The Fabric Of Reality Read Online Free PDF Page A

resolve. Her stomach turned from the memory of the baron touching places on her body that no man had ever touched.
    Now that she had time to contemplate its meaning, Marco’s betrayal stung even more severely than it had at the ball. Marco had convinced her that she could be loved. His callous lie devastated her heart. Standing in the council chambers, she had felt her dream hero calling to her as surely as she could feel the heart beating in her chest. Her last hope of happiness had been the man in the castle atop the hill. With every step that took her farther from the village his subtle, but ever-present beckoning had diminished until the notion that he was there waiting for her faded completely away. It made no sense that he could touch her mind so clearly from such a great distance. Drawing nearer to him should have strengthened his presence. For the first time she truly realized how ridiculous she had been for believing in her fantasy. The reality that she was utterly alone in the world and would be until the moment she died, finally hit her.
    Bitter tears welled up from deep inside. Alesia collapsed to her knees and sobbed for a moment but quickly fought back her sorrow, determined not to cry for the loss of a man who obviously never loved her or for one who never existed.

Chapter Three
    Gil sat at his workstation, tapping his keyboard.
    Day 392, Gil Thorn’s technical log. The Barrier Emitter Nodes are failing at an alarming rate. The United World Brotherhood has apparently stumbled upon a weapon setting that taxes the Barrier beyond its limits to cope. All I can do to keep it up is replace the damaged parts as quickly as possible. With no one left to assist me, I cannot devise an upgrade to stave off this new threat. I can barely stay ahead of the failing components. Given the current rate of failure, I estimate the Barrier will last seven days at the outside.
    My latest attempt to establish communications with my colleagues has yielded negative results. All of the Alternate-Reality Doorways are permanently locked and have begun to dissipate. I am at a loss to explain why the junction point has not collapsed completely. Our initial assumptions about the nature of this structure may have been incorrect. Something is holding the junction point together, but I cannot locate anything in this Reality that is responsible.
    The Window to the second site went undetectable this morning with no prior warning. It was stable and behaving normally one second and gone the next. On a positive note, the Window to the third site has been returning anomalous readings and growing in strength. I can only speculate that the fabric of that Reality is somehow moving closer to this one. If the two Realities come in contact, a new Doorway may form, thus providing me with a means of escape.
    Speculation and fanciful thinking have no place in the log. I should strike those last lines, but what difference does it make? No one will ever read it.
    Gil didn’t regret staying behind to facilitate his colleagues escape; he only regretted the bad timing of an equipment failure that had trapped him. Can’t start wallowing in self-pity now. Too much to do. He pushed his chair back from his workstation and stretched. A loud warble caused by a high-energy pulse splitting the atmosphere rattled everything sitting on his desk. A low-pitched boom from the beam striking the Barrier reverberated through the control room. The graphical display on the Barrier Sphere monitor barely registered the hit. Only one percent of the total allowable deformation was reached, but the output capacity of the Emitter Nodes servicing the area of the impact was reduced by five percent. A few more hits on that spot and the Emitters would have to be changed. Fortunately the Brotherhood didn’t appear to realize they had found a weapon setting capable of breaking through, because they were still utilizing a random targeting pattern.
    Gil opened an application on his