None of us can. No one says a word for what feels like a minute. Rhys’s eyes are shiny. He never talked about his “father.” Rhys was part of the first Alpha team, the one a year ahead of ours. The creators raised and trained Rhys’s team themselves, as their children. Then one day Rhys’s father just disappeared. Rhys assumed his father had been killed. Instead he ended up here, working in the Verge.... “Where are we?” I say. Not that it isn’t crazy to see this guy in the flesh now, but we still have bigger problems. And I’m guessing he has answers. Rhys Noble—I remember Rhys telling me his father’s name—takes a long breath. “The short answer is another uni- verse. One of many.” If someone tells you you’re in another universe, it’s hard to go Oh, makes sense now.But instead of disbelief, I feel nothing. Another universe. Okay. “My name is Rhys. You can call me Noble, to avoid confu - sion. As in my last name, not because I possess outstanding qualities.”
