Percy was in the middle of a heated intellectual discussion with other members of the forum about what sort of equipment could best be used to detect the spatial disturbance since there had never been a recorded case of breaching a parallel world when his phone buzzed with a text he chose to ignore.
This was something straight out of science fiction and everyone was excited about it. He knew he had taken his question to the right place. Everyone here was a theoretical physics enthusiast and was open-minded about concepts such as life on other planets.
The universe was incomprehensibly massive; it was egotistical to believe that earth was the only place capable of sustaining life. Percy had no doubt there were other civilizations with intelligent life forms out there somewhere—even if it was far outside their solar system.
That was why he hadn't been terribly surprised when Penelope started talking what other people would think was crazy in the hospital. In such a vast expanse of space, anything was possible. Including traversing parallel worlds.
His online friends believed the same, which was why they were so fired up and offering real potential solutions right now. He wasn't even sure where all of these people lived or if they were male or female, simply that they were fellow lovers of science.
Percy knew what some of them did for work based on little snippets of conversation over the years. He had been a part of this particular forum since he was ten and was near positive he was the youngest there by a wide margin.
That didn't bother him. He had never been able to relate properly to his peers, even once he skipped two grades. They were all too immature and uninterested in what he found fascinating.
Online was so much better. He could talk with fans of science fiction and purveyors of science fact alike without anyone being the wiser that they were dealing with a kid.
'Archimedes, which of these equipment suggestions do you actually have access to?' sodium16batman, one of the most rational people on the forum, asked before the argument could get much further.
Archimedes was Percy's screen name, paying homage to the great Greek mathematician, inventor, astronomer, physicist, and engineer. He had long admired the man after hearing his parents talk about him when he was little.
He had to think about it. Some things, like a portable EMF meter for measuring electromagnetic fields, he owned personally. Other things would only be available at school. Still others he had no access to at all.
'An EMF meter, possibly a teleseismometer (though I'm not sure if I'll be able to move it or if I'll have to analyze the data from a location away from the potential spatial disturbance), and a spectrometer'
'Wow, that's almost the entire list! Are you rich or a university professor?' absolute00 typed incredulously.
'Neither. Simply a science enthusiast with connections' Percy replied.
The EMF meter and spectrometer were his. The former was something he bought years ago for fun and the other was necessary for his coursework at school.
The teleseismometer would be the tricky part but one of his old professors specialized in geophysics and conducted seismology research. He might be able to convince Dr. Goldman to let him take a peek at recent seismic activity in the area by buttering him up about his research. The two of them had always gotten along well.
More messages came in but he couldn't focus on reading them because his phone was buzzing insistently with more texts. Percy checked them, annoyed, and saw they were all from Penelope.
'Percy, I can't do this anymore! I'm no good at pretending'
'Are you there? We need to talk about this. I can't say here anymore'
'Roman is going to figure out the truth sooner or later because I'm terrible at pretending. He keeps getting close to me and I can't handle it!'
'Percyyyyy'
'This was your idea; you better help me'
'P e r s e u s L o g a n'
'Answer your phone before I do something stupid like try to push him off me. He fell asleep in my lap'
Percy sighed. This Penelope was every bit as persistent as his sister. But she couldn't give up now; he was finally making a little headway on fixing things.
Roman could never know what happened. He needed to get Penny back before this woman's acting fell apart and then everything would be back to normal. She couldn't crack now; it had only been a few days!
'You're overreacting; you can totally do this! I'll come see you tomorrow and we can talk about this okay?' Percy sent back with a sigh.
This woman might very well be the death of him. He may need to be a bit more delicate with her. She was a crucial component of his plan so he had to keep her happy for the time being. If she went off on her own…
No. He couldn't think about potential ramifications of the other Penelope leaving his sister's life behind right now. That would be counterproductive.
Right now Percy needed to think about how he was going to talk to Dr. Goldman…and get away with snooping around Roman's hospital with equipment to record things. This wasn't going to be easy.
He shot off a message into the forum. 'Hypothetically speaking…how would you sneak around in a hospital collecting data about a potential spatial disturbance?'
The replies poured in instantly.
'It happened in a hospital?!'
'Hospital security is tight; do you have an insider who can help you?'
'I would say dress up in scrubs but carrying around an EMF meter and spectrometer, even portable ones, would make you stick out like a sore thumb'
'Do you know anything about spying at all, Archimedes? If you did I'd say you'd be able to get away with it by conducting scans when no one else was looking but it's still a bit of a long shot'
'Tough luck! Of all the places a spatial disturbance could have happened'
'At least it wasn't on a military base or something—that would definitely be worse'
Percy's online friends weren't terribly helpful in this instance. He didn't know anything about spying. What was he supposed to do, spend the next week researching the art of stealth? He still had homework!
The end of the semester—his last semester as an undergrad—was only a month and a half away. He was going to be swamped with last minute papers, projects, and tests. And there was still a stealth operation to plan, among other things.
He leaned back in his computer chair and spun around with a resigned sigh. Getting Penny back might take longer than he had anticipated.