It was dark, airships docked, ozone purifier on, kind of dark, and dad, wasn’t home. We waited, and waited, till a knock broke my stupor. It was uncle Will.

“He’s missing, Peggy.”

I wasn’t even hazed. I mean, it was dad. I’ve seen that guy fight a giant squid, and win; not that mom knows; nothing could’ve happened to him. We had a rare, and silent supper. Days turned into weeks, and I could feel my trepidation building. My faith was strong; my dad was alive. I was sure of it. The mighty think-tank I inherited from my mother, had a dark corner where dangerous ideas lurked. But I couldn’t heed them counterproductive thoughts; I had to be strong, if not for mom, for Theo. Mom immersed herself in her work, barely eating, barely breathing. When she dared to take a breather, it was to tend to us. Seeing her steel armour crack, I let her do whatever she pleased. Soon, I grew angry. Each passing day came with more questions than answers.

Why wasn’t dad contacting us? Why is Uncle Will being so evasive? Why is mom overworking? 

I wished we could go back to the good old boring days. Back in my room, I let the last shred of my hope falter. I missed my family. I’m bold enough to admit, I cried. Offspring of atheist makers, praying to a Schrodinger god. I just wanted them back so badly. I wished we could all go decades back to when the biggest fights were against glaciers.

“Abi…”

The wind carried my name. I was way too invested in emotions to care.

“Sweetie, it’s me.”

I wiped off the stray tears to witness what I’d like to call, unbridled magic. It was my dad, well not the whole of him, but the semblance.

“DAD!” I just about lunged the second the apparition vanished. Theo waddled into my room upon my cry. His disappointed face was a bit much to bear. 

“What’s the ruckus, Abi?” Mom stood framing the doorway.

“Mom, it’s Dad! I saw Dad! He talked to me!”

“Daddy?” Theo sniffled.

“Abi, honey!” She took a step forward.

“No, he was right here!” Dead silence followed. Her composure didn’t falter.

“Mom?”

“Yes, honey?”

“Is he dead?” I dared ask. Theo started bawling, mirroring my feelings, but I had to stay strong. Mom came in and

kneeled down facing me. Theo clung to her side as she firmly held my shoulders. 

“Listen, young lady. Your dad is a tough guy. We will find him. Till then …” she trailed off.

 But I could understand. I hugged her tight as a pledge and we talked about it never. She has a keen eye, my mother, for exactly a week later, a field trip was planned; camping by the forests, or what remained of it. In earlier days, they say, about one-third of the earth was covered by forests; who knew? These days, mere mention of an evergreen twig was enough to lighten up even the bleakest of hearts. It felt illegal to be happy without him, and yet I was. The greenery was soothing. Mom let us play in what Theo and I call the monster lake, as she set up the firewood.

“Abigail…”

The voice was louder this time, and my will, stronger. I ran in the direction the wind paved. It led to a regular bush, except the sky looked odd. Through the veil, reached out a hand.

“Daddy!” I cried, grasping air for bitter nothings.

 I ran as fast as I could back to the campsite.

“Mom! Please, you have to come. It’s dad.” I managed between the incessant pants.

She was quick to reach my side. What came next was my true surprise. She didn’t waver a bit as she instructed Theo to fetch her purse. We obeyed, and followed her trail, racing to keep up. As we reached the spot she took out a lipstick case which when triggered became an immaculate object, my grandpa would’ve sold his soul for – a lightsaber, adjacent.

“Anytime now, Daniel.” She punctuated as the weapon sliced through thin air. 

Dad staggered forward through the slit and tasted dirt. Theo ran up to climb on him. I stood there bewildered, and that was an understatement.

“What? No love lost for your old man?” He smiled facing me, and I mustered all my strength in giving him the tightest hug ever.

The sweet ecstasy of getting my dad back passed as soon as it came, and I was left with infinite questions. Einstein knows what it took for me to have an hour of patience. I’m not a calm person; I’m Margaret Guildford’s daughter. Finally, with Theo snuggling in his lap, and his wife by his side, dad singled me out in the guise of offering an explanation.

“Ok, Abi. I think you’re old enough to know about this,” he huffed. Mom nodded.

“Do you remember the great collapse of 2040?” Mom posed.

“The year the human race was meant to go extinct due to global warming and that it never came to pass. Well, it actually did,” he declared. Strike one. “Every resource on earth was dwindling. It was too late to fix it or formulate a solution. That’s when we came up with a remedy,” he looked at her expectantly as her eyes lit up.

“What do you know about cosmic inflation, Abi?”

“Just what you taught me. Even before the supposed big bang, the matter had tremendous inherent energy, and when

the big bang caused omnidirectional expansion, the points of constructive interference produced the known universe.”

“And bubble universes?” she posed yet again.

“Hypothesis – The same level of interference produces identical bubble universes which are separated by a metaphysical veil.”

“It’s all real, kiddo.” Dad quipped.

Strike two. I had to sit down.

“Mom. The edges of both universes move at the speed of light. It’s impossible to reach since we can’t travel that

fast, or can we?”

“Not yet,” she huffed.

“Then how do they sync? One must always be ahead of another, it’s theoretically impossible to reach.” My mom had this trademark smirk on; she does that when she’s about to explain something that’ll take me months to process.

“Time dilation, Abi. Long ago, my father and his father before that, were specialists in cosmic evolution. My dad was into decoding an all-powerful ancient technology, as he liked to call it. I thought it was all fibbing. When your dad went missing, I searched for any trace on every material I could lay my hands on. Turns out, we’re legacies,” she punctuated.

Legacies of what? Dad continued, “To cut it short, a cult of scientists and technicians banded together to harness the free energy present in all points except the perfect interferences.”

“You mean from between the bubbles?”

“Yes, and they succeeded. They used it to reverse the great collapse and here we are. But for some reason, the operation was shut down and the trace of every last technology was wiped clean,” he whistled.

Of course, Uncle Will found it. He can wake data from the dead. “Turns out, there was a reason behind the whole stint. The energy harnessing led to massive time dilation, that the universes are now in tandem,” Mom smiled.

“Wow…” was all I managed.

“Now to the crucial part, kiddo …” Dad cleared his throat. “The other universe didn’t manage to scrape past the great collapse, and we, are at war,” he huffed.

Strike three, mind blown. Mom never skipped a beat.

“Your dad and I are active volunteers and it’s been our biggest regret that we dragged you rugrats into this. I’m sorry, love.”

I wanted to hug that woman, and never let go, except I was hungry for information.

“Have you crossed before?” I posed. They looked at each other before answering in unison, and in negation.

“I slipped accidentally and yep, forgot the tool belt. Turns out, the other side has been doing good on the whole dilution process. But don’t worry, we’ll take the war to them,” he winked.

War? Dilution?

“Abi, honey, I know it’s a lot to take in but you’ve got to listen carefully to what I say, okay? Dad and I have to report now. There is a gun in mom’s purse, and a laser blaster in Theo’s bag. Use the Satellite phone, call your Uncle and tell him I said Picasso.”

Years of therapy, mom.

“I like Picasso.”

She kissed my forehead.

“I love you and I’m proud of you.” she smiled, eliciting one from me. Dad passed by, kissing atop my head, and throwing mom what looked like a coaster and boy, was it like watching one of those ancient marvel movies. 

I witnessed magic as my parents donned their gear and set into the unknown. I knew they’d be back. Besides, I had orders to follow. 

And that was the starry night, my dear diary, that I learnt, Superheroes never rest.