by Reiter
“And the next pulse?” Dungias asked as he looked at the map. Nugar turned all the first points red before allowing the second points to register. Again, there were seven points, and Dungias nodded slightly. “And the next,” he said as Nugar turned all of the second points blue before allowing the third points to be seen on each of the seven recorded paths. “Of course.”
“What do you see?” Nugar asked, wanting Dungias to work this out himself.
“If I may?” Dungias asked, approaching his Teacher. Nugar quickly nodded and Dungias used the controls on the computer, pointing first at the second of the two images. “We will deal with the explanations later, but let us assume that I traveled the same path from seven different points on the planetoid. If we use my nav-comp as a guide,” he said as he keyed in more information. Fairly soon, the second image was seven identical maps starting from different points on the planetoid. “It is no longer a mass of jumbled points. It is…” Dungias pressed his lips together and keyed in another command.
“What do you see?” Nugar asked since he did not know what Dungias was thinking.
“A way in!” Dungias said. “I trust you will be in the control booth?”
“Give me ten tonki and I’ll be ready to monitor your every movement,” Nugar replied as he started running. “And remember, that ripple-covered aperture seems to be the key to all of this!” he shouted as Dungias waved in acknowledgement.
“Seeing as how you cleared the damn thing in reality,” Nugar whispered. He was still puzzled as to why in the dream Dungias’ ploy to use the iro-bursting weapon failed when he had in fact made two jumps: one to reach the tunnel and another to escape up the tube.
“Of course!” Nugar said, coming to a stop. He called up the images of the maps again and pumped his fist through the images. “If we assume that the points received are actual, then we’re dealing with a dimensional force which merges from time to time with this one. That would explain how he is able to be in so many places at the same instant. But the maps intersect, and where he entered their realm is an intersection point for all seven maps, as is his point of exit. If indeed these Radients don’t want him around, they would have plugged those two points by now… but you found two other intersection points, didn’t you, Dungi?
“Perhaps this Traveler should be ready to do more than record!”
I came to The Campus believing that I knew everything. Fortunately, they taught me how to see the difference between truth and perspective!
Dungias Preltan
“Already I like this visitation more than the previous two combined,” Dungias thought as he slipped between the walls and into the Radients’ Realm. “There is something to be said for doing things deliberately instead of by chance or a forced event.” As he expected, Dungias had looked for and found a crawlspace entry fairly close to an intersection point he had found on Nugar’s map. He dropped to his right knee the moment the main corridor was behind him. Opening his satchel, he produced a handheld scanner and activated it after he initiated his ‘Mark and Record’ Program. After only a few tanku, he had a good measure of the atmosphere and the iro-forms in the area. There was nothing the device did not recognize, though it had no record of the demonstrated capacities and configurations of the iro-forms. Dungias quickly scanned the area in which he was standing. Depending on the sensitivities of the Radients, his presence could have been easily noticed.
“Apparently there is no end to the benefit of having Nugar as my instructor,” he thought, entering a command into the device. “This so-called older model scanner was built during the time of the Founder Wars. It can transmit certain iro-form patterns over a small area.” Dungias keyed commands and looked at the readout to weigh the results. It was not a difficult process, but there was much to account for in the Radient Realm. “If I can match the configuration–” he heard footfalls just as he entered another set of commands. He looked up to see a Red Radient looking directly at him, but there was something amiss about his eyes, and Dungias opted to remain still. The Radient opened his mouth and spoke what had to have been their language. Dungias took a reading of it and saw that it was a wide range of sonic pulses. Recording a number of them might help him decipher their language, but that would take time.
Suddenly, the scanner beeped with a loud alarm and a bright signal light. Dungias rushed to silence it, but he stopped in mid-action, noticing something that he found to be rather peculiar: the Radient looked away, as if it was searching for something.
“It’s working!” Dungias thought as the scanner beeped again. Looking at the readout screen, he found a message: Not being able to see or hear you is one thing – the ability to touch you is another discussion. Plus, press orange activation button to translate! Good skill and fair journey… Traveler! “No,” Dungias thought as he depressed the orange button on the scanner. “… no end to the benefit at all!”
The Radient standing over him finally closed his mouth and turned to face the aperture… almost. Sound echoed all around Dungias and he looked at the scanner. Continue your search… scrolled across the screen. I have felt his presence before. He will not escape us a third time! The Radient turned back and started to walk around, looking for Dungias. Other Radients were suddenly flying overhead, also engaged in the search. But Dungias was not pressed about the numbers stacked against him… he was more concerned with the origin point of the Radients. He reached into his satchel and took out a visor much like the one he had made for Onkorro. After one command, he was able to put the scanner on his hip and look through the visor.
“This is… unexpected!” he whispered. There were three suspended energy sources, the aperture and the two spheres in constant orbit around it. The layout of the floor had not been changed since the time Dungias last visited the realm, and he quickly got his bearings. It must have been sheer luck he had not struck either sphere when he flew over the aperture; his flight path had been perpendicular to the plane of their orbital path.
Dungias moved from his landing point and tried to keep his steps quick and quiet as he made his way to the aperture. He had covered just over half the distance when he received a warning alarm. Apparently projecting the iro-form field that was masking his presence made great demands on the battery of the scanner. Dungias could have taken the opportunity to be proud of his foresight. The warning was a functionality of the goggles, not the scanner itself. It was not designed to make an alarm until it dropped under ten percent. The goggles, however, had been programmed to make note of power levels at thirty-three percent.
A sound erupted from one of the spheres and the words: Wait… I am sensing something... a new energy… scrolled across the view of the goggles and Dungias closed his eyes, focusing his thoughts. Provided he lived through this experience, he could always find time to be amazed that emotions had their own specific energy. At the moment, Dungias needed something other than amazement, and he was going to need it in abundance.
“I feel your fear!” Flavicia proclaimed as she emerged from one of the orbiting spheres that Dungias quickly marked.
“And you have shown me yours,” Dungias thought as he deactivated the scanner. He looked up at the same time the only female Radient looked down. She was still holding the war spear and used it to point at Dungias. “Why else would one such as you even bother with one such as me? Why do you fear me? And why is it that my dreams show me falling into the aperture I cleared?
“Teacher,” Dungias said softly, “I hope these gloves and boots work the way you intended!”
“Seize him!” Flavicia commanded. “Bring his burning corpse to me!”
Dungias was outnumbered. The most conservative estimate would have put him at seventy-five to one odds. The Radients were living light, sentient coherent light life-forms with the ability of flight, iro-form projection and apparently an impressive level of regeneration. Dungias was a Malgovi who was unable to generate glowing iro; a shay-spawn, and for the most part shunned by his own. He knew he was certainly out-ma
nned and out-gunned. Perhaps the situation would have been more desperate if he had been seeking victory in a physical confrontation. Dungias did not need to beat the Radients… he needed a ladder! The young Malgovi student took the time that had been given to him and used it to ready himself. His six senses were fully engaged as he took to the Stride.
His first jump took him up and ultimately over a blue Radient that had designs on a flying tackle. He passed under a flipping Dungias and collided with two other Radients. The collision created a brilliant burst of blue, orange and yellow light. The burst of light came with repulsive wave of force that pushed the Malgovi, but he was already leaning away from the blast and used the force to spin himself around. His feet landed squarely on the shoulders of a green Radient. As he had hoped, the body was quite solid under his feet. The Radients might have looked hominoid, but their skin had no give to it. What was not expected was the way his boots dealt with the contact against the Radient form. There was a slight glow coming from the soles of his boots, but Dungias could feel no heat whatsoever. Still, there was no need to press the point, and remaining in motion made it more difficult for any of the Radients to get a line on his position.
Dungias squatted under a blast from the ground and jumped from one green Radient to another. He was not surprised when the second Radient shifted his form so that instead of standing on his back, Dungias was on his chest.
“In the act of being clever, we must be wary of what is sacrificed,” Dungias thought, quoting a lesson gained from Guyn who had been watching a sparring session where Dungias had received more punishment than usual from Kynsada. The arm bar had seemed like a good idea at the time. But in order to lock it in, Dungias had to surrender his footing. By the time his back collided with the ground, he had been spun around twice before being slammed to a very hard floor.
Though the change in form did help the Radient to see and more easily grab for Dungias, he had given up his forward vision and a slight stamp on its knees made the second green Radient climb into the flight path of an orange brother. Dungias planned his jump, flip, and body expansion. The jump was to avoid the grabbing hands of the green Radient, the flip was to try and hold his place for a moment. He then stopped with his chest parallel with the floor and threw his legs and arms out from the center of the body. He wanted the repercussive wave to have more mass to push.
“No,” Flavicia said softly as she saw the scenario unfolding in front of her eyes. She watched as the blasphemer jumped from the chest of one of her soldiers. That Radient collided with another, and the blast pushed the infidel up and over the aperture; a place meant only for a true brother.
“No!” Her war spear thrust forward and fired a bolt at the flying form. It stuck the waist of one of her soldiers who flew into the path of her shot. One red Radient dove down to intercept the infidel, but a well-timed spin foiled the attempt. It barely grazed the shoulder of the blue-skinned creature as it passed into the aperture.
“NOOOOO!”
“This is… most unexpected,” Dungias said as he floated in the middle of a black void.
“What were you expecting?” a soft, female voice moved over him and he closed his eyes to the sensation that hearing it gave him.
“Certainly not this,” Dungias replied. “Would it be accurate to ask where I am?”
“Such a thoughtful inquiry,” she stated, and once again Dungias was swept up into the euphoric essence of her voice. “And this place is a where. It is a where within you, Dungias. But let us not waste time over trivial matters.”
“Ah yes, perspective,” he muttered.
“The portal through which you passed touches many places. We are able to access and manipulate one of those realms. You could say we are cheating; as it is not the normal channels through which others approach us. In your case, we chose not to take the chance you would dedicate yourself to another path.”
“And what path would you have me take?” Dungias asked, still mystified that all he could see was blackness.
“You must leave the haven of the very clever domicile. Prepare yourself to abandon your place with the Traveler,” the voice declared. “He has nearly completed his purpose in this, and it is time for you to begin to serve yours.”
“Did you say ‘nearly’?” Dungias quickly questioned. “And he may have some argument on that perspective. I owe him my very life.”
“All things possess a perspective,” the voice replied. “The cattle that is born and raised has the perspective of its life without realizing its musculature is meant to be food, its skin and bones intended for textile developments. Even in the moment of its death it cannot grasp its purpose.”
“So I am like so much cattle,” Dungias said.
“You find that to be disturbing?” she asked as she flew in front of him. Like the Radients, she was made up of light, but there seemed to be more to her… a deeper light… one she was hiding from him.
“How could I not?”
“By realizing that without you some greater perspective might starve.” Dungias looked at the glowing woman and could not find a place to disagree. “But alas, these are things we can fathom at another time.”
“So, there is time before the slaughter,” Dungias thought. For a moment he considered turning only to vegetables for his nourishment, but even to supply that, something had to be harvested, taken from its place and processed for consumption. The only peace he could find in the moment of revelation was that he would be hard pressed to ever stuff himself with food again.
“As for Nugar, consider that life a debt already paid,” the voice noted. “Or have you forgotten how you met?”
“Simple movements,” Dungias said softly in reflection, striking a chord of thought as he looked up. “Simple!” Reaching up to remove his goggles, Dungias was awestruck to see that he was floating in the middle of a sea of countless stars. The range of colors covered the entire spectrum, delighting him with a few expressions he had never before seen. Some were large and dim, others were minute and brilliant with light… he could even see a binary set, constantly spinning about each other. No matter the color, size or shape, they all revolved around Dungias, and he could not look in any one direction long or short enough.
As he continued to gaze upon them, it felt as if his eyes were slowly adjusting as more developed for him to see. Around each star a body formed. Not all were hominoid, but despite the variation, Dungias did not feel threatened or intimidated. They smiled as they swam all about him, and they drew a smile out of the young Malgovi. All he could feel was elation, and not just his own. Warmth swept over him and Dungias knew it was coming from the countless forms that surrounded him. He looked down at his goggles to see they were still functioning, but he could see nothing of the spectacle through the lens. Turning off nearly all of his machinery, he returned the goggles to his satchel and leaned back to look up into the endless sky.
“Such beautiful bodies of living light. Is this Driahdré?” he asked in the most humble voice he could utter. One of the swimming bodies stopped. It was a female and she smiled, standing up on the air. She gestured toward Dungias and his body took a more vertical positioning, his feet finding a ground he could not see.
“No, this is not the heaven of your people,” the female said as she slowly approached, her body taking a more specific appearance as she drew closer. It was not that she was hiding anything from him… she had been making an extra effort for him to see her through the goggles. She was not Malgovi or Vinthur in form, and Dungias could not recognize the race. She was tall and slender, not quite half the width between his shoulders. Her hair was not hair at all, but tentacles atop her skull that danced around her head and shoulders, trading tiny points of light between one another. Her eyes were simply places where the light did not shine, gaps between the light, but her vision was easily felt. “It is not heaven at all; merely another place.”
“A place within me,” Dungias said, recalling what he had been told earlier.
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��Oh yes!” she confirmed with an emphatic nod and a bright smile. “And as you have come to know on your own, it is not a definition your tools can grasp.”
“Or record,” Dungias quickly concluded. “Given what I have seen and experienced of my kind, perhaps that is wise.”
“Oh, enough of that foolishness, Dungias!” the female snapped, turning her right shoulder toward him and surprising the young Malgovi with her scorn. “What can that ever come to serve? Your people are short-sighted toward you, so you will lessen your vision when you look upon them?! A wrongful act received by another wrongful act. It is an exchange we have all seen too much of already. When does it stop? Or more importantly, why must it be forced to continue?
“And where was this perspective when you were called to assist your Vu-Prin?” she asked. Dungias closed his eyes at the sting of the memory. “Have we made an error in our judgment? For this is not the makings of the noble soul we monitored facing the Grenbi only to survive the ordeal without so much as a harsh word for those who had set the trap.”
“What word?!” Dungias shouted and the swimming bodies were all shaken by the outburst. “What blessed word from a shay-spawn would have made any difference?”
“A question you can never legitimately answer,” she returned, “since you said nothing. And who is to blame for your silence?”
Dungias took in a deep breath to let his voice blast into the light creature’s face, but his mind was already back at the boundary pharos, looking at the younger Dungias who had stood on the safe side of the Iro-Curtain. Both he and the sled were covered in the slowly dissipating organic matter of the Grenbi he had passed through. It slowly burned off, but it caused no pain to him as he looked upon each of his so-called peers before taking his eyes to look at Gantee; the one who wanted his death more than the others.
