The Map of Chaos (Trilogía Victoriana #3)(139)

Meanwhile, life in their adopted universe was also unfolding, although at a somewhat slower pace. It was 1887, and Wells’s twin was no longer Professor Lansbury’s pupil. Having just turned twenty-one, he had graduated from university and was now teaching at the Holt Academy in Wrexham. Fortunately, however, the Wellses kept in touch with him thanks to the friendship that Observer Wells had managed to forge with his youthful doppelg?nger, a friendship very similar to the one he had enjoyed with the Dodgson who existed back in his own universe, only he had exchanged the role of novice disciple for that of decrepit professor. Did I say “decrepit,” dear reader? Indeed, because despite being only fifty-nine, Observer Wells increasingly resembled a doddering old wreck. Alas, Jane, who was six years his junior, was not far behind. Both were aging more quickly than they should, possibly due to the jump they had made between universes. It was something they had been slow to notice because it had not announced itself so suddenly or with such fanfare as their gift for observing. Possibly time in their world was going so much more quickly than in their adopted world, and the inertia of that acceleration had stayed in their bodies, driving them into a rapid physical decline. For the moment those around them, who had no idea how old they were, had not noticed anything, and, besides their twin, they had scarcely bothered to cultivate any friendships in that alternative London. They preferred to spend their evenings at home, discussing in front of the fire all the possible and impossible universes, rather than mingling with the natives of that world, who were incapable of seeing beyond their own noses. Thus it did not bother them greatly. Besides, they had escaped Death so often they almost felt obliged out of politeness to allow it to come sooner.

They decided not to waste what little time they had left worrying about something about which they could do nothing. However, before putting the matter aside, they spared a few wistful thoughts for their old world, for if time was passing at such a vertiginous pace there, even the stars had probably begun to die.

“Do you suppose our universe has already entered the Dark Era, Bertie?” Jane asked Wells one evening.

“I expect so,” he replied forlornly.

“And do you think they might have found a way to avoid their terrible fate?”

“I would like to think so, my dear. The generations after ours will have carried on doing research, just as we did, and it is possible they have succeeded in opening another tunnel to one of the many worlds in this universe. For all we know the Great Exodus has already taken place.”

“But if that were the case, wouldn’t we have found out about it through our twins?” Jane said, surprised. “How could we not notice one of their worlds being invaded by an entire civilization?”

“My dear, there must be plenty of universes where we have no twins, and if our old, dying civilization had moved to one of them, we would never know about it. Besides, just as there are many universes that move at a faster pace than this, there are others that do so more slowly, which means there must be worlds where the first scenes of the play are taking place, just as the curtain is lifting, before anyone has come out onstage. Any one of them would be a perfect place for our civilization to be reborn.”

“And we wouldn’t be able to see that either because our twins won’t be born for millions of years . . . ,” Jane concluded. “So it could be that we have already succeeded, that our world has been saved.”

Wells nodded with a cheerful smile, although they both knew it might be untrue, that their marvelous, brilliant civilization might be dying even as they spoke, plunged into eternal darkness, watching helplessly as the end approached . . . And yet neither of them acknowledged it, preferring not to dwell on such thoughts. There was little they could do for the world they had left behind. Besides, they wanted to spend what little time they had left on each other. Contrary to what many believe, dear reader, love makes people tremendously selfish and insensitive to others, and Wells and Jane loved each other with increasing devotion. Very soon the problem they had once dedicated their lives to trying to solve seemed as alien as it was remote. They believed it no longer had anything to do with them.

Unfortunately, they were wrong.

Another five years went by in their adopted world before they received the first sign that the fate of their old universe was still inextricably linked to their own. It happened one evening in March 1892. Wells and Jane were still recovering from a feverish cold that had kept them in bed for several weeks. They assumed they had caught it from their twins, who had organized a picnic so that the young Wells could introduce them to Amy Catherine Robbins, the charming girl for whom he had left his cousin Isabel. The Wellses had arrived only to find their doubles with watery eyes, runny noses, and flushed faces, and so the meeting had been brief, though long enough for Mrs. Lansbury later to confess to her husband that Jane seemed no less intelligent and brilliant than all the others and would doubtless very soon become frustrated by the way her inexperienced husband made love to her. The following day, the Wellses developed the same symptoms as their twins, although, owing to their declining bodies, it took them longer to recover. That evening in March was the first time they had ventured out of bed to enjoy their favorite secret ceremony in front of the fire. But they had only been distracted for a few minutes when they both opened their eyes with a start, looked at each other aghast, and exclaimed as one:

“I saw a Wells jump!”

“I saw a Jane jump!”