Parallel Extinction (Extinction Encounters Book 1)

by T. R. Stevens

  She walked the few steps back to her waiting retinue, examining her hands; even they had aged. Scanning the faces of her group, she saw their discomfort and now knew why. She was nowhere near finished with processing her own emotions about what she’d just been faced with, literally, but she had important things to share, and she couldn’t let this difficult reality override her obligation to her duty.

  “Garrison,” she looked at him and the nurses, unaware of the damage to his feet, “are you able to walk?”

  The young man who had finished bandaging Garrison spoke for him, “He’ll need a gecko chair if you intend to take him off of the spin-ring.” It was a simple upgrade from a standard powered chair, used in space.

  Dominique asked with concern, realizing there was more to his injuries, “What happened?”

  He held a bandaged hand up for her to see. “Oh, you know me, I sorta launched before I looked.” He turned to Sparks. “Thanks for your timing on that, Jon. I’d probably be dead if you hadn’t shut it down.” Sparks nodded, recovering some of his confident poise.

  Dominique set aside her wish for more details. “Well,” she spoke to the nurse, “could you please get that for him?” His assistant moved off to find the chair.

  Then she addressed Jon by his title. “Captain Sparks, where can we all go to talk?”

  CHAPTER 90

  EVENT: DAY 25

  Morals were not a huge part of their insulated reality, but murder was out.

  The woman who had been used as the surrogate, existing in a drug-hazed reality for years, awoke to her life. She did not recognize even a small part of it. It was well for her that she chose to accept the terms of her new existence: she would never want, all needs tended to, living a life of ease and luxury.

  For their part, should they choose to continue the treatments that extended their lives indefinitely, the two very powerful incestuous siblings would have to wait, like the rest of Humanity, for the proscribed circumstances to be set in place.

  CHAPTER 91

  EVENT: DAY 27, 1300 UT

  “Do you mean we came all this way for nothing?”

  Dominique was kidding. Garrison recognized her jape, and smiled. Then Quilliam Spence knew she wasn’t serious.

  It typically would have been something that any captain would be upset about, considering the location of the outpost and the six weeks’ time that it would have taken a military-modified ship to travel their route.

  Garrison and Dominique had left their passengers with the Medallion and had flown out to pick up the lieutenant. They were still experimenting with the QB1’s newly revealed flight characteristics. In BUMP’s experience, the Skipper had always made better time than other interstellar vessels. The recent events pointed to the idea that something in the ship made an independent decision regarding the time it should take to get between two given points. They were sure that it was predicated upon the urgency of the mission; during the emergencies that they had just come through, the little ship had made these transits in virtually no time. The flight out to get Spence was important—Humanity depended upon the mission, or so they had thought, but the ship, relatively, took its time. Despite what Garrison spoke at the ship, or “thought” at it (he felt silly about that), rather than being instantaneous, it took five days to make the trip.

  The new paradigm for travel would seem to go something like, ‘We’ll get there as soon as we need to…’

  During this time, the stresses of recent events slowly fell away. Garrison and Dominique talked at length, sharing amazement at the circumstances that had unfolded, and those that were yet to unfold.

  On the trip out, Garrison spent time reassuring Dominique. A great deal of self-confidence helped her deal with her personal changes, but it was a lot to bear, constantly seeing those changes in the mirror, plain on her face.

  She shared with him the additional, invisible changes that had come along with the physical; her reaction to Taylor, and her sense that the motherly feelings were indicative of a deepening sense of maturity that must come with age.

  He was glad to hear the positive undertone in her words; she felt that some reward had come with the rest.

  At some point near the middle of the journey, the energy of emotion moved toward a more sensual one, and they made love for the first time since they had picked up the doctor on the ice world. It was nothing like the first time, and yet it was a new first time. She revealed to him the entirety of her changed body, and the certain self-consciousness that she now had about it.

  He had been very sensitive as he used a finger to trace some of the lines that had appeared around her breasts and belly. “They are a part of you; how can they not be beautiful?” His finger slid sideways across her belly in the sheen of sweat that they had worked up in their lovemaking.

  She had listened to his affectionate comments, but said little in response, just petting him and hugging him, showing that she appreciated the various supportive, loving things he said. She remained introspective.

  Her energy level for sex had not diminished in the slightest though, and they made love a good number of times before they arrived at the outpost. Knowing that Swan was not leering over their actions anymore allowed her to explore her erogenous sensitivities uninhibitedly. She wanted to know that they, too, were intact. On this account, she was more than satisfied, finding that she had even greater potentials for orgasmic intensity.

  This revelation certainly gave a great deal of satisfaction to the man with whom she had started the mission. She went on and on with her plateau after he had come and gone soft, so she kept him involved in her arousal, assuring he did not feel left out. They spent the last half of the trip in altered states.

  It seemed impossible that it was less than three weeks since this had all started. She laughed with Garrison as they reminisced at how the journey had begun between them. A man that she had never expected to have more than a strained, professional relationship with was now a major part of her memories.

  Memories. Dominique had a decision to make about her body and her memories. There was a sacrifice to make.

  She balanced the value of her experiences against her changed appearance and feelings. It was harder than she thought it ought to be. Even within the short time that had gone by—mere days—things had transpired that she would not choose to forget. And the clock was ticking; with each moment that went by, she had more to lose, and the decision became that much harder.

  She could go back to the youthful appearance that she had possessed that short time ago. The Elementals were offering this to her, and to Humanity: a gift of restitution. The regression, so destructive up until the soul-sacrificing event that had been played out for the perpetrators, would now be a gift. A gift of miraculous proportion, to be sure, though for her there were some confusing issues to consider. The main caveat was the loss of memories from the portion of life that a person was regressed through.

  This knowledge had been made available to her during her odyssey. The understanding and its full personal implication did not come until later reflection, though; once she’d seen herself in the mirror and through the eyes of others.

  Dominique was attached to the memories of her transcendent voyage and hoped that she would not only carry the experience with her the rest of her life, but even possibly bring all of these incredible memories with her into the following lifetimes that she now knew lay ahead.

  If that hope were at all possible, it would seem to be at odds with the nature of the regression. She had no knowledge or guarantee that she would be immune to the loss of all of these latest memories, which had easily become important touchstones and treasures. Everything pointed to just the opposite, in fact.

  These types of questions would be posed to any human who might be given the opportunity to return to an earlier body-time.

  Still, as politics would have it in the structure of society, t
he military was going to step in and be the governing body, saying just how the ‘miracle’ would be applied or granted.

  Dominique had mixed emotions about that. While she believed that, in this question, as a generalization, humans were likely not to be very capable of self-regulation, she also believed that it was too much power to be held in the hands of the military.

  While a great deal of communication had taken place in that singular event with the Elementals, it was a one-time conversation—many influences had been brought together in that moment, from different universes, from different planes, to bridge that gap. She could not ask more questions to resolve her personal dilemma. In that strange dialogue, realization and understanding of the final outcome had soaked into Dominique’s being. It was this that she had shared, first with her fellow captains, and then with high-level military authorities in a second S/EBMMP debriefing held aboard the QB1.

  The imparted knowledge was a package of fundamentals and parameters; that was all. The rules had been set in stone, essentially. If Humanity chose to avail itself of regression events, they must happen out at the edge of the solar system. It was the area of space that these creatures-of-another-universe were more comfortable with—far from the gravity wells of any large-mass bodies. BUMP had a station in mind that was to be used for the purpose.

  Also, the creatures had a conveyed a request, such as it was: that the various Elementals that had fallen into gravity wells occupied or visited by man be brought out and set into free-form once again.

  Down the billions of years, since the original clash of universe-membranes that created Man’s universe, many of the creatures had fallen into the wells. Most had fallen in the beginning, as they had explored the new world that was this universe. A great chaos of mass and energy ran rampant through space and time then, flowing between the parallel universes more readily. It was during these times that great sweeping gravity scoops brought the Elementals out of their immaterial nature, into that of the stone-like existence. Eventually, many ended either upon the surface or as part of planetary bodies, Earth included.

  Dominique passed on the request, suggesting that if any searching was done for the stone forms, that it be focused in areas of reported historical time anomalies.

  It was not a requirement of the new relationship with the Elementals, only a request. The beings that were currently bound in their solid nature would eventually return to the energetic form—as the planetary bodies were either destroyed in heavenly collisions, or when swallowed by a black hole. Though this might not happen for billions more years, time was immaterial to them. This thought, to a human being, was hard to comprehend, and just a little chilling, since it implied endings for Man.

  It was said, officially, that efforts would be made, as possible.

  Those last two words were what Dominique heard, and she wasn’t going to hold her breath. Though, her next vacation was going to be a dive excursion in the southern Atlantic, off Old Florida, a place known for anomalous events.

  When she and Garrison had arrived at Spence’s outpost, he had already taken matters into his own hands. With everyone on the station expecting something from him due to the ghostly gossip mill starting the rumor of his heroism, he needed to try something, even if it had no effect.

  But it did.

  He had never realized that his special meditation skill was anything more than that, but it had been the only lasting effect that he’d taken away from his run-in with the alien all those years ago.

  Because of the new scrutiny that he received from his stationmates, which bordered on desperation, Spence had taken to eating his meals in his quarters. He let it be known that he was going to explore whatever it might be that made him special. He asked not to be disturbed.

  The entire station was happy to oblige, and waited nervously for whatever the outcome might be. They had not told him about the Quantum Butterfly’s impending arrival, despite the fact that it had become the new focus for all at the station.

  By the time the ship arrived, Spence had discovered that he could in fact contact the alien that had bestowed the gift upon him. “It wasn’t apparent that something was happening initially. I thought that I was repeatedly nodding off, moving in and out of a waking dream state. They were strange dreams, filled with amazing things that I’ve never seen, or heard any spacers talk about. For instance, gossamer-winged creatures, kind of human in shape, but with multiple arms and a mouthful of shining silver teeth. And rocks that might be the size of a house—I couldn’t get a definite perspective, they might be bigger—but they were creeping along a fractured, desolate surface that was blindingly bright, with colorful plumes of gas shooting up into a rainbowed atmosphere. There were lots of other images, but they were so alien, they faded away like dreams do.” After a few days’ time, moving in and out of his meditation, and in and out of sleep states, he put it together.

  “I figure that true communication with the alien has really been happening for about three days. If I guess right, the more recent visions could be closer to where we live. I think that we will have company soon if the star patterns mean what I think.” Spence was not completely confident of his role.

  Garrison quizzed, “So, I’m assuming that this interstellar creature can move around space like the Butterfly; is that right?”

  “I’d assume that too, but the communication between us is… well, primitive, but it’s so far beyond my experience that I’d also call it advanced. I feel that I am getting only the most basic message of its intention.”

  Dominique asked, “What did you mean about ‘star patterns’?”

  “Okay, so that’s what makes me believe that it is on its way here, and getting close: a series of dot-pattern images I saw in my meditation. At first they were unfamiliar, but as it went on I wondered if they were star patterns. I was already downloading my fading memory visuals to the AI, and so I had it examine the images for this query, and I discovered that it was a view of this portion of the galaxy from somewhere outside of it. The AI triangulated its advancing position from these.” The young man was still amazed by this fact, and it came out with a tone of awe.

  Dominique commented on it. “An intergalactic creature. Wow, that is amazing. Describe what this thing looks like.”

  “Well, it’s not much to look at, from what I saw of it years ago. Shaped like a big seed, really. Bigger than the military’s largest ship, and covered with some dark, almost black, dull furry stuff that looks like plants, kind of seaweed-like. Virtually impossible to spot by eye out in space; you would have to be close and know where to look. And it didn’t show up on my sensors.”

  “Hmm.” Dominique pondered what he’d said. “Any idea how long we have to wait?”

  “Not exactly. The changing positions don’t seem to give it a regular pace. But I think not long. Days, maybe.”

  Garrison brought them back to the thing that Dominique had joked about. “So, you were saying that we didn’t need to come and get you. Have you made some deal with the creature to take you back to Earth?”

  “No, no… at least I don’t think so…” He paused, thinking about that for a moment. “I don’t need to go anywhere. As soon as I recognized that the dreams were a communication, I tried to convey my own set of images: of all our ships stranded, marooned in space, and images of people starving and dying. After that, I got the star patterns.” He handed Garrison a zephyr that was vid-configured. “I set up as many of the images as I had the AI record, in a sort of slide show. I figured Command would want to see them. So, I have done what I needed to do, I am certain. All I can do, really. The rest will be up to this creature, which, by all appearances and experiences, is completely benevolent. Traveler is the word that repeatedly comes to my mind.”

  “Huh.” Garrison shrugged. “Well, what do we do now?” He focused his question at his co-captain.

  She had an answer, and it made him a bit uneasy.
“We have another step to take with the Elementals, as I mentioned back on the Medallion.

  She asked Spence, “Lieutenant, do you wish to accompany us back toward in-system? You have authorization to do so.”

  “Well, a few days ago, I would have said definitely, but since transportation will be resuming, and better than before, I have friends here, some who could still really use my support. I’ll be staying for now, as long as that’s okay with my superiors.”

  CHAPTER 92

  EVENT: DAY 25, Human Time

  The great need passed into the universe.

  Radiating into the highly divine Circles and Spheres, it was soft and urgent at once. Transcendent and sublime Intelligences reinforced this message, translating its intent to a language that was unknown to Man, to the souls of Man, and unspoken by the oversouls of Man. Its vibration in the Circles sent gratitude and lent clarification of need.

  There were no words in the message. It was not even language as defined by the concepts of Man. Yet it was a form of communication that had existed in the Universe and on the Earth since life began—the language of the Earth itself—shared only by creatures that lived the very slowest and longest of lives.

  Indefinable awareness.

  Man had created the imbalance, seen the wrong, and now made the effort to correct it. He had reached out, in the person of Quilliam Spence, and taken the action that had been waited for. And now, in concert with ancient agreements, these Powers could act, taking on the role of assistance.

  The tree of evolution grew down through esoteric realms; it forked and grew in odd ways in other parts of the galaxy, in other galaxies throughout the universe. Man, as an “intelligence concept”, was not always a part of these pathways. There were, produced down these branches, quintessential anima that would not be possible for the limited mind of Man to comprehend.