Fic: Worlds Away 5/6

[amedia]

Title: Worlds Away
Author: amedia
Word Count: 6706
Rating: PG
Pairing: Cain/Ambrose
Summary: Ambrose returns from a strange journey.
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Imagiquest. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Note: Many thanks to TODS for beta-reading far above and beyond the call of duty.

Part 1 may be found here.
Part 2 may be found here.
Part 3 may be found here.
Part 4 may be found here.

Shortly after breakfast, Cain and Ambrose returned to the Queen's parlor, where she was talking quietly with Professor Patmol. After the customary greetings and introductions, the professor turned to Ambrose. "I hear you have a very interesting conundrum for us."

Ambrose shook Patmol's hand. "I'm looking forward to getting your insights," he said, scrutinizing the professor carefully. The Tutor whom Ambrose knew had been a double agent, pretending to spy on DG and her friends for the Sorceress in order to buy time for DG to recover her magic… or so he claimed. Ambrose had finally decided that his Tutor was trustworthy, and he hoped the same was true of this one. He found himself half-dreading Raw's arrival; he had already met too many strangers wearing the faces of his friends.

The door opened; a footman came in and announced, "The Viewer Ambassador, your Majesty." Raw entered and bowed to the Queen.

If I'd seen him first, I would have known right away that I wasn't in my own dimension, thought Ambrose, observing the confident, well-groomed Viewer, whose elegant ambassadorial robes sat naturally on his dignified frame.

Raw bowed to the Queen and turned to Cain and Ambrose; his expressive face showed sudden astonishment. "Glitch!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" He held out both arms and pulled Ambrose into a friendly hug. No one in this dimension has ever heard that nickname, thought Ambrose. Beyond all expectation or even reason, this must be his own Raw.

"I gather the two of you know each other," said the Queen.

"In my dimension, your Majesty, Raw was instrumental in restoring your counterpart to the throne," Ambrose said.

She smiled. "I'm sure she has already conveyed her thanks, but I can only say how pleased I am at this affirmation of your friendship and loyalty."

"You are most welcome," said Raw graciously.

Patmol spoke up. "Your Majesty, I wonder if the Ambassador, Ambrose, and I might be excused? We have some complicated matters to sort out."

"Of course," the Queen said. "I have duties elsewhere. Please inform me when you have completed your deliberations." She swept out with Cain following in her wake.

Ambrose sank into a chair and stared at Raw. "How do you...? What kind of...?" He gathered his mental resources and started over one more time. "You're not just the counterpart of my Raw, are you?" he asked. "You are my Raw."

"Yes. No. Sort of." Raw shrugged expressively.

"Let me put it this way," said Patmol. "Viewers exist in several dimensions at once. That's where a number of their powers come from."

"You mean, the whole time you were tromping around my O.Z. in tatters, you were also striding around here in your robes of office?"

"Not exactly," said Raw, smiling.

Patmol looked thoughtful. "The Ambassador's people have an intuitive understanding of their experience that is difficult to express in human language. The closest I can come is to say that your Raw and this one, and several others in closely parallel dimensions, share a common consciousness." He held up a hand, seeing that Ambrose was bursting with questions. "You might ask how Viewers can cope with the overload of information from all their experiences, and I can only answer that they don't understand how we humans make do with so little."

Raw nodded. "It's the way we are."

"Much as I would love to satisfy your curiosity," Patmol continued, "I think we have a more immediate problem to solve. You need to get back to your own dimension, and we need to get our own Ambrose back. I realize you went through the whole story yesterday, but if you wouldn't mind repeating it for the Ambassador and me, we'd like to have all the details."

"Of course," replied Ambrose, and launched into his narrative again. When he was finished, both Raw and Patmol were silent. Ambrose looked from one to the other. "Do you think your Ambrose is in my O.Z.?"

Patmol looked at Raw. Raw concentrated for a moment and shook his head. "Still too far away."

"Our Ambrose is a bit more pampered than you are," said Patmol. "Not quite as resourceful."

Ambrose touched his zipper ruefully. "I suppose being headcased and turned adrift had advantages that I didn't realize at the time."

"That device of yours," Patmol asked, "could we see it? It might be helpful." Ambrose handed Patmol the TAHDL; Patmol studied it briefly and passed it to Raw. "From your story, it sounds as if this was the catalyst."

"This alone," said Raw slowly, gazing intently into the shifting colors, "is not strong enough to cause such a dislocation."

"Could it have been the combined effect of the Ambroses in both dimensions tinkering with two such devices at the same time?" asked Patmol.

Raw thought for a moment, then nodded. "The effect would be synergetic. Much more than twice the power."

"I've studied a lot of strange theories in my time," Ambrose broke in, "but this whole cross-dimensional travel thing is a complete mystery. How does it work?"

Patmol turned to Raw. "He's been trapped for months wandering across multiple dimensions, he finally finds people who understand the phenomenon, and his first question isn't 'how do I get home?', but 'how does it work?'"

Raw looked up briefly from his close inspection of the TAHDL and grinned. "He has much in common with the Ambrose we know," he said.

"So I've been told," said Ambrose. He thought of Cain, and a momentary pang surprised him. "In some ways, at least."

"The closest I can come to a brief explanation," said Patmol, "is to say that there's a fissure in the ontological matrix from which the O.Z. developed that resulted in numerous parallel dimensions of varying degrees of similarity. Those who study these things in depth have told me that it's actually easier to account for the differences than the similarities. That is, it's simpler to explain the multiplicity of dimensions than to explain how certain congruities are maintained among them without any apparent interference with physical laws or free will."

"That makes sense," said Ambrose. He thought for a moment. "Are there multiple corresponding Othersides as well?"

"Possibly. Not my specialty. And the Ambassador here is more of a physician than a metaphysician."

"Yes," Raw agreed. He gestured to the TAHDL. "But... I can help find the right setting to get you home."

Ambrose's face lit with a joyful smile. "Really?"

Raw nodded. "Really."

Ambrose suddenly looked down, too shy to ask his next question. Raw reached out and patted his cheek gently. Ambrose looked up to see Raw smiling. "As for you and your Cain, you'll have to find out for yourself."

Part 6