Will and Fiona watched with almost scientific detachment as Willa and Fi cried. Had they been so distraught at being lost? Will wasn't sure. He reached out a hand tentatively to Willa's shoulder, and she sobbed even harder, leaning into him, as Fiona did the same for Fi. They occasionally caught snippets of things the pair would miss from their own world. Fi lamented the loss of their photo albums. Willa cried over her lost specialist tools. Fi bewailed the loss of her clit, despite having fully committed to having a penis. Willa sobbed about their cat.
'You had a cat?' Will asked. 'We never saw it, was it an outdoors cat?'
Willa sobbed even harder. 'We never even got a chance to get the cat!' she cried. Will patted her gently, sympathising over the loss of cat potential.
Will and Fiona let them vent their emotions for a few minutes more, before trying to snap them out of it. 'We need to find out what is going on in this world, and decide if we need to move on', Fiona said, 'And we need to know now. Any minute someone could-'.
'Good afternoon you two!' Someone boomed from the door. The four turned to see Konstantin, a stupid grin on his face. 'Sorry, you four. I didn't know you were a twin, Evans! Anyway, I thought you had left this morning, but I'm glad you didn't. I wanted to thank you again, I know it took a while, but we're very happy at home now'.
Will risked a downward glance, and saw a tremendous bulge in Konstantin's crotch. 'Uh. You're welcome', he muttered.
'Sorry', Fiona said. She relaxed a death-grip on Fi's arm, who had come to terms with the idea that this was a
different Konstantin
. Will watched the murderous rage drain from her face. 'Left this morning?' asked Fiona.
'On your holiday? A whole month. What a bonus! Helps to have friends in high places right? Anyway, I won't keep you. Have fun!' He gave them an unnecessarily large amount of finger-gun as he backed out the door.
'A month, from today. We'll have the office, and the Will and Fiona here won't be using their apartment. We won't get another chance like this'. Will said.
'You're going to steal their lives?' Willa asked.
'
We
are going to
borrow
their lives', Will replied. 'We have one month to solve the problem of targeting a world. If we can't get it then, we need to move and try again. But here, we have a supply of wormhole rings, a huge amount of private research data, and a place to stay here. It would be a waste to move'.
Willa seemed on the fence, but Fiona and Fi had clearly made their decision, both picking up tablets and starting to see what the pair from this world were working on. Willa nodded after a moment, and went to join them.
They quickly found that the pair from this world had spent a huge amount of time on Konstantin projects, and had never even thought of world-hopping. The four cautiously opened a wormhole to the apartment in this world. They found it remarkably similar to their own, with a distinct emptiness to some of the shelves that suggested a long absence was taking place. They ordered takeaway using some of whatever disposable currency they had, which fortunately was enough to last months. Soon after, exhausted, they retired to their beds. Will and Fiona took the guest room again, which felt familiar after their stay in Willa and Fi's world. They quickly fell into a deep sleep, bodies readying themselves for the long weeks ahead.
* * *
The next day started with an eager push to work. The four went straight to the office, and through the day split into all possible pairings to tackle the problem of targeting a specific world, each time bringing fresh ideas to their partner. All too often, they ran into dead ends. Ideas were birthed and discarded endlessly, everything from more advanced seeding of the initial quantum state to somehow opening a connection to all worlds at once. The first full day passed in a blur. That night was spent working, with short breaks to eat and sleep. The next day passed the same, and the next. Soon, they were a week into their free month, with nothing to show for it.
Will had just noted the passage of a full week when he heard an excited squeak from Willa. Her and Fi had been working together for the morning, and loudly announced half an hour before that they needed a "god damned break I swear to Christ". Will and Fiona had expected them to blow off steam in the usual hot, sweaty way, but instead they had put their heads together, and started tinkering with a wormhole ring pair.
'What's up?' Fiona asked, as she and Will stood next to the excited pair.
'I'll show you!' Fi beamed, tossed one of the rings to Willa, and opened a wormhole. She put her hand through it, and sure enough it came out to tweak Willa's nose.
'We've seen wormholes before', said Will.