The fabric of spacetime is both more complex and more fragile than is often supposed. Rather than the single consistent universe that we like to believe in, there are actually a plethora of inter-related realities, each somewhat different. Some are quite similar, differing from our own only in details, or even only in the passage of time (for example, in some, time passes a little more slowly or quickly, so the unfolding of time is at a different point). Some are so different that it is difficult to recognize any similarities at all.
Normally, these realities co-exist peacefully, impinging on each other nary at all. Oh, some people can percieve the alternate realities; they have been called anything from visionaries to lunatics, depending on the culture they came from. But they have always been in the small minority; the great majority of the people in all realities believe that theirs is the only true cosmos, and the rest is simple fiction.
Then there are Vortices.
A Vortex is a place where the fabric of spacetime is, for some reason, particularly weak. It isn't just a location -- it's a particular place at a particular time, where multiple planes impinge on one another. In a Vortex, one or many people can "crossover" into an alternate plane, seeing and interacting with the people there. At one time, Vortices were relatively rare, but recently they have become more and more common.
The ILF was created to investigate and control the Vortices that have been appearing with increasing frequency on Earth. (They were originally created in response to a particularly powerful Vortex that occurred about fifteen years ago, which drew the attention of a number of people to the problem at once.) Their mission is to track the progress of each Vortex. They send agents into each; the agents' task is to try to bring about the end of the Vortex. Vortices appear to be the expression of the universe's internal sense of consistency; they always appear at a time of great strain, and only close when that strain is brought to a satisfactory conclusion. Happy endings aren't necessary -- just sensible and conclusive ones. For reasons that no one entirely fathoms, the more literarily satisfying the ending, the more stably the Vortex closes.
(Other groups have been created in the wake of the recent wave of Vortices. Among the most influential is the Millenium Group. The Group was originally a splinter from the Foundation, created in response to a disturbing observation: the Vortex wave is growing in force. No one knows precisely what this means, but the Group's calculations indicate that it is growing asymptotically, and will culminate in some sort of grand super-Vortex on or around the end of this century.)
And then there are the Vortices of Chaos.
A Chaos Vortex is a sort of stable configuration of Vortices. It grows around a physical object, often but not always a sentient being. No one has yet puzzled out why certain people attract Chaos Vortices, just that some do. A Chaos Vortex is someone who, through no desire of their own, draws Vortices to them.
Jeff Diewald was one such Chaos Vortex. It wasn't always a pleasant state to be in; the Vortex has highly unpredictable effects upon the spacetime surrounding its possessor. It tends to produce large numbers of coincidences, and a certain sense of literary consistency around the person it affects. In some cases, that consistency is beneficial; more often, it causes problems. The one advantage it conveys is enough dimensional crossovers to distract the victim from the problems. Diewald was constantly being drawn into other realms, where he could be anything from a player in a horror story, to a sentient black cat named Z.
Also, a Chaos Vortex tends to act as a slightly pathological Vortex. Whereas a normal Vortex drives the universe towards decently logical, literary situations, a Chaos Vortex acts in a slightly cancerous way. The Vortex promotes a powerful level of raw coincidence and synchronicity, unconstrained by probability. It often results in situations that go far beyond poetic, to the positively preposterous.
Diewald was an exceptional case, however. As far as anyone in the Foundation or the Group could figure, his personal Vortex was in some fashion accelerating. Chaos Vortices always attract other Vortices to them regularly, but none had ever been quite so intense; he was in a near-constant state of flux, and that flux was accelerating. A few months ago, the Group's mathemeticians worked out the curve, and immediately caused a panic -- at the current rate, Diewald would cause a full-scale dimensional rupture very soon, long before the Millenial one was due to happen. Something had to be done.
The assignment was taken up by Doug "Dig" Freedman, one of the more experienced Vortex Mechanics. As the assigned field agent, he had concocted an ambitious experimental procedure: to save the patient by killing him.
According to current theory, the Chaos Vortex attaches to a physical object, such as a body. If one could sacrifice that body while keeping the mind active, that mind could theoretically be transferred to another body. Of course, this requires a second body for the mind to be moved into. Which is where Bob Enfield came in.
The Enfields had long been a problem for the Vortex Mechanics; it seemed like almost every time a Vortex arose, one or more Enfields would be in the center of it. For quite some time, it simply mystified the ILF and the Group, how this one family and its numerous branches could wind up so involved in inter-dimensional doings. Finally, recently, the secret was discovered: the Enfields, led by Roger "Bob" Enfield, had long-standing ties to the Followers of Set, and had been developing the Followers' ancient secrets, gradually coming to understand how they actually worked. They were performing rites that would cause ever-more-frequent Vortices to occur, on the theory that they, being the only ones who knew what was going on, could take advantage of the increasing confusion, and gain power and influence in many planes of existence. (The Followers knew little of this; they simply knew that Bob Enfield had promised them a return to their ancient power -- that he would bring back the ancient magic.)
Murder isn't exactly the way of the ILF, but something would have to be done. Freedman decided on a chancy move, which would take care of two problems at once, if it worked -- he would transfer the minds of Jeff Diewald and Bob Enfield. Once Enfield was in the body of the Chaos Vortex, it would be shunted into another reality (by the nature of the Vortex, it would be easy to transfer like that), with stabler inter-dimensional walls, where it was less likely to cause damage. Enfield would be gotten rid of without killing him, and Diewald would be freed from the Vortex. But of course, plots are easier to think up than to carry out.
Diewald was in on the plan; he had no strong love for Enfield, and was eager to escape the ravages of the Vortex. The transfer required a very particular drug, which frees the connection between mind and body. If both Diewald and Enfield took the drug simultaneously, Freedman could perform the switch by tweaking the local Vortex fields subtly. There was no way that Enfield would simply buy into the plan, though -- he would have to be tricked into it.
Diewald was to be the Chair of Intercon the 13th, which was a cover for a major Vortex event. The Foundation has, over the years, developed a sophisticated Vortex tracking unit, which can pretty accurately predict the time and location of upcoming Vortices; they then arrange to have their agents in place, under the guise of these "conventions". The cover has generally proven quite effective -- the civilian populace, which is told that this is all games and costumes, never suspects that dimensional breaches are actually occurring right under their noses. Originally, the major Vortices were relatively rare, only happening about once a year, mostly on the central Atlantic seaboard; recently, though, things have been getting worse, with major Vortices occurring about every six months, over wider areas, and minor ones occurring with disturbing frequency. This is all part of the coming apocalypse that the Group has been worrying about; the Foundation, however, concerns itself with more practical matters, such as keeping the cover conventions happening whenever and wherever needed.
Diewald had come to the Foundation a couple of years ago; the ILF had decided that it was safer to bring him into the fold, where he could be more closely monitored, rather than wreaking casual chaos unwittingly. Understanding the forces buffeting him, he had quickly become a valuable Vortex Mechanic himself, running a number of missions, and had advanced to the point of running an Intercon, one of the most important missions around.
It was under the cover of the con that Enfield was drawn in. Diewald contacted him, promising forgiveness for past conflicts, and hinting at new discoveries that he had uncovered. Enfield suspected the existence of the ILF, but knew little about it -- his research had been conducted separately, gradually deducing much of modern Vortex Mechanics. Diewald hinted that he could tell Enfield far more, in exchange for Enfield's help in pulling off the convention. Enfield agreed, on the condition that he get a position of real significance, so that he could see everything that was happening. They haggled a bit, and agreed that Enfield would be number-2 for the Con, the official drop-dead deputy.
Freedman's plan was straightforward (well, by ILF standards). They would run the Con as normal; then, at the party near the end, once things were reasonably under control, Enfield and Diewald would drink a toast of port. The port would contain the drug, loosening both of their mind/body ties. Freedman would have both of them dragged into a corner, claiming that they were drunk, and perform the switch. Afterwards, he and the other ILF agents present would shunt the Chaos Vortex body out of this continuum, and it would be done.
In fact, things got fouled up from almost the word go. The drugged bottle was just one of a number of port bottles present, and was accidentally confused with the one to be used at opening ceremonies. Diewald was given the drug without Enfield even being present, much less drugged; his mind separated out, and his body shut down. There is still time to rescue the plan -- his mind is resilient enough to withstand at least a couple of days disconnected from his body, and the body isn't precisely dead, just suspended. But the plan requires using the open Vortex, to shove the body through to another plane and safely away from Earth. If it isn't done this weekend, things could even be made worse -- if Enfield were to wind up in control of the Chaos Vortex, free on Earth, the consequences could be disastrous. Either it has to be aborted entirely, leaving Diewald's mind floating permanently free amidst the dimensional fabric, or it has to happen this weekend, while the portals to a variety of alternate realities are open...
Meanwhile, things have been getting increasingly chaotic. Even though Diewald's mind is no longer in it, the Chaos Vortex is still open, and the coincidences are mounting up. It's bad enough that the Wieners and Anti-Wieners are on the verge of declaring all-out culinary warfare against each other; some of the groups that have shown up to interact with the Vortex are downright dangerous. The Luddites, the Church of Elvis, the Space Pirates and the Toastbusters are all getting dangerously close to understanding what is going on with the Vortices, which would elevate them from minor nuisances to major problems. And the Followers of Set and Those in Black are always dangerous to have around, especially in combination...
At the opening, Dig is the only one who really knows what is going on. Even he doesn't know why Diewald "died", but he has enough information to figure it out quickly enough. He has been operating on his own with this plan; ILF field agents are trained to compartmentalize information, and he didn't feel the need to tell the others exactly what his plan was. (They just know that he was supposed to deal with the Chaos Vortex situation.) Now he needs to find a chance to finish the plan, dosing Enfield with the drugged port and bringing things back on track. He can bring in anyone he sees fit, but will be encouraged not to tell his superiors (such as Gordon Olmstead-Dean) just how badly screwed-up things are; he is claiming that this is all part of the overall plan, and that Diewald was in on it. If he can make it all work out Saturday night, he could yet come up smelling of roses. If not, he's going to have to report to an ILF tribunal about his part in Diewald's death.
Complicating all of this is the fact that there is a poisoned
bottle of port. Enfield began to suspect that Diewald was up to something,
and wasn't really going to tell him a damned thing. He decided to
take control of the situation himself, by killing off Diewald. The
bottle that was supposed to be drunk in the toast is actually poisoned.
The poison wasn't supposed to be quite that quick or effective, but he
isn't arguing. Now, he's in control. And with the help of the
Followers of Set, he'll blow this Vortex wide open Saturday night, when
it is scheduled to peak. But that poisoned bottle is still in the
party liquor stock...