by Adair Hart
“That looks like a large flea!” said Emily as she stepped back and wrung her hands.
“Well. It’s probably not a large flea,” said Sanjay.
Emily snapped her head around to glare at him. Sanjay ducked his face and looked away.
Dr. Snowden figured it would freak Emily out. She did not like bugs. When she was a kid, Dr. Snowden and Dan performed a bug check in her room before she went to sleep. He was intrigued, however. “You want us to believe large, sentient, flea-like aliens abducted us?”
Evaran pointed at various objects in the room. “This is their lab. Would you conclude that the equipment design in this room was meant for humans?”
Dr. Snowden followed Evaran’s pointing. He had to admit that the freestanding console in the back of the room was designed oddly. The big screen to Evaran’s right also had an unusual interface to it. “Maybe it isn’t, but why’d they pick us?”
Evaran shook his head. “I am not sure. It could be random, maybe not. There is not a lot of information in the logs I looked at. There may be more elsewhere. I plan to find out.”
Dr. Snowden shook his head. “How convenient.”
Evaran’s eyes softened. “You are an astronomer, and I believe you would refer to their home galaxy as the Sombrero galaxy. These Krotovore, however, do not exist yet in this time period. They are from the future, about six hundred thousand years or so.”
Dr. Snowden paused for a moment and then snorted. “The Sombrero galaxy? That’s around eight point six megaparsecs away. Are you telling me they can time travel too? That’s impossible.”
“Mega what?” said Jay.
Dr. Snowden circled his right hand in front of him. “Umm … that’s … twenty-nine million light-years or so.”
“The fuck is a light-year?” asked Jay with a crooked mouth.
“The distance light can travel in one year in a vacuum, roughly six trillion miles,” said Evaran.
“Right … ,” said Jay, nodding his head.
Evaran smiled. “Dr. Snowden, they did not do it on purpose. They traveled through space-time rifts, which makes travel instantaneous.”
“Like a wormhole, right?” asked Sanjay.
Evaran nodded at Sanjay. “Conceptually they are similar. There are different types of rifts. The one thing they all have in common is that they can connect two points wherever they might be, and travel is instantaneous. For instance, a space rift would allow travel from one galaxy to another. A time rift would allow one to go forward or backward in time in the same position in space. The ones the Krotovore used were space-time rifts, meaning they could travel to a different point in space in a different time.”
Dr. Snowden smirked. “No. That’s simply not possible.”
Evaran smiled. “To your species perhaps. At least not yet. Any other questions?”
Sanjay glanced at Dr. Snowden, then at Evaran. “Going back to the virtual simulation, you said it was March 2, 2013, now, which was also the date in the virtual simulation. If the travel to Andromeda was instant, then we have only been in the virtual simulation for three weeks. How did we spend a year in the virtual simulation but three weeks out here? Time dilation or something?”
Evaran nodded at Sanjay. “Your knowledge is surprising, and you are correct again. In the virtual simulation, time moved much quicker from your perspective. Three weeks in reality was roughly one year in the virtual simulation. The day and night cycles in the real world did not match up well with the virtual simulation’s cycle. Trying to sleep in the virtual simulation when your body in the real world was awake made it appear as if you had insomnia in the virtual simulation. In contrast, when your body in the real world was tired, it would appear as if you were drowsy in the virtual simulation. One day in the real world would be about two to three weeks in the simulation. You would have died of old age in there, at least based on the simulations I ran.”
Emily’s lips turned down. “So my senior year wasn’t real.”
Evaran nodded. “That is correct.”
Dr. Snowden smirked. “That’s ridiculous. You’re saying it’s been one year and three weeks since my brother died and not two years?”
“I am.”
Sanjay furrowed his eyebrows. “Makes sense to me.”
Jay looked at Sanjay. “How you understanding all this shit, chief?”
Sanjay clenched his jaw and bobbed his head as he faced Jay. “Firstly, my name is Sanjay. Secondly, you have the wrong Indian. Thirdly, I watch and read a lot of science fiction. These things are covered quite a bit. It does require having the ability to read and listen, so I understand your confusion.”
Jay snapped his head back and narrowed his eyes. Sanjay gulped and turned away from him and focused on Evaran.
Dr. Snowden narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin. No wonder he was having trouble believing any of this. It did sound like science fiction to him. “Okay, well, if we’re on an alien ship, how is it that we can breathe?”
“The air actually has a slightly different composition than what you are used to. There is less nitrogen and more oxygen. Your nanobots have adjusted to that.”
Dr. Snowden snorted and shook his head.
Emily stepped out a bit from Dr. Snowden as she faced Evaran. “How do you know all this?”
Evaran pointed at the console on the far side of the room. “It is all in the system logs over there.”
Jay dipped his head and rubbed his temples with his right hand. “This ain’t happening, man.”
Emily furrowed her eyebrows and looked down, then at Evaran. “Why’d you help us?”
Evaran nodded at Emily. “I have been on Earth for quite a while now, studying your species. I have grown quite fond of them. On the day of your abduction, my ship noticed a temporal signature on the Krotovore scout ship. That was cause for investigation, as is any type of temporal activity. I did not know they had abducted you at that point. I only found that out when I boarded their ship and accessed the specimen list. The specimen list was corrupted and only had the names and basic descriptions intact. I did not know where most of the specimens came from, but I did know where you came from, and from what time period. I decided to interfere, and here I am.”
Emily eyes softened, and her lips pursed as she glanced at Dr. Snowden.
Evaran placed both hands behind his back. “Before I answer any more questions, you should put on the clothes you had before you were abducted. We only have about ten minutes before the shields in this room drop.” Evaran walked over to the slab Dr. Snowden was on. He bent over and pressed a panel built into the slab, which then slid out with a slight whooshing sound. “Your clothes are in the lower panel facing toward the doorway of this room. There are stalls in the back of the room you can change in.”
“Correction. The shields will drop in ten minutes and twelve seconds,” said V.
“V, silent mode.”
“Acknowledged.”
Dr. Snowden grabbed his clothes from the panel. He saw the others had walked over to their slabs. He walked to the first stall in the back and entered it. The sterile smell was in stark contrast to the rest of the lab as it hit him in the face. Were the nanobots giving him a better sense of smell? He could almost visualize where the most sterile spots were in the stall. He grimaced and exhaled sharply. He saw a small shelflike structure jutting out at chest level. He set his clothes on it and began to change. He got his pants on and had half his shirt buttoned when he heard a knock at the stall door. “Who is it?”
“Evaran. Got a minute?”
Dr. Snowden opened the door.
Evaran leaned in. “You may not believe you have nanobots, but so you know, the nanobots have removed your prostate cancer completely.”
Dr. Snowden tensed up as he swallowed hard with raised eyebrows.
Evaran nodded at him and closed the door as he leaned back out.
Dr. Snowden turned around and continued getting dressed. After he was fully clothed, he tapped his pocket, causing his key ring to
jingle. He ran his hand across his back pocket and verified his wallet was still there.
His thoughts turned toward what Evaran had said. He had never told Emily about his prostate cancer. It had been diagnosed in the early stages, and he had been undergoing effective treatment. Dan had died from a different cancer, and Dr. Snowden remembered the day Emily found out Dan had cancer. She had descended into a bad place. He didn’t want to burden her with that while she was finishing college, especially when the chance of remission was high according to the doctor. It dawned on him that the treatments in the virtual simulation were not real, so he would have been behind in his treatments. That appeared to no longer be needed, however.
He thought it was interesting that Evaran came over and told him this, instead of saying it aloud in front of the others. Did he know that Emily didn’t know? He rubbed his hips, thinking about the prickle sensations he had felt in that region earlier. He had no way of verifying it was gone. He would still have to tell Emily at some point, a conversation he was dreading. He finished dressing and stepped out of the stall.
He was the first one out. He walked back to the slab they stood at before. A few moments later, Emily joined him, then Jay, and then Sanjay. Emily had on her jeans, loose shirt, and comfortable shoes. Jay had on work boots, jeans, a white shirt with a red puffy vest of some type, and a red-and-white trucker hat. Sanjay had on casual dress shoes with khakis and a tan buttoned-up short-sleeve shirt.
Evaran had been looking at the large screen on the wall and turned to face them as they assembled. “The shields are about to drop, so we must leave now.”
“What’s so important about the room’s shields dropping?” asked Emily.
Evaran pointed to the large screen. “Come over here, and look at this.”
They walked over and stood to the sides of him.
Evaran took a card from his belt and placed it vertically next to the console by the large screen. It snapped into a hovering position one inch from the console. An unstable blue light appeared between the card and the console. After a few moments, it stabilized and emitted a steady light. Evaran then interacted with the air in front of him, moving his fingers around and pressing buttons, like there was an invisible interface only he could see. The large screen on the wall began displaying different-looking creatures. “You were not the only specimens on board. This ship has sustained damage and is currently hurtling toward a planet. Impact is in two hours. Thankfully, the shields in this room lasted as long as they did. The other specimen rooms’ shields have dropped. Those specimens, as seen on this screen, are now freely roaming the ship. That is why the crew is dead.”
Jay exhaled sharply. “This is so fucked up, man.”
Dr. Snowden’s stomach rolled. He wrinkled his eyebrows as he scrutinized the screen. The creatures he saw looked like nightmares come to life. They had unusual symbols laid out around them. The screen would show one for five seconds, then move on to another creature. Some of them looked humanoid.
“Why do you keep tapping the air in front of you?” asked Emily.
Evaran half smiled at Emily. “You would refer to it as augmented reality. The universal interface card, or UIC,” said Evaran, pointing at the card on the console, “connects me to whatever it is attached. An augmented reality interface, or ARI, that only I can interact with appears around me. In this case, I am able to control the large screen we are looking at.”
“You don’t have glasses on, though. Contact lenses?” asked Sanjay, dipping his head at Evaran.
“Something like that,” said Evaran as he half grinned.
Jay shrugged and shook his head. “Augmented what?”
“How does the UIC know how to connect to the—” said Sanjay as a high-pitched beep interrupted him. The shields covering the front entrance to the room were beginning to turn transparent and flicker.
“I will explain it later. For now, it is time to go. Just stick close to me,” said Evaran.
Dr. Snowden cleared his throat and cocked his head at Evaran. “I don’t think we’ve established that we’re going anywhere with you. I’ve listened to your explanation, and I’m not buying it. Now you want us to follow you.” He shook his head and raised his eyebrows. “To who knows where.”
Evaran sighed. “The bridge is where I was headed. We need to change this ship’s trajectory there by adjusting the thrusters. Otherwise, the ship will crash into the planet. We have two hours to do it. After that, we need to turn on the main engines in the engine room.”
Sanjay gestured at Evaran and glanced at Dr. Snowden. “Well, I’m going with him. He’s the one with answers.”
Jay crooked his thumb at Dr. Snowden. “I’m with Doc and Hot Pants. If they ain’t going, I ain’t.”
V flew over to Emily and shot a yellow beam over her pants. “Correction. Emily has pants within an acceptable temperature range.”
Sanjay chuckled as everyone else stared at V. Emily glared at Jay, and then at Sanjay. V flew back to Evaran.
Evaran shook his head and looked at V. “I thought you were in silent mode.”
“Acknowledged. Silent mode engaged.”
Dr. Snowden sighed and then faced Jay. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call my niece Hot Pants, and again, my name is Dr. Snowden, not Doc.”
Jay raised up both hands toward Dr. Snowden. “All right, all right, damn, man.”
Evaran interacted with his ARI. A large creature appeared on the screen. He pointed to it and looked at Dr. Snowden. “This is a dungol. It is an apex predator on the planet it comes from.” He pointed toward the door. “It was two hallways over from here, and the shields to its room are down. That means it is wandering around somewhere out there.” He then pointed at Dr. Snowden. “How will you deal with that?”
Dr. Snowden studied the dungol. He noted that it looked like a large boar, with a huge mouth and a rhinoceros horn. “If it isn’t real, then I won’t have to.”
Emily tugged at his arm. “Uncle Albert, I think we should go with him.”
“What? Why?” asked Dr. Snowden, furrowing his eyebrows as he snapped his head toward Emily.
“Because it’s what Dad would do. You told him there were those who research and those who do. He was a doer, and so am I. If we sit here doing nothing, what do we gain? If we are to go out, I think it’s safer to explore what’s out there as a group instead of split up.”
Dr. Snowden sighed. She was right about Dan. He would have slapped Evaran on the back and taken this as a challenge. Dr. Snowden could see it in Emily as well. He was not used to her questioning his decisions. Maybe it would be better to have numbers in an unknown situation. He dipped his head and flung his right arm up. “Fine. We go.”
Evaran paused to look at Emily, then slowly nodded at her. “To the bridge we go then. V, scout mode.” He grabbed the UIC from the console on the wall and put it into the cardholder on his belt. He strode toward the entrance but stopped just short of it and turned to face V. “V?” He sighed. “Silent mode off. I really need to get that fixed.”
“Acknowledged. Scout mode engaged,” said V.
Dr. Snowden noticed Evaran walked with confidence, his head held high and shoulders squared, as if this was an everyday thing for him. They followed Evaran to the doorway. The light-blue smoke over it had dissipated. V flew to the doorway and shimmered briefly before vanishing.
Dr. Snowden was not surprised at V vanishing. Impossible was becoming routine to him.
They walked out of the medical lab behind Evaran.
Jay waved his hand in front of his face. “Damn, smells like a wet dog up in here.”
“The Krotovore probably had a similar reaction entering your room,” said Evaran.
Jay cocked his head as if to say something, but shrugged his shoulders and looked around.
The hallway they were in was large with low light levels. A faint mist permeated the air. The ceiling was about twenty feet high, and there were two entrances across the hallway and one to the right of the en
trance they just came out of. At the end of the hallway was a larger entrance. Alongside each room entrance was a high-tech workstation with unusual equipment on the side. The walls were covered with metallic panels, broken up every now and then with a screen and elongated, flat, U-shaped tubules with a red-spotted fleshlike texture jutting out every few panels or so. Several feet from the ceiling on all sides was a glass-like black strip outlined with gold borders. It wrapped around the whole hallway.
The stark contrast of the well-lit lab they came from to the dimly lit hallway sent chills through Dr. Snowden. He waved his hand through the fine mist that seemed to float above the ground. The smell Jay referred to hit him too. It rankled his nose. He looked around and noticed the other entrances did not have shields on them, and the black strips had an optical illusion appearance. He pointed to the barely visible strips. “What’re those?”
Evaran tilted his head up to look at the strip. “It is a holographic projection strip. Similar to my ring from the virtual simulation, but that one is much more advanced. If they were working, I would be able to show you a Krotovore AI.”
“How convenient they’re busted,” said Dr. Snowden.
Evaran paused to look at Dr. Snowden, then turned and waved for everyone to follow.
They continued out into a hallway. At the end of it, they stepped into a large cylindrical area.
Dr. Snowden did not see a floor or ceiling in the middle, but he saw that the walkway they were on extended around the edges in a full circle. He also saw walkways ringing the edges both above and below him. It was difficult for him to see too much, as the mist seemed to be denser. He noticed that there were four half-cylindrical columns evenly spaced on each walkway. He figured they were some type of support structure. It reminded him of a large, hollow missile silo. He moved to the walkway’s edge and looked down a few levels, then up. “How big is this? I can’t see the floor or ceiling.”
“It is several miles each way. We are on level 546 out of 1000 or so levels. We need to go up to level 555, where the main bridge concourse is. There is an elevator system nearby we can use,” said Evaran, pointing to the nearest half-cylindrical column.
