A man with soft white hair and sharp grey eyes sat at one end of the meeting table. He smiled and nodded when Amanda entered the room. To one side of him sat the doctor and on the other side Ken tilting back in his chair and leering. Another man sat beside Ken, but Amanda didn't immediately recognize him. She took a seat beside Dr. Madison and clasped her hands under the table in a silent prayer.

"It's good to see you Amanda. I'd almost forgotten how lovely you are. These last few meetings all I've had to look at are our good doctor and Ken. They don't quite have your charm."

Amanda smiled, she'd always liked General Lancaster…sometimes it was hard to remember what a dangerous man he really was.

"Thank you sir, it's good to be back."

The General stretched his arms out wide and then folded his hands in front of him on the table.

"Let's get this meeting started shall we? First of all let's deal with our unexpected guest. Dr. Madison has kindly filled me in on the situation. The question now before us: is he of use to us or should we just kill him?"

*

George hobbled to his feet, clutching his side. He'd peeked under the hospital robe and discovered a nasty looking scar. Somehow the wound had already healed over, but he could still feel the pain pulsing under his skin. On a small desk in one corner of the room he found a small computer pad, and with a little fiddling he was able to open the only document on it. Lines of complicated computer code stared back at him, and only slowly did he realize that this was a copy of the very same code Amanda had stolen from his double.

Not knowing why he did it, George took the computer pad. He found a spare jumpsuit hanging in a metal cabinet near the desk. Moving quickly, glancing at the door all the while, he took off the hospital robe, dressed, and slipped the computer into his pocket. Then, shivering deep inside, he moved to the door and cracked it open. He had to hear what was happening in this meeting and the only way to do that would be to find them and listen in.

*

"Sir, there is no reason to kill George."

"You brought him here Ms. Landsmith. If you didn't want to put him in harms way you never should have brought him here…no, George knows too much. We have reason to kill him—but do we have a greater interest in letting him live?"

"You already know what I think…this man led Amanda into harms way and would have let her die if I hadn't come along. I say we kill him and let the Doc cut him open."

"Ken! George didn't lead me anywhere…the Dornats ambushed us on the only road to this base. He didn't just let them attack either, he fought back, but he isn't trained…"

"He made it look like he was fighting back, but I could see in his eyes he wanted you to die! Why are you protecting him?!? Why did you bring him here? Do you love him? Is that it?"

"Ken, this…this isn't about the two of us."

"May I interject?" Madison smiled slyly. "General, I believe I have a reason to keep George alive. This is a man who has somehow found his way to our world…if we could harness that power then we could travel to other worlds with greater weapons…weapons that could let us crush the U.S. government once and for all."

*

George found himself in a wide hallway. He moved down it slowly, carefully keeping his head low. At one point the entire wall to his left became a thick glass window. On the other side he could see a command center with row upon row of computer terminals. A large screen on the far wall displayed various video feeds. The room reminded George of photos he'd seen of NASA's ground control.

He continued on past the command center and began to realize the folly of leaving his room. This place was large and there were doors at regular intervals, but no way of telling which door went to what. At last he stopped when he found a door cracked open. None of the doors till now had been open, but here one was. He edged it open with his foot and groaned. This couldn't be the meeting room, all the lights were out. He turned to leave and paused in mid-step.

There was a woman on a table in the middle of the room.

*

"So it's decided. We will let George live in the hopes that the doctor can determine how he traveled here. Now, lets move on to the meat of the meeting. The stranger sitting next to Ken there is Mr. Bradshaw."

Amanda gasped, she knew she'd recognized him from somewhere. Mr. Bradshaw was the Vice President of Miller computing.

"Thanks to Mr. Bradshaw we now know that the mole we've been so desperately hunting is none other then Monica Riggens."

The room spun around Amanda…Monica had been her only friend here…the only one she'd trusted.

"It…it can't be…"

"I'm afraid so Amanda. I know the two of you were close…"

"And may be again, if my test goes as planned." Dr. Madison smiled coldly.

"Not…not that test. It…it's not right…it's not human…"

*

George stood in the dark of the room to let his eyes adjust. There was no mistaking it now. A naked woman lay strapped to a table in the center of the room. George shuffled forward, hardly daring to breath, when a motion lamp turned up and lit the naked woman in a blinding circle of light. A strange apparatus with a drill was pointed at the woman's skull. On the very edge of the circle, on a small table sat a tape recorder. George's fingers pressed the play button.

*

"I've looked over the computer code you brought us Amanda. There are missing pieces of data, but I believe I should be able to unravel it soon." Dr. Madison put his hand on hers. "And when I do we'll be able to hack into their systems and stop them from using it…"

"You should feel proud of yourself. If you hadn't come to us after Seattle, we may never have even known about the weapon. You've been instrumental in saving millions, no, maybe even billions, of lives." The General fixed his eyes on hers. "Now, you are dismissed."

*

"I believe that I've finally isolated what went wrong during the previous tests. I've been treating the human brain as a solely electronic computer, but I've been neglecting to take into account the complex array of chemical signals also used. Taking this into account I believe that I'll be able to do better with our next test subject. I've prepped Ms. Riggens and will proceed as soon as Amanda's debriefing is concluded….

10:30 PM, October 1st: Test number seven of project Tabula Rasa. Using a massive electrical surge I've erased Subject Sevens personality matrix. The electrical signal device has been installed in the subjects brain. I'm now preparing to activate it and begin with the basic reprogramming…wha…the subject's eyes have opened…" George heard crashing sounds followed shortly by a horrible screaming. "Something's wrong…the subject has escaped…oh god…oh god what have I done…he's tearing them to pieces! No…leave me alone…leave me alon…aggggggghhhhhh!"

*

"Now that Amanda has left the room…Doctor, have you altered the code as specified?"

"Yes sir. If they use the code that I've written in their weapon it will destroy the entire world…"

Mr. Bradshaw swallowed.

"We don't actually want the world to end do we?"

General Lancaster smiled.

"Don't be absurd Mr. Bradshaw. When your company does the routine last minute checks this error will be impossible to miss. And major enough to delay the entire project and give us enough time to perfect the weapon for ourselves and end this blasted war once and for all."

Ken leaned forward in his seat towards the General.

"Sir, I don't think we can trust Amanda any longer. She only signed up with us to stop the weapon from being used. She won't like that we're making our own. She'll betray us. I suggest that when Dr. Madison has perfected Project Tabula Rasa, he uses it on her."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that she broke up with you would it?" The General shrugged. "Never mind. If Amanda becomes a problem, but only if…and not before…do you understand me Ken?"

"Yes, sir!"

*

George used a scalpel he'd found to cut through the straps binding the woman. Once he had them loose he took her by the shoulders and shook her lightly.

"Wake up, wake up!"

Ice blue eyes opened and before George could say another word she flashed up off the table, grabbed him by the neck, and shoved him down onto the cold metal surface. Straddling him she squeezed his neck until the edges of his vision turned black.

"Who the hell are you and what the hell do you want with me?"

Next Week: Who is this woman and what will happen now that George has rescued her? Only I can say, but I'm not telling...until the next episode that is.

"Hello George. Welcome back to the world of the living."

George tried to pull himself into a sitting position, but a sharp pain in his side erased the notion from his mind. Instead he had to settle for blinking his sleep swollen eyes up at the man wearing a lab coat.

"Amanda…" Her name rasped out of his lips.

"Will be along shortly. I patched her up—just like I patched you up. You're lucky that the Chief showed up when he did, just a few more minutes and even I wouldn't have been able to put you back together again."

"Chief?"

"That would be me."

From the shadows in a corner of the room a hulking man loomed. He had a wide face with lips that seemed trapped in a sneer. The tendons in his neck stood out and muscles bulged against the inside of his suit. If any human could be compared to a tank it was this man.

"I guess I should thank you for saving my life…"

"Don't remind me. And don't thank me either. If I get my way we're going to throw you right back out there to the Dornats…or something worse. I saw. It's because of you that Amanda almost died…"

At that moment a door swung open and Amanda strode into the room. She stepped between the Chief and George's bed, and leaned down to look at George with a slight smile on her lips.

"Hey George…nice to see you awake."

"I'm kind of starting to wish I hadn't woken up…"

"Get away from that monster Amanda." The chief grabbed her shoulder, but she shrugged him off like rain water and moved to the side of the bed to face him.

"He isn't a monster Ken."

"What are you talking about? That man is George Miller! He's a mass-murder…he's everything that we're against."

"This isn't exactly George Miller."

"No, I should say not." The doctor leaned down and took George's pulse. "It's my belief, based on what you told me earlier and some lab results, that this man is a quantum double of George Miller."

"Quantum double?" George touched his face as though feeling it for the first time.

"There's one theory of quantum mechanics that posits the idea that for every turning point in the history of the universe the timeline splits, creating alternate universes. We call it the multiverse. I believe you are from an alternate reality George. Even your chemical make-up is off from ours in small, but noticeable ways."

"So even worse then being George Miller, he's a freak."

"You're the only freak I see in here Ken."

"Call me by my title Amanda! I'm the Chief of Security. Treat me with some respect. We're not sleeping together anymore."

"Thank god." Amanda looked down at George uncomfortably and then turned away.

"Quiet you two…we'll determine what to do with George later. For now the General has ordered us into a meeting to discuss the results of Amanda's recent mission."

Ken snarled and then his sneer turned into a smile.

"Yeah, the boss will know what to do with this monster…"

He slammed the door on his way out of the medical bay.

The doctor glanced at George one last time, peering down at him like he was peering down at a rat running a maze, and then he too exited, leaving George and Amanda alone.

Amanda remained facing away from George toward a corner of the room.

"Amanda…" George swallowed. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry."

Without turning Amanda whispered, "What do you have to be sorry about?"

"That man…Ken…he's right. I hesitated. If I'd…if I'd shot when I had the chance…I could have saved you from…from…you almost died because of me…because I failed to act. I always fail…when it really matters I let everyone down. My parents, my friends…you."

Amanda turned and knelt next to the bed with a soft smile on her face. She took George's hand and held it tightly in hers.

"It's okay George…I'm alive. You didn't fail. You see these people that I have to work with? These horrible, horrible people? They're all I've ever known until I met you. In pain, lying on that road, I watched you George…and you didn't let me down. You fought to the end. Without hope, without genetically altered strength, without anything. You're braver then you know. Someday you'll see that." She rested her head on his chest and, whispering this time, repeated again, "Someday you'll see that."

Then she dropped his hand and left George alone in the medical bay with only empty hospital beds to keep him company.

This Weekend: Amanda pleads with the General to save George and George meets a suprising new character who will change the face of everything.

Should I open our story on a blood-stained road, where our hero lies dying? Or should it begin many years before in a grassy field where a small boy lies on his stomach in a field of grass? Look closely and you will see that in his small hands he holds a book. His fingers leave greasy prints on the cover and leave indents in the pages during the scary parts where the boy clutches the book so tightly his hands hurt. As though the harder he holds the book, the better the story will turn out in the end.

If only it were so.

His story has not yet started, but the beginning comes. Look up in the sky and you will see that the light does not come from the sun, it comes from artificial bulbs built into the ceiling of the Biodome that is his home. Look out across the field and you will see that beginning I mentioned. A family visiting the dome on vacation, sitting on a checkered blanket and eating a picnic. Not so unusual, but then the start of these things is rarely unusual in itself. It is the alignment of usual events that comes together to create a singular moment in time.

Two boys, older than the reader, run through the grass away from their parents. They yell at one another and throw rocks at the rabbits and the birds. And then they come upon the boy. They push him and steal his book and throw it to the wind, but like a bird with a broken wing it comes fluttering back down. The boy cries out for them to stop, but his words fall dead on the air. They push him to the ground and one of them moves to kick him, but before the foot can connect with the body a thick gray fog blows across the field and turns the world gray.

The boys start back. Just a malfunction in the weather system they think, but then the fog fades as quickly as it came. Like a ghost in the fog the reading boy has vanished. The two boys look around and race back to their parents.

The reading boy finds himself standing on a cliff looking out over the ocean. The smell of salt and fish makes him wrinkle his nose. He backs away from the edge of the cliff. The earth is shaking under him. On the horizon a light grows. The ocean froths and pulls back from the beach. The air is silent, but for a roar.

A fog wraps around the cliff top and embraces the child. It clings to his skin and when he comes to he is lying beside the bent pages of his book.

*

George opens his eyes and finds himself in a vast expanse of white. His whole body hurts, as though he has fallen into a great fire. He grimaces and pulls himself to his feet. He shouts into the white, but his voice falls away from him like a stone down a well.

"Am I dead?" He whispers this to himself and is surprised to hear an answer.

"By all rights we should be." There is no sign of the speaker, just the endless expanse of white. "You are not dead though, you survive…the people of this world are resourceful."

"Who are you?"

"Nobody…" The voice laughs, and something about the laugh feels familiar to George.

"If…if I'm not dead, then what is this place?"

"Really, George, don't you get it? This is your mind. You're unconscious. And I? I am you. And you are me…"

"Great, so I'm not dead…I'm just crazy and talking to myself."

"Consider me your sense of self preservation…I have only one thing to say to you, which is to say to myself—leave this world. You do not belong here. You never have and you never will."

"I…I don't…I have no idea how I even got here."

"Don't try to fool me George…I am you. You've always been able to step between worlds. Don't tell me you've forgotten the day you found the cliff."

George touched his lips, he could still taste the salt.

"I never…I…"

"Your parents thought you were insane when you came running home, convinvced that you had trasported yourself to...someplace else. They brought you to docotors, but the docotors could find nothing wrong with you and slowly you learned to repress what happened that day.

George felt dizzy as the long forgotten memories poured over him like a heavy rain on a stiffling summer day. He DID remember. And it had happened again and again, all throughout his childhood. Each time had been brief and he'd managed to convince himself that those confused moments in another world had just been pieces of a dream. When he hit puberty the events had stopped.

"Yes, you finally learned to control the part of your mind that opens rifts between worlds. All for the best. We do not belong."

"Why...why am I here?"

"Because, you wish it."

"No, I don't, I want to go home. I don't want to be here. I don't know how I got here."

"A terrible tradgedy is about to engulf this world George. It called out and you heard it. And all that careful control--lost. Regain it. Leave. We do not belong."

The white faded to black, and right on the edge of consiousness George heard his voice echoing.

"You can not save it..."

*

George opened his eyes for real. A man with a narrow face, thin glasses, and a long hooked nose looked down at him. He smiled a thin smile.

"Hello George. Welcome back to the world of the living."

Next Week: Discover Amanda's fate, meet the people she works for, find out the science behind George's ability and make a cup of hot cocco...oh wait, not that last one. Well, I mean you CAN make a cup of cocco if you feel like it, but reading this blog sure won't help you.