InterWorld
Encyclopedia
InterWorld is a fantasy and science fiction novel by Neil Gaiman
and Michael Reaves
. The book was published in 2007 in literature by EOS, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
. It follows the story of Joey Harker who, together with a group of other Joeys from different Earths in other parallel universes
, try to stop the two forces of magic and science from taking over all of the Earths in different universes.
teacher, Mr. Dimas, Joey finds himself lost in the city. He then enters a strange fog and when he emerges, everything has changed. All the cars are brightly coloured, the police cars flashing green and yellow, instead of blue and red. He goes back home and discovers that he does not exist anymore, instead a girl named Josephine lives there. He runs outside and bumps into a man wearing a mirrored mask called Jay. Before Jay can explain anything, three men standing on floating silver disks and wearing grey outfits, trying to catch Joey using silver nets. Joey runs, unintentionally entering the fog again.
Afraid of going back to a home where he doesn't exist, Joey decides to go to Mr. Dimas for help. Mr. Dimas is shocked to see Joey, telling him that he had drowned last year and that Mr. Dimas himself had pulled Joey's body out of the river. Suddenly a woman appears in the room bewitching Joey into following her. She calls herself Lady Indigo and is joined by two other men. One, called Scarabus, has mystical tattoos all over his body. The other, a man with transparent skin, is called Neville. They move Joey to a flying ship, the Lacrimae Mundi.
The ship teleports to Nowhere-at-all, a sort of hyperspace
. They are heading towards a place called HEX Prime. Before they can reach there Jay arrives and helps Joey escape, getting injured in the process. Joey opens a portal to the In-Between, a multidimensional
world, where only Walkers and MDLF (multidimensional life forms, or mudluffs) beings can enter. The in-between is a shortcut for traveling from world to world. Joey and Jay exit in-between and arrive at a desert. There Jay explains to Joey how he is part of an organization called InterWorld and their job is to keep the altiverse balanced by stopping the scientific force (Binary) from making worlds too scientific, while also stopping the magical force (HEX) from making worlds too magical. Jay also says that Joey has the ability to "Walk", or go into the In-Between and other dimensions quickly and effectively.
A mudluff which looks like a bubble and communicates using colours appears. It seems to be trapped somewhere, Joey approaches it. As Jay tries to free the mudluff, a giant serpent appears, biting Jay. The mudluff kills the serpent but Jay is already dying. Before he dies he gives Joey the direction to Base Town, where InterWorld HQ is. With his dying breath, he shows Joey a mathematical equation that will lead to Base Town: {IW}:=Ω/∞ (InterWorld is Omega
over infinity
). The mudluff becomes attached to Joey after he saved it, and Joey names it "Hue
". Joey goes to HQ and learns that all Walkers are all copies of himself from different Earths. He begins an intense course of exercise while studying very advanced science and magic to prepare him for his new role as a member of the InterWorld. Many of the other Joeys initially resent Joey for causing Jay's death, but soon come around about him as his skills improve.
After a few months, Joey and four other Walkers go on a training mission. They are supposed to retrieve some signal beacons in a more scientific earth. But the earth they go to turns out to be a "shadow realm" and is in fact a trap, set by the same people who captured him earlier. Everyone in the team is captured by HEX, except Joey who is saved by Hue. When Joey escapes back to HQ, the leader, an old man named Joe, decides that Joey is not capable of working in InterWorld, and wipes Joey's mind of his life in InterWorld. Joey is then returned home, where he thinks nothing has happened, but feels like something's missing. After some time, while blowing bubbles with his little brother, Joey remembers Hue, and every memory about the Altiverse comes back to him. With all those memories back, Joey says goodbye to his family, Walks into the Altiverse again, and sets off to save his teammates.
With Jay's words in his head and Hue's help, Joey finds the airship where his teammates are being held, and lands safely on it. However, he is captured as well and taken to meet Lord Dogknife, a large hideous goblin who leads the people who captured his teammates. Joey is then taken to the room where his teammates are being held. A large cauldron is in the center of the room, built to capture their souls to power the ship. The HEX boil down Walkers to their raw essence, which is used as power supplies for their transdimensional spacecraft.
Joey manages to move over to the cauldron and knock it over, incinerating some of the guards in the room. He then moves over to untie his friends, who all try to find an exit so they can go to the engine room and shut the ship down. They find an exit and escape to the engine room.
The engine room is filled with souls from other Walkers, powering the ship. Joey and his teammates break the jars containing them to shut the ship down. The engine explodes, and Joey and his teammates plan an escape from the Nowhere-At-All. They talk of a gate in the Nowhere-At-All from which they can escape, but it is closing quickly. Joey decides he will not leave without Hue, because it has saved his life multiple times.
Many soldiers come into the destroyed engine room in an attempt to recapture Joey and his teammates and then Scarabus appears to fight them. J/O, a cyborg
Joey, steps up and defeated Scarabus, and everyone goes to find Lord Dogknife.
Dogknife is in the room where Joey saw him earlier, captured by the souls and thus rendered harmless. Joey finds Hue and escapes with his teammates. They are about to escape when Lady Indigo appears to face them. Joey distracts her from fighting them with some powder in his pocket, and Joey and his teammates escape through the gate when he remembers the mathematical equation that will take him home: {IW}:=Ω/∞.
They return to the Old Man, who does not congratulate them for their heroic work. Instead, he lectures them on all their wrongdoings in the Altiverse. However, he now says Joey is allowed to stay without wiping his memory. The group sets out on their next mission.
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
and Michael Reaves
Michael Reaves
James Michael Reaves is an American writer, known for his contributions as producer and story editor to a number of 1990s animated television series, including Disney's Gargoyles and Batman: The Animated Series. He has also written media tie-in novels, children's books, and original fiction...
. The book was published in 2007 in literature by EOS, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
. It follows the story of Joey Harker who, together with a group of other Joeys from different Earths in other parallel universes
Multiverse
The multiverse is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes that together comprise all of reality.Multiverse may also refer to:-In fiction:* Multiverse , the fictional multiverse used by DC Comics...
, try to stop the two forces of magic and science from taking over all of the Earths in different universes.
Plot summary
Joey Harker is an average high school student living in Greenville. He has trouble finding his way around his own house, let alone the town. On a field trip set by his Social StudiesSocial studies
Social studies is the "integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence," as defined by the American National Council for the Social Studies...
teacher, Mr. Dimas, Joey finds himself lost in the city. He then enters a strange fog and when he emerges, everything has changed. All the cars are brightly coloured, the police cars flashing green and yellow, instead of blue and red. He goes back home and discovers that he does not exist anymore, instead a girl named Josephine lives there. He runs outside and bumps into a man wearing a mirrored mask called Jay. Before Jay can explain anything, three men standing on floating silver disks and wearing grey outfits, trying to catch Joey using silver nets. Joey runs, unintentionally entering the fog again.
Afraid of going back to a home where he doesn't exist, Joey decides to go to Mr. Dimas for help. Mr. Dimas is shocked to see Joey, telling him that he had drowned last year and that Mr. Dimas himself had pulled Joey's body out of the river. Suddenly a woman appears in the room bewitching Joey into following her. She calls herself Lady Indigo and is joined by two other men. One, called Scarabus, has mystical tattoos all over his body. The other, a man with transparent skin, is called Neville. They move Joey to a flying ship, the Lacrimae Mundi.
The ship teleports to Nowhere-at-all, a sort of hyperspace
Hyperspace (science fiction)
Hyperspace is a plot device sometimes used in science fiction. It is typically described as an alternative region of space co-existing with our own universe which may be entered using an energy field or other device...
. They are heading towards a place called HEX Prime. Before they can reach there Jay arrives and helps Joey escape, getting injured in the process. Joey opens a portal to the In-Between, a multidimensional
Dimension
In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a space or object is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus a line has a dimension of one because only one coordinate is needed to specify a point on it...
world, where only Walkers and MDLF (multidimensional life forms, or mudluffs) beings can enter. The in-between is a shortcut for traveling from world to world. Joey and Jay exit in-between and arrive at a desert. There Jay explains to Joey how he is part of an organization called InterWorld and their job is to keep the altiverse balanced by stopping the scientific force (Binary) from making worlds too scientific, while also stopping the magical force (HEX) from making worlds too magical. Jay also says that Joey has the ability to "Walk", or go into the In-Between and other dimensions quickly and effectively.
A mudluff which looks like a bubble and communicates using colours appears. It seems to be trapped somewhere, Joey approaches it. As Jay tries to free the mudluff, a giant serpent appears, biting Jay. The mudluff kills the serpent but Jay is already dying. Before he dies he gives Joey the direction to Base Town, where InterWorld HQ is. With his dying breath, he shows Joey a mathematical equation that will lead to Base Town: {IW}:=Ω/∞ (InterWorld is Omega
Omega
Omega is the 24th and last letter of the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system, it has a value of 800. The word literally means "great O" , as opposed to omicron, which means "little O"...
over infinity
Infinity
Infinity is a concept in many fields, most predominantly mathematics and physics, that refers to a quantity without bound or end. People have developed various ideas throughout history about the nature of infinity...
). The mudluff becomes attached to Joey after he saved it, and Joey names it "Hue
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
". Joey goes to HQ and learns that all Walkers are all copies of himself from different Earths. He begins an intense course of exercise while studying very advanced science and magic to prepare him for his new role as a member of the InterWorld. Many of the other Joeys initially resent Joey for causing Jay's death, but soon come around about him as his skills improve.
After a few months, Joey and four other Walkers go on a training mission. They are supposed to retrieve some signal beacons in a more scientific earth. But the earth they go to turns out to be a "shadow realm" and is in fact a trap, set by the same people who captured him earlier. Everyone in the team is captured by HEX, except Joey who is saved by Hue. When Joey escapes back to HQ, the leader, an old man named Joe, decides that Joey is not capable of working in InterWorld, and wipes Joey's mind of his life in InterWorld. Joey is then returned home, where he thinks nothing has happened, but feels like something's missing. After some time, while blowing bubbles with his little brother, Joey remembers Hue, and every memory about the Altiverse comes back to him. With all those memories back, Joey says goodbye to his family, Walks into the Altiverse again, and sets off to save his teammates.
With Jay's words in his head and Hue's help, Joey finds the airship where his teammates are being held, and lands safely on it. However, he is captured as well and taken to meet Lord Dogknife, a large hideous goblin who leads the people who captured his teammates. Joey is then taken to the room where his teammates are being held. A large cauldron is in the center of the room, built to capture their souls to power the ship. The HEX boil down Walkers to their raw essence, which is used as power supplies for their transdimensional spacecraft.
Joey manages to move over to the cauldron and knock it over, incinerating some of the guards in the room. He then moves over to untie his friends, who all try to find an exit so they can go to the engine room and shut the ship down. They find an exit and escape to the engine room.
The engine room is filled with souls from other Walkers, powering the ship. Joey and his teammates break the jars containing them to shut the ship down. The engine explodes, and Joey and his teammates plan an escape from the Nowhere-At-All. They talk of a gate in the Nowhere-At-All from which they can escape, but it is closing quickly. Joey decides he will not leave without Hue, because it has saved his life multiple times.
Many soldiers come into the destroyed engine room in an attempt to recapture Joey and his teammates and then Scarabus appears to fight them. J/O, a cyborg
Cyborg
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
Joey, steps up and defeated Scarabus, and everyone goes to find Lord Dogknife.
Dogknife is in the room where Joey saw him earlier, captured by the souls and thus rendered harmless. Joey finds Hue and escapes with his teammates. They are about to escape when Lady Indigo appears to face them. Joey distracts her from fighting them with some powder in his pocket, and Joey and his teammates escape through the gate when he remembers the mathematical equation that will take him home: {IW}:=Ω/∞.
They return to the Old Man, who does not congratulate them for their heroic work. Instead, he lectures them on all their wrongdoings in the Altiverse. However, he now says Joey is allowed to stay without wiping his memory. The group sets out on their next mission.