Neil Ellington called the team in. A man wearing only a smock and slippers was spotted outside Salem, Massachusetts. His name was Elliot Gordon, a patient of the nearby wormwood sanatorium. He claimed to have travelled to other worlds and seen monsters. He had carved 13 into his arms multiple times. The team was tasked to go undercover to investigate any possible connections with the nearside.

The director at wormwood was Marion Shelly. Gideon would take up a position on the staff while Jaroslaw and Jack would be private patients. Gideon went for an interview and was offered a job on a trial basis. He then got to interview Jaroslaw and Jack for their admission as patients. Some fleeting nearside effect was detected when they tried to sense it but nothing substantial. Rather like [magicians] Jack took a quick trip into Salem to get some weapons and phones he had stashed there.

In the evening Gideon drugged the two orderlies on duty and they were put into the beds of Jack and Jaroslaw. He then tried to slip a sedative into Dr Shellys drink. However he then drew a gun on Shelly as he appeared to have been spotted. Shelly refused to drink the drugged drink so Gideon shot him and forced him to take the sedative. Searching the room he found a key to the 3rd floor and notes about neuro surgery. There was also a cylinder of a silvery metal about 30cm long and 5cm in diameter. When examined a USB port briefly appeared in it 'as if by magic'. He also found some unknown instruments in his medical bag.

He then met with Jaroslaw and Jack before approaching nurse King in her office. When Jack burst in she drew a cylinder and fired a bolt of electricity at him. Normal weapons appeared to have no effect on her but she was susceptible to felsteel. She emitted a blinding light which stunned Jaroslaw and Gideon but Jack managed to kill her. The body transformed into a large mothlike creature before dissolving. In the goo was an amulet which Jaroslaw sensed could be an artefact. There was also a second cylinder in the room.

They went upstairs to explore the third floor. In a laboratory there was another 8 cylinders. One was connected to a smartphone by a USB lead. Jaroslaw unlocked the screen. It said connected to unknown device. When Gideon activated it there was a groan from the phone which turned out to be the missing Dr King. Nearsight suggested the origin was the cylinder itself so Jaroslaw used opening to open the cylinder. When it opened grey goo and then a brain popped out, still attached to the cylinder by electrodes. Jack sliced through the electrodes to end his suffering.

He plugged the phone into a second cylinder and another voice was heard. She claimed to be Alina Doloneski and claimed to be an actress. Googling revealed she had been working in Boston before being admitted to a private facility to recover from a Cocaine addiction. There was also a safe in the laboratory which Jaroslaw opened. Inside was a cluster of twisted metal tubes connected in a cone shape which was covered in frost. When the cylinder found in Kings room was connected to the phone nothing happened. A quick search of the rest of the third floor revealed nothing more so the team made a hasty exit.

Regency spent several days studying the data and objects recovered. The amulet was found to be emanating super string energy and facilitated travel like a broken room. The moth creatures have been named Lacuni. There extermination on sight was authorised as creatures who extract brains could not be tolerated. Similar superstring energy had been detected on Earth 8 in a walled compound in Washington DC. Jack and Jaroslaw were tasked to travel there and disrupt the Lacuni operations and obtain a second amulet. They should then use the amulets to travel between variations with a process called dream walking to where the creatures originate.

A broken room in the communal laundry room of an apartment block was identified. It was a known room so other travellers could be expected. It cycled every 60 minutes but was a rough journey. The black hole passing Earth 8 was close to seismic activity should be expected. Jack and Jaroslaw drove to Washington DC. They found the apartment block. The laundry room was in the basement. The door was locked but someone answered when Jack knocked and opened the door. There was a couple who said they were on their honeymoon visiting all the variants.

They left after Jack warned then not to follow the party. Then another couple arrived. Jaroslaw sensed that the man had a very high distance. Jaroslaw smoothed the transition but still suffered from the effects of the room cycling. The man offered to heal him and introduced themselves as Mr Calhoon and Ms Olsson. They said they were with monarch but were otherwise friendly. They headed towards a walled compound in the distance. Jack and Jaroslaw took a more roundabout route but had to run as an earthquake started.

They made their way along a freeway and saw a dust cloud in the distance which appeared to be created by some moving vehicles. They took cover until an off road car and three bikes passed. On the wall of the compound was written the word ascension and on the approach was a sign saying 'caution you are now entering a government controlled zone'. There was a large fortified gate into the compound. When they approached a guard challenged them. The guards had safecore outfits. Jaroslaw and Jack were allowed in in exchange for some trade goods.

Inside Jack was recognised a Dr Ralf Wood who Jack met on his first mission to Earth 8.

He offered to provide room to sleep in his house. Jack and Jaroslaw were left alone in his house while he went to a meeting. Jaroslaw opened his filing cabinet. There was many records. The latest file was labelled special research project. In it was a list of twelve children with high IQs. Two were probably Ralfs own children. They were in a school for gifted children run by a Liola Fyre after being rounded up by the government. There was an attempt to use the imaginations of the children to come up with ideas to stop the black hole where adults had failed. Security had been increased recently at the school after someone tried to break into the infirmary.

There was also a locked box which Jaroslaw opened. Inside was a voice activated notebook. Jaroslaw broke the encryption and gained access. There were many files. One was a video of Ralf in a classroom with the children. The teacher appeared to behave in the same strange manner as nurse King.

Ralf came rushing back accusing Jack and Jaroslaw of tampering with his notebook. Jack feigned innocence and he left again only to come back with some security guards. Jack proclaimed his innocence again and threatened them with violence if they tried to detain him and finally persuaded them that he had just knocked something which must have set off an alarm. Overnight Jaroslaw heard a strange buzzing. When he looked outside he saw Liona Fyre leaving.

In the morning Dr Wood took them to his lab to analyse the amulet they had obtained from nurse King. His analysis was that it was made of an unknown polymer that was radiating super string energy. He insisted he would need it for his research and demanded to be able to buy it. He was so insistent that Jack slit his throat so silence him. Jack and Jaroslaw then went back to the doctors house to get their weapons and equipment giving the guards a story that Dr Wood had forgotten equipment and was sending them to collect it. The guards believed the story.

Jack and Jaroslaw returned to the lab where they donned their armour and weapons before creeping to the infirmary. Inside was four doctors including Liona Fyre and a guard.

When challenged Jack threw a grenade at them and Jaroslaw shot Fyre twice with a felsteel round. She shrieked and then dissolved like nurse King. The grenade killed patients in their beds but the doctors were only stunned. The guard was shot by Jack and returned fire. Jaroslaw shot the guard with his Ktech pistol as Jack fired another grenade. The guard fired at Jack again before Jaroslaw killed him. They killed another of the doctors each before the last doctor drew a device and blasted Jaroslaw with lightning, knocking him unconscious. Jack finally killed the last doctor.

They found three amulets after a quick search then made their escape before other guards arrived. No one questioned them when they left the controlled zone and they made their way back to Earth 1.

Brian and Gideon had returned to regency by the time they got back and able to take part in the next part of the mission. The team took an amulet each and were given the sedative Ethergen to get them into a dreamwalker state.

The team found themselves facing a wall of shimmering silver. Jaroslaw walked into the silver curtain and the others followed. As they passed through they found themselves in an endless grey void. Jack concentrated and turned himself into a human sized Godzilla, Brian gave himself wings and Jaroslaw turned himself into a blob similar in colour to their surroundings. Above was an Earth passing as though in orbit. As it passed others followed it. Gideon created a telescope to examine one of the earths which was crater marked and probably Earth 3. The team felt that holding another form was slowly draining momentum so they turned back into human form.

Brian imagined a chariot and horses to take then to where they sensed the Lacuni were. After some indeterminate time they came to a pool of something black. Gideon touched it and seemed to become angry. Brian touched it and became irritable. The liquid slowly lost its colour and an image started forming on the surface. The party ignored it and continued on ignoring another pool of silver. To their right a black form formed with streaks of indigo inside. It started moving towards them, stopping momentarily when Brian imagined a wind.

The team ran away from it. A platform appeared floating in the sky. Gideon imagined himself leaping onto it, Brian imagined himself an angel, Jaroslaw imagined himself climbing stairs and Jack imagined himself in a lift. They found themselves on a silver platform which was connected to other platforms. A glowing green structure, a pyramid and another structure made of ice could be seen. Three moth creatures were flying above the ice structure spraying mist on it. There were also pools on several of the platforms and walkways.

The amulets seemed to be indicating the ice structure. The three moth creatures moved towards the team who imagined a variety of weapons and killed two, as the third plummeted towards the ground when Gideon blocked the movement of its wings. Three more creatures descended from above. After a firefight they were all killed. When the last died the platforms and structures vanished and the team started falling. Silvery cylinders and grubs were seen falling from several of the structures.

The team imagined themselves landing safely. They killed any of the grubs that survived the fall and collected the cylinders. Jaroslaw released several astral figures from the tubes with his meridian powers which then faded away as Jack and Gideon unscrewed the tubes. The team them imagined themselves waking and woke up.