"What do you want me to do?" Whitten asked. "Will they come to me? Will they try to destroy me?"
"Almost certainly," Void replied. "They will come again and we must be ready. I have already made arrangements. The rift in this barn is now attached to the mirror. If you bring the mirror with you, I shall go with it. When they come, we must set traps for them so that they pay for their insolence. Then we will run."
"We have work to do," Whitten said.
"Yes."
Chapter Seventeen
Whitten spent days arranging things around the lab, guided always by the Void-possessed version of himself in the mirror. He was soon tapped into more power via the electrical lines that provided power to the nearby town. His machines hummed to life and they were louder than ever.
After two weeks of work, Whitten stood back and stared at the handiwork inside the barn. There were more machines and the boards of the barn itself were vibrating. The electrical bolts were firing almost constantly from one sphere to the next. It was like standing in the middle of a thunderstorm.
"Good," the Void said from within the mirror. "Now, turn up the power and cycle through the frequencies. Cycle through fast."
Whitten moved to the controls and began dialing through the frequencies. He moved the dial fast, up and down. In the middle of the barn, amidst all of the machines, a white light began to appear. Beams of energy emitted from the antennas he had placed in a circle around the barn. It was wavy, like looking at something through the surface of a pond, and bright white.
"Yes," Void said. "Yes, that's it."
Then, as Whitten cycled through again, the disc of white light solidified. A picture emerged. It was a field, much like the fields that were right outside the barn. There were trees with bright red leaves and purple tree trunks. The grass and plants inside the meadow waved and blew in the breeze. Giant birds of the brightest colors flew over the field and meadow, wheeling and sweeping and turning around. Whitten gasped, his breath catching in his throat. He had never seen something so beautiful. He breathed deep and could smell the meadow, but there were smells there that he could not identify and could not describe.
"Good," Void said again. "GOOD!"
The mirror erupted.
It was like a volcano spewing black lava, shot out of the mirror and across the lab. The black substance burst through the white disc and entered the world of the bright meadow and birds. In an instant the grass and plants in the meadow turned black and disintegrated as it touched them. Tendrils spread out as more and more of the substance erupted from the mirror, reaching out and wrapping around the birds as they flew overhead and turning them black, absorbing it into itself.
Something exploded in the corner of the room. There was the hot smell of burning wiring and wood. Flames erupted from one of the transmitters. The white disc in the middle of the room flickered.
The Void screamed.
"NOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOO!"
The disc collapsed. Something else exploded in the far corner. Sparks flew into the air and landed on the beams of the old barn. Then another transmitter burst into sparks and more flames erupted. Whitten grabbed a blanket and ran around the room, smothering the flames when he could.
"NOOOO! NONONONONONONO! I was almost there!"
Inside the mirror the black version of Whitten was having a tantrum. The mirror-version of the barn was being smashed to pieces by his black reflection. The Void broke things apart, throwing the pieces around. The screaming was now inarticulate, more like some kind of animal, and as the black-Whitten smashed more of the reflection equipment to pieces the screaming eventually grew beyond even the roars of animals.
Whitten stomped out more flames and began turning off the machines. The smell of smoke was overpowering and he felt sick. It was hard to breathe. He held a handkerchief to his mouth and nose and then pulled open the barn door. Smoke billowed out into the air, caught by the wind and tossed away into the night. He took in great gasps of air.
Inside the barn the noises had stopped. Whitten was shaking with fear. He had nearly burned the barn down, but he had also seen what the Void could do when he wanted to. He could still see the tentacles of blackness reaching into the sky to pull down the brightly colored birds.
"What have I gotten myself into?" Whitten asked.
Immortality. That was the goal. He reminded himself of that and went back into the barn. He walked over to the mirror.
The black-Whitten stood there calmly again, staring out at him.
"I was so close," the Void said. "I had almost absorbed all of it."
"What did you do?" Whitten asked. "Did you destroy them?"
"No, it is not destruction," the Void replied. "They become part of me. They are absorbed into me. We become one. I am immortal. I have always been and always will be. I am the first that ever was. Before there was life there was me. I am the true nature of the universe and I return the dimensions to its original state."
Whitten felt his strength returning. It was true. He need only look up at the sky, at the darkness between the stars, to know that the blackness was there first.
"Make me immortal," Whitten said.
Black-Whitten studied him through the mirror.
"Are you ready?" The Void asked.
"I’m ready," Whitten said. "My soul is yours. My life is yours."
Whitten held his hands out at his sides and closed his eyes.
The blackness erupted from the mirror. A steady stream of it flowed out and this time it plunged deep into Whitten's nose and mouth. He felt his insides rebelling, but then the blackness touched his internal organs and turned them into facsimiles of organs. His entire body began to shudder and he nearly fell over. The darkness kept coming and now he felt fingers inside his brain, rewiring him, turning him into something that was part Void and part Whitten. His thoughts were now shared with the Void. His life belonged to the darkness. He opened his mouth to scream, feeling as if he were being violated inside and out, but the blackness just poured in faster and thicker. He was no longer breathing. His life was over, and the new life had begun. He did not need air. He needed nothing but the Void.
Whitten lost all sense of time and place. He had been standing there for an instant and he had been standing there for an eternity. When the black substance stopped, he stood shaking. He breathed out, and a cloud of black mist escaped. He looked at himself in the mirror, now seeing his true reflection.
His eyes were black pits.
Thoughts ran through his brain that were not his own. Conquer. Destroy. Yes, take it all. Take it all. It must be his.
Whitten turned toward the table to his right and lifted his arm in the air. He smashed it down, splintering the thick wood. The top of the table broke apart, splintering even further, and then broke in two. He grabbed one of the metal boxes atop the table with both hands and easily crushed it between his fingers.
He felt alive. He felt powerful.
He felt immortal.
"Let them come," Whitten said, seeing the world through his new eyes. "Let them come."
***
Whitten fell asleep sometime that night, but he had no idea when. He had lost track of time again, not remembering what he had done once he was possessed by the Void. He awoke and it was dark, the smell of burned wiring still pungent in the air. He was going to have to spend weeks getting new equipment out here and set up. He needed more power. He needed more power to keep the portals open.
Something was moving outside.
Whoever or whatever it was, was trying to be very quiet, but Whitten had new ears. He could hear them clearly. Yes, it was human. Muttering with each other, whispered commands.
"Move quietly. He's still in there."
"Come up around that way. I think he's asleep."
"Get him subdued fast."
"Destroy the machines."
Whitten got to his feet. He felt strong now. Although the barn was pitch black, he could see clearly, as if there were an unearthly glow around the
entire place. He could also see through the walls of the barn.
A dozen of them.
One of them was Ezekiel.
He knew it instantly. As if he could smell him. The young man had a strange glowing aura around himself. The others were white blobs, but Ezekiel's form was shot through with color. Ezekiel was special.
Delightful.
Whitten turned around, studying the men that were now all around the barn. They would get a surprise soon.
"Hello, Ezekiel!" Whitten called. It was probably foolish, but he couldn't help himself. "Welcome back!"
The men stopped talking, but they kept coming. Each of the twelve men had some kind of weapon in their hands. Whitten laughed and ran to the mirror. He grabbed it with one hand and tucked it under his arm. It was as light as a dinner plate.
That was when something outside exploded.
The tripwires he had laid. Yes, buried death and booby-traps abounded in this barn.
The entire barn shook and dust fell from the ceiling. Whitten laughed and heard men outside screaming. He scanned the area and at least two of the twelve men were gone now, rolling on the ground screaming, their limbs blasted off.
Something else exploded.
One of the men had run toward the two injured men and tripped another wire. The body flew into the side of the barn, splintering the boards. This body fell to the ground in a heap and did not move.
Whitten ran to the back of the barn. There was a small door there, hidden by branches and brush piled up against the side of the barn. There was shouting outside. The large door at the front slid open. There was a loud click and four shotguns went off.
Another trap.
More screaming.
One by one the machines in the room exploded. Shrapnel flew through the air. The barn was now burning. The loft started first, having been recently stuffed full with dry straw. The fire spread along the loft floors and the roof. The explosions continued. More booby-traps, more bombs.
More screams.
There were only three of the men outside left. He had taken out so many without lifting a finger, letting the traps do their work. Lovely. Whitten felt victorious. Arrangements had been made and they had all worked out beautifully.
Whitten stepped through the door, pushing the brush away. He stepped into the black, but the darkness was like a bright full-moon night to him. He could see all the way to the tree line.
"Stop, Dr. Whitten!"
He froze.
"Ezekiel," Whitten said. "I should have known you wouldn't fall easily into the traps I set."
Ezekiel was holding that strange brass gun. Held in two hands, pointed at Whitten's heart. He still held the mirror under his arm. In one swift movement he swung the mirror around and planted one end into the ground, the glass surface facing Ezekiel.
Ezekiel fired.
Bright white energy erupted from the barrel of the gun, sizzling through the air. The energy struck the mirror. The mirror roared back and blackness burst from its surface and hit Ezekiel like a fire hose directly in his mid-section. Ezekiel was lifted off the ground and flung backwards, then hurled sideways and smashed through the barn wall. The barn was now completely engulfed and part of the roof fell where he had vanished.
Had Ezekiel turned to dust? Vanished, perhaps, like the others that touched the Void? Probably not, he thought. That little shit probably had some kind of protection against it. It was too risky to assume anything.
Whitten turned and ran. The night was ablaze in bright orange light. There were more explosions and screams as the men that were left tried to get around to the back of the barn. There was a hideous sound as the roof fell in completely, the entire top of the barn now sunken. Thick black smoke billowed into the sky.
Whitten ran to the tree line and then pushed through. The mirror was still light as a feather. From within, and within his own mind, the Void told him which way to run. He emerged in a clearing, still on his property, where he had placed a small shed. Inside that was a car that he had purchased recently. He had almost no idea how to drive but the Void told him not to worry.
Seconds later he was inside the driver's seat, the engine running. He backed out of the garage, bouncing over the meadow, the horizon bright orange, turning the night into day, as the barn burned. There was another explosion as the timers on the bombs inside the house went off. Now that was burning.
Whitten reached the road twenty minutes later, after winding his way down dirt roads, his spine screaming at him from the bouncing and jostling. When he reached the paved road he threw his head back and laughed.
He laughed for a long, long time.
Chapter Eighteen
Whitten eventually set up shop in another town. Things fell into a routine after that. He would find a remote spot, get his equipment set up, try new experiments, hear sounds from other dimensions and almost get a stable portal open, but then it would all fall apart. He rode across the United States and back again and Ezekiel and his people always found him. Humanity advanced, so did the equipment, but the power source was always a problem. He could never find enough power to keep the portal steady.
In that time Whitten discovered that he had stopped aging. His strength and vitality remained as it was. His face grew no more wrinkles and he did not find any more white hairs.
His taste in clothes, meanwhile, rarely changed.
When he felt that he was unable to get anywhere else in the United States he looked toward Europe. It was not a great place to be at that point, with World War I raging and destroying almost an entire generation. However, Whitten soon found passage and places to set up there. It was easier once he got there than he could have imagined. People were too preoccupied with the war to worry about the eccentric man in the barn with the strange noises and blasts of electricity.
Ezekiel tracked him there, too. IDEA had expanded, gone beyond just a group put together by the President. There were too many other people out there in the world making advancements in technology and more and more people were trying to find ways to enter alternate dimensions. So, they turned up even in war torn countries. Their own private war continuing despite politics and world events.
Over time, Whitten's experiments went by the wayside. The Void began seeking out others who might have made more advancements than Whitten. He began seeking them out, offering them advice, giving them tips and suggestions and even help building their equipment. He still spoke to the mirror, but as the Void took greater hold over him mentally, he was able to communicate with it directly just by thinking.
The First World War came and went. Europe rebuilt. Whitten was still running. He spent a couple of years in Asia. He moved through the Middle East. Then, as the 1930s rolled on, a new global superpower began to form and this superpower had an interest in scientific advances. They were in Germany, the same people who had caused so much trouble the first time around.
Whitten made his way to Germany, insinuated himself with top Nazi officials, and began making his way up the chain of command. This time he was going to get the funding and the power he needed. He would have the backing of one of the strongest governments on the planet. He would have unlimited resources and when the war ended, that government would be taken over by the Void and that would lead to the rest of the world.
***
It was a cold November day and Whitten sat in an elaborate office with high-backed leather chairs, a large wooden desk, dark red carpeting and books lining the walls. Walking to this office he had also passed many, many works of art that would have made any museum jealous. He was waiting for the man who used this office almost daily. A strange man that Whitten had watched with alarm in newsreels.
The Void, however, was intrigued. The Void had been talking to him about creating more permanent avatars here in this dimension. It was more and more certain that the Light was favoring this dimension for some reason. It wanted to create offspring, those who would be born part Void and part human. Whitten was hurt because he thou
ght that he was already that kind of hybrid, but the Void wanted someone who would be born that way, raised with those powers and abilities. Pure. Purity seemed to matter a lot to the man he was going to meet.
Void was intrigued by this strange man. This odd man who looked as if he were constantly trying to fight his way out of his own body. This man with the odd mannerisms, crazy look in his eyes, and strange hair. This man with so much charisma and power at his fingertips. This man who wanted to conquer the entire world and bend it to his will.
The Void wanted that man on its side.
The door to the office opened and the strange man walked in. He was accompanied by five advisers and cast a glance toward Whitten as he entered, but then dismissed him. The other men chattered away beside this man in German, talking fast, the strange man nodding, catching all of the words and information flooding him.
Whitten stood there, not wanting to sit until he was told to. Behind him was the mirror covered with a blanket.
The odd-man held up his hand and the advisers stopped talking as if a switch had been thrown. He spoke to them in a soft voice that was completely unlike the shouting-speaking voice the world knew. He spoke with authority, his eyes burning with madness and power. When he was done the advisers all saluted, clicking their heels, and turned and marched back out the door.
The strange man turned toward Whitten and smiled.
Whitten was taken aback. He had never seen the man smile. The strange little mustache twitched. The man put a hand to his head and swept his hair back away from his forehead.
"Hello, Dr. Whitten," the man said in German.
Whitten found that he could not only understand German, but speak it. This had been the case in every country he had been in. He knew the languages instantly. Just one of the benefits of having the Void inside of him.
"Heil, Hitler!" Whitten said and saluted.
The Fuhrer waved his hand. "We are alone, Doctor. I do not wish to be saluted right now. I have heard good things about you. I have heard that you are a man of science and did work with the Americans quite some time ago. I hear you can make weapons and other advancements. I have quite a few plans for the expansion of Germany. I have quite a few plans for cleaning up the people in this country and throughout the world. I would have someone like you working for me."
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