This is a very special chapter, to me anyway. I’ve been wanting to do a tie-in chapter for a while. This chapter, and the next, is the nexus of a story arc that has spanned seventeen books. I hope you enjoy it.

Mara ran off the path and into a meadow of yellow and white wildflowers in pursuit of a pretty bright blue butterfly. Jack watched in amusement when the butterfly landed on Mara’s nose. The tiger plopped down in the grass and stared cross-eyed at the little winged creature. Jack waved an arm. “Just shoo it away,” “I can't, it’s tired and needs a rest.” “Is that the World-Bridge up ahead?” asked Jack. “Yes… oh raindrops, you made me scare it… come back, little butterfly.” Jack continued walking while the tiger chased after the butterfly. The stone bridge connected the trail across a creek with deep wading pools just under the arch that supported the structure. This was the kind of common country bridge you could sit on the low side walls and spend a lazy day fishing. Jack leaned over the side and gazed longingly into the deep pools of water beneath – that was where a catfish would be hiding. The butterfly was soon forgotten and Mara came running at top speed along the footpath leading to the bridge. She bounded onto the bridge and across to the other side, but stopped short of stepping off the bridge. Mara looked back at him with shining eyes that swirled with the sun. “Come on, we’ll be late.” “Says the tiger that spent all morning chasing butterflies.” He took a last wistful look at the inviting water below, he just knew there was a big fish down there somewhere, probably laughing at him because he didn’t have a fishing pole. Jack stretched and glanced at the tiger. It had been a pleasant walk in the country, but the bridge didn’t look like advanced technology. “Are you sure this is the World-Bridge?” “Hurry up, he’s coming!” “Who’s coming?” Jack walked toward the tiger and… the world changed, as if someone had just flipped the page in a picture book. He squinted and put his hands above his eyes to shield from the suddenly bright sun. The bridge was now sitting on the white sand of a beach with an ocean off to his left. He took a reflexive step back, and the world was again over the lazy creek winding through the wooded countryside. He leaned forward… and now the beach, and backwards… and now the creek… and now the beach… and now the creek. Jack put his hands up, searching for an Event Horizon that wasn’t there. He leaned back into the wooded country world and marked the transition point – it was the mid-point of the bridge, but Mara, the bridge, the creek, and the beach all maintained their position relative to the bridge. “Hehe, you’re making me dizzy,” said Mara watching him. “Mara, this isn’t wormhole technology, this is quantum entanglement – the bridge exists in two places of space-time while we maintain our relative position to the event. Mara, this technology is more advanced than anything we currently have, are you sure you built this?” “Not this bridge, we built that one,” Mara pointed, “but it broke, so Jon helped us build a better one.” Jack looked to where Mara was pointing, but all that was there was the creek…Oh, of course, he was still standing in the creek world. He took a step forward past the transition point and saw what Mara was pointing at. Fifty feet to the right was a pile of rubble on the sand that might have been a bridge at one time. He stepped back into the creek world, but there was no rubble on this side of the bridge. That would mean the cubs had pulled the original bridge through space-time with them. It would be like pulling the Event Horizon from the beginning point of a wormhole to the end point while traveling simultaneously in both directions. Jack’s mouth fell open as he realized the ramifications of such a thing. “Mara, to exist in two places equally at the same time and point in space using quantum entanglement would mean you also solved The Grand Unified Theory in which three interactions of forces are unified into one force, but that would bring particle physics into play also, yet, I detect no high energy sources. You would need the combined energy of millions of suns to do this.” Mara stood and sang while spinning in a circle. Put an apple in your pocket, that’s all you’ll ever need, spin around and around and around and around… Mara collapsed on the ground giggling at herself. Jack shook his head. “What?” Mara got up on wobbly legs. “The energy of an atom in respect to a reference point is equal to the factor of relativistic speed where E=mc^2 in relation to velocity and the speed of light equated at the square root of velocity and speed of light. The faster you go, the heavier the atom appears until its energy is infinite. Jack blinked. He was no longer the smartest kid in the classroom. “One atom, that’s all you need?” Mara started singing again. “One apple, two apple, three apple more, stir it all up and you got a space door." “Is Mara teaching you quantum physics?” asked a deep voice with the hint of a drawl. Jack spun around and found himself facing a man in a wide brimmed hat that dipped to eye level, a checkered neckerchief, a black shirt buttoned all the way up, and a long brown coat that came down to his calves and pulled behind two gun holsters holding long-barreled revolvers. Jack reached for his sidearm, but it was gone, along with the holster. The man held up Jack’s gun still inside the holster, then tossed it over the side of the bridge into the creek. “Nobody wears guns around here cepn’ me, partner.” The man’s accent was deep and thick. Jack had heard an accent like it before - it was typical of an amphibian species like the Atan. The man flicked his wrist and Jack was again in the beach world. “I was getting dizzy watching you spin the bridge around in circles, I’ve anchored it to this world for now.” “You could have just asked me to surrender the weapon. I would have left it on the creek side until I returned.” “And I could put my boots on before my britches, but I’ll just stick with the easy way.” The man turned to Mara and held his arms out. Mara leaped and the man caught the tiger in a hug while Mara attempted to plant as many tiger kisses on the man as possible. When Mara had thoroughly covered the man with as much tiger slobber as possible, he gently put her down. “Did you build this bridge?” asked Jack. “I assisted, after the cubs washed up on my beach.” The man waved a hand at the pile of rubble off to the right. “I liken it to clinging to a log while paddling across a vast ocean in a hurricane. Come along now, we have a long way to go.” “Go where?” asked Jack. The man flicked his hand again and the world slipped away until the bridge was hanging in the darkness of space, and next to an old fashion steam engine train with billowing clouds of smoke rising from its smoke stack. Mara ran off the edge of the bridge and glided across the emptiness of space as if on smooth ice. Golden clouds of sparkly dust rose up around the tiger like so much pixie dust. She slid around in circles on her belly and giggled in delight until she finally came to a stop. The man followed off the bridge next and calmly walked across the empty space to the train. Jack looked over the end of the bridge at the infinite drop into space. He tentatively put a foot out and tested the ‘ground’. Despite nothing being there, it was solid. “Is this an illusion?” asked Jack. The man stepped up onto the train stairs and looked back at Jack. “All of reality is an illusion, boy.” The man turned his head to Mara, she was now running in circles and kicking up more of the sparkly golden dust. “Mara, you’re not getting on this train until you shake all that stardust out of your fur.” Jack gingerly walked across the space from the bridge to the train. “Who are you?” “Jon Black, of course.” Mara disappeared around the train to return a moment later with a glowing white ball in her mouth. The man put his hands on his hips. “Mara, put that moon back, it belongs to someone.” Mara tossed the moon into the air. “Aw, I want to keep it.” The man wagged a finger at the tiger. “Now, young lady.” Mara sighed. “Oh, okay.” Mara caught the moon and ran back around the train with it. Jack paused at the stairs to the train and looked up at the man. “Okay, I get it, this is a virtual reality.” “Is that so, Mr. Aestar?” Jack crossed his arms defiantly. “Yes, that’s so, Mr. Black. You can’t change the laws of physics so a tiger can steal the moon and run around with it unless you’re in V.R.” “Does water boil at 100 degrees Celsius?” Jack squinted his eyes. “Yes?” “And at a higher altitude?” asked Mr. Black. Jack suspected a trap coming - It was the kind of question a teacher would ask when they wanted to trip you up on something. “It boils at a lower temperature,” replied Jack. Mr. Black’s patronizing smile made Jack want to punch the man. “So, extending the laws of physics to predict changing behavior becomes necessary as you change the environment,” said Mr. Black. Mara leaped onto the train and ran past trailing a cloud of gold glittery star dust. Jack turned to follow Mara into the passenger car. “My A.I. can make a better V.R. train, this doesn’t even look real.” Mr. Black pushed the door to the train shut a little harder than necessary, which made Jack grin, he was getting under the man’s skin, and that was very satisfying. “This train was built at the Kelsing Facility on Aeden, and carried the last living Aeden away to safety as your planet was destroyed.” Jack paused, but didn’t turn around. “Wow, you really like to win an argument. That was a low blow. You’re a jerk.” “My apologies, Mr. Aestar, I didn’t realize you were a child to be shielded from the truth?” Aya spoke in Jack's head: Jack, this clown is trying to bully you, just ignore him. Jack turned around and narrowed his eyes, ignoring a bully was not in his nature. “I don’t know if there is a Kelsing Facility, but I do know my home world has not been destroyed. So, for you to know of such an event, you would have to be from my future – a future that has not happened for me yet. Therefore, the Multiverse theory must also be true, but that means on my time-line there are still an infinite number of possibilities existing to avoid the extinction of the Aeden species. And since that event has not yet occurred for me, there is no way for you to know if I am on your time-line in your reality, and you can never know because if you travel forward in time and before any of the alternate possibilities take place at my place on the time-line, you can’t know if it is actually me, or an alternate me.” Jack spun around and flicked the back of his hand with a single finger extended at the man. “Does your mother know you use that kind of language?” asked Mr. Black. Jack walked through the doors into the passenger compartment, but it wasn’t a normal passenger train, but more like a luxury train car for the very wealthy. There were two fluffy chairs at the front of the car, a long couch against the left wall, two more fluffy chairs, another long couch against the right wall, and another fluffy chair just to Jack’s left - most of the chairs and couches were occupied already. “Jack, over here, I saved you a seat,” Mara called out. Jack nearly jumped out of his skin when the luggage in front of the first chair moved. A big white Sherata tiger with black stripes raised its head and yawned. The man in the chair turned his head toward Jack. Jack’s eyes widened as he realized the man, a rather small man, had wings that draped over the side of the chair. “Are you alright?” asked the winged man. “You’re an avian species… but there are no avian species,” Jack blurted before he could stop himself. The winged man chuckled. “Won’t my mother and father be surprised to hear I’m not avian.” The man stuck his hand out. “Hi, I’m Sern, and this is my wife, Saeber, pleased to meet you.” Jack forced himself not to flinch away from what looked more like raptor claws than a hand. “Your wife?” Jack’s eyes flicked down at the Sherata tiger, then noticed one of the man’s legs was missing. “She… didn’t eat your leg… did she?” The tiger chuckled a deep rumbling laugh. “I think that’s what I’ll tell people from now on.” Sern saw where Jack was looking and smiled. “That happened a long time ago. Wouldn’t you know I found the only poisonous snake in the Universe that a Daraian isn’t immune?” “I’ve never heard of a Daraian before.” “This is your first time out in the Greater Universe, isn’t it?” Jack nodded. The tiger at the man’s feet started to stand, then blurred and became a woman with long flowing white hair. “A pleasure to meet you, young man, but you’re keeping your lovely young lady waiting, you better go.” Jack pushed the growing panic inside him down and nodded again before hurrying toward the couch Mara was lying on. Jack sat down next to Mara and closed his eyes. He’d traveled to many worlds, but they were all human worlds, like himself, but… winged men… shape shifting tigers... trains in space? It was almost too much. Jack opened his eyes in time to see a woman, also with wings, lean across the aisle to Mara. “Hello, dear, I’m Jasai, I just wanted to say you have the loveliest shade of fur.” Mara grinned from ear to ear. “Thank you.” The woman nodded to the man sitting next to her. “This is my husband, Zil.” Jack had already noticed the man and was trying to ignore what he saw. The man was obviously from a reptilian species, but there were no reptilian species that Jack knew of. Jack sat back and closed his eyes. “Are you alright, Jack?” asked the woman. Jack kept his eyes closed and didn’t respond. He felt nauseous. There were too many new things at once that were too far from any reality he knew. The woman twisted in her chair and looked back at Jon Black. “Did you prepare him for any of this, or did you just throw him out of the tree to flap around like a hatchling?” Jon Black shrugged and took a seat. “He was being stubborn and wanted to argue about physics.” “Jon Black, you are the most irresponsible person I know. I knew we should have sent someone else to fetch him.” The woman turned back to Jack. “You poor dear, you must be terrified.” The woman opened her hand/talons. She held a purple pill in her hand. “Here, take this, it will calm you. Don’t worry, it’s safe, my people are experts at medication.” Jack opened his eyes and looked at the pill, but made no indication he was going to take it. The lizard man snorted a laugh. “Medication? Is that what we call it now? This one thinks that one has much common sense.” It took Jack a moment to realize the lizard man hadn’t spoken out loud; Jack had heard the lizard man speaking in his head. Sorry, Jack, I couldn’t stop him from entering your mind, I think he’s a Zilinth. ”That’s not possible, the Zilinth are just Aeden mythology,” replied Jack. Jack took a breath. “I’m going to assume all this is somehow real, and I’m going to assume I’m being kidnapped. Was Mara in on this?” Jasai shook her head. “Oh dear no, she is innocent of any duplicity and thinks she was taking you on a lovely outing. You know, she’s quite smitten with you.” Jack laid his hand on Mara’s head. “You’re using her as a shield because you knew you couldn’t hold me without a hostage. If any harm comes to her, I will tear this train apart, and you with it. Where are you taking us?” Mr. Black leaned forward, a hand on his revolver. "Threats are not necessary, Mr. Aestar." Jack's eyes blazed with the fire he held inside him. "I can see from the way all of you move that you were trained for battle - I was bred for it, try me, Sir." The woman waved a hand at Mr. Black. "Jon, let's not push one of the most dangerous soldiers ever genetically created for war too far. Jack, no harm will come to you or Mara, you have my word. In 24 hours you will be free to leave if you wish. We only ask that you give us 24 hours for you to understand how serious this is. The woman leaned back and stared at Jack for a long moment before continuing. “We’re taking you to The Great Library.” Jack took a breath and willed himself to calm down. “Why?” “In the next twelve hours you will fight an Eroden Fleet of over one million warships. The Aeden Fleet will not arrive in time, and there will be no rescue or reinforcements from the Ruk. You have three ships, only two of which are warships.” Jack glared at the woman. “Are you insane as well as a liar?” The woman laughed lightly. “I’ve been accused of both before, one is true, and one is not. Now listen carefully, some places on the time-line have infinite possibilities, or alternate realities, and some only have the one possibility. At the moment of the battle with the Eroden, there will be 2,347 possibilities, and up until now, they all lead to your death. The Eroden win the battle, spread throughout Aeden space, and the Aeden Empire falls. Darkness descends on the universe and the light of civilization is gone forever.” Jack raised an eyebrow. “I already know the battle with the Eroden will lead to the fall of the Aeden Empire.” The woman smiled a sad smile that felt like the breath of winter on his shoulders. “Jack, all 2,346 of the alternate Jack Aestar’s have already fought their battle and lost. You are the last Jack Aestar left to fight the battle before the time-line merges into the final possibility for all life in the universe. We’re taking you to The Great Library to read the histories of each of the alternate Jack Aestar’s on the day of their battle.” Jack leaned forward. “Ah, I see. Once you discover all the ways a thing cannot be done, the only thing left is how the thing can be done. How many of my alternate brothers were given this opportunity?” “Jon didn’t push the panic button until the thousandth Jack failed,” replied the woman. “Are you people the Keepers of Time or something?” asked Jack. “Jon is, but… we began as something else, something very dark, but in our redemption we became the Guardians of the Tree of Life.” “Yet in your redemption, you still have no problem resorting to duplicity and kidnapping if it suits your purpose?” “I have had this conversation with 1,346 Jack Aestar’s, and each time it is the same. You start with stubbornness over technology beyond your understanding, then warm up to threats of violence for perceiving to have been manipulated, and finish by refusing to take advantage of The Great Library. If you cannot deviate from the time-line, your fate will be the same as all the others and the universe will end with your obstinacy.” The man from the back of the train car with the tiger wife stood and came down the aisle. The man limped slightly and Jack realized he must have put a prosthetic leg on. “And for the 1,347th time, this gets tense and stupid. At least this will be the last time we have to do this. I’m so tired of repeating this day over and over. Jack, I heard you like books, you might want to turn around and take a look.” Jack turned to the window in time to watch the train descend, much like an airplane does, and land on a set of railroad tracks. The train entered a building that dwarfed even the size of the RS-40. Sern leaned over next to Jack and watched out the window with him. “This building is the single largest structure in the universe, it encompasses the entire planet and contains every book ever written, along with a history of every person that has ever lived.” “Who built this?” asked Jack. “The Zilinth.” “I thought they were just Aeden mythology?” Sern jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “There’s one sitting right there.” Jack didn’t turn around to look at the lizard man – he had no interest in getting into a conversation with a mythological creature. Jack watched the train rolling between shelves of books that rose higher than he could see. And there were more of the lizard men, climbing and jumping from shelf to shelf. “What are they doing?” “Getting books for patrons, or putting books away – they’re the librarians. You can retrieve a book yourself, if it is located on the first three levels, after that, you must request the book from one of the librarians.” The train slowed and came to a stop. “We’re here. This is about as far away and remote from the main lobby as we can get. If the public were to see Jon and us together at the same time, they would know something was wrong. Panic could spread to tens of thousands of worlds.” “I admit this is amazing?” said Jack. Sern pushed himself away from the window. “Okay, Jack, here’s the rules. We’ve rented a fairly large office space for you to work in. It’s right across the walkway when we get off the train. We will keep a guard on the door, but not to keep you in, but to keep others out. Zil will also station himself at the door. If you need a book, you can ask him to retrieve it, but you are also welcome to go anywhere in the library you wish. Time does not pass in this building. Your body doesn’t physically need to eat or sleep, but your mind will tell you it does. Sleep when you’re tired, and we’ll bring you food when you’re hungry. Other than that, you’re on your own. We’re going to back the train up onto a side track – they use this track for a trolley car to move patrons around. You can stay as long as you like. Any questions?” “Does this time thing happen often?” “Nope, sorry Jack, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Jack shook his head. “How did it happen?” Sern’s eyes flicked to Mara. “An anti-matter explosion.” Jack smacked his forehead. “The anti-matter explosion ripped a hole in time-space.” “Now you’re catching on, son. Anti-matter weapons were outlawed by all civilized worlds capable of making them because of this very thing.” “I’m not happy about this, but I see no choice but to cooperate, for now. Last question.” “Yes.” “I see Erodens outside.” “Yep, you would. We rented this spot on purpose. We’re right across from the collection of Histories of the Eroden Empire during their Age of Expansion. Please don’t get in a fight with them, all the Eroden you see here are just historians, scholars, and academia.” “I get it, they’re like the difference between Mara and an Aeden Sherata.” “Well, you’re on your own. Everything in your office is exactly as the last Jack left it. You must remain here for 24 hours, after that, you’re free to return to your time, or stay as long as you need. Good luck.”