Infinitium

(Area 51 Nevada, January 1st, 2036)

Adam had to admit, the flight to Area 52 was pretty nice. As they landed, and then came to a stop, the Lieutenant produced a pair of handcuffs and asked, “Will there be trouble?”

“Nope,” Adam said as he stuck out his hands which the Lieutenant put the cuffs on.

Adam was led out of the plane to a waiting Humvee and placed in the back seat. The Lieutenant jumped in the passenger seat and the guards each took up riding positions on the outside. Adam was driven off the tarmac toward an open hanger door. There wasn’t much to see, just an air traffic control tower, this hanger, and a mountain. Adam’s driver took them into the hangar where a table with two chairs waited. Around the outer edge where guards or Military Police, he counted six. As he looked up he also noticed two snipers positioned above on the catwalks of the hanger, so eight total.

“Come with me.” The Lieutenant said as they exited the vehicle. Adam was led over to one of the chairs with its back to the hanger door and sat down. The handcuff around his right wrist was undone and reattached to a ring on the table. The table was also bolted to the ground. They obviously thought he wasn’t going anywhere. There was a small glass of water on the table. “Feel free to drink the water, though I wouldn’t drink it all at once. It's all you’re getting until…

“Until someone from some unnamed agency gets here,” Adam said cutting off the Lieutenant before he said, “Watch this,” and then willed his magic to create water like a stream coming from his finger as if it were shooting from a garden hose. He directed the stream and filled the cup to overflowing as water spilled everywhere.

Immediately the two guards were on him, one with a gun to the back of his head while the other searching his hand. While they were trying to figure out what was going on he checked his prompts

You have used the Ability “Spellweaver” to “Create Water” as a slow stream at approximately 1 gallon per minute. Initial Mana Cost 10, can be maintained for 1 mana per second.

As he thought, his mana regeneration could handle this, in fact, the cost of the initial cast would be back in a second with his mana regeneration current at 27. Adam looked at the Lieutenant, “It’s just water. Also, I can do this all day, see?” he said as they continued to search him while the water continued to spray from his finger.

“The guard searching his hand looked at his counterpart and the Lieutenant, “There’s nothing there, no hoses, nothing, his hand is bare.

“I can make that appear out of thin air if I want,” Adam said as the stream of water moved away from his finger, reoriented to shoot at the ground and a stream of water started falling out of the air onto the middle of the desk. He’d have to play with the ability Spellweaver, but it looked like as long as he had an idea of what he wanted he could create any spell effect he could think of. He’d stick to the simpler spells for now. He didn’t want to draw too much attention to himself from on high yet. He still didn’t know the lay of land for this new Cosmos.

Adam decided to try for a targeted conjuring and tried to will a cap onto the tip of the firing pin on the M-16 to the back of his head, just in case. He might not have nanites, but he had magic and it looked like he could form it to his will. In some ways that might be better than nanites. After 8 hours he was already level 7 and his mana was up to the 300. With his skills maxed out at 100 across the board, it looked like if he could think of it, at least for small stuff he could make it happen. He’d wait for a little while before he tried to teleport. Adam shut the water off after he gave the guard a second to wave his hand through the water then asked, “Are you going to keep your useless gun pointed at my head all day or can I sit back yet?”

“What do you mean useless?” the Lieutenant asked.

“The weapon’s firing pin has a rubber coating on it.”

“No, it doesn’t?” the Soldier said.

“No, it didn’t, now it does. Clear your weapon and I’ll show you” Adam said as he willed the water to evaporate off the table”

“Clear your weapon,” The Lieutenant said.

The soldier released Adam slowly, cleared his weapon, checked the chamber then held out the weapon.

“Thank you,” Adam said as he checked the chamber himself, and broke the gun down setting it neatly on the table. Adam didn’t rush but within a minute the gun was in various pieces sitting on the table. Adam pointed to the firing pin, “See?” he asked.

The soldier bent over, looked at the pin, and said, “How did you do that?”

“The same way I’m doing this,” he said as the clear coating over the pin evaporated while he held it.

“What the hell?” he said dropping the pin

Adam willed the pin to return to the table and it floated through the air and landed in the place he’d made for it in the breakdown layout. Looking around and up he said, “Okay, the show’s over. Whoever needs to talk to me, get your ass out here or I’m leaving!”

The Lieutenant looked confused then said, “Sir, you’re handcuffed to a table, you’re not going anywhere.”

Adam smiled, “You’d think that wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, sir I would.” The Lieutenant said.

“Me too,” the soldier with a working gun said.

“Me three, but I’ll admit, I’m having doubts,” said the third.

“As I’m sure you haven’t been briefed, Lieutenant I’ll let you know that I appeared at Union Glacier at Midnight last night. I didn’t travel there. I didn’t fly there, I appeared there. Another thing you might not know is that the ‘me’ from this world is in Dallas Texas right now probably recovering from a hangover or grading some papers or something. I am him, he is me, but we are not the same person. Now, I am more than willing to sit down and talk with whoever is in charge and let them know exactly what happened to me but I’m not going to sit around and play stupid ass games.”

“Doesn’t look to me like you have much of a choice,” The Lieutenant said.

“Again, you’d think that. Soldier, can I borrow your knife, or if that worries you could you hold it out, blade up please,” he said as he checked his HP regeneration which was now up to 3 per second. As he only had 9 hit points, damage that could kill him would heal almost immediately, cool

The soldier looked to the Lieutenant. “Indulge him, we have a first aid kit in the Humvee.” The soldier pulled out his knife and held it horizontally, sharp end upward.

Adam reached out slowly with his free hand and pressed down as he dragged his hand along the blade. Adam felt the knife bite in as blood trickled down the blade. The soldier’s eyes went wide as he held his hand up for everyone to see. The wound stopped bleeding immediately and closed up a second later.

Everyone around him was shocked and a couple of weapons were being raised around him at a distance, “I’ll leave you with these thoughts; Magic is real, I heal really fast, Wolverine fast, if you kill me, I will return. When you feel like talking send a limo and ask for Adam, I’ll be checked into the Mirage in Vegas under the name, Johnathan Bennard. See you in a little bit” he said as he teleported to the courtesy bathroom closet on the first floor of the Mirage.

Adam checked his Personal Interface as he appeared.

You have used the ability “Spellweaver” to teleport 85 miles. Initial Cost 50 mana + 1 mana per mile transversed, 135 mana spent.

Adam stepped out of the bathroom and washed his hands before he conjured some new clothes. A dark grey Armani Suit.

You have used the ability “Spellweaver” to Conjure a simple item, Clothing. Initial Cost 40 mana + 5 mana per piece of clothing. Note: The ability “Infinite Wealth” is synergistic with this spell. Additional mana costs and items to make specific items are provided by this ability.

Adam put on the suit and stepped out of the bathroom and then went to the front counter.

“Hello sir, may he help you?” the young female clerk behind the counter asked.

“Why yes, I need to check in. I’d like the best suite you have available.

“Do you have a preferred membership status with us, sir?”

“No, I came into an inheritance not too long ago and I’d like to live it up for the first time ever,” Adam said with a smile.

“That can be quite expensive sir.”

“I know, but money is no object, as I said, I inherited a lot. Here you go,” Adam said as he reached into his pocket and willed his Infinite Wealth ability to provide him with an authorized credit card with unlimited funds. He didn’t know if that would work but he was pleasantly surprised when he felt a card appear between his fingers. Adam drew out the card and noticed that it had his picture on it, a chip, and a Secured Diamond Debit, Citibank Card logo on it. He handed the card to the clerk. She placed the debit card in a reader, waited for a beep, read something on the screen, and looked at her monitor. It beeped and the clerk looked up with a smile.

“Johnathan Bennard, our Prince’s Suite is available if you’d like it.”

“Yes please, is there a shop, and can I charge anything I want from it to my room?”

“Why yes sir, if I might ask, what are you looking for?” she asked.

“I need the highest-end computer you can get your hands on as quickly as possible.“

“Well Sir, there is tech in the store but for a small fee, we could have someone run down the street and purchase what you need. It will be charged to your room of course.”

“That sounds great. Tell you what, there is a 100-dollar tip per minute every minute for whoever brings that computer to me in less than 30 minutes.”

Adam heard someone behind him say “I’ll get it!” as the clerk handed a black card to him, and he rushed out the front of the building.

The clerk looked at Adam and smiled, “He should be back in a little bit, is there anything else?”

“No that should do it.”

“Very good sir, here is your room key. You have a private elevator right there, an intercom to the kitchen, and this desk, both are marked and have multiple locations to make calls from in your Suite. Please enjoy your stay”

“Thank You,” Adam said as he turned and walked over to the elevator and rode it up to the Prince’s Suite. It wasn’t a suite; it was a house. On the top of a hotel. There was practically a full-size mansion with a pool, workout room, and ballroom…he let himself get distracted until he heard the elevator open. He looked at the clock. Seven minutes, that was fast. Adam walked over, looked at the laptop he’d been brought, and realized it would do just fine.

“23 minutes to spare, I believe someone wanted a tip,” Adam said with a smile.

“Yes sir!” the young man said sheepishly.”

“A deal is a deal,” he said as he opened his wallet and pulled out thirty 100-dollar bills, and handed them to him.

“Thank you, sir,” the young man said as he turned and went back to the Elevator and left the Suite.

Adam opened the box, plugged the laptop in, and started the update cycle while he ordered some food. Once he’d eaten he sat down opened the laptop and got to work. His intelligence might not be what it once was, but he had a Perfect Memory and could remember every line of code he had ever written. The first thing he did was break through the firewalls on the computer and recreate his VPN that bounced signals off McMurdo. Then he hacked into the Pentagon, ran through the current ops, and tracked down the one working on him.

After he’d looked over their coding for a few minutes Adam realized that he was so far ahead of the power curve here that…then he noticed it. Something was watching the watchers and watching him. It, they, knew exactly where he was, who he was, and what he was doing. It sort of felt like his nanites, but he knew it wasn’t. Magic somehow? He didn’t know. Whoever or whatever it was, He couldn’t do anything about it. He erased any evidence of his discovery and then started verifying the history that he’d grown up with. By the time a special forces unit entered the building six hours later, he was ready. As they were making their way past the desk he hit the intercom and said

“Commander, I’m coming down, I’m unarmed and I’m coming peacefully. No handcuffs, no restraints and I want to speak to someone in charge in the next 30 minutes or I’ll be making a stop at the top of Everest, the same way I left my previous location.”

The commander stopped, and looked around, “He’s got eyes on us, what’s he using?”

“I do have eyes on you,“ Adam said into the commander’s headset, and I can see everything you are doing. Also, if those guys try to breech the balcony window I’m going to see if I can send them to Union Glacier like I arrived there. I know you’ve been briefed.”

A voice came over the headset that they both heard at the same time “Stand down. Mr. Bennard, please come downstairs. These men will escort you to me directly.”

Adam placed the computer in his personal storage, as well as his identity card and his payment card, he figured they’d be useful again. Next, he went to the elevator and headed down. As he came out of the Elevator he said, “Hold on, I need to check out.” Adam walked over to the counter and asked, “How much is that suite per night?

“$25,000,” the clerk said.

Adam pulled out $100,000 in cash and placed it on the counter. “It is my desire that this bonus is paid evenly to everyone working right now. Pay everything else with this card, including cleaning costs and any damages my friends might have made. Do not contact the government on this issue. Expenses, all of them are on me. Okay?

“But Sir, the damages in the garage…

“Charge me, Someday I’d like to be able to stay here again when there isn’t so much attention.”

“It will be as you say, sir,”

“Great, I hope everyone enjoys their bonus tonight and have a wonderful day.”

“You too sir!”

The commander looked flustered but waited patiently for him.

As Adam stepped away from the counter and turned toward the military the Commander said, “This way, Sir.”

Adam followed the commander out of the building to a waiting SUV. They were driven to the Headquarters building on Nellis AFB. Once there they took an elevator down 50 floors to the complex there. If this world was mostly identical to his old one there were two tunnels. One would lead to Area 52 and Area 51 and underground bases at each location. The other would lead east into the Rockies and eventually come out at Norad in Colorado Springs. They’d been dug in secret during the Cold War. There was a tram system that went both directions with access points to the surface along the way, buried and hidden. The tunnel to Norad was about 588 miles and the train was a maglev so could get up to 100 miles per hour with no problem. It could be used to evacuate both locations and get personnel away from nuclear blasts. Or the trains could be used to travel between both locations if flying wasn’t possible. At 100 mph the trip would only be six hours. The Tunnel to Groom Lake was only 85 miles or so, which is what it was used for when distinguished visitors wanted to see the facilities. Also, it was a train. It had advantages, namely that it couldn’t fall out of the sky.

Adam was searched at the top of the elevator shaft, again at the bottom, and one more time when he stepped off the elevator. When he was brought into a room he found Admiral Ainsworth, Chairman Joint Chief sitting across the table.

“Hello Admiral, how are you today?” Adam said.

“I was much better until I was shown the video of your arrival to Antarctica and your disappearance from Area 52. “

“Did someone get in a lot of trouble over that?”

“No, no point. I had 6 guards on the walls two in the rafters and one out in the desert with a bead on you. None of them even had a chance to fire their weapons, nor could they have. We checked the video footage multiple times you were there, then you weren’t. Do you mind telling me how you did that?”

“Not at all, Teleportation”

“Teleportation, horseshit, there’s no such thing.”

“Just like there are no alternate realities, no additional Universes, and Magic doesn’t exist,” Adam said

“What are you saying?” he asked.

“You and I talked not so long ago, yet infinitely long ago in a crater on the moon. In that Universe, I’d created nanotechnology that could power portals that I’d reached out into the stars with. In that Universe, I asked you how you thought I’d made the portals.”

“Could you do that here?”

“I don’t have to. If I want to open a portal to the moon I can.”

“Could you open such a portal now?” the Admiral asked.

“Sure, but only I would survive, Admiral it’s a vacuum up there,” Adam said grinning. If I were the only one in a test chamber?” Sure, but if it’s not vacuum sealed...”

“It is, in fact, you’re either the single greatest asset to the United States of America or you’re a Trojan Horse. I mean to find out which it is.”

“Let me guess, you’re going to call me on my claims about being able to survive in a vacuum regardless.”

“Yes, yes I am.”

“Fine, let’s do this, When I hand you the moon rock though I want to have a sit-down, just you and me when I get back, right here in this room. I don’t care if it’s recorded or taped but no one else, just you and me.”

“I can live with that, if you can step onto the surface of the moon, walk around long enough to grab a rock, and come back through this ‘portal’ from the room we’re going to put you in we can sit down and talk as long as you want.”

“Okay then let’s do this.”

He was led down a hall to a door that opened into a giant cavern. In the cavern was a flat platform about 100 feet square raised off the floor ten feet sitting on giant springs. On the platform was a metal cylinder hooked to a machine that looked like a giant compressor. He looked at the general. “I have to ask, Why do you have this room here?”

“Some of our Pilots…”

“Oh yeah, the hypothetical Aurora project, with the dual ramjets and near orbit flight ceiling?”

“You don’t believe we have it?”

“Admiral, in my Universe I knew we had it. There isn’t a system I can’t hack. As an example, Commander, have your people found the hole in your security I got through?”

“No,” the commander said

“You won’t. It’s a combination of coding utilizing the software as well as the hardware. Certain aspects of all code cannot be changed unless the boards are completely changed. I knew where that code was in my Universe, found it in this one, and exploited it with a small mini–AI I put together while I was waiting for you to find me.”

“You could be thrown in prison for that!”

“Admiral tell your men to put their safeties on. I don’t want any accidents. I give you my word the only person I’m going to affect is himself. Seeing is believing after all.”

“Safeties on, you are not to react to Johnathan’s demonstration.”

Adam watched as his three-man escort put their safeties on, said, “Thank You, “ and then willed himself to fly with magic. He rose above them and floated there. Both the Admiral and the commander reached out to where he had been standing and moved their arms back and forth. Adam looked at the door to the testing chamber and teleported to it. Turned back, to look at them then teleported to where he’d been standing. “What Prison can hold me?”

“You really are going to go to the Moon?”

“Yep!”

“Commander, suit up, I want you with him.”

“No weapons though, no accidents,” Adam said.

“No weapons”

The commander suited up and they stepped into the chamber.

“Through the speaker, they heard the Admiral ask, “Are you sure about this?”

Adam gave him a thumbs up.

Adam turned to the Commander, “Okay, a couple of things so you don’t get scared. We’re going to have to make two hops. The first will be above the crater Mare Serenitatis. From there I’ll be able to see this target and we’ll portal down to the surface.” The air was starting to get light so he made the motion of a thumbs up, which the Commander returned. Once the hissing stopped he opened a portal to 1,000 feet above the moon, then portaled them down to the bottom of the crater. Adam willed them to travel through the portal and they did. He wasn’t sure which power that was, but it worked so he rolled with it. Once they were on the moon he willed a bubble of air around them and said.

“If you wanted to you could take your mask off, there is air here now. Though I wouldn’t do it, just in case. I’m immune to vacuum regardless, I’m still trying out new things with my magic,”

Adam said. He did the quick walk step he’d perfected before over to a rock, picked it up, and handed it to the Commander, “Here you go,” he said

“You know you’re crazy right?” the commander said.

“Certifiable, how’d you get to the Moon again?”

“Point taken, now what?”

Adam walked over to a boulder and placed it into his inventory.

The Commander watched the boulder disappear and then asked, “What just happened?”

“Oh, I put that rock into an interdimensional storage area of mine. I can put things in and take them out,” he said as he put the boulder back on the surface. Then put it back into the storage.

“You’re not going to put me in there are you?”

“No, first the environment is toxic to living creatures, no air, time, or gravity. Second, only non-sentient things can be put in without giving their permission. As I’m sure you don’t want to go in after I just told you it would kill you, I can’t put you in it. Besides, why would I? I like you, your crazy, we can smell our own,” he said with a grin.

“Fine, so now what really, the Admiral will be getting a little worried.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. We’re going to have to portal a few times. The energy I use to do this only comes back so fast. Also, I don’t want to take the chance that some innocent gets sucked into space or the moon so I’m going to open a portal to 50 miles above Washington DC. That way there’s only a slight breeze being pulled through. After we step through I’ll teleport us to the Lincoln Monument. Should be fun,” Adam said as he opened a portal. A slight gust buffeted against them as they stepped through and began falling toward Washington DC. Adam touched the Commander and teleported them to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Some people rushed over. Adam looked around and noticed someone down the steps that had been recording the Monument. “Excuse me, sir, is your recording being broadcast?”

“Yes,” he said.

“And it caught us arriving?”

“Yep!”

“If I give you 1,000 dollars would you give me the name you’re posting under?”

“Make it $10,000 in case it mysteriously disappears, and you have a deal.”

“Well in that case How about I give you this and handed him three stacks of one hundred 100 dollar bills”

“The podcast is under #LincolnLivesinUs or just LincolnLivesinUs on the web.”

“Thanks again. Make sure your camera gets this and please say the date and time.

Adam listened as the stranger he paid said, “It’s 5:05 p.m. here in Washington DC on the 1st of January 2036…” Adam opened a portal for them to step through to the Vacuum chamber.

When the air was back in and the door was opening he looked at the Commander and said, “You’re going to need to show him on your phone, I don’t have one.”

As the door opened the Admiral was there and said, “You were gone a little longer than I expected.“

“True, but I brought you a rock,” Adad said as he went over to the side of the platform, floated down, and pulled the boulder out of his storage.”

“What the hell Mr. Bennard, that’s not a rock, that’s a boulder.”

“Well, my Dad always said I was an overachiever.”

“Can you put that back where you got it from….You can’t just leave a rock like that in this room”

“Sure,” Adam said as he placed the boulder back in his personal storage.

The commander stepped forward with his cell phone outstretched as he said, “Sir, we also stopped at the Lincoln Monument.” he said as pushed the play icon on his phone, “I can’t believe what we just saw, a man and an astronaut just appeared out of nowhere and then vanished again. Don’t believe me, watch,” he said as he replayed “It’s 5:05 p.m. here in Washington DC on the 1st of January 2036…”

“You don’t care about secrecy do you Mr. Bennard?” the Admiral asked.

“I do, but I don’t think it’s not going to matter really soon. I’m not exactly sure why but something just doesn’t feel right.”

“Well, a deal is a deal. Let’s head back upstairs and sit down. I do have your word you’re not going to disappear again?”

“Sound’s good”

They all made their way back upstairs and sat at the main table in a meeting room within the Command Center. It had glass doors and windows all around, but he recognized the sound-dampening measures that were in place. Vacuum-separated glass, and rubber seals. he also noticed the four cameras in the corners of the room. Adam watched through the glass as someone came up to Admiral Ainsworth and showed him something. They spoke in hushed tones then Admiral Ainsworth came into the room and pointed to a monitor on the wall of the room as an image of him in a bed became visible. As they all watched a cocoon of energy surrounded the other ‘me’ and he was gone, as were parts of the bed and blankets around him. Adam looked at the Admiral questioningly,

“Around 1:30 a.m. last night in Dallas Texas you, or the other you that isn’t you was in his bed when what you just saw happened. We have not been able to find a trace of him. You didn’t do that, did you?

“Admiral Ainsworth, at 1:30 a.m. I was still in Union Glacier.”

“We know, any ideas?”

“As I said I have a bad feeling, this just confirms it.”

“What kind of bad feeling?”

“Well for one, I know that your computer systems are being watched by something that is embedded far more deeply than I can currently accomplish. I noticed it when I hacked into the Pentagon and found the team sent to retrieve me. I know they detected me and as far as I can tell they haven’t directed anything at me, yet. Even the information you’re giving me was done before I hacked the Pentagon so yeah, I’m not sure what’s going on.”

“Okay, well come back to that, you said when we talked you’d fill me in on how you’re doing everything you’re doing.”

“I did, let’s get started,” Adam said.