Submitted for the November 2023 prompt: Feasts with the Beasts

“Doctor, I think you should see this.”

 

Dr. Arnone pushed his chair away from his desk and sailed across the tiled sea. He stopped himself just short of running into his intern.

“You’ve found something, Theo?” he asked.

 

“You’ll want to take a look for yourself.”

 

He noticed the young man look over his shoulder and grimace, perhaps at the soda spill from earlier, which Arnone had no plans of cleaning up until the real work had been completed.

 

“Fascinating, Theo. You’ve stumbled upon what looks like…”

 

“It worked! Your machine worked.”

 

“We’ve discovered a bridge between dimensions. Think of the possibilities.”

 

Arnone scooted back across the tiles to his desk. He placed a hand on the machine he’d used to make the samples. It resembled, per his design specifications, the large radio (boom box, as he’d grown up calling it), he’d had when he was a teenager. Instead of using it to burn mixtapes for his high-school crush, he’d used it to bridge his universe with another.

 

He’d based his design on a theory, a theory his colleagues only turned their noses up. Luckily, Theo believed in him. With the help of numerous grants, many of which were as minuscule as his current sample, he finally had proof: There isn’t a single universe, instead, there are infinite possibilities stacked atop one another.

 

“You’re going to be famous, Doctor.”

 

“You, too. Without you, none of this would be possible. I can’t wait to tell Catherine. Oh, and my daughter Isabelle will be so tickled.”

 

* * *

 

Long after Theo had left for the evening, Arnone remained in the lab, his eye in the microscope. Instead of bacteria roaming around, he saw people, he saw a world. To the right, a small-town street bustling with activity. To the left, the other side of the world, he saw what looked to be tigers, except with horizontal stripes and lush yellow fur, but something else seemed off, almost as if… The tigers were mechanical. He turned his attention back to the people in town, wondering about if they too were artificial, but to his amazement, he noticed everyone looking up into the sky.

 

Could they see him? He looked up from the desk and to the ceiling. Could someone be looking down at him? If he walked outside, would he too, be someone on a slide?

 

Arnone pondered the implications of his discovery. He pushed himself away from the desk with the microscope, back to the boom box. He tried to slow down, but collided with the other desk, causing the expensive equipment to topple to the floor. Sparks shot up, and he saw his life’s work going up in flames.

 

Arnone ripped off his white coat and rushed to put out the fire. He slipped.

 

* * *

 

Arnone rubbed his head and groaned.

 

“I can hear Theo now… 'You should’ve cleaned up that mess the moment it happened’. Blah blah blah.”

 

He got to his feet, prepared to finally clean up the spill, only to notice the floor bone dry.

 

“How could that be? I must’ve been out longer than I thought.” He checked his watch. “Eight in the morning? Wait… The year 3060? Darn thing must be broken. I need a coffee.”

 

As he sat in the cafeteria, waiting for his coffee to cool, he texted his wife, only for the message to fail. He took a sip and winced. Bitter coffee was one thing, but this tasted like pure sodium. Had he done something wrong?

 

“This place has terrible service,” he groaned. “You’d think a high-tech lab would value communication with the outside world.” He peered into his cup at his dark reflection. “I’d better head home. Catherine might be worried about me.”

 

As he got up, he noticed a clock on the wall.

 

“When did we go digital? At least I know the time on my watch is working.”

 

* * *

 

Arnone fumbled his keys out of his pocket, only to notice the locks had been removed from the door and replaced with a scanner. Unsure what to do, he sighed and knocked.

 

The door opened. Isabelle stood before him wearing a peculiar beige dress long enough to reach her feet, with sleeves that ran all the way to her wrists. She wore a pair of leather gloves.

 

“I love your outfit, Isabelle.”

 

“What’s that?” she asked. He followed the direction of her finger.

 

“My hand? You’re silly, darling. How was school yesterday? Sorry I didn’t get home last night. Daddy had to work late and fell asleep at the office.”

“Hand,” she repeated. “What’s school?”

 

“You’re up to your funny business today, aren’t you? Where’s your mother?”

 

“Benjamin, is that you?” He heard Catherine shout from the kitchen. “We have guests.”

 

“Guests?” he muttered under his breath. “This early in the morning?”

 

Arnone entered the kitchen to see his wife, wearing a similar outfit to his daughter, at the table with two people he’d never met, a man and woman, also dressed in beige.

 

“Benjamin,” said Catherine. Her eyes grew wide.

 

“Good morning, everyone.” He set his briefcase on the counter. “Why the matching outfits? What’s going on here?”

 

“You’re him,” said the woman sitting opposite his wife.

 

Arnone raised an eyebrow and adjusted his tie.

 

“I take it you’ve read one of my research papers?” he inquired. “It’s not often I get recognized.”

 

“It is him,” said the man.

 

“The man from the sky,” said the woman. “I recognize those eyes.”

 

“The man from the….” Arnone’s jaw dropped. He felt the world spinning around him.

 

“Are you my real daddy?” asked his daughter.

 

* * *

 

Arnone woke up, unable to move. Everyone from the table huddled around him. His hands and feet were strapped down.

 

“What’s going on?” he asked.

 

“It’s been too long since we’ve had organic flesh,” said Catherine, licking her lips. She removed her glove to reveal blades instead of fingers. “You might want to close your eyes for this part.”