Scott Copeland drove along the trail leading from the road he had been on. His gray eyes scanned the woods around him. The scar on his forehead stood out against his dark skin.

His car, a heap he had found in a junkyard and revived, roared as it rolled easily along the uneven ground. Anything listening would be able to hear his beast of a car before he got to where he was going.

He didn't mind. He wanted the man he was going to meet to know he was on the way. That would prevent misunderstandings.

Copeland wanted a piece of information he couldn't get on his own. He knew others that had skills but not the necessary knowledge, and some who had knowledge but not skills. He had made a deal to bring something to the man he was meeting for a location of someone he wanted to find.

After this meeting, he would drive up to talk to Howard Klein and try to figure out what was going on with the man. Klein knew things, but those things were not for sell. Either he told you, or he didn't. There was no bargaining with Klein unless he wanted something from you.

And a lot of times, Klein didn't want to give you the full picture.

Copeland pulled off the dirt road. He left the engine running. He might have to drive away fast. He got out of his car and looked around.

“Arnie?,” he called. He hoped the other man hadn't dragged him out ot the middle of nowhere for nothing.

“I'm here, Scotty,” said Arnold Liaz. “Do you have what I want?”

“Yes,” said Copeland. He leaned against his car, forearm on the roof. Something was wrong. He had the feeling that he had walked into a double cross.

Liaz was taller than Copeland, but stooped down like an old man. His long nose and receding chin and bald head gave him the appearance of a buzzard. Hands bigger than the wrists that held them clutched the front of his dark suit jacket.

“Then let's make this trade,” said Liaz. “The quicker I am out of this jungle the better.”

“It's not really a jungle,” said Copeland. He gestured for Liaz to join him at the back of his car. He pushed a button to open the trunk. A man bound hand and foot looked up at them. “Do you have the information?”

“Not yet, Scotty,” said Liaz. “Let me savor this. It's been a long time since I have felt a real win. Let me have this.”

Copeland shut the trunk. He leaned against it, crossing his arms.

“I'm in a hurry,” he said. “I have to look into some kind of problem for someone else. I need what you found out. Then I give you my haul.”

Liaz pulled a pistol from under his coat. He pointed it at Copeland's face. His expression had taken on a tinge of greed.

“Now that I have him, I don't need you anymore,” said Liaz. “What do you think about that, Scotty?”

“Do you really want to go down that road?,” asked Copeland. “I'm more than willing to honor our deal.”

“New deal, Scotty,” said Liaz. “I take what I want, and give you nothing.”

“That's the wrong approach, Arnie,” said Copeland. “You should have thought about it before you tried this double cross of yours.”

A blade of flame erupted in Copeland's hand. He felt his face become lighter as the power flared up from inside him. He stabbed Liaz casually in the leg as he stepped forward. The pain distracted the information broker long enough for a backhand to drop him to the ground.

Copeland kicked the pistol away. He didn't know if Liaz had secured special ammunition to hurt him, but why take chances? He looked down at his former source. He would never be able to trust the other man again.

“You want to tell me what I want to know now?,” asked Copeland. “I still have to look into this other job.”

“He set up on the edge of the Jotun,” said Liaz. “There's no way for you to get at him.”

“There's always a way, Arnie,” said Copeland. “Where exactly did he set up?”

“Down close to the harbor where their battleship is sitting,” said Liaz. “You'll have to kill a bunch of giants to get what you want.”

“Let me worry about that,” said Copeland. He opened the trunk. He pulled his captive out and cut the ties around the man's wrists and ankles. “Have a good trip home.”

“I will,” said the former prisoner. He smiled as he walked toward the pistol on the ground.

Copeland got behind the wheel of his car. He backed away from the clearing, turning his car so he could drive back to a real road. The wheels of his car caught fire as he sped away. He didn't hear the sound of gunshots as he rolled away from the scene.

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That didn't mean they weren't there.

Copeland turned on the main road. He reached out for access as he drove. Klein's vampires had been a few roads over on the planar side. Then he had to go another leg above that.

It should be a snap for his car to do that.

Copeland wondered if he could get Klein to help him with his personal business after this other thing was done. He needed help if he was taking on the Jotun. You didn't take on the giants unless you brought a cannon with you.

And Klein had talents that would help him get through their security and take his prize. He also loved to kill monsters with those ancient looking weapons he carried. Beheading a vampire had made his day the last time they had worked together.

Copeland found the road he was looking for branching off from the two lane he drove on. He turned on that and headed through the trees. His internal compass pointed through the obstacles trying to block him. It took some maneuvering but he spotted Klein's hut in the distance. Torch light kept the local spirits away.

He rolled to a stop just out of the torches' influence. He didn't want to walk into the defensive net that was clearly in place. Klein had shown himself proficient in spirit trapping.

Copeland got out of the car. The wheels of his car died down to dull rubber. He patted the hood.

“Hey, Klein,” Copeland shouted. “I'm here. What did you want to talk about?”

Klein and another man appeared. The stranger scratched his eyebrow as he stepped closer. He wore the standard magician blending in suit and coat instead of something wild and crazy.

“Hello, Copeland,” said Klein. “Come ahead. We want to have our talk. Then we're going to have to plan what we can do with your help.”

“What makes you think I will help you?,” asked Copeland.

“Because this is something you live for,” said Klein. “It's a fight against unknown odds for the fate of the multiverse.”

“Baloney,” said Copeland. He crossed his arms.

“I think what I am telling you is the truth,” said Klein. “I wouldn't have called you if I didn't.”

“So the three of us are going to take on this dangerous monster and take it down,” said Copeland. “It can't be that dangerous.”

“It's not a monster,” said the stranger. “We think it's a machine.”

“And we think it's using one of the three keys, but we don't know which one yet,” said Klein. “That's why we have to stop this before it breaks too much of the tree.”

“I just found out one of my old enemies is hanging out in Jotun space,” said Copeland. “It seems too much to be a coincidence.”

“An even trade?,” said Klein.

“I help you with this, you help me with mine?,” said Copeland. “I don't see why not.”

“All right,” said Klein. “Come on. The faster we plan and carry out the job, the safer the tree will be.”

“Have you already looked at this?,” asked Copeland. He patted the hood of his car before stepping inside the shield. He stepped on the wooden porch, his boots thumping against the floor.

“Yes,” said Klein. He led the way to his outside table. He pulled a third chair of wood from inside the cabin as he passed a window. He set it at the table. “I saw some minor shielding and major energy output. I only saw one way in, but it was guarded with shields and specific locks.”

“So we'll have to punch a hole through a wall somehow,” said Copeland. “We might not be able to do that if they're reinforced.”

“This is what the place looked like under my examination,” said Klein. He placed his hand on the top of the table and breathed. A wooden effigy of a house emerged from the furniture. Strings formed a net around the model.

“The easiest way in to punch a hole here,” said Copeland. He pointed to a spot on the side of the house. “Then we can hit the wall and get inside.”

“The inside might not conform to what we want,” said Klein. “Once we're inside, we'll have to navigate any slurry that might be there to get to the source and shut it down. The last time I looked at it, the halls seemed to be getting bigger inside the house as the machinery ran.”

“Punching through the separate floors might be the only way to traverse the place fast enough,” said Copeland. “On the other hand, if the floors are too tough, we might be stuck trying to find stairs to get around.”

“This is what the insides look like right now,” said Klein. His eyes turned white as he turned his attention across the planes. The wooden house became a stack with spreading arms that didn't match the outside.

“Bigger on the inside than the outside,” said Copeland. “That's pretty common. This section at the bottom?”

“That's where we think the machine is,” said the stranger. “We know it's holding intersections open, and the effect is spreading. If it keeps up, every plane will be connected to the plane next to it.”

“What does that mean?,” said Copeland.

“May I?,” asked the stranger.

Klein nodded and stepped away from the table.

The stranger waved his hand over the table and the wooden tower. A set of sheets appeared. They rested next to each other.

“This is what the leaves of the tree would look if there was no connection at all,” said the stranger. “Each one goes about its business without knowing about the others.”

He waved his hand again. Symbols marked each sheet. Small tokens marked the common inhabitants of each sheet. Copeland recognized several from his dealings.

“Each of these are harmless as long they are confined to their own leaf,” said the stranger. “Let's see what happens when the sheets start touching each other.”

He waved the sheets to start overlapping. A ring for intersections started appearing where the sheets overlapped. Tokens began moving from one sheet to the other. At first, the intersections shifted around and closed on the tokens so they couldn't get reinforcements to carry out any plans. Then the intersections stayed open. The tokens multiplied and formed armies and invaded the other sheets since they had an open door.

“We're looking at cross space war?,” said Copeland.

“At first,” said the stranger. The sheets began to merge into one sheet. Some of the tokens took on a golden sheen and began exterminating the other tokens. The sheets collapsed and the gold tokens started rebuilding with material from elsewhere.

“What was that?,” asked Copeland. He pointed at the golden tokens flying around in their conjoined space.

“That was the end of that section of space and time,” said the stranger. “The new pantheon that emerged destroyed the planes around them, and killed all the weaker species.”

“So we have to get inside that house and shut everything down and make sure that key, if there is a key, does not stay in the wrong hands,” said Klein.

“And we're killing whomever is the brains of this?,” said Copeland.

“If we don't, he'll start again and we won't necessarily know where that is,” said Klein.

“I'm in,” said Copeland.