Odd Evolution

It’s New Year’s Eve and Professor Duncan Price, an internationally-renowned physicist with a reputation for his work on time theory and quantum mechanics, is found dead in his study. While there are no obvious signs of why he died, on his desk is a sleek, black sphere, no larger than a cricket ball or baseball. A glowing red pinprick of light pulses from it at regular intervals. Added to this, the victim’s brother, Noah, has gone missing. All of which convinces Detective Inspector Kelly Ross that things are not quite as they seem, particularly since the professor’s widow appears to be less distraught than Kelly and her sergeant, Jordan Sparrow, would have expected.

FREE FROM THE LABYRINTH

The man walked with slow, heavy steps along the passageway. It seemed like he had been walking for days – and maybe he had. From time to time, he came across a mark on the walls, but they didn’t mean anything to him. He wanted to lie down and go to sleep, but there was nowhere to go. He had no idea where he was or why he was there, he just knew that something had happened that made him more tired than he had ever been in his life. He glanced at his watch, but it still wasn’t working. It was stuck at exactly ten-twenty-two. Sometime earlier, he had walked the length of the passageway to the left of where he had first found himself, only to come to a complete dead end. Now, he was walking back the way he had come, just hoping it led to something more than another dead end. It felt like he might have to walk forever.

A movement in his peripheral vision caused him to turn his head, but it was just a shadow. Which on its own was strange since, although it wasn’t dark, there were no obvious sources of light. And if that was the case, what had caused the shadow he’d just seen on the wall? When he turned back, a tall, dark man stood in front of him. “Hello,” he said, “I’m Maurice. Who are you?”

The man stared at this apparition. There was something wrong with his vision because Maurice shimmered in the dim light.

“What’s your name?” Maurice asked again.

“I don’t know.”

“I guess you’re new here, then?”

“I suppose I must be. Where are we?”

Maurice shrugged. “I have as much idea as you, my friend. Best thing to begin with is to give yourself a name. That way, at least you have some sort of identity until your time comes.”

“But I don’t know my name.”

“Invent one.” He smiled. “Do you want me to invent one for you?”

“I suppose you might as well.”

“Okay, you’re now Thomas. Or Tom for short. How does that sound?”

“I suppose it sounds fine. Better than Horatio or Leopold or Algernon anyway.”

“You can change it if you want.”

“No, honestly, Tom sounds just fine. But where exactly are we, Maurice? And how the hell did I get here?”

Maurice shrugged. “I’ve no idea where we are physically located, if indeed this is a physical entity. The managers of the Labyrinth Project only tell us the minimum amount. I don’t even know whether they are aware of everything themselves.”

“The Labyrinth Project?”

Maurice nodded. “That’s what they call this place, but I still don’t know where we are. I don’t think we’re anywhere, to be honest. I think maybe we’re everywhere.”