Chapter 16 - A Lack of Culture

The floor was unpleasant, the chains were unpleasant, and his broken leg was unpleasant too; all in all, Uari felt he was in an astonishingly unfavourable situation, and Io's suspiciously soothing presence wasn't actually helping because he felt semi-threatened by him.

If Glasses was reporting to him, he was likely one of the 'higher-ups' previously mentioned—specifically, those higher-ups that had a say on whether he lived or died.

Well, whether he kept his memories or was wiped. Given the situation with Old Uari and New Uari though, he would consider the wipe to be an effective death for New Uari. Wasn't that a lovely thought?

Io was conversing quietly with Glasses near the door as Uari was processing but glanced back when he felt Uari's eyes on him. "Yes?"

"What are the Gravts?"

Io and Glasses exchanged a look and began a swift, heated, whispered conversation debating about what to tell him. Uari heard the words 'memory wipe', 'doesn't matter', 'dangerous', and 'escaped before', and didn't think his chances of getting his way might be high. They seemed to come to a conclusion, with Glasses looking somewhat satisfied.

"We Gravts," Io began, slowly, "are an informal network. There are less than 200 members worldwide, but our reach is relatively far and wide."

"Yes, but what do you do?"

"You're a part of the Gravts, you know. You're one of our founding members."

Uari only shrugged. Io and Glasses sat across from him on the floor, and Uari got ready for a long explanation.

"...to get straight to the point, the Gravts aren't from around here."

"You mean like we're from a different country?"

"No, I mean like a different universe entirely."

"How original." Uari had been numbed by the teaching of universe-hopping classics they had been taught in compulsory education. The sheer number of writings about reincarnation and dimension-jumping from the 21st century made him wonder about the mindset of people then.

"I forget how much of an asshole you are," Io let out a gusty sigh. "It's not a joke. That was what gave us abilities."

Ah yes. Wizah's Teeth, Glasses' Teleportation. His own unknown abilities, and whatever Io might have. His wariness rose tenfold; escaping was going to be much more difficult if everyone here had abilities as a result of this dimension jump. Of course, Io could still be lying through his teeth.

"How do I know you're not making stuff up?"

"I bet you've been using words that don't exist here," Io said. He pulled out a metal container, rattled out several white candy-looking things that might or might not have been pills, then nonchalantly put them away.

"Words?"

"Mmm. You use words like 'thicc' and 'yeet', don't you?"

"What."

"Yeah, you do. You used them all the time even before you were wiped. They don't exist in this universe, you know. You can check on your Interface if you want."

The word 'shaken' didn't even begin to describe Uari's mindset at this point. 'Thicc' and 'yeet' didn't exist? What was this universe?

"What...what does this universe use, then, if not 'thicc' or 'yeet'?" He was almost too afraid to ask.

Io shrugged. "There aren't any equivalents. Maybe you can make them popular."

Uari was getting distracted. He would grieve for this universe's lack of culture later, in the privacy of...somewhereelse, but at the moment he had several other pressing concerns. The first being that he still didn't really believe them. It would have been more plausible if the abilities were simply part of a maddened rampage of some local scientist.

"Okay, so say the Gravts are from a different universe. What do you guys want, then?"

"Well, unfortunately we can't tell you that. You can ask other questions, though."

"What kind of mission was I sent on?"

"The short answer is that you were supposed to be infiltrating somewhere for us. Once conditions were hit, an in-built trigger would restore all your memories. Obviously, those plans have been derailed and you're here causing a mess."

Uari 'hmm'ed, and then fell silent as he worked through this information. There was nothing incriminating other than the poorly-conceived idea that they were all from different universes, and if he tried to take that to anyone they would laugh him out of their offices. Io had planned his answers out quite carefully, but Uari had his next questions.

"Who am I, then?"

"Uari's your real name, but you wouldn't tell us your last name. You're a Gravt, a universe-hopper just like the rest of us. Specifically, you're one of the founding members of the Gravt network. I can't tell you anymore than that."

"Who are you?"

"Like I said, I'm Io."

"No, I meant to ask who you are, to me. You obviously know me."

Io paused, and looked slightly thrown by the question. Glasses' hand clamped down on Io's shoulder.

"…I suppose you could call us friends." The answer was unsatisfactory, but Uari let it slide. It was easy to tell that he and Io were likely more than that, but he also wasn't sure if he wanted to know what kind of a mess their relationship was. He nodded, and accepted the answer.

"What are you going to do to me?"

"Wipe you, clean out your place, send you back. It sounds very stupid since you might have been compromised, but there's unfortunately no way of restoring your memories unless the mission is completed."

"And if I don't want to be wiped?"

Io's mouth twisted in a wry grin. "Not much of a choice here, sorry. We all want Uari back, and you're in the way."

He understood now why they did what they did. "Why do you want me back?"

"Hmm? Because we love you."

Now it was Uari's turn to be thrown off. He thought it might have been because he had powers that could be useful or even necessary for the Gravts, but was it just because they loved him?

Of all the things in the world. He felt a stir of disappointment at the idea that his abilities might not be so helpful, after all.