1.  "Our special guest today is Kiles Heidelberg from Hawaii..." Kiles watched and heard it on monitors back stage.  "Wo zur Hölle sind wir?" Kiles sounded like his father.  "How are you picking where we land?" 

2.  That was directed at Xi, "I've fused together some of your parents equations, but the chaotic variables have been more useful, actually." 

3.  Kiles recognized Lu Lu's voice, "Are we really on Earth?" he asked.  "I don't know which one?" Xi answered.  Flash was gone.  "He doesn't exist here," Xi answered before Kiles could ask. 

4.  It was disorienting to make sudden shifts in dimensions, atmosphere, gravity and whole physics paradigms in an instant.  Kiles saw spotlight beams bleed through the stage curtain partition.  A stage technician wearing a headset led him to the curtain and parted one wide enough for him to pass through. 

5.  Everyone cheered.  "Evidently, I'm well known," he thought, "I hope this is going somewhere."  He imagined what Onimex might say in this situation.  He had been with a diluvian Onimex only seconds ago.  His Onimex was confined to Corlos to avoid becoming inextricably intermingled with his co-located selves, who were scattered, evidently, everywhere they weren't supposed to be.  "That must have messed with Kor a little," he thought.  

6.  His reality had been like changing channels on a TV, with radically different situations on each channel.

7.  Lu Lu extended her arm and pointed at her guest's chair. 

8.  Kiles knew this routine because he watched her show and didn't tell anyone.  She was somewhat off-the-wall and very inventive; touted as the queen of daytime imagination. 

9.  Kiles was a natural with the audience and took his seat; it was obvious that he was comfortable on the set.  He had always wanted to meet her in person.

10.  "You have Sooooo many people here who especially wanted to see you... girls?" she extended her arm to the audience and the response was screaming applause, whistles, cheers, 'I love you, Kiles!' and lustful comments that had to be censored.  The line outside had gone around the block with people hoping to get a seat.  One girl made a mad dash across the stage and was intercepted by security just in time.  "I must be a rock star," Kiles thought.

11.  The camera beamed his bashful blush throughout television land.   For dramatic effect, Kiles gallantly took a knee and kissed Lu Lu's hand while she patted her heart and held a handkerchief to her eye.  It was terribly canny, but her style attracted the ratings, so the network gave her carte blanche; 'nothing's taboo for Lu Lu.'  

12.  She couldn't be happier.  He stood up, bowed to the audience, offered them his heart with both arms and took his seat once again like an A-list movie star with the #1 box office hit in theatres.  He knew how to play the audience better than the shows coaches could have taught him -- it was pretty obvious.

13.  "So tell us about your mission to the Outer Banks?" she prodded.  He wished that he could access a database like his cybernetics friends, who could access Universe-specific data at will.  "I don't know," he acted superficially confused, "Which Universe are we in?"  He asked out loud, with rehersed precision.

14.  Everybody laughed:  Satire was expected on Lu Lu's show; feigning seriousness but playing it down for the camera.    

15.  Lu Lu made faces at the audience to suggest that he had parried with an expert response.  "Show us some of your memories," she said, pretending to scroll through the pages of an imaginary tablet.  "Oh, yes," Kiles caught on.  "I threw them away."  Everyone laughed again.  He made sound technician's job easy -- there was no need for enhanced audio FX because the audience was already on board.       

16.  Lu Lu held up a finger, "We're going to get to that," she said, but I wanted to ask you about your guardian angel." 

17.  "Well..." Kiles shrugged, as the audience quieted down, "He's black."  There were hushed 'ohhhs' and 'ahhhs...'  Evidently, in this reality, the tabloids had been trying to unearth that mystery for years. 

18.  "I've had moments of desperation," Kiles confessed, "Times when things got so bad, that I just threw them away."  "What were some of those things?" Lu Lu interrupted -- she was leading him, Lu Lu style, and he was only too eager to play along.  

19.  "I had a beautiful triple breasted tunic from my great grandfather who I had never met.  My mission journals..." "Your mission journals?" Lu Lu repeated with feigned surprise.  "It must have been horrible," she consoled him.  "To the Outlands," he pouted.  Evidently, these were things he had lost over time.

20.  She put her hand sympathetically on Kiles knee, "And that wasn't all, was it?" she said softly.  The quiet anticipation was all part of the act.  "You had a friend give you something special that you also discarded?"  Kiles nodded, looking a bit sullen.  The audience sympathized.  Some of the items Kiles had honestly lost while others had been stolen.  "But there were two things..." Lu Lu interjected on cue.  "Two things," Kiles continued meekly with a touch of regret and shame...

21.  "Someone told me, every time I threw stuff away," Kiles continued, "that they saw 'a black guy,' digging through the dumpster, who they thought was salvaging my stuff." 

22.  Lu Lu turned toward the audience and nodded, to suggest that she had unraveled the true caveat behind the mystery.  Sometimes dreams do bleed into reality.  It was her style to play the audience on one hand and her guest on the other. 

23.  "What would you say?" Lu Lu asked, turning her focus back on Kiles, "if we could bring back all those things you threw away, that you thought you had lost forever?" 

24.  Kiles was shocked.  The look in his face was priceless.  "How is that possible?" was written on his face, even though he didn't say it.  

25.  Surprise was what made Lu Lu famous.  "What would you say?" she added with calculated perfection, in synch with a glorious, hazy light that began to emanate from the ceiling, "if we invited your Guardian Angel to the show?" 

26.  The tension turned into shock and awe as the hazy light became blindingly celestial, and an elegantly robed, glorified, 'black' Angel descended to within inches of the set floor. 

27.  Inside a separate beam of light descended a golden trunk which set down beside the Angel.  Objects rose from inside the trunk and descended to the floor, while the Angel dialed down his celestial radiance to prevent permanent injury to eyes and cameras.      

28.  Kiles knelt down to his former possesions and glanced at Lu Lu with sheer amazement.  She giggled with delight and coaxed the audiences sympathy.  

29.  He looked up to the Angel, "Thank-you," he offered psionically.  He picked up his discarded journal and his great grandfather's tunic.  He saw an item that he should not have given away among others that he had forgotten about.  One item came with a curse if he ever lost it and now he had it back.  

30.  His guardian smiled, "I've been watching you for your entire life."  Kiles had only suspected that that was who his Angel might be, but he had never actually met him.  "This is so good!" he said, giving his Angel a hug, "Thank-you!"  Everyone could read what he was thinking and feeling by his facial expressions.  

31. The Angel took a moment to surveille the audience and the set surroundings. He surreptitiously returned his gaze to Kiles, "You know none of this is real?"

32.  Before he had a chance to deflate, Xi rudely interrputed, "Says who?"

THE JOKER

33.  "Director!" Alma invaded B'jhon psionically.  He never called him 'Director' unless it was urgent.  "The Joker is flowing over!" 

34.  The library water well was affectionately known as The Joker because the breathable air emanated from the well, and an intricate grill blocked accurate depth measurements.  For as long as Corlos existed, there had been no way to take an accurate depth measurement; "Just accept that it works," was the standard explanation.  "We're alive and breathing," usualy followed.  

35.  The well was spooky, like a vortex to a dangerous, unexplored realm.  Most personnel avoided the library for that very reason.  Some would make brief visits to prove that they were rational thinkers; unchained by myths and superstitions.  The unknown provoked an irrational fear, but the greatest villain was logic and physics:  The wells depth had been measured beyond the radius of Sunova but the end was unreachable.  What if a boogey man arises from the depths and attacks us?            

36.  Daniel used to fall asleep in the library during his tenure, but nobody else, before or since, was known to have that tendency.  Daniel found the place relaxing.

37.  "Where are we going to find a plumber to fix that kind of leak?" B'jhon asked "The machines?" They both wondered the same thing.  "Of course," G-49 chimed in, "whenever there's a threat -- send in the machines."  Fraternal humor. 

38.  "We have rebreathers in the supply locker," another agent offered.  Those were for away missions.  The need for a rebreather on Sunova was somewhat ludicrous.

39.  "I don't think we're supposed to be 'in' there," everyone presumed, referring to the well, below depths.  "It's our day for enigmas," B'jhon commented.  They had just left the situation at ops, which Alma didn't need to point out. 

40.  Fifteen other personnel were enroute to the library with six technicians already on site, assessing the situation. 

41.  Some of The Joker's function was taken for granted:  The grille had an array of miniature radiator nozzles that permitted Sunova's natural gravity to atomize the water to create air.  The grille could increase, decrease or recycle air on its own.  There were no noticeable bubbles to speak of. 

42.  The evidence of more advanced technology was never questioned.  It lay beyond modern conventions and it worked reliably.  It was obvious that the builders didn't want anyone to mess with it.    

43.  The below-grille water had an unnaturally high nitrogen content, typically found on heavily vegetated worlds with oceans.  The Joker was artifically intelligent:  It could scavenge whatever it needed throughout Sunova in order to maintain itself.  It could extract carbon from biologicals, filter air through a closed ventilation system, import off-site materials with the simulator and scavange collapsed matter as needed.  All the magic occurred below the grille, which was unsettling for some.  

44.  The water above the grille was crystal clear and purified with a dash of salt for taste:  It was piped throughout the facility with a facet in every chamber.  Whenever strange minerals, plants or objects appeared on the simulator floor, the transports were traced to The Joker:  In-depth analysis confirmed the need.  For all intents and purposes, The Joker had no need to interact with others.  

45.  The current concensus was: "Intelligence from 'the other side' is attempting to visit through the back door."  Even the machines agreed that that particular technique was unorthodox; "It's polite to let someone know you're coming."  'There are other ways in and out,' Daniel said to B'jhon once.    

46.  At first, the well's overflow was not terribly alarming; no more than a small pipe break.  Before the water could reach the entrance, the water withdrew to a forcefield in front of The Joker.  It was the same type of forcefield that the mainframe used to block outside interference.  "I've never seen water become a shape before," Alma commented.  "Neither have I," B'jhon agreed.  

47.  Alma approached the forcefield and touched it.  It did not adversely react to his touch.  "It's a containment field," he said.  Forcefields are more violent when touched.  

48.  Twenty-plus spectators arced around the containment field while the water rose above one foot depth. 

49.  Suddenly, the flood gate opened and the entire containment field finished filling up within seconds.   The closest personnel stepped back with caution. 

50.  Within the water swrilled firefly-like sparkles until they settled like sediment in a snow globe. 

51.  "Are those mineral or biological?" an analyst asked.  "Synapse," G-49 postulated.  G-49's postulates were reliable, which heightened the intrigue.    

52.  The mostly settled sparkles continued.  B'jhon probed, then gently nodded, "The symbols are unique.  From a completely different paradigm."  "The colliding dimensions?" Alma wondered. 

53.  The symbols matched the hieroglyphic style featured on the library walls.  B'jhon turned his attention to the walls.  Everyone else tapped into B'jhon for clarity.  Daniel used to study the Light Race's writing; he was also visited by them on occasion.  "He would fall asleep here," B'jhon remembered, "There's no record of them visiting, other than..."  "Dreamfasting," Alma transposed for him. 

54.  Daniel always talked to Angels in his dreams and B'jhon had witnessed the occasion more than once.  Holographic synapse can be difficult to distinguish from actual events because all perception is holographic, whether dreaming or awake.  Brain activity is holographic in function.       

55.  "It happens to you too now," Alma reminded him, "except that it's more real to you now."  Alma would occasionally catch B'jhon talking to Angels.  The trend was probably as old as Corlos, betwen the Director and his exec.    

56.  B'jhon clutched Alma's arm to make sure that he was... "You're awake," Alma confirmed for him psionically.  Every Director would be lost without his trusty right arm.  

57.  "Well then..." B'jhon returned his attention to the water, "this ought to be good."

MIRROR

58.  They both stood there looking at each other.  Ireana in real time from her present, was looking at herself in her lab on M'tro-1.  

59.  She would be initializing Onimex within the next two minutes.  Both Ireanas' knew the intricacies of time tampering and were instinctively calculating how to prevent an error. 

60.  "Be sure to take your own advise and carry on, like you did the first time," the older Ireana recommended.  The younger Ireana was immediately confident in her older self's advice.  The older Ireana spoke in English out of new habit -- they had the same alpha wave and both were psionic, so the acoustic gibberish didn't obstruct anything.  "Learned a new language, did you?" the younger Ireana asked.  The older one didn't answer.    

61.  The younger Ireana proceeded with her pre-initilization checklist exactly as planned because she felt the stress in her older self. 

62.  "You've put on a few years," the younger Ireana observed.  "That thing!" the older Ireana accused it, without finishing her thought. 

63.  The younger Ireana grinned mischievously, "Since I KNOW that you know better," she didn't finish her sentence; it would be wise to simply endorse her older self's abbreviated explanation, "This thing," she repeated quietly, "is the culmination of my entire existence... soul and thoughts."     

64.  The younger Ireana prounounced the word, "INITIALIZE." 

65.  The older Ireana always wondered what Onimex's initilization would have looked like as a spectator; she had already written the script, so she knew what to expect.  This time she would observe more, and stress less.  

66.  Onimex's pixilation went through it's various diagnostic colors and settled on a purple haze before fading out.  The older Ireana quietly lipped Onimex's first words, "I have a parallel signature -- Is there is another unit identical to me?"   

67.  "Check your philosophy base," the younger Ireana instructed.  She looked at her older self. 

68.  "The other unit is accessing," Onimex said, with a slight inflection.  "NO! DON'T!" she yelled.  She clutched Onimex on both sides as if her grip alone could prevent the wind from blowing while the older Ireana clutched an imagined Onimex.  "Dump it!" the younger Ireana commanded, "Don’t Access!"  She smacked him, "Don't do it!"  "Abort," both Ireanas' said with equal calmness. 

69.  The younger Ireana said to her older self psionically, "I understand you wanting to revisit this moment..." "...but the risk," the older Ireana finished for her.

70.  There was an unspoken, "Shouldn't you be practicing what you preach?" which lead to her defense, "We're about to be attacked," the older Ireana warned her." 

71.  She went to the window and looked up toward the sky, "There's four destroyers up there," she said, "they're going to toy with us before finishing off the shell.  You and Onimex will be saved."  She pointed at the newly initialized Onimex, "His future self is here to make sure you both get there alive."

72.  "And I know for a fact that you're not supposed to be here!" the older Onimex accused the intruding Ireana.  The older Onimex knew how to prevent the younger Ireana from hearing him.  Both Ireanas could hear their brand new brain child perfectly.  

73.  "YOU caused this in the first place," the older Ireana accused him psionically.  "You're talking to his future self?" the younger Ireana asked, just to be sure, she was after all, still psionic.  There was a feint shell quake. 

74.  "It wasn't until the glass shattered that I realized that we were under attack," the older Ireana revealed, "you have less than a minute, and all this..." She spread her arms to specify M'tro-1 in its entirety, "...will be gone."  She shook her head and emphasized quietly, "All of it!" 

75. "What about you?" the younger Ireana asked. 

76.  "Onimex," the older Ireana said to the older Oni, "get me aboard the destroyer." 

77.  "There's simply no way that can happen," Oni replied, "I need Xanax or Corlos to do that."  

78.   While the two Ireanas exchanged glances, the younger one wondered if she was witnessing the end of everything.  

79.  "Has the new Oni learned anything that it shouldn't have?" the older Ireana asked. 

80.  "I maintain co-locational continuity at all times," he said, "I can modify or disable any or all of my actions at any point in time.  I just don't."  Ireana smirked -- she knew why he added that.    

81.  "That Ireana," she said, referring to her younger self, "did not know that you were here until you asked, 'Is there another unit identical to myself?'"

82.  The window panes blew in violently while the future Onimex deflected most of the glass fragments and canceled the concussive effects.  "The simulator won't bring both of you," Onimex clarified, "Corlos doesn't know you are here.  They are only retrieving those two!"  

83.  At that moment, the younger Ireana and the newly initialized Onimex faded out of reality. 

84.  The older Oni faded fully into M'tro-1's resonance and glided over to the older Ireana.  She knew that he was choosing suicide.  The remaining windows shattered and a large part of the wall collapsed.  In the distance, a tumultous atmospheric convulsion would destroy them within seconds.  No doubt, Kor's Youth were having a field day in orbit.

85.  "Isn't it strange?" Ireana said introspectively, "that this is where we came in?"  She sighed sentimentally, "It's like we came back to witness the original ending."  "Or the beginning," Onimex added.  He didn't know how Ireana got there in the first place.  Biologicals are not supposed to be able to co-locate.

86.  Oni adjusted his position to shield her from the coming shockwave.  Even if he could create a temporal bubble and preserve her in deep space, the complexity of sustaining a biological with no resources whatsoever was beyond his capability.  He needed Corlos or Xanax and there simply wasn't enough time to construct another outcome. 

87.  "No!" She insisted, "you SAVE yourself!"  There was no reason for both of them to perish.  "Do you remember how you got here?" he asked her. "This could be just a projection?" he theorized.     

88.  "Not really," she thought.  She didn't remember 'wanting' to be there.  She didn't know how she got there.  "Events lately," she reflected, "have... been unaccountable," for lack of a more perfect word.  Maybe that was exactly the right word.      

89.  "Maybe we're not really here?" he suggested.  In Oni-speak, it meant that it might not really be 'the end.'

90.  In that particular reality, however, it was the last thing that either of them said, did or thought.