Inter-Universal Travel

Operation Chaos, XXVIII.

"Operation Changeling," the fourth and last part of Operation Chaos, is long enough to count as a novel.

The operation to rescue Valeria from the hell universe is the beginning of controlled inter-universal travel:

Matuchek has learned that travelers from the goetic universe can arrive in the hell universe at any point along its temporal axis;

this relationship between the two universes can be described mathematically;

Dr. Falkenberg formulates equations and solves them for different conditions;

Dr. Griswold suggests ways that the results might affect physics;

Hardy does the same for chemistry and atomistics;

Barney Sturlason, an engineer, and Dr. Nobu, a metaphysicist, design spells to project, guard and retrieve an expedition;

however, because the metric in the hell universe varies, protection that works in one place will not work in another;

so the spells must be readjusted as the travelers continually describe their space-time configuration mathematically;

since no mortal man can do this, great dead geometers must be contacted.