Of Crimson Indigo: Samuel Nomad's NEW AMERICA

by Grant Fausey

  "Hold on," said Reta Jordan as she repositioned Lisa, so she could take the fruit. "God, you're heavy," she snapped at Lisa, trying to maintain her conversation with the shopkeeper.

  "Can't we just leave her?" asked Reuben. "We're in another dimension now. The corridor should stay open, don't you think?" The replicant doctor looked at Reuben, oddly. "Once we're on the other side it won't matter where she is, so long as she's on this side of the gateway." The doctor propped Lisa up against the wall, admiring the natural wood. She turned to Reuben wanting to explode.

  "You want to leave her this way, don't you? Then you do it. I won't have anything to do with it. We're already running the risk of regeneration, and when she comes out of the transit block. Well, we could lose our connection to Laura completely. No second window! Understand?" The doctor paused. "That means no second way across the opposing future. That's no way home! Either way, Kellnar and his buddies win big. No counter plot, remember?"

  Reuben huffed. He knew what she was talking about. No way home, meant no way home. "In other words," he said, continuing. "We've no choice. She's more than just a copy of her former self. Our universe is depending on her now. So she's a part of this whether or not she wants to be." Reuben was right. She was part of this whether she wanted to be or not. Lisa was more than she appeared and it was a secret that Reuben was banking on.

  "What about her sister?" asked the replicant?

  "She's a rogue on the transit system, remember?" Reuben didn't need reminding. They were all rogues on the transit system. It was important to get back to the center of the matrix and plant the medallion in Jacob Mantell's hands.

  "All that is needed," said Reuben, "is a microsecond window to alter the future. It's not a big sacrifice to save the universe from the Industries idea of co-habitation. “Besides," he continued, "co existing universes aren't on my hit parade."

  Doctor Jordan had no idea what a hit parade was, but she assumed it had something to do with his short-lived radio career. The shopkeeper screamed, and his attention raced from his thoughts to the immediate situation behind him. Relix and Tee were in the alien shop and like a true retailer the shopkeeper chased the little machines out of his store directly into the lap of Doctor Jordan.

  "You can't be serious," shouted the doctor. "Reuben, only one universe can survive. Kellnar's plan doesn't include us and wasting even a single life to save another isn't right either."

  The doctor's eyes widened, continuing her rebuttal while realizing what she was saying wasn't going to have much of an impact on the approaching situation. "Especially," hollered the real Doctor Reta Jordan in Med-lab, "when it's this universe that will cease to exist. "I'm the one you're jeopardizing," continued the replicant.

  "No. You're not," clamored Reuben. "It's only the future of our universe we're guiding, not the past. We can't alter what's already happened and neither can Kellnar. We can only try and prevent it."

  "Wrong," said the doctor as Samuel Nomad joined her with Trinod Rex. The three of them watched as the memory patterns continued to unfold on the view screen in the medical facility. The images were not crystal clear as she had hoped for, but they were good enough for evaluation. They had to discover what exactly happened to this replicant of Doctor Jordan. Even if it meant they found out something that was irreversible.

  "Out..." yelled the shopkeeper, chasing the little machine explorers. "Get out of my store. There's no place for your kind here. Out I say..." The doctor felt the impact first, driven away from Lisa. The young woman jumped back, fighting her.

  "Shit..." screamed the replicant doctor. "She's coming out of the block."

  "What..." yelled Reuben, realizing what his cohort had said. "Here in the open?" Relix and Tee pushed their way into the depths of the crowd, racing straight for the doctor and Lisa.

  "Yes, out here in the open," screamed the replicant. "Help me, will you? She thinks she's still in the car! "

  Relix pushed past Reuben, knocking the book out of his hands. The pages glittered with the glow of golden light. Relix stumbled to the ground stumbling over Tee.

  Doctor Jordan watched the book fall; open and the medallion vanish from its pages. "What do you want me to do?" yelled Reuben.

  Relix slid across the wooden floor face down, ending up in front of Lisa as the medallion appeared on a chain around her neck. He smiled up at her wide-grinned. Tee whaled crossing the platform, like a spinning top.

  "The medallion," screamed Reuben. "She has the medallion." The dignitary dashed to his feet, only to run headlong into Lisa.

  He grabbed at her arms, tried to subdue her but the young woman waved her hands hysterically in an vain attempt to get away. Her eyes filled with tears as she fought. The medallion glowed with an iridescent radiance that lashed out at Reuben, hurtling him into the street. "Get her arms," yelled the doctor.

  Lisa slugged the Doctor in the face and ran for her life stumbling over Relix, as she managed to scramble away. Reuben took out after her running through the crowd of aliens and humanoid peoples, the doctor right behind him. A sly-looking man, dressed in robes trimmed in gold, picked up the book from the ground and dusted it off just as Reuben Taylor and Dr. Jordan disappeared into the crowd.

  He wiped the dirt from the book, dusting it off. "Hum," said the alien. "I think you dropped this!” The disc jockey didn’t look back. I guess he dropped this old book, he thought. “Oh well––finders keepers you know." The odd alien smiled pleased with his find. "Perhaps it's worth something, a few bucks maybe.

  Happy with his find, the old panhandler hurried around the corner into the same alley Reuben Taylor and the Doctor had just left. But as he turned the corner, the odd little man came to an abrupt halt. Fear covered his face like a blanket; his stare forced to terror, overcome with horror. He could feel himself meld into the platform. He was going to die. There was no question of that. "Halt where you are, rogue," snarled the beast. The alley swirled into a gateway filled with the presence of a transit hound. The Hound circled the odd little man with intent to do him harm. "I'm no Rogue," defended the man; the beast towering over him. He spoke in a deep, commanding voice, but to no end. "I've lived here all my life."

  "I'll take that book," demanded the Hound. "Possession of dangerous wastes or hazardous materials is in violation of inter-dimensional treaties act and subject to confiscation." The little man stood his ground afraid, but bravely.

  "HAZARDOUS..." he reiterated. "What?––This book?"

  The man hesitated. "You're not talking to me, are you friend?" The hound snarled at him, but leaned forward toward the little alien this time, his eye on the book. "I've no time for jokes, citizen. Surrender the book."

  The odd little man backed away, his long orange colored hair blowing in the constant wind within the trees. "Not without an explanation," he said defiantly. "I just found this book and…."

  The little alien stopped mid-sentence, backed away; his skin jittering from his newly found nervous condition.

  The Hound pounced, leaping into the attack. The little alien struggled, vaporized in the conflict with the Hound emerging as the victor. The book hit the ground for a second time, and flipped open to reveal an open binder filled with nothing but blank pages. The Hound gloated over the book, snarled at it, sniffed it then stepped on the book, crushing it as he moved on, disappearing around the corner and into the streets of the tree world. The screams of innocent frightened people echoed from every direction. The beast was on a rampage. Relix looked up at the Hound wide-eyed and ran for his life in the opposite direction.

  Lisa was a ways ahead of him, racing through the crowd herself. She took one new course after another. "Which way!" she muttered to herself, trying to stay ahead of Reuben and the replicant doctor. She was just as lost and confused, as he was; disoriented from the medication. Still, she had to go on. "Oh my god!" she continued. "Not again ... where the hell am I?"

  The hound groaned, snarling at the pedestrians. The sound was distinct, eerie and very frightening.
Most important, it was near. Lisa ran, Reuben falling behind. The streets were overcrowded. Even on the upper levels, word of a transit hound on the platform had reached the ears of the patrons. Everyone was scrambling. Some were afraid, some were scared; still others frightened of their own shadows. They even tried hiding in the darkest corners. Some even filed for immediate exit visas. Reuben on the other hand made his own way through the crowd, trying not to get run over. The crowd was thick with panic.

  The replicant doctor yelled at him, telling him to get moving. "She's getting away!" she screamed above the roar of the consortium. "Hurry, she's getting away!

  “She has the medallion, Reuben."

  Lisa cringed at the sound of the doctor’s voice. She knew something was behind her, some terrible, horrendous creature she instinctively was afraid of. The crowds cleared a path, the Hound leaped back and forth through the streets, over small habitats and up a level, or down a level. Its eyes glowed red with the infrared search beacons.

  Doctor Jordan moved swiftly across the wooden platform, darting down one access way then up the gangplank to another level trying to get to safety. Her only chance of reaching safety had to come from above. She had to move cunningly. It was only a matter of time before the Hound would catch up to them. She didn't understand how the hound tracked them so fast. The plan was fool proof. Yet, there on the platform behind her, dashing across the surface of the tree city was a transit hound, its long fangs and powerful claws extended. Its head snapped from side to side, scanning everything in a hundred different directions simultaneously.

  The hound's eyes lock on to her. It wasn't painful, but the sense of being targeted was overwhelming. She was frightened and she suddenly found herself running through the streets hysterically.

  "Oh my god!" she cried. "It's a Hound. Oh my god!"

  Reuben heard her scream and turned to see her attacked by the Hound in a horrific death that twisted her mangled body. Reuben cringed, closing his eyes. His friend was gone, only the empty shell of an inhuman replicant remained.

  The image faded then seemed to float above the body, watching Lisa exit the main platform. The replicant was obviously dead; the dawn light had caught the top of the trees and was flooding the surrounding forest with rays of sunshine that shimmered through the branches onto the multi levels of civilization below. Lisa stopped out of breath.

  The hound was near; she could feel it in her being. The medallion was set a glow. Lisa tried to hold on it, but the medal rose from her chest into the air, only the chain around her neck holding it to her. She stared at it, her eyes widening in awe and terror. She was alone on an alien world, surrounded by danger. And miraculously, there before her face was a medallion. A transition of light surrounded her, engulfing her.

  The real Doctor Reta Jordan watched as the fleeting image from the replicant faded further. The hound looked up from the platform and stepped out over the remains of the replicant. He stared behind him. Turned to face a golden, swirling vortex of light as it filled both his view, and the view screen of the Med-lab. He could see a wind as it raced from the alley toward him. The Hound stood erect in the street, gritting his teeth. He stood there destined to be consumed by the wind; yet, the beast was defiant, sneering at the wind as if it struck him center. The vortex wind shattered him: A word never leaving his mouth. The wind circled him; striking his bio-metallic frame with such force lifted him from the platform, showering him in electrical arcs that covered every breathing part of him with electricity that raced across his legs, down his back, until it rippled along his tail in molecular disassembly that transported him back into inter-dimensional transit. The hound reclaimed, the lease on life revoked, the image of the beast faded from existence.

  Samuel Nomad breathed a sigh of relief, and stepped away from the view screen, coming into a wide-eyed revelation of his own. It was a horrific moment of his life. The voice of the hound came from behind him, but then trailed off. The fleeting memories were gone.

  – 26 –

  VERICONIAN INTERVENTIONS

  • • •

  THE THIRD UNIVERSE

  THIRD DIMENSION

  Jacob Mantell stood opposite Trinod in the room. He looked at Samuel, Trinod, the doctor, then back to the genetics engineer. The door swished open. Michael Tyler walked in and stood on the opposite side of the room. "We have a problem," said the old Senator. "The group has crossed the threshold of the Nexus."

  "The group?" questioned Samuel Nomad. Everyone looked at him. Fear shuttered across their faces. The doctor looked away. As far as she was concerned the fate of humanity was sealed. The passage of the group signified the battle between good and evil had begun. The first federation was taking matters into their own hands. The outcome would be nothing less than immeasurable. Light was moving against dark, dark against light. The intelligence of the universe itself was now at stake.

  "Samuel," said Trinod Rex. "I will need you're answer. We no longer have the luxury of giving you time to make up your mind. If you wish to save humanity, I will need your commitment." Samuel looked at their faces. There was clearly a deep meaning to his words. Humanity itself was only a mere fraction of what was really going on.

  The intercommunications system beeped. "Yes," said Trinod.

  "Incoming message from the cities, Sir," announced Trigen Three Four. "The empire has taken over the city!"

  "The Governor Colonel!" stated Trinod. "I'll take the transmission here."

  "As you wish, Sir," snapped the computerized counterpart. "Transferring now."

  The big screen lit with a phosphorescent glow. "Trinod," whimpered the voice before the image fluttered into existence. "Alvericon has summoned forth the knights of the Ronna Kaa. The awakening has begun."

  The image fluttered into existence. Samuel's eyes widened to the size of saucers. His mouth drooped open.

  "I understand," answered the young hero from another dimension. His voice hefty, the realization and implications of eternal warriors being awakened had very special meaning. The guardians could not allow the systematic destruction of everything that existed. The Source had spoken and the universe itself, listened.

  Jake Stern and Jennifer Riggs stepped down the ramp of the Submariner into the hovering dock facility of the tree city. Captain Brian Thomas, the commander of the Haulers Incorporated Submariner followed just a step or two behind them. Jake couldn't see the excitement in Jennifer's eyes. He was too busy being amazed himself. The setting was breathtaking. Towering trees, hundreds of them kilometers in diameter, a testimony to a society older than time itself. None of the inhabitance really knew who built the cities. Oh, there were legends understandably, but the true fact of the matter was that they had been manufactured. Some said the Industries planted them here as a decoy to the gateway to their own universe, that they entered other universes silently, a fiber at a time.

  The Nexus was their doing. They bridged eternity before eternity was born. Others believed in the legends of subterfuge; of how the Industries existed one universe for another before the beginning of time that their society churned among the essence of the Source before the beginning, before the birth of the soul of souls. Mankind had a different view. It was conceived that man created the Industries, that man's inhumanity to man created its own master. In the early twentieth century it was said that man invented the supercomputer on an insignificant planet in the Eden sector: A place called Earth. The society of this third dimensional Earth were said to be warlike, barbaric adventurers who had no more concern for their own lives than they did for their neighbors. They brought war upon themselves, harnessing the power of the atom, only to use its incredible power for destructive deterrence. The human race was a strain in humanity's web. It was said the Source paid special attention to everything for the universe was the Source. But mankind removed itself so far from its path of light that darkness prevailed. Light was almost stricken from the world.

  Great wars occurred, deadly battles fought over land, sea and the life gi
ving air of the planet. Mankind fought over food, power and greed. Even the planet itself was at war with this dimensionless breed of Mankind. Man had forgotten its birthright. It's connection to the Source of all things. Legend went, as far as to say the world within the Nexus was the Earth. The birthplace of the Machine kind's universe: A place where light and dark battled eternally.

  The Earth plane, thought Jacob Mantell. This was the beginning of the end, Mankind's hour of reckoning. Humanity needed a savor and the Source provided one. Now the universe needed a savior.

  "Greetings," said the Senator, greeting young Jennifer Riggs, Jake Stern and Captain Thomas at the bottom of the ramp. "We've been expecting you." Jake looked up. "I'm Jacob Mantell," said the Senator. "This is my associate, Samuel Nomad."

  Samuel stepped up and shook the good captain's hand. Captain Denarak stood in the background and watched, sort of the Calvary, if needed. He nodded to the newcomers and turned, walking away with them as Jacob Mantell led the way.

  "Sorry to make your acquaintance under such estranged circumstances," he told the captain and crew.

  Jake Stern felt dread rushing through his veins, only worse. Whatever it was this stranger was going to tell him didn't matter. For some unknown reason, he already knew the inevitable. Something had happened back at base and Trinod Rex would need their immediate return. It was always a fire. "I'm afraid we were in contact with your base when..."

  "You lost contact with them, right?" said Jake Stern, interrupting.

  "Exactly," answered Samuel Nomad. "But it was more of a catastrophe!" The Captain's blue eyes turned grey.

  "We've had a major problem?"

  "A whopper!" "You lost contact with the base, yes?"

  "But not before Trinod informed us you were coming?" said Jacob Mantell, ushering the captain, Jake Stern, and Jennifer Riggs. "He was transferring vital data to your ship's data banks."

  "We never received any information. Our receivers are down. When we crossed the threshold everything went crazy," announced the captain.