R.E.solve (Rain Experience Book 2)

by Thomas W. Everson

  “Take your time.”

  Quva turns and begins to order the others around with various tasks such as herding and preparation of the land for construction, making me question what they’re doing. I wander around nearby, watching them work. As I do, I have an epiphany.

  I bet they’ll come across the sword.

  You’ll need it to defend yourselves against these creatures!

  I will not kill them unprovoked. I am not a savage.

  “Quva, I lost an…object…down here. It’s a forged, sharpened piece of metal. If your team finds it, I would appreciate its return.”

  “Understood,” he replies without looking back, moving to one of the cylinders.

  His long fingers press on several of the strange symbols, and then issues a command to it which doesn’t translate. The cylinder spurs to life and several beams of light from above converge on a clearing a few yards away.

  In the blink of an eye a structure has appeared out of nowhere where the beams had shone. It’s short, white, and spirals into a gentle peak. It reminds me of a gift presented to me as Tiberius – a seashell from the beach of a faraway ocean. I’m startled.

  Quva motions for me to follow and when we arrive at the ‘shell’ he presses his whole palm on what looks to be a seamless wall. A door appears, sliding upward into the structure with a hum. He enters and I follow behind him into a single room with a shiny, white round table and a couple of white chairs. There are no lights inside, yet I can see perfectly because the walls give off a soft white light.

  “How did this just appear?” I ask.

  “One of our technological advancements is the ability to rearrange molecules to create different things. We developed a program to instantly change them from one thing to another in set patterns. In this case we used particles in the air to make this.” He moves to one of the chairs and sits down, setting his pad down in front of him.

  “This must be an extremely useful technology.” I sit down directly across from him and cross my arms while leaning on the table.

  “Indeed it is. It allows us to be able to construct what we need, where we need, in order to facilitate whatever species we are currently transporting.”

  “So are you preparing to stay here?”

  “No, our stay is temporary, but the species we salvaged from a dying planet will be transplanted here.”

  Leaning back in my chair an alarm rings in my head. I stroke my chin thoughtfully.

  The lizard-men. It makes perfect sense. The cylinders are planted by this alien race, the Vraditi, and they’re constructing a habitat. I wonder, if I stop them, can I save all those tribal people? What would it do to the timeline?

  “You seem deep in thought,” Quva states.

  “Indeed I am. So you’re constructing a place for a species to live. I’m certain I already encountered them.”

  “You have?”

  “A large, bipedal, scaled lizard creature.”

  “You are a fascinating specimen already. Time travel and knowledge of the species we carry. You must tell me more. Would you like something to eat while we talk?”

  My stomach grumbles. Despite the hesitation urging me to be a little more cautious, I allow myself to have a little faith that they won’t harm me. “Please.”

  “By the shape of your teeth, I would assume you are omnivorous.” Quva squints two of his eyes in what I perceive is a questioning manner.

  I nod and Quva taps on his pad rapidly. Two beams of light shine down from the ceiling to directly in front of me. When the light disappears a plate is left with bite size chunks of seared meat and some brown paste next to it. Since there are no utensils, I assume he thinks I’ll eat with my hands. I pick up a piece of meat and cautiously put it into my mouth. The meat is tender. The taste is exotic, and a little spicy. It’s unfamiliar but delicious.

  “With this technology,” I start. “I wonder why you’d need to study my power. What you have is clearly superior.”

  “True, it is superior, but we rely on our machines to do it for us. No one of my race or any other race we have encountered has a natural ability to make things happen simply by willing it.” He nods. “Do many of your people have alkos?”

  “Only a handful I know of. And their abilities differ. One had the ability to heal; another had the ability to move so fast he appeared invisible.” I chew a few more meat-cubes vigorously, extracting the flavor from it.

  “If any of your companions have an ability, it would be a terrible waste to miss an opportunity to observe.”

  “They don’t, so put it out of your mind.”

  “Understood. How long have you been traveling through time?”

  “Several months, but with everything I’ve seen, it feels much longer. How long have you been traveling the stars?”

  “I have been traveling most of my life. This most recent trip has taken one hundred and twenty days, calculated at sixty hours per day. Since you have future knowledge, we would like to know what you know about the creatures you encountered, to compare.” Quva finds an opening to return to the conversation of the lizard-men.

  “The encounter happened during a primitive time. I’m not sure I should say much more than that. Tell me though, is this the only planet they can live on? There must be many other planets out there.”

  “We had several other habitats as candidate locations, however this was the closest and happened to suit the Tarak nicely. Your question indicates a negative encounter.”

  I become silent while I eat. Quva’s four, bulbous eyes are trained on me, watching with extreme curiosity. He taps on his pad again and two glasses appear with a clear liquid in them, one for me and one for him. When I lift the glass up to my lips I expect water, but am pleasantly surprised when there is a sweet and fruity taste to it. Quva drinks his as well.

  “How do you like the food?” he asks.

  “The meat was good but the paste looked unappealing. What kind of animal did the meat come from?”

  “Technically, none. We simply created it based on one of the scans and patterns of a livestock creature. Val. The creature has a large scaly endoskeleton, features two long necks with separate heads and wanders about on all fours eating vegetation.”

  “I see. If I allow you to scan me, you aren’t going to recreate my tissues and eat them are you?” I ask seriously.

  Quva huffs, sounding offended. He speaks sharply, “We never eat the meat of sentient creatures or ones with the ability in their erixet to become sentient!”

  “I didn’t mean to offend, but I felt it was an important question for a species with your power.” I pause to calm the tension. “Erixet didn’t translate.”

  “Simply put, their building blocks.”

  Quva calms down and leans forward, resting his chin on an open palm while his elbow is on the table. He stares, as if trying to study me with his eyes. I know he wants to ask me again to willingly submit to their testing. I lean back and stretch.

  “I’ll allow you to observe me. But my terms are firm. Keep my warning in mind.”

  “Noted!” Quva’s excitement can’t be contained. “Your information will be a marvelous addition to our archive!”

  “When we’re done, I’d appreciate if you would transport me to a location of my choosing.”

  “Acceptable,” Quva agrees and stands up, grabbing his pad. “Shall we go up to the ship then?”

  Quva moves to the door and beckons me to follow. Upon exiting the building, the bright light from the sun blinds me momentarily. My eyes adjust and my breath is stolen away by what I behold.

  In the short time I ate, and we conversed, his team has changed the land in the canyons completely. None of the other, prehistoric creatures can be seen. All of the vegetation has been removed and the land is now blanketed with a light purple substance. While Quva walks toward the closest cylinder I notice it seems to be embedded further into the ground, the purple coating surrounding its base.

  I catch up to him while he is already pres
sing on a few of the symbols. He turns to me and waves for me to enter the white light inside the doorway.

  If I hadn’t done this before, I might be a little more hesitant. But I at least know this won’t kill me.

  A familiar sensation washes over when I enter and my body rushes upward at a great speed. My body halts abruptly, and my eyes adjust. I am standing on an enormous white platform centered inside a very large structure which reminds me of a honeycomb. Though the exterior of the ship hung in the sky is large and round, this enormous, oval area indicates I’m only seeing a fraction of the interior, despite this area spanning many stories up and down from where I am.

  The walls reach high above and far below, glowing soft white like that of the structure Quva built below. Uncountable glass doors and walkways line them. Bridges cross over the great expanse in many locations, connecting one side to the other. Strange flying platforms buzz about, and thousands upon thousands of Quva’s species move to and fro.

  I’m astounded. This is not just a ship but a flying city! Incredible!

  Quva startles me when his hand touches my shoulder. “Be careful. We are up a very long ways and if you fall you will surely die. Now come.”

  Quva moves along a bridge from our platform toward the left, curved wall. Following, I notice the staring eyes of many of his species, as if I were the strange one. They part down the middle so Quva and I can walk unimpeded along the walkway on this level of the ship.

  We walk through the ship and I peer into the glass doors we pass to see what’s going on inside of them. Without knowing anything about their culture or technology, I try to understand what is happening.

  One room has a multitude of Vraditi wearing white coats which hang down to their feet, long protective gloves past their elbows, and strange dark face shields covering all four of their eyes mixing different colored solutions in slim vials.

  In another room there are Vraditi tinkering with machinery on a table filled with an assortment of metallic items, cogs and wires running to and from different panels.

  I return my attention to Quva, but I’ve lost a lot of ground. He’s several feet in front of me and it takes a brisk walk to catch back up. He looks back, but says nothing about my lapse.

  We reach a large platform with solid guardrails on either side. It levitates diagonally upward to the next floor, depositing several Vraditi before returning to this level. Quva waits for it to return to our level and, when it arrives the others move aside and allow us to step on and ascend upward to the next level alone.

  The sensations of moving without actually moving makes me reach out and hold onto the railing. Before I become accustomed we’ve arrived at the next floor and exit the platform. Several room-lengths down Quva stops and turns to a room. There’s nothing but white walls. The room is several yards deep and the blinding white reminds me of the void. He presses his hand on the wall to the side of the room. The pane of glass is drawn upward, disappearing completely.

  He leads me in and begins furiously tapping on his pad once more. A small, closed off room materializes to the side, while at the back a number of different colored, floating panels have been pulled into existence from nothingness. Each of the panels seem to have different characteristics, ranging from wood-like to heavy metal.

  “I would like to test the amount of energy you can exert. Start with the weakest of materials at the far end. I will monitor you from inside this safe room.”

  The enormous glass door shuts behind us and Quva takes shelter in the small room. Nervous about being observed I hesitate. Through a little window Quva watches and waves me on. Down at the farthest slab of material I look again at Quva, and he nods. I put my hand up to unleash a shockwave. The sound echoes off of the walls and nearly deafens me. My eyes shut automatically with a wince, and when I open my eyes again the wood is shattered, splinters covering the floor. There’s a ringing in my ears, but Quva speaks and I can hear him as if he’s all around me.

  “Interesting. Let me adjust the room’s properties to cancel sound.”

  I attempt to speak, to ask him what he means but when I try, nothing can be heard. My throat vibrates as I feel the words move up, but nothing happens. Quva waves me on from his room and I shift to the next object.

  A glass piece about as thick as the door waits for me to destroy it. With ease it’s shattered. I shield myself from one of the shards as a chunk drops and sends a few pieces flying. Next is a slab of what looks to be marble, and I take out a sizeable chunk with only one hand, but not satisfied I put up my second hand and release a stronger, larger wave, cracking it to the core and severing it in half.

  “Using multiple hands changes the amount of power put out?” Quva’s voice comes again and I’m confused at how I can hear him if he’s making the room silent. I try to speak again, but nothing comes out, so I nod instead.

  “Fascinating. Please continue.”

  Next is a metal slab, polished to near mirror qualities and quite thick. One handed impacts the metal and leaves a small dent, and two bows the metal heavily. Due to its strength and thickness I am unable to destroy it. Displeased with my result I put one leg behind me to brace and I focus. I breathe in deeply and pool a large amount of my internal energy. On the exhale I throw both hands out, letting the energy flow freely from me. Arcing out, the room is rocked. The metal crumples and buckles on itself, and my force sends it into the wall behind it. Quva is startled when I look back to him.

  “These readings are amazing. I must analyze the data and scans of your body to figure out how your body generates such an enormous amount of energy,” he’s excited.

  I wave my arms at him and point to my throat.

  “You are free to speak.”

  “One more. Make it strong.” I grin while pulling my necklace off.

  He looks at me, questioning my motives with just a look.

  “And you should step outside for this.” My grin grows wider, slightly deviant in nature.

  Quva cocks his head to the side, squinting in what I take is a wary manner. The glass goes up, he exits, and it comes back down again. I watch him with his pad after a few taps a red flashing banner pops up. He taps again and I feel the room compress, as if I was under water. My ears feel clogged.

  When I look back a new material I’m unfamiliar with has appeared. It’s completely black, solid and a foot thick. I feel odd with it in the room, like it’s trying to pull me gently toward it.

  I keep my stance and place the smooth round crystal in the palm of one hand while the other hand braces it. I focus on my target and channel everything I have through my palm.

  He’s forgotten to reactivate whatever nullified the sound before, and I’m deafened when my shockwave explodes outward arcing through the entire room. The sidewalls and Quva’s safety room are thrashed as the shockwave rips through. The force sends me flying into the glass, nearly knocking me unconscious, but I keep enough sense to watch. In the blink of an eye the shockwave impacts the material and continues through, shattering it into fragments like a brittle dish being crushed under an immense weight. The back wall is next and it decimates the paneling. All throughout, the innards of the ship are exposed.

  I collapse, my energy nearly exhausted. The glass door opens up and Quva is frantic.

  “What was that?!” He’s barely audible over the ringing in my ears.

  Pushing myself up, I stumble to hold my footing and dangle the necklace for him to see. “I found out by accident that this type of crystal amplifies my power significantly.”

  “Where did this come from?” He grabs it hastily, examining it.

  “You know how I told you I encountered your creatures? Well these crystals were formed in their habitat.”

  “This type of crystal is from my home world. It is used in many applications including construction. The coating on the ground you saw on your planet below is this, just in a fine powder form.” Quva releases it back to me and scrawls his alien language on his tablet. “But spontaneous grow
th is unheard of.”

  “They end up growing to pretty decent sizes and they can withstand my power to a certain degree before they shatter.”

  “This is…astounding and unnerving at the same time,” Quva is clearly shaken, but he hands the gem back. “To think something of this magnitude becomes available to your species.”

  “Keep in mind we’re dealing with different timelines here. What’s done is done and if you were to deviate from your plans based on your interactions with me, the repercussions might be catastrophic,” I warn.

  “Duly noted.”

  My head spins from the exertion. “Is there more testing?”

  “Yes, but I need time to study this set of data.” He looks up from the pad. “My readings show you are in need of rest. Would it be acceptable to ask for you to stay aboard so that we may continue once you recover?”

  “That should be fine.”

  “I will procure guest quarters for you.”

  He waves me out of the room and begins walking along the curvature of the honeycomb interior. A few more platforms up, we reach one of the enormous bridges which span the empty space. The railing provides me a sense of security, as we are even farther up than before.

  When we’re across, we walk a couple hundred yards more before stopping in front of another glass pane. Behind the glass is a white privacy wall with a doorway at the right side. Quva places his hand on the wall to open the glass door.

  Inside the privacy wall, I’m surprised to find their living styles are not far from our own, though the lack of color leaves something to be desired. There is a large bed, with a couple pillows, and a sheet for covering. A plain desk sits against the wall with a simple chair. The only thing notable is a large black rectangle on the far wall.

  “Please, make yourself comfortable, I will be back in a few moments.” He disappears from the room.

  Slowly moving about, I stop to run my hand across the top of the desk. It’s smooth, with no imperfections. I sit in the chair and though it’s hard, it feels good to be off of my feet. I kick my wet shoes and socks off. The bed looks inviting, but I don’t want to get it dirty with everything I picked up in the jungle. So I sit, waiting patiently for Quva to return.