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"Well Michael, We have just passed through
three degrees of infinity, bypassed hyperspace, caused 21.7 quantum paradoxes
and arrived in another world. I am, incidentally, the model 3.4b
Multiverse Inter-Reality Transport, or MIRT," the machine said rather smugly,
as Michael landed with a bump on the floor. Michael picked himself up and
looked confused as his brain tried to catch up. Jumping through dimensions
is not an everyday occurrence, and people find it hard to know what to
do when such things occur.
"You’re a mirt..." Michael began.
"Correction: Mirt. Are you a michael?" Mirt said, his voice like that
of a teacher correcting an irritating child.
"Mirt then. And you are a machine, and you took me between..." Michael’s
brain, which had had to go into overdrive, caught up with his ears. "How did
you know my name?"
"I have been programmed to interface telepathically, thus bypassing
the need for language or speech recognition. Sorry, clarification: I can
read your mind to a very limited extent, usually no more than what you
are saying, but things such as your name I can sometimes pick up," Mirt
said, presumably actually transmitting the words into Michael’s brain.
A shiver went down Michael’s spine. Before he’d hardly even be told about
machines, yet now one had whisked him off into another world.
Michael looked around, finally taking in his
new surroundings. It was the same room all right, but furnished, with a
carpet. Outside the weather was bright and sunny, unlike the dreary mist
he had left. There were still machines, but more part of the furniture.
There was a square black box, which he recalled as a... television? His parents
would probably be shocked how much he knew, but being inquisitive he had
pried and nosied about these things. The place had a modern feel to it,
and Michael guessed that whoever lived here was fairly rich. Just then,
a man, presumably one of the inhabitants of the house walked in. He was
rather fat, with piggy little eyes in a balding head. His dress was that
of those with more money than taste while his stomach looked in a constant
state of being about to burst. He had a beard that looked like he had inexpertly
tried to trim it, leaving it in a mess and marks on his face.
"What are you doing in my house?" he said angrily, waving his arms
animatedly like an infuriated windmill.
"I’m sorry," stammered Michael, running to the door. The man clumped
after him, putting Michael in mind of a portly rhinoceros in garish clothes.
"I’ll call the police, you scoundrel!" he wheezed, but Michael was
already out of the house. He looked around, and saw that he was by a road.
He decided to follow it.
The road led down into a town Dolgellau. The
town looked bigger, and there were buildings that weren’t there in his
world. There was an odd stench in the air, and cars would shoot past him
at incredible speed, choking out foul smelling fumes that made his eyes
water. He felt nervous every time when he had to cross over the roads,
for fear one of the cars would come and hit him. Meanwhile he conversed
with Mirt.
"How do you work?" Michael asked him.
"I’m sorry, that would be rather complicated for the understanding
of even the most advanced of your scientists before the events which caused
a widespread dislike for machinery," Mirt answered smugly.
"Hmm.. Why is it the adults don’t like machines?" Michael asked.
"Good question. That was what Andrew - my previous user was trying
to find out. He was one of an expeditionary force sent out from my world
of origin to study different worlds. He went missing. I cannot normally
operate on my own unless programmed to. Programming, by the way, is kind
of giving instructions to machines," Mirt said. And so their conversation
continued, as they explored the new world.
"It may be beneficial for me to disguise myself, as I may appear anachronistic
to local inhabitants," Mirt said.
"Can you do that?" Michael asked, amazed.
"Of course. It is an elementary matter of particle rearrangement, put
crudely," Mirt said. The electronic flashes that constantly sped across
the surface of him increased in speed and ferocity. The whole device blurred
and shimmered as it transformed shape into something similar, yet suited
to that world.
"Analysis shows many locals to be equipped with such a device, which
I believe to be known as a 'mobile phone'," Mirt said. "If you talk into
the mouthpiece, the activity should seem inconspicuous. Such a device was
commonly used in the past of my native world. My scans of the area seems
to show that this time and place is similar to that of my world some years
ago, although it seems as if in some aspects it has developed on different
lines. I detect an interconnected network of many computers, which appears
to be used for information interchange, for instance. However, the power
sources are primitive - they still seem to be burning coal and using dangerous
forms of nuclear power."
"This is amazing... it seems so real! If there weren’t all the machines
and the smell it could almost be home. Although I’d like to see somewhere
really different," Michael said excitedly.
"Co-ordinates set for a large jump. Just press the red button to go,"
Mirt said. Michael hesitated - should he go on, in search of new life and
new civilization, or explore here first? He looked down at the "mobile
phone" and saw that there was still a red button. He pressed it down, and
time/space was ripped open once again, to the amazement of onlookers, who
saw a strange looking boy disappear in a flash of colours. It was put down
to UFOs, mass hallucinations and lightning by various people later.