03142091 EOD B-Quebec

*Into the late hours of the night and early morning, Dr. Peterson changes from seat to seat across his study in the lower levels of the laboratory. Station after station, theory after theory, he exists in a state of scientific limbo. Just when studies appear to lead to no results or dead ends, something else branches off and a cycle forms. While one may think this is a fruitless exercise to most, as Hyun Ae seems to think, but the realm of astrophysics and theoretical studies both temporal and logical aren't for the average scholarly mind. Just as not everyone is able to learn and comprehend quantum physics and might choose to learn a less complicated form of physics. Simon justifies that if he cannot see to Kari's conundrum, then no one might be able to. That, and the further he delves the more interesting it seems to be.*

*Hyun Ae goes to check on Simon, yawning and tired having woken up alone in bed. Taking the elevator down to the lower level, she takes a right down the hall to the secure lab area to see lights on, papers scattered, instruments surprisingly untouched, and Simon working at one of the many headlamp-lit desks. He appears to be in a swivel chair only half focused on his current desk, like one does when they appear to be ready to get up or move.*

[HA]: What? You're still down here?

[SP]: I fear if I may not be able to further delve into this temporal predicament, then we might be lost to the mysteries Kari presents to us.

[HA]: How can you do anything about it when you're still here? Wouldn't at least it help if you were to go and get data to work with?

[SP]: I would if it were so simple, as Kari has left the location of the laboratory in the past and it took her and her team a week or so to find it in the Swiss Alps. And, that was as quick as it was because of Nate's Anima, Way Beyond. I do not have that kind of perfect navigation, and I am but a sole researcher. I would easily become lost without such prodigious aid.

[HA]: Yeah, yeah. You make a good point. Still though, couldn't you at least afford to get some rest?

[SP]: The difficulties of having a mind as focused as I, one may find it perplexing to understand such thoughts.

[HA]: Please just get some rest soon, okay? I know you don't need it, somehow, but I'd like it if you did.

[SP]: Perhaps. It seems at every dead end I find a lead back around and out, a cycle forming. Though the ideas and theories prevailed aren't lost on me each time a new dead end is found. Something is connecting.

*Hyun Ae leaves the lab, disappointedly.*

[SP]: Gah, so is the tale nearly a century ago if not as much, of how the liquid-resistant microfiber Gore-tex was invented by chance due to the rage of failed experimentation. How so do I find I too might be, for once, getting frustrated. Anxious. I find myself conversing with no one present, and this time alone that actually is the case when I am seen talking and alone. Helvete. The pulse in my neck is heavy enough to carry the entire weight of my actions, my soul feels remotely anchored to this research. Why? For what purpose does this have to be as it is.

*Simon finds himself at a loss of where to turn next, as every cycle is found to connect back to one that was already worked on. He thinks, frustratedly, about the whole situation in silence. He stands up, gathers everything he's written in haphazard side notes and post scripts, and takes it all to a single large table in the center of the lab. He scans all of it with his eyes, assessing bit after bit in his mind.*

[SP]: The data that I perhaps need, lies in more than just the after action report Kari aided my studies with. Even a detailed recollection of what had happened that day is insufficient for this study. What more could there be that I am not considering throughout all of this?

### **10:34 AM**

*Hyun Ae finds Simon to have fallen asleep on the floor in that lab anyways. Since he does not require sleep, she thought, that must mean he gave up and didn't bother to come back upstairs. Defeat, perhaps, otherwise he would not have actually felt exhausted at all. She wakes him up, and while a bit angry at him she is more worried than anything. They move to the kitchen and dining room, make breakfast for the two of them, and sit at the dining table.*

[SP]: What more could be missing?

[HA]: Well, what is there so far?

[SP]: Before Kari, the idea of parallel universes was merely a concept. As it turns out, there are no parallel universes but instead many universes that are different. This could point to the various places Kari has gone to also simply be different galaxies, but then one might think that if that were true then Earth would be easily accessible from wherever she thinks Nate is and where her clone was, and is. This does not rule out that Ferox, where her son lives, is simply in a different galaxy rather than a coexisting replicant to Earth for a different universe. There is no proof to any of that about Ferox, and the easiest perception of it is that there could be no way it isn't another dimension. There isn't much to determine how true this is as Kari explains that ability of SDR is not fine tuned, and explains that it takes her to a relative spot unless she does know where to go.

All of this combined, there is not a lot of proof with anything let alone data. I would go even farther, but the details of such may not be comprehendable. I want to keep this at least the slightest chance for it to be comprehended, and understood.

[HA]: Yeah, that does sound like a lot.

[SP]: I spent a lot of time considering what it is that I was missing.

[HA]: Maybe something of Kari can help with that, she's both experienced and open about it. Nate and Aaron aren't too open about anything they've seen over their many years.

[SP]: I don't see how she could understand much more than I, or I much more than her possibly though doubtfully, regarding the issue.

[HA]: Well, do you remember when she said that one thing about thinking outside the box? It was really detailed, but I just can't remember the exact wording. Something about not thinking of what happened, but rather why it did.

[SP]: "In the face of all your given evidence, whether data or not, the best way to find the greater picture is to think of everything outside the scope being focused. Think not, 'What was the witness doing there?' but rather, 'Why the witness had to be there to begin with?'."

[HA]: Yeah, something like that.

[SP]: Think not, "How did Nate disappear and who is this clone?" but rather, "Where might Nate actually be, and why does that clone exist?". There is no proof that Nate actually made it to this other place, and why even is there a clone of Kari there to begin with? Interesting indeed; Kari mentioned something about Azathoth making many appearances, someone tearing off her arm to reveal she is not human, and Azathoth having a laboratory where there were a lot of fake Karis and one fake Katya. This must mean that he, or rather it, created them based upon some referential data. But, the Azathoth there sounds a lot more like a being with thoughts and existence.

[HA]: Huh?

[SP]: Azathoth exists in our multiplanar universe too, known by older civilizations as Abyssus Minus Euclidea, "Void Without Form". Today, we call him Azathoth based on the uncanny similarities to a being of fiction that was named as such. Though, the Azathoth we know supposedly exists in a void without civility or complex thought. This must mean that in this dimension and in the one Kari is concerned with that Azathoth is two different beings. This also must mean that the pantheon of gods and elder beings there could be parallel by name but be entirely different all together! And that leads us to one important point to make.

[HA]: Yeah?

[SP]: If this is the case, that our Azathoth is different to theirs, that this referential data for creating clones of Kari and a clone of Katya should not exist in this dimension. Meaning that their Azathoth has acquired information on Kari, Katya, and all of us through some kind of means that allows him to also stretch the bounds of which dimension he may see into.

[HA]: I don't get it.

[SP]: Their Azathoth found a way to tap into our world somehow, otherwise Kari would not exist in clone form or otherwise in that other dimension. This also means that she really has never been there ever, and would also explain why SDR can't take her there. This could prove that SDR can't hop dimensions but distant planets, and that possibly Ferox is in another galaxy and not another dimension!

[HA]: That's something alright. I don't know how that even could be.

[SP]: I must delve further, and present it to everyone. Everyone must know this. That does leave one important inquiry next, being that how does Kari have SDR if she believes it came from this other dimension? How do we have Animas if they come from another dimension? Could that be Katya's doing alone, or something else? Why does their Azathoth want an army of Karis? Could it be like the old story of David, Eli, and their genetic father John where it was the goal to recreate the world's most perfect soldier?

[HA]: I don't understand how you're able to make all of these connections.

[SP]: If all this is considered, there could be a clone out there who has gained their true freedom. There even could be a likely possibility that the one that Kari was tied to is alive and was also given a second chance just like the real Kari. Either way, with Kari's memories and a free conscience, we may even possibly expect one of them to come to us. Maybe that is what Azathoth wants, multiversal domination? Or, maybe just power within that dimension only? We cannot say, but what we can do is find answers to the original problem of how they can exist now and find answers of what it all means when we can get one of those clones to come to us.

[HA]: Hmm. Hey, wait-

[SP]: I must alert everyone to my findings at once!

*Simon stands rapidly and leaves the dining table, grabbing his coat and storming out. Hyun Ae sits at the table still, confused and defeated.*

[HA]: At least he's got that flash in his eyes, intrigue and interest. I don't think I could stop him if I tried.

**End**