Multiversal Maddie

Comforted, Maddie closed her eyes and nuzzled further into the girl's chest. The other Maddie gave her a peck on the forehead.

Maybe being one of many Maddie Flitts wasn't so bad. Meeting a kind one made her feel like she wasn't alone in the multiverse. The two of them were part of something, a Sisterhood of Maddie.

"Anyway," said Nate, still watching his two sisters, "I've got a bit of a situation here. Tiff? Want more practice?"

XxXxX

The next day, Maddie returned to the outside. She carried nothing but her Cuff and her towel. They'd tried turning it into a bundle to carry some supplies, but it hadn't been manageable. And it turned out their nudist world didn't have textiles at all, even towels. So she was stuck with the same glorified shower mat she began with.

Still, Maddie felt good. She had encountered a universe very different from hers and she'd been okay with it. If there was one decent universe out there, surely there would be others. After all, she had plenty of options.

Maddie looked at her Cuff.

Her face fell.

The display read 59.9B Verses.

She read it again to make sure she wasn't imagining it. "What the fuck? Where did four hundred million universes go? Did- Did I rule out that many with one trip?"

She sighed. Had her Cuff really deleted every world similar to the last one? It hadn't seemed so bad.

"Oh, don't worry. It doesn't work like that."

Maddie jumped. Out of nowhere, Jumpsuit had materialized in front of her. Actually, what had Tuxedo called her? Right, the Manager.

Maddie was done with these two playing games with her. She didn't bother covering herself up or asking where her duplicate had come from. She threw her towel over her shoulder and stepped forward, ready to fight if she had to. "Then how does it work?"

"You were in there for a while, right? It's hard for me to tell, but probably a night? Time is different between the outside and other places, but it passes in both. Even though every time you enter a world it's at the same time you left your first world, the outside continues to change. That means you can never count on coming back to the same outside you left."

"I have no fucking clue what you're saying. Why are there fewer worlds?"

"Fewer worlds you can survive in," corrected the Manager. "As you yourself pointed out, the multiverse is infinite."

"Where are they?"

"Hey, no reason to be rude." The Manager crossed her arms, but she still had the same helpful smile on her face. "I'm getting to it.

"I explained earlier that we steer you toward worlds that you can survive in, as well as worlds that aren't too much alike. The organization has a vested interest in being aware of as many worlds as possible. But then, we don't have the resources to monitor them all, and having identical worlds is pointless. So that's the other half of our job: we dispose of all the needless worlds! So it really isn't anything to worry your head about.

"By the time we're done, every world that's left will have a purpose.

"And so will every remaining Maddie."

TO BE CONTINUED...