#71

Time was still distorted; in no small part due to Mark, as well as the influence of what Doctor Kai was now calling in his head, in a rather uncreative fashion, a “Time Nexus”. So even as Jacob and Mina, and several others with Jacob, were reunited in the portal between Earths Beta-2 and Beta-3, Jacob and Kai were still aboard McGee Manor, rocketing through space.

Jacob had found a laptop and started using it; the Doctor didn't care, given that it was unlikely to be detected in this whirlwind. On a whim, Jacob clicked on an icon which seemed to be an Internet browser. Shockingly enough, the browser opened, and loaded Google.

“What the fuck?” he said.

“What is it?”

“We're getting fucking Internet service in an interuniversal vacuum.”

“Really?”

The elder man seemed surprised. He walked over to the screen and sure enough, Jacob had opened the Pac-Man Google art page and started playing a game. “Huh,” they said in unison.

There was an awkward pause as the game blared on.

“Well, don't be surprised if it comes through corrupted. We might just be receiving some sort of overlap service between the Earths. Which...is something I didn't think was possible, really.”

“Huh.”

Suddenly, as if in response, the screen flickered, and the search engine changed. Instead of Google the site now read “IISE”, in bold red, white, and blue letters. It had a nearly identical layout to Google, but there were no art options. Everything looked much more stately and important.

“Whoa. What's this, now?”

Kai inspected it. “That...hm. It probably stands for 'Internal Imperial Search Engine', or something similar. The Internet, or whatever it's called on the next sequence of this Cascade, is mostly private.”

“The next Earth is ruled by an Empire? Is that where we're headed?”

“Could be. If we ever get anywhere.”

“Hm.”

There was a tagline for this search engine, which seemed to Jacob to be as cliché as all hell; but he was already judging this Empire, due to the negative connotations of the word on his Earth. (He was thinking in terms of how stock the trope of the “evil empire” was, and how it was probably led by some cackling old dude in a robe. Possibly with a skull head or some shit.) This motto read, “The Empire Yet Endures”.

He was about to set the computer down, when something caught his eye. A tiny, flickering patch of black pixels, intercepting the flag-colored logo. He moused over it but as he did, the pixels spread; the white expanse of the page was slowly consumed by an image. He pulled the Doctor over, and the two watched as it materialized...

“Shit,” Doctor Kay whispered.

The entire House then shook as it collided with something. Something massive.

The rushing brown light around them flashed white with a roar...and then there was silence.