Kevin forced himself to focus, pushing thoughts of leaving Mel to the back of his mind. The tunnels of the multiverse were flying by at higher speeds than he was used to. With a start, he realized that the Pathfinder was visible around them. The entire exterior had become clear, enabling everyone inside to see. Grit was staring out the window with his mouth open in shock. El, however, was staring calmly out the front. He glanced back at Kevin.

  “Well done, Kevin,” he said in his serious tone that belied how old he looked. Kevin nodded to him.

  “What now?” Kevin asked. El smiled, and somehow that made Kevin feel less nervous about their situation. Even if their current situation was tearing through the fabric of the multiverse.

  “Keep going and don’t stop,” El said. “It will get more difficult, but you must push through.” Even as he spoke, Kevin could feel an odd sort of mental pressure, similar to times that he’d been so stressed it had been difficult to focus on anything specific. He gritted his teeth and nodded to El. The tunnels continued to fly by outside the Pathfinder. Somehow, Kevin could tell that they were just now headed out of the Initial Hundred. El was at the front of the ship, but he didn’t seem to be touching any of the controls. Instead, the Pathfinder seemed to dip and dodge around the various obstructions in the tunnels. It maneuvered surprisingly fluidly on its own, though Kevin almost lost concentration when it barely slipped by what appeared to be a giant cactus floating out of a side tunnel.

  “What is all this stuff in the tunnels?” Grit asked, breaking the silence. He looked at Kevin, but Kevin could only shrug in response. He had no idea how he was directing them through the tunnels, let alone any idea of what might be in them. Fortunately, El answered.

  “It is the multiverse breaking down,” he said somberly. “Things from individual universes are leaking into the multiversal fabric. As you can see, it is worse out here than it is closer to Earth One.”

  The Pathfinder dodged a pack of strange armored animals that looked familiar to Kevin. It wasn’t until he heard a sharp intake of breath from Grit that he remembered the pet the older man had with him when they had first met. El looked back questioningly, but Grit just turned to stare out the side window. The kid looked over to Kevin, so he joined El at the front of the ship.

  “Grit had a dog once,” he said in a whisper. “Apparently the dog changed somehow during a jump. I think into one of those strange animals we just dodged.” El nodded thoughtfully as he stared out the window.

  “A pangolin,” he said. “Quite an unique animal.” Kevin nodded, because it felt appropriate. The kid didn’t say anything else, so he moved back to his spot near the door. The mental strain was growing steadily as they passed Earth-275. A minute later, they passed Earth-300 and suddenly the pressure expanded greatly. Kevin groaned and staggered to a bench seat. His sinuses closed as if he had launched himself into space, and his brain felt as if it were being slowly squeezed.

  He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see El looking down at him in concern. The kid’s dark eyes had a strange deepness to them, and Kevin suddenly understood how this being could be far older than he looked.

  “It is not much further, Kevin,” El said. “You can make it. Focus!” The pressure continued to increase, and the pain knocked Kevin to his knees. He could see across the ship that Grit was lying on the floor with his head in his hands. Only El seemed unaffected.

  “400!” El shouted. “Hold on, Kevin!” He’d resumed staring out the front window, leaving Grit and Kevin to fend for themselves. Kevin tried, he really did. He could feel the ship passing Earth-450, but after that he couldn’t hold onto a coherent thought. The pressure in his head and his brain was building to a crescendo, drowning out any other noise or thought. El’s face appeared in his vision, and the kid’s mouth was moving, though Kevin had no idea what he was saying. El grinned and pointed out the window. Somehow, Kevin forced his head up to look out the window, and saw a line of deep black approaching in the distance.

  The Pathfinder suddenly swerved to avoid a giant object that Kevin vaguely thought might have been a dinosaur. Whatever it was took up too much space in the tunnel. The ship managed to squeeze by but the contact flung Kevin across the cabin. He crashed into Grit, who may or may not have been conscious. The back of his brain told him that they had just passed Earth-475, and the ship lurched again. Kevin flew back across the cabin floor and smacked his head on the bench. The last thing he saw was El’s smiling face approaching, and the dark line in the tunnel enveloping the ship. Then there was only darkness.

  Kevin woke up to a giddy El. His earlier impression of age in the kid’s eyes was replaced by the bounciness of a child. He sat up slowly, gingerly rubbing his head where it had hit the bench. Fortunately, the pressure in his head was entirely gone, almost as if it had never been. The outside of the ship was dark, but apparently the Pathfinder had some hidden lights, because there was a soft white glow filling the interior. He stood up and joined Grit at the front of the ship. Then he gasped.

  “Yeah,” Grit said. “It’s incredible.” Together, they stared out the window at the source of the soft light Kevin had seen. Filling up the window was a giant moon, tinged a pale green. Kevin could barely make out mountains and valleys across its surface.

  “What Earth is this?” he asked in a whisper.

  “It is not an Earth,” El answered, having bounced his way back to the front. Kevin glanced over at him to see that he was still beaming.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Well, which Earth system is it in, then?” Kevin asked. “I think the last Earth I remember passing was 475.” El shook his head and looked up at him, still grinning.

  “You made it to 476,” he said. “You did well! Our momentum carried us beyond the next three. And this is no Earth system. It is simply the end. This is Varynn, my home.”

  Kevin was stunned. A planet at the end of the multiverse? That sustained life? He looked at Grit, but the man just shook his head. He didn’t know any more than Kevin did, obviously.

  “You are from here?” Kevin asked. “Do you have a family here? How many people live here? I have so many questions.” El laughed at him, the full unencumbered laugh of a child.

  “I have family here, though not many,” he answered. “There are few who live here. Varynn can sustain life, though not on a high level. Many of the luxuries you may be used to will not be found here.”

  “Varynn is familiar,” Grit said, frowning. El smiled at him, but said nothing. Grit thought for a moment, then his eyebrows shot up.

  “Cassia!” he exclaimed. “Tek said something to her about it. I think.” He stopped and looked at El again. The kid nodded excitedly.

  “Yes, Cassia is of the Varynnic line!” Kevin and Grit waited for the kid to continue, but he simply turned back to stare out the window at Varynn.

  “So…now what?” Kevin asked after a moment of silence. “Are we going to land?” El turned towards him, looking uncertain for the first time.

  “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “We can land, but we are still missing a piece.” Next to Kevin, Grit frowned.

  “A piece of what?” he asked.

  “The multiverse,” El replied, as if that were enough. After a moment, he recognized the confusion on their faces, though he looked surprised to see it.

  “I would’ve thought Cassia had told you about the Weft and the Warp by now,” he said. The words sounded familiar to Kevin, but so much had happened to him recently that he couldn’t place them. Grit nodded, however.

  “Yes, she mentioned it. Or someone did,” he growled. “Something about fixing the fabric of the multiverse. Still not sure I believe it.” He paused and glanced over at the planet filling their window.

  “Maybe I do now,” he muttered.

  “The Weft and the Warp are what keep the fabric of the multiverse in order. Without them, chaos happens,” El explained. “Unfortunately, I’ve only been able to bring the Warp with us, though I had hoped the Weft would be close behind.” His words were again met with silence.

  “What do you mean?” Kevin finally asked. “What is the Warp, some sort of tool?” El didn’t respond, just smiled. Then he slowly raised his hand and pointed at Kevin. After a moment of dumbfounded silence, Kevin laughed.

  “Me?” he said, chuckling. “I’m sure you’re mistaken.”

  “The Weft and Warp are people?” Grit asked, and El nodded, finally dropping his arm to stop pointing at Kevin.

  “Indeed,” the kid responded. “The Weft and Warp are both people. Or beings.” Kevin suddenly felt like he had to sit down, so he stumbled back over to the bench near the exit door. There was no way he was whatever it was that El was saying he was. It wasn’t that long ago that he’d been disinfecting bowling shoes on Earth-68. How could he be some important piece of the universe?

  “I apologize for being dramatic,” El said as he approached. “But I thought maybe you had known. There aren’t many who can see the tunnels of the multiverse, after all.” Kevin nodded absently.

  “What does it mean?” he asked. “What do I have to do?” El considered these questions for a moment, his face resuming the characteristic solemnity that Kevin was used to.

  “You will learn more once the Weft is here,” the kid answered slowly. “But both the Weft and the Warp must work between universes to keep the chaos from breaking out. It is…difficult to explain. There is much responsibility for each, not the least of which is keeping the other in check.”

  “In check?” Grit repeated. “As in, they may be at odds with each other?” El nodded in affirmation.

  “Sometimes,” he replied. “They are opposite in their desires. Often the Weft desires more freedom, more chaos, while the Warp seeks to provide order. Between the two, the various universes remain in their place, but with great variety between them. When one or both of them are no longer performing their duties, the multiverse begins to unravel.” He looked over at Kevin, who was still trying to wrap his brain around what the kid was saying.

  “You can feel it, right?” El asked. “The chaos in the universe threatening to take over?” Kevin started to shake his head no, but then paused. He had felt something tugging at the edges of his mind, almost ever since he’d started on this journey. He had chalked it up to the stress of having his universe expanded, literally. But now, after hearing El’s words, he realized it wasn’t quite that. He looked over at the kid and nodded. El beamed.

  “I’m glad it’s you, Kevin!” he said, then clapped his hands. Even through his astonishment, Kevin had to wonder at how the kid could alternate so easily from acting like an ancient being to acting like an innocent child.

  “Hopefully Cassia will be able to do what needs to be done,” El said, turning back to the window. “There isn’t much time left.”

  “She’s the Weft, then?” Grit asked, moving to join El at the front of the ship. Kevin sighed, then forced himself to stand and join the other two.

  “No, Grit, she’s not,” El replied, smiling up at the old veteran. “She is simply supposed to be leading him here.” Kevin and Grit frowned at each other, then at El.

  “Leading who here?” Kevin asked. “Eli?” El smiled again, but sadly this time, and shook his head.

  “No, not him either.”

  “Then who?” Grit asked. El paused for a moment to look at the two of them, the sad smile still lingering on his face.

  “Aventus.”