“Cyan! What is going on? You’re acting all weird,” Evelyn said, “Where are we and why does everything smell so oily?”
“We’ve been, for all intents and purposes, abducted by a living machine that calls itself CtynMech,” I replied, “It’s been communicating to me in my mind and it claims that this Mystic is going to destroy our whole planet or something.”
“I’m not trying to destroy any planet,” the Mystic said, coughing up a spatter of blood, “I’m trying to save a planet – my own planet.”
“Biologic Three,” a metallic voice echoed loudly from somewhere beyond the walls.
“What’s that? Who are you?” the Mystic shouted, causing himself to succumb to another fit of coughs.
“You already know who I am and I only know Cyan at this moment. What are your names?” it bellowed.
“Braxton,” the Mystic choked out, “But not for much longer. You’ll be calling me ‘dead’ in a few minutes.”
Evelyn returned to the Mystic’s side and started wrapping his shoulder as she had been doing earlier.
“Evelyn,” she said, “And if you happen to have a sanitary medical facility in this greasy metal tomb, I’d appreciate some help.”
“You are currently inside the only storage space,” CtynMech replied, “I’m not particularly suited for transport of biologics. And Braxton will live if you agree to permit my assistance.”
“Of course you can assist! What do you think I was just asking for?” Evelyn stated, leaning away from Braxton, “Do whatever you can do.”
Braxton
With each coughing fit, I felt all the more closer to resigning myself to whatever the afterlife had to offer. On the contrary though, each coughing fit brought me more attention from the lovely Evelyn. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the pain as she pressed more cotton into my aching chest wound.
“Evelyn,” she introduced herself to our enormous abductor, “And if you happen to have a sanitary medical facility in this greasy metal tomb, I’d appreciate some help.”
“You are currently inside the only storage space,” the walls replied, “And Braxton will live if you agree to permit my assistance.”
“Of course you can assist! What do you think I was just asking for?” Evelyn stated, leaning away from me, “Do whatever you can do.”
I opened my eyes in time to witness several of metal cables suddenly detaching from the walls and ceiling. I rose from the ground as something took hold of me from below, cupping my waist, neck, and ankles.
“What’s going on?” I croaked, frightened all of a sudden.
The dangling silver cables danced before me like serpents bent on attack. That’s when I realized the snakes were actually a variety of arms belonging to our abductor. I floated before these serpents as various mechanical claws and tools emerged from their mouths.
“Don’t hurt him!” Evelyn cried.
I assumed that she just noticed the same wicked needle-claw that I did. I gasped, just before several other claws took hold of me and quickly discarded every garment from my body. A frightening blade-headed serpent darted past my face only an instant before its cool blade sliced viciously into my chest.
I screamed in pain just before the needle-claw separated the flesh of my new cut and proceeded to sink down into the bleeding hole. I was graciously relieved of consciousness at that moment.
Cyan
I had to close my eyes to avoid seeing the inhumane methods the CtynMech was using to operate on Braxton. Suddenly he went limp while the CtynMech continued to operate on him.
“You killed him!” Evelyn shouted, trying to reach past the many cables surrounding Braxton.
“He is alive and the internal bleeding has been stopped,” the voice echoed in the cavern, “Wounds are now being closed up to prevent any further loss of blood.”
“CtynMech should have used an anesthetic!” Rewan growled, “What kind of advanced technology doesn’t know this?”
“We have no anesthetic or other medication at our disposal, Rewan,” CtynMech stated aloud.
“What’s he talking about?” Evelyn asked, still trying to peer past the busy cables.
“CtynMech can read my thoughts and he is responding to what I was thinking,” I said.
“A few minutes of pain is far better than an eternity of death,” the CtynMech, “CtynMech is always focused on the future and Braxton’s future opinion will most likely be in line with that of CtynMech.”
“And do you understand the concept of pain?” Evelyn asked.
“We’ve never felt pain, but after many millennia of studying biologics, we do understand the concept,” CtynMech stated.
“Do you study, uh, biologics in ways that may cause them pain?” she asked.
“CtynMech is a race created to be curious first and foremost,” the voice replied.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Evelyn insisted.
“You do not truly wish to know the answer.”
Braxton was lowered to the ground while more than a dozen metal serpents returned to their positions along the walls and ceiling. Evelyn and I both rushed over to the nude form of Braxton to examine the work of the CtynMech. I took the pants that were lying crumpled on the floor and draped it over him for a little modesty.
“Other than those bruises, there’s no evidence of any wounds,” Evelyn said.
“I’m impressed,” Rewan said, “What are your methods of closing up wounds with such precision?”
“CtynMech would rather discuss the future placement of Braxton, Evelyn, and Cyan. The convergence is no longer growing ever since the three of you were removed from Biologic I. And we expect that if we indeed averted a Rion Incident, the convergence will slowly start to reverse and settle to safer levels in a few years.”
“Nothing you are saying is making any sense,” I said, “Are you suggesting that we not return to Earth?”
“And what’s a convergence or this mysterious ‘Ryan Incident’?” Evelyn asked.
I located Braxton’s underwear, then nodded toward the wall behind Evelyn, suggesting she turn around while I at least get Braxton partially dressed. She understood and turned around.
“Rion is a planet about fourteen hundred light years from Biologic I that was previously listed as Biologic Five in our classifications. CtynMech is now unsure if it could be classified as ‘life supporting’ by our current methods, so we changed the name to the same title the inhabitants had given the planet,
“CtynMech discovered Biologic Five only a mere eighteen hundred forty years ago, but we had to maintain a distance from their system since they had already achieved the technology to visit their nearby planets. We still studied them from a distance though, but learned very little before the Rion Incident took place.”
I finally got Braxton’s underwear on him before he started to wake up. He groaned, then opened his eyes and studied me for a moment.
“They discovered time travel, but they had no regard for the quantum repercussions that could take place if such a technology is abused,” the CtynMech continued, “Backward time travel can be achieved in many ways, of which you already know the simplest method. Backward time travel is legal according to the CtynMech, but only if it is controlled. If not, then the planet using this technology can destroy a whole system and theoretically, a galaxy.”
Braxton tried to sit up, but his pain was apparently too much. Evelyn helped me to get him situated somewhat comfortably against the wall.
“Where are my wrist cables?” he whispered, “Hurts to talk.”
“Everything’s scattered about,” I said, glancing around our metal dungeon, “I see one of them over there, but let’s not worry about those right now.”
“Time travel causes minimal damage to the quantum fabric of spacetime unless important things are changed. Most likely everyone has experienced a slide along the skin of a converging universe caused by time travel that has affected their lives. This is-”
“Wait, I’m confused. I
never slid on some universe skin!” Drexil interrupted in my head, causing the CtynMech to pause.
“Yes you have, Drexil,” the CtynMech stated, “Have you ever felt an overlap of experiences? Have you ever felt like you were replaying a moment, usually several seconds in length. It probably seemed like time was replaying a situation detail for detail.”
“I’ve had that! It’s called déjà vu,” Evelyn said.
“Those are moments of your lives changed, often inadvertently, by time travel. Perhaps the best way for CtynMech to explain it is this: If someone goes back in time and kills a man in your city, you would experience nothing at all. But if you were supposed to brush past that man in a crowd a few months later according to the original flow of things, you would experience ‘déjà vu’ in that moment. You would have no idea why you felt that overlap as you walked through the crowd because the event that changed that moment happened months ago. But rest assured, after that moment in the crowd, you are no longer living in the universe you originally lived in.”
“I left my universe when I experienced déjà vu?” Evelyn sputtered, doubt in her tone.
“The overlap feeling, or déjà vu as you called it, was caused by a ripple. Imagine two soap bubbles suddenly connecting in midair. There would now be two deformed spheres attached and the point of attachment is really now just one single skin. It’s not two skins pressed together, but one single skin – a bridge from one bubble to the next,” the CtynMech stated, “Imagine the universe as a sphere and you are living on the skin of that sphere. When time travel changes your particular life, you will find yourself moving along that shared skin of the two bubbles. That shared skin is something of an overlap. And by the time you return to the regular skin of the bubble and everything seems normal again, you fail to realize that you’re on a different bubble altogether now.”
“What about the underwater feeling? What about the slow-motion overlap underwater?” Braxton asked, rubbing at the bruise on his chest.
“I never had that feeling,” Evelyn said.
“Me neither,” I added.
“That feeling is only the beginnings of a Rion Incident,” the CtynMech stated, “When lives are changed with complete disregard for everything including the laws of causality, the quantum fluctuations or ripples can become such that they will create random folds in the very fabric of the universe. Added to this is the rapid convergence of innumerable universes at such a rate that all the ‘skins’ coalesce and begin to effect the flow of time altogether. When a Rion Incident occurs, causality will be lost forever due to the random folds that ripple permanently in the region and the actual flow of time will create a wasteland that cannot be escaped.”
“Dear Lord! What is Rion like then?” I asked.
“For obvious reasons, CtynMech cannot get close enough to safely examine the planet anymore. It is treated like a black hole, though that’s not what it is at all. Although the civilization has achieved space flight technology, no one has left the planet in over eighteen hundred years. CtynMech scans still show signs of life on the planet, but we refuse to get close enough to verify if it’s only echoes of life caused by the distorted fabric of spacetime.”
“I had no idea,” Braxton muttered, “None of us did. We came to Earth with full intentions to violate the laws of causality.”
“Again, a Rion Incident appears to have been safely averted, but we are now faced with a decision regarding the futures of the three of you,” CtynMech stated, “And CtynMech is of the belief that Evelyn must return to Biologic I. Removing her permanently could cause more convergences and fluctuations that would prove a continued risk to what we are trying to achieve.”
“Are you suggesting Cyan and I be exterminated?” Braxton asked.
“I don’t want to return without Cyan,” Evelyn stated, “We’re engaged to be married.”
“Thanks for leaving me to die,” Braxton muttered sarcastically.
“CtynMech cannot risk the others, Evelyn,” CtynMech replied, “Braxton admitted his intentions and Cyan is most likely an immortal unit and that fact alone could pose as an ongoing problem.”
She was pacing in the middle of the cavern despite the fact that the floor wasn’t perfectly smooth or flat. I watched her, wondering what was going on in her mind. The dim red lights didn’t offer much help in examining her features.
“I admitted to intentionally planning to violate the laws of causality,” Braxton said, “I had no idea what it was doing. I have no intentions to continue my previous mission. I didn’t really want to be a villain.”
“Words and promises made by biologics mean very little,” CtynMech stated, “And besides, we decided to return Braxton to Biologic III.”
“What? And just what era were you going to return me to?” Braxton asked, “If it’s not the same year I left, I think my return could cause some convergences there. Don’t you think?”
“How is Legacy doing with their own violations of the laws?” I asked.
“There are definitely problems, but still not to the magnitude that was occurring here,” CtynMech stated.
“I’ll kill myself,” Evelyn said, pausing and looking toward the wall as though the CtynMech were standing there, “You return me without these two and I swear I’ll jump from the Empire State Building.”
“CtynMech is confused.”
“Braxton was here to kill me because I believe my descendants will be responsible for things I know nothing about,” Evelyn stated, “I’m supposed to have descendants, which means I must live long enough to have children. If I don’t, I imagine it would push us closer to a Rion Incident. Am I right?”
Silence filled the room for a moment as we sat there pondering our futures. I didn’t have the heart to tell Evelyn that I wasn’t scientifically capable of giving her children, though I’d certainly be willing to adopt if she wanted.
“This is a threat?” CtynMech asked.
“Listen,” I added, “Why not drop us off to live somewhere far from New York. I can change my face and my name. Braxton can change his ways, and Evelyn doesn’t need to change at all because she’s done nothing wrong.”
“What if you maintained a CtynMech presence in the area?” Braxton offered, “If we start killing people or converging all the universes or whatever it is you’re monitoring, you can abduct me and take me wherever you want.”
We were surrounded again with silence. Even the voices in my head had nothing to offer to fill the gap. After a few minutes, I started to get worried.
“Are you still there?” I asked.
“We are scanning for a location.”
One Week Later
Evelyn’s Journal
As much as I’d like to bury my head in the sand and deny everything of that week, I can’t. How can I stand in the kitchen of that small bungalow in Islamorada, Florida and deny what happened? How could I be expected to look out that kitchen window and watch the clear waters of the Caribbean lap at the white sands and deny it happened?
I’ve learned long ago not to ask questions that you didn’t want to know the answers to. That’s the way it was when I blinked my eyes and found myself lying on the beach of one of the most beautiful of Florida’s Keys. Braxton was seated on the sand next to a large metal cooler. Cyan was lying beside me with a smile on his face. His smile told me that he knew something that I didn’t. I imagine that had a lot to do with some private communication he probably had with the ones I will not name in this journal.
Lying there on the beach for the first time in our lives, we discovered that the nameless ones weren’t really all that heartless. They might not have had emotions, but they did understand them.
The metal cooler behind Braxton was loaded with money that I liked to assume belonged to an illegal business of some sort. Cyan told me that we were expected to follow the plan, buy a home, and just settle down. He also told me that we were to proceed as a married couple from that day forward. I had no problem at all with that.
Within
a few days, we had ourselves a bungalow just off Avacado Drive. Braxton chose an apartment directly on the beach and I heard he was already mingling quite well with the locals. Cyan had somehow managed to secure some nicely forged identification papers for both him and Braxton. They kept their first names, but invented some new last names. Braxton’s last name would be Foothold and Cyan’s last name, which I would also share now that we were married, would become Stringfellow.
Denying it all would be pointless, so from this day forward, I will proudly announce that which has made me who I am today. I will announce that I have been to Earth’s orbit and survived. I will announce that I saw a man get skewered in the Empire State Building with the wrist cables of an alien. I will announce that I survived being kidnapped multiple times. And of course, I will announce that I fell in love with an immortal that comes from a world far beyond anywhere I can imagine.
After announcing all this, I will close the journal and lock it. Perhaps I’ll even bury it one day. Who knows, maybe it’ll be discovered in a thousand years and cause a convergence at that point in time. Maybe there could be a Rion Incident here after all someday. I’d rather not think about those things anymore though. I think it’s time I go upstairs and see what my husband is up to. Until tomorrow…
Evelyn M. Stringfellow
1100 miles above the Earth
26-month check-in:
Any verdict yet from the Judgment Committee?
Automated Reply:
No response yet…
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The Mystic Saga Omnibus (Books 1 - 5) Page 42
