she would have rejected; you knew her other self.
Therefore you hold some knowledge about her that she might not yet
know. Personally, she is not close to anyone except her brother.
And she feels lost without him around to guide her. Do you wish me
to discuss this further?’
‘Yes. Do it.
Please. I must know.’ I said down on a chair rather abruptly.
Violette gracefully sat, and smoothing her skirt over her knees
continued: ‘I believe that she feels disloyal to Jared for taking
any kind of interest in you. She is angry at herself for apparently
being the cause of all of this dreadful experiment. What she
doesn’t know…. That is to say; Jules has only just found out; is
that she wasn’t the one who got the final equations to a useable
state.’
‘What? Then
who?’
Violette
lowered her voice, ‘This is beyond me. But if I understand Jules
right; the parallel world is self-perpetuating.’
‘We can’t get
rid of the connection….?’ I said, and added, ‘But technically it’s
not the world that’s parallel, but only some of the people in
it.’
She waved it
away with one hand; ‘No matter. The facts seem to be clear. It was
the other Janey. The woman who is lost out there somewhere; she was
the one who put the finishing touches on the necessary programming
of the modulator that made the corridor open. Jules says that this
means that in the timeline, the parallel people appeared before the
corridor to that other world. He says… I think that it means that
all the people must have a real counterpart in this world. He
believes that the Mr Alexander wasn’t him at all. He has told me
how people are only certain of their identity from the tags. If
they forget…. They read the tags.’
‘That must mean
that the tag of Mr Alexander had been taken from another version of
Jules. A stolen tag? Is that why he looked like him?’
‘Who can say?’
Violette tapped her nails on the glass, ‘sometimes in life, a
person takes on the appearance of a character. They assume an
identity. If the person was similar in basic physical appearance to
Jules, he might have convinced himself he was the same person, but
had simply made different choices.’
‘So am I
supposed to see Janey as being two people or one?’
‘You can see it
anyway that helps you. But perhaps you need to stop being afraid of
what might happen if you allow yourself to see both sides of her as
real.’
‘Why does it
matter what I think of her? Why should that make any difference at
all?’
‘It does,’
Violette looked away, ‘I will say something completely as a
friend…. Take this as you wish…. But Janey is alone in this city.
She is afraid that she has made a terrible mistake. And you have
wounded her…. It was necessary, for all our sakes; and no one
blames you for that… but you took away her dignity… and perhaps you
are the only one who can give it back. She is already half way to
helping you. I have done that much for you. But her pride cannot be
answered by anyone else. Only you can tell her she really matters.
Only you can bring those two sides back together. Jules tried to
explain about; hmm… people meeting themselves. But that is maybe
how she can believe you are telling her the truth. Taking it on
faith is not her greatest attribute is it?’
‘No. I guess it
hasn’t been.’ I felt dreadful. Violette took another bottle of wine
out of the back of fridge and went to join the others.
I sat with my
elbows on the table and my hands over my face. Ten minutes later I
left by the front door to jump in a taxi and go to Janey’s
house.
I stood in
speak, so she carried on, ‘I see that you want her to understand
your perspective; perhaps you are angry because she doesn’t. Your
mind is unwilling to separate these two people from each other.
Which is why you think as one as being imaginary, and the other
real. But she only sees a man who fascinates her, for reasons that
hitherto she would have rejected; you knew her other self.
Therefore you hold some knowledge about her that she might not yet
know. Personally, she is not close to anyone except her brother.
And she feels lost without him around to guide her. Do you wish me
to discuss this further?’
‘Yes. Do it.
Please. I must know.’ I said down on a chair rather abruptly.
Violette gracefully sat, and smoothing her skirt over her knees
continued: ‘I believe that she feels disloyal to Jared for taking
any kind of interest in you. She is angry at herself for apparently
being the cause of all of this dreadful experiment. What she
doesn’t know…. That is to say; Jules has only just found out; is
that she wasn’t the one who got the final equations to a useable
state.’
‘What? Then
who?’
Violette
lowered her voice, ‘This is beyond me. But if I understand Jules
right; the parallel world is self-perpetuating.’
‘We can’t get
rid of the connection….?’ I said, and added, ‘But technically it’s
not the world that’s parallel, but only some of the people in
it.’
She waved it
away with one hand; ‘No matter. The facts seem to be clear. It was
the other Janey. The woman who is lost out there somewhere; she was
the one who put the finishing touches on the necessary programming
of the modulator that made the corridor open. Jules says that this
means that in the timeline, the parallel people appeared before the
corridor to that other world. He says… I think that it means that
all the people must have a real counterpart in this world. He
believes that the Mr Alexander wasn’t him at all. He has told me
how people are only certain of their identity from the tags. If
they forget…. They read the tags.’
‘That must mean
that the tag of Mr Alexander had been taken from another version of
Jules. A stolen tag? Is that why he looked like him?’
‘Who can say?’
Violette tapped her nails on the glass, ‘sometimes in life, a
person takes on the appearance of a character. They assume an
identity. If the person was similar in basic physical appearance to
Jules, he might have convinced himself he was the same person, but
had simply made different choices.’
‘So am I
supposed to see Janey as being two people or one?’
‘You can see it
anyway that helps you. But perhaps you need to stop being afraid of
what might happen if you allow yourself to see both sides of her as
real.’
‘Why does it
matter what I think of her? Why should that make any difference at
all?’
‘It does,’
Violette looked away, ‘I will say something completely as a
friend…. Take this as you wish…. But Janey is alone in this city.
She is afraid that she has made a terrible mistake. And you have
wounded her…. It was necessary, for all our sakes; and no one
blames you for that… but you took away her dignity… and perhaps you
are the only one who can give it back. She is already half way to
helping you. I have done that much for you. But her pride cannot be
answered by anyone else. Only you can tell her she really matters.
Only you can bring those two sides back together. Jules tried to
explain about; hmm… people meeting themselves. But that is maybe
how she can believe you are telling her the truth. Taking it on
faith is not her greatest attribute is it?’
‘No. I guess it
hasn’t been.’ I felt dreadful. Violette took another bottle of wine
out of the back of fridge and went to join the others.
I sat with my
elbows on the table and my hands over my face. Ten minutes later I
left by the front door to jump in a taxi and go to Janey’s
house.
I stood in
Similar Books
