Project Heartstrings

You stare out the window, looking into the cloudy, and rainy sky. That pitter patter against the window again. You've been in here for a good three weeks or so in recovery. Your leg gave out on you, and broke, cause being the burst both the grenade and portal gave off. Your shoulder is still injured.

A radio turns on near by, and you quickly turn.

No. Never mind. Just a television.

"What..." You whisper to yourself, astounded.

You cannot believe your eyes. The side of Mount Elbert had a large black crater in the side of it.

It's just then you notice someone clear his throat in the chair on the opposing side of the bed, a television remote in his hand. He wears a brown suit with a black tie and glasses, along with an stern expression upon his face.

You rub your eyes and look at him. "Who... are you?"

"Previously head of the department you just destroyed."

"Wh... Me?"

He answers fast. "Yes. You." He's spinning the remote on his finger.

"What do you mean? I'm... I'm still here..."

You just now realize that, and look back up at the television.

"If I destroyed that facility... why am I sti-"

"Aftershock."

"Aftershock..." You look down and think. "I'm afraid I don't follow."

He removes his glasses, and puts two hands to the center of his face, symmetrical of each other. He's holding back anger. "I'll try to put this in layman's terms in case you don't understand... The portal gives off radiant energy when activated, and if another object giving off another... sort of energy comes in contact with it," He quickly separates his hands in opposing directions. "Boom."

"I'm... I'm afraid I still don't-"

"You blew a multi-billion dollar machine up."

You ask "Explain to me what I have to do with this?"

"Oh drop the fucking act already, I KNEW Bronston set you up to this. Against this entire damn..." He throws open the blinds to the window next to him.

Your eyes are met with a heap of smoke leaving Mount Elbert in the long distance. "Jesus..."

"Yeah?" he scoffs. "And it gets better; The whole damn world is questioning US! All eyes are put on US! WE ARE IN THE SPOTLIGHT, BABY!" he remarks sarcastically, throwing his hands in the air.

"Bronston?"

"Excuse me?"

"Bronston... Who, or possibly what, is that?"

He chuckles slightly. "Oh fuck off. Why would you have destroyed the portal? How did YOU know to obliterate it along with the rest of this damn facility?"

You confess, not knowing what else to say. "I... I threw a grenade."

"Yeah? And what else? Brought in the Nth dimension, I see! OH WAIT! That was already involved in the first place."

"Where exactly are you trying to drive this conversation to?" Your anger begins to take part.

"And this is the part where I say the obvious: The truth."

"I... I honestly have not a clue who this 'Bronston' character is. All I wanted to do was just send Ly... Her back."

"Who?"

"You know who."

He looks up at you, rubbing his cheek with the palm of his hand. "Look... We were unsure if they were hostile at first. They looked like ponies, but could have had flesh eating chins for all we knew! I said to one of my employers once, that there's an infinite number of universes out there, and that the rift it created could contain any one of them. We took immediate measures before entering the rift. Used a high technology spacesuit designed from layers of rubber. I can understand it doesn't sound like much protection, but what we did is compress the many layers of rubber into the toughest of the tough layers. After opening the rift, we grabbed the first specimen we could get our hands on."

You let that sink in, and one of those parts ring within your head.

"The phrase you said that to..."

He puckers his lips and nodded at you.

"But... I thought he committed suicide?"

"Where on this planet did you ever get that idea?" He then looks down in thought.

"Weeks after performing the final gateway entry, he claimed he was going down, and we were all going with him. He went home that night, and never returned."

He looks back up with a trembling confused expression. He says quietly to himself, yet audible "Christ. That son of a bitch..." He looks out the window behind him.

"He really meant it, did he..."

You and him stare out the window for several moments. He then stands up. "You and I aren't done. Your name has been cleared partially, but we still need to discuss these events. You're going to owe quite a portion of money. Understand?"

You nod him off. He tips his head at you, lifts his coat off of the coat rack, and takes his leave. You look back out, eyes locked on the black cloud yet still being emitted from the mountain. You sigh, and lie back in your hospital bed.

You close your eyes into dreamland. It doesn't feel empty in your mind anymore. Because you can feel her warm fur. And you can scratch her ear.

You know that deep down, Lyra is alright. Because no matter how many universes exist, there will always be that one where she lives the rest of her life healthy, and happy.

End.