Secrets of Goth Mountain Read online

  ****

  Three hours later an increasingly frustrated Johnny Goth was astonished to see written on a marker board held by one of his doppelgangers the following:

  “Message to My White Wolf in the only world with unicorns and looking for me, his lost Elizabeth: (1) ours is the ONLY universe with the People, (2) a finite number of universes are shown and they might recycle, (3) the set of universes may reset every few decades, so we need hurry. Please everyone in all worlds, pass this message on to others.”

  A smiling Johnny read the message several times, then sent a message of his own:

  “Message received from Elizabeth by her Johnny and the goat guy Ned. Be ready. Mark and Mort should also look for me and for Ned. Johnny Goth; unicorn friend.”

  “What does it all mean, Johnny?” Dooley asked.

  “Hope, Dooley. Real progress at last, thanks to Elizabeth. But there are obviously other implications. If only our universe has the People, that implies that the split always starts from this universe, or at least returns to it. Another way to look at it is that the Cube is coupled to our particular universe in a special way. Maybe because we have The People in ours, it's fixated on this universe in a special way. It never loses track of this universe.”

  “But none of the People can do anything with the Cube,” protested Ned. “Even Pru avoids it.”

  “And she helps influence everyone else to avoid it too. From what we’ve seen it looks like in at least half the other universes folks are viewing the Cube regularly, and exchanging doppelgangers using the Cube isn’t that uncommon. In this universe not even the shaman and Goths view the Cube very much.”

  “Your Pop did,” said Dooley.

  “Yes, he broke the rules, like we’re doing now. But even when they were looking for him after he disappeared, Mom and Mort didn’t study the Cube long enough to figure anything out. They didn’t even know that there are multiple universes involved. Well Mom didn't and initially Mort didn't. I think they took a few quick looks and didn’t see my Dad, and gave up. Mort must have kept at it though, and that was his downfall. If only we knew more about the Cube earlier!”

  “That's not their fault, Johnny; for thousands of years everyone has been afraid of the Cube,” said Ned.

  “Did any of your folk look in the Cube for my Dad?” Johnny asked.

  The little Goat man shrugged. “Pru did, at least briefly. Pru is the only one of the People that has seen the Cube much, but she doesn’t like being near the thing.”

  “She said that she doesn’t?” asked Johnny.

  “No, but that’s the way she acts.”

  “Interesting.”

  “I’ll get to meet with unicorns soon, right Johnny?” asked Dooley. "I like unicorns!"

  “As soon as possible,” said Johnny.

  “They’re like the Cube, aren’t they?” Dooley remarked.

  “What?” said Johnny, taken aback by what his friend had said.

  “They feel like the Cube.”

  “The unicorns do? What do you mean?”

  “Different from you and me. Different than rocks or trees or anything else. Different from the other People. But a lot like each other. More like each other than like us. They both feel like they’re somewhere else. Especially Pru. Dark feels different from that. Dark feels like he’s here. My new knife feels like Pru and the Cube too.”

  “That’s all really interesting Dooley; and it might help,” said Johnny, though he couldn’t confirm or fully understand what Dooley was telling him. Johnny sensed nothing at all when he examined the Cube or the unicorns, but Dooley could apparently sense much more. Maybe it was an innate ability related to shaman abilities. “That would seem to support the hypothesis that there is some sort of relationship between the Cube and the People.”

  “An interesting hypothesis, young Goth,” said a new voice that sounded a little like chimes blowing in the wind. Pru’s silver and white form appeared on the path a few meters away, near where the Elizabeth doppelganger had been napping. The young lady opened her eyes and gasped when she saw Pru. The unicorn kept her black eyes trained on Johnny. “Your observations and conclusions are astute. We will talk, but first help me with Mark’s remains.”

  A body-sized package of canvas tarps wrapped around the remains of Mark Goth suddenly appeared across Pru’s back, causing Elizabeth to again gasp. Johnny levitated it gently to a spot next to him. He could sense bones and decaying flesh inside, but he smelled nothing unpleasant; probably Pru had seen to that. He thanked her for that, silently.

  “What are you?” the astonished Elizabeth doppelganger asked Pru. “How can you make things appear from nothing?”

  “She’s a unicorn,” explained Johnny.

  “So that’s what a unicorn is! Well, we certainly don’t have anything like it where I come from.”

  Johnny repeated all that they had just discussed to the attentive unicorn, who whinnied and nodded at points.

  “Your insights are astonishing, Johnny,” Pru stated, when he had finished. “There are of course an infinity of parallel universes, that has always been known to us, and we have long felt that the Cube object taps into some of them. However, your characterization of its properties and behaviors are remarkable and unprecedented.

  “Most astonishing however, is your conclusion that the Cube has a relationship with the People, supported by the young shaman’s sense that we unicorns and it are indeed somehow similar in substance.”

  Pru turned her black pitted eyes to regard the Cube. “We unicorns have also sensed such a thing. The Cube has powers and substance that are more similar to our own than to the ordinary matter and life of your world. We don’t know exactly what that implies, other than to fear even more the Cube’s power and its potential for causing misery. This is a primary reason why we avoid the object and persuade you humans to do the same and to help hide it.”

  “It’s not evil,” stated Dooley.

  Pru whinnied. “Again, your perception astonishes me, young Dooley. I share that perception also, though I do not trust it. The Cube is a machine. Can any machine be inherently evil? Your senses serve you well, however. In you Two Bears has made a very wise selection.”

  Dooley’s face blushed red, and he couldn’t help grinning, as the unicorn continued.

  “We sense no evil, and the object does in fact stimulate health and strength for the life of this world. Yet we do not trust it, and avoid it. But in avoiding it, we have apparently learned less about it than you seem to have learned in an astonishingly short time.”

  “Surely over the many years you have been here you learned more about it.”

  The unicorn fixed Johnny with its dark eyes. “To the contrary, over the centuries we seem to have learned less about it. That is to say, we suspect that we unicorns once knew much about it that we have now forgotten.”

  “Even if that is so, couldn’t you relearn what it is?,” asked Johnny. “You can walk through mountains, Pru. Have you ever tried to enter the Cube?”

  “No. I have always feared unknown consequences. I have gently probed it from a distance, but it remains an enigma. It light of the positive effects it produces, and its potential for harm, avoiding it has seemed to be the best policy.”

  “When did you last seriously probe it?”

  “The first time that I remember was perhaps ten thousand years ago, but most recently after your father disappeared.”

  It was time for Johnny’s jaw to drop open. “You personally probed this Cube ten thousand years ago?”

  “Possibly the Cube was already here when we arrived on Earth. We do not remember when it is that we arrived, or how we arrived.”

  “But that means that you personally arrived on Earth more than ten thousand years ago?”

  “Yes. I have discussed such matters with your father and more recently with Gus McGregor. My kind live longer than the People and much longer than humans. Our life form is very different.”

  Johnny nodded. “Interesting
, but we have no time to discuss this further right now. Apparently only Dooley and perhaps unicorns can interact with the Cube, aside from the switching of doppelgangers. If anyone can influence the Cube, it would therefore be one or both of you.”

  “Your logic is sound,” commented Pru.

  “I want to help, Johnny,” said Dooley fearfully, “but I don’t know much about a lot of things, and this Cube thing I don’t know hardly nothing at all about.”

  Johnny smiled at his friend and reached out to pat his shoulder reassuringly. “I know Dooley, but perhaps with Pru to guide us, we’ll have a chance.”

  “My knowledge is also limited,” volunteered Pru. “In addition, the Cube, when left alone, has posed little danger. To the contrary, it stimulates life. Yet the great power it exudes could conceivably be bent to evil purposes, perhaps by accident, but perhaps through intent. Also doppelganger exchange is problematic. Hence the People have generally avoided contact with it, and persuaded humans to do the same.”

  “Are you saying that you won’t help us?” asked Johnny.

  Pru shook her head slowly. “That is yet to be decided. But to tamper with the function of the Cube could potentially be very dangerous. The Council will help decide if I should attempt what you are asking.”

  Johnny took a deep breath, to quell his frustration. After all, he couldn’t simply blame Pru for all the wasted years that could have been used to search for his father. There were Mother, and Mort, and Two Bears, and even himself to blame, if blame was to be assigned to anyone. But now he was sure as hell going to get back Elizabeth, as well as Dad and Uncle Mort, with or without help from Pru or any of the People.

  Johnny and Dooley walked with Pru to the One Tree. “Baldor will remain to defend you and your forest while I speak to the Council,” Pru stated. “I may bring Fen here also, before the Council meets. As a shape-shifter experienced with human ways he may be of some help, and he will be pleased to again enter your world the way that his nephew Ned does.

  “Even with our help, you face formidable difficulties. Good luck to you both, Shaman Dooley and Johnny Goth.” With that, Pru walked into the cliff-face beside the One Tree and was gone.

  “I wish she didn’t go away,” said Dooley.

  “We’ll still have Baldor,” noted Johnny. “And soon Fen also, perhaps.”

  “Pru is special,” said Dooley. “There is only one Pru.”

  “Of course she’s special. All unicorns are.”

  “No, Johnny, I mean she feels a little different than the other unicorns. Closer to how the Cube feels than the others. She is special.”

  “Interesting. So then, she’s probably the unicorn we need! Well, I hope she comes back to help us soon. There may be an infinite number of Johnnies and Dooleys, but there is only one like her in all of existence, apparently.”

  “There are great gobs of Dooleys.” Dooley said, grinning. “Tons and tons of Dooleys.” The concept intrigued him.

  Johnny’s jaw dropped open. “Eureka, that’s it!” he exclaimed. “Many Dooleys, all of them with shaman powers and many with access to perhaps the same Cube that spans multiple universes! That’s what we need: Dooley power! Maybe we won’t even need Pru after all!”

  Johnny sat in front of the marker board and began writing.