"Arrived in the Multiverse, designation Number 10011."
Whether they were parallel universes torn from reality or multiverses controlled by mysterious "administrators," Earth generally occupied much the same dimensional position within these finite universes.
With a vast amount of data as his reference, Brad soon located this universe's Solar System.
However, Brad did not rush into the star system. Instead, he stopped at its outskirts.
From the moment he arrived in this universe, he had noticed that it seemed unusually different from the other fractured realities.
Someone had actually detected Brad. Although he had made no particular effort to conceal his fluctuations, native beings in a universe rarely noticed his arrival.
Could there be another Beyonder projection here, or a counterpart of some other cosmic god?
Brad entertained that possibility briefly, but it was soon disproved.
A silver light rose from Earth and flew out toward Brad's position beyond the Solar System.
Earth and Pluto happened to be on the same side of the Solar System, and Pluto was at perihelion. The distance between them was relatively close to its minimum, approximately 4.224 billion kilometers.
The silver light covered that distance in just half an hour.
Brad tilted his head as he watched it trail a silver thread through the cosmos, heading straight toward him.
Too slow.
Brad set his worries aside. As a researcher who was not particularly fond of fighting, he would find it deeply frustrating if every trip between universes brought him face-to-face with some immensely powerful being and dragged him into an unavoidable battle.
Fortunately, his visitor's speed was not particularly impressive in Brad's eyes.
Brad always had plenty of patience and courtesy for the weak.
He reached out and tugged, drawing several meteorites toward him. He released a swarm of Nanobugs to restructure them,