The Janus Project (ONC 2020 - LGBTQ)

11. The Janus Project

(Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to InkandMagic whose story for the ONC, What the Halo, is a hilarious encounter between Michaela - a not so angelic Angel - and Cain  - a not so demonic Demon! )

When Kai received his invitation to join the Janus Project, he had pictured something to do with an expedition-focussed tour group or possibly wilderness exploration.

"The Janus Project is seeking people interested in exploring new horizons... must be prepared to travel... adventurous... enjoy challenges and risks..."

At the time, his private investigations business had been undergoing a major slump and the new job had sounded intriguing. He contacted the number on the letter and arranged an interview for a week's time.

When he arrived at the address, he was a little disappointed to find himself in front of a modern high-rise. For some reason he had expected something more intimate, more interesting.

The concierge directed him to an office on the twentieth floor, where Kai was greeted by a man who reminded him of the clerk at his local unemployment office. Smooth and professional, but personally disengaged from the process. The interview had been standard enough, except for the fact that every question Kai asked in return about the job was answered with an assurance that he'd find out more later, if he was hired. Kai had left feeling slightly ruffled and not certain that he wanted the job any more—whatever it was.

He had been astonished to receive an offer the very next day.

Sheer curiosity had led him to accept.

After a brief physical examination—including a blood test—followed by signing a series of quite detailed non-disclosure documents, he was invited into the Director's office. Director Yuen was of evident Chinese descent with a cap of short black hair and stereotypical black framed glasses perched on his nose. Unlike the man who interviewed him—whose name Kai had already forgotten—enthusiasm radiated from Yuen like heat.

"Welcome to the Janus Project, Mr Ewans. I bet you've been wondering what this is all about, right? Why all the secrecy?"

"Uh... Yes, sir."

"Well, I shall tell you," beamed Yuen. "Prepare to hold on to your hat!"

And then, everything Kai knew about the world was turned on its head. If the situation had seemed a bit unusual before, Kai now felt as if he had stumbled into a sci-fi movie.

"A few years ago, our founder discovered a way into a parallel world. He called it Gaia, from the ancient Greek, you know," the Director explained cosily.

"Are you kidding?" Kai stared at the Director. Speaking of "parallel worlds", what the hell had he stumbled into? Was this some sort of joke? An episode of some bizarre new reality show? Kai felt torn between making a hasty exit and staying to hear the rest of this crazy story.

Yuen smiled at the expression on Kai's face. "Let me explain a bit more. Gaia is another version of Earth, more or less. We don't know exactly whether it is an alternate reality, another dimension, or a product of quantum theory. I tend to favour the latter because of all the similarities. There are differences of course, technological for the most part, but more interestingly, there are some family lines here which are reflected in Gaia—exact matches of people, or at least for some generations. As if the worlds had originally been one and then diverged at some point."

"Exact matches?" asked Kai, and then could have kicked himself. For a moment there he'd got sucked into the story.

Yuen leant forward, full of enthusiasm, steepling his hands on the desk. "Imagine this for a moment. You and I have the same grandparents, except mine are here on Earth and yours are now in Gaia. Then imagine we have the same father, though each in a different world, but...with that generation, the lines diverge. Instead of repeating the pattern, our fathers choose to marry different women—on Earth and in Gaia—giving us different mothers and you and I are no longer copies of each other."

"Copies?" asked Kai, faintly.

"Pretty much exact copies," agreed Yuen. "Right down to the DNA. Personalities though... they tend to be quite a different matter! But we'll get to that later. Now, you're wondering why we chose you, aren't you?"

Kai stared, dry-mouthed, a sudden queasiness roiling in his stomach. Suddenly this story seemed all too real. Did he really want to know?

"You're one of them, one of the few who actually has a perfect double in Gaia. We call them Prototypes. As time passes, the worlds are diverging more and more and there are less and less direct matches. You can imagine how excited we were to find you."

"But why? I don't understand. What's so important about being a... a direct match?" Direct match sounded somehow far better than "copy."

"It's quite simple. Because you are the only ones who can travel between the two worlds."

The Director's expression sobered.

"Paul Shaw, the man who discovered the mechanism, the one that allows people to travel back and forth to Gaia, was one of you, of course. I mean, a person with a Prototype in Gaia. Probably not as much of a coincidence as you might think, considering he found the original device in his Grandfather's attic. Naturally enough, he thought anyone could use it."

A shadow crossed the Director's face.

"We had quite a few nasty incidents before we worked out the whole Prototype thing. The military in particular were hard to convince. They were fully prepared to take us over, lock, stock and barrel, until they realised they had no control over who they could send. Probably a fortunate thing for Gaia, in hindsight, though I'm still not sure exactly what the military thought they would do there."

He paused, as if reliving past arguments.

"In any event, the Project is back in our hands. For the moment at least."

Kai cleared his throat. "Er... what happens to those people who don't have a direct match and try to use the device?"

The Director looked straight at Kai. "We don't know. They vanish. Perhaps they go to another world entirely... or ..." He shrugged. "But no-one ever sees them again, either on Earth or on Gaia."

Kai swallowed. "So how did you find me? How do you know I'm a "direct match"? Do I glow in the dark or something?" He added with a touch of hysteria.

Yuen chuckled. "Oh no, nothing like that. To be honest, it's pretty much a matter of luck. We can't see into Gaia from here, nor can they see into our world, as far as we can tell. We've had to rely on a rather manual process. One of our travellers brings us back photos, photos of as many people as possible and we run them through our facial recognition software. When we get a match, we investigate to see if the person is suitable to bring into the program. As you can imagine, not everyone is suitable, or available for that matter."

The Director beamed, his excitement brimming over again.

"And yet, here you are! Our fourth match, so far."