Parallels

'Marvelous…just…wow,' he gasped.

Nina stumbled next to him and echoed, 'I’ve never seen this before. Amazing.'

He knew she spoke the truth because no living, sentient life form could gaze upon the sight without being swept away by the majesty, the grandness, the power.

Trevor turned to her and studied her profile. He saw her blue eyes and for a few seconds remembered that this was Nina Forest. A Nina Forest of another dimension, but Nina all the same. Her body, her voice, her eyes; everything arranged in the exact same manner as the woman he loved, at least on the outside.

His stare drew her attention. She flinched as if dodging a fit of his rage, then walked along the road with her head slung low like a guilty, beaten dog.

Trevor remembered how in the early days of Armageddon, after Nina had come to the estate, he had watched her walk with a shyness in her step that hid the fierce warrior beneath. She had carried herself as if she were a woman looking to pass unnoticed; hoping to slip quietly by in a world where no one understood her.

It occurred to Trevor that this Nina feared him. Not only because of his anger over her deception, but before that. Since the moment he had gained control over Thebes, she feared his temper. At some point their relationship had shifted from her trying to convince him-in all manner of ways-to stay and fight, to him dominating her.

When she finally reached that part of the other Trevor that lived in you.

After the failure at Erie Coast, he had nearly hit her when he deflected responsibility for the defeat on to her. He screamed. He bullied. Foul. Abusive.

The Trevor Stone she knew.

Nina of this world-and the one he knew back home-certainly had the physical ability to defend herself from any bully, including Trevor Stone. So why would she allow such domination? Trevor suspected that any man who raised a hand to the Nina of his Earth would find himself in the hospital rather fast. Why did this Nina tolerate such abuse?

He hurried to catch up to her. The two walked side by side along an embankment. The eyes of Chaktaw faces carved in the enormous pillars watched from across the valley.

'Nina.'

She turned her head fast as if a sharp sound grabbed her attention, and then averted her eyes, unwilling to look directly into his.

'I want to talk to you.'

Trevor spoke slowly so as to keep his voice calm. He sensed her fear and he did not want to spook her. Certainly anger remained, but he wanted information and could not allow his emotion to overcome his sense, he had done that far too often in recent weeks.

The two continued their walk along the road as it wove through the gorge and exited to the north. A few song birds chirped and small animals occasionally scurried across their path, but otherwise it felt as if they had the valley to themselves.

'I need to understand some things, Nina. I need those answers you promised.'

She nodded without taking her eyes from her boots.

'Okay then. You brought me here. How’d you choose me? You said you saw eight parallel universes. Each with an Earth?'

The Major licked her lips and tried to answer. Her voice shook, seemingly worried that the wrong word could lead to an explosion.

'We…I didn’t have a chance to go sight seeing. We were given directions on how to get to your universe. I didn’t find you by accident. I mean, we picked you on purpose.'

'And the reasons you picked me?'

A strange bird flew over head. It was about the size and shape of an Eagle but its scalp sported a plate of armor like a helmet.

'I told you the truth. Our Trevor was dead. Our world-' she stopped herself, huffed, and re-worded, 'Our invasion had been stopped and turned back. We were down to just Thebes. I mean all of our outposts and resource stations and even the satellite colonies were wiped out. Mainly by the Chaktaw, but by other things, too.'

'And how did you think I could help?'

'Believe it or not, I told you the truth on that already, you know? Our Trevor held things together. He was a great leader. You-I mean he-knew how to speak to people, to get their spirits up. We knew that you were a great leader, too. I-we-figured you could help us turn it around again.'

He shook his head but he did not get angry. He refused to get angry. He was a human being capable of controlling his emotions.

'That’s not all. There’s more. Your Committee didn’t want me back.'

'The Committee were politicians. They knew about the plan but never actually approved it. I sort of jumped the gun with Snowe's permission.'

Trevor said, 'Snowe knew sooner or later I'd confront The Committee. He probably figured I’d eventually get sick of their shit.'

Nina allowed herself a sardonic chuckle. 'Yeah. They were half-assed politicians. No matter what universe you were from, we knew you were a man of action, not words.'

'Of course,' he nodded fast as he realized one more key component. 'I’m the guy from the Earth where humanity is under siege and I’ve been kicking ass. You figured I could think like the Chaktaw here. They're the ones causing you the most grief because they are the home team, huh? One thing I don’t get, though,' Trevor adjusted the zipper on the leather pilot’s jacket he wore over his battle suit. 'Why didn’t Snowe just take out The Committee himself?'

The Major shook her head but the whole time kept her eyes pointed down.

'The problems we had after our Emperor died got a little better thanks to The Committee. They showed the most pull with the people back home sending supplies. Things weren't going as planned. We were supposed to be living off the land over here for the most part by now. Home world didn't want much to do with us.'

'What? They sent an army over here and abandoned you?'

'Not exactly. If you haven't noticed by now, we're not really a well-groomed fighting machine. Yeah, sure, there are professional soldiers in the ranks, mainly leftovers from the civil wars back home. A lot of the people who came over were mercenaries or criminals given a chance at a new life, people Trevor convinced to gamble on some new world paradise.'

Trevor let that sink in. Mercenaries. Criminals. Very few professional soldiers. If that held true for the other invaders, it would explain why they often fought two-dimensionally. His ruse of the arrogant Red Coats at Wilkes- Barre, the wholesale slaughter of Red Hands during Five Armies, or the rout of the Chaktaw with a surprise charge during the last days of that battle. At one time, he wondered if man might be the best warriors in the universe. Perhaps a lack of quality among the invading armies gave his people an advantage.

She said, 'If Jakob had taken The Committee out on his own, we might not see another supply shipment, and the gateways are one-way, Trevor. There's no going home and even if we did, half of the people in Thebes would be going home to jails or emptiness. At least here they have a chance to build a life.'

'They don't belong here,' he showed not one ounce of sympathy. 'I don't care who they were, they don't belong and if they don't go back willingly, then they deserve to be slaughtered.'

She ignored his words and said, 'With you back and you killing The Committee, Snowe can step up and be the hero who salvages everything.'

A whole slew of questions avalanched into Trevor’s mind. He tried his best to slow his thought processes and deal with them in some kind of order.

'Wait, now, you had your gateway. It’s one way? But you can-'

'Yes. One way. To Earth. Once you come over, there’s no going back. But we can communicate with home through the gate; tell them what supplies we need, when we need reinforcements if they can convince anyone to come, that is. That type of thing, you know?'

'But you weren’t convincing anyone to come, were you?'

'A few criminals here and there, no one we really wanted, not after Trevor's death. He was the glue holding it together. He could convince ordinary people to take up arms and follow him on this grand adventure, you know?'

He remembered his speech before the final showdown at Five Armies, how he had reached into the hearts of