Reality: The Struggle for Sternessence

by Daniel A. Liut

  O’sihn was still speaking when the natural light of the mild afternoon was abruptly multiplied by a factor of ten. An instant later, a strong shock wave blasted the four Realitians against a wall.

  Unexpectedly, a series of energy vectors had broken through a thin layer of clouds, reaching the trans-universal complex below.

  108.

  “Ninety-five percent direct hits, Captain.”

  “Very good.” O’sirof checked the information his T.O. had just passed on his console. The actual effectiveness of the attack was still not clear. “C.I.C./conn.”

  A VC popped up on the bridge. “Yes, Captain.”

  “Kanovan, what are we picking up from the surface?”

  “Hard to tell,” Lieutenant Kanovan said. “We have a confirmed ninety-four point six percent direct hit, but we are still too far away to assess effectiveness.”

  O’sirof nodded. “Keep working on it.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  “Near-target evaluation, X.O.”

  Commander Ossihanna looked up from her tactical display. “I’d strongly advise against any near target evaluation. We still have three destroyers searching for us.”

  “Enemy torpedo signature! Bearing one-three-two dash two-nine-zero, dist. twenty-five,” Lieutenant Stripen, the Tactical Officer, interjected from his virtual console.

  “Starboard chaff,” the captain directed, his eyes focused into the scope on his left.

  “Intelligent debris in the ether,” Stripen confirmed, referring to the chaff.187

  “Full up-starboard rudder, escape acceleration.”

  “Full up-starboard, escape ‘A’, sir,” Lieutenant Pumway acknowledged.

  “Dist. nineteen point three,” Ossihanna said, “point two, point one, point zero. Eighteen point eight . . .”

  “The torpedo is gaining on us,” the X.O. warned.

  “Amid-ship rudder.”

  “Amid rud., aye, Captain,” Pumway echoed.

  The new course was taking the ship directly towards the local sun.

  “T.O., rig three plasma missiles to follow our present trajectory matching our kinematic pattern.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  “Local star radiation levels too high already,” Stripen alerted. “We’re getting saturation on most sensors.” The dazzling image of Althea 8 on the tactical screen was rapidly losing its shape with digital distortion.

  “Missiles ready and standing-by, Captain,” the T.O. reported.

  On O’sirof’s display, a yellow marker signaled the missiles-ready-to-launch status. “Stand by to engage rudder with Tango. Set helm for a sharp down-port turn towards the destroyer on bearing three-three-zero dash three-one-zero upon missiles launch.”

  “Aye, Captain,” Pumway acknowledged, passing the procedure on to the tactical computer. “Programmed maneuver on stand-by, Captain.”

  O’sirof waited a few more seconds. The tactical screen had become a digitalized mess. Noise saturation was almost complete. For a moment, the projection of the surrounding space from the 3D (which enveloped the bridge) got momentarily disconnected, but soon it came back again.

  “Release missiles.”

  “Plasma missiles in the ether, Captain,” the T.O. confirmed. The ship automatically responded with a sharp turn to one side. The gravitational system could not perfectly compensate for the maneuver, which caused many of the crew to be dragged off their posts.

  “Enemy torpedo on route onto local star, Captain,” Stripen reported with excitement.

  “Open fire on target: bearing, zero-three-zero dash zero-one-zero.”

  “Fire on target zero-three-zero dash zero-one-zero, aye, Captain,” the T.O. acknowledged.

  The surrounding holographic image of the local space went off momentarily as the bow battery discharged all its energy vectors onto the enemy vessel ahead.

  “Full, up-port rudder; steady as she goes, Pumway.”

  “Full up-port, steady aye, Captain.”

  “Conn/C.I.C.”

  “Sir, seventy percent direct hits on target.”

  O’sirof smiled cautiously. The situation had swiftly changed from a precarious condition into a promising one. “Copied, Kanovan. Anything new on our primary target?”

  “We are not picking up any more omega radiation from the planet surface, Captain.” That was a clear sign that the mission target, the destruction of the trans-universal complex down on Althea 8, had been achieved.

  “Excellent.”

  “So, what’s next?” asked Ossihanna, the X.O.

  O’sirof turned around and smiled, nudging her with one elbow.188 “What you have in mind, of course.”

  “Pumway.”

  “X.O.?”

  “Plot a straight course towards the nucleus of the battle, close to Althea 8.”

  Lieutenant Pumway turned around with apprehension. The command was definitely not in line with headquarters’ directives.

  “Carry on, Lieutenant,” O’sirof confirmed.

  109.

  The shockwaves released by the energy vectors that had hit the trans-universal complex had propelled Laida against a wall, causing further damage to her already injured arm. She was lying on the floor in great pain, though out of danger for now. The rest of the team had not suffered major harm. After checking on Laida’s condition, they were all now trying to assess the situation.

  “Confirmed, Captain. The trans-universal chamber is still standing,” Erina said, turning around. “It seems to be operative.”

  “Any signs of enemy activity?”

  “Negative. The field around the chamber has been completely leveled.”

  O’sihn nodded. “If the chamber still works, you and Dahncion will program the T.A.T. device to detonate after you have left the universe, as planned.” O’sihn looked at his watch and turned to Duncan. “Set the device with a thirty-minute delay. Zeenthy and his flyers will be picking us up before that, as you recall.”

  “What if the chamber is not operational?” Erina asked.

  “You will still install the T.A.T. with a thirty-minute delay, and then reconvene here.”

  “You will follow the events through the visor . . .”189

  “Negative,” O’sihn replied. “You and Duncan will take the visor and the biosensor. I may be able to follow the trans-universal operation from here, if it still works. But I will not leave this place until the last minute. We will be waiting for you, just in case something goes wrong.”

  “What if Clara is still alive? What if she is injured?” Duncan asked.

  O’sihn looked at Erina.

  “I don’t detect any signs of life,” she said, showing her biosensor. “Though we are too far away.”

  “Try to see inside the chamber,” O’sihn said.

  “The chamber looks empty.” Erina adjusted a few settings on the visor and looked again. “I don’t see anything at all inside—no objects, no remains—nothing. Wait . . . visor sensor reports—” Erina turned around with a quizzical expression. “Perfect vacuum inside?”

  O’sihn remained pensive for a moment. “The chamber works under the premise of preserving the reality behind its walls, either within this universe or an alternative one.”

  “An alternative universe?” Erina frowned. “Clara . . . sent to a different universe?”

  O’sihn shook his head. “We don’t know much about the chamber. We don’t know what may have happened to it, or what it may have done when it was bathed in radiation.”

  Laida started crying. Kneeling down by her, Duncan placed a compassionate hand on one of her shoulders. He looked disturbed.

  “Dahncion.”

  Duncan did not answer.

  “Lieutenant Dahncion.”

  “Yes, Captain,” Duncan asked, still kneeling by Laida.

  “I’m sorry. We don’t have much time.”

  Duncan stood up slowly, staring at O’sihn in silence.

  The captain perceived the great sorrow Duncan was going through, for both Cl
ara and Laida, and for being about to leave everything behind. O’sihn embraced him warmly. “Stern strength, my friend. Stern strength . . .” That was something Clara might have said; they both knew it. As they looked at each other, Laida nodded as if bidding goodbye, while still crying.

  Duncan was overcome with grief and could not talk anymore.

  “We will never forget you—all of you,” Erina said, taking Duncan by the hand.

  They left the building at once.

  110.

  Duncan and Erina were running towards the leveled area ahead.

  The small trans-universal chamber was standing right at its center, pristinely intact. Behind the chamber, a few rosy clouds blurred the splendid comet that hovered above the horizon. As he ran, Duncan repeatedly checked for signs of enemy activity, but did not detect any. Followed by Erina, Duncan started walking on a vitreous field. They had to walk slowly, the ground being so smooth that it offered little traction for their boots. As they approached the chamber, Duncan tried to pick up anything behind its walls. It was not easy: the quartz-like panels were now reflecting most of the reddish light coming from the setting sun.

  After a few minutes and several falls, Erina and Duncan finally made it almost to the center of the vitreous field. They were now in front of a mound, on top of which stood the crystalline chamber.190 Almost at once, a human form began to materialize inside.

  Clara had suddenly appeared, sitting on the floor. She looked disoriented, but unharmed.191

  “Hang on, Clara! We’ll get you out of there in no time,” Duncan yelled, but she could not hear him.

  He and Erina climbed the mound192 and stood on a flat platform, about three feet wide, which extended all around the chamber. As they searched for a control panel that would allow them to open it, Clara began to move her head vividly in a given direction, as if trying to indicate a certain spot. She was still wearing the captors’ straitjacket, plus the cord around her ankles.

  Following the direction hinted by Clara, Erina hovered a hand over the platform. “Here!” A circle materialized right there. A few seconds later, other circles began to appear around the first.

  Erina put one palm over the first circle. In response, one of the walls began to recede into the floor until the chamber was fully open. Clara tried to move, but tripped and fell to the floor.

  As Erina helped her up, Duncan unsheathed his Veridiawan sword and cut open the straitjacket that kept Clara immobilized. Her arms were released. With a clean stroke of his blade, he severed the cord around her ankles.

  Duncan stared at Clara, but she fixed her eyes in the sky. His eyes followed hers to a dazzling and brilliant star that had suddenly appeared, and which rapidly faded away. The light had been so intense that all three of them had covered their eyes. A battle was clearly raging not far from the planet.

  Erina pressed Clara’s hands. “I must check if the chamber is still operational.”193 Several circles were now present on the platform. When touched according to a certain sequence, the chamber would establish a trans-universal connection with the universe of the person inside who met certain conditions.194

  Duncan took Clara’s hands and pressed them tightly against his chest. He then looked deeply into her eyes.

  Suddenly, a yellow luminescence began flowing from the chamber walls.

  “Done,” Erina said and got back up.

  Both Clara and Duncan turned around.

  “No time to lose,” Erina added, looking at Duncan.

  Duncan nodded and passed the T.A.T. device to Clara. “You will meet with O’sihn and Laida in that structure.” Duncan pointed at it. “It’s about one mile away. Veridiawan flyers will pick all of you up there.”

  “Timer setting?” Clara asked, looking at the T.A.T.

  “It has already been set to thirty minutes.”

  “Copied.” Clara placed the device on the floor, by the chamber. Soon everything was ready.

  Duncan entered a password on the T.A.T., and a light began to flash. Immediately, Clara checked the readings on its display. As she bent down, the back of her neck, beneath her hair, was exposed. Her tori features were very strong in that area. Duncan noticed that, but let his eyes wander towards the sky. It was dark red, with the bright comet spreading its white tail close to the horizon.

  With departure imminent, Duncan experienced again his attachment to a universe that was not his. He began to wonder about many things. What would await him back home? How would his life be after all he had experienced over almost two years? Would no evidence truly remain of his ever having been in another universe? In a way, Duncan felt as if he already were part of that reality. The fear of not being able to take even his memories haunted him.

  “It’s time to leave,” Erina said, taking hold of Duncan’s right hand. “I feel the same.”

  Duncan looked at her and nodded. They quickly stepped into the chamber.

  Following Erina’s instructions, Clara began to complete the activation sequence. The yellow luminescence engulfing the structure was suddenly replaced by a blue, gleaming light. A series of hollow sounds followed, riding on the echoes of an eerie tune. They impressed Duncan as a cold and mathematically perfect procedure, insensitive and oblivious to the decisive moment in his life. Its pitch turned metallic, and at that point, a blue halo enveloped Erina’s and Duncan’s bodies.

  Very slowly, a trapezoidal door started to come up quietly from the floor. Delicately, Clara saluted, weeping in silence, her long blond hair, slightly wet by her tears, waving in the mild wind. Above the horizon, next to the chamber, a mild explosion of light softly brightened the sky.

  Duncan stood still, staring at Clara. As he did, he absentmindedly raised his right hand to his chest. The medallion Clara had once given him was still hanging there, along with his Royal Navy military credentials, both of which would necessarily stay behind. He had grown accustomed to the medallion’s presence, becoming unaware of it. The day Clara had given it to him, after she had been seriously injured on Aquaelight, he had not been certain if he would ever see her again.

  His memory flashed back to the morning of her transfer to the YSF Temperance. The sadness and sense of loss he had experienced on that occasion became as fresh and painful as if it had happened the day before. And with it came a sense of failure—total failure—of having accomplished nothing but finally managing to get back from where he had come. But why did he have to experience all that? What would it take to change all that?

  Duncan let go of Erina’s hand. He looked at Clara and thought of her as the woman that she was. But when he got close to grasping her female beauty, once more the tori features of her body—her drawing-looking features that made him perceive her as something not fully real, not fully woman—dissuaded his spirit from advancing any further. However, this time his heart fought back.

  Duncan looked at her again, and then at his own rilitian skin. As he did that, he thought about his native earthly appearance. Although it was not there, he made it be there. Looking at Clara again, he focused his mind on her femininity, and in doing that, a vision of her emerged juxtaposed with herself. In his vision, she was all woman in her strength and in her softness, in her intelligence, and in her power of love.

  Although Clara herself still had her tori features, it was possible to imagine her with the appearance of a woman of Earth, and so Duncan made her be with the appearance of a woman of Earth, even when she was still fully tori. From the deepest layers of Clara’s own femininity, the child quickener was now bringing forth Clara’s full womanly beauty, both external and internal. And that was no vision or imagination: it was a solid, quickened, perfectly inclusive reality that even Erina could see195 now. Clara was becoming blazingly and visibly beautiful, both with her tori features and with the perfect appearance of a woman from Duncan’s world.

  Still her external beauty was nothing but a freezing shadow in the light of her woman’s heart, which Duncan could finally see—and in the furnace of her female sternessenti
al love, which Duncan could finally feel. He had overcome the obstacles that had prevented him from reaching true reality and making it be. Duncan was reaching Clara’s hidden and visible realities, making them one, for there was nothing incompatible in them.196

  As he beheld Clara’s full reality, Duncan saw the fullness of his own, even if far, very far, from comprehending it all.

  Duncan could never fully understand—much less explain—what made him do what he did next.

  When the door was already up to his chest, he jumped upwards with all his strength. In doing so, he hit his head on the lintel of the chamber. That left him in bad shape for a moment. In any case, he was already halfway out, with his chest lying on the rising door.

  “No!” Erina cried out, pulling on Duncan’s leg. Clara also tried to get him back into the chamber, pushing her arms against his shoulders. The situation had rapidly become critical: the slow-rising door was starting to press on Duncan’s chest, as his back pressed against the chamber lintel.

  “Not this way . . . help me ou—”

  Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, Clara grabbed Duncan’s hands and transferred all her weight onto them. The moment she touched Duncan, a strong energy surge burst into her body, and the bluish luminescence that enveloped Erina and Duncan flashed all around her. Clara felt a strong compulsion to let go, but the stronger the urge, the harder she grasped Duncan’s hands. Abruptly, one of her hands slipped, and her arm slashed the air like a whip.

  Bouncing on the ground with one foot and using her free hand, Clara managed to grab the grip of the sword that Duncan was carrying on his back. After pulling it out of its sheath and casting it to the ground, Clara immediately seized his wrists with both hands. Caught between Duncan’s back and the lintel, the empty sheath collapsed due to the pressure caused by the rising door. In that split moment, Duncan’s body was released, and both Clara and Duncan fell immediately to the ground.