Prologue

There are clearly more than three dimensions to our universe, and it is now your job as part of the Parallel Division (PD) to monitor and protect what others take for granted.

In order to do so, you must first get past the concept of only three dimensions. We have found the easiest, and most useful, fourth dimension for new recruits to understand, is time.

Consider driving to work from home. Just because you leave your house doesn’t mean it ceases to exist. In a similar fashion, the location of 20 seconds ago when you began reading this did not cease to exist.

Second, you must begin to understand that our ‘home,’ is simply a single dimensional variant, often referred to as a ‘line’ by our agents.

Third, you must learn the policies and procedures.

Excerpt from Parallel Division Orientation Manual: Ch. 1 Introduction to the force

Ch 1.

Damn, fell asleep on the couch again… guess there’s always tomorrow, Jamie thought.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

He looked around while half sitting up on the couch he had fallen asleep on, having been too groggy to pinpoint where the sudden pounding was coming from. The only real light was coming from the old TV leaning up against the half wall across the room. It was a typical feature serving as a counter separating the living room from the kitchen in the supposedly remodeled apartments. The TV looked to be on mute though since he could see the infomercial salesperson talking about some product no one could live without, but without any voice accompanying it. Listening, he heard the constant rain and rumbling thunder of a storm that must have moved in while he was sleeping.

Pretty sure it wasn’t just thunder… Mrs. Waters never makes any noise, but that new couple could be having fun, went through his mind, thinking about the neighbors of each adjoining townhouse.

He had lucked out with Mrs. Waters, being an old, widowed retiree. She was quiet and even brought him muffins and dinner once in a while, seeming to worry about him like she would a son… or at least a nephew. It didn’t hurt that Jamie didn’t mind helping out once in a while when a light bulb needed changed or the smoke detectors caused issues. It wasn’t intended as he wasn’t the most social, but with the maintenance of the properties leaving something to be desired he didn’t think it was best for her to be up on a chair alone, or at all really.

She was harmless enough though. She would come knocking a few times a month with something homecooked. It was almost always the same, asking if he was still working at the game store, if he had a girlfriend yet, and telling him he was looking too thin. Sometimes mentioning an issue that she was resolved to fix, like her bathroom lightbulb last week, that inevitably resulted in him volunteering.

The other side of his townhome, which his kitchen shared a wall with, had been vacant for a number of months. At some point in the last week or two a young couple had moved in. He had heard them moving furniture and hammering on the walls once in a while, but nothing else, and certainly nothing this late.

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Well, good for them, he figured, hoping it wouldn’t be a routine thing.

As he was thinking about eating a piece of pizza from the box on the floor or just making his way to the bedroom, he heard it again.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

This time he knew it came from the front door. Glancing up by the second knock, the door visibly shuttered against the frame and deadbolt. Looking over to the half counter separating the living room and kitchen, the digital clock showed a bright green 11:13 back at him. Eleven thirteen on a Tuesday night is too late for someone to pound on a door, Jamie thought to himself, again rubbing some of the sleep from his eyes and swinging his legs off the couch to sit up. Especially considering how bad the storm sounded outside. Who would show up in the middle of the night, in the middle of a storm, and then pound on the door.

He just sat there as the seconds passed, listening intently to see if he could hear anything over the constant downpour and thunder outside. Without an awning, whoever was knocking was going to get drenched if they stayed there.

They’ll go away.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The pounding sounded over the storm again.

Keep pounding all you want, I’m not opening the door, it’s late and I’m going to bed.

Another flash came through the curtains as lightning struck close by, accompanied by thunder loud enough he thought he thought he felt the row of townhomes shake a bit. He looked around the room, okay, socks can stay there, pizza should probably go onto the counter instead of just leaving it on the floor, don’t want ants.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

This time it was followed by a rattle as the doorknob moved slightly in its place.

Okay, time to call the cops. No reason anyone should be trying the handle.

He grabbed his cell phone from the coffee table next to him. As he tapped the screen nothing happened.

Great, it shut off again, really need to look into getting a new phone.

Jamie looked at the old television, they were advertising a home gym now.

C’mon, he thought as he glanced back to the phone, seeing it finish turning on and typing in 911 to reach the police and hitting the call button. Unfortunately, as he looked back to the door, he saw the lock in the middle of the doorknob rotate a bit.

Someone was picking his lock.

Shit.

He looked back at the phone, heart starting to race. The annoyance of someone pounding in the middle of the night had been replaced by fear of someone breaking in. As much as he willed the call to connect, the phone still just showed calling with a weak signal in the upper corner. Whether it was the storm outside or the outdated phone, it didn’t matter much at this point.

Not the time to panic.

He stood up looking around the living room for something he could use as an impromptu weapon. There wasn’t much to choose from though since his job at the store barely covered rent, the place was empty.

Nothing here anyone should want. They’re going to bust in and be pretty disappointed.

There was the brown couch with worn cushions, a small coffee table from a pawn shop next to it, his outdated laptop sticking out from just underneath the couch, and the older TV across the room. That was about it, aside from a pair of socks and pizza box on the floor, along with a shirt, a pair of pants, and a belt that were on the back of the couch still, where he had put them after taking them off when he got home that afternoon.

Go to the kitchen and get a knife but no way out, or go to the bedroom and try and sneak out the window.

Just as he decided there was nothing worth defending, making the bedroom the best decision, the deadbolt flipped vertical, and the door started to open. Jamie grabbed the belt in his right hand without thinking, swinging it around, holding the buckle tight.

“Get out, I called the cops!” He shouted at the dark figure in the now open doorway, hoping they didn’t realize he was bluffing on getting the call out. He could feel the chill in the air from the storm. The outline of the person in the doorway looked towards him as rain and wind blew in. The figure took more shape as it stepped into the dim light of the foyer, about the same size as him, clad in black, jacket hood up making it hard to make out a face.

Welp, gonna get murdered in a pair of ratty boxers.

There was a pause as the figure looked to be taking him in before it shouted in a familiar male voice over the storm.

“It doesn’t matter, I didn’t know it was his before I opened the door, you know the rules.” The man shouted while stepping further in, water running off him onto the foyer’s white tile floor.

“Put the phone and the belt down. Once I get the fugitive I’ll be out of here.” The man said loud enough to be heard over the weather raging outside.

The man flipped the hood of the dark rain jacket down, letting Jamie see his face for the first time. Jaime just stared as the stranger began shutting the door while scanning the inside, the belt starting to lose momentum. The stranger that had broken in was pretty close to being a doppelganger. It would be an exact match if the stranger’s face didn’t look like he was more athletic, or maybe just healthier overall. That and being in a sopping wet black suit.