“Are you sure this Anomaly thing is something we need to worry about?”asked Terk. “It’s along way from our jungle.”
Dale K. Robinson
What happens when alternate Elmos try to save the Multiverse from the tamperings of the mysterious Man from Arkansas?
Earth-DZ
The party of five moved through the jungle with a rapid purpose. Elmo chaffed at the slow pace, taking to the trees, racing ahead to survey the best route and racing back to guide his friends and family around pitfalls.
It was a strange party that moved toward The Anomaly: nervous Tantor the elephant, pushing his way through the jungle, overcoming his fright to help his friends; perched upon his back was his best friend, the brash she-gorilla, Terk, little Professor Porter in his pith helmet and khakis, and Jane, who had abandoned her skirt and camisole for a doeskin halter and loincloth.
Elmo dropped out of the trees ahead of them. “There is a river ahead,” he told them. “There is a place to ford a short distance downstream.”
“Elmo, old boy, we don’t have much time, according to my instruments.” The Professor clutched a large box with dials and knobs and vacuum tubes. With his free hand, he fiddled with the knobs while he studied the dials. “Can you still see The Anomaly from the treetops?”
“Yes. It is still there and growing larger. The animals are fleeing it - I saw deer running side by side with leopards, more afraid of what lay behind them than the big cats.” Elmo paused. “We need to turn northeast here to reach the ford.”
“Are you sure this Anomaly thing is something we need to worry about?”asked Terk. “It’s along way from our jungle.”
“You heard The Professor, Terk,” Tantor told her. “If we don’t stop The Anomaly, it will consume the entire planet!”
“I will go ahead and mark the trail,” Elmo said. As he turned to go, Jane slid down from Tantor’s back. “Be careful, Elmo!” Elmo took her in his arms and kissed her.
“I love you, Jane!” and then he was gone, swinging into the trees.
Earth-B
Night had fallen on an estate in the East African nation of Kenya where a beautiful blonde woman and a tall, dark haired man in khakis stood on their veranda.
“John! What is that strange glow in the sky to the north?” asked Jane. “A forest fire? A plane crash?”
“I don’t know, dear, but I will soon find out.” In a moment’s time, he had stripped away the thin veneer of civilization and stood before her clad in only a loin cloth. From his office, he collected a bow with a quiver of arrows, a grass rope, and a large knife, similar to the one he had found in the long-abandoned cabin of his father years ago. The knife went into a leather sheath he had sewn himself decades earlier. Into a pouch in his loincloth, along with his bone needle and flint for fire, he dropped his one concession to the modern world, a stainless steel Gerber Multiplier.
Jane put her arms around his neck and pressed her body tight against his bare chest. He bent and kissed her deeply and then was gone, vanished into the dark jungle.
Earth-Prime, a few days earlier
In a hidden loft in a Victorian townhouse in Arkansas, a man twisted knobs on the machine that took up most of the loft’s space. The only light in the room, a lamp made from an antique candlestick telephone, dimmed, flickering for a moment, just as other lamps did all over the city of Little Rock. The machine began to hum.
The man chuckled softly. “Mess with my continuity, dare you? No longer!” He slowly moved a lever from down to up, slowly as if it took great effort. The hum grew in pitch.
On a neatly stacked table lay stacks of comics and clippings from newspaper comic strips, video tapes and DVDs, cassette tapes and CDs, paperback and hardbound books, trading cards and posters. Above the table, a panel began to glow, bathing the items on the table in a weird light.
“Soon,” the man said to the empty room, “there will be only one continuity – mine!”
Earth-W
“Boy! Jane!” called Elmo as he swung into the treehouse. “Cheetah, where Jane? Where Boy?” The chimp chattered away, with warning gestures toward the treehouse’s bedroom. Elmo ignored the primate. “Maybe they in bedroom,” said Elmo.
As he stepped toward the door, the rough hewn floor vanished under his feet and he fell into oblivion; a moment later, the rest of the treehouse and Cheetah joined him.
Earth-DZ/ Earth-B/ Earth-Prime?
Elmo and company had reached the end of their journey. They stood on the edge of The Anomaly, a large, glowing ball of light that was expanding and consuming the jungle it touched.
“Professor,” said Tantor, “Have you noticed the change in the jungle here?”
“You mean the way the colors have changed from bright and clearly defined to darker and deeper?” asked Terk.
“It is like there’s another dimension to them, Daddy,” Jane added.
“A third dimension, Jane. We live in a two-dimensional world. Lived, I should say. This anomaly is changing our world as it destroys it,” said Professor Porter.
“Will your device stop it” asked Elmo.
“Yes, will your device stop it?” asked Elmo.
They turned to stare at a tall, three-dimensional version of Elmo, clad in doeskin loincloth and carrying a bow with a quiver of arrows, a grass rope and a hunting knife.
“He’s a version of you, Elmo!” cried Terk.
“Different, but the same,” agreed The Professor. “This fits my theory of multiple universes, alternate realities, if you will …”
“Daddy, will your device work?” asked Jane. She had trouble tearing her eyes away from this new Elmo who was staring right back at her. As he studied her curves and long legs under the doeskin, he realized that she was strangely drawn to him.
“I … I think so. We will have to get it inside The Anomaly.” The Professor turned back to his device, reading dials and twisting knobs.
“I’ll take it inside,” said newcomer Elmo.
“No,” said Elmo, “I will.” The two Elmos stared at each other.
Professor Porter was edging closer to The Anomaly. “Daddy!” cried Jane, leaping after her father as he vanished into The Anomaly.
“Jane!” cried herElmo, leaping for her.
“Elmo!” cried Terk and Tantor in unison as they tried to stop their Elmo.
As they vanished into The Anomaly, Elmo watched as The Anomaly collapsed in upon itself and his jungle returned to normal.
Shaking his head in wonder, he turned back toward the Kenyan estate.
As he swung through the trees toward his Jane, the thought crossed his mind, wondering when Boy would return from Arkansas. He frowned. Boy? Arkansas? Maybe everything wasn’t as back to normal as he thought.
The end?