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Danny, despite having explored the ghost zone dozens of times before, always felt a little lost when he was inside.
It was nice that everything stayed in more or less the same place, even though it all floated, but it was still really easy to get turned around. Hundreds of doors to hundreds of lairs, floating lairs, ruins from every age of humanity. He got overwhelmed by it sometimes, even though the ghost half of him felt right at home.
The Long Now was wherever and whenever it needed to be, Clockwork had told him. So if it wasn’t where he thought it was, then it wasn’t a good time to visit. It made sense, he figured. If Danny was busy and could just make his door a wall, he’d do it in a heartbeat. No need to worry about if someone was going to knock if there was no way in. Well, unless they were a ghost, or wanted to get in bad enough that they didn’t care about tearing down the wall. Sadly, that wasn’t out of the question with his half-life.
Back to what he was doing, which was finding Clockwork’s tower. Lair? Hey, was his lair just the tower? Was there more inside that he couldn’t see? If he tried to map out the whole thing, would it even look tower shaped, or what? Eh, he’d just ask Clockwork.
Considering he could see the tower, it clearly was a good time to visit, like he’d hoped. Landing on his doorstep, Danny knocked. Sure, Clockwork knew he was coming, but he could be polite.
Clockwork opened the door, and smiled at him...From across the room.
Danny really had to get used to ghost stuff like this, opening doors without touching them and all. He could do it too! Probably. Well, he’d work on it with Sam and Tucker.
“Hey, Clockwork! How’s it going?” He’d put his hands in his pockets, if he had any. The curse of a hazmat suit, he thought, walking over to the other ghost.
“Hello Daniel. It’s kind of you to visit me, just to say hello.” Clockwork couldn’t resist patting his head. He really was a good kid.
“This is the part where I ask how you knew that, and then you get all mysterious, right?” He grinned.
“Very astute of you.”
“So, what’re you up to? Time stuff like always?” Danny looked up at the screens. His eyes were drawn to one in the corner, unlike the others. It was nothing but...static? “Hey, is that one, like, okay?”
Clockwork knew which one he was referring to. He tilted his head, clearly considering something. Danny figured he was looking to see if telling him was a good idea. That some static could make Clockwork pause like that, with that kind of carefully neutral expression, probably meant it wasn’t good.
“It’s working as intended. There would only be a problem if it wasn’t static.” He finally explained. Danny walked over to the screen, confused.
“So, it’s supposed to do that? Why? What’s it looking at? Or, not looking at?” He moved his face closer, trying to make anything out. A chill went down his spine, not like his ghost sense. Deeper. An echo of dread in his core. He backed up quickly, looking away.
“Be careful not to look too long, or focus too hard on it.” Clockwork gently led Danny to another set of screens, these ones overlooking what appeared to be a few small dinosaurs, and prehistoric plants swaying in the breeze. He relaxed at that. That was cool, and if he wasn’t still feeling weird from the other screen, he’d probably be hyped up about it.
“Clockwork, what was that?” He couldn’t quite keep the waver out of his voice.
“The Infinite Realms are not simply part of Earth’s afterlife. They are as Infinite as Space, in your other world. At the edges of the knowable, there are some things beyond even my comprehension. Time is not...something they care to be bound by. So they aren’t. Once mortal beings, and even most immortals tend to not wander out that far.”
Danny focused on the flower. It was a nice flower. The feeling of dread was back, and it made his hair stand on end. “Oh. And you have that screen, because…?”
“If something shows up on the screen, something is very wrong. They don’t care to be known by us. If they decide they want me to see something, then I must see it. And, if a knowable being such as any of the ghosts you’ve met wander out that far, they show up on screen. It would not be good for them to be there long.”
Danny said nothing, and crossed his arms. “Okay. Alright. Hey, I had some other questions earlier I wanted to ask, and I’m totally not trying to change the topic to something that doesn’t make me feel creeped out.“
“Go ahead.”
“So, your lair, is it tower shaped on the inside, too? And is your lair more than the tower?”
“It can be tower shaped, both inside and out if I willed it. And no, it is simply the tower, though this room is not unlike a home office for comparison. There are plenty of facets you’ve not yet seen.”
“Oh, okay, that’s cool.” Danny was still pretty clearly disturbed by what he’d learned. He couldn’t help but imagine what those kinds of beings could have possibly looked like. If they had been looking back at him, when he looked through the screen. He sure had felt like he was being watched.
That kind of thinking was definitely not helping him chill out. The silence stretched on as Danny watched the flower sway, looking a lot more peaceful than he felt at the moment.
“Uh, Clockwork?” His voice cracked, looking back up at the older ghost. “Would you mind walking, I mean, flying me back to the portal? I think I want to spend some time somewhere that those...Beings aren’t.”
Clockwork put a hand on his shoulder. “Of course, Daniel. But, I want to remind you of what I said earlier. The living world is as infinite as this one. If these beings exist in the furthest parts of the Realms, why wouldn’t they exist in the furthest reaches of yours?”
Danny said nothing, staring at his feet. Exploring the stars suddenly sounded less appealing than ever.
“I’m not trying to scare you, even if it seems like it. I’m just warning you against going too far out. I don’t know if you’d peak their curiosity or interest, and I’m not keen on finding out.”
Clockwork took Danny back to the Fenton portal. Their flight was fairly quiet, with Danny sticking close to him.
Eventually they arrived and Clockwork smiled, giving him another pat on the head. “Take as long as you need to, before you feel comfortable coming back. Remember, Daniel, they don’t have any interest in what happens in the habitable parts of the realms, living or otherwise.”
“Right. Thanks, Clockwork. For flying me back, and the warning.” One of the scariest things about this trip was that, for a moment back in the tower, Clockwork had looked worried. Danny didn’t say it, but he did wonder if Clockwork knew that he, Sam, and Tucker were considering trying to go as far as they could into the ghost zone.
When he stepped back into the lab, he was very, very happy he decided to visit Clockwork.
Even if he did still feel like he was being watched.