Page 129 of Everdoll

“You can’t run the QER without the president’s authorization. You know the risks. Provoking another resonance is beyond our control.”

“I don’t care.” Fuck control anyway. I reached for the cables to open the device’s monitor, but Coretta beat me to it. She held up the cable and snapped at me.

“Raymond! Get a hold of yourself! You know the rules, it’s very…”

“Please.” I whispered. My voice was hoarse as if from the grave. “Please let me, Cora. I have to try. Otherwise I’ll go crazy. Please… let me find a dimension where she’s still mine.”

Coretta grimaced, then sighed. “Tell me everything. Everything, Ray. Or I won’t help you.”

I was in no condition to tell her anything, but I didn’t resist. I briefly explained my purpose, not caring I would be seen as a madman. Coretta listened, occasionally glancing at the device and exhaling.

This device had its origins nearly a year ago, developed by me. Initially, our team had hoped to map out subtle distortions in brane curvature by measuring gravitational anomalies and background radiation fluctuations.

But something strange happened.

As the sensitivity of the sensors increased, the device began detecting residual noise didn’t correspond to any known cosmic signal. Something was attempting to push through from beyond the brane. The possibility the device was acting as a tool for interdimensional transmission created a wave of excitement among the committee. But… If that transmission truly passed through the bulk, it meant one thing:

The fabric of universe, the brane itself, was thinning.

Such a condition was theoretically catastrophic. A thinning brane implied localized instabilities in spacetime, where the barrier between universes weakened enough to allow cross-dimensional leakage. At the time, the committee lacked sufficient data or theoretical frameworks to handle such implications responsibly. Fearing the possibility of brane rupture, we suspended the project indefinitely.

It was almost funny for me. Nothing in recorded physics had ever pointed to such a phenomenon. Branes weren’t supposed to tear. At most, a fluctuation or microscopic warping, but a rupture? No way. So I was never worried about this. I basically couldn’t give up on this project because finding a transmission from another dimension was a big step toward creating the gateway to that dimension.

I could go somewhere else. I didn’t care if the fabric of the universe was getting thinner or ripped. But I couldn’t tell Coretta that.

“I’m not entirely convinced, but okay.” Even though she said, she still didn’t hand me the cables. “But we will turn off the device if we notice anything unusual.”

“I can’t turn it off if I capture structured data, Cora.”

“I’m serious here, you can’t rush into this. First we need a good experimental physicist, I’ll contact Yalaz. This stays between the three of us. Before it gets too big, you satisfy your curiosity and we’ll stay away from the device. Deal?”

When Yalaz arrived, he dipped his chin in greeting.

“Oh, Ray! Why are you here this late? What happened? Did your woman dump you or something?”

He’d asked it jokingly, but the grin slipped from his face when I didn’t answer. He glanced at Coretta, then cleared his throat.

“Shit, man. I’m sorry. You need anything?”

I shook my head. We reread the old files and examined the risks before setting up the device. A low, steady hum began to vibrate through the floor. The only light in the room came from the monitor covering the entire wall. Green tabs popped up one after another near the top of the screen, followed by a few blinking warnings. Coretta twisted one of her butterfly braids tightly around her finger. Yalaz sat back, his gaze wandering toward the ceiling, uninterested.

“I think I heard something,” I pressed a finger to my earpiece, while Coretta tracked the curves on the map beside me.

“No danger exceeding the threshold value,” she reported.

Yalaz entered a few coordinates into the device. We continued this for nearly an hour, but there was no data to be found. Nothing could be heard except for random, unrelated noise.

“Is that enough, Ray?” Yalaz asked, but I didn’t respond.

“You guys can go.”

“We’re not leaving the device with you.”

“I promise I won’t go any further. Trust me.”

“If you do something, I’ll be the one to pay the price, not you! Can’t you be a little more understanding?”

Yalaz pulled Coretta toward himself, her arm tense under his grip. I stayed back, listening to the sharp exchange of their whispers without intervening. She let out a jagged breath.