Chapter Forty-Eight: Jack Lawson

“No, this is real.”

“This newspaper must be a fake you made.” Jack Lawson spread the paper out on the coffee table as he spoke.

“If you still don’t believe me, I can take you to my world to see for yourself,” Wang Jing replied.

“All right, then how are you going to take me to your world?” Jack Lawson finally tore his gaze from the newspaper, looking at Wang Jing with a confident, almost mocking expression. After all, traveling between worlds sounded far too fantastical.

“Give me your hand, then.” Wang Jing extended his own.

Jack hesitated briefly as he looked at the offered hand, but in the end, he extended his right hand. The moment their hands touched, Jack Lawson felt his vision blur—and then everything around him changed.

“Oh my God!” Jack stared in awe at his surroundings, his mouth agape, disbelief written all over his face.

“Hello, Mr. Jack Lawson. Welcome to our world!” Song Guohua approached with a smile.

“This is incredible! You actually possess the ability to cross universes!” Jack Lawson clutched his hair in amazement.

But when Jack turned and saw Optimus Prime, towering over ten meters tall, his astonishment instantly turned to fear, and he instinctively took a few steps back.

Seeing Jack Lawson so startled, Optimus Prime crouched down and spoke in a deep, gentle voice: “Hello, Jack Lawson. My name is Optimus Prime. I am a mechanical lifeform from another world.”

“H-hello!” Jack stammered nervously, staring up at the enormous robotic face, which was nearly the size of his own.

“Well? Do you believe me now?” Wang Jing asked.

“I do. But if you all have the ability to travel between worlds, why come to me? Your technology must be far beyond ours.” Jack Lawson’s puzzlement was clear.

“The ability to cross worlds was a fluke, really. Our technology is actually quite similar to yours,” Song Guohua explained.

“Then why did you come to me?”

“We’d like your help to build a Dutch Boy as well. Our world’s Earth has also suffered from global warming and increasingly extreme weather. Although we’re working hard to mitigate climate change, as you know, that isn’t something that can be solved overnight. So, we want to use a Dutch Boy to buy us some time,” Wang Jing said.

“The construction of Dutch Boy is incredibly complex! The blueprints alone would fill a supercomputer—and no single country could manage it!” Jack Lawson retorted, hands on his hips.

“You don’t need to worry about that—we have scientists from three worlds,” Song Guohua replied.

“Th-three worlds?” Jack Lawson stammered in shock.

“Four, to be precise. But one of the worlds was destroyed by a virus, with fewer than ten thousand survivors.”

“Oh, and by the way, your world is on the brink of destruction, too. Your vice president plans to use Dutch Boy to wipe out other countries he sees as potential threats. But he probably doesn’t realize that when a planet’s environment falls out of balance, stopping the process is not so simple,” Wang Jing continued.

“That’s impossible! The scientists on the space station come from all over the world. No single country could control everything.” Though Jack said this, he knew deep down it was likely true, for this was the year Dutch Boy was to be officially turned over to the United Nations.

“You know perfectly well how Dutch Boy operates. With a virus planted in the station’s mainframe, one could take full control of Dutch Boy’s systems. And not every small-nation scientist is as vigilant as you.”

Jack Lawson’s expression darkened as he lowered his head, recalling the encouraging look the vice president had given him. Jack found it hard to believe the vice president would do such a thing—but remembering yesterday’s news of the accident in Afghanistan, and everything he was experiencing now, he couldn’t help but believe the vice president was behind it all.

“Send me back. I want to confront the vice president face to face!” Jack Lawson’s eyes burned with resolve.

“If you go back now, you’ll only end up in a mental hospital. No one will believe a word you say.”

“Then what should I do?” Jack Lawson asked, lost.

“Don’t worry. Your brother will soon come to you, begging you to repair Dutch Boy. That’ll be your chance to remove the virus from inside the system and unmask the traitor.”

“How do you know all this?” Jack Lawson suddenly realized something was amiss and turned to Wang Jing.

“It’s a side effect of world-crossing. I can glimpse events that will unfold in the worlds I travel to, but only up until the point of my arrival. Once I arrive, the quantum state collapses and the future becomes uncertain,” Wang Jing explained.

Jack Lawson nodded in understanding. As a man with multiple doctorates, he grasped the concept quickly enough.

When Jack Lawson was sent back to the Geostorm universe, a dozen minutes had passed. As soon as he appeared, Anna rushed over joyfully. “Daddy, they said you went to another world?”

“Yes, to a truly amazing place.” Jack Lawson ruffled her hair and knelt down to speak gently. “Anna, I want you to go with this uncle to their world for a while. I have something important to do, but I promise I’ll be back soon.”

Anna nodded, then asked, “Will it be dangerous?”

“No, of course not. There’s no danger at all.”

“Okay, I’ll wait for you.”

Jack kissed Anna on the forehead and hugged her before rising and turning to Liu Peiqiang. “I’m entrusting Anna to you!”

“I’ll keep her safe,” Liu Peiqiang assured him with a nod.

After Anna was sent to the primary world, Wang Jing spoke to Jack Lawson. “I’ll head up to space ahead of you, entering the station as part of the Chinese research team. Remember, don’t tell your foolish brother anything until you have enough evidence.”

“You may not have put it very delicately, but I agree with you,” Jack Lawson replied.

After saying farewell to Jack, Wang Jing boarded a supersonic stealth jet and flew to China, where he picked up the negotiation team before heading for space.

When Wang Jing arrived at the Dutch Boy station aboard Optimus Prime, the negotiation team relayed the good news that coordination had succeeded. Soon after, Wang Jing received a radio transmission from the station’s guide: “This is Dutch Boy. Optimus Prime, please dock at K1 bay!”

“Copy that! Docking at K1 bay!” Optimus Prime responded.

“Oh, this may sound abrupt, but your voice is really sexy!” came the navigator’s embarrassed reply over the radio.

“Optimus Prime, you’ve got a fangirl!” Wang Jing teased with a laugh.

“She probably wouldn’t want to know what I really look like,” Optimus Prime replied awkwardly.

Thanks to Optimus Prime’s precise piloting, they landed safely on the K1 bay. Once the external pressure had equalized, Wang Jing stepped out of the craft, only to find himself surrounded by a group of staff. But when they caught sight of Optimus Prime in his alt-mode, they all froze, unsure what to do.

“Thank you, thank you for your concern, but he doesn’t need any maintenance for now. He’s only in his twenties and still in his prime!” Wang Jing assured them, though it was clear they didn’t take his word for it and looked instead to the chief scientist behind him.

“Ahem! Hello, Mr. Wang!”

Hearing the voice behind him, Wang Jing immediately turned and replied, “Oh, hello. My name is Wang Jing; I’m here from China as an observer.”

“Hello, I’m Ute Fassbinder, chief scientist of Dutch Boy,” Ute said, extending her hand in greeting.