"Greetings, stranger!" the voice called out.
DTH Jon looked around but couldn't see where the voice originated. Just as ARD Jon had explained the bedroom appeared to be full of computers and all sorts of fancy equipment. Banks of screens illuminated the whole room. He heard some movement from the other side of a large machine. From behind it a Jon wearing a fez appeared.
"Hi..." DTH Jon said
The other Jon looked at him silently. "Where's your Fez?"
"...I don't have one." DTH Jon told him unsure about why he needed a fez.
"How strange. Well everyone wears one in this universe because they are cool. In fact you can be executed for not wearing one."
"I can?" DTH Jon was worried now. He really wasn't expecting something like this.
The other Jon just stared at him for a few seconds before bursting out laughing. He took off the fez and tossed it on a workbench. "I do love messing with you guys, you'll believe any old rubbish I tell you."
DTH Jon was not amused. "Very funny... ...not!"
"Oh, you are one of those. Honestly Jon you should try and see the funny side of things at least now and then," he now spoke in a more dramatic tone "you will heed my words for I am the great sage Jon equal of heav...."
DTH Jon interupted him, "OK that's at least three pop-culture television references you've made from three different decades since I arrived. Are you testing me?"
"Could beeee."
DTH Jon answered immediately. "Hong Kong Phooey 1974."
"Well you are a smart one. I need to know what level of knowledge and intelligence I'm dealing with when I meet a Jon. They often do weird things to themselves with the stone."
"I suppose that is a reasonable precaution."
"I'm curious though. Why would you give yourself an encylopedic knowledge of ancient television memes?" Sage Jon asked.
DTH Jon was somewhat confused. He knew the stone had improved his intelligence and gave him the knowledge to operate the DTH but was there something more? Something more he wasn't consciously aware of? "I didn't. At least I didn't intend to."
"Interesting. I would take a mental note of that for future reference but there are more pressing matters at hand. You wish to understand the multiverse?"
"Yes."
"So would I."
"What? I thought you'd know how it all works."
DTH Jon was disappointed with Sage Jon's response. DTH Jon understood that he'd been too optimistic expecting the answers to be given to him on a platter.
Picking up on DTH Jon's mood, Sage Jon continued "Hey don't get down. I know some stuff you probably don't and if we work together I'm sure it will improve our shared knowledge."
Sage Jon's confidence help boost DTH Jon's. "Ok what can you tell me?"
Sage Jon smiled. "It doesn't work like that. I'm going to need a Quid Pro Quo." He reached out his hand towards the DTH.
"You want the DTH?"
"Just to download the logs, assuming it keeps logs of course."
DTH Jon handed it to him. "It's very sophisticated."
"I'm sure it is."
Sage Jon placed it face down on a workbench and opened the hidden compartment on the back. From the mess of equipment on the workbench he pulled out a cable. He plugged the connector on the end of the cable into the DTH. A screen above his head lit up and the downloading data from the DTH appeared on it.
"Hey what kind of connector is that?" DTH Jon asked.
"I call it MSB."
"MSB?"
"Multi-universal Serial Bus."
"Very Good." DTH Jon actually grinned slightly.
Sage Jon read the data on the screen. "So this is your 15th hop?". Doing some quick mental arithmetic DTH Jon nodded in agreement. Sage Jon continued "I see it keeps logs of your alternate versions as well."
"I suppose that makes sense. It tracks the new divergences when they appear, so it must know about other versions of itself."
As the data continued to download, Sage Jon gingerly held the DTH in his hands and examined it. He looked at the controls in the hidden compartment.
"What does this button do?" he asked while pressing it.
