"I feel weird and sick" DTH-Karyn told DTH-Jon as yet again they reappeared in Jon's bedroom.
"Yeah, normally the process is nearly instant but according to the timer on the DTH it's been over a minute, looks like we ran into interference." he agreed.
"What like another DTH?"
"Or something similar."
"What's all that red stuff?" she asked looking at the screen of the DTH.
In addition to the black lines showing the diverging universes there was now also a group of red lines.
"Non-sequiturs." he told her.
"What?"
"Universes that are created by this one that have a different history and don't logically follow established events."
"I still don't understand." DTH-Karyn told him looking perplexed.
"Well its maybe a world where dinosaurs never went extinct or there are three genders or something. A world that wouldn't exist without a substantial change in history, maybe thousands or millions of years ago."
"Ok I'm with you now but wouldn't that need a wish or a device?"
"Sure would, I'm guessing a device. It can't be a DTH, it can't create non-sequiturs."
"Jon, I've been meaning to ask you something"
"What's that?"
"Have you used a wish to make you smarter? You keep talking like that guy out of Star Trek, not like a regular guy."
"No I didn't use a wish but I believe I wasn't smart enough to comprehend the workings of the DTH before I created it, so when I asked to understand how it worked, the wish must have made me more intelligent, so that I could, as it were."
"Makes sense, I guess."
"Well it is a logical conclusion."
DTH Karyn looked around the room.
"Where are we?" she asked
"In my room."
"I know that genius boy, I meant where are WE, the you and me from here."
"I expect they've gone off to see what the world would be like if the Nazis won the war or something."
"I hope not, it's such a cliche. Look feet!" DTH-Karyn said pointing at a pair of feet visible from behind the bed.
They walked round the bed and saw Karyn lying on the floor.
"What are you doing down there?" DTH-Jon asked.
"Hiding." Karyn told him.
"Not very well. why?"
"I saw you come back with her." she said pointing at DTH-Karyn.
"And?"
"She's an imposter. I don't know what happened in that other world and how she made you believe she was really me but she's planning on replacing me. That way she gets to live out her life in a better world."
DTH-Karyn and DTH-Jon stared silently at her.
DTH-Karyn turned to DTH-Jon and spoke.
"Am I really that paranoid?" she asked him.
"Evidently so." he turned to face the Karyn lying on the floor. He reached out his hand and helped her get up. She continued to eye DTH-Karyn suspiciously. Karyn looked at DTH-Jon's wrist.
"Where's your alternate reality watch?" Karyn asked.
"I never had one. Whatever it is." he told her.
"Yes you did. You were about to go and said 'What if..' and everything went all weird."
"Weird?"
"Yeah the room went all different colours and stuff, there were strange noises, you disappeared, then reappeared with her and everything went normal again."
"Ah... that would be the interference we encountered when we arrived. I'm sorry to tell you I'm not YOUR Jon and she is MY Karyn." he told her pointing at DTH-Karyn.
"So what happened to my Jon?" Karyn asked.
"Don't worry. I can help you find him. With this." he told her pointing at the DTH.
"With a Gameboy?"
"Yes," DTH-Jon sighed " this is our method of transportation across dimensions. What scenario did your Jon go to explore?"
"He never said anything, just the 'What If...' part."
"That's not good. If his watch malfunctioned he could be anywhere. It might be a non-sequitur universe another version of him created or it could be a new completely random one."
"Oh no!" Karyn squealed.
DTH-Karyn pulled Jon aside.
"Hey, why don't we go find him and rescue him?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, and I know it's going to sound harsh but it's not really my problem." he told her.
"In a way it is your problem, it was the DTH that caused his watch or whatever it was to mess up."
"True.. but he could also come back at anytime completely unharmed."
DTH-Karyn folded her arms and stared at him.
"You are just trying to get out of this, aren't you?"
"Nooo...."
"Look Jon, her Jon won't be the only one of you in danger. If we rescue this Jon maybe we can rescue more versions of ourselves. It's got to be better than just bouncing about different realities for the sake of it."
"Well...."
"Besides it might be fun." she said optimistically.
"Wow! I was really wrong about you." Karyn told DTH-Karyn. The two girls hugged.
"Now we've all made up..." Jon told the two Karyns. "...we need to find some way of finding Jon so we can rescue him."
