by Grant Fausey
"We're going to have to get Trinod back!" added Jake Stern. He turned to Captain Thomas. "We have to figure a way of getting back."
"That may not be possible," continued the Senator. "The dimensional barrier has collapsed. The Nexusphere has flooded the universe with distortion waves. We fear the universe itself has collapsed."
"No––" shouted Jennifer. "That's not possible!"
"If they did it, it is!"
"Wait a minute," sneered the Captain. Jacob Mantell stopped behind him. "Are you trying to tell me our universe doesn't exist anymore?"
Jacob Mantell didn't say a word.
"How the hell is that possible?" asked the Captain. "How do you know?" Samuel stared at Jacob Mantell. He wanted to hear the explanation, figuring it was going to be a rouse. Captain Denarak appraised the situation. It was time for the Calvary, so he stepped in.
"Gentlemen," he said calmly. "We'll answer as many of your questions as we can, but not out here. It's not safe. There are too many ears."
The captain looked up at me, and shouted, "Who the hell are you?"
"Captain Christopher Denarak," he said to the captain. The officer hesitated. "Captain Christopher Denarak of the starship New Haven America," he said with passion, questioning his integrity. "The one and the same," he said boldly to him, fully aware that he was about to meet another. But for the moment, it was much more important to play off his awareness. He stepped lively, Jacob Mantell leading the way.
– 27 –
OLD ACQUAINTANCES
• • •
THE THIRD UNIVERSE
THIRD DIMENSION
Trinod Rex greeted the newcomers at the doorway to oblivion, standing before the shadows of the past, set against the presence of the churning light of the Netherlands Nexus. "Welcome to Shangri La," he said to the group. The Captain stepped forward, very excited. "Trinod? Is that really you?"
"In the flesh," said the captain. "I'm glad you're all here. We've a lot of work to do, but we have to hurry. There’s no time for pleasantries."
Jake looked stirringly at the incarnation of Trinod Rex. "You're not the Rex I know," he said to the genetics engineer. "You may look like him, but you're not..."
"No," said Trinod, "I'm not the Rex you know. But I am however, Trinod Rex, genetics engineer and renegade pirate. Same as your own beloved leader, Jake Stern."
"This is strange!" said the explorer.
"No doubt," said Trinod with a smile. "But real, nonetheless. I'll introduce you to your counterparts in my universe. But remember. Two objects can't occupy the same space at the same time, unless they're in different dimensions, essentially, different universes. There are infinite possibilities, just don't explore them here. It could be the end of us all."
Jake nodded. He knew full well what Trinod was talking about. Inter-dimensional disruption. A fate of being ripped apart a molecule at a time until nothing was left. He wonder if that was what happened to his own universe? Was the fate that coursed the stars for Trinod Rex and his Haulers Incorporated group totally obliteration? Had the runners from another universe found their counterparts and stepped over the boundaries? Destroying everything? He didn't know. It was all so confusing. Jennifer shook Trinod's hand.
"Happy to meet you, Sir." Her voice cracked. She was afraid. Trinod could sense it.
"There's no need to be scared, Jennifer," he said firmly, like a father figure. "We're doing everything humanly possible. We'll find a way to stop the Industries before every living thing in this universe ceases to exist. You can count on it." Trinod turned to his companions and smiled. Captain Denarak smiled back. "Come on," he said giving a nod of his head. "We've a lot of work to do and too little time to do it in."
The doorway to Med-lab swished open. The genetics engineer stepped through the opening. "Trigen Three Four," he snapped, speaking loud and vibrantly into the airwaves. "Access the data banks on the Submariner docked beyond the walls of the Nexus. Do it quickly, before the Industries confiscate her.
“Try a low band frequency. You should find the data there."
"Accessing," repeated the computerized counterpart. Jake Stern followed Trinod very carefully. This new universe was exciting. Merely a duplicate of his own, yet different somehow. It wasn't that everything was a doppelganger. It was more than a double, more than just a reflection. There was something uneasy about being here, a sense of deja vu. "Haven't I met you before, somewhere?" he said to genetics engineer, questioning him. "This meeting seems so familiar to me. As if I've done it before!"
"Perhaps," said the geneticist. "Maybe on your travels, we've encountered each other before … another lifetime; another plane of existence, perchance. It's had to say."
"No," said Jake Stern. "Its more like I've already experienced this conversation before. I'm just repeating the motions, somehow. I know what's going to happen next!"
Jake looked up at the alarms on the wall. "Siren going to go off..." he continued, "...and the earth is going to shake. An inter-dimensional eruption of some sort!"
"A shock wave?" added Trinod Rex just as the siren went off. The room shook violently. Trinod Rex was having deja vu now too. He had watched the distortion waves strike the other Trinod Rex in the medical facility of his own hidden base, in his own universe just before it was destroyed. But this wasn't a distortion wave; it was more like an earthquake had struck the building. The walls shuttered: Pieces of equipment, expensive analytical apparatus, vials, electronic machinery, and lab tables, everything smashing to the ground, especially, the newcomers. Jennifer hit the floor hard, falling onto smashing glass. She screamed in fear, with pain instantly falling onto a broken bottle of clear liquid. The solution spread out onto the floor under her feet, pulling her grip from the surface. The sound of cracking glass shouted all around her. She could smell sulfur. The glass doors to the Med-lab shattered behind her. Trinod Rex also hit the floor.
"It's not a distortion wave," screamed the geneticist. "How do you know?" shouted Samuel Nomad. The ground rippled again. Trinod bounced on the floor. Behind him the wall shatter, sending splinters of wood, plastic and metal in every direction, like projectiles shot from an ancient gun. "The campus is shattering!" screamed Trinod. "We have to get to another level. Trinod was right. The hidden base was shattering, but from what? Nothing had changed. He hadn't felt anything alter. There wasn't a true earthquake, there wasn't any distortion waves passing through his body, ripping at his heart, his lungs or his brains into shreds. No. This was something entirely different, a danger no one expected.
He had to get to the observation lounge, and fast. If he was right, they were all in extreme danger. Fear struck suddenly at him, piercing his heart like a hot knife. He knew––but he didn't know how he knew that he knew. Fear swelled in him. The fate he had never considered moving across the horizon from the direction of the gateways. The Netherlands Nexus had started to move.
Rune Linka screamed, the ground shaking beneath her feet. The forest line disappeared right before her eyes. The Nexusphere was moving. "Maccon!" she clamored, running for her life. The threshold of the vortex rippled across the ground, expanding in circumference with every pulsating breath she took. The young woman's long, dark hair wailed in the wind of the expanding vortex. It covered her face. She pushed it aside as she ran. Her eyes resonated between shades of profuse green and emerald. Lightning reflected in the deep pools of her iris, flickering with the flashes of illumination that sparkled across the heavens.
"Rune Linka," hollered Maccon, fighting against the wind with his forearms stretched out across the length of his leathery white skin. His long robes curled away from him caught in the updraft of the violence. The shrubbery ripped from the ground impacting him as they hurtled skyward caught by the force of the approaching storm. Energy rose from the land, streaked skyward to catch a ride on the pulse of this new life being born.
"You must awaken," repeated the voice in Maccon's head. "Summon forth the power that is within you." The memories of his fat
her's intervention had surfaced again. Maccon knew what he was asking. But didn't know how to deliver the sonance.
"Rune Linka," he called again, stumbling in the wake of the spinning vortex. It was as if a doorway to oblivion had opened around him. The energy coursed his body, filled his essence with the power he'd only dreamed of. "Rune Linka," he wailed. "Where are you?"
"I'm here," her voice repeated in his head, echoing from a thousand directions at once. If she was here, here was no more. The Nexus had passed beyond him, beyond were Rune Linka had ran for her life. This was the essence of nothing and the culmination of everything. The feeling was a wide sensation. A burning covered the body and filled her mind. His thoughts turned to the others, to his beloved Rune Linka; to the hearty bounty of Crimson Indigo, to his companion Laura Keri. The young woman he swore to protect.
They had each escaped. Driven off world to other universes. Only his domain collapsed in upon itself. He was the handicapped, the universe taking his life, draining him of some unacknowledged gesture of good will. He had to continue, survive. And he did, but how he didn't know: For he witnessed his own death in the midst of the vortex, the Nexus upon him. Its upheaval rose to the forefront of the land locked sky and deposited his body there once life began. Only the wake of destruction survived. This was the universe of the Industries. Maccon stood up. The wind passed through his body; His being more than the spirit of man
His body weightless, a gain of sand; he lifted himself into the wind and sailed the openness of the sky. His mind floated free. Rune Linka scurried across the ground ahead of the Nexus, barely passing between the thresholds before the vortex covered the path behind her. She passed beyond the walls, beyond the brush and the trees, and collapsed on the blue sand of a distant world: A distant star in the heavens of another universe.
She scrambled across the sand, darting back and forth in a ritual of survival that ended with the untamed feelings of being in too many places at the same time. Deja vu filled her life. She had stood here before, but when? And why should she know the events to come before they happened. The sound of thunder echoed in the purple heavens. The flashes of lightning crisscrossed the windswept clouds with a grace and beauty that could only have been presented by nature itself.
"Maccon," she whimpered, dropping to her knees. Her fist clenched the sand, drawing it in between her fingers. "Greetings Traveler," said the unfamiliar voice of someone she did not recognize. "Welcome–– Welcome to Haven."
"New Haven," Rune Linka had managed to spit out. "Did you say New Haven?" The voice smiled. Rune Linka could hear it in the words. This was what she had dreamed of; had wished for all of her life. This was the trail's end. She stood upon the sands of New Haven, as she turned to face the voice of the unknown, and vanished forever.
– 28 –
METAMORPHOSIS
• • •
THE THIRD UNIVERSE
THIRD DIMENSION
Samuel Nomad sprang from the floor. It was like a nightmare all around him. Chemicals were spraying everywhere. The ceiling tiles had crashed onto the lower level of the Med-lab, cracking and breaking into smaller pieces. The support beams had buckled under the stress and strain of the torsion, forcing the emergency doors to descend into place, securing the Medical facility from the outside world. An alarm sounded. A crackling, static filled voice emanated from the communications system.
"Emergency procedures now in operation," said the voice. "Repeat–– Emergency procedures now in operation. All personnel should report to their evacuation stations. Base One integrity is destabilizing. Inter-dimensional disruption imminent." Sparks flew drowning the lower level in a rain of shinny, orange colored particles. The room shook hard. Pieces of equipment suspended from the ceiling snapped, breaking loose from the iron structure that supported it. The power conduits, monitors and electrical apparatus came crashing down, bouncing off the upper level and the side rails. The monitors struck the big screen, puncturing the surface with elongated tears that stretched deep inside the machinery.
Trinod Rex screamed out as the last of the equipment, wires and metal harnesses came rushing down upon him. His body quivered as he was struck to the ground, buried alive under the wreckage and rubble. "Samuel," he hollered, whimpering in a voice filled with pain. Samuel searched the wreckage, finding him.
"Samuel!" he repeated with a moan. "You have to get the others to safety. Find ... Denarak ... find ... Maccon...."
Samuel scurried across the floor, grabbed at the equipment covering Trinod. Jake Stern helped. Together they pulled and shoved at the heavy equipment until they had unburied Trinod Rex. The lights dimmed. The emergency batteries had taken the load. Main power was gone. The Med lab fell dark.
"Jake," yelled Jennifer, trying to find him in the dark. Jake's arms slipped around her, cuddling to her as he pulled her up into his arms. He waltzed her across the wreckage just as the metal fingertips of Trigen Three Four pushed open the emergency doors. "This way gentlemen, and ladies..." said the vocal receptors of Trinod's computerized counterpart. "We've a shuttle waiting in bay three. It should be able to get you to safety before we lose the complex."
Jake looked back into the room. Everyone else was dead. Thomas had been crushed under the main support beam of the lower lab. Death had been instant. At least, he wasn't going to feel the pain. Find Denarak, find Maccon ... he had said. But he was trapped under the floor of the upper level. The structure collapsed, sending me over the edge to the base of the Medical facility. No one had seen me. I'd stayed at the edge, watching. I was waiting for the last moments of life to pass.
The sonance was in my head. The life giving breathes of the Source. Like a flood of rushing spiritual waters I could feel the memories of eternity returning to submerge my psyche. My mind was remembering who and what I was, who I had been. Life was ending, as I knew it for nearly a century. I presumed I was cascading in a menagerie of existences, not just one existence, in one universe, but in infinite universes. My body laid still on the platform, crushed by the incident of the moving floor. Yet, I floated above the room. Infinite in delight, I was free. There was a power within me. The experiences of other lifetimes returned to me like a child awakening. I was Maccon and a thousand others. I lived numerous lifetimes, countless incarnations in infinite universes. I wondered how could there be so much that I did not remember; every rock, every tree, every creature had an existence. Life was so much larger than what I recalled. I turned the light of the Source engulfed me. Nourished me. I was the light and the light was … I head the soft voice in my head; my mind's eye alighting with the colors of the universe. The power was within me: A never-ending bounty.
My memories of Maccon returned. The moment of transition had occurred. The Source was before me: The future, the past, even the present made itself known. Time didn't exist. The pathways we had traveled were like tiny tributaries to the river of life. Everything existed within the Source. even the Industries. With the force of a shock wave I joined with the others. There was truly only one of us. There was only one of anything. Maccon was only a part of me. A thousand lifetimes crisscrossed with my existence, expanding the very essence of my being. The sonance called to me, dredging deep into my immortal soul. I was feeling the presence of another. Someone I had known, but didn't recognize as being a part of me. The youth was a part of the whole. I had encountered him within Maccon's lifetime. A feeling of warmth filled me. I realized I had walked the universe before, but somehow I knew it would-be all I could do to stay alive. This was my time of awakening. To survive this great darkness would take all my wits, all my being: All that I am. I would have to awaken the warrior within and again become one of the Knights of the Ronna Kaa the Source was summoning, battle awaited.
The light faded and I watched as Jake lead the way, helping Jennifer through the maze of mismatched tunnels, which had collapsed in upon themselves. What Samuel and Trinod couldn't see was that the Netherlands Nexus had expanded to nearly twice its size, and it was still exp
anding. Trigen Three Four slowed at the end of a corridor. Looked down both directions, then proceed across the tunnel into an access way on the far side of the corridor.
"Three Four to Flatbed Eight ... can you hear me, Flatbed?" Only static returned on the intercommunications device. Trigen Three Four changed channels and attempted the communication again. "Three Four to Flatbed Eight ... testing ... can you hear me Eight?"
Still there was no answer, only the familiar snow over the airwaves. Trigen thought for a moment, his micro gears and information banks darted through a range of data until it found the connection he wanted. "Three Four to Flatbed Eight ... do you read eight?" The static gave way to the faint voice of nothing. Flatbed Eight was gone. It was as if he had never existed at all. "Trinod Rex has been injured," said a voice in the darkness. "Prepare a stasis field. We'll have to keep him in suspended animation until we get clear of the Nexus."
"Understood," answered the voice, but nothing would come of it. Everything was happening to swiftly. Trigen Three Four looked back at his companions. Samuel was helping Trinod each step of the way. His life signs were fading. He was dying and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.
"WARNING..." announced the station's emergency system from the hidden overhead speakers. "Evacuation is now in effect. All remaining personnel report to any available transportation. Impact with the Netherlands Nexus is imminent. Total disruption of the space-time continuum is possible."
The computerized voice cracked as if someone was trying to break into the line and override the commands.
Samuel stumbled and Trinod Rex tumbled to the ground.
"Sixty seconds to inter-dimensional disruption," stated the computerized voice. Fifty-nine...Fifty-eight...fifty-seven..."
Samuel picked himself up off the floor. The computerized countdown was continuing. The corridor was trembling, like an earthquake only worse. The walls were buckling from the torsion.
