Star of Fantasy

by Jacky Qian

  She talked elatedly, and Silverstar was enthralled as he listened. Then, very suddenly, the ship shook violently, and the car bumped into the wall. Another car also broke away and hit Silverstar hard. Everything went dark as he fainted.

  Ship in Distress

  A sub-marine tectonic plate had burst, releasing a flow of magma that immediately boiled the seawater and sent forth tremendous energy, causing the ship above it to shake. What's worse, the attendant electromagnetic pulse paralyzed much of the vessel's electronic equipment. The seawater continued to boil and well upward, heralding the eruption of a great blue ball of energy.

  "What happened!?" said Captain Simons as he struggled to his feet. The ship was still headed toward the impulse point.

  Hicks sensed that the time-space pulse was about to reach 1200. It was very close to the release level. Meanwhile, at the bottom of the sea, the voltage of the energy ball had risen past 20 million MHZ. Thus, the ball started to rotate and soon reached a sonic speed, wherewith it rushed to the water's surface, generating a huge waterspout.

  Silverstar woke to the sound of Catherine's voice. She asked, "How do you feel?"

  "I'm fine," he said. "I think we'd better go out to the deck."

  The sea was no longer at peace. The earth-shaking energy ball had spiraled out at high speed, forming a tremendous waterspout that terrified the passengers on deck. Abruptly, all the propellers reversed and the ship stuttered backward under the frantic instructions of Captain Simons. As the energy balled towered two hundred meters above the sea, it released another wave of energy. Deep-gray clouds formed in the sky, and soon they covered every bit of blue. In the control room, several crew members were busy calling for help on the phone: "Land! Can you hear us? Mayday! Mayday! Please reply!"

  Unfortunately, every electronic device was paralyzed, so no one could receive their desperate calls. Their only hope was the nuclear engine.

  "Boom!" Another wave of energy burst out of the sea, sending huge waves toward the tornado and propelling the ship toward it. It seemed that the energy field had its own gravitation.

  "All passengers are to get into the lifeboats!" Captain Simons shouted to the crew and rushed out of the control room, only to find that a rainstorm had added to the chaos. Silas was knocked down by the passengers as they scrambled into the lifeboats. The captain, cursing this wicked turn of fate, extended a hand.

  "There are too many people," Silverstar said, "We can never get into the boat!"

  Before Catherine said anything, Hicks said, "Hey, boy, take it easy. Bring something you need, because we might not live too long in the boat."

  Silverstar's will to survive then came to the fore. Amid all the noise he shouted defiantly, "Well! That's just fine!" He ran back to the elevator to retrieve the essentials.

  The holographic images could no longer be seen on the glass in his room. Silverstar grabbed some bottles of water and a few other necessities and stuffed them into his bag. Then, as he turned to leave, the ship was rocked by a huge wave, bring the boy to the verge of nausea. He grumbled, "Ohhh… I hate getting seasick!" He steeled himself for the trip back, searched the vicinity for a level line to focus on, and stumbled out of the room.

  Hicks stood on the deck of the shaking ship. The instrument in his hand displayed a time-space pulse of 3000, indicating that the moment of release was at hand. He smiled and felt quite proud to witness such a fantastic scene.

  Runt ran to the storm-stricken deck and came across Silverstar. They were ready to climb into the lifeboat, but they found that everyone was gone except for some crew members and those they had met before. Captain Simons remained at his post.

  Seeing those at a loss, Hicks felt sympathetic and threw a pack containing a parachute to Runt, saying, "Take it. You'll need it."

  "Why!?" shouted Silas. "Why should we listen to you? You…!"

  "Well, believe it or not, it'll help you." Hicks said with a tone of indifference. "You could jump off the ship, but I guess you wouldn't do that."

  Silas looked down at the huge waves that threatened to consume them all, whereupon he decided the parachute was preferable. He strapped it onto his back.

  "Take it!" Silverstar said, passing a parachute to Catherine, "I'm giving one to the captain!"

  "Thank you," Catherine replied.

  Markusen, refusing the lifeboat, took the parachute and fastened himself to the corridor handrail with a rope so as to avoid being swept away by the tornado. Runt saw this and told others to do the same.

  Simons shouted. "Attention! We're heading into the tornado!!"

  Everyone held fast to the handrails, ready to pass through the storm.

  The ship's bow entered the maelstrom. The proud American flag was instantly torn down, the wooden floor was shattered, and the glass window of the control room was shattered by an onslaught of debris. Silverstar clutched the handrail, but as they entered the storm it felt as if his arms were being torn from their sockets. Briefly he released a hand so as to seize the rope. When they reached the center of the tornado, a flaming light illuminated the entire ship. Silverstar looked toward it. The energy ball beat against the whirling wind and burned fiercely. This can explain the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, where an aircraft captain was known to have cried before disappearing, "We've run into a huge sun!" From the outside, the flaming energy ball resembled a sun.

  It was then that the Titanic II was lifted, moaning like a metallic whale. Gravitational pull and currents intersected around it, and an engine-like sound appeared. Hicks opened his arms excitedly to embrace the coming miracle. Silverstar glimpsed at Nicholas and Klin. He could see the terror in their faces. Catherine, soaked to the skin, shivered fearfully.

  It was at this moment that they were accelerated to hyper light speed. It was instantaneous, taking just one ten-thousandth of a second, as the energy ball broke through the wall of three-dimensional space. Then the dark clouds and tornado dispersed, and the sea regained its calm.

  Three Hundred and Four Million Years Ago

  They all blacked out when entering hyper light speed. However, through so-called hyperspace people can experience time travel. Without the drive of the time machine, people can only move in the direction of water flow, like leaves on a river. When they reach the end, the portal will open and they'll arrive at a certain era.

  This wasn't a three-dimensional world, and there was neither gravity nor any sign of life here. The transparent wall reflected images. Silverstar opened his eyes unconsciously, but he couldn't move his body. He looked round, whereupon he surmised that half of the ship had disappeared. The four chimneys seemed to have been cut down with a scythe, and with each the shadow of its former self was cast in silver light. On the other side of the transparent wall stood the newly built Great Pyramid, its marble flanks gleaming. The ship continued forward, as mammoths trumpeted and tyrannosaurs bellowed. Silverstar soon turned away, knowing it wasn't good to tempt overexposure to the images from hyperspace.

  Time space rocketed toward the end. Blue currents and fresh air emerged again after a patch of bright light, followed by the earth's gravitational pull. "How beautiful, Earth is, Silverstar thought. "It feels like home." Silverstar thought. He became sober, though, when he realized that the Titanic II was plummeting from an altitude of several thousand meters. Runt and the others woke up. If they hadn't been lashed in place with the rope, they would've been blown away. Klin was the first to untie himself and, parachute at the ready, jump from the deck. Catherine cried out, "What happened!?"

  "I don't know!" Hicks yelled in response. "Parachute, or you'll fall to your death!"

  Nicholas remained unconscious on the chair. The huge ship was plummeting swiftly, and it was sure to disintegrate once it hit.

  "Come on, let's go!" Runt shouted, tugging at Silverstar, "Don't be afraid!"

  "Swoosh!" He closed his eyes and jumped ship together with Runt.

  According to the law of universal gravitation, the heavier the object is, the faster i
t falls. Because the Titanic II weighed approximately fifty thousand tons, it fell at lightning speed, streaming fire from its bow. The passengers, however, fell relatively slower. So, as they relinquished their hold on the ship, it passed them quickly and threatened to impale them on its twisted metal.

  "Watch out!" Seeing that Nicholas was about to bump into the handrail, Klin reached out to give him a hand but then saw that the handrail edge as it rushed by. It knocked him down with merciless force.

  Silverstar pulled a red cable, and immediately he felt the upward pull. He rushed forward for several seconds and then he began a slow descent.

  The huge ship stirred up a circular impact wave as it struck the ground. Giant trees fell down immediately, flooding fire waves spread around, and the ship's propellers burst out of sea of fire before falling down. Finally, the explosion halted, and burning flames was fluttering like struggling demons. They slowly landed, staring at the scorched, cratered ground. The wreckage of the ship was strewn everywhere.

  "Hey!" Simons yelled, startling the others. The captain was bleeding, which confirmed that he was at least alive.

  "Just as the ship was about to hit…," Simons muttered. He tried to envision just how it was that he was able to make such a narrow escape, and the thought that he'd made it compelled him to dance giddily.

  "Don't start celebrating now!" Silas yelled angrily, "Where are we!?"

  The hulk of the ship was surrounded by towering trees. "Maybe it's a tropical rainforest," Nicholas suggested.

  "No," replied Hicks, holding the instrument that confirmed the era in which they'd found themselves, "We're at where Bermuda was 304 million years ago, when it was still part of the supercontinent. You're simply idiots."

  "What!?" Silas was totally astonished, "You must be crazy!"

  "We've gone back… 304 million years?" asked Catherine, greatly perplexed.

  "What the hell are you talking about?" Simons questioned.

  "Idiots! Can't you understand?" Hicks said, using the tone of superiority they had come to expect. "I'll never tell you. It's confidential."

  "What the hell!?" Several crew members, who had escaped along with the captain, watched Hicks as he held forth. They regarded him as a madman.

  "Take a look around, and you'll know everything." An instant later, Silverstar stepped out of a large patch of bushes. "I've looked around." He seemed a bit shocked.

  Catherine walked over first, and got totally astonished, "Oh… my… God!"

  Nicholas was dumbfounded.

  "It's impossible," said Silas, refusing to believe.

  A break in the forest revealed that they were on the rim of a vast basin. Several crimson-colored dragonflies the size of small planes soared through the air. Tank-like unicorn beetles wandered over the trunks of saplings, and a decrepit scorpion staggered over the ground.

  "Oh, no!" Silverstar thought, "Have I traveled back in time!?"

  Space-Time Theory

  "What happened on Earth?" Silas urged in his rage as he grabbed Hicks by the collar.

  "Please tell us," Runt pled with the arrogant Hicks, "We want to know the truth."

  "Exactly!" Nicholas added.

  "Huh!" Hicks said, turning his gaze toward Silas. "You might want to learn some manners first! Well, it all goes back to a hundred years ago."

  He began to recount the magic of hyperspace.

  "More than a century earlier, Einstein had studied many mysterious events on Earth. For example, there was the sudden disappearance of people. Through the course of research and innumerable calculations, he found that the mysteries in Bermuda were associated with so-called time travel, and consequently he began to observe the energy index on the planet's surface based on its geomagnetic field. Eventually other researchers joined the secret project, and together they established a new discipline called time-space theory. Through decades of research, they identified a fluctuating abnormal energy wave and called it 'time space pulse,' which had begun to emit bursts of energy after prolonged dormancy. Thus, there were volcanoes and electromagnetic pulse emissions at the same time. This is why aircraft and ships would disappear mysteriously, and it's why an energy bursts could form an energy ball and rotate in the air at a very high speed. Then it would absorb everything around and accelerate to a speed beyond that of light, entering a mysterious hyperspace and arriving at a certain era through the 'water flow' of hyperspace. Our instrument can also detect which era it is; if we study another one hundred years, creating a time machine is no longer a dream!

  "I'm totally confused," Simons said, "by time travel. I'm confused by Einstein, too!"

  "Well," Silverstar smiled, "At least Einstein's theory is correct."

  Simons posed a question: "So, who can tell me what era and where we're in now? Is it something like 'Jurassic Park'?"

  "Let me explain it," Runt said. "In the San Francisco monster attack two months ago, Silverstar and I arrived at a mysterious island populated by enormous animals. Creatures like those we'll soon see here – and they're much larger than elephants – once survived on a South Pacific Island, which was inhabited by giant insects during the Carboniferous period. At the time, a man called Kars Thule intended to produce biological weapons by making use of those creatures, but unfortunately the monsters ran rampant and ravaged San Francisco. It seems that we've come to the insect-prevailing Carboniferous period, three hundred million years ago!"

  Nicholas said, "So… how can we go back?"

  "We can't!" Hicks said, "Unless we know when and where time-space explosion would occur in this era. Neither can we predict where it would send us! Whatever! It's fairly good here!"

  "He's really ruthless!" Silverstar shrugged and whispered with Runt, "Everyone is caught in desperation."

  "I think he's lost himself in science," Runt said, "You know, I have worked in the field of academia, and I've seen guys like him. Anyway, let's leave it aside and prepare for the night, which is rapidly approaching."

  "Yeah, yeah!" Silverstar said, "We should have faith!"

  "Well," Catherine thought, "Silverstar seems to be trustworthy when the going gets tough."

  Night

  The group found a cozy space with an open view to the sky. It was so beautiful then, three hundred million years ago!

  The stars glimmered like a moonlit sea, and the Milky Way looked like a stream of diamonds. With so much light, there was no need for a fire.

  "Hey, there are several new shining stars around the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl along the Milky Way!" Silverstar said, "Under the Milky Way lies Cygnus A. These three stars form the Summer Triangle!"

  "Cool!" Catherine said.

  Among those unfamiliar stars, Silverstar was astounded by a star shining silver light, which might be the "Silver Star".

  "That's supernova explosion! A star several billion light years away!" Runt explained, "It's located near Andromeda; maybe it's the star that caused the Andromeda nebula cluster!"

  "That's interesting!" Silverstar laughed.

  "Ancient time is such a mystery!" Catherine says.

  Silas, still angry, found a place to sleep alone. Simons and his chief officer, Mandis, guarded the campsite with sonic blasters and grenades close at hand while the other sailors took shifts.

  Mandis was from South America. Years of strenuous work made him look strong and vital.

  It was midnight. Two of the sailors tried their best not to fall asleep. Nevertheless, they snored loudly and even drooled.

  The woods were completely silent, only a two-meter predator was inching. It jumped across several fallen trees, rushed toward two sailors and bit a sailor's neck all of a sudden. Awakened by the noise, Silverstar woke Runt up and they walked out of the room, only to find that the sailor had been mauled beyond recognition while the other was nervously approaching with his gun drawn. Suddenly, the predator jumped toward the other sailor and bit into his shoulder. Silverstar picked up a stone and hurled it at the beat. The predator turned and leaped onto Silverstar.
Just as it was about to slit Silverstar's neck, someone shot it in the head. However, it was still alive, thrashing the ground and rushing forward. Runt fired several more shots, sending forth gushes of green blood. The beast howled and sent out an ultrasonic wave so that others in its band approached from all directions.

  "It can even ask for help!" Runt was surprised, "Unbelievable!"

  "What's wrong?" Catherine poked her head out, and Silverstar replied, "Uh…we've met with some trouble. I need you to do a favor for me, right away!"

  "Okay!" she replied. At the same time, several predators rushed toward the injured sailor, among which one was very furious and dashed around madly. Silverstar, seeing a fang embedded in its back, assumed it was in pain. So, he rushed in to grab the sharp fang and yank it out.

  The predator shouted out and then looked relaxed. Silverstar then had a close look at it, which had ferocious eyes and faces, sharp teeth and a long, wet tongue. It had four powerful legs and a pair of sickle-like claws with which to slice open the body of an adversary or prey animal.

  The saying, "The first to find a new species can give it a name" came to Silverstar's mind, so he decided to call it "dark haunter".

  Nicholas took a bucket full of gasoline from the room, poured it onto one of the creatures and struck a match. The creature's skin burst into flame, and it ran frantically and jumped into a nearby stream. Then it ran into the darkness of the woods, shrieking as it went.

  Other dark haunters saw the disadvantageous situation and ran away.

  Silverstar and the others gasped. Even in prehistory it was impossible to sleep without a care!

  A Food Crisis

  Morning came, and everyone was awake on time, chiefly because they were famished. Silas lost his temper – after all, he was a millionaire and accustomed to having every whim fulfilled – but now he had to forage for something edible.