chaos engine trilogy by Steven A. Roman

Author:Steven A. Roman [Roman, Steven A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-12-22T23:02:00+00:00

“I can see that, m’lady,” Her Whyness replied. “Obviously, one of them is the real von Doom, but whi—”

“No!” Roma shouted. “Both are real, Satumyne!” She pointed to the new arrival. “This is the Victor von Doom of Earth 616, as he has always been, unaffected by the power of the Cube.” She gazed at the older version of the despot. “And this man is an alternate von Doom, whose body has been ravaged by the cosmic energies he tried to control.”

It took a few moments for the realization to sink in, but, slowly, the Majestrix began to understand what Roma was talking about. “Mi-tras wept...” she muttered in astonishment. “But then, that would mean. ..”

“Yes.,” Roma said. “It would mean that we have uncovered the true flaw in the Cosmic Cube, and it is more than a minor mathematical error.” She stamped her foot in a very unregal manner. “Merlyn take me for a fool! I should have realized what was taking place sooner!” She turned on her heel, and began pacing up and down the room, deep in thought.

Standing beside Satumyne, the doctor quietly cleared his throat, in an obvious attempt to get her attention. “Pardon me for asking, Your Whyness, but what exactly is this flaw you’re talking about?”

“Are you familiar with the concept of a search engine on a computer, Doctor?” Satumyne asked. “It seeks out the type of information you’ve requested, and then presents the appropriate files for you to download onto the computer’s hard drive. It may take a while for it to compile that information because it will essentially ‘flip’ through hundreds, even thousands, of files before it gathers everything together for your use.”

The doctor pinched his bottom lip between thumb and forefinger, and gazed thoughtfully at the floor for a few moments. “So, what you mean is that this Cube you keep mentioning is acting as a search engine of sorts.”

“Exactly,” Roma said, joining the conversation. “However, a normal, fully-functional Cosmic Cube does not work in that manner. Once its possessor has activated its powers, the Cube’s energies physically restructure everyone and everything on the planet, all the way down to the molecular level.” She glanced at the twin dictators. “Von Doom’s Cube, though, was formed incorrectly. And because the device is flawed, it did not transform Earth 616 when he activated it. Instead, it scanned the worlds of the omniverse, located the version that closest resembled von Doom’s vision, and pulled it across time and space to layer it on top of the original. ”

“That, I take it, would be the equivalent of downloading a corrupted file,” the doctor commented.

“Indeed,” Roma concurred. “When the Cube’s work was done, every being on Earth 616 had been absorbed into the bodies of their otherworldly counterparts, their identities lost, their psyches forced into the subconscious of their ‘hosts.’ ” The Guardian frowned. “But that is not the reason the omniverse faces its greatest hour of peril; given enough time, I would have been able to correct that situation, with no ill effects to either world.

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