Part: I|II|III|IV|V|VI|VII|VIII|IX
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Previously on the Beginner’s Guide to Everything: Mary Brown, the most normal girl in the multiverse, finally escaped Hazard, the danger dimension. After Triz Claxy, ex-space pirate, and Ronnie Ray, current fugitive, threatened a crazy old hermit into letting them use his one-man dimension traversing device. Mary was sent ahead so her other four associates could follow after using the beacon Ronnie placed on her back. However, upon arrival in this new location, known as Mobius, the group was immediately apprehended by the local authorities.
~--~
The twelve rings of Mobius surround the theoretical center of the multiverse. The structure serving as a grand megacity at the heart of reality. While they’re called rings, a designation popularized by the Beginner’s Guide to Everything, like the name suggests, Mobius actually consists of a dozen Mobius strips. The “rings” are arranged together like a gyroscope or sphere, creating the illusion they are an interlocked cage-like structure.
As a series of Mobius strips, traversing the megacity is quite simple; just start walking, and you’ll eventually reach where you want to go. Of course, if your destination is on another ring, you might have to take a trolley, railway, shuttle, giant bird, jump really high, or other modes of transport to reach it. However, the city rarely mentions that, as it ruins their tourism slogan, “walk to anywhere in the multiverse.”
Each of the twelve rings has its own purpose and specialty. Such as the first ring, which acts as a seat government of sorts. The fourth being a sanctuary to all the multiverse’s animals. While the eleventh is a horrid stretch of nightmares full of clowns and other unpleasant sights. However, the eighth ring is of particular importance, at is the den of commerce, the heart of trade for the entire multiverse – according to the city’s tourism board.
Being such a central hub of trade, money, and goods, a sizable portion of people wish to lay claim to the latter two without paying. Dimensional breaching was once a common practice on Mobius, allowing you to pop in from one dimension/reality/timeline/universe/etc. and quickly pop back out, usually, with something that was not yours in tow. As a result, the practice was heavily restricted and practically outlawed without proper permits and licenses. Failing to acquire such things will result in your immediate arrest, especially so on the eighth ring.
On that note, Mary, Triz, Ronnie, A-2, and Jerry just so happened to dimension hop right onto the eighth ring of Mobius while carrying an excessive amount of wealth and were swiftly arrested by the MPD8 (Mobius Peacekeeping Division 8).
~--~
“So, what do you think of this thing?” The MPD8 officer asked his superior. The two uniformed men sat at the back of Division 8’s headquarters, where all the contraband was stored.
“It looks like a hunk of junk,” he answered as he observed the decrepit one-man dimension travel device that Mary had used. “And are those default coordinates in the navigation computer?”
“What a bunch of idiots, they’re lucky they’re not in the void right now,” the officer commented.
“So, you get a lock on where they got all the gold from?” The superior observed the crates worth of riches they confiscated off the five.
“No clue doesn’t have any identifying marks or nothing,” the officer shrugged. “Also, smells like ass. I don’t even want to know what sewer lich they stole this crap from.”
“Well, that’s a dead lead. You figure out who they are yet?” The superior inquired.
“The pink one’s a repeat offender, currently on the run too,” the officer explained. “The lizard is an ex-con, and so is the gas ball. They’re supposed to be employees for those Beginner’s Guide morons, so I don’t know how they ended with the pink girl.”
“Seen this story a million times,” the superior sighed, “getting roped into one last job, and it all goes south. How about the cyborg?”
“A living navigation computer for GOTM, no clue how they got ahold of her,” the officer shrugged. “It’s an A model, so she probably doesn’t even know what’s going on.”
“Another count for theft on their part,” the superior nodded, “is that all of them?”
“Yep, think so,” the officer confirmed.
~--~
“They forgot about me again,” Mary sighed as she sat in the HQ’s waiting room.
“Well, look on the bright side,” A-2 chirped, “now you know you can commit any crime you want and get away with it.”
“But I don’t want to commit crimes; I want to go home,” Mary moaned. Jerry’s copy of The Beginner’s Guide still rested in her lap like a lump of coal. It made her somewhat sick to look at, mainly because it still smelled weird, but she couldn’t justify throwing away something that wasn’t hers. “What do we do now?”
“No clue, I think they might seize me as evidence,” A-2 shrugged.
“Go back to work. That’ll confuse them,” Jerry floated by.
“Hey, Jerry, they let you off?” A-2 asked.
“Yep,” the sentient gas cloud replied simply.
“Aren’t you an ex-con, though? Shouldn’t this affect you really bad?” A-2 pointed out.
“Don’t worry about it,” Jerry answered.
“But I don’t under-.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jerry affirmed.
‘Note to self, do not question Jerry,’ Mary realized. “He has a point; I think right now I’d rather just go back to work.”
“You want to go back to hazard?” A-2 exclaimed.
“No, I mean back to the office,” Mary corrected. “After this little outing, I realized the same thing you did, I need less excitement in my life. I’d rather spend the rest of my life as a pencil-pushing secretary than go on more doomed adventurers.”
“So, what about Ronnie and Triz?” A-2 asked.
“I don’t care about Ronnie,” Mary stated flat out, “she’s done nothing but make the situation worse. She’s the reason the T-rex almost ate me, she’s the reason I was dumped off at the Beginner’s Guide office, she’s the reason those fluffball creatures made me half-deaf.”
“Isn’t she also the reason you’re alive?” A-2 reminded her.
“Just so I could end up on Hazard?” Mary argued.
“That was your choice,” A-2 countered.
“Umm…” Mary was taken aback. “Regardless, Ronnie isn’t safe to have around. Triz, well, I don’t have a problem with her, but the best I can do is put in a good word or call the Beginner’s Guide office to bail her out. But I don’t know how likely it is they’ll help.”
“Well, if there’s nothing you can do anyway, where’s the shame in leaving them to their fate?” A-2 stated.
“When you put it that way, I sound heartless,” Mary muttered.
“Oh, I guess you do,” A-2 realized.
“I still don’t like Ronnie, but I guess I could-,” the bland woman was cut off by an explosion down the hall. Following that, Ronnie and Triz came bolting down, dashing past the three in the waiting room before crashing out the front door. “Never mind.”
“Should we follow them?” A-2 asked.
“No, let’s just go back to the office,” Mary shook her head.
To Be Continued…
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When completing a big offsite ordeal for your workplace, your first goal afterwards should be to get back to the office...unless its lunch or quitting time.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy
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