The Convergence

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN $22.39!!?”

“That is the price of the ride sir… it’s 40 cents a tick.”

“What in GOD’S NAME is a tick!?”

“A fifth of a mile sir…”

“But then.. but... I... fine. Here’s your money.” The suited man handed over $22.39 after a good five minutes of finding exact change because god forbid he tip the driver after that catastrophe.

This was not the first time Waldo Jambone had encountered a difficult customer. After all driving taxis in New York City brings one to meet all walks of life. Waldo wasn’t just a cab driver, though. There were things about him that were not quite normal. For example, at the ripe age of 5 years his mother pushed him off a cliff into a river but against all normal odds, Waldo survived.

Waldo enjoyed New York much more than Scotland, where he was born. He also enjoyed many parts of being a cab driver, as he got to talk to many different people from many different backgrounds. There was one time which Waldo remembers quite clearly, when a man dressed as a blue iguana and a women wearing clown shoes and a toga stepped into his cab. On the outside these people seemed extremely abnormal, borderline insane compared to Waldo, but on the inside, Waldo was the outcast in the cab.
Although a majority of the time, being a cab driver really sucks.

The next week was a slow one for Waldo, normally he wouldn't be able to go five feet without seeing a hand raise on his side of street. But no matter where he seemed to go, from Washington square to 5th avenue, Waldo couldn’t find anyone to drive. Someone either got there first, or the person was on the other side of street blocked by a wall of motor vehicles. Finally, after three whole days of nothing, Waldo saw a hand raise on the sidewalk just down the block. Finally he would be able to test out what he had been working on.

“Where too?” Waldo asked a man in a blue suit as he entered his car.
“Anywhere on 13th and 8th will do.”
Waldo took the keys out of the ignition and locked the doors.
“Uh.. sir what exactly are you…” The man’s mouth gaped with awe, though Waldo paid no attention.
Now, time to move the wheels. A pale glowing green orb of light appeared in Waldo’s hands.
“What on earth are you doing?”

The car moved perfectly. He didn't need the steering wheel or the pedals. Waldo swiftly moved through the traffic and weaved in between other cars. It was second nature, it was as if the car were a part of him.

“I think I would like to get out now… sir… excuse me… SIR!”

Waldo felt alive this was the best use of his abilities in years. Maybe finally those zealots would recognize him.

“SIR!! 13th street, we are on thirteenth street please… just let me go.”

Waldo abruptly stopped the cab on the side of the street. “Oh right.” Waldo said breathing heavily. “You're still here. Erm.. Apologies. DANUMORIA!!” Purple swirls shot from Waldo’s palms and wrapped their way around the man's head. As they subsided, he looked like a lost puppy. Waldo felt an overwhelming exhaustion, but it was all worth it.

“Uhh, oh right. Take me to Thirteenth Stre… wait we are on Thirteenth Street. Um, I.. uhh… best be going then, sorry about that.”
Waldo smiled and nodded.

About a week later, Waldo received a very peculiar letter. Waldo lived in an apartment building just outside Manhattan, typically mail is delivered to your designated mailbox in the lobby, but this letter was slid beneath his door. It read:

To the Infamous “Ghost Driver,”
You are invited to a meeting at 97 Hudson & Perry St.
On October 15th at 8:00 pm..

Regards,
The American Board of Mystic Inquiry

“It’s about damn time it is!” Waldo blurted out as he read the letter. He had been waiting for a chance like this for years. As soon as he found out these people existed he moved to New York, found their headquarters and asked them to take him in but they refused. They said, “These abilities you speak of are impossible in this world. Only in our can they be used.” and then proceeded to wipe my memory which clearly had no effect.

Waldo was extremely excited about this New development, so much so that he just realized that it was currently October 15th and 7:49 pm. In a panic he rushed out of the door of his apartment and booked it to Hudson & Perry. Luckily he only lived 8 blocks away so he was able to arrive at precisely 7:59 pm, 1 minute before the scheduled meeting. His whole life Waldo has been trying to figure out why he’s different and now he was finally going to get some answers.

The building was exactly what you would expect for a small apartment in New York City. It looked almost too normal to have a group of old wizards harbored inside. Nonetheless, Waldo walked up to the door and gently knocked a few times to the tune of a song stuck in his head.

The door burst open and two men fully hooded and robed appeared with spears pointed at Waldo’s head.

“WHO PERFORMED THE KNOCK ON WARNING!?!” One of the wizards blurted in a low rumbling voice.

“Uh… that’d be me sir.” Waldo replied, hands on his head looking very confused.

“Oh, it’s you.” The wizard said in his hoarse voice.

“Idiot..” the other wizard said under his breath, faking a cough.

“What was that?” Waldo stated, putting the pieces together.

“Nothing. This way.” The wizards turned around in unison and marched down a long corridor. The building looked much bigger from the inside than it did from the outside. The walls were lined with portraits of men and women all oddly dressed in robes and jackets featuring medieval looking insignias. Waldo also noticed many pictures of creatures he had never once seen, such as what looked to be a dragon.

“In here.” One of the wizards said pointing to room with the door open. Waldo stepped inside, there were two people inside; one man and one women.

“Welcome.” The women said.

“Please, do sit down Waldo.” The man asked in an overdone friendly voice.

Waldo stepped farther into the small rectangular room and took a seat on the other side of the table the two people were sitting at. The room was mostly empty, except for the table, three chairs, and a weird looking white board that Waldo expected was not at all what it seemed. The last time Waldo was in a room like this, he was in the interrogation room of an NYPD presync. Waldo hated these type of interview type deals, he didn’t like having the pressure of answering nonsensical questions, designed to make you tell things about yourself without even knowing it. He much prefered questions such as, “Are you a creative person?” rather than, “If someone were to hand you a paint brush and some fruit, what would you do?”

As Waldo walked farther into the room and took his seat, he noticed a weird blur on the wall closest to the table. He ignored it as he thought it was most likely some sort of security enhancement.

“So, Mr. Jambone? Is it?” The man asked.

“Yes sir. That is my name.” Waldo said a bit to excited.

“Well Mr. Jambone we have been watching you for quite some time. Unfortunately some unforeseen circumstances prevented us from meeting.” The women said in a very frank tone.

“Well, thats…. amonous.” Waldo replied.

“We had to fight a war.” The man stated looking very bleak.

“Ah, which side were you on? Allies I presume?”

“Not that war, a war in our world.”

“Which is exactly what we wanted to talk to you about.” The women looking at the man with that look a teacher gives a student when correcting them. “At first we did not believe the tales. A man using his powers outside of our world? Impossible! Besides, we were too distracted fighting each other to fret over some tall tale of a ‘Magical Cab Driver.’”

“But once we had the chance to starting looking into matters such as these again, you were at the top of our list, due to your… reputation.”

“I have a reputation?” Waldo asked holding back a smile.

“That is correct, you are known as the ‘phantom driver’ due to the many reports from people arriving at their destination without any memory of getting there but then seeing your face smile back at them from the cab.” The man said.

“It sounds a lot creepier when you say it like that.” Waldo replied.

“Indeed.” Said the man. “We proved these stories true just the other day when one of our agents got into your cab, well at least he remembered being in once place and then appeared 14 blocks away a moment later. He says all he remembers was seeing you.”

“How did you know how to find me?”

“We have our ways.” The woman replied looking very mysterious.

“Now. On to business!” The man blurted changing the mood of the room instantly. “We have a few questions for you. Firstly-” The man never got a chance to finish his sentence because at that moment the blur which Waldo thought was an enchantment opened up into some sort of portal. It was as if a window looking into another world just hung suspended in the room. Two men stepped through the portal.

“Sorry tah bother ya lad’s but we’ve gotta take this here chap with us.” The men both pulled out what looked like guns and stunned the two people questioning Waldo.

“It’s nothin personal lad, sorry to be a bother.” ZAP!

“Where are we going mum?”

“....To the park.”

“Really! A park? What is a park like?”

Waldo’s mother's eyes started to water but at the time he didn’t pay much attention to this. When they arrived at the so-called “park”, Waldo was beyond excited having never left his house before. He was 5 years old. 5 years without a name and no concept of the outside world. His mother stepped out of the car into the cool morning air and opened his door.

“Come, this way.” She said in a soft but anxious voice.

“Where is the park, all I see is water?” Waldo remembers saying. He may not have known what a park was, but he did know that his mother had parked the car next to a cliff with a river at the bottom and that was certainly not what he expected. Nonetheless Waldo was innocent and excited so he followed.

His mother led him to the edge of the cliff and started to weep. He asked her why she was crying and she told him it was because of how beautiful the river was. He looked down at the river to see what she was talking about and felt something push him. He fell, he didn’t scream, he didn’t look back he just fell.

“Oi lad! Wake up!”

Waldo slowly opened his eye’s shielding them from the bright lights above him. He saw three faces looking down at him; a tall brown haired man with blue eyes and a firm jaw, a shorter more awkward looking man, and one man who had to be a scotsman.

“Welcome, again we are really sorry about this. I hope George and Clide didn’t freak you out too much.”

Waldo’s mind was racing, the seriousness of the situation had just started to hit him. He had been kidnapped and right when he was finally about to learn why he was different. He had waited his whole life for that moment. Yet, he lost it, but Waldo was used to that by now, he was used to a lot of things and suddenly any thought of fear fled from Waldo’s mind.

“Where the hell am I?” Waldo asked as he sat up on the cold bed he was laying on.

“Well, I don’t want to alarm you, but… we are sort of, in space.” The awkward man said in a nervous voice.

“Space, like, outerspace?”

“Yes… that’s what space means.”

“Right, space. Well I guess that’s not as bad as I thought.”

“What? I’m sorry but what would you consider bad then, you were just abducted by two people through an interdimensional wormhole, knocked out and then woken up on a spaceship.” The brown haired man said astounded.

“Trust me I’ve been through worse.” Waldo responded thinking of his childhood.

“Well, I’d love to hear about that someday. Oh and one thing I forgot to mention, we are currently in a parallel universe to the one you consider your reality.”

This made Waldo pause. Another reality? “What exactly does that mean… exactly?”

“That doesn’t matter right now, we have things to discuss but introductions are in order. I’m Captain James.” James pointed to the awkward man. “This is Clide.”

“An Im George.” Said the Scotsman.

“Now.” James spoke affirmatively. “We hear you have a gift, Mr. Jambone. Why don’t you demonstrate.”

“What exactly do you mean?” Waldo inquired.

“One a yer magic tricks.” George said.

“Oh, I see. I suppose everyone knows then. What would you like to see.”

“You see that cup over there?” James pointed to a white coffee mug that said Worlds Best Captain on it. “Make it move over here.”

Spoken like a true poet Waldo thought as he nodded. He was always eager to show off what he could do, especially when he didn’t have to wipe someone’s memory afterwards. Waldo looked at the cup, concentrating all of his focus on it. He felt the cup in his hand even though it wasn’t and a pale green orb of light appeared in his palm. This task did not require much physical exertion as Waldo only had to lift a cup. As the mug rose off the surface into air, James, George and Clide stood stunned. Waldo moved the cup all the way over to his bedside table and set it down gently without ever touching the cup itself. He let out a deep sigh once the cup was put down and the orb in his palm subsided.

“That was incredible. That was… you actually are!” James said as he put his hands to his head in amazement.

“I’m sorry but what am I exactly?” Waldo asked slightly concerned yet feeling proud of his abilities nonetheless.

“The reason we sought you out was because we heard a rumor that someone on Earth was a Thelitice, someone who has the ability to ignore dimensional and universal boundaries of physics and nature.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning you can do magic anywhere, in any universe, without a source.”

“You still aren’t making any sense, I thought there was a whole society of people like me?”

James paused for a moment, then spoke. “In order for people who posses the gift to use their powers they must have a source. For example, I have the gift but I need to have a crystal to draw power from to actually use my abilities. Unless of course we are in the Novisect universe where magical source is part of the molecular makeup of that entire universe. You are an anomaly of quantum mechanics my friend, only two others like you have ever existed.”

“Well shit. This is knew.” Waldo may have had a grip moments ago but this set him over the edge. For the first time in his life, Waldo’s emotions all came pouring in at once he didn’t know what to do, what to say, or how to think. He just stood there frozen staring at nothing.

“We’ll just let you be for a bit then.” Clide said as he noticed the blank look on Waldo’s face, and the three men walked out of the room and let Waldo be. He still didn’t understand what these men wanted but his mind was too busy to think about that right then.

Over the next three days on the spaceship Waldo was able to recover from his stupification and sudden feeling of ultimate importance. He learned more about the trio who kidnapped him as well. As far as space kidnappers go, Waldo got pretty lucky because his assailants were nothing but kind to him. They seemed to be almost as shocked about Waldo’s importance as Waldo was himself.

“You still haven’t told me where we are going yet.” Waldo exclaimed frustrated.

“If I told you.” Said James. “It wouldn’t mean anything to you anyways.” James spoke in between breaths as he navigated the ship, dodging asteroids. “Besides, it’s better less of us know the actual location, that way if we are caught...” James dodged another asteroid. “...there is a smaller chance they will find out.

“You keep talking about getting caught, what is going to catch us? The space police?” Waldo asked.

“Erm, Captain. I’m picking up two unknown vessels approaching from out left and right.” Clide said as he stared down at what Waldo guessed was some sort of space sonar.

“George are the ship’s lasers prepped?” James asked.

“Aye sir, except fer some reason they won’t move....”

“No.. no. noo not this again.” James said angrily.

“What? What’s happening?” Waldo asked.

“It’s the Toverji, they want their crystals back.” James replied as two massive cracks sounded on either side of the ship. “Unfortunately for them, they are not currently on the ship, but that also means I don’t have my powers…. but you do. Waldo, buddy I know we just met and we kinda kidnapped you but I'm gonna need you to pull a fast one and knock those ships into asteroids.”

Waldo looked out a window at one of the Toverji vessels. It was the side of a small building and approaching at an absurd speed. “Yeah, I don’t think I can do that.”

“Ya got to do it mate or we are royally screwed. I’ve got an ok shot but our guns will be nothing against these guys if they board our ship.” George said.

“Alright.” Waldo said. “I'll try.” He closed his eyes and focused, if he was actually able to do this he would need at least 48 hours of sleep, not to mention how soar he would be. Waldo imagined the two spaceships, he could feel them in his hands. They were heavy, very heavy.

“Hurry it up lad they are getting close!” George blurted.

Waldo tried slowing them down, a feeling of warmth filled his veins, he had control. Waldo ignored the fatigue, this felt right. All he had to do now was throw the ships off course a bit, they were in an asteroid field so any major mishap in navigation should have them colliding with a massive space rock. With all of his might he pushed both ships away as hard as he could. He couldn’t see what he was doing, but he could feel it. Waldo felt the ship in his right hand disappear, then the one in his left. He had done it. The overwhelming feeling of exhaustion he ignored earlier hit him all at once and Waldo fell to the ground.

“Y’all right ya beautiful thing you?” George asked merrily.

Waldo looked up dazed, barely able to hold the weight of his head. “I need a nap.”