THE MOMENT
"Whoa...," Helen lifted the beaker for a closer look. A thin layer of liquid light rested at the bottom of the beaker. She sprang to her feet and dashed to the wall to turn off the light. Once the room was dark, the golden liquid seemed to glow brighter. She tilted it to one side and watched the light collect at the lowest point. The rest of the beaker remained dark. She tilted it to the other side and watched the light move like mercury. It was quick and fluid without leaving any residue clinging to the beaker. Then, she giggled to herself. "...I distilled the universe," she said.
As soon as she set the beaker down to note some observations, sudden white light filled the room. It was brighter than the normal lights and she looked around her lab. The off-white tile walls she was used to were gone. Each wall was now a solid piece of glowing white glass as well as the floor and ceiling. She was trapped in a white room with no exit.
"What's going on?!" a sudden voice startled Helen. She spun around and saw a stranger hovering in the air. He was a teenager with bronze skin and a red jacket. Orange jet flames shot from the bottoms of his feet as he slowly landed on the ground. A horizontal black portal hovered in the air above him. Helen watched it close and realized it had brought the teen there by surprise.
"Sorry, Turbo," another voice spoke up. This time, a golden, faceless mannequin in a red suit appeared on the wall to talk to them. "It's kind of an emergency; I can't keep this hidden for long," the mannequin said. Helen was amazed at how clear his voice was considering he didn't have a mouth. She wondered if he was beaming thoughts into her mind; but, to her, it felt like she was listening with her ears. "Helen, my name is Helios," the golden man bowed. Then, he straightened up and gestured at the teen. "This is my friend, Turbo. Turbo, Helen discovered the essence that connects ALL universes," he said. "OR DID SHE???" he changed his voice to a mocking, sarcastic tone. Helen was about to defend her work until Turbo dashed to her side on his hover jets.
"Thanks, Helios," he said. Then, he focused on Helen.
"You solved this," he gestured at the beaker of light. "...so I don't have to explain the multiverse to you, right?"
"Right," Helen nodded.
"Our multiverse isn't the only one," Turbo said. "I've been trying to find a way to connect to another multiverse reliably. Helios says that essence connects all universes and I'd really like to take a look at it if you don't mind.
"What do you mean, 'take a look'?" Helen offered him the beaker even as she asked for clarification.
"Just that," he nodded as he brought the beaker up to examine it. "I want to look at it." The forward nodding motion caused a translucent red visor to appear over his eyes as he played with the liquid inside the way Helen did. Helen was close enough to see text scrolling up the inside of the visor; but, it was moving too fast for her to try to read.
"Whoa....," Turbo's mouth hung open and he was too much in awe to say another word. After a few more moments, he shook his head and the visor disappeared. He smiled and returned the beaker to Helen.
"False alarm, Helios; there's nothing here Ms. Sharp doesn't already know about," he said.
"That's your official report to Sharp Development?" Helios asked.
"Wait a minute...," Helen tried to interrupt but Turbo spoke over her.
"That's my official report," he said.
"Thanks, T!" Helios thanked him, and the room went dark again.
"I know what I have!" Helen held up the only light in the room.
"Yeah," Turbo chuckled. "Do you have lights?" he asked. Helen went to turn the lights on and set the beaker down on the table as she returned. Once she was close enough, he continued his explanation.
"The point is, Ms. Sharp doesn't know what you have. Sharp Development is a big company and there are always exciting discoveries happening on any given Earth at any time. Ms. Sharp has a freelance system set up for people to verify any world-changing discoveries and Helios worked me in."
"Why don't you want Ms. Sharp to know?" Helen asked. She'd never met the woman; but, she knew the company well and even worked closely with one of their representatives. At the moment, she had more loyalty for Sharp Development than a random stranger.
"Because she's going to destroy this multiverse," Turbo said. "Helios is just as scared of dying as the rest of us; and, he knows I'm working to find a way out."
"What do you mean 'destroy this multiverse'??" Helen was trying to keep up.
"We're not the only multiverse in existence," he nodded at the beaker with a smile. "I honestly don't know if Ms. Sharp knows that; but, she has already scheduled the end of this multiverse," he said.
"Then, shouldn't she know there's more out there?" Helen asked. Turbo shook his head.
"If she's willing to destroy what she thinks is the only multiverse we have; it's probably not a great idea to reveal new ones to her."
"What? No!" Helen shook her head. "Ms. Dana Sharp runs the universe; she's God," she said. "You really think SHE DOESN'T ALREADY KNOW??" she was insulted on Ms. Sharp's behalf. She got the impression that Turbo was going to leave her discovery with her. And he would probably include advice to not duplicate the experiment nor report anything to Sharp Development. But, she already decided that's exactly what she was going to do.
"Even Ms. Sharp has limitations," Turbo said. "One of them being her reliance on automated knowledge gathering, and maybe she relies too much on Helios in general; she certainly tells him a lot."