The Evaran Origin

by Adair Hart

  He flinched when a woman bustled past him. Reaching out to grab the console was an instinctive move on his part, but it caused the woman to pause and give him a look of confusion. He waved a hand in the air. “Sorry, was just deep in thought.”

  The woman snorted and continued walking.

  This was not going to be as easy as he thought if he could not focus. With a look both ways before crossing the street, he headed into the open court area that had a statue of the college’s founder. The temperature was warm with the sun shining, and the sound of undergraduate students filled the air. He took in a deep breath. A part of him missed the academic experience. However, he knew that his knowledge was now way beyond anything that could be taught without running afoul of knowledge pollution.

  He examined the administrative console and, after perusing the options, pressed the map option. It pulled up an overhead view with a grid overlaid on it. A blinking green indicator showed his current location, while a yellow one showed where Dr. Bryson was. He smirked at the thought that Evaran probably used this to get to him and Emily. He ran his finger over the console and tapped the yellow dot.

  A bright flash erupted around him.

  His eyes had closed instinctively before he had time to think about it. When he opened them, the door to Dr. Bryson’s office stared at him. It took a moment for him to realize he had been teleported to the hallway in the science department. That was something he would need to be careful about. He did a quick survey of the hall and noted that no one had been around to witness the teleportation. With a look of determination in his eyes, he knocked on Dr. Bryson’s door.

  “Office hours start in an hour,” said Dr. Bryson.

  Dr. Snowden pushed the door slightly open and peeked his head in. “Hey, James.”

  Dr. Bryson studied Dr. Snowden for a moment before scrambling out of his chair. With widened eyes he said, “A … Albert?”

  “That’s me,” said Dr. Snowden with a smile.

  Dr. Bryson trembled as he stared at Dr. Snowden. “How … how is this possible?”

  Dr. Snowden wrinkled his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

  “You died five years ago.”

  “Oh,” said Dr. Snowden. He remembered that Evaran had said he and Emily might not exist, but it had not dawned on him that he could exist, but be dead. “Yeah … about that. Got a moment to talk?”

  Dr. Bryson’s breathing staggered.

  “Okay … look … I’m not a zombie or a ghost. Maybe this isn’t the place to talk. Can we talk at your house later tonight?”

  Dr. Bryson gulped.

  “Oh, c’mon. The last time I saw you like this was in our undergrad years when we roomed together and you woke up with Hannah next to you in bed.”

  A small grin crept up on Dr. Bryson’s face. “Well, she was your girlfriend.”

  Dr. Snowden smiled. Hannah was just a friend in his universe, but that memory seemed to unarm Dr. Bryson some. “Will you at least give me a chance? How about eight tonight? I’ll even bring the pizza. Pepperoni, extra cheese, and light sauce.”

  Dr. Bryson wrinkled his eyebrows. He studied Dr. Snowden for a moment, then said, “Okay …”

  “You still live at 4300 Aspen Street, right?”

  Dr. Bryson nodded.

  “Okay, I’ll see you then, and … just to give you something to think about. You remember all those discussions, well, arguments we had about parallel universes?”

  Dr. Bryson nodded.

  “Buckle up,” said Dr. Snowden. He walked out of the office and, after verifying no one was around, went back to where he had entered the virtual simulation. At least he now knew that the parallel-universe topics he used to argue with Dr. Bryson about had occurred in this universe. He navigated his way to a bench and sat. Scrutinizing the interface, he saw that he could set a time in addition to moving by clicking. He was a mini Torvatta.

  After going back one level to the top menu options, he pressed on the objects button. It took him a bit to navigate, but he found the pizza icon, which had several options under it. He shook his head. How did Levaran know how to do all of this? She was an Evaran, so maybe this was trivial to her, but to him, he could see the many hours, if not months, it would take to build an interface like this.

  He went back to the map option and set the time to 7:55 p.m., then scrolled the map using his finger without tapping. Once he found Dr. Bryson’s house, he tapped just in front of it. A bright light flashed around him, and when it dissipated, he verified he was where he needed to be. Flipping back to the pizza option, he created a pizza in a box, which appeared on the ground in front of him. After picking it up, he headed to the front door and pressed the doorbell.

  The sound of footsteps thumping down a stairway echoed out. After a moment, the door swung open. Dr. Bryson had on jeans and a short-sleeve buttoned-up shirt. He wagged a finger at Dr. Snowden. “I … I think you’re from a parallel universe.”

  Dr. Snowden smiled. “I figured if I gave you some time to chew on it, you would come to that conclusion.”

  “I knew it!” said Dr. Bryson. He exhaled sharply and then stepped back from the door while gesturing for Dr. Snowden to come in.

  Dr. Snowden entered and took his usual spot on Dr. Bryson’s couch. He laid the pizza box on the living room table. “Just how you like your pizza.”

  Dr. Bryson took a seat in a chair perpendicular to Dr. Snowden. He sighed. “A parallel universe. That’s the only logical answer, but it doesn’t make sense. Those were just hypothetical arguments. Why … why are you here?”

  “There’s a good reason for that, I assure you. In my universe, we were the best of friends, as it appears we were here as well. Now … this is going to sound wild, so bear with me. Emily and I were abducted by aliens and taken to another galaxy through a space-time rift.”

  Dr. Bryson studied Dr. Snowden for a moment. “Emily?”

  “My niece. I’m guessing she doesn’t exist here.”

  Dr. Bryson shook his head. “Sarah couldn’t have kids.”

  “Oh … ,” said Dr. Snowden. “That’s going to be interesting.”

  Dr. Bryson cleared his throat. “Okay, so alien abduction, travel through a space-time rift, and another galaxy. You sure you didn’t just write a science-fiction novel?”

  Dr. Snowden chuckled. “I’m being serious, and here is how it relates to this situation. In this universe, apparently I’m dead, and Emily doesn’t exist. The abduction still occurs, though, except … it’s the people who were nearest to me and Emily.”

  “You mean … Dan and Sarah?”

  Dr. Snowden chewed on his upper lip for a moment. “And you.”

  Dr. Bryson furrowed his eyebrows. “Don’t you think I would have noticed if I was abducted?”

  Dr. Snowden shook his head. “You wouldn’t have. They pumped you full of nanobots, then altered your memory so that the transition was seamless.”

  “Nanobots … right. Okay … but … I’m here. In my house.”

  “Not really. You’re in a virtual simulation and have been for the last year, well, three weeks, due to time dilation. It’s why you couldn’t sleep at times and, at other times, you could barely keep your eyes open. I’m here to tell you all this because in … ,” said Dr. Snowden, looking down at the administrative console, “ten minutes, this all goes away.”

  Dr. Bryson gulped. “And you just popped in to tell me all this?”

  Dr. Snowden sighed. “The guy who rescued us, his name is Evaran. He walked me and Emily through it and called it our awakening. Once we were out, we were ready for it. There were two other people, and they didn’t get that treatment. They were in shock and went crazy.”

  “Mental conditioning,” said Dr. Bryson with a smirk. “Well, I guess we’ll find out when all of this disappears, assuming that is how it ends.”

  “If your Albert was like me, then you had a C programming class in college,” said Dr. Snowden.

  “Yeah …”

  “Then I bet you r
emember where we learned about memory management?”

  “Of course, it was one of my favorite classes.”

  “Well, you’ll get to see a live deallocation.”

  Dr. Bryson jerked his head back. “And … how does that look?”

  “Let’s go to your backyard. We can see it from there.”

  “I’d offer you a beer, but assuming this is all true, it’s probably not real.”

  Dr. Snowden nodded as he stood.

  After a few minutes, theywere outside.

  Dr. Snowden pointed to the sky in the west. “It’ll come from there. Blocks of the environment will begin to deallocate. There will be a wind, and a weird noise.”

  Dr. Bryson surveyed the sky. “Don’t see anything yet.”

  Dr. Snowden examined the administrative console. “We have … seven minutes left.”

  Dr. Bryson looked at where the console would have been relative to Dr. Snowden. “What exactly are you looking at when you say the time?”

  “You’re going to love this. It’s an administrative console.”

  “No kidding. Like … what can you do with it?”

  Dr. Snowden pressed the pizza option he had before, causing a pizza in a box to appear on the ground in front of them.

  Dr. Bryson took a step back. “That’s … that’s pretty impressive. What else can you do?”

  “Teleport, for one thing. I did that earlier to your office. Essentially, anything you can think of.”

  Dr. Bryson shook his head. “It would make learning about the stuff we study a lot easier with something like that. I guess there is some merit that our universe is a simulation.”

  “Not … quite. It’s a bit more extensive than that. You’ll meet your universe’s version of Evaran. We call her Levaran so as to not be confusing. If we get off the ship that abducted you without issues, she might offer you the chance to travel through space, time, and everywhere else, even outside the universe.”

  “Have you …”

  Dr. Snowden nodded. “Oh, yeah, and reality is much stranger than you might believe.”

  Dr. Bryson looked down for a moment as his eyes misted. “You know … I miss this so much, just hanging out, discussing theories and the impossible. I’ll never forget that asshole that hit you and took you away from us.”

  “Oh … sounds like this universe version of me died in a car accident.”

  Dr. Bryson wiped his eyes. “Yeah. Drunk truck driver named Jay Beerman. You were on your way back from a conference on I-70. It was such a senseless death.”

  Dr. Snowden jerked his head back. “Jay Beerman? He was one of the others Evaran rescued alongside me and Emily. We’re actually good friends.”

  Dr. Bryson laughed. “Then this universe is a cruel joker.”

  When the deallocation came, a booming sound followed by static radio noise washed over them.

  Dr. Bryson shook his head. “You were right. Holy shit.”

  Dr. Snowden raised his voice over the noise as it grew louder the closer the deallocation came. “Just close your eyes and focus on waking up.” He walked over to Dr. Bryson and put his arm around him. “We will do this together.”

  “This is crazy!”

  “Focus!”

  Dr. Snowden peeped out and saw that Dr. Bryson had positioned himself as if expecting a tidal wave. When the familiar feeling of the deallocation passed them, he relaxed, and the sound of Evaran and the others caressed his ears.

  Dan Snowden took a break from mowing his lawn. The sun was beating down, and the heat was tiring him out faster than he expected. Mowing four acres on his riding lawn mower made things a bit easier, but not by much. It was around 1:00 p.m., so he figured he may as well check the mail.

  As he rode up to his mailbox, his attention was drawn to a middle-aged woman in a skirt suit. He narrowed his eyes as he killed the mower.

  The woman altered her path and walked up to him. She bowed with her left arm across her stomach and said, “My name is Levaran, and I’m here to save you.”

  He sighed. His brother, Albert, used to prank him by sending Jehovah’s Witnesses to his house. He shook his head. “Oh, really? And how’s that?”

  “The world around you is an illusion. It’s a virtual simulation, and I’m here to guide you through your awakening.”

  He laughed. “A what?”

  “I realize this may sound odd, but there isn’t much time.” She tapped the air to her right, and a timer showing fifteen minutes appeared above the mailbox. As it decremented, she pointed at it. “When that hits zero, the world as you know it will disappear, and you will emerge into the real world.”

  Dan examined the timer. There was no way that could be there. The hairs on the back of his neck rose. “Look, lady, Levaran, or whatever … I don’t know how you’re doing that, but I think it’s you who needs to join the real world.”

  She chuckled. “You have similar qualities to Dr. Snowden.”

  His eyes widened. “How do you know Albert?”

  “He’s in the real world, waiting for you to wake up. Let me ask you this. Have you had dreams of a medical room, unlike any you’ve seen, with unusual symbols and a freestanding console that you know was not meant for humans?”

  He gulped. “Yeah …”

  “And you find that sometimes you just can’t sleep, and other times you can barely keep your eyes open. Instead of a day or two, these spells can go on for weeks.”

  He did not think it was possible to sweat more than he already was. “That’s … that’s uncanny. How could you possibly know any of this?”

  “Because I’m standing between you and Sarah in the real world. Let me demonstrate.”

  He watched her freeze, and then almost fell out of his mower due to the sensation of something squeezing his shoulder. After getting off the mower, he rubbed his shoulder as his breathing staggered.

  “I don’t mean to alarm you, but I’m telling you this because when the world disappears, you will awaken. Your mind needs to be prepared for this. You should call Sarah.”

  “Uhh … okay … ,” said Dan. He ran up to the house and shouted for Sarah.

  Sarah ran to the door. “Dan? What is it?”

  He pointed at Levaran and gestured toward her. “Just … follow me.”

  “Dan?”

  “It’s … hard to explain. C’mon.”

  After they returned, he nodded at Levaran. “This is Levaran. She says she knows Albert, and that we’re living in a”—he motioned at Levaran—“what’d you call it?”

  “A virtual simulation,” said Levaran. She eyed Sarah. “You cannot have children, correct?”

  Sarah’s lips parted as she stared at Dan, then back at Levaran. “How could you know that?”

  Levaran pointed at the timer, which now showed five minutes. “All will be explained when this world deallocates. I need you both to understand that the last year has not been real, and in five minutes, you will be back in the real world. There … will need to be some explanation about what you will see in the real world, but we can cover that once you’re there.”

  Sarah grimaced as she latched on to Dan’s arm. “Is she for real?”

  He sighed. “I don’t know, but the timer, her knowledge of our dreams, sleep patterns, and … she went into the real world, assuming that’s true, and squeezed my shoulder. I don’t know how any of that is possible, but everything points to it being real.”

  Sarah began to breathe heavier. “What’s gonna happen to us?”

  Levaran nodded. “When the world ends, you will feel no pain. You will awaken in the medical lab you saw in your dreams. I will be there, along with Albert and … some others that will need an explanation.”

  “Albert?” asked Sarah.

  Dan exhaled from his nose. “She mentioned that he is waiting on us to awaken. I guess … I guess we’ll know when the timer hits zero, right?”

  “You’re correct. If I didn’t come, you would just wake up without any warning, in that medical room, and thi
ngs would be very complicated.”

  He nodded as a look of defiance crossed his eyes. “Well … hell. If you’re lying, we’ll know here shortly.”

  “I understand. We have a few minutes, so I wanted to cover some things,” said Levaran. She waved a finger at the both of them. “You were both abducted by an alien race known as the Krotovore. They put you into these virtual simulations for research. To keep your body functioning, they injected nanobots. Due to the time difference, you’ve been in this virtual simulation for three weeks, although from your perspective, a year has passed. The ship you’re on is badly damaged, and the system powering the virtual simulation is powering down.”

  Dan snorted. “If that ain’t the craziest thing I’ve ever heard … but given these last few minutes …” He exhaled from his mouth. “I’m gonna have a hell of a lot of questions if we go back to the real world.”

  “Of course, and my friend and I will be there to help you,” said Levaran. She checked the timer. “Do you have any questions before the deallocation occurs?”

  He gulped. “If this is true, why are you helping us?”

  “It’s what I do, and who I am, in any form.”

  “So … what should we expect?” asked Sarah.

  Levaran pointed to the sky in the west. “It will begin there. A wind will develop, and you’ll hear static noise. When it happens, stand by me, and we’ll leave this world together.”

  Sarah sighed as she squeezed Dan’s arm. “Is this really happening?”

  Dan shrugged. “We’ll find out.”

  When the timer hit zero, a booming sound shot out from the west.

  Levaran pointed at the sky. “It begins. Come.”

  His eyes widened as he watched chunks of the sky turn semitransparent, then disappear. “What the hell!”

  “Come!” said Levaran.

  Dan and Sarah scooted over to Levaran.

  Levaran placed an arm around each of them. “Just focus. I promise when this is over, I’ll be there to help you.”